Laundry night.

Do you ever wonder what happens to that one sock that you always seem to loose en rout from the dryer to the sorting table? Well, tonight as I was pulling the cloths from the washer and loading them into the dryer, I matched all the socks just to make sure they were all there, and when I took them out of the dryer and started to fold the cloths, I still ended up with 2 missing socks! I had one white and one black sock with no matches! Exasperated, I searched the washer AND the dryer for the missing socks and came up empty handed. Now frustrated, I started to put the laundry away and started to drop the single socks into the old La Senza bag I toss all the other single socks into, and then I thought maybe I should just toss them out ( I don't know why I keep them, maybe for nights like tonight ), and picked up the bag. Well, I glanced inside and low and behold, I spotted a match! So, I dumped out the bag onto my bed and started sorting the socks and managed to pair up all but two socks ( and those two socks just happened to belong to Zach, he must have gone home with a miss matched set when he was here last spring, oops, sorry Alli! ). Now I have 8 more pairs of socks! How I managed to start out with the right number of matched socks to miss matches are beyond me, but hey, I found them *L*.

Sunday Seven: Favorite pass times.

Here are Seven of my favorite ways to spend my leisure time:

1) Reading a good book. I love to read all types of books from Adventure to Romance, Young Adult to Fantasy, as long as it captures my imagination and pulls me right into the lives of the Charatcher, I'll read it!
2) Taking pictures. I love photography and have a portfolio that my friends and family all love to look at.
3) Playing with kids. I love to spend time with my nephews ( Hi Guys!! ) playing with their toys or outside, playing games and reading stories. Kids always remind you that no matter how clouded our views on the world can be with all the negativity we see in the news, there is always something great about it, even if it is something as small as watching a snail work its way across a rock or counting how fact it takes to run from the swings to the slide!
4) Sitting in the living room with all the lights off except for the one in the aquarium and watching the fish. Its so relaxing because they are so graceful.
5) I like to take a nice warm shower and then climb into bed between some crisp cool sheets and watch a movie or a good TV show.
6) Walks along the beach. I love to walk in the surf and collect interesting rocks or sea shells.
7) Going on long drives. I love to go on road trips.

Bowen Island.

Frank and I took a day trip over to Bowen Island yesterday. Neither one of us had even been there before, but it was a pretty nice little community. The Ferry ride only took about 20 min, and we were able to drive all the way across the island ( length ways ) in under 10 min. We got some great photographs that I'll post when they are developed, and had lunch at a Galley that had an amazing view of the ocean and the mountains. The view reminded me of why I love to live on the west coast. In case nobody has heard of Bowen Island, it is the Island where the movie Double Jeopardy was filmed, you know, the one with Ashley Judd. Hope every ones week end is going well!

Birds...lots and lots of birds!

My office faces a railroad track, and every day lots of locomotives haul their cargo past my office on their way to their destinations. I find it quite relaxing to first hear the train coming, and then see the engine roll by pulling either cargo or passenger cars. Well, today I did not hear the trains, but the birds, thousands of crows had swarmed my work complex and the tracks, and they were so loud! I would look out the window and the buildings on the other side of the tracks and see hundreds of birds lining the roofs of the buildings, the phone lines, the parking lots, railway tracks and trees/bushes surrounding the tracks. It was pretty creepy to hear them up on the roof, I could hear there feet scratching at the roof and more than once my office would go dark because a huge swarm of birds was flying at my office window. Now, I have not seen that movie about attacking birds, but I have seen clips on the Space Channel and man was I nervous. Walking home was hard because they were every where ( surprisingly enough I managed not to get pooped on or bomb dived ), and I am really scared of birds. When I was little, Nanny Sample had me help her gather the chicken eggs when we were at her place in Quebec ( Spring Road??? ) and I was so scared I was going to get pecked that I refused to go inside the coop, she thought she'd help me get over my fear of chickens by locking me in the coop, needless to say, the fear is now a phobia, and chickens are the worst for me!
So anyway, it was a strange day because of the birds, and I will never watch that scary bird movie. EVER.
Oh yes, I should mention that they were all there bacause a train hauling grain had passed by this morning, and it managed to spill a lot of grain all over the tracks in fromt of my office building. Trains often stop on the tracks right outside my office, I am not really sure why.

Papa's Pics.

Here are a few of my favorite photos of my Papa, I'll try to add some from when we were younger when I get areound to digging out my photo boxes.

Thinking Summer...

I have been thinking a lot about my Papa these past few months and remembering all the talks we had while together a few years ago, and I miss him. I didn't get to spend a lot of time with my Grand parents when I was growing up, but I do remember that every time they visited us in Kingston they took us to DQ for treats, and even in Medicine Hat Mom Papa and I used to walk over to DQ on a hot summer night and get treats, Papa always chose his favorite Dilly bar! I seem to remember a few treks over in the middle of the winter ( think - 20 ) to pick up a box of Dilly bars too! Papa always had a big grin on his face when he saw that box of treats! I think I may have inherited my sweet tooth from him! Anyway, Frank and I got to talking about a possible road trip out to Alberta this summer, so if we can both get some time off we'll be heading out to The Hat to spend a few days with Papa. I just hope we can manage to get the time off.
I am not at home right now so I can't add images to this post, but I will add some of my fav. Papa pics later this week/week-end.

Sunday Seven: A day late!!

I missed my Sunday Seven yesterday, so here it is; I love to read, and here are 7 books that I have read in the past and really enjoyed!

1) The Cladi Collection, by Tanith Lee. It is a 3 part book that I read this past fall, and I loved it so much I finished the entire collection in 8 days!
2) The Seventh Princess, I forgetthe Authors name, but I read it back in fifth grade, and I really enjoyed it. I have read it over and over again!
3) I love the Xanth series by Pierce Anthony, its fiction and a lot of fun.
4) I have recently started to ready Nora Roberts non-fiction work. I was drawn right into her books and an now reading a third book by her.
5) Charlotts Web, an all time favorite!
6) Beauty and the Beast, I got it in a hard cover special eddition for Christmas one year, it is covered in royal blue velvet with a satin book marker, I believe that the cover and the ribon made reading the book all the more enjoyable!
7) There are so many more books out there that I really enjoyed, but being only able to list one more ( it is the Sunday Seven afterall! ) I would have to say I love the Childrens collection of I Spy books and Where's Waldo books. It's always fun searching for things!

All You Can Eat.

Tonight a group of us went to an all you can eat Sushi restaurant for dinner, and man did the guys eat! Its a pretty nice place, and even though I only eat cooked things, Hike and Frank managed to eat enough for 4 people between the two of them! It was a fun night, but needless to say, both Hike and Frank are complaining of sore tummies tonight! I was originally planning a little Chocolate Fondue tonight while we watch a movie, but every one but me pigged out and I don't want to be the only one enjoying the Fondue, so it'll have to Wait for another night. I guess that is what I get for just eating enough to be comfortable full and not stuffed!

A Quiet Week.

There has been nothing much happening here this week, its been pretty quiet, though it has gone by pretty fast! Every morning this week I have hit "snooz" on my alarm because I didn't feel well when I got up, and every morning I thought I may head home from work early for the same reason, but each day I felt much better by mid morning. It seems there is a bug going around and I am fighting it pretty hard! I really don't want to get sick right now, especially since I am concentrating on other health issues right now.
WARNING!! Stop reading here if you are squeemish!!!
It appears that my pacemaker has shifted. Again. The last time this happened I had to have surgery to adjust it ( that took place on 9/11, I remember being in pre-op with my friend waiting for my surgery. I was prepped and the news was on, all Hell broke loose because Kingston is so close to New York that our hospotals were being closed for emergancy over flow ). Metal stitches were used to close the muscle pocket in order to keep the device in place, so how it managed to shift again is beyond me. So now I have a bump the size of a tennis ball ( imagine the ball cut in half, it sticks out that far ) on my chest with a sharp edge poking up under my skin. It is irritating right now, and I am hoping that it manages to fix its self very soon! I hate visiting the Dr.
So, I hope you are all having a more exciting week than I am, but you know, quiet weeks are nice now and then, especially ones that tend to go by fast!

Sunday Seven: Pet Peeves.

Ok, so I don't have a Thursday Thirteen like many other Bloggers do, but I think I may start my own personal Sunday Seven. So here goes:

7 Pet Peeves I Have:

1) Adults who go outside in cold weather and get all bundled up in boots, a hat, a scarf, nice warm mittens or gloves and a warm winter jacket, and they dress their kids in a spring jacket, running shoes, no mittens hat or scarf. While I was out today in -13 windchill, I saw this scenario 18 times.
2) People who spit.
3) People who talk on cell phones and yell into the receiver. Its like they forgot that it is a phone and not those tin can phones they made as children that are attached by a length of yarn.
4) People who walk directly in front of you just as you snap a photo.
5) Irresponsible pet owners. People who do not clean up after their pet and people who leave their pet outside all day/evening/night when he is barking to be let in ( happens every evening across the street where the dog stays outside tied to the front railing, and he barks for hours non stop. Rain, snow, hail, wind storm, hot and cold, he is always there ).
6) People who do not wipe the seat in a public bathroom. I mean, no body ever actually SITS on the seat, but at least clean it off anyway!
7) People who find it necessary to sit in the seat right in front of you at the movies when there are only a handful of other people there and PLENTY of seating room!

So, there are seven pet peeves of mine. and the funny thing is, I happened to encounter all seven of these things tonight!!!

Random Acts of Kindness.

Have you ever had some stranger do something really nice for you, for no reason at all, and not expect anything in return? I have, and for some reason I was thinking about some of those kind strangers from my past today and thought I'd share with all of you...
One year, on December 13th, I was on my way home from picking up a friend at the air port when my car broke down on the side of the Highway. It was 11:00pm and -35 outside, so the roads were pretty empty. We sat in the freezing cold car for an hour waiting for my mom to come get us, but because it was so cold outside, she was unable to start her car! Luckily I had an emergency woll blanket and an emergency foil blanket in the car, but it just wasn't enough to really keep us warm. All of a sudden, a huge 18 wheeler pulled up behind us and a man dressed in a warm red sweater and a Santa hat climbed out and offered us a ride back to the rest stop & motel we had passed about 25 min before the car broke down. He loaded us into his Rig while he told us that he had passed us a while back and thought he should stop. It took him a while to find a place he was able to turn his huge truck around, pass us going the other way, and then turn it around again to come up behind us. Once we were loaded safely into the truck, he turned around again about 15 min up the road, drove us the now 40 min back to the rest stop. We were so thankful for his help that words can not express our gratitude!
Another time I was being driven to the air port o catch a flight when Hikes truck broke down. Again, a truck driver stopped and picked me up and drove me to the City Limit of Calgary where he had a cab meet me to take me the rest of the way to the air port, and I just barley made the flight on time!
If you are avid blog followers, you all know about the Doll of a Hair Dresser who worked for almost 2 hours to get the brush out of my hair with out chopping it all off!
When Ontario had the Ice Storm ( '96?? ) we were without electricity for almost 8 weeks ( yes, I said eight weeks ), and so we had no television. One of the towns about a 40 min drive away who had electricity by then also had a small movie theatre, and so Alli & I went to see a show. The next night, we returned to see the movie that was showing on the second screen. The next night, out of sheer bordem we decided to go back and see the first movie again! When the man who owned the theatre saw us back again he laughed and we started up a conversation. Well, he offered to let us in with no charge considering the situation, and he never let us pay again for the shows when we went to see a movie. What a nice man!!
Do you have any random acts of kindness to share? I know that I myself have bestowed random acts of kindness on several strangers because I have been fortunate to have been the recipient of so many, only a few of which are mentioned here.

4' Lists; Things about me!

I was taged through my e-mail to list a few things about me that people may not know about me, so here goes!

4 Jobs that I have Had:

• Baby sitter: I started Baby-sitting when I was 12 years old and still baby sit now and then for friends and family.
• Waitress: I got my first waitressing job when I was 14 years old at the Local Restaurant in Seeley's Bay, the pay was pretty bad ( $5.00/hr under the table) but the tips were pretty good.
• Gas Station attendant at Esso. Now, this is a small town Esso so the station was actually a convenience store, pizza/frozen yogurt diner, video rental store and gas station all in one. And to add to the mess, it was on the corner of 2 major Highways in Ontario, Hwy #15 & Hwy #32. Talk about busy!
• Weight Loss attendant for Jenny Craig. I loved this position within the company, and while I held it I also managed to drop 40 lbs of my own! I was promoted to Program Director ( aka assistant manager ) upon my Vancouver Transfer, and didn't like that position ( or the people I worked under ) so I quit.

4 Places I Have Lived

• Kingston, Ontario
• Hull, Quebec
• Morden, Nova Scotia
• Burnaby, British Columbia

4 TV Shows I Like To Watch

• Grey's Anatomy
• Gilmore Girls
• Survivor ( I never watched this show until about 2 or 3 seasons ago, I was never into it until one night I was bored and that was all that was on, strange huh? )
• Reba ( I love this show, it is great for some laughs! )

4 Places I Have Vacationed

• Indiana, USA
• Disney World, USA
• New Castle, NB
• Victoria, B.C

4 Of My Favorite Foods

• Japanese Food ( the cooked stuff! )
• Sheppard's Pie
• Cereal in Milk
• Cheese Cake

4 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now

• Someplace that is not under 3 feet of snow and ice
• At a huge Family reunion ( I don't think I have seen very many of my relatives other than my mom, brother and sister in over 5 years now )
• Swimming
• Out taking photos of kids and/or animals

So, there are some things about me that you may not have known!

Bad Hair Day.

If you have ever had a bad hair that tops this one, please let me know!!! On Saturday night I decided that on Sunday I would sleep in before I tackled my To-Do List. Well, I did sleep in, until about 8:30am, at which time I decided I couldn't sleep anymore and so fixed a bowl of cereal and flipped on the TV to Chanel surf for an hour or so. I cleaned the kitchen ( check one task off my list ) and headed for the shower. A friend of mine stopped by shortly after I got out of the shower, and long story short, the round brush that I have ( and almost NEVER use ), ended up so tangled in my hair that I was sure it would have to be cut out. I worked on getting the brush out for about an hour, and then I had Frank work on it as well for another 2 hours. 3 hours after the brush found its way into my hair, we gave up. Now, keep in mind that I have pretty long, very thick hair. It was now 3:00pm Sunday, and my scalp was very sore and very bruised from all the attempts at untangling. Frank had even gone so far as to saturate my hair with Leave in Conditioner and cut all the bristles off of the brush! I was close to panic as we jumped into Franks car ( me with the hood of my jacket pulled up over my head to hide the brush and the tangled mess ) and started looking for a Hair Dresser that was open late on Sundays. We stopped at one place and I had a very bad feeling before we even went into the salon. I had resigned myself to the fact that my hair would have to be cut in order to get the brush out, but this lady was talking like it was going to be shaved off! No way!! I stared at Frank with tears in my eyes, and then he saw it: A small sign next to the cash register saying "We accept cash only" Hallelujah!! All we had was Visa and Interact! We headed for another Salon and I tearfully explained the situation to the Hair Dresser. She was very sympathetic as I told her I didn't want short hair, but that I knew it had to be cut out. Well, if she didn't spend over an hour loading my brush/hair with detangler and conditioner, and finally after snapping my brush in half ( I had already told her the brush was headed for the trash if I ever got it out ) and getting Frank to hold his hands over my scalp so that she didn't rip my scalp off while pulling all the hair out ) she managed to get the brush out! After another hour of massive amounts of conditioner and detangler, the three of us had managed to detangle the mess and save most of my hair! Now, my scalp is still very sore and very bruised, and I have some broken hairs etc, but its is still long, and its still almost all there!! Now, the Hair Dresser was truly an Angel, because when I went to the till to pay the bill ( intending to leave a huge tip! ), she waved us off stating that it was her good deed for the day, and that she really wouldn't even have known what to charge for the service! What a Doll she was!

A night at the Theatre.

Tonight Frank and I decided to go out and see the late show at the cheep theatre. The Prestige was showing at 9:00pm tonight so we arrived about 8:45, ordered our Diet Coke and Popcorn and headed in to find seats. The place was pretty empty when we arrived so seating was optimal, and by the time she show started, there was a cozy 15-20 people scattered through out the cinema. Frank was really into the show and I was trying to pay attention ( which was hard for me to do because I was getting bored until close to the end of the show when it started to get really good ). When the show was at its peak, good old Mother Nature struck again. The place was plunged into darkness, and when I say darkness, I mean it was PITCH BLACK. You could not even see your hand in front of your face. Now, I am scared of the dark as it is (sshhhh, please don't spread that around! ) but we were at a pretty sinister part of the movie and all of a sudden the place is in total darkness, and being as old as this cinema is, the emergency lights that most public places have to illuminate exits never came on ( safety hazard? Um, yes!). Nobody in the cinema moved for a full minute, and all of a sudden every one started to move and talk at once. Luckily another movie goer had a super strong flash light feature on his cell phone so he illuminated the entire place and escorted all of the patrons to the exit. Strangely enough, about 15 min prior to the black out, Frank noticed I was bored and asked me if I wanted to leave. Being the "Good Girlfriend" I told him, no, lets stay and see how it ends. I guess we'll have to rent the DVD when it comes out and watch the last half of the show. Maybe I should have taken him up on the offer to leave early?!

...A few more pics...

A few more shots to add to the Flash backs. When I look back at these old pics, I can't really see many changes in myself ( well, except for my weight!)
Enjoy the trip down memory lane!!!

A Blast From The Past!!!