Happy New Year to Everyone

I hope 2011 will be a peaceful year for the world.  It probably won't, but I can hope.

Resolutions?

I guess my resolution will be the same as it is every year:  Try my best to keep a Zen mind.

Winter is Here!

We finally got snow!  A tiny, tiny bit, but it's still snow!

Pigeons

The pigeons around Metrotown are so tame.  I can talk to them and they'll cock their heads and listen.  Of course people look at you funny when you do that...

Just a Question

Why do people precede a question with, "Question:"?

Should I yell back at them, "Exclamation!"?

Happy Boxing Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

What's Happening?

It's the winter here, and I saw a fly outside!  Jonesy's hanging out in the kitchen; I hope she hasn't picked up fleas again.

On a less worrisome note, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  I finally got home from work at about 21:00 (we had a lot to do for the Boxing Day ad,) and stayed up until midnight to give the cats their presents.  It's a good feeling that we actually have the store closed for a whole day today.

Walton and Jones loved their presents very much.  Today we're going to visit my mum, and my sister is cooking up a moose that my bil hunted.  My mum said she didn't want presents, so I just made her a handmade card.  It has dolphins on it, but they turned out looking like emaciated sword fish.  I need practice.

We're giving out copies of Guy's game for Christmas, and Tosca, my other sister's dog, is getting an edible Christmas card.  Tosca might be there, or she might be spending her Christmas with her dad, my sister's ex.  We also wrapped up a can of wet food for my bil's (the other one, not the one who got the moose) cat Franky.

I hope everyone likes the banana-thing-that-became-a-pudding too.  I hope everyone has a decent Christmas today.  Peace and love to everybody.

How the Banana Thing Turned Out

I think it's a pudding....

In other news, I read that my favourite MP won't be running again next time.  :(

One of my favourite city councillors might be running provincially though!

Baking

So I've decided to substitute bananas for peanut butter, since my mum doesn't like peanut butter.   We'll see how this works out.  Please cross your fingers.

Miscellaneous Odd Things

Last night was windy!  Not at work, or at home, but only at Production Station where I wait for the bus.  Very odd.  Not only was it windy, but the wind was singing too.  I thought maybe someone was playing their music out loud; I tried to see where the music was coming from.  I finally found out it was the wind; it sounded just like a lady's voice.

Last night I dreamt I was looking in a vanity mirror surrounded by light bulbs.  One of the bulbs blew up in my face and in that instant I woke up!  I'm glad I woke up; I don't want to know how the rest of the dream would have felt.

Happy December 2010 Solstice Everyone!

I hope everyone in the world has a wonderful winter/summer!

Cloudy Eclipse, Headaches at Work

How come whenever there's an eclipse, it's cloudy in Vancouver?  It was clear out last night; couldn't the eclipse have been last night?  The one thing good about the clouds though is we might get snow!

My pay stub at work seems to have magically disappeared all of a sudden.  My supervisor, the sweetie that she is, says she'll take a look and see what happened to it.  We'll try and figure things out from there.  I'm trying to get the HR lady to print it out, but she's so busy.  We need it to claim on Guy's disability pension.

For some reason these things happen just before Christmas.  Last year our hot water tank blew on the 23rd.  It keeps things interesting I guess.

23:30 Shift

I worked until 23:30 last night.  I'm certainly not used to that.  I slept 'til 10:30 this morning!

Yummy!

My bil hunted a moose for us for Christmas dinner; I love moose!  I'll of course say a prayer for the moose before I eat.  I'm better myself at hunting mousse...

Punch the Teacher

I like it in Karate when the teachers let you punch them.  I'm actually improving.  Now if I can do as well with my kicks I'll be laughing...

Christmas Potluck

There's one at Guy's open AA meeting tonight.  Of course I'm really going for the meeting right?  ;)  If I have time maybe I'll pick up some cookies from the store or something; I totally forgot about it!

Stupid Stomach

I like 222s better than Tylenol 1s because the aspirin relaxes the muscles more.  Only thing is, aspirin is hard on the stomach.  I'll maybe try and take them with a little milk next time.

Confusion

My supervisor mentioned she would like me to work next Friday and after Boxing Day, so I left her a note to ask her when exactly she wanted me to work.  (We've been working different shifts so I often don't see her.)  I haven't got any word back stating weather or not I'm working those days at all or if I am, what days, so I'm not sure what's going on.  I'll have to check on the schedule when she's working, and hopefully on Friday I'll be able to talk with her in person to see what's going on.

Something to Think About

Yesterday Guillaume (Guy) said that when he wants to know how people dealt with life before modern technology, he looks it up on the internet.

Celebrating Birthday Today

My mum will be taking Guy, her neighbour Carol and me out for dinner today.  (Dinner as in the main meal being in the middle of the day that is, some might refer to it as a "large lunch.")   I'll be extremely happy to see my mum again!

You Know You've Been Commuting Too Much When...

...the first thought in your head when you sit down in the warm train is, "It's good to be home..."

Really, I am Teachable

I got sent a free MP3 song for filling out a survey.  I played it, but I must have forgot to save it.  Doh!

Karate Thursday, 9/12/10

I learned to punch and kick harder last night.  I wish I had something to practice with at home.  Someone stole our punching bag.

New Kitty

When my sister and her partner bought their house, they found that it came with its own pet!  (Those are the best kinds of houses.)  Now they are the proud parents of a kitty named Franky.

Rowdy Birds!

They took the seed bell and knocked it off the table and pulled the stick out of the middle.  I tried my best to reconstruct what's left of it.  The things they do when I'm not looking...

Birthday

Tomorrow I'm going to be older than Methuselah 43!

New Shoes

I won a $50 gift card at work the night before yesterday.  I bought a much needed pair of shoes with half of it.  I unfortunately have a very bad habit of waiting until something completely falls apart on me before I replace it; I'm not sure why.

Happy St Nikolaus Day

I'll have to buy my cats muttluks one of these days so I can put treats in their shoes on St Nikolaus Day.  My bosses at work gave us each a chocolate letter; they said they couldn't find a K for Kirsten or an O for Okun, so they gave me an M for Merry Christmas...I think that's just lovely, but should I have told them my middle name is Anja?

Recipe

I found a Christmas recipe that's supposed to be cost efficient and easy to make; I'm going to have to tweak it though due my family's health concerns/ lifestyles/ personal tastes.  These are the original recipe ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg                                               

Now it will be:

1 cup some other kind of nut butter (My mum hates peanut butter.)

1 cup Splenda (A couple of family members have diabetes.)

1 free range carefully researched egg  (One of my sisters and brothers-in-law are vegan and have informed me that just because an egg is labeled as free range, doesn't mean the hen still necessarily gets a lot of space to move around in.)

There it is in a nutshell (no pun intended.)

Sleeping Like a Cat

I've been needing 11 hours sleep at night, and if there's time, I've been napping in the afternoon too.  Everyone needs different amounts of sleep; it's just rather odd.

Speaking of odd, the little white parrot at the refuge in Coombs can chew on my purse all he wants now.  The first time I found him in the petting room, I didn't have the heart to make him stop eating my purse, because he seemed to be having too much fun.  I finally bought a new purse, but I'll keep the other one to use when I go to the Parrot refuge so he can chew to his heart's content.

What I'm Learning in Karate

This is what I'm trying to accomplish:  Heian Yodan

Christmas Cards Done

They took a while to write because I only learned to speak German when I was little; living in English Speaking Canada I had ended up sticking with English mostly.  I do understand German though, and I can read at a grade six level.  I can read a book for adults, but it takes me a really long time and I need to use the dictionary a lot.

I had to trim my Tante Gerda's card a bit because it was a little too large to fit into an envelope.  It's a little handmade thing I did with GIMP.  I love GIMP.

I am Not Krispin

Apparently I've been told that at work I get confused with Krispin, our charity teddybear for this Christmas.  I'm Kirsten; he's Krispin.  (Spell check doesn't like either name.)  I can see where the confusion lies though, I do resemble a small black bear at times, especially personality-wise.

When Someone Understands What's Going on in this World...

...please let me know...Thank you.  Chuck Lorre's vanity cards aside, the world is a pretty confusing place.

Woke up Late Again!

I took my meds late by mistake last night.  My husband would let me sleep all day if I ended up doing that; thankfully my kitties wake me up.

Getting There

We have to go through some red tape, but soon Guy will be able to submit his game to Xbox.  (Calm down gamers, it's a 2d game...)

Happy Birthday to my Mother

I can't believe she's 77 already.  She can't believe she's 77 already!  My mother also reminded me that my uncle would have been 76 on Sunday.  He was the only other child my grandmother had with my grandfather, (my other aunt and uncle from my mum's side were her half-siblings,) but he died when he was a baby.

Herzlichen Glueckwuenschen zum Geburtstag Mutti; Guillaume, Walton, Jones und ich wuenschen Dir auch einem guten Tag und einem Wunderbaren Jahr.

Dark Mother

Poor lady was stuck in a blackout.  At least she has a gas fireplace.  Come on Pitt Meadows, get your lights back on!

On a much less annoying note, I talked to a very-good-acquaintance/ex-colleague-would-be-too-presumptuous-of-me-to-refer-to-as-friend on line last night; they have seemed to go from a depression to an enlightenment; that observation being reinforced by one of their blog entries.  Thank goodness; I was starting to worry...

Dream #1

I had a rather vivid and odd dream again.  I dreamt about a new fad in tattoos.  People were getting an implant installed in their third eye area.  It changed into different pictures, numbers and words...(None of which I remember unfortunately.)  Sometimes it would talk too.  I found out from someone that usually it was implanted by a coroner after someone's death, so they could send a message to their loved ones during the funeral.  Lately the fad was for living people to get one too though.

Spirit Boards

I would love to have one, but Guy says it's not a good idea.  I grew up with one and we never had any problems with it.  I think they're a wonderful item to have, but maybe not?

Big Bang Theory

We love that show so much!  We only started watching it recently though, so we'll have to catch up on repeats too.  I hope it runs a long time.

Beautiful

It's snowing outside!  I love snow.

I was thinking, if there's such a thing as ice seven, then there must be snow seven?

Whacky Train

Bad thing:  I got out late from work.  Good thing:  I got a ride to Skytrain.  Bad thing:  The train was delayed and I had to wait half hour for one to come by.  Good thing:  I made a good bus connection.  Bad thing:  I have to be at work at seven tomorrow...

And so the Stupidity Starts

North Korea attacked South Korea last night our time.  So much for the treaty.  This world scares me.

Dusty

I have to clean today.  The house needs it.  At least I can spend time at home for a change!

Good Find

I got $40 leather gloves for $17!  Talk about lucky....I love finding bargains!

Early Birthday Present

Guy gave me a shower radio for an early present.  I love it!  There's something about music and warm water that makes them go well together.

Early Snowfall

It's so beautiful!  Kind of early though; I'm still in coloured leaf mode.  We might pull out the air mattress again; it would be lovely to sleep outside on the balcony with the snow all around.

Pay Day

Gotta love it!

Evening Shift

We have to work until 23:00 today....Meh....At least I have Friday off!

Sluggage

I'm permanently doing the stock for luggage now.  I do like the change, but I have to get used to it again.  I spent the afternoon getting the basement organized because the stock down there is all over the place.

Little Fur Angel

I ran into a small squeezy thrashing around in the dumpster.  It ran out.  The lights in our neighbourhood are very dim, so I couldn't tell if it was a small Okun raccoon or a stray kitty.  If it was a kitty, it didn't want to stick around.  :(

Good Barely Still Morning

I can't believe I slept 'til 11:00!  Then that might have something to do with my going to bed at 2...

She's Back!

My sister and brother-in-law are back in town.  I'm looking forward to seeing them again.  Maybe I can even get my sister to trim my hair...

Price of Peanuts

I looked at the price of peanuts on Friday at Extra Foods; they were $5 for the bag!  I wanted to get them so the crows would have a treat too.  They'll have to wait until we find peanuts at a better price I guess.

Drizzly

It's cool and damp out, so we're just going to stay in today on my Sunday off.  Guy's still not 100% anyway yet.  We were going to buy bread that we forgot to get on Friday, (How can you forget to buy bread??), but we were still okay for breakfast this morning, and we can always have instant soup for supper tonight.  This afternoon for dinner, I think I'll take the "ground round" (it's Vegan) we bought, and add some veggies we have and cubed potato to it.  All in all, it's a day that's better for curling up with husband and cats.

Confusing Conversation

"After M*A*S*H."

"After *After* M*A*S*H, or after M*A*S*H?"

Decorative Mess

I'm looking through the closet looking for Christmas decorations.  Everything got a bit disorganized when we had to have the inspectors in looking for leaks in outside touching closets.  We were going to Nanaimo at the same time, so everything got tossed out of the closet and put back just about the same way.  Eventually everything will be in order again though; it's still pretty early.  If someone from US ends up reading this and doesn't know:  Our Thanksgiving is in October, we have Rememberance Day as a holiday and then the next main holiday after that is Christmas.

Random Thoughts on a Sad Day

Jay, Chickadee, Woodpecker, and Junco came so far today.

*********

I had bad leg cramps last night.  I'm not sure why, I've been taking a multivitamin with potassium.  Thankfully I'm okay now.

*********

My father was in WW II with the Axis.  He was with the German navy.  He was on a minesweeper that got bombed, so he became deaf in on ear.  His friend covered him to save him from dying in the bombing, but as a result his friend died.  My father was also a POW, first with the Red Russians, and then he got transfered to the British.  He often had nightmares.

*********

I love poppies because they're a symbol of peace.

Update on Guillaume (Guy)

Guy went to the doctor and found he has pneumonia, so he's taking extra strength antibiotics now.

When I was meditating yesterday at the balcony door, Jay (as in the bird) came to visit.  The poor thing was all damp.  He did enjoy his seeds though!

Make Way for Lily

I'm so excited!  My friend and her husband from South Carolina are looking for homes to buy in Greater Vancouver.  I hope they find something soon.

AIM Pain

I'm trying to enable my AIM account, but it says my password is incorrect, though Guy swears up and down that he entered it just as I spelled it.  He'll take a look at it later; not a big deal.  It's just a little annoying.

In other news, last week sometime I photocopied my schedule from the wall of the switchboard office and gave it to my merchandising supervisor.  The schedule stated that I wasn't working switchboard yesterday or today, so my merchandising supervisor gave me yesterday and today off, and had me work the rest of the days I wasn't working switchboard, to give me a full five days (yes, I have to work on Rememberance Day....*sigh*)

I got a phone call last night from the switchboard supervisor; she told me I was supposed to be working last night and tonight.  What a screw-up!  I guess technically it's the switchboard supervisor's fault; she changed the schedule without telling me or my other supervisor, but I don't blame her since she has such a workload on her hands.  She wanted me to come in tonight, but now I can't because my other supervisor booked me in a full five days, and it wouldn't be fair to her if we started playing around with the schedule again.  I think we have to all work on our communication....

Tante Gerda

I talked to my mum last night and found out my Tante Gerda is doing much better.  She has to take enzymes now because they had to take out the head of her pancreas.  I'm glad my aunt's a fighter; I want her to stick around for a long time if she's willing.

*Hack*

Guy's cough still isn't better.  He's been taking cold FX; hopefully that'll help somewhat.  He has to see the doctor soon to get his meds refilled anyway; maybe she can suggest something for him.  He's already been on antibiotics and steroids though, what else is there left?  He's had this bug forever it seems.

?

Now it seems to have disappeared from my profile completely....*lol*

On the Other Hand...

The warning comes up on its own before the other blog appears, so I can take this thing off of mine now!

Added a Warning

I added the adult content warning on my blog, only because the blog I'm following publicly has adult content in it.  :P

*Zzzz*

I worked fifteen hours yesterday.  I was like a zombie today.  I'm glad this retrofit is over for the year!

Crunch Day

I only worked ten hours yesterday.  Today is the last day to get everything polished and perfect though.  I think it might end up being a very long day.

And Now it Starts

I got home late last night from work, and now I'll get in as early as I can (I won't make 6:30.)  One of us worked a 16 hour shift yesterday; most 12.  We'll see what today has in store!

Hope Everyone had a Wonderful Hallowe'en

We got quite a few children at the door:  dragons, a ninja, and a whole bunch of others.  It was fun!  I love Hallowe'en.

On another note, I have hardly had time to go to Karate classes with my extended work hours.  I'm trying to learn Heian Yodan.   I've been following it on Youtube, but even when the Sensei in the video goes slowly it's hard to follow! 

Happy Hallowe'en

I slept from 1:00 - 11:30 pretty much straight, and this morning I figured out why.  After four months, I got my period again!  By the time I understand this menopause thing, it'll be over!

I put out some cereal for passing spirits, since spirit activity increases on Hallowe'en.  The crows and jays can have some blessed cereal that way too then.

Our neighbours are moving today.  I hate it when people leave.  :(  It looks like the new family moving in is Japanese.  Maybe they're Buddhists.

I hope everyone and their friends and family have a wonderful Hallowe'en!  We'll be opening the door for children tonight.  I love looking at all the costumes; I saw a whole bunch on the train and the bus when I was coming home from work last night!

And Then

I ended up doing my old job last night anyway!  *hee*

Safety Boots Make Your Legs Stiff

I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday, which I'm not used to anymore, but the money will certainly come in handy.  My supervisors and manager have decided to take me mostly out of admin, and put me in stockwork again in luggage, and handbags too.  This is fine, but I've never dealt with handbags, and with the retrofit I don't even know where they are....And I have to set up the ads for those departments today!  I will be the backup person for making signs still; I have no idea who they'll get to do that tonight.  I will still help run switchboard, and the supervisor for switchboard/ catalogue wants me trained in catalogue too.  I must admit, I'm looking forward to the increased hours.  My manager made a joke that I'll be a manager soon too.  I certainly hope it was a joke; I have trouble disciplining pets and small children, let alone a department full of rowdy adults!

*Brr*

It seems not only is one of the side effects of my meds breaking out into a sweat, but a cold sweat as well.

Land Before You Kick

I don't know if I think I'm Jacky Chan or what, but in Karate class I tried to jump back at an angle and kick; only I forgot to land first before I kicked!  Needless to say, I didn't exactly keep my balance...  :/

Peanutbutter and Muesli

It's got cool enough outside that it's time to feed the birds again!  We get crows, jays, chickadees and juncos.  We've propped up the mattress against the wall so it doesn't get completely messed up, and when Guy feels better he'll deflate it and put it away.  He needs television on to help him to sleep; now that he's bought a CD Rom for his netbook, he can listen to movies with the earplug in, and we'll be able to sleep outside more next summer!

Rain Warning

The Weather Network issued a rainfall warning.  Our water sheds could use a top-up.  It's also much better for my hands this weather; my skin doesn't break open and I don't bleed all over everything.  When I see the doctor on Wednesday for my flu shot, I'll ask her if she can maybe prescribe me some heftier cortisone again.  We do have gloves in our office (nonlaytex), but they're way too big for anyone's hands I think! 

Zen

Work was peaceful today; I'm not used to that.  I spent a good portion of the day dead filing.  It was actually refreshing.

Caramba!

We had to work to 23:30 last night.  The only way I could get everything caught up was to not go on a break. :P  I'm glad I managed to sleep 'til 10 this morning.

The Whole Day Long...

I couldn't get Uncle John's Band out of my head.  It's a good thing I really like the song, or else I think I would have gone nuts.  Come to think of it, I still can't get it out of my head!

New Kittens

Everyone I know is getting new kittens.  As much as I love kittens, it would be a lot easier if people just got their pets fixed.  I'm only allowed two fur bearing pets myself, which I have (not including my husband.)

Raccoon

I saw the most adorable raccoon this morning.  I said hello to him and he looked at me with his big, shiny eyes.  Then he scrambled up a tree!

Finally

Guy is still sick (the doctor put him on steroids), but I'm finally better.  I can clean house now thank goodness!  A clean home will help Guy get better too.

Too Cute

http://current.com/entertainment/music/90510900_youtube-catcerto-entire-performance-mindaugas-piecaitis-nora-the-piano-cat.htm

Sleepy

Today was wonderful, aside from Guy having a coughing fit.  He seems to be alright now.  I think he just needs to rest some more.

I had a very lazy day; my favourite kind of day.  I sat outside on the mattress on the balcony in the afternoon with Jonesy.  We watched squirrels collect pine cones.

Daniel and Shelley came over; I haven't seen them in ages.  It made me very happy to see them again.  I can't believe Shelley's granddaughter is six already.

I called my mum and found out from her that my sisters are both fine; Maureen wants to get her house built soon, but she has to get all kinds of permits and such first.  Nicole and Frank have made it to Kitimat.  Aside from a leak in their trailer things are going pretty smoothly for them.

I'll be going to sleep soon; I have to take the 5:40 bus to work tomorrow.  So peace to everyone in the multiverse, and goodnight to everyone in my time zone.

Thought I'd start a blog on Google too...