Woohoo!

Wow, what a week!

Okay, so first! I GOT THE JOB IN OTTAWA!!!!

Yeah me!

Then, the week gets a little hard, because I left Jingle to vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's for a few weeks so that was hard. But, apparently she's having loads of fun and settling in nicely.

Then, last night, in class, I was voted by the class as the breakthrough presentation of the night!

Yeah me!

So just to explain the last one a little bit more, each week we vote on two people to gain recognition. First is the person to most effectively communicate. The second is breakthrough (which basically means, who stepped out of their comfort zone and bring the whole class with them). Last nights assignments were all based on enthusiam. We had to present two things where we used a great deal of enthusiams, to the point of exaggeration. Apparently I did well.

And as for the job, I'm very excited. It's a good job, position created for me (not one they had) and it's regular hours, steady pay, a nice change.

So there's my weekly WOOHOO!!!!

I've lost my mind!

Or maybe I finally found it! Not sure which.

But, I've gone and done it either way.

"WTF IS SHE TALKING ABOUT???"

Okay, okay, I'll explain! Yeesh people!

What have I done? I've quit my job. And I'm moving.

You all know work has been rough lately. Not bad really, just that things aren't growing as fast as we all thought and I'm working too much. After a few months of not sleeping, working through most nights to get things done, and not making what everyone anticipated, I finally had a breakdown. I felt awful, tired, depressed, wipped out. I felt like, well, kinda like this....

So I quit! Done, bye bye, so long. And I really have no idea what I'll do next for a job, but I don't really care. I know I'm good at my craft, my family is supportive, I'm not worried.

So, to top it off, I'm moving, with Jingle. I'm uprooting my little girl and taking her away. We're heading to Merrickville. Invading Mom and Dad's basement, moving it all. Now, most parents would be all "crap, the kids are moving back in" but not our parents. In fact, it was their suggestion and seeing them doing so much better, I realized it might just be what I need to turn things around. Jingle will have her best friend back (Peewee) and Holly might get a break. And, since we're going to be in the basement, Jingle can learn a new skill too. Don't get me started, I'm trying not to think about it.

Plus, I'll have my best friends back. Dad with his great music, always ready for a good time. Mom with her calm demeanor, who loves to curl up on a couch and relax or read (usually with a Sudoku book in her hands). Not mention.... HOME COOKED MEALS!!!!!

And I've already told Chantelle and Adam and they seem excited. Chantelle knows how wonderful our parents are and knows I'll love being close to them again. And Adam would be supportive of anything really. He just loves us all, no matter what!

So, here's the official notice! Christmas will be at my place this year in London (you'll have to excuse the boxes because we're moving right afterwards) and it will be fun. Then off to a new life, a new start, dragging little Jingle with me. We have some resumes out in the Ottawa area now, I know something great will turn up. Just wish us luck! Cheers!

Egg Ramble

Yeah, that's exactly what this is, a ramble on eggs.

Eggs are much unappreciated really, seriously misunderstood. And yet, they are sooooo good for you!

But they are an odd little thing really. For starters, you need to get past the fact that an egg in a unproduced chicken. EWW!

But, get past that and wow, they are so cool!

They can be used at any meal, not just breakfast. They are delicious, versatile, and an excellent source of protein!

Breakfast, wow, great for breakfast and easy and quick too. It takes about 30 seconds to fry an egg, less time than it takes my toaster to do the toast. And if you're worried fat and calories, put water in the bottom of a non-stick pan instead of butter. It'll keep the eggs from sticking and help you get that nice gooey centre that we all love running into our toast.

Or how about scrambled. What can you NOT do with scrambled eggs. You can have them plain. You can add ham, corned beef, peppers, mushrooms, whatever really and make an omlete. Or westerns! Mmmmm, on toast with ketchup. Yummy! How about adding a little breakfast sausage, some onions and peppers, a little cheese and putting it all into a fresh wrap! Breakfast burrito! Great with coffee on a Sunday morning.

Next time you do a stirfry for dinner, try adding an egg or two to the mix. Eggs add a great flavour, help the rice stick together, and add tons of protein!

Quiche, a highly misunderstood meal, and tasty!

And that's just a few ideas. I know that in Ontario, the Dairy & Poultry associations release countless egg recipies, check your local associations for more. They really are a great addition to any meal. And now with Omega 3 eggs and other varieties, you can get much more from them.

Have fun with eggs people! The eggs will love you for it!

ROFLMAO!!!

Some creative genius with way to much time on their hands has created a video that is absolutely hilarious. A take off of an old Muppet's clip, it's redesigned on video game characters from World of Warcraft and chat lingo.

Let's just say, I was ROFLMAOing while watching this. Enjoy!

Halloween!

So Halloween is approaching and because many of the people in our night class, including the instructors, are parents, it was decided that we would take the night off and finish the class a week later in December.

So, now I have a free night to spend with the kittens! Question is, what are we going to do? How do you make Halloween fun for cats?

Usually, on Halloween, I curl up with all the snacks you shouldn't eat (you know, that spare bag of candy you picked up for the "trick or treaters" in case you didn't have enough with the first 8000 chocolate bars you bought). I pull out a case of pop, not caring about sugar or calories. I grab my favorite quilt, my best horror movies and I enjoy a night of fear.

But see, Peewee doesn't seem to like horror movies. Jingle doesn't really either but as long as she can hide under the quilt in my lap, she's happy.



So, with only two weeks to go, I need some advice. Enjoy my horror night and scare the crap out of the cats? Or enjoy a night of Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life and Harry Potter and please the "kids"?

Any suggestions?

Jingle and Peewee, part 2...

"Oh where, or where has my sanity gone. Oh where, oh where can it be?"

Oh, what an eventful few days. So lets start with the first night, with Peewee sorting through my fruit bowl at 3am. The ensuing conversation with our father....

"Don't worry honey, Peewee hates bananas, he's just curious."
"Okay Dad, I'll take your word for it."

The next night, I hear Peewee on the counter again in the middle of the night. I ignore it, trusting my father. I wake up the next morning to find a mangled, chewed banana on my kitchen floor. Poor banana. What a brutal death.

Then, there's Jingle, all snuggled up on her pillow at night. Peewee decides "I'm going to curl up the cute chicks on the bed, maybe get a scratch. There's half a bed for me anyway, Jingle only takes up one pillow and that silly human who always kisses me only takes the other half of the bed." So instead of sleeping alone in the living room, he decides to join. He barely lands on the bed and Jingle, only lifting her head up, starts hissing like mad. Peewee promptly turns and runs to the condo in the living room with his tail between his legs. Poor Peewee.

Then, Jingle decides she's going to put yet more toys in the water bowl (after it's 5th cleaning for the day) and this time, instead of just drinking around them like he always does, Peewee puts his paw on the side of the bowl and tips it over to release the toys from their watery grave, then tips the bowl back over to take a drink, forgetting that the water drained with the toys. Poor Me.

I came home from work yesterday and stepped in the door and promptly kicked a decorative tin. The same decorative tins that reside on the top of my kitchen cupboards. Fearing the worst, I step over the tin and head to the kitchen and low and behold, there's three more tins on the floor/counter/sink. Complete with fresh new Peewee dents. Poor tins.

So tonight I come home after my class. It's 10:45pm, I'm exhausted, hungry, and ready for bed. I walk in and find Peewee waiting for me, meowing for a scratch or hug or any kind of attention. Letting me know that after having a mother who stays at home most of the time, it is entirely not okay for me to be gone for 15 hours. Just as I lean down to pet him, Jingle comes bounding around the corner and racing down the hall to greet her mommy and when she gets about 4 feet away from us, Peewee whips around a lets our a hiss that clearly said "Buzz off, she's mine right now." After a moment of shock, Jingle hisses back and stalks away to the bedroom. Poor Jingle.

But now, it's 1am, and I have watched the cats play together, each come up in turns for scratches and rubs on the couch while I chill a little before bed, and kiss each other on the noses. And you know what? All that stuff above? I wouldn't change any of it for the world. That's the stuff that keeps cat lovers on their toes, that makes our pets our kids, family, not just animals.

So bring it on you two! What new event am I going to celebrate and laugh over next time?

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

So, Jingle and I had company this weekend. Mom and Dad (Grandpa and Grandma to Jingle) came for the weekend and brought Peewee and Holly. It was so wonderful to have them. They arrived late on Friday and we immediately cracked open the beer and rum. On Saturday, mom and I did some running around, Dad has his own running around to do. Then they left to have dinner with their friends John and Karen to celebrate John's 60th birthday. While they were gone, I had grand plans to watch a great Disney movie that the three "kids" would enjoy but by the time I got halfway through my own dinner, with one cat beside me on the couch sleeping, another on the top of the couch sleeping and yet another in the cat condo, you guessed it, sleeping, I lasted all of another 5 minutes before the infectious sleep took over and before I knew it, the parents were back and the cats hadn't moved. But, you know what? A wonderful nap with the cats was more than needed and totally enjoyable. Even if I couldn't move after being squished onto one half of the couch. Someone please explain to me why a tiny 7lbs cat needs a whole half of a couch to sleep when she fits into a cereal box!

So the parents returned and with mom's help, we fixed a treat for lunch the next day. Since we couldn't be together for Thanksgiving and I knew they wanted to hit the road fairly early so they wouldn't be back too late, I planned a thanksgiving dinner for lunch. A wonderful boiled ham with carrots and potatoes, slow cooked in the crock pot. And I got an Apple Pie and Pumpkin pie for desert. Although the parental units seemed to enjoy it, it delayed their leave as the meal seemed to cause them to both need a nap. But it was worth it.

So they leave, to head to TO to see my sister and her husband, and I turn around to find.... Peewee! They left him behind! So Jingle and I have a new roommate for the next month until we meet again for my birthday!

Okay, okay, we planned it ahead of time, they didn't forget their cat. Everyone needs a little Peewee company every once in a while so we all decided that Peewee would come stay at the resort for a while. Give me some extra company, play with Jingle, get a little break from Holly (okay, give Holly a break from him really). So after a day on our own, I was anticipating broken dishes, half eaten fruit, books on the floor, anything that Peewee could "explore" and get into. Thus, the humour of Peewee. So I come home from work and low and behold........... nothing. Jingle is still asleep on top of the fireplace, and Peewee is still asleep in the condo. Yeesh. I guess the weekend really wore them out. And instead of two cats coming to greet me at the door, I get half open eyes and a look from each saying "Oh, it's you" before promptly returning to sleep.

I'm not worried though. I think after a few days here, the two will get their energy back, start fighting and playing. Go back to pushing each other around for the softest warmest spot on the bed.

So welcome to our home Peewee. Now, the only thing to figure out, is how to keep you around another month until Christmas. But I promise you we'll have fun. Jingle, don't bite Peewee's ear. Peewee! That teacup isn't a toy! Jingle, jumping on Peewee isn't very nice. Peewee, don't eat the bananas!

You know what, I better go sort this out. Cheers!

Dancing With The Stars

Just wanted to say, I've watched DWTS since the beginning and have seen many wonderful performances, fun, sad, great, wonderful. You name it.

But, I must say, I'm not sure I've seen many dances more elegent than Jane Seymour and Tony dancing the Veniese Waltz to Piano Man. It wasn't a perfect dance and they didn't get the best score, but, Jane Seymour is just so naturally beautiful and elegent and watching her waltz was, in my opinion, breath taking.

Just wanted to say that.

We need more time!!!

Phew! As if Jingle and I weren't busy enough with work. Now, we have more work and a weekly night class too! So this means that we have basically no time to blog.

But, we'll try to catch everyone up.

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone I didn't talk to this weekend.

So yes, work has been crazy, still haven't had a holiday, but hopefully soon I will. But it hasn't been too bad. Work is good. Just need to keep plugging.

And I've started the Dale Carnegie course too. It's a leadership and management course. For the post part, the course is about communication. So each week, we do a series of small speeches and presentations. Not nescessarily about work, just in general. It's a really great course and I'm loving it. Each week the trainers really force you out of your comfort zone. But everyone is very encouraging and so you can't help but feel safe. You know that no matter what, you're not going to be judged and so you feel safe to say anything. So it has been wonderful.

And talk about small world too. Not only is there a wonder girl in the class who happened to attend St. Mary's school with Chantelle and I, who I haven't seen since grade 8 (she was a year behind me), but I found out there is a young man there too who is a friend of Tyler's, my cousin and another man my age who is best friends with Val's brother! I was a little scared at first knowing that these people knew me and considering how open we need to be in the course, but like the others, they are wonderful and completely non-judgmental.

And Jingle of course has been wonderful as always. She is still using the pillow on the bed as her new home, spending most of her nap time and the night there. It's still sweet but I'm still occassionally waking up to find she's turned around and I'm nose to butt with her. And other times, she decides she wants to get closer and move to my pillow and lay against my face. This is usually promptly followed by me waking up in a panic because I'm suffocating. But she means well. But in short. Just is just as happy and bubbly as ever. What a godsend in these stressful times.

So that's us, not really a whole lot to report and we've just been busy, but that is us nonetheless.

Hope everyone else is doing well. It looks like you all have been busy too. Chantelle, I love the new website, I'll get on to post a comment soon.

Love you all!

My gripe with Cartoons!

Okay, so a teeny little bout of insomnia has been keeping me up at night for, oh, just a week, nothing really.

In a desperate attempt to be either bore myself to sleep or keep my sanity, I've been tuning into the Family Channel in the wee hours, one of the few networks that has programming 24 hours rather than infomercials, which tend to keep me awake, or shows that I'm far to embarrassed to watch.

During the last few nights, er mornings, er whatever! I came to a conclusion that I didn't realize actually bothered me this much. And since the Family Channel is 90% Disney, I guess Disney gets picked on.

Who, in cartoon world, gets to decide which animals are allowed to talk and which animals are subject to being pets to other animals?! It's unfair I tell you! And no quoting C.S. Lewis Chantelle, those animals were real, not cartoons.

For example, Goofy, I do love Goofy. But who decided that it was fair for Goofy to wear clothes, have a job, a son (did we ever find out who Max's mother was?), a house, a car, other animal friends, and an ability to talk (well, sort of) and Pluto has to walk on all fours, can only bark and growl, eat gruel, and has to be mastered by a rodent (no offence Mickey). Like, really, is that fair? They're both dogs! Doesn't Pluto ever get jealous having to look at Goofy when he visits?

But that's just one example. There are so many situations where cartoon animals have pets. We wouldn't walk around with naked humans on leashes would we? Well, not normal people and not in public, who knows what happens in some of those wacky clubs. But still, it'd be the same thing wouldn't it?

It's perfectly fine for humans to have pets, as long as we treat them well and love them. But isn't it incredibly degrading for pets to be owned by animals. IT'S CRUELTY I TELL YOU!!!

Jingle would have a panic attack if her owner was a giant mouse!

So there, I said my peace, I may start a movement, or I may get some sleep and regain my sanity. We'll see.

Elizabethtown

This post is really more about a personal wish than the movie, but I figured I better explain the movie a bit.

I originally figured I'd watch the movie purely because it starred Orlando Bloom, but it ended up being a really sweet, very quirky, completely adorable movie. It's basically about a guy, who father passes away, and his journey to retrieve his father's body, plan a funeral and in the meantime, meet the girl of his dreams (Kirsten Dunst). I highly recommend the movie, it's really cute.

So, how does this movie turn into a personal wish? Well, you have to watch the movie to find out the details, but lets just say, it has one of the best funeral memorials I have ever seen. Sadly, I have been to many funerals, but I usually don't find them sad. Yes, I mourn for loved ones, but as my family knows, it's more about celebrating them and their lives to me than it is missing them.

Well, Elizabethtown has a scene, which is the memorial/funeral of the lead characters father. And its exactly what I would want for my own memorial. It became a party, a celebration. The Widow ended up giving a beautiful speech that was more of a comedy act. She ended up dancing and singing and enjoy life. A nephew of the deceased got on stage with his rock band and brought down the house. By the end, everyone was laughing and celebrating and enjoying themselves, and those around them. Okay, so ignore the fact that the whole memorial went down in flames, literally. I wouldn't want a paper dove setting on fire and ending the celebration early. But, the point would be, I wouldn't want people to be sad. Bring in a band, bring in a Karaoke Machine. Serve breaded mushrooms and wine (my family would understand that one). Just be together, remember the good times, not just with me, but every good time in your life. There is a big difference between tears of sadness, and tears of joy. You would all get your time to mourn me in your own way, but together, cry tears of joy. Be Happy! Celebrate.

Now, as I don't plan to have this day come for a great many years, I don't want anyone making plans right now. But as I don't think the internet is going anywhere anytime soon, this will hopefully be here as a reference 70 years from now. (Yup, that'd make me 98, I'm not optimistic enough for 100, so 98 it is). Or maybe a loved one will simply read this and remember this for the future.

The reality is, none of never know when our time is coming, so each moment should be lived to the fullest. That's not always easy, and we all fail at that task sometimes, but it's worth trying. And it's important to be prepared. Not live in fear of dying, but make our wishes known.


That's my wish.

New foods, gotta try it!

Okay, so the weekends are my time to let loose and really cook well. You know, make the stuff that takes hours, that you just can't make during the week unless you want to eat at midnight. But, in trying to eat healthy and still have a decent meal during the week, I tend to try things that are quick and easy and see how they well they work out.

Now, I rarely eat beef or steaks, not really my thing, but I'm a constant fan of the Lou's Roast Beef au Jus. Pull it out of the freezer in the morning, nuke for 7 minutes at dinner time and you have a fair serving of beautifully shaved Roast Beef, free of fat and sinue. And a delicious au jus to join it. Boil few potatoes, mash up with my instant garlic potatoe powder (thanks Peewee for buying me that, use it all the time), and cook some veggies and you have a great meal in less that 20 minutes. And if you are only 1 or 2 people, you'll have plenty of meat for Roast Beef Sandwhiches the next morning. Maple Leaf makes a good beef in gravy but I like the Lou's for the au jus. It's lighter and more flexible.

I'm also not really a turkey lover but since it's so good for you, I try to find ways to sneak it in every once in a while. So I found another 10 minute meat. Maple Leaf's Turkey Breast in Sundried Tomato and Oregano Sauce. Yes, it is a decadent as it sounds. And it's a big honking Turkey Breast. You could easily cut this thing up for 4 people and it's only $4.97 at Walmart.

The meat dinners are huge in the stores right now but if you look at the ingredients on the packages, they really are not as bad as you would think. They are not as loaded with preservatives as I thought they would. Any fresh meat is always better but if you can't spend hours roasting a beef yourself during the week, you can rest assured that these will do the trick, just make sure you serve it with some healthy goodies like veggies.

And the final discovery for the past little while. I have officially found the best frozen perogies. Okay, so you can really only eat perogies on days when you're not worried about calorie intake, but every good Ukranian needs perogies occassionally to keep our Ukranian blood flowing. It's a requirement. And they are versatile. But, as anyone who has made them knows, it's not practical to make perogies at home all the time. So to get our fix, we try to find good frozen perogies, which isn't always easy.

Well, again a Walmart invention, I haven't seen them anywhere else yet, there is a brand that truly takes the cake. Cheemo Perogies. They come in 2kg bags for $3.97 (not bad if you ask me) and they are extremely flexible for cooking. Stuffed to the brim, they boil very well for your traditional butter and onions meal, they fry perfectly, and for a special treat, wrap them with butter and margarine in tinfoil and bbq them. Mmmm, yummy.

So there you go, so new food ideas for you all (unless you've already tried these or don't have a walmart to buy them at).

Jingle, again...

Okay, I think we've left the birthday wishes up long enough, I'm sure my father has seen it by now, so now, back to blogging.

So Jingle has a new thing for sleeping lately. It appears that the bed is just now enough for her for sleeping. Now, she has decided that she needs to sleep on the pillow. It's quite cute actually, and quite nice to wake up with her adorable face and loving eyes right in my face (unless she's facing the other way, then I wake up really quickly). Only problem... the pillow is starting to get a permanent groove in it that I can't seem to fluff out, and now I need to wash my sheets every day or so. It was fine when it was just me on the sheets, I don't shed much, but now, after a day, I have one very furry pillowcase and some slightly ruffled sheets. There goes my hydro bill. Cold Water Tide, here we come, save the day!

Again, its actually quite cute, but before, I at least had hope that Jingle would settle for sleeping between me and my yet-unmet-future-husband. Now that she needs a whole pillow to herself, I'm either going to need a Kingsize bed with lots of pillows, or I'm going to be sleeping alone for the rest of my life.

Someone said to me the other day, "why did you ever let her on the bed, now she'll never leave and she'll control the bed". Well, to that person, all I can say is, even though I may gripe a little about Jingle's control over the bed, I couldn't imagine it any other way. It just wouldn't be the same if she slept in the living room all night long.

So there is my new little Jingle thing. Man, do I love that cat!

Happy Birthday to Granpa!!

So mommy has gone to bed and I finally get another chance to write my own blog. Today was grandpa's (mommy's Dad's) birthday! I got a chance to wish him a happy birthday on the phone yesterday as mommy called him, but I wanted to officially put it in writing.

So happy birthday Grandpa, I hope Holly and Peewee spoiled you on your special day!

And here's to many more birthdays!

Love you,
And mommy loves you too, but she's asleep right now and can't say that for herself.

Jingle

Wishlist!

So many many people are trying to come to terms with the expected release date of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on DVD.

The date has been announced, revoked, announced again and then completely unknown.

As our pals at Wonderday.ca announced in one of their blogs, the newest rumour is that the release will be November 12th of this year.

I'm only going to say one thing about this: If this is true, and this is the release date, it's awfully close to a certain bloggers birthday. HINT, HINT, HINT!!!

And if anyone doesn't understand that, or get the hint, then I give up and no one really knows me.

Goodnight all of you!

Jingle has a crush!

It appears that CGI technology in movies has become too real as Jingle now officially has a crush on CGI movie character.

We decided that it would be nice to watch a no brainer movie and decided on the new release, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties. The movie itself is cute enough. Cheesy, but cute. With Garfield being the only CGI character and all other humans and animals being real, it's fun to watch the cat's antics. And I've always liked the big orange cat. Well, Jingle was completely captivated by the movie and everytime Garfield appeared onscreen, Jingle would meow. Paw the screen and roll over on her belly. And she only did this for Garfield.

So I can only assume, that my little girl is growing up, and has a crush. Ain't that cute....

So if the real Garfield is out there somewhere reading this, I think I have a fan over here that would love to meet you! Bring Odie if you wish.

Catnip marinated Watermelon Gum anyone?

Mmm, sounds yummy.

Yep! You guessed it, Jingle is at it again! So I've been working some long hours lately (well, longer than normal) and it appears my little girl is getting restless having her mommy gone for so long. So after a day in Windsor, with four hours of driving, dinner being a few hours late and totally wiped out from the 35 degree day, I come home to this....



Doesn't that look delicious! So what do we have here in Jingle's infamous water bowl? Well, a pink tennis ball with a bell inside, a pink catnip mouse which started to disolve in the water, and a full pack of Excel Fuse watermelon gum. Yummy. And just in case any of you are thinking of a home experiment, let me just tell you now that those crazy packs of gum are not water proof. So I wound up with 12 pieces of soggy catnip infused gum, which promptly went in the garbage.


I'm completely at my wits end now. I just cannot figure out the fascination she has with putting 'stuff' in her water bowl! Is it constant accidents? She just happens to loose grip on her toys as she walks past her water? Does she just like playing in water? What is it!?!?!?


So I throw the gum out, put the toys on the counter to dry, clean the water bowl, fill it with fresh cold water, go to the bedroom to change and come back out to the ball and mouse promptly back in the water bowl. Yeesh!


So after repeating the above steps again (minus the gum removal) I called Jingle's grandmother in complete frustration to request help. Her suggestion? Leave some water in the bathtub and put some toys in it. If she just likes to play with toys in water, maybe she'll leave her water alone then! So, I will sadly try this, and see if it makes any difference. So if you come and visit and use the bathroom, don't bother asking why there are cat toys in the bathtub, okay?

I've been told... yeesh!

Believe or don't believe me but I swear this 100% true. I told you already of Jingle's weekend antics and I let it be known that she was bad. Apparently Jingle didn't appreciate that because I came home to a pretty clear message from her today. Very amused, slightly terrified, and loving my cat more then ever, she found a way to get her point across. I've been slowly reading "Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul" since Christmas. Reading a story here and there. I keep the book on my nightstand. I came home today to find the book on the floor and open to a page. At first I thought "she's at it again" but as I picked up the book I noticed the page it was open to. A story I hadn't read yet. I'm going to share it with and you tell me if it's coincidence or not. I'm thinking not.

The Cat's Bill of Rights by Michael Ruemmler

I am the cat, and I have certain inalienable rights"
I have the right to walk over your face anytime I wish, day or night.
I have the right to observe and comment on any and all bathroom behavior. Further, I have the right to be highly offended by any closed door.
I have the right to smell your shoes to determine if you have been fraternizing or cavorting or frolicking with any highly questionable animals.
I have the right to assist in any food preparation, cooking, cleaning or eating event that may occur in the home.
I have the right to wake you at three in the morning if I find my food dish is not to my satisfaction.
I have the right to tip over any water container I deem unsuitable for consumption.
I have the right to curse at squirrels and birds that may dare pass my windows.
I have the right to inspect any grocery items that come into my home. Further, I have the right to inhabit any paper bag or cardboard box that you bring home for as long as I wish.
I have the right to nap at any time and place I darn well please, without the distraction of being called or moved just because you want to sit down, wash your hands or use your computer keyboard.
I have the right to sleep on top of any appliance that is warm.
I have the right to assist in any changing of bed linens and to chase the phantom creatures that hide beneath the sheets.
I have the right to look aloof when scolded for mistaking your toes for on those pesky phantom creatures that hide beneath the sheets.
I have the right to kill paper towel rolls that otherwise might sneak up on at night.
I have the right to your complete attention anytime you sit down to read or work.
And, finally, I have the right to be loved, petted, pampered and entertained, for, as you know, the best things in life... purr.
And, should you err in your ways, I will graciously forgive. After all, you are only human, but I love you anyway.

Signed,
The Cat

So like I said, I've been told. Freaky or what. I actually feel guilty now for trying to scold Jingle! I think my cat is smarter than me. Any advice?

That little stinker....

Okay, this actually happened Friday night and Saturday but I figured I better take some time to relax before I told you about this.

So my little stinker of a roommate, yes Jingle, decided on Friday night, in the middle of the night, that after successfully soaking her furball in her water for a while, she was going to bring the dripping toy onto the bed and drop it on mommy's face. FREAKIN' HEART ATTACK!!!!!

A sopping wet furry ball, in your face, in the middle of the night, in a deep sleep. Nice.... And even after throwing the ball on the floor many times afterwards, she kept bringing it back up on the bed so that my morning, I had many little wet spots on my bed. Lovely....

Oh, but the antics didn't stop there! On Saturday I went to have a picnic with my grandparents. I left my purse at home, and just grabbed my wallet. In my purse was my very expensive bluetooth headset. I come home and my very expensive bluetooth headset is in Jingle's water bowl. So that means that she dug into my purse, found the device, pulled it out (which could not have been easy) then carry it across the kitchen to her water bowl. Smart cat. Thankfully after its swim the device is working properly but Jingle is still grounded!

Is this what my parents went through? Sweet innocent kids one day, little pains the next?

Wrapping Presents with a Cat

I got this email from my uncle Denis and laughed like crazy. The whole time I was reading I was thinking "that's my Jingle" but more so, this is such a Peewee thing to do. I can vouch for this as Peewee and Holly were my houseguests during the Christmas Season last year, the time when we all do the most wrapping at once. My wrapping paper will never be the same. So enjoy everyone, and remember your little furballs as you read!

Wrapping Presents with a Cat:

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.

2. Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.

3. Open door and remove cat from closet.

4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.

5. Go back and remove cat from cupboard.

6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc. . .

7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.

8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.

9. Remove present from bag.

10. Remove cat from bag.

11. Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.

12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.

13. Try and smooth out paper, realize cat is underneath and remove cat.

14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.

15. Throw away first sheet as cat chased the scissors, and tore the paper.

16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting cat in the bag the present came in.

17. Place present on paper.

18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize cat is between present and paper. Remove cat.

19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.

20. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.

21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.

22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase cat down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.

23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.

24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to cat's enthusiastic ribbon chase.

25. Repeat steps 17-24 until you reach last sheet of paper.

26. Decide to skip steps 17-21 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.

27. Put present in box, and tie down with string.

28. Remove string, open box and remove cat.

29. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for locked room.

30. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.

31. Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close and relock.

32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear cat from outside door)

33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)

34. Discover cat has already torn paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because cat helped with this last year as well.

35. Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.

36. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.

37. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.

38. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.

39. Spend 15 minutes looking for cat until coming to obvious conclusion.

40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.

41. Go to store and buy a gift bag.

My Fridge!

So Chantelle did a post on her blog showcasing her fridge and invited others do the same. First of all, I want to vouch for Chantelle in confirming that her fridge really is that organized, she didn't alter anything for her post!

So I am finally getting a chance to respond and show my totally non-interesting fridge to you all. I would have done this sooner but in my computer and blogging ignorance, I first had to figure out if I had a program to edit photos, then had to figure out how to edit photos. They don't look as cool as Chantelle's wonderful photo editing, but in my defence, I'm not a photographer like her and Adam, I'm not married to a web designer who gets paid to work with photos online, and I'm a complete goof when it comes to things like this. So forgive the basic appearance and hopefully, enjoy!

Not being quite as organized on my fridge as Chantelle and Adam, my content spans to the side of fridge also so let's start there!

1. Certificate for Adam's Web Design services that I won at their Stag & Doe last year. I was promised that I could exchange it for a photo session with Jingle since I no longer need a website so I keep it there to remind myself to bug Adam about it (Sorry Adam).

2. Ticket for the Lion's club car raffle that my Grandfather bought me. The draw was three months ago, I didn't win, and I also have my parent's ticket there too. I keep forgetting to give it to them. Not really sure why they are still there actually.

3. Brochure and magnet for Body Dynamics, Sarah Zadorsky's Massage Therapy business. I keep the brochure up as a wish list for future visits (she's really incredible!!) and the magnet so I can easily rattle the number off to others or have guests see it and hopefully call her. That's me, always networking!

4. Take out menu for my favorite Chinese food place. I soooo love Paul and Yu's!!! Almond Soo Guy all the way baby!!

5. Notice on recycling rules in building. This was sitting on the counter the day I moved in. I don't think I've ever read it and also don't really know why I have it on my fridge. Maybe I should just throw that one out, eh?

6. Checklist for available "Company's Coming" Cookbooks. Again, don't really know why it's there, or why I bothered to even start checking it off. I really could care less about it. But it's there nonetheless.

And my very random magnets are holding everything up. There's everything from a Cactus to wolves to E.T. to a dog that's looks like Taco (our family dog as kids) up there. There was also a beer stein magnet that mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago. I can't imagine using anything else because they all came from Mom when I first moved out. She cleaned off all the magnets from her fridge and sent them down to St. Catharines saying that "everyone needs magnets on their fridge". And even though most are chipped from Jingle pawing them off and they don't match anything at all, I just can't imagine using anything else. I'm a sentimental sap!

So now, the front of the fridge!

1. 1-800-you-got-junk magnetic pen that I keep handy for grocery lists. I love that pen. And so does Jingle as it is often found under the fridge.

2. Grocery list pad that resembles Jingle. I got the pad from Melissa almost two years ago and it's still got a lot of paper on it. I will be so sad when it runs out.

3. Random magnetic from Mom that somehow got on the front of the fridge (must have walked over from the side of the fridge). I haven't figured out yet what is missing because that magnet was holding something in place but Chantelle's rules were to not alter anything on the fridge so there it is!

4. Picture card from my Cousins wedding in 2006. The wedding was the same time as Chantelle and Adam's and I just received the beautiful picture so it will be showcased for a while until it goes in an album.

5. Sixth and Elm magnets!!!!! I'll admit that I never actually reference the calender magnet but it's so freakin' cool that it's staying right where it is.

6. Whiteboard magnet for jotting reminders. I got this from a client, they advertise with them. It's a handy little thing but for the last five months it has said "Sat - 1pm". It's in my hand writing but I have no clue what Saturday it was supposed to be for or what was to happen at 1pm. I decided not to erase it in case I remembered so it hasn't been used for a while.

7. JINGLE PICTURES!!! Lots and lots of Jingle pics. From Polaroids to my favorite picture that Chantelle took. It's just great to look at them everyday.

8. Sixth and Elm original creation magnets (plug to Chantelle). Following in Mom's footsteps of providing magnets to a first time apartment dweller, Chantelle made me a set of my very own magnets and I love them. They are these adorable tiles with inspirational words on them and my favorite of them all is holding my favorite Jingle picture. Great story really. Chantelle was trying to think of words for the magnets and had one left. Out of ideas, she turned to her friend Colin who was visiting (and is one of the funniest people I know, just love that guy) and said "Colin, I need an encouraging word..." He shrugs and says, "I don't know... 'duck'!". And low and behold, along with "Love", "See", "Laugh" and "Fly" I have a "Duck" magnet. It's the best!

Items not shown: Anything that Jingle has knocked off the fridge, from notices to menus to magnets that I either can't find or didn't notice missing.

So there's my wacky fridge you all! Enjoy and let Chantelle and I know if you decide to join the craziness on your own website!

I think she's obsessed!

Oh boy, what to do now. She's obsessed, I know she is! And if I can't do anything about it, I won't get the attention I so rightly deserve!

I guess I should explain. You see, mommy finally got the last audio book for Harry Potter so she now has the whole collection in the books and audio books. She also has all the movies that are out too and their soundtracks. Now don't get me wrong, I like the stories and the movies. For a long time, I made mommy watch the movies everynight while she tried to fall asleep. But sometimes you just need a break!

So now that she has her collection complete, I am constantly hearing a man read the stories through the stereo. And often, Mommy has the book out and is following along! She listened to the Deathly Hallows twice through before she started again from book one and is working her way up. She listens to the book, reads along, then watches the movie! She even takes the audio books with her and listens to them in her car while she runs around the city. And if it's not the books, it's the movie soundtracks!

I still get a lot of attention. She lets me curl up on her stomach while she listens and I get scratches, hugs and kisses. But I'm worried that if she doesn't cure this obsession soon, I may be forgotten!

I'll have to amuse myself! Help!

Why I love my mommy...

So I thought it was time to write a blog again because I haven't blogged much lately. Well, mainly because it's mommy that goes out and does things, I am just a cat afterall. New exciting things don't happen everyday for me, but that's how I like it. Just me and mom in our quiet lives.

So we had a great weekend, mommy worked at home a lot but we still had plenty of time to relax together and bond. As you can see from the fact that our movie list grew by about 10 this weekend, knocking the movies we just saw two days ago off the list. But that's what we like to do.

So anyways, why I love my mommy....

All the mushy reasons exist of course, but I think one of the greatest things is that with mommy, I can do no wrong. And today, I thought I would just really test my limits earning me a whole bunch of hugs and laughing from mommy.

It started with a 3am toe licking session. Mommy is sooooo not a morning person so every once in a while I decide to disturbe her sleep with a cold nose in her ear, a nip on her hand, etc. So at 3am, I started licking her toes. That was fun. Whatever dream she was having was totally gone. So after her mild heart attack and nearly kicking me in the head from shear reflex action, she grabbed me, hugged me, called me a stinker and went back to bed.

Then, at 7am, I brought her my favorite toy. But I thought it would be better if I instead of leaving it beside her, I just dropped it right on her face (hee hee, what a riot). Another hug and exhausted laugh and she decided it was too early to wake up on a holiday monday.

At 8:45 I decided that was enough sleeping (who cares if we stayed up until 2am watching movies, I can sleep all day if I want) so I just sat in the doorway and cried like something was wrong until mommy woke up startled and came running out of the bedroom. After looking around to see what happened to cause me to cry so loud and seeing nothing out of place, she flopped on the couch and I immediately jumped up for a rub. Clueing in, mommy again laughed, ruffled my fur and hugged me.

Now, any normal human would be furious by now over these antics and any normal cat would be in deep doo doo, but not me, and not my mommy.

So the day rolls on and mommy decides to check her email. Wanting attention from her and not caring about her mail, I decide to jump up on her lap and proceed to drop myself on her computer. Aparently that was a bad idea because pressing all the keys at once caused something crazy to happen and it froze the whole computer up. It took an hour for some scan thingy to run when she restarted it. But, I wasn't in trouble, she just pulled the "stinker" comment out and hugged me.

So then she decided that it was time to relax and watch tv. So I proceed to use mommy as a cushion to watch tv with her. Since she wasn't petting me enough, I decided to climb up on her chest and put my nose to hers until I was satisfied and causing her to not be able to see the television. Again, a laugh from mommy and a great hug. Then she had to run to the washroom but I wasn't done getting a rub so I followed her and was right up on her lap. Then back to the couch for more rubs. And finally, to bed, where it's now common practice for mommy not to be able to go to sleep until I get enough love from her.

So you see, I'm spoiled and I know it. I can do anything to command attention from mommy whenever I want it and never get into trouble. And that's one of the many reasons why I love mommy.

Good night everyone! *Meow*

My Weekly Television Plug

Yeah, I seem to plug a television show each week but it seems that every week there is one show that just blows my mind.

This week, like many, Canadian Idol blew my mind. I don't recall either the Canadian Idol or American Idol shows ever paying tribute to one of the most legendary rock bands of the world before but these week, Canadian Idol performed the songs of the incomparable Queen.

I can honestly say that I'm a Queen fan. I think every is to some extent, even if it's just to shout "We Will Rock You" at an opposing sports team. We all are moved by Queen somehow. But I actually own Cd's, I always have their greatest hits on my MP3 player, and I still remember crying in 1991 when I heard that Freddie Mercury died. I even own the orchestral score for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Well, tonight, Canada's youngest, brightest up an comers performed a whole night of tribute to one of the greatest British rock bands of all time and let me tell, it blew me away. And this week, it seemed the guys completely outshone the gals. The girls did great job, but the guys just seemed to have some little extra umph (with the exception of Carly Rae who just is in her own little amazing world each week).

So there's my plug, now I shall fall asleep with visions of bicycles and fat bottomed girls in my head...

I never really noticed before!

So lately an artist by the name of Enrique Iglesias had been appearing on a number of shows performing and promoting his new album.

He performed on So You Think You Can Dance, and last night on Canadian Idol, just to name a couple.

And while watching him both times it slowly became clear to me that the man is actually really talented and I quite enjoy his music.

I'm not insulting Enrique at all, don't miss understand me. I just simply never bothered to listen to his music and really decide.

So, yes, I think I just found another artist to add to my list of tops. And his new single "Somebody's Me" is really great too (although not as good as Bon Jovi's "Make A Memory").

What Mommy doesn't know...

Okay you all, shhhh, don't mention this to Mom.

I like that she thinks so highly of me but the way she boasts, really! I just need to set the record straight with you all, but let Mommy have her glory, okay?

Mommy is partially right in the fact that I don't get into a whole lot when she's not here because it's more fun to have her watch me and giggle and laugh and try to scold but just laugh more. She thinks it's so cute and it is not as fun when no one is watching.

I learned that if I did something wrong in front of her, she usually just thinks it's cute and that's that. If I did the same thing while she was gone, she'd be pretty mad when she got home.

But, here is my little secret. You know Uncle Chuki? From Toronto? Well, he spends hours upon hours watching my Aunty Chantelle make crafts and trinkets and things like that and while watching her, has figured out a lot about basic repair. I have broken things here and there but Uncle Chuki talked me through the fixes and repairs and so far, everything is holding up well and obviously Mommy hasn't noticed that they were broken. Oh, and no one pick up her Gollum statue if you visit, it may crumble in your hands.

So, you see, I'm not puuuurfect. I'm a curious, young, energetic cat, who like all kids, sometimes does something bad and tries to hide it from their parent(s).

I think it's not all that different then a story Mommy once told me about her and her sister, a little argument, a foot in some drywall and about a gallon of putty.

Why I trust my cat

So, you see, there are reasons why I don't worry about Jingle being alone.

I know, I know, my family is thinking "what are you talking about?! You go nuts everytime you leave her!"

Well, this is true, but it's not because I don't trust her. I just can't stand to be away from her. I'd never leave the house if I didn't have to because I love how she is just always there, always loving, always cuddly.

But anyways, my point. I had a point, really!

Things have been really crazy lately. Work is long hours (mostly because some of the others are on holidays so I have some covering to do, and July is bad because of quarterly reports needed) and it's meant late nights, an average of 4 hours sleep each night for the past two weeks and a good dose of stress. Not complaining!!!! It's temporary! This business always has those periods and it happens about every three months.

Well, I'm slowly loosing my mind a little and last night I finally got to sleep at about 2:30am and had to leave the house at 7am to get to Windsor. I wasn't thinking last night or this morning and when I came home, I realized that I not only left the patio door open all night and all day (don't worry, I'm on the 11th floor, not like someone is going to get in) but I also left a glass of water on the table, my half eaten dinner on the counter along with the rest of the supper dishes, piles of papers loose in the office and living room and an unmade bed with fresh clothes on it.

I'm not a slob, I was working and these things were at the back of my mind. Never got to them before exhaustion hit.

So after a full day on her own, with an abundance of things to get into (or out of in the case of the patio door), guess what my little girl got into today....

Zip, Zero, Natta!!! If I'm home working Jingle will consider every paper pile a toy but if I'm not here to watch her, she won't touch it.

She loves to push or pull things off the coffee table in front of me, including glasses of water sometimes, but when I leave, everything stays the way I left it.

I can leave food out (accidentally leave it out, again, not a slob) and she will not touch it.

I can leave clean clothes on the bed and she just simply sleeps around them and doesn't touch them.

What she does play with is her own toys, her own water, her own food.

So I have absolutely no reason to not trust my cat. I don't know for sure if she only does the kitten thing when I'm around for attention or because she just believes that it's okay as long as I'm here, I just know that my belongings are always safe when I'm not here.

And just so you know, Jingle has never hurt, damaged or destroyed anything I own, ever, while I'm away since the day I brought her home. Gee, she really is a great cat.

Bixby does it again!

Okay, so admittedly, on Monday night, Jaydee Bixby didn't actually do that great of a performance on Canadian Idol.

I mean, he sang well enough and I really liked how he put his classic country vibe into a 90's rock song but I sort of agree with the judges that he kind of missed the point of the song.

However, despite the fact that he sang a song written about a bad breakup, he had that infectious smile on his face the whole time and once he starts twanging, the giggles start up again too.

So, yeah to Jaydee, you made me laugh and smile again.

And honorable mentions to the idols that truly rock the house each week, the ones I'm sure will make it to the end, Brian Melo, Greg Neufeld, and Carly Rae Jepsen!

A new addiction...

It's been so busy lately with work and I had the pleasure of Mom and Dad visiting this weekend so I'm a few days behind in posting. However, despite being so busy, I am still finding time each week for my new addiction.

There is a new game show on TV. It's so incredibly cheesy yet I find I can't help but watch and play along.

It's "Spelling Bee" hosted by 'N Sync's Joey Fatone. It's a game show where you basically have to sing the rest of the words of a song. But of course, it's all the best songs ever. So it's a half hour of great music, contestants that may or may not be able to sing and a feeling of just singing along with them.

So that's my new addiction. Maybe I need to blame this addiction on Dad for getting Chantelle and I so involved in Music.

What really happened 19 years later?

As many have now said, the final epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was slightly vague. It was great to find out roughly what happened but there will still so many questions!

In a recent interview, JK Rowling answered more questions about the future of our favorites. Check it out at MSNBC.com

Warning, there are obvious spoilers on this site, but if you read the book, you'll get some more answers.

What I do when I can't sleep...

Which is often...

What do I do? Well, what most people do I think, randomly surf the net! And sometimes I find some pretty cool things too.

Somehow tonight my brain took me to the Much Music web page (which is odd because I really don't care music videos and don't watch any of the shows). But once I got there and little light bulb went off and I said, "Oh, right, my brother works there!"

So on a whim, I decide to search the site for Adam's name and lo and behold, a link came up! On an article about the VJ Search show, Adam is listed in the credits. Check out the link and see for yourself. You'll find in near the end of the Article with the listing of credits.

Way to go Adam!

My least favorite part of Deathly Hallows

Okay, well it was the only one part of 607 pages I didn't like so overall... effing awesome book!!!


But, the plot twist I didn't like involved the "beloved" Snape. I really don't like Snape and after the 6th book all my senses were screaming "He's evil, he's evil" yet one lone little voice was saying that Dumbledore must have trusted him for a reason, he had to be good.


Well, we found out he was good (so to speak). But the secret that carried for 7 books? Why did Snape follow Dumbledore, not You-Know-Who (I'm not afraid to say the name but apparently the name is jinked and I really don't want a living room full of death eaters, so deal)?


Snape was in love with Lily Potter!!! And they were friends!? I was so into the book, couldn't put it down for nearly 26 straight hours, but when I got to this part and slowly realized what was coming, a little burning bit of bile started to rise in my throat and I had to fight not to vomit.


Snape is so mean, so yucky, that I just can't imagine this at all, it just turns my stomach, YEACK!! I think the intention was not only to explain Snapes allegiance to Dumbledore but to maybe give us a sense of pity while on his death bed. Nuh, uh, no way! I just can't do it!!!


So aside from this one, completely grotesque part of the book (which was very important, just yucky) the book overall was amazing. I liked how J.K. Rowling seemed to surpass all expectations, created the ultimate twist (which I'll talk about later) and even gave a brief glimpse into the future. Even though I gladly would have given up my fight for Ewan McGregor to marry Harry Potter, I was glad to see him have a happy life with Ginny.


I liked how Rowling jumped into a more mature book. Not only was it the darkest yet in story, but she ventured into more descriptive battles where you could actually cringe, the main characters (mostly Ron) now 17 say "effing" many times where before, it was just simply stated that they swore. And as my eloquent sister pointed out on her blog, the ultimate laugh of tiny, timid Mrs. Weasley fighting a brutal Belatrix Lestrange yelling "Not my daughter, you bitch!".

Without guidance, this final installment certainly isn't meant for young children. However, Harry Potter as a whole is meant for everyone. Find me a child that hasn't heard their parents swear. Find me a child that hasn't sworn actually. And kids know about fighting, death, good and evil, all to some extent. But this particular book is probably best read together as a family, just in case your kids want something explained.

Either way, jump in, have a ball, we'll talk more later about it, and make sure you have a barf bucket handy for the one part and a box of Kleenex for 3, no wait, 5, uhhh... Jingle, how many times did I cry? Oh, right, 7 times I teared up bad, and one I bawled like a baby!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This space is reserved. The marathon is over, we've read cover to cover and we barely slept last night. Partly because it was soooo hard to put the book down, partly because I kept replaying everything I just read in my head while trying to sleep, and mostly because I sadly set my alarm for early so that Jingle and I could get back to reading asap!!!

I totally intend to comment on my feelings towards the book and discuss it, probably in a few posts actually, but currently my brother and sister are reading the book and about halfway through and I promised them I wouldn't post anything until they were done in case I spoiled something.

For the rest of you, read fast if you don't want to know because I'm posting as soon as Chantelle and Adam finish!

Maybe I'll go read it again, think I can finish before they do?!

Stay tuned!

I'm not in, leave a message please!

This is what you'll hear if you try to call me, or email me, or anything really all weekend.

You see, Santa just delivered my copy of the final Harry Potter book. That's not figurative either, it really was Santa. Big guy, round tummy, white beard, rosy cheeks and jolly smile. Kinda freaky! Santa in a Canada Post uniform.

So all my work is shoved in a corner, screw it, I can do it Monday. Jingle is curled up on the couch waiting, and we're going to dive in and not come up for air until the end.

So you may not get me all weekend but leave a message, and when we recover from the excitement, we'll get back to you!!!

Let's go Jingle!!!! And don't forget to order the Pizza either, I'm not stopping to make dinner today!

The Long Way Down

The boys are at it again, and this time the adventure looks better than ever.

All of you by now should know that some day I'll marry Ewan McGregor. Because of this, I regularly update myself on what's happening with him and what projects are coming up.

I became a big fan of the television series, Long Way Round, which was a documentary on Ewan McGregor and his best mate Charlie Boorman literally riding around the world on motor bikes. They used the opportunity to raise money for Unicef worldwide and the television series was absolutely captivating. It not only showcased our incredible world and the beauty of it, but also the people of countless countries. They didn't hide anything from the cameras, including their concerns, troubles, tears, and mostly, joys and triumphs.

Well, now the boys are at it again, and like last time, it's a fundraiser for Unicef. Reconnecting with their trusty BMW's that got them across every terrain imaginable in Long Way Round, this time in Long Way Down the boys are travelling from Ewan's parents home in Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa. They are promising to make many stops on the three month journey to visit towns, see incredible sights and some world wonders, and visit with more people than ever.

I can't wait for the broadcast to come out on this one. Even though I just found out about it, they are currently on day 70 and in Rwanda. The BBC is offering daily clips and updates on the boys on their site if you want to check it out. And I've already pre-ordered the book, due in January of 2008. Or, you can click the above link and go directly to official website for even more updates.

Gotta love free stuff!!! It'll cheer anyone up!!!

So a few months ago, I got an email from Rogers asking me to take an online survey. I thought it was an odd survey, asking me about favorite magazines, music artists, products etc. In 8 years with Rogers, I've never done a survey like that before. It's usually the boring, "how did you like your service?" But, it's Rogers, they're weird, that's why I like them.

So today, I'm really not having a good day. No real reason, we just all have them. Those days were nothing really seems to go right. So by now, I'm exhausted, can't take much more and just getting home to eat something and try to avoid anymore work. I check my mail (the real mail, not email) and I have a strange parcel in my mailbox and two letters from Rogers.

I get upstairs, open the first letter and its a notice that my High Speed Internet has jumped from 5mb to 7mb in speed at no additional charge. Cool! I thought it seemed a little faster lately.

I open the second letter and it's a thank you letter for being a great customer and includes a link to a website where I can enter the code found in the letter and gain access to 100's of coupons on local events, stores, and products that I showed interest in when I took the survey.

So, I'm cheering up a bit. Haven't checked out the website yet but I'm thinking something good will come from it. So on to the strange parcel, I open the parcel and inside is Bon Jovi's new CD, "Lost Highway" that I've been wanting to get and a little note saying "Thank You, from Rogers Wireless". How incredibly cool is that?! It also explains why they were listed as one of the potential favorite artists in the survey I guess.

So I guess the moral of the story is, no matter how bad a day you're having, something at some point is going to help turn that day around.

Thank you Rogers! More than happy to be a customer with you guys! You totally made my day!

Hey Jingle, lets put some music on!!! (*humming*)

New Website Added to Links

I was cleaning out my bookmarks in IE to remove sites I don't visit anymore and organize the sites I love (it's my little OCD thingy) and came across the link for the Wonderday Website.

I'm a Wonderday fan, would love to be a member if I ever live in TO but I do get invited to the events and whenever I can make it to TO (which is sadly not often) I join in the fun. I think that makes me an honorary member, but I'm not sure. Can anyone confirm this? Maybe I'm just a crazy fan with connections.

I hadn't checked the website in a long, long time and thought, "Hey, let's kill some time!" Boy has it changed! Full blogs, written by the whole Wonderday executive crew, lots of pics and videos, great music, updates on Dumbledore's Army, and tons of upcoming events (which is what they are mostly known for, their incredible social events).

I ended up getting lost for about two hours tonight in this website and was totally impressed (so much for getting some work done!). This crew just keeps getting better and better! Wonderday started as a small group of people that wanted to help young execs in marketing and websites. It became a huge group of friends, all young professionals, who plan social events to network, socialize, and party hard.

My brother, Adam, has a big part in this website as well. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong Adam) that with his website design background, he's a big part of the design. Plus, his amazing photos are often featured, he writes a number of blogs for the site (including a rather large amount of blogs on Harry Potter) and is a member of Dumbledore's Army. And often, if you look closely, you'll see Chantelle hiding in many of the pics from the social events.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some the original Wonderday crew at Chantelle and Adam's wedding last October and immediately fell in love with the guys. Genuinely nice guys, lots of fun, and completely accepting of anyone and everyone. Within minutes, I felt like I had known them for years, they were great fun, and I even had a dance with Evan near the end of the night which surprisingly went very well considering we were both pretty far gone. Somehow we managed not to kill each others toes or wind up in a speaker, pretty amazing feat if you ask me. I think this easy going, accepting nature of theirs is mostly what makes Wonderday so successful. You just feel like family with them, total comfortable.

Nonetheless, the site just keeps getting better and better and the team seems to be constantly growing. Check out the website for the full scoop. It's a riot!

The treasure trove of long lost toys!

Does anyone remember learning that you should vacuum under your stove when you clean? I've stuck a broom under there but not a vacuum. I didn't learn that in Home Ec! Oh, wait, I didn't take Home Ec, I took music. Riiiiight!

Well, anyways, I figured that if I was going to clean up after Jingle's cleanup, I may as well do it right. So out comes the vacuum, and around the tiles I go (it's so much better than a broom and dustpan before you mop). I decided to put the extension on and stick it under the fridge. I was thinking "well, maybe some dustbunnies appeared". All of a sudden a strange noise started coming from my vacuum, I pulled the extension out and found a spring being tortured at the end of the hose, slowly being sucked into the weee, tiny little hole that is my vacuum head. I rescue the spring and return to the dustbunnies. Again a strange noise, this time, a large chunk of blue glass from a custard cup I broke months ago (I thought I got all that when I broke it).

I try to rescue the chunk of glass but idiotically forget to turn the vacuum off first and the second I touch the glass, it goes "whoosh" into my vacuum hose. Frantically turning the vacuum off, I open the canister to see if the glass is in there, or wedged in the hose, slowly cutting through my expensive little Bissell (poor vacuum). To my relief, I see the flash of blue through the pound of dust and cat hair (Jingle, you really need a hair cut girl) and carefully pull it out and throw it away.

So, back to the dust bunnies (most of which are already in the canister). One more pass under the fridge and I find nothing of interest, including dust bunnies. Must have done the job well!

I start to get up and look at the stove. "Hmm, may as well, since I'm already down here." But what could possibly be under the stove anyways? That's the one place that I CAN see with a flashlight, that I can reach with a broom. "There's nothing under there!"

Woah, Nelly! Back up the truck a minute! Here I am, happily attacking dustbunnies under the stove when all of a sudden... "shluuuuuurp!". A bouncy ball appears at the end of the hose. I rescue it and go back for more. "Shluuuuurp!". A spring, "shluuuuurp!", a fuzzy ball, another spring, a furry ball, Santa, and another furry ball! It was like Christmas! Or maybe it just felt like that because I found Santa (Hey Mom, I found Peewee's Santa that you lost, must have lost it at my place, not yours!). Either way, the treasure trove under my stove was amazing! And the furry balls I had been looking for for months! Starting to sound like I never clean, isn't it?!

So after all that work, and cleaning off the toys, I thought I'd show you what we found. Enjoy and be amazed! Some of those toys I even forgot that Jingle owned!

Oh, and the floors eventually got done and Jingle is now fast asleep after tiring herself with housecleaning. Brilliant!

My little housekeeper...

So, I'm at a clients today, well three actually, and gone for maybe 4 hours total. I come home to do some work and find a pleasant surprise. My little Jingle is washing my floors.

Well, actually, it seems that the infamous water bowl (aka, toy to Jingle) has finally been tipped over. So now there's a big mess.

*Sigh*.

Rats, there goes my water bottle now too! I guess the carpet did need a shampooing, thanks for the reminder Jingle! Fantastic!

I'll catch you all later, my socks are getting wet, I should go clean this up.

New Sidebar Sections!

We could all use a laugh and it's healthy for us all to smile so how am I helping in this?

I've added a new section to my sidebar called the "Daily Smiley". There is nothing more contagious than a laugh or smile so for a good dose of laughter, visit this site often and click the smiley. We'll change the smiley often so you don't get bored, we've got hundreds of idea too on funny smileys so we'll probably keep this going for a while.

So go ahead, click the smiley, and smile!

I know we're laughing over here now!



We've also added a poll section. I'm testing this one out because I don't know how many poll ideas I could actually come up with but we'll try it, and see what kind of response it gets.


And in honour of my lifelong obsession with movies, I've added a list for everyone titled the "Last 5 recently watched movies that I love" complete with links directly to IMDb for your enjoyment. I've always been considered the family movie expert (until Adam proved to be my equal in this category) and with access to TMN On Demand, Rogers Video Direct, my own growing collection and TV-Links, I see a whole lot of movies all the time. So everytime Jingle and I watch a movie, and like it, even if it's one we've seen many times before, we'll add it to the top of the list. This section was inspired by my Mom who is always asking me what I saw recently so her and Dad can watch it then never has a pen and paper and always foregets the name of the movies. Now you can just pop onto my site and see for yourself Mom!

As well, we've updated the topics list to exclude the "random" topic and open up more possibilities for rambling.

If any of you have suggestions, either for changes, or something new you want to see, please, let me know. I'm having fun changing this around, could use some advice!

Earthlab Pledges, Phase 1

So as part of Earthlab, I need to make 10 pledges a month on ways to become more green (well, not need to but it's requested, and kind of fun too).

So here's my first round of pledges, all promises of things to change this month, some things I already do since the live earth concert. Maybe you might find some good ideas here if you want.


#1: "I will adjust my thermostat according to ambient temperatures" - Something I already do and will keep doing, basically, keep the thermostat at bareable temperatures, not freezing and turn up when away for long periods of time (or the exact opposite in the winter).
#2: "I will always recycle" - No more lazy "I don't feel like rinsing it", I'm going to recycle whatever I can
#3: "I will call to stop unnecessary paper mail" - There's an 800 number you can call to request help in reducing your junk mail, I'm going to call them.
#4: "I will iron less by hanging my clothes in the condensation filled bathroom while I shower" - This is a neat tip and I hate ironing so I'm going to try it out!
#5: "I will load the dishwasher with consideration to additional resources I could avoid using" - This basically means no pre-rinsing and wasting water, let the dishes dry naturally, use light water settings if possible for the load.
#6: "I will purchase and begin brewing with reusable filters with my next trip to the store" - Already do this, will keep doing it, coffee tastes better anyway.
#7: "I will recycle my newspaper, and encourage others to do so" - Okay, I don't personally get the newspaper but someone on my floor keeps leaving theirs by the garbage shute so I'm going to start picking them up and taking them to our blue box.
#8: "I will switch to a biodegradable dishwasher detergent" - Need to find this product but I'll use it when I find it.
#9: "I will take shorter showers and install water-conserving fixtures" - Already done, all heads are water savers and my showers are down to 4.5 minutes flat including brushing my teeth (well, 4 minutes since I cut my hair).
#10: "I will unplug my cell phone charger when not in use" - Gotta remember to do this, but a great tip.
#11: "I will use "green" cosmetics and facial products" - Oddly enough, already do this, and didn't realize until today when I looked!
#12: "I will use biodegradable and otherwise "green" cleaning products" - next time I run out, I will do this. And I've already switched to Tide and Downy cold water products to help there too.
#13: "I will use natural hair products" - I'm already good at this, except my mousse, I need to find natural mousse for curly hair. Anyone know any brands?
#14: "I will use the "Kill Switch" on the power strip" - Started doing this, it's so easy!
#15: "I will use the least amount of energy when drying my dishes" - Time to stop being lazy Tia, pull out the teatowels and do some work or let them air dry, no more heat settings.
#16: "I will use the lowest settings reasonable for my refrigerator/freezer" - I do this already (just cool enough to keep food fresh/frozen and beer slightly below room temperature) and was happy to find out that all my appliances are energy efficient Whirpool appliances since I really don't have the option of replacing any appliances (I don't own them).

So that's my pledges for this month (somehow I snuck an extra 6 in there but no worries). I need to report back to the website when I have made each change and my pollution score will drop depending on what I've done. Next month I get to choose 10 more things to change, although, there is nothing stopping me from starting them right now too.

Hopefully you all found some useful tips in this and I'll let you know next months which new pledges I choose.

Earthlab is Launched!

So I check my email today and find an email from Al Gore. I immediately start to mark the email as junk mail and then realize that it's not a joke, it really is an email from Al Gore! Wierd....

So I open the email and find that it's a nice little email from Mr. Gore praising me on being so far below the average ECP and Carbon output score for London. I mentioned in an earlier post that the live earth website offered a quick little test to see where you stand on pollution and now, EarthLab has been launched to help us even further. You can check it out a http://www.earthlab.com/ and sign up. It not only gives you general suggestions on way to be green but specializes a plan for you based on your individual score.

When I logged in, it told me that my score was 247 and London's average was 306. I produce 9 tons of Co2 each year and the average is 13 tons. So now, I'm reading my full report and checking out my specialized "green" plan. The website asks that we retake the quiz in three months and in 6 months for an update on how we are doing. I'll let you know the results then.

I found it really interesting, maybe you will too. Check it out!

Missing my family...

I really love my life. I mean, mommy is great, we're London's premier bachelorettes, and we really love each other. There's nothing like our movie nights, mommy curled up on the couch, me curled up of her hip. I have the run of the house and I don't abuse it. I have the best spot on the bed. But as great as life is, I do miss my best friends often.

Uncle Chuki is amazing. He pretends to be a little uptight and bossy but it's only to keep Peewee in line when we're all together. He's actually really great with Holly and I as long as I don't pounce on him. I've learned a lot from Uncle Chuki. How to properly climb a Christmas tree, how to be curious in a mature way, and I'm pretty sure my fascination with my water bowl stemmed from his fascination with water glasses. And possibly most importantly, Uncle Chuki taught me how to talk. Because of him, Mommy and I learned how to have our long conversations back and forth and I learned how to greet her at the door everyday. He's just an all around cool cat. I wish I had known him when he was a kitten and I wish I saw him more often. But hopefully, I can stay with him for a bit this summer and do some much needed catching up.

Holly is the graceful one of the family and probably my best teacher of all (aside from Mommy). She's a feline to be reckoned with. Beautiful, graceful, quiet, and brilliant. I learned a lot about being a female cat from Holly. As the only girls in the family, we got along great. She was also the first cat in the family I ever met and the first few weeks of my new life was spent entirely with her. I learned that it was okay to be playful, that toys were wonderful, but it was important also to get enough beauty sleep too. She showed me the best ways to show Mommy I love her and that we need to show them love an thanks often. She has impeccable manners and I always strive to be like her. Holly also taught me about my favorite pastime, hunting bugs. She's the best at bug hunting!

And Peewee, well, what can I say? Peewee is Peewee. Almost always in trouble, in everyone's face, always the center of attention, and very, very clumsy. I know that sounds bad, but Peewee is so much fun, so loved by everyone, so carefree, I envy him. He's an all around adorable cat and his innocence is brilliant. He never tries to break things, never tries to get into trouble, he just does! And it's refreshing for everyone. You can ask any of the humans and they will all say they wouldn't change Peewee for anything. Being the same age, Peewee quickly became my best friend. The kind that you can play with, talk to about anything, and just always have fun with.

So, yes, I love my life, but sometimes, I just really miss my friends. Mommy mentioned yesterday that Grandma and Grandpa may visit at the end of this month and I'm so excited because they'll bring Holly and Peewee with them. She later spoke with Aunty Chantelle and found out they are also free that weekend. Mommy wants to borrow a friends car and go pick up Aunty Chantelle, Uncle Adam and Uncle Chuki so we can all be together that weekend. I know its a little rough on the humans to all be squished in the apartment for a weekend because the place isn't THAT big, and there's only one bed so the couches get a lot of use, but we all have more fun than inconvenience. I hope it works out.

Maybe we will see you all soon, but in the meantime, I love you all, miss you much, and in honour of Peewee, promise to do one silly, crazy thing in the meantime to keep you all amused. I'll blog about it as soon as I figure out what it will be.

Jingle