Moving

Nope, I'm NOT moving just in case you read the title of this post and went "What?!" This past few days I've been trying to get our Juniors program organized so that we could move to our new summer campus. The move happened yesterday and it went quite smoothly actually. But that's not actually what this post is about. Today I helped my best friend unpack and organize her boxes in her new classroom at school. It was a bit of an overwhelming job for her and I was happy to go and help her. I would have helped her move all the boxes too if she'd needed it, but there were two teachers (only TWO, out of a school of at least 12) who kindly helped her move them on Thursday and Friday. Anyway, we spent a good 3 hours unpacking, organizing, and throwing things away. In return she bought me lunch and drove me all the way home. She didn't even need to do that; I was happy to help. But I did learn something in all of this. I think we both did. Both of these recent moving experiences has taught me that anything having to do with moving really shows you who your real friends are! Moving is such a grubby, yucky, exhausting experience that it seems like it really takes true friends to offer to help you. To my true friends who have helped me move in the past: THANK YOU! To the people who helped us move boxes and desks yesterday in anticipation of summer: THANK YOU! To the people who may potentially help me move at some point in the future (at an undetermined time as I have NO PLANS to move ANYTIME SOON): THANK YOU! To all of my friends and family reading this blog: if you are planning to move, I will help you. That's what friends are for!

All About Me (for the umpteenth time)

As most of you know, I'm kinda a sucker for these kinds of surveys, so when I saw this on Jay's blog, I couldn't resist adding it to my own:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name, Wilma, is after my maternal grandmother, Wilhelmina
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few weeks ago I guess, when some of the stress of dealing with the upcoming summer got to me
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING Yes!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I don't eat much lunch meat since I'm not big on sandwiches, but if I had to choose, I guess I'd say roast beef.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No, never (heavy sarcasm here). You're reading the blog of a person who was once called a "sarcastic wench" . . . does that answer your question?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Most emphatically no!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Normally I'd say Cheerios, but the past few times I've purchased cereal it's been Lucky Charms 'cause I love those marshmallows!
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes I do.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Depends on what kind of strength you're talking about. Physically I'm okay . . . I can carry heavy grocery bags home and lift the things I need to. I think I'm strong mentally, though. I'd like to think I have strength of character too.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Plain old vanilla.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their faces and their sense of humour
15. RED OR PINK? Definitely pink!
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Well, I want to see it on lots of people's blogs . . .
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans and no shoes, but green woollen socks.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a chocolate chip cookie
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Sense and Sensibility (I've got the DVD running in the background)
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? pink
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? the Honeysuckle Belle body wash I got from the States, grass, storms
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Well, I got it off Jay's blog and I can honestly say that she's a wonderful person whom I have yet to actually meet in person!
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't mind watching hockey . . . and soccer
27. HAIR COLOR? Light brown (some might say dirty blonde, but I don't)
28. EYE COLOR? Hazel
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. I wear glasses, but have never really wanted to try out contacts.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I like both, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending at the end of a romantic comedy :-)
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The Incredibles . . . I was watching it just before I popped in Sense and Sensibility
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? I like aspects of both . . . but probably I prefer winter a little more because I don't do well in the heat.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Cake.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Have to agree with Jay on this one . . . Dianne (hint, hint)
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jennifer
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (have to refresh my memory before the next book comes out!)
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Just the mouse . . . guess I'm boring!
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Debbie Travis: From the Ground Up
42. FAVORITE SOUND? Hugh Laurie's voice . . . both his normal accent and the fake American one. I also love the sound of laughter, especially when I've said or done something to make people laugh!
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? The Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME??? Germany, but that was a long, long time ago (close to twenty years!!)
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Making a fool of myself (on purpose) in front of teenagers. Seriously, I have no fear anymore, which is good since during the summers I routinely speak to LARGE groups of teenagers (think 200!)
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Burnaby, B.C.
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyone! I love reading these things and filling them in!

New and Improved Kill Count

The new number is 18. Yes people, 18 dead! It's a glorious day when you can brag about killing 18 fruit flies. Now I have to get back to my important ninja work (wait, that reference probably doesn't make sense to you unless you were with me on Friday night).

The First Kill Count of 2007

At least I think it's my first! Anyway, I put out the secret fruit fly death formula only a few hours ago and I've already claimed five victims! Woot woot! Fruit flies will tremble at the mere thought of coming anywhere close to my sink ;-)

Weird Dream

I just woke up from another really weird dream. It was a little scary and had a really cool ending. In my dream I was in my room, lying in bed. My room pretty much looked like it does now, but bigger and with stuff (like kids' art projects) hanging from the ceiling. I was lying in bed thinking about the stuff I had to remove from the room so it could be painted (I know what prompted that part of the dream!). Anyway, as I was lying there, a HUGE spider (the size of my hand or bigger) crossed the wall that I was staring at and then crossed the room on black webbing! (Hmmm, I did watch the second Harry Potter movie last weekend) Anyway, I jumped out of bed and started freaking out and screaming. This was one HUGE and menacing-looking spider. My sister came over at that point. She was going to help me clean out my bedroom. I told her about the spider and she said she would help me get rid of it. We found some raid and I started spraying close to where I had last seen it. The spider came out of the closet and I blasted it with spray. It went into death throes and ran back into the closet. I kept spraying it and it came back out of the closet. My sister, who was holding a fly swatter, handed the spider the fly swatter so that it could take it's own life with a little dignity. Then the spider started TALKING to my sister! I can't remember what they were talking about though. A few seconds after that, my attention was attracted away from this sight by the sounds of talking outside my window. I looked outside and I saw Harry Potter flying towards my window on his broom! Hermione was with him, and she had just landed on the sidewalk down below my window. I remember saying something like "Jennifer, forget about the talking spider for a minute, you gotta come here and see this!" and that's when I woke up.

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963

I've fallen in love with a new song. It's called "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" and it's sung by Rickie Lee Jones (whom I had never actually heard of until I heard this song). I first heard this song on a first season episode of "House" called Paternity. It's played at the end of the episode when you see House watching his patient play lacrosse. It struck a deep chord in me the first time I heard it, and not too long ago as I was rewatching the episode on my House DVD, I decided I had to find out what the song was called and download it (perfectly legally through iTunes, so relax people!). The official House website has this cool feature where you can look up the songs played in any episode of House . . . for the second and third seasons only! Do you have any idea how freakin' annoying that was?! Anyway, I did a little internet research and found the name of the song. I downloaded and have been listening to it ever since. It makes me feel nostalgic and happy and sad at the same time. The melody is haunting. Anyway, the lyrics are below. If you have the chance to listen to it, I strongly suggest that you do!

The most as you'll ever go
Is back where you used to know
If grown-ups could laugh this slow
Where as you watch the hour snow
Years may go by

So hold on to your special friend
Here, you'll need something to keep her in :
"Now you stay inside this foolish grin ... "
Though any day your secrets end
Then again
Years may go by

You saved your own special friend
'Cuz here you need something to hide her in
And you stay inside that foolish grin
When everyday now secrets end
Oh and then again
Years may go by

Crazy for Hugh

I might be a little, no, a LOT, crazy about Hugh Laurie. If you don't know who I'm talking about, this blog is clearly NOT for you. A little while back, the picture on my MSN screen became this:

This picture alone wasn't enough to feed my addiction. I changed the desktop of my computer at work to this picture:

To be 100% fair, I didn't actually set out to find this picture when I did my search at work. I typed the phrase "Baby Blues" into google, intending to find a funny cartoon panel from one of my favourite cartoons, "Baby Blues." It must have been fate (or destiny, I'm not sure) that lead me to this picture. I don't think I'll be changing it, unless I find another picture of Hugh. A few minutes ago I decided it was time to find a Hugh Laurie picture to spice up my desktop at home. This is what is now on my home desktop:

Excuse me while I take a moment to wipe the drool off my keyboard. So, do you think I'm addicted?