Early Christmas Present

I got an early Christmas present this year! Yesterday I was invited to my sister's company Christmas dinner . . . by her coworker Yvonne! Technically speaking it was Jennifer who called me to invite me, but she did it on behalf of Yvonne. It was a very nice gesture and a wonderful surprise. Ever since my brother-in-law Lance has been working for the insurance company, I've been hearing about the Christmas dinner from Jennifer. This year I will actually get to go! It's an all-expenses paid dinner at the Royal Oak restaurant :-) It's the same week as my own company's Christmas dinner, which happens to be the same week that I'm getting together with some friends to get some Christmas crafting done. It's going to be one busy week!

I'm very excited about this coming Christmas. I'm going to be spending Christmas day with my mom, sister, brother-in-law and step-dad at my step-sister's house. On Boxing Day I'll be with my step-mom, sister, brother-in-law and step-sister. We'll go visit my dad that day too. On New Year's Day I'll have dinner at my mom's house . . . and she's promised some delicious German food! Among the dishes being served: Rouladen and Spaetzle (German noodles). I've been promised leftovers to take to work the next day. It's going to be a big crowd that day - mom, step-dad, sister, brother-in-law (and his parents), step-brother and step-sister-in-law, possibly my step-sister and her family (including her in-laws), close family friends . . . I've lost count already!

Now I just have to get through the last few weeks of work for the year!

Can I get a "woot woot?"

It's a snow day! I managed to get halfway to work (walking) before I got the call telling me that school was closed today. Really, it's for the best. I was awake until about 4am last night (this morning), and during that time I watched two cars try to drive down my back alley. It took one car about twenty minutes to drive approximately thirty feet! I don't know where that person was going, but they were very determined to get there!

I'm off to take a much-needed nap. Enjoy the day!

SNOW!

I don't think these pictures do it justice, but it's snowing like crazy outside! This is the scene I can see out my window. That's not a major street, in case you're wondering. It's more like a back alley if anything. It's been snowing here since yesterday afternoon. Last week when people said it was going to snow on the weekend, I actually scoffed at them. I didn't think there was any way it was going to snow before December. Boy, was I wrong! If it continues like this all day, we're going to have a massive accumulation (massive by our westcoast standards, anyway). I'm starting to wonder what's going to happen in terms of work tomorrow. We've got people coming in from as far away as Abbotsford and Langley. What happens if they can't come in to work? What happens if our students can't come in? How much snow has to fall before we officially call tomorrow a snow day? Interesting question to ponder.

This is another picture of the snow outside. Actually, I was trying to take a picture of the snow falling, but I guess that part of it didn't turn out. To be honest, I don't particularly like snow all that much. It really throws people for a loop and it's wet and cold and difficult to walk through. One thing I do like about the snow is how beautiful and peaceful it makes things look. I also like how quiet it makes things seem. All the usual noises are muffled and it feels really calm. It's like nothing can get through the insulation. It'll be a different story after a few days when the snow looks more gray than white (or yellow in some areas, if you get my meaning).

On Friday when it became more and more apparent that we actually would get some snow, I taught my students a very valuable expression. I was asking them what kinds of things they could do in the snow and one of them said they could eat the snow. So I had to teach them "never eat yellow snow!" I thought I'd have to explain the meaning of the expression, but they got it right away ;-)

I LOVE Electricity!

My power is back on now - woot woot! It was out yesterday night when I got home and it stayed out until shortly before midnight. After I got all my clocks reset at 2:30 in the morning (what can I say, I was awake and it needed to be done!) I lay awake in bed until nearly 4 in the morning. Sigh. I left the house early this morning to deal with all the early morning "is school open?" phone calls at work and as I was walking down the stairs towards the door, the power went out again! Grrrr!

My power didn't come back on until two minutes before I arrived home. Yeah! Even though we had electricity all day at work, it was still nice to come home to a house full of electricity :-)

I think I've caught up on all your blogs now my friends. Have a good (outage free) evening!

Wishlist

My sister, the technogeek, has turned me onto a new online service called Wishlistr. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like - an online wishlist. With Christmas quickly approaching I thought I would set one up and add a link to my blog. Hopefully my family will stumble across the link and it will make Christmas shopping a little easier ;-)

Rain, rain, GO AWAY!

Normally I enjoy rain, but there comes a point where it gets to be too much! This morning I woke up to another rainstorm similar to Monday's. I opted not to go for the rubber boots this morning and decided to take the bus to work - something I haven't done in about a year. I did manage to stay drier, but I got to work twenty minutes earlier than usual. Since I had done all my prep already, there wasn't much for me to do. C'est la vie! At least my pants remained relatively dry!

On the agenda for this weekend: lunch with my best friend tomorrow (mmmm, back to White Spot with the hot, competent waiter and the delicious sweet potato fries!), and a visit with my dad on Sunday. Monday is reserved for sleeping in and doing laundry since it's a holiday.

In technological news . . . I just downloaded Internet Explorer 7. It is very similar to Mozilla Firefox which I don't personally use but have seen in action a lot. I'm quite pleased with it so far. I particularly like the idea of tabbed browsing. I think I'll download it on my work computer one of these days. Speaking of work, it sounds like we're going to be getting new computers soon! My computer has actually held up quite well, but newer sounds better to me! We're getting flat screen monitors, which is really cool. As with all things though, I'll just wait and see.

Have a wonderful weekend lovely readers!

The secret to happiness is . . .

. . . dry pants! If you live anywhere in the Lower Mainland (and if you have to ask where that is, then you don't) you know that we got completely soaked today!

As I do every morning, I walked to work. I thought I was prepared. Clearly, I thought wrong. Let me paint you a picture. The walk to work is 20 minutes. I was wearing a t-shirt, a pair of brown pants, a sweater, my jacket, and rubber boots. I was carrying an umbrella. I knew I would get wet, but by the time I got to work I was TOTALLY DRENCHED! The entire right side of my body was completely soaked. I had to take off my sweater and leave it hanging over the back of my chair to dry (which took ALL day!) The right side of my pants were soaked through . . . and didn't dry until mid-morning. It was a very wet, uncomfortable morning. Luckily it stopped raining in time for my walk home.

In summary I repeat: the secret to happiness is dry pants!

Looking back

Seriously don't know what has prompted this post, but I was just sitting here in front of my computer thinking about the upcoming holiday season and how different this year is from last year. At this time last year I was suffering under the regime of "Dragon Lady" and pretty much just miserable at work. Now I have a wonderful boss and an awesome group of coworkers and the laughter is back in the school! There are a lot of new teachers, but as a staff we have managed to bond really well and have an awesome working relationship.
At this time last year I had just recently moved into my condo and was trying to unpack and organize. Haven't made a hell of a lot of progress in that area over the past year, but I don't really give a damn.
Right around this time last year I commented in a post that I was actually enjoying all the early holiday advertisements and things because it helped to lift my mood. Now I have a confession to make. It's probably as a result of all the subtle brainwashing by marketing experts over the years, but I really rather enjoy seeing all the holiday commercials after Halloween! It helps to build anticipation for the Christmas season!
I was reading some of the posts I made last year around the time I moved and I realized that I never posted the story of how I knew that I was meant to live in this apartment. My realtor had already shown me a few places and I wasn't really seeing anything I liked. I was getting a sense of what I definitely did NOT want in an apartment or an apartment complex though. I didn't want to live in a huge, impersonal building. I didn't want to live on the other side of the city close to Delta, and I didn't want to live on the first floor. One day after school my realtor picked me up from work so that we could go look at this place. I was quite interested in seeing it because for the first time after reading the address of a place I was going to look at, I could envision it being my address. When we pulled up in front of the building, I just knew. It looked exactly right for me. When my realtor realized that she didn't have the right keys for the front door and that we'd have to go to her office to pick them up, I was very disappointed. I actually wanted to say "hurry up! I have to see my new home!" We retrieved the keys and came back to the building. We came up to this suite and looked around inside. Since it was vacant at the time there wasn't a whole lot to see, except the giant dehumidifier set up in the kitchen to clean up some water damage left by the previous tenant. We walked around and my realtor said "so, what do you think?" I said "I love it!" She said "do you love it enough to make an offer?" I said "let's do it!" A couple of days later, it was all mine! I have not regretted the decision one bit over the past year. Interestingly enough, almost exactly a year to the day I moved into the place, a few of us were talking at work one day about buying property. The topic of conversation had to do with those home improvement shows and how there was one of HGTV that talked about how to set up your house to sell it. Pretty much all the stuff that they said was in the show about how to set up your house to sell it (new coat of paint, furniture in the house to help people envision what their furniture would look like in the house, etc.) was the exact opposite of what this place looked like when I bought it! I. just. knew. I knew that this place was meant to be mine!
I hope you have a lovely weekend my fellow bloggers!

If I Could Turn Back Time . . .

. . . I would have remembered to turn back my clocks last night before I went to bed! I woke up this morning and merrily started my laundry, thinking it was 8am. I watched a Star Trek DVD that my sister loaned me, and then prepared to watch Judging Amy at 9. That's when I discovered that I had forgotten to turn back the clocks! All I could do was laugh . . . and be grateful that I got an early start on my laundry.

Plans for today: head over to Penningtons and see if I can find some more long-sleeved shirts and sweaters (at reasonable prices) seeing as my classroom is really, really cold these days, and outside is cold too. Wish me luck!

Potluck Potpourri

Last night I went to an Italian potluck dinner. It was very, very yummy! I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen for a while - so hooray! I have to admit that I was a little concerned about going after having lunch with two colleagues from work on Tuesday. They were talking about all the times people go to potlucks and get food poisoning. One of the guys told us that his wife got sick two separate times after two separate potlucks. That's when I chimed in and said "gee, I'm going to a potluck on Friday" to which both guys just laughed. Sigh. Thanks M and B!

You'll notice that I am posting these thoughts on our potluck the day after the potluck. I didn't want to gross anyone at the potluck out, particularly after my friend Amy told me that she has been reading my blog. Hi Amy!

Once again I wished for my camera last night. When Jennifer and I took the bus to her place last night we passed by several houses who had gone all out to decorate for Halloween. I LOVE halloween and I really, really wanted to take pictures of the spookiness. Jennifer reminded me that I have a camera phone, but the quality of those pictures leaves a lot to be desired.

I also wanted to take some photos of my friends at dinner last night. There were LOTS of "kodak moments" when Jennifer and Lance broke out the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) video game for little Kazzie to enjoy. He danced the night away with various dance partners including Lance, Jerry, Amy, daddy Koji, me, and Jennifer. Watching everyone dance was lots of fun.

Before I leave you all for the day, I want to share this pearl of wisdom from the four-and-a-half year old Kazzie: "my head gets really long when I jump!" It took me forever to figure out what Kazzie was talking about! We were standing in front of the stove checking on the progress of dinner. There was a big, shiny pot of water boiling on the stove for the spaghetti. The image in the pot was really distorted and lengthened everything! When Kazzie jumped up and down his head got really long. It was the first of many previously mentioned photo opportunities!

The new and improved me!

My hair before the cut. Notice how the length really drags me down. When I told me stylist, the uber-fantastic Daphne, that I had had this cut for the past ten years and that I really needed a change she got all excited. This is only the second time that Daphne has cut my hair, mind you, but she said she lives for days when someone tells her that they aren't sure what they want to do and asks for her help. I was very pleased with her suggestions, so I will definitely continue to see her. We discussed putting some highlights in at some point in the future. When I explained that I was very low-maintenance with my hair, Daphne told me about something called peekaboo highlights, which don't go over the top of your hair and lie under the first layer of your hair. I'm definitely thinking about some of those for the future!

Voila! I LOVE it! She cut side bangs into it, but I'm not so sure you'll really be able to see them unless I part my hair the opposite way. When she was asking me about my part I got flustered and told her the opposite of what I usually do (hey, cut me some slack! I was nearly blind 'cause I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I was looking into a mirror!) She cut the bangs opposite to how I usually wear my hair, but that's okay because I discovered that it looks good either way! Daphne told me that if I blow dry my hair and put some mousse at the roots that I'll have lots and lots of volume and it will look like porn star hair! I might have to buy some mousse and and a blow dryer in order to try that out!

Sexy, no?

Okay, seriously . . .

what's up with Lorelai this season on GG? She is supposed to be with Luke, NOT Christopher! I get the fact that he's Rory's dad, but this is just weird. C'mon, we're supposed to believe that all that sexual tension and chemistry over the last six years was leading up to Lorelai and Christopher getting back together?! Does anyone else have any thoughts on this new season? I'm thinking that the episodes have been fairly lacklustre so far. I miss all the snappy dialogue. There have been a few flashes of it, but not really enough to justify a full hour's worth of show. What do you think?

Now House is a show I've missed lately. I'm currently watching a rerun. Someone, in their infinite wisdom, decided that while the World Series was on we shouldn't have any new episodes of House. Who the f*ck thought that was a good idea? There won't be a new episode on until Halloween! I don't know if I can last that long! Today is the first day in three weeks that I've watched House. I'm surprised that I didn't experience withdrawal symptoms. I think it's because Hugh Laurie is one of the pictures on my sexy British men mug and his is the display picture on my MSN Messenger.

And finally I thought I should remind everyone that I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. If my students drive me totally nuts maybe I'll get her to shave my head bald so that I can go get an awesome wig and go to work dressed as someone they don't know. Then they can't bug me. Yeah, right!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Or in my case, Wednesday evening! I was supposed to get a haircut this morning, but when I arrived at the salon I was told that my stylist had called in sick. They couldn't call me because I was the first appointment of the day and my stylist called in right before the appointment. Anyway, I opted to make a new appointment than have my hair cut by someone else. I'm looking forward to possibly getting a new look (or will I chicken out and just ask for a trim?) - I've had my same hairstyle with varying lengths for at least 10 years now. All I want is something easy to maintain. I've even started to think about dyeing it (my students all think I dye my hair anyway, so I may as well!) or getting some highlights. I hesitate though because I don't want to have to return to the stylist all the time to maintain the colour. We'll see. Definitely won't be dyeing it on Wednesday, but it's something to think about for the future. I have this fantasy of sitting in the stylist's chair and saying to her "it's just hair. Do whatever you want to it, it'll grow back." Anyway, if my hair turns out really different I'll try and post some pictures after it's done :-)

Tipping

Ever had this experience? You're sitting in a restaurant with a friend. You order your beverage and it seems to take forever until it arrives. It's not a fancy drink, just a regular coke. You order your food and wait and wait for it. While you and your friend are talking you see your waitress standing around and chatting with the other servers, even though you could use a drink refill and you're wondering where the hell your plain ol' burger is. When your food finally arrives you attack it, starving, only to realize that your glass is empty and your waitress never offered you a refill. You spend the next five minutes trying to flag down your waitress to ask for a refill, which predicatably, takes five minutes to get to your table. After you finish eating, a good hour at least after you've entered the restaurant, you wait for your bill to arrive. It comes and you and your friend put your money on the table. You now have to debate the eternal question, "how much of a tip should we leave?" The standard seems to be about 15 to 20 percent. You wait and wait for the waitress to return and ask you if you need change. You ask for a certain amount back and you wait and wait for her to return with it. Does any of that sound familiar to you? More and more often it's situations similar to the one I've just described that I encounter when having lunch with my best friend. We have a standing date every Saturday afternoon for lunch and one of the few constants it seems we can count on is crappy service. We always leave roughly a 15% tip, but there are times when we debate leaving a tip at all. I can't speak for her (though I'm sure she shares these thoughts), but I'm getting sick and tired of tipping for sub par service. Don't get me wrong, I understand that service people like waiters and waitresses rely on tips to make ends meet. I have no problem tipping my waiter or waitress, but in return I expect some service that's at least halfway decent. I'm tired of my waitress walking right past me multiple times when I clearly need a beverage refill. And why does my waitress always seem to disappear for her coffee break at the exact time that I'm ready to pay my bill and leave? Would it kill my waitress to stop by the table once in a while to see how I'm doing with my meal? Today my friend and I experienced our usual level of poor service, so we decided to do something a littler different. We always split the bill 50-50. Since we've usually just been to the cash machine we always only ever have $20 bill, nothing lower, so we always need at least a couple of dollars in change. Today we were debating about whether to each leave $1 as a tip (which would have been approximately 12% of the bill) or $2 (just over 20% of the bill). Our money sat on the table for a little while. Our waitress walked past us a couple of times and we decided that if she came for our money within a couple of minutes we would give her the higher amount, but if she continued to walk past us we would give her the lower amount. We ended up giving her the lower amount and she looked quite peeved as she gave us her change. I really didn't care since she could have quite easily stopped at our table to pick up our money any of the 3 or 4 times she walked past us. What ever happened to the days of decent service? Or service with a smile? Seriously, why should I tip you for crappy service? A tip is meant to be a thank you for a service performed. I'm not willing to give you a generous tip unless you've actually given me some decent service! My friend and I even had a waitress take her own tip out of our change once. We gave her our money and asked for a certain amount back in change, which included roughly a 15% tip. The service had been okay, but nothing special. When the waitress returned a few minutes later with our change she said that we must have made a mistake on the tip and that she had corrected it by bringing us the "correct change", which was a couple of dollars less than what we had asked for. At the time were so shocked by her nerve that we left without saying anything, but I often wish I could talk to that waitress, whom we never saw again, and give her a piece of my mind.

To those bloggers reading this who currently work in the service industry or have in the past, I just want you to know that I do respect the work that you do and I know that crappy service sometimes isn't your fault. I have never not left a tip, even after really crappy service. But as someone who eats out on a weekly basis, I feel perfectly justified in asking that my waiter or waitress not ignore me or repeatedly walk past me when I'm trying to pay. Is that really too much to ask?

Happy Turkey Day!

I had my Thanksgiving dinner last night at my mom's place. The kids and spouses and two grandkids were all there. I'm the only single one now . . . but that's okay. I do have to say that watching the two newlywed couples (my sister and her husband, who have been married for a little over six months, and my step-brother and his wife, who have been married for two months) was a little uncomfortable sometimes. All the gazing into each other's eyes and private jokes and sweet nothings . . . yuck! Whatever. You're talking to someone who's ALWAYS been single, so I really can't relate to people in love.

Dinner was delicious! And abundant . . . ham, turkey, vegetable casseroles, stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, perogies . . . enough to feed an army! Even for dessert . . . we had pumpkin pie, plum cake (yummy!!), and apple pudding. Not to mention ice cream and whipping cream to put on top. I ate so much, but it was worth it! All the kids were counting on taking home leftovers and we weren't disappointed! I took home three chinese food containers (the large round foil containers with cardboard lids) full of leftovers so I don't have to worry about what I'll be eating for lunch or dinner tonight!

I woke up this morning briefly contemplating a day spent cleaning. I know it should be done, but screw it, I want to enjoy my day off so I'll leave the cleaning for another day. I'm done everything I have to do for work tomorrow so today I can do whatever I want. Unfortunately I don't know yet what I want to do. Goodbye for now blog buddies!

Walk a mile in my . . .

. . . new shoes 'cause they are so freakin' comfortable! I would post a picture of them, but I don't feel like hauling out my camera right now. So I'll use my English teaching skills to describe them to you instead. They look a lot like bowling shoes actually. They're tan in colour with a couple of olive green stripes along the side and a couple of darker brown patches near the toes. They have olive green laces. They look and feel like suede, but I'm not sure that they really are. I bought them this weekend at Payless Shoes (LOVE that store!) I hadn't planned to buy anything new this weekend, but I after I got dressed to go out on Sunday I realized that I didn't have any kind of casual shoes in brown to wear so I headed off to the store to see what I could find. I'm glad that I don't have to wear my running shoes every day :-)

Now for a complete change of topic . . . I've had to make some new bug juice to put next to my sink in the kitchen. The fruit flies are getting annoying again. Karen was able to kill 30 of the little beasties when she made the bug juice last week. I'm torn between wanting to find 30 in my mug (though EEWWWW! That means there were 30 of them flying around my apartment) or wanting to find only 8 or 9 (though that seems vaguely disappointing since it's much more fun to think I've killed lots of yucky fruit flies!) Okay, you can't tell this just by reading this post, but I stepped away from the computer for a moment to do something in the kitchen and I noticed that I already have two flies in the mug! The bug juice has only been sitting in the kitchen for half an hour. Wahoooo!! Die little buggers!

Before you think I'm completely bloodthirsty let me assure you that I'm not. I usually don't experience the overwhelming urge to kill any living beings except for fruit flies and squirrels. Fruit flies because they're completely gross, and squirrels because they're nasty rodents who destroy nearly everything they come into contact with. Trust me, I know. About 4 or 5 years ago a squirrel got into our attic and it started to chew through the ceiling . . . right over my head while I was sleeping! I woke up one morning to find a small pile of plaster from the ceiling on the pillow right next to where I was sleeping! Luckily no squirrels ever fell on my head, but now I have an extreme dislike of squirrels. And I do mean EXTREME!

Now my lovely blog buddies, I'm off to read some of your blogs. Have a good night!

She's at it again!

Yup, I've made a few changes to my blog again! I talked to Jenn and she gave me some good advice about how to make some changes. The new blogger seems very easy to manipulate and I'm hoping that it will attract a bit more traffic to my site. As I figure out how to get more and more sophisticated with my blog I'll make a few more changes.

I hope everything is going well in your world! I've been to a funeral today and was feeling kinda low. The funeral was for someone that I used to sing with in my church choir. I haven't been in the choir for the last year or so (moving and stuff made me lazy). When my sister and I arrived at the Church we were asked to join the choir to sing for the woman who passed away. It was nice to be back in the familiar territory again, and the choir sounded lovely. The song we sang is one of my favourites and was meant to be a solo, but the woman who had agreed to sing it couldn't get through it without a little help today. I received many compliments on the singing, and was asked by many people when I would be back in the choir, which lifted my spirits considerably. We'll see if choir makes it back into my routine!

It's All About Meme

I can't help it, I'm a sucker for these memes!

ARE YOU:

1. A Cuddler?
Sometimes. It depends on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I just don't want to be touched.

2. A morning person?
While I can't really say I love getting up early in the morning, I am definitely able to get more stuff done in the morning than in the evening.

3. Are you a perfectionist?
In a way. I'm passionate about certain (stupid) things getting done right.

4. An only child?
Nope. I have one biological sister, two step-brothers (one on each side) and two step-sisters (one on each side).

5. Catholic:
No. I view myself as a Christian, but I don't think I could ever join a Catholic Church. Too rigid in its views.

6. In your pajamas?
How did you know?

7. Currently suffering from a broken heart?
Nope.

8. Okay styling other people's hair?
Don't have a lot of practice with my own hair, let alone other people's hair!

9. Left handed?
Yes, and damn proud of it!

10. Addicted to MySpace?
Addicted, no. Interested, yes.

11. Shy around the opposite gender?
Sometimes. It depends on how well I know the person. The guys I work with I tend not to be shy around. All the others . . .

12. Loud?
Sometimes. I have been known to get loud in my classroom when I'm mad at my students!

DO YOU:

12. Bite your nails?
No. I pick at them sometimes, but never bite.

13. Get paranoid at times?
Oh yes. Definitely.

14. Currently regret something that you have said/done?
Right now, no. Past regrets, sure.

15. Curse frequently when you get mad?
I guess that depends on your definition of frequently. If I'm really pissed, sure. Otherwise I try not to curse that often.

16. Enjoy country music?
Only new country. Rascal Flatts, Shania Twain, The Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill.

17. Enjoy jazz music?
Not particularly.

18. Enjoy smoothies?
Yes.

19. Enjoy talking on the phone?
Not really. There are a few people I really like talking to, but otherwise I prefer e-mail.

20. Have a lot to learn?
Yes!

21. Have a pet?
Not right now. I'd like a cat one day.

22. Have a tendency to fall for the "wrong" person?
Perhaps that's my problem! My past few crushes have been on married men, and therefore "wrong" in terms of their availability.

23. Have all your grandparents died?
My biological ones are all dead. Fortunately I have lovely grandparents living in Oregon. They are the parents of my stepmom.

24. Have at least one sibling?
Yes. Weren't you paying attention earlier?

25. Have been told that you are smart?
Yes.

26. Have had a broken bone?
Nope.

27. Have Caller I.D. on your phone?
On my cell phone.

HAVE YOU:

28. Changed a diaper?
Not recently, but yes. I used to babysit.

29. Changed a lot over the past year?
I'm not sure. I don't think I've changed a lot, but some.

30. Had friends who have never seen your natural hair color?
Except for one brief period in 1997, my hair has always been its natural colour.

31. Had surgery?
No.

32. Killed anyone?
No, but I have thought about it before ;-)

33. Had your haircut within the last week?
I haven't, but I wish I had.

LAST PERSON WHO:

1. Slept in the bed beside you?
I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that sometimes my family reads this blog! Hehehehe. Just joking . . . or am I?

2. Saw you cry?
Some people I work with last week when I found out that a friend had died.

3. Went to the movies with you?
My best friend Sonja.

4. You went to the mall with?
See above. My best friend Sonja.

5. You went to dinner with?
My friend Shannon.

6. You talked to on the phone?
My mom.

7. Said 'I love you' to you and meant it?
Don't remember . . .

8. Broke your heart?
Honestly? My students are currently breaking my heart because most of them are currently wasting their opportunity to learn English.

9. Made you laugh?
My friend Shannon.

WOULD YOU RATHER?

1. Pierce your nose or tongue?
Nose, I guess.

2. Be serious or be funny?
Funny. Definitely funny.

3. Drink whole or skim milk?
I usually drink 1% milk.

4. Die in a fire or drown?
Drown I think. I don't think I could tolerate the pain involved with burning. *shudder*

5. Spend time with your parents or enemies?
My parents.

ABOUT YOU!

1. What time is it?
10:22pm

2. Name?
Kimberly Wilma F.

3. Nickname(s)?
Kim, Teacher, Kima

4. Where were you born?
Burnaby, British Columbia

5. What is your birthdate?
August 8, 1978

6. What do you want?
Happiness. Love.

7. Where do you want to live?
Exactly where I am right now.

8. How many kids do you want?
At this particular moment in time, none. But I've always wanted to have one daughter.

It's a Woman's Prerogative . . .

. . . to change her mind about her blogger template! Yup, I've decided that the pink was too much pinkness. I love the simplicity and cleannes of the white. I've also added a few new links to my sidebar. I'm planning on making a few other changes over the next week or so, depending on how bold I get. Now, I think I've blogged enough for one day :-)

Back Home Again

I'm back from Maple Ridge! Taking the bus turned out to be very easy. It seemed to take a long time, but that was mostly due to the wait at Braid Station - I was 25 minutes early for the bus! Anyway, I listened to my tunes most of the way and my MP3 player worked extremely well.

When I got to Maple Ridge I got to see my stepmom's photos of her trip (along with my stepsis) to Nova Scotia to visit my stepbrother Sean and his wife Holly. They got some great pictures! I also found out that my stepsister has a new, serious boyfriend, which is great. After looking at the pictures we went out for lunch at ABC - Yummmm. Afterwards we decided to stop at London Drugs to look at picture frames. We couldn't find any we liked there, so we went to Zellers and each bought a few frames (I need some to hang my degrees, and I want to FINALLY hang some family photos around my apartment).

After shopping, we went to the hospital to see my dad. He has a private room in the new building and it's really nice! Lots of wood and muted colours. Each room has a "memory box" outside - a locked wooden cabinet with a glass door and three glass shelves for families to put mementos and stuff in. My stepmom wants to put some of my dad's prettiest beer steins in the box, which I think will look really nice. The room inside is a little plain right now, but Barbara and I decided where to hang some photos and stuff, so soon it should have a little more personality. We stayed and fed Dad his dinner, then we left and Barbara drove me home. All in all it was a good visit. Jennifer and her husband are going next Sunday. Hopefully the pictures will be up by then and there'll be a plant in the room.

I didn't even think about it until we were halfway home, but while I was in Maple Ridge I should have stopped to buy some of the delicious lox that my stepmom gets at the German butcher. But we came to an agreement in the car that she would stop during the week and buy me some and send it home with Jennifer next week. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The only slight wrinkle in the plan is that Jennifer HATES fish, so I don't think she'll be overly thrilled to have to take it home with her and then possibly bring it to work with her one day in the middle of the week in order for me to pick it up from her. Jennifer, you'd be the best sister in the world if you helped me out with this!