On My 8th Day of Pre-Christmas

Okay, so we now have My 1st Day of Pre-Christmas, My 2nd Day of Pre-Christmas, , My 3rd Day of Pre-Christmas, , My 4th Day of Pre-Christmas, My 5th Day of Pre-Christmas, My 6th Day of Pre-Christmas, and My 7th Day of Pre-Christmas.

On My 8th Day of Pre-Christmas, my brand new king size bed gave to me,
8 hours of pole-vaulting kitties
...7 hoards of humbugs
......6 pesky telemarketing calls
.........5 HOURS OF TREE DECORATING
............a 4 dollar Charlie Brown tree
...............3 truckloads of food
..................2 pooped people with tired bodies
.....................and a brand new king size bed.

Eight hours of polevaulting kitties! What's up with that? It's so easy (like taking candy from a baby! - another musical brain worm for those of you who remember).

Last night was the sleep from hell for My Sweetie. Now, apparently, as I am told, I snored through the entire thing. But I do remember waking up the odd time to sound of the growling bear, which was My Sweetie snarling at either me or the cats or both. Why? Because CoCo was trying to get on top of the bed so that she could have some quality time with her Mommy and Daddy.

The new bed is a few inches higher than what we had before. This makes it a little more difficult for the kitties to get up. Since BJ has a bit of arthritis in his hind legs, we placed a little stool at the bottom of the bed for their highnesses, and BJ uses it, but CoCo? No way Jose!! She prefers to run toward the bed then leap to try to get on top. Of course, there is always the lovely sound of kitty claws on fabric. EEEEk!

I am not sure what is going to be on tap for tonight. Probably more leaping through the air kitties, but that's just what they do. They are animals, and My Other Sweeties.

Right now I have to go downstairs and wrap a giftie for someone that I don't know. I think it's for hubby's secret Santa thingy.

I am officially on vacation as of tonight.....YAY! Tomorrow morning I am going to be doing some local volunteer work for Christmas. But I'll be back later on in the day.

Ciao amigos and amigas.....
Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween all you fellow Blogger scary people (need not apply...hehe).

While searching around the Web, I found some cool links to share with all ghosties and goblinies around the world.

Ben and Jerry's Flavor Graveyard

Halloween Origins and Customs

The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows

All Recipes

Even Google got into the Halloween act..........now how about that?

My Halloween was most excellent. After a little last minute decoration shopping, courtesy of Home Depot and Canadian Tire, we gave out 95 of our 100 goodie bags. BOO!

Those little labels

Labels. Those little things that identify brands. They're on everything that we buy, and a lot of those little labels I absolutely detest. But that needs clarifying.

Last night, while I was making dinner, I filled my time clipping the little labels from the tea towel and dish towel. Why? Because they bother me. The towels are now label-less, and hang in a much neater fashion. Some of the less interesting labels are worthy of the green bin, and that is where a lot of them go, once I get around to it.


But, some labels I really like....as long as they are not messy, and as long as they hide away nicely when hanging on the towel rack. In our powder room, we have a couple of Nautica towels. I love Nautica. They have a really neat marketing scheme, whereby in the lower right hand corner of the towel, there is a small, inconspicuous, monogrammed N. To me, they are the Ralph Lauren of towels.

Aside from the visual aspect of labels, there is also the comfort aspect of labels. You know the ones. The ones that make you itch at the back of your neck, or at the side of your hip. Those labels get snipped away in a flash.

Now, of course, it is always a fashion statement to wear something with a little tag thingy stitched to a pocket, the back of a hood, or a gym shoe. It means something, a statement of something. Look at me....I paid a lot for this.

There is always the dreaded tag, sewn onto a mattress or a chair, that says DO NOT REMOVE THIS TAG OR FACE DEATH BY HANGING. So you rip it off anyway, and say TAKE THAT! We feel free, unattached, like the little tag heading for the green bin.

Wouldn't it be great to live in a label-less world? Monogrammed markings on items instead of detestable labels. No more clipping, and cutting, and fodder for landfill.

Ever notice that socks don't have labels?

My beloved PVR

What would I do without my PVR? I would be sitting and watching commercials while trying to watch regular programming, that's what. I luv my PVR. It captured the Canadian Idol final program, where of course, Eva Avila won!

It also captured the premiere of The Amazing Race 10. Yes, I have watched The Amazing Race 1 through 9, and 10 promises to be equally exciting.

9 Years Ago

Princess Diana

Everybody knows who this lady was, and it was nine years ago that she was a victim of that tragic car accident. When she came into the public eye, people were drawn to her, as they were with her engagement and marriage. I was (still am) a huge fan, both of her and the Royal family. I have books and articles that I collect and read (don't want to use the word hunted as was used in the media), and I miss her presence to this day.

Now, many people remember where they were when they heard the sad news. We were with two other boats, and it was the following morning. The neighbouring boat had the news on. I was just waking up in the V-berth, and all I could hear was 'Princess Diana and Dodi' while they were speaking. I thought that they had eloped or something. Then My Sweetie, knowing that I was a huge fan, came to tell me the news with tears in his eyes. Time was not the same after that. It was occupied with newspapers and TV news and magazines that seemed to publish something new every week.

Sometimes it seems that time just flies, and you know, it probably does.

It's Smoothie Time

I am drinking one of my favourite drinks, a strawberry banana smoothie:

crushed ice

strawberries (.5 points)

1/2 banana (1 point)

1/2 cup orange juice (1 point)

1 tablespoon strawberry banana protein powder (1 point)

1 Source yogurt (any flavour, 1 point)

Blend and enjoy....soooooo good, soooooo yummy!

The Rock Cliff (older pic)

I managed to find a picture of the rock cliff the way that it was years ago.....note the face this time...you can actually see the forehead, nose, in profile.

The Week That Was

This was our first week back after being on vacation for two weeks. Vacationing on a boat is always an instant vacation. Of course it takes some time and work to make things ready, stow the provisions, ensure equipment is in good order, but it is always worth it.

This past week, we settled back into our respective routines, and of course had a little excitement during the week. Mostly, we reflected on the vacation, the places that we visited, and the people that we met. We have been to many of these places before, but every time that we return, they always feel new, ready to be explored. We managed to escape the wild weather that apparently hit the home ports. We had storms, but we were always somewhere protected, and out of harm's way.

Now, I admit to not being the best photographer, nor being a photographer at all, but I thought that it might be kind of cool to share some of my photos. This one is the Pointe au Baril lighthouse. We had just spent 8 hours crossing Georgian Bay, and reached the port of Pointe au Baril, where this lighthouse greets incoming travelers and bids farewell to departing travelers. Enjoy!

Savvy?

We went to see the Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest last night. Cool flick. It sucks you into the world of the high seas and pirates, and makes you feel like a kid again. Luved Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Tia Dalma. Like the first movie, the Curse of the Black Pearl, I loved the costumes and the creative props.

We always stick around, after the movie has ended, to watch the credit roll and listen to the closing music. Good thing we did too, for the last surprise tidbit!

Anybody Know This Dog?

This beautiful young lady was found roaming around our streets last night. She was finally caught and spent the night in our friend's garage. She is now tied to our back yard fence. Our friends have been calling her Bear, but we have been calling her Abby. She is trained, and very loving, but now she needs to have her family back.

NewsFlash!!!! Abby aka Bear aka Josie has a home nearby. It turns out that Josie is part lab part border collie......lovely, lovely dog. At least she was cared for while she was lost.

Summer Solstice

Today is June 21st.....time for the official arrival of summer.....debut de l'ete....Summer Solstice....longest day of the year. They say it's going to be a long and hot summer in this neck of the woods, and that is perfecto for us.

Here in Sleepy Hollow, today is also noted for nasty graffiti painted on the pavement of our street, and speeding tickets.

Oh, and flying ants (yes, flying ants). It's bad enough when ants walk, in great numbers in armies, but when they fly, then land, then march, you would think that would require talent. Well, I guess for an ant it does. Except that today I am finding these flying creatures everywhere; okay, maybe I am not finding them......our Feline Family Members are finding them for me. The ants uncleverly land somewhere, usually somewhere in front of the Feline Family Members, and the furry friends stand frozen, staring at the floor. Then that's my cue to go over and either rescue the flying ant (usually not an option) or put it out of its misery (the preferred option). Pity the poor flying ant.

Cheers to the arrival of summer. And watch out for flying ants.

The First Time...

The first time that I ever decided to do a blog, I chickened out. Sure, I viewed other blogs, checked them out, even found some of them interesting. Never thought I'd want to have one of my own (like a dog - always nice to admire other people's dogs but would never own one).

So here I am, composing my first blog entry. No one can tell me what to write here. This is my space, for now. Maybe it will become a really interesting space, or maybe not, but for now it is my space, and a space for me to crawl into.