Festivities Galore

Here's a photo journal of all that's happened the week before Christmas.













How deep the snow was after Sunday's snow storm.












The boys' Christmas concert at school - yes, a Christmas concert, not a "holiday" concert.











McMillan's annual Christmas breakfast. This year it included homemade-customized Christmas crackers with personalized fortunes in them.





An impromptu Christmas jam session at the Robertson's. We had two violins, a piano, a keyboard, a guitar, a triangle and the adults sung along. How nice it is to see so many talented kids in one room. They all had great sight reading skills too.

Is it over yet?

Sheldon quickly changed his mind about shovelling and asked to borrow a snowblower from a neighbour.

Below: amount of snow accumlated on the roof of the garage

Oh Canada

The first snowstorm here was exactly two weeks ago and gave us about 30 cm of snow, if I remember correctly. Here's how much snow we've accumulated today during our second snowstorm.

A few hours later...

My Musical Family

Warning: This post contains video clips that probably only grandparents care about.

Presently, Aidan is working on his grade 3 piano and Connor is working on gr. 4/5 violin. Over the last year, Aidan has expressed interest in playing another instrument. The type of instrument changes from time to time. At first, he wanted to play the trumpet. Then it was the picollo. Now he's bent on playing the guitar.

Yesterday after their music lesson, Sheldon took them to the music store to buy Connor a new book his teacher asked him to get. I guess this sparked Aidan's conversation again about wanting to play the guitar. Sheldon started asking the person at the store if it was possible to have only a month's worth of lessons just to see if this is something Aidan wants to really pursue.

When Sheldon got home, he discussed what he learned with me. Then he called the store and asked how much guitar rentals were. All of a sudden, Sheldon and Aidan were out the door to arrange for a guitar rental and to schedule guitar lessons.

Not long after, I get a call and Sheldon says Aidan's first lesson starts in half an hour!

Here'a what Aidan's picked up just after the first lesson.



Needless to say, we've told Aidan this is his Christmas present from us.

Then Sheldon remembered that their music teacher said Connor needed a larger violin.He is currently playing on a half size and needed a three quarter sized violin. I remembered we had a couple of old ones in our closet from when I was younger. However, one was too small and Sheldon's was, well there's no other way to say it, crappy and needed a lot of fixing up. Then we thought maybe Connor could play on my own full sized violin. I think it's a little big but I think it can be done.

Here he is playing on my violin, which used to be my grandfather's. So my grandfather played on it, my cousin played on it, I played on it, my brother played on it, and not it's Connor's turn. It was made in 1952 and will be something I hope will be passed on for many generations to come.

Warning: the song is a little rough because he's not used to playing on a larger violin.



So there you go, mom and dad. The musical family tradition continues through us.

Aidan's 9th Birthday

Here's a few pictures and a video clip from Aidan's birthday party at Laser Quest. Take note of the two girls' reactions after the candles are blown out.

20% Geek

It was the Slashdot tagline question that pushed my geekness levels up and I only knew the answer because I see Sheldon reading it all the time.

Hot. Cold. Rest. And repeat.

Earlier this week, Sheldon said he was taking me out on a date. I figure it was a night out as usual. I was complaining about how busy I am and he said that it's good that I can relax on Saturday. Then he let it slip that it would be a daytime date and he still had to make reservations. I thought "spa date!"

I was totally looking forward to being pampered. Thoughts of massages, facials, manicures, and pedicures filled my head. On Friday during lunch, my co-workers and I started talking about it. One fellow shared his experience at Le Nordik, a Scandinavian bath spa where you're outside and it involves very cold water. I have no tolerance for the cold and said I wouldn't want to go there.

Yup. You guessed it. That's where Sheldon took me! I would have never thought he would have even heard of the place.

Anyways, it turned out to be not as bad as I thought it would be. The setting was beautiful, nestled in the Gatineaus in Old Chelsea. In order to get the full benefits of the baths, you would sit in a steam bath or dry sauna for 10-15 min. This helps to open your pores and it draws the toxins out of your body. I thought I would be claustrophobic in the steam bath but I actually did really well. I liked it better than the dry sauna.

After that, you had to take a dip in really cold water. This closes your pores quickly in order to keep the toxins out. Luckily, we were informed that we only had to be in the icy cold water for only 10-15 seconds. There was a tepid pool that wasn't as cold and you could stay in it a little longer if you dared. We dipped in that one once.

After the cold water, you would go to the "rest stations" and just relax for 10-15 min. Nobody is supposed to talk at the rest stations. There were rest stations outside around a fireplace, a sheltered gazebo with a fireplace, or you could sit inside the resting building. In this building, there was even a little room that looked like a sauna room but it wasn't really hot. There were mats on the benches where you could take a nap! Pretty crazy. Sheldon went in there but I didn't. I was trying to finish my book club book in time for Wednesday night.

Anyways, after you rested, you repeated the hot, cold, rest cycle again. It was recommended to do it 3-4 times. After that, you could hop into one of 2 hot tubs and relax before hitting the change rooms.

To end a very relaxing afternoon, Sheldon took me to a little Thai restaurant in Hull. It was good, but my curry had a kick to it and I don't take spicy very well.

Thanks to Dixie for watching Aidan while we were gone. And thanks to my fabulous husband for treating me to a relaxing afternoon. Love all around.

Now I think I'm going to end my relaxing day by curling up and try to finish this book.

This picture I found on the internet doesn't do the place justice because Gatineau is prettiest in the fall.

Shocking Graffiti

While I was sitting in the back corner of the bus this morning, I saw some graffiti written by the window that really shocked me. It left me speechless. It even made me smile. It said "you are beautiful."

Quality Control on Halloween Night

As I was putting a small handful of candy into a young trick-or-treater's bag, his hand shot out over his bag all of a sudden and said, "Wait! Can I see?"

Once he approved the type of candy I had for him, he allowed me to put them into his bag.

I was speechless.

Far-fetched scenes

Last night, Sheldon and I went on a double-date with the de Souza's. We went to the Mayfair theatre to watch The Bourne Ultimatum and Live Free or Die Hard. There were some far-fetched scenes that were so amusing I thought I'd share them with you.

In one scene, Bruce Willis jumps out of a car moving over 100km an hour and not breaking any bones or even getting skid burns on his skin. The car proceeds to drive up a toll booth on its own in order to crash into and destroy the bad guy's helicopter hovering around the entrance to the tunnel.

Or a scene with an anorexic-thin Asian bad girl who is hanging onto the front of a moving truck that smashes her against a wall, yet she lives to continue fighting Bruce Willis.

In The Bourne Ultimatum, there is a car chase scene that involves Bourne's car being smashed around continuously and flips over multiple times, yet he walks away with a small limp. The bad guy however is seriously injured with blood pouring out of is head wounds. He's slumped over the steering wheel as Bourne runs over to point a gun in his face.

Yeah, we all had a good laugh over those too.

It was a Thriller night...

Halloween Costumes 2007

Here are Connor and Aidan`s finished masks. Connor is `death by iPod`and Aidan is Pikachu. Sheldon is some creepy-looking ghoul (nothing unusual for him), and let's see if you can guess what I am.

Sheldon also won Best Adult Halloween Costume at the annual BOOne Halloween party.

It's Ba-ack

Unfortunately, Connor's impetigo has come back. This time the doctor has sent a request in for Infectious Disease Dept. to see him and figure out why he's been getting it once a month for the past three months. I'm really worried that his school work is going to suffer for it now.

Preparing for Halloween - Part II

Wanted...because I'm getting desperate :S

Organized people to head the following committees for this year's annual outdoor nativity pageant and creche display:

1. Creche Display
2. Costumes
3. Sound and Lighting

Also looking for willing people to be helpers in the following committees
1. Creche Display - help setting up
2. Actors in the pageant
3. Costumes - able to mend or clean a costume or two

If people can help out with this, then I can start concentrating on planning a wicked Stake New Year's Eve party. Any takers?

Preparing for Halloween

Sheldon took a mask-making course in university and this year, the boys are going to have their custom-made masks for Halloween. During this phase, we're using the same materials hospitals use to make casts. Aidan was very good and stayed still for the whole process. Connor didn't handle it as well though.

"Are you having a party?"

These are the words spoken to me every time I'm standing in line to pay for groceries for stake activities. Usually I just laugh and say, "Something like that," and leave it at that. Tonight though, it was a different story as a young man asked me, "Are you having a party?" I turned it into a missionary opportunity. This time, after I answered, "No, I just really like pie and apple juice," I expanded and explained it was for a church function. He proceeded to ask me what church I went to, where it was located, and if there was a website. He even knew our church had elders.

I said he was welcome to come to the activity tomorrow (Pioneer Day and Chili Potluck Dinner) and gave him rough directions on where the church building was located. We introduced ourselves to each other, then he paid his groceries then left.

As the cashier was scanning my *14 pies, 24 bottles of apples juice, half a dozen cans of whip cream, and my hundreds of paper plates and bowls, I started regretting not giving him the exact address of the building. As I was leaving the store, I noticed he was still at the doors, bundling up for the frigid air waiting outside.

I asked him if he was really interested in coming tomorrow and if he was, I could write down the exact address of the church. He was, so I gave him all the information I could think of - name of the church, the address, the time of the activity, and even the time church started on Sunday. He even asked me to write down the website so he could read up on it.

Who knows if he's really going to show up or not. We'll have to wait and see. But even if he doesn't, I did my part. It was a really nice experience to share with the family when I returned home. Now I just hope that it will be cold enough tonight because I left the food in the truck. I'm pretty sure it'll be OK. It's pretty frigid out there.

*Actually there's more food. I hit Costco earlier where I bought 6 more huge pies amongst other goodies.

Me versus I

There was an interesting discussion at work today. When do you use "I" and when do you use "me" when saying something like "Bob and I"? In school, it was drilled in me that it was always "I". But apparently that's not always the case anymore.

For example, let's use "Bob and I would like to see you tomorrow." If you removed Bob out of the picture, then the sentence still makes sense..."I would like to see you tomorrow. That's when you know you've used the right word.

However, let's use "Jane is going to phone Bob and I tomorrow." If you removed Bob out of the picture, then the sentence no longer makes sense..."Jane is going to phone I tomorrow." But if we use "me" instead, "Jane is going to phone me tomorrow", then that makes sense. So in this case, "Jane is going to phone Bob and me tomorrow" is correct.

Why was it drilled into us in elementary school that you should always use "I"? With this new-fandangle rule in place, it doesn't sound right to me, but alas this is the rule.

Now I'm wondering if there rules out they're that their not telling me. Where's Bob when you need him?

Not playing favourites

I'm not playing favourites or anything, but I couldn't take any pictures of Connor at the time because he had impetigo. I just couldn't resist putting these ones of Aidan up.

Waiting for the school bus

A Saturday afternoon battle

Sony Bravia | Play-Doh

Sony Bravia | Play-Doh

This is the 3rd installment to Sony Bravia's campaign. The first two were with bouncy balls and paint.

What I wouldn't give for a client with an ad budget this big!

For a good chuckle...

Somebody posted this on the intranet at work and I had a good laugh over it so I thought I'd spread the joy with all of you.

Now that Vancouver has won the chance to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, these are some questions people from all over the world are asking. Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an International Tourism Website. Obviously the answers are a joke; but the questions were really asked!

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?(England)
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch them die.

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA)
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto-can I follow the Railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada? (Sweden)
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a list of them in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? (England)
A: What, did your last slave die?

Q:Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada? (USA)
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da is that bigcountry to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

Q:Which direction is North in Canada? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada?(England)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA)
A : Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada? (Germany)
A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Where can I sell it in Canada?(USA)
A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada? (USA)
A: Only at Thanksgiving.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round?(Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is illegal.

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. (USA )
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine fore you go out walking.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

Mission: Surprise Birthday

The target: Mrs. L, the wife

The conspirator: Mr. L, the husband

The accomplice: Mrs. LW, the VT and friend

The set-up

The lookout

The surprise

The party

Mission successful!