I've finally been playing around with my photos, and have some new ones for your viewing pleasure. These photos are from DC's birthday. There are also some pictures of Raisin, our new roommate :) You can also look at older photos if you like.

A new look. I've made the photos pages more coherent with my main blog page. Now they all match (well, except for the ad at the top).

Bumper Sticker: My kid beat up your honor student.

Hmmm...I logged in because I had something to share. But now as I sit here staring at a blank screen, I've completely forgotten whatever it was. Ah well, mustn've been that earth shattering :) Suffice it to say that today is a beautiful day, and I hope this weather keeps up. So far its a good day for a roadtrip :)

I like cherry tomatoes. Little round balls that explode with sweetness when you bite into them.

Last night we had a mother-daughter tea for GEMS. It truly was a tea too. We asked everyone to dress up and bring their favorite tea cup. We had everything from formal gowns, to confirmation dresses, bridesmaid dresses, wedding gowns, etc. Some girls had hats, others had white gloves, it was great fun. We served tea and punch and coffee, and fruit and goodies. While the girls and their moms were munching, we went around the room so everyone could share the story behind their dress and their tea cup.

The tables looked great. One of the ladies in the church has a doll collection that she brought in, along with some quilts and quilt blocks for table decorations. Everything was very springy, pinks, purples, greens, yellows and blues. I'm glad the weather was so warm yesterday, it really felt like spring. Seeing all the tea cups makes me want to collect tea cups and have my own tea party (not that many people drink tea anymore). Ah well, our tea party was fun and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Had a strange dream last night, or rather this morning. I was an instructor in some class at some school. I was checking my email and saw that I had over 2000 messages. But I couldn't log into my account to delete them even though I knew they were all viruses. I managed to delete a couple of them somehow, but then I got even more bad emails. Man, I think I need more sleep...even my dreams are turning geeky...

Today at work I got an error message while testing our software:
Incorrect visit Id format found. Error Code: 2002

I don't think I've been so happy to get an error message. The clinics have had this phantom error that pops up several times a day, but I can never reproduce it. And end users are oh so helpful..."it won't save" is all I get. But today, after a conversation with my boss I got a brainwave about how to try to reproduce the problem. And what do you know...it worked! Now I can actually fix this problem and get it off my list.

Well that was exciting. I'm sitting here minding my own business and my boss comes by to microwave something (the microwave is a few feet away from my desk). Then her snack starts to spark and suddenly bursts into flame. I go over there to look and her napkin is half burnt. We both start laughing, it was so funny :) Now the office smells like a campfire...mmm...just need some marshmellows.

Had a strange dream last night/this morning. It started out reasonably ordinary. I was at the top of a big snow-covered hill with a group of kids/friends. The hill was very steep on one side and on the other it dropped off into jagged rocks. We were sledding down the steep side. I almost had a mishap and went down the wrong side...that wouldn't have been pretty.

Then my dream changed, these spirits came and started chasing us. They were dressed in black cloaks with white masks, and they came swooping down out of the sky towards us. They started out as one spirit, but split into several. Then I was all alone in a fenced-in area trying to get away from one of the spirits. I was trying to fly away over the fence, but my body just wouldn't obey me (in past dreams I usually can fly away from danger).

After I was totally freaked out, the spirit changed into a more human creature and we were in some tall building. I think he was supposed to capture me and turn me in, because as we were walking down the hall he heard voices. He pulled me into the elevator on the first floor and pinned me back against the wall so no one would see me. Then we got to talking about how people didn't understand us and were afraid of us. I told him how on earth we finally realized we could move to the moon and that better for everyone. Turns out he was some sort of alien and we were on a planet somewhere. I'm not sure if I was human or alien, but the whole encounter with the alien was turning into a romantic encounter by the time I woke up.

Sledding, scary spirits chasing me, romance with aliens in elevators...strange indeed.

I had a great weekend. Abi came up on Friday so we talked about trip stuff stuff. It was great seeing you Abi! Then on Saturday I left bright and early and headed east. The weather was great so driving was fun. There's nothing like putting a great CD in and hitting the open road. Arrived home around 2:30 to find my dad shovelling the driveway. He was a little surprised to see me so early cuz I had said that I wasn't going to leave too early. Chatted with my mom for a bit then went shopping for birthday presents for my aunt and grandma, and picked up my sister from work. We were looking for plants, but it being valentines day, the shelves were pretty much empty. We did find some that were good at the one florist shop, but the pickins were pretty slim.

My dad picked up my brother from a church function later that evening and then the whole family sat down to dinner together. That doesn't happen much anymore so it was kinda nice. Sunday morning I went to my home church (parents church), saw my Opa and a few friends, then headed over to my aunt's house. She had it all decorated and setup, so there wasn't much to do but wait for my grandma to get there. When Grandma walked in the door she was speechless. Connie had asked her to come over for cake in the afternoon cuz she had a bunch of stuff to do in the evening. But grandma was not expecting the whole family to be there. Then she noticed that I was there too, and she said "What are you doing here?" Then she had to come and give me a hug. She was so surprised, it was great.

We had dinner and cake, then another of my aunts pulled out a cake for my aunt Connie (her 30th birthday was in January). She was so surprised. She didn't know that it was really a double surprise party that she was hosting :)

Monday morning I took my brother back to school then headed back to GR. So yeah, it was a fun weekend, especially getting to see my mom's side of the family again (it had been a while).

I can't resist these cheesy tests...What Famous Leader Are You?


9 Questions                             18 Questions                            27 Questions                         45 Questions

o/~ Lady luck apologizes, for the way she's been behaving, and she promises she'll change... o/~

I finally brought my CDs into work, and I've been listening to The Proclaimers all morning. Good stuff. I can listen to these guys for hours and hours on end.

Got a new puzzle this weekend to replace the light house one. This puzzle will be a challenge. Its one of those maze puzzles, first you have to construct the rooms, then you have to put the rooms together so you don't get eaten by any wild animals. Was up too late working on it last night... :)

o/~ And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door... o/~

Thinking of a thousand miles, I'm taking Monday off, and going home to see my family. My grandma (on my mom's side) turns 75 next week, so we're having a gathering of family and friends. Its been a while since I've seen my mom's side of the family so I'm really looking forward to this weekend. But now I should get back to my coding...one more great song...

/~ I'm on my way from misery to happiness today, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, I'm on my way from misery to happiness today.... o/~

Joke of the day:

1: Why to elephants paint their toenails red?
2: So they can hide in cherry trees.

1: Have you ever seen an elephant hiding in a cherry tree?
2: No.
1: See, it works!

Last night at GEMS the lesson was about jokes that seem funny, but are really hurtful because they cut other people down. I began the lesson with a little joke telling, and Laffy Taffy. I had the girls tell their favorite jokes, and read the jokes that are on the wrappers of the Laffy Taffy. One of my girls told the above joke.

Another good one was:
Q: Why was the boy covered in giftwrap?
A: Because his mother told him to live in the present.

Alternate answer offered by one of my girls:
A: Because his mother told him to get his life wrapped up.

There were many more extremely corny jokes that I will spare you from, but it was a lot of fun.

Havering

As I was listening to Proclaimers on my way to work today, I thought to myself, I should really try to find "havering" on google today. I've always wondered what it meant, but have never been able to figure it out. According to Wordsmith.org havering means to talk nonesense - good to know - makes sense in the context of the song too.

Yey for snow! We're driving in a winter wonderland once again. Had an interesting drive home last night after work. Its kind of an adventure. You approach the corner that you need to turn at. Then you think to yourself, ok, what will this corner be like, how much slush will there be, will I slide around or will this be a clean turn. A couple of times I thought to myself, uh oh, I hope I can stop...snow bank here I come :) But I didn't have to resort to landing in any snow banks, which was good. I don't need that kind of excitment. The only downside of winter driving is having to watch out for other drivers, aside from them, driving in the snow and slush is actually pretty fun.

I wish it was May...then it would be almost June...*sigh*

Drivethroughs

Last night I went through a drivethrough. Aren't you proud of me DC? Went to McDonalds, to get some fries. Normally I give drivethroughs a wide bearth. For some reason I've never liked them. You drive up, roll down your window, give your order to a box with a funny sounding voice. Then you drive to the next window and hand over some money. Next window, an arm hands over your food and you drive off. Then you're left with the interesting task of eating while trying to drive, but that is another matter entirely.

I think what I don't like is the impersonal nature of drivethroughs, I would much rather park, get out, go inside, order from a real person that is standing there in front of me, and then get my food from that same person. Service with a smile. But last night it was late (why does everything have to close so early?) and I wanted some fries, so out of necessity I had to go through the drivethrough. And you know, it wasn't so bad. I still prefer to go inside, but I think I may be warming up to drivethroughs.

Wow, January 18, where has the time gone. Still haven't posted pictures either. Actually haven't even had a chance to sort through them, I should do that soon. So here I sit, Sunday afternoon at UM, sipping my mocha and catching up on my blog reading.

Went to a Griffins game last night. That was interesting, certainly different than watching on TV. I can understand why people like to go and see the games in person, its a different experience. Personally I found the crowd as entertaining as the game. Oh, and we won, 2-1 in overtime.

Yesterday afternoon I went with a couple of friends to the Mud Room. I painted a platter and small bowl (for dip or something). That was fun, we hadn't been there in awhile. Now I want to go again :)

GEMS last night was surprisingly quiet and relaxing. I only had three of my girls there (due to weather I imagine) so we had a nice quiet lesson. It was kind of nice to be able to talk to the girls on a more one-to-one level. We sat in a circle and talked about our holidays. I had an activity involving Bible verses and the names of God which they enjoyed. I wrote out Bible verses on pieces of paper and put them in a hat. The girls took turns picking one out, reading it, then matching it up to one of God's names on a poster board. Then one of the girls suggested we read our favourite Bible verses, which I thought was a great idea. One wanted to read Psalm 119...but then decided it was too long :) Overall a good evening.