Hello Everyone,
We had some free time last night and decided to watch a movie. Our fabulous PVR (and 1 free month of extra perks cable) let us watch Twilight. For those of you who are fans of the movie and/or book, please stop reading this post now.
That was one of the most horrible movies I've ever seen! And I've seen some doozies - friends of ours have a crazy B movie collection and this ranked up there in bad movies.
Dialogue - It sounded like it was written for text messaging. 1 line sentence. Long pause while they stare at each other. 1 line sentence. Another long stare. 1 line sentence. A pissed off expression. 1 line sentence...
Cinematography - So, there are a couple times it looks like the director was trying to make a dramatic scenery shot. S/he failed miserably. And that's pretty hard because the location itself was quite pretty.
Special Effects - Jerry and I burst into laughter each time Edward ran through the trees. And what the **** was up with the body glitter in the sun? Yes, I've read the books and body glitter just didn't cut it for me.
Hair - ok, the ongoing additions Jerry and I had (to make the dialogue more interesting). Take every sentence that Edward says and add "...with my eyebrows". It was driving me nuts! The colour tones didn't work. And the big hair was just plain funny. While flying through the trees, I asked Jerry how much pine gum got in his eyebrows. His answer was none, because it was all in his hair.
So yeah, Jerry is a saint for being in the livingroom while I watched this movie. And he only slept through about half of it because I kept waking him up for funny parts. About the only good thing I can say about it is at least it didn't cost us a movie rental.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Proud Kitty Mom
Hello Everyone,
I'm so proud of Mike - he did great at the vet yesterday. The new vet is 5 blocks away so I put him in his harness and we walked for a bit. But he's not good at the leash thing so I then put him in my canvas bag. There were 2 noisy roads that scared him a bit.
When we got there, the room was filled with cute dogs. I had no idea how Mike would react. I went over to the far side where there were no dogs and set him down. After about 5 minutes, he seemed ok so I picked him up and we sat in the corner - between a cat and a dog. The cat wasn't feeling well so I don't think Mike saw him as dangerous. And the 2 lap dogs were very well behaved. After about another 5 minutes, he settled down on my lap.
He acted very well mannered. He only hissed twice - both at dogs who came over to say, "Hello!" And the rest of the time he just laid on my lap, getting petted.
And the vet said he was in good health. We got a sample of food to help clean his teeth and he didn't say anything about teeth cleaning. The last vet really pushed it but it's super expensive and I have concerns about it. He got his outdoor shots too.
Yep, a very proud mom.
On the weekend, he had his first opportunity to roam in and out of the house. It was quite warm so we kept the back door open throughout the day (we were doing yard work on the weekend). The back yard has a high fence that he doesn't realize he can jump on top of yet. He really enjoyed himself. He even chased a squirrel - went bounding across the yard like a golden retriever. And he pounced on bugs (but I don't think he actually caught anything).
Have a great day!
I'm so proud of Mike - he did great at the vet yesterday. The new vet is 5 blocks away so I put him in his harness and we walked for a bit. But he's not good at the leash thing so I then put him in my canvas bag. There were 2 noisy roads that scared him a bit.
When we got there, the room was filled with cute dogs. I had no idea how Mike would react. I went over to the far side where there were no dogs and set him down. After about 5 minutes, he seemed ok so I picked him up and we sat in the corner - between a cat and a dog. The cat wasn't feeling well so I don't think Mike saw him as dangerous. And the 2 lap dogs were very well behaved. After about another 5 minutes, he settled down on my lap.
He acted very well mannered. He only hissed twice - both at dogs who came over to say, "Hello!" And the rest of the time he just laid on my lap, getting petted.
And the vet said he was in good health. We got a sample of food to help clean his teeth and he didn't say anything about teeth cleaning. The last vet really pushed it but it's super expensive and I have concerns about it. He got his outdoor shots too.
Yep, a very proud mom.
On the weekend, he had his first opportunity to roam in and out of the house. It was quite warm so we kept the back door open throughout the day (we were doing yard work on the weekend). The back yard has a high fence that he doesn't realize he can jump on top of yet. He really enjoyed himself. He even chased a squirrel - went bounding across the yard like a golden retriever. And he pounced on bugs (but I don't think he actually caught anything).
Have a great day!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Looking forward to the weekend
Hello Everyone,
Ah Fridays - and I'm having my counterpart run the payroll today. I've got a number of things to do so it means I won't be extra rushed.
Slow going with my assignments. I have 4 parts to do and I've only finished the first one. But it involved creating a website and I'm quite excited about how it turned out. It's super simple in design but I figured I did pretty good for my first try. I have a power point presentation to finish tonight and then the other two assignments on the weekend.
I have the last of the indoor jiffy pot planting to do. Very excited about that! I think we're building boxes this weekend since our roommate is home to help us with transportation. There are a couple things that can go in now (Swiss chard - yum!) but I don't know if we're also getting soil yet.
We didn't get hit with that crazy winter storm. Jerry's family was affected though and got snowed in. It was just really windy here. The forecast shows a lovely weekend.
Made a super delicious roasted butternut squash soup from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook. I picked up some Afghani naan from the Persian store nearby and it made a very filling meal. There are condiments that go with it but I was too impatient. Jerry added a bit of lemon juice for complexity and once we blended it, he also strained it into the pot to get an even texture.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
4-6 servings
Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 yellow onions
2 McIntosh apples, peeled and cored
3 tablespoons good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 teaspoon good curry powder
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the butternut squash, onions, and apples into 1-inch cubes. Place them on a sheet pan and toss them with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Divide the squash mixture between 2 sheet pans and spread in a single layer. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until very tender.
Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill fitted with the medium blade. (Alternatively, you can place the roasted vegetables in batches in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add some of the chicken stock and coarsely puree.) When all of the vegetables are processed, place them in a large pot and add enough chicken stock to make a thick soup. Add the curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Taste for seasonings to be sure there's enough salt and pepper to bring out the curry flavor. Reheat and serve hot.
Have a great weekend!
Ah Fridays - and I'm having my counterpart run the payroll today. I've got a number of things to do so it means I won't be extra rushed.
Slow going with my assignments. I have 4 parts to do and I've only finished the first one. But it involved creating a website and I'm quite excited about how it turned out. It's super simple in design but I figured I did pretty good for my first try. I have a power point presentation to finish tonight and then the other two assignments on the weekend.
I have the last of the indoor jiffy pot planting to do. Very excited about that! I think we're building boxes this weekend since our roommate is home to help us with transportation. There are a couple things that can go in now (Swiss chard - yum!) but I don't know if we're also getting soil yet.
We didn't get hit with that crazy winter storm. Jerry's family was affected though and got snowed in. It was just really windy here. The forecast shows a lovely weekend.
Made a super delicious roasted butternut squash soup from Barefoot Contessa's cookbook. I picked up some Afghani naan from the Persian store nearby and it made a very filling meal. There are condiments that go with it but I was too impatient. Jerry added a bit of lemon juice for complexity and once we blended it, he also strained it into the pot to get an even texture.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
4-6 servings
Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 yellow onions
2 McIntosh apples, peeled and cored
3 tablespoons good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 to 4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 teaspoon good curry powder
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Cut the butternut squash, onions, and apples into 1-inch cubes. Place them on a sheet pan and toss them with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Divide the squash mixture between 2 sheet pans and spread in a single layer. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until very tender.
Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill fitted with the medium blade. (Alternatively, you can place the roasted vegetables in batches in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add some of the chicken stock and coarsely puree.) When all of the vegetables are processed, place them in a large pot and add enough chicken stock to make a thick soup. Add the curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Taste for seasonings to be sure there's enough salt and pepper to bring out the curry flavor. Reheat and serve hot.
Have a great weekend!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
A Mellow Weekend
Hello Everyone,
I was in a stay-at-home mood this weekend. We did a bunch of gardening stuff and planning. We have our garden area staked out in the yard and will build our boxes in the coming weeks. There will be 11 4'x4.5' boxes. At least, that's the bottom floor area and once you consider the thickness of the walls, it'll be about 4x4.
It's all very exciting. Our kitchen table has little seedling (mostly tomato), which makes me happy. We're hoping to have enough harvest to provide our tomato needs for the year (we use a lot of canned tomatoes), and a good supply of beans, carrots, potatoes, squash and parsnips. We have other varieties too but this will be our main focus. We've had good luck in the past and since we're growing from seed, it's fairly economical. We're still having expense from the initial seed purchase, soil and wood supplies but we should have enough harvest to offset the costs.
Jerry was in a cleaning mood this weekend so I curtainly wasn't going to stop him. He did a major bathroom cleaning (including the walls) and he treated the floor in the livingroom. A mixture of oil, vinegar and I think something else but since Jerry was doing the mixture, I didn't ask.
I have school work to do this week. Done my reading for part 1 so now I have my practical assignments to do. It should be a bit of a challenge so my evenings will be full. I'll be glad to get this first assignment done though so I can see how the marking works and what they're looking for.
Have a great day!
I was in a stay-at-home mood this weekend. We did a bunch of gardening stuff and planning. We have our garden area staked out in the yard and will build our boxes in the coming weeks. There will be 11 4'x4.5' boxes. At least, that's the bottom floor area and once you consider the thickness of the walls, it'll be about 4x4.
It's all very exciting. Our kitchen table has little seedling (mostly tomato), which makes me happy. We're hoping to have enough harvest to provide our tomato needs for the year (we use a lot of canned tomatoes), and a good supply of beans, carrots, potatoes, squash and parsnips. We have other varieties too but this will be our main focus. We've had good luck in the past and since we're growing from seed, it's fairly economical. We're still having expense from the initial seed purchase, soil and wood supplies but we should have enough harvest to offset the costs.
Jerry was in a cleaning mood this weekend so I curtainly wasn't going to stop him. He did a major bathroom cleaning (including the walls) and he treated the floor in the livingroom. A mixture of oil, vinegar and I think something else but since Jerry was doing the mixture, I didn't ask.
I have school work to do this week. Done my reading for part 1 so now I have my practical assignments to do. It should be a bit of a challenge so my evenings will be full. I'll be glad to get this first assignment done though so I can see how the marking works and what they're looking for.
Have a great day!
Monday, April 05, 2010
Crazy church service
Hello Everyone,
I don't know how I do it, but I seem to be very good at finding crazy church services around Easter. I have a deal with Jerry that he only has to attend church twice a year with me - Christmas & Easter. He's pretty good natured about it (grew up in the Lutheran church).
So, the negotiation this year was Good Friday vs Easter. Since we were hoping to snowboard on Sunday, Good Friday it was. We wanted to find a church midway between Calgary & Lethbridge so we'd make it to Easter lupper (who serves turkey dinner at 2pm?).
Lots of small towns and although they had churches, most didn't have website and none of the websites mentioned a Good Friday service. So, I came across a local newspaper with an invitation:
"Experience a re-enactment of Christ's Tomb on Friday, April 2 at 11 a.m. at the Fort Macleod Alliance Church."
Sounds exciting! Neither of us had any clue how you re-enact a tomb or who the Alliance church was but we had an address and a time.
So, we show up at the church.
When you opened the front door, there were two legionnaires (complete with skirts and spears) who "guarded" a door made up to look like two rocks. Already it looked more interesting than most services I've been to.
They opened the "rocks" so we could "pay our respects" at the tomb. The next room had no lights but tea lights marked the path with a mummy (Jesus) on a raised section of the "cave". A bit creepy but it did answer how someone re-enacts a tomb.
Then we headed into a perfectly normal sanctuary. Rather pretty with candles along the sides. Then we saw a hooded figure near the front who looked like the grim reaper without his sycthe.
But still, things were going pretty normal. They had an overhead projecter with a counter so you knew when church was going to start "The church service will begin in 2:09 minutes" etc. I was curious what would happen when it reached 0:00 but no exploding graphics or anything like that.
It was a modern service, lots of youth participation and songs.
Then there was the sermon.
Ummm, yeah.
All of the Good Friday services I've ever been to had a sermon that talked about the cruxifiction. This one was about how the world was filled bad things, like Hitler, because mankind didn't place all of their faith in God. And the pastor tried to show this using a cut up piece of paper but he didn't have enough sticky tack so the bulletin board looked funny and he needed help holding up the paper. And that all the people who didn't place all their faith in God were going to hell. And yes, he spelled "hell" using the pieces of paper. Both Jerry and I were rather confused what he was talking about since he rambled off on these odd tangents and nothing really made sense.
Things went back to normal with a hymn.
Then communion came along.
I suspect this sect of Christianity places a strong emphasis on communion and the affirmation of "accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal saviour" (the phrase was repeated numerous times in both the sermon and communion". So a couple weird things came next.
The communion came from a fountain (yep - I thought that was cool). But, it was one of those glowing fountains you see at weddings. So, when they turned it on, it glowed blue and purple before the grape juice started flowing out.
And then the oddest invitation for communion I have ever heard.
1. Everyone who had accepted Jesus into their heart was welcome to take communion
2. Everyone who hadn't shouldn't take communion because they'll be taking all the sins of the world and putting it on themselves.
3. So, if you weren't ready, nobody would judge them (as the minister scans the congregation)
4. And then the first 2 steps were repeated a couple more times
5. And then a moment of prayer, for those people who hadn't accepted him yet. That way they could do it in prayer and then take communion.
So Jerry and I look at each other and try to figure out if we were allowed to take communion. Since both of us had been confirmed in churches, we figured it would be ok.
And then the service had a perfectly normal ending.
And they didn't charge us for the grape juice or bread.
And we escaped as quickly as possible.
I don't know how I do it, but I seem to be very good at finding crazy church services around Easter. I have a deal with Jerry that he only has to attend church twice a year with me - Christmas & Easter. He's pretty good natured about it (grew up in the Lutheran church).
So, the negotiation this year was Good Friday vs Easter. Since we were hoping to snowboard on Sunday, Good Friday it was. We wanted to find a church midway between Calgary & Lethbridge so we'd make it to Easter lupper (who serves turkey dinner at 2pm?).
Lots of small towns and although they had churches, most didn't have website and none of the websites mentioned a Good Friday service. So, I came across a local newspaper with an invitation:
"Experience a re-enactment of Christ's Tomb on Friday, April 2 at 11 a.m. at the Fort Macleod Alliance Church."
Sounds exciting! Neither of us had any clue how you re-enact a tomb or who the Alliance church was but we had an address and a time.
So, we show up at the church.
When you opened the front door, there were two legionnaires (complete with skirts and spears) who "guarded" a door made up to look like two rocks. Already it looked more interesting than most services I've been to.
They opened the "rocks" so we could "pay our respects" at the tomb. The next room had no lights but tea lights marked the path with a mummy (Jesus) on a raised section of the "cave". A bit creepy but it did answer how someone re-enacts a tomb.
Then we headed into a perfectly normal sanctuary. Rather pretty with candles along the sides. Then we saw a hooded figure near the front who looked like the grim reaper without his sycthe.
But still, things were going pretty normal. They had an overhead projecter with a counter so you knew when church was going to start "The church service will begin in 2:09 minutes" etc. I was curious what would happen when it reached 0:00 but no exploding graphics or anything like that.
It was a modern service, lots of youth participation and songs.
Then there was the sermon.
Ummm, yeah.
All of the Good Friday services I've ever been to had a sermon that talked about the cruxifiction. This one was about how the world was filled bad things, like Hitler, because mankind didn't place all of their faith in God. And the pastor tried to show this using a cut up piece of paper but he didn't have enough sticky tack so the bulletin board looked funny and he needed help holding up the paper. And that all the people who didn't place all their faith in God were going to hell. And yes, he spelled "hell" using the pieces of paper. Both Jerry and I were rather confused what he was talking about since he rambled off on these odd tangents and nothing really made sense.
Things went back to normal with a hymn.
Then communion came along.
I suspect this sect of Christianity places a strong emphasis on communion and the affirmation of "accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal saviour" (the phrase was repeated numerous times in both the sermon and communion". So a couple weird things came next.
The communion came from a fountain (yep - I thought that was cool). But, it was one of those glowing fountains you see at weddings. So, when they turned it on, it glowed blue and purple before the grape juice started flowing out.
And then the oddest invitation for communion I have ever heard.
1. Everyone who had accepted Jesus into their heart was welcome to take communion
2. Everyone who hadn't shouldn't take communion because they'll be taking all the sins of the world and putting it on themselves.
3. So, if you weren't ready, nobody would judge them (as the minister scans the congregation)
4. And then the first 2 steps were repeated a couple more times
5. And then a moment of prayer, for those people who hadn't accepted him yet. That way they could do it in prayer and then take communion.
So Jerry and I look at each other and try to figure out if we were allowed to take communion. Since both of us had been confirmed in churches, we figured it would be ok.
And then the service had a perfectly normal ending.
And they didn't charge us for the grape juice or bread.
And we escaped as quickly as possible.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Mmmmm
Hello Everyone,
I went to Purdy's today to pick up chocolates for Easter. I found one named "Whiskers", which I thought would be very appropriate for Jerry. While there, I decided to try Pink Hawaiian salt caramels.
Wow
Imagine a yummy square of thick caramel, covered in a rich milk chocolate. Then sprinkle little bits of pink salt on top. It's an amazing combination.
Just wanted to make you hungry
Have a hoppy Easter!
I went to Purdy's today to pick up chocolates for Easter. I found one named "Whiskers", which I thought would be very appropriate for Jerry. While there, I decided to try Pink Hawaiian salt caramels.
Wow
Imagine a yummy square of thick caramel, covered in a rich milk chocolate. Then sprinkle little bits of pink salt on top. It's an amazing combination.
Just wanted to make you hungry
Have a hoppy Easter!
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