My day with Cordie, contests, and in the news

Today was Bill's 1st day back at work. Duncan was at daycare, so I had many lofty ideas as to what I would get done today. Yeah. Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I had a great day with my little girl, I just didn't plan my time too well. I wanted to clean the bathrooms and the kitchen today. I also wanted to take a nap at some point (she's a baby, she sleeps a lot, so it shouldn't have been too hard to coordinate). But it didn't quite go that way.

I got a free baby swing off of freecycle. Gotta love freecyle! I forget if I mentioned that we pulled out our baby swing the other day and it turns out it no longer works. Well we'd bought it second hand, so it sucks, but it's been a few kids already. Anyhow, I put a wanted ad on freecycle, and someone had for me, but it was a bit of a drive away. So after dropping Duncan off we headed off to pick that up, and then on the way home stopped to see my Mom and visit at her work. Well then it was 11 AM already. There goes the morning! Anyhow, I finally kind of get done the cleaning, but napping didn't happen as C wasn't into it when I was :P

Tomorrow it's me and both kids so I think we'll go to story time at the library to get out in the morning.

Otherwise...

Contests. I've been entering just a bunch of giveaways online. I think Nancy does this too. So I look for ones open to Canadians and just kind of spend time entering them as I can/want. Well so far I've won a free pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream - which is a total treat b/c I don't think I've ever bought B&Js before, and today I found I also won another giveaway with a shirt for Cordie. So that's cool. I have some links on the right side of of my blog if you're interested in checking some out. I might blog occasionally about giveaways b/c it gives extra entries. Just so you wonder why I'm suddenly pushing these things. I like free stuff. I'm Dutch! :)

In the news:
Susan Boyle - I feel so bad for this woman. You know, going for total obscurity to the entire world knowing who you are and watching you and building you up 'oh you're a shoe in to win' and then not winning. No wonder she had a bit of a breakdown. I hope she has some good support in place.

Plane crash - okay, thinking of the family and friends of the people lost on the flight from Brazil to France today. It's really creepy though. I was watching Discovery Channel and they have shows about plane crashes and I think "hmm... it's been a while since there's been a plane crash" and then this happens. I know it had nothing to do with me thinking it, but it's still creepy. And sad.

Duncan is all done supper, so I need to go.

Odds and Ends and Twighlight

Let's talk about Twighlight 1st. Nope, still haven't read the books, don't plan to. Haven't seen the movie either. Just not into the vampire thing. But I find it funny how many people I know have read, or are reading these books, and those who are a little obsessive about them. Sure, I have books I'm fan of, but hey when other people don't like them I don't care. But I find fans of these books take it a bit personally when you say you have no intention of reading them. Even my Mom read the 1st one!! She said it's more like a teen romance, but that's okay.

So last night I had this very odd dream that I was in the movie Twighlight, and all the characters were trying to convince me that I need to read this series of books. You know people are pushing it a lot when it works its way into your mind like that.

For Twighlight fans, I apologize, I have no intention of sharing your enthusiasm for these novels. You know, you're right, I might actually enjoy them, but now it's a matter of principle :)

Otherwise, saw something a bit disturbing today. I was coming of the store with Duncan and saw these 4 guys running like all get out. Then 3 of them threw one into the side of a truck, onto the ground, and starting beating and kicking the you know what out of him. A whole bunch of us saw it - people called 911 right away, and as the 3 assailants ran, someone tried to run them down with their pick up - or at least follow them. The guy seemed okay who got beaten up (he was able to get up and walk) but it still really threw me. Also, the reason I didn't talk to the police is there were 15 people or so giving statements I honestly don't think I would have contributed other than "I saw them kick him". I couldn't tell you much beyond that. That, and I wanted to get out of there with my young son. What was kind of funny though was this little old lady says to me "This town is getting worse than Chicago in the 30s!"

Freecycle... I've been decluttering via the wonderful Freecycle. I'm so glad people can use stuff I no longer have use for. Mind you there is some stuff I haven't been able to get rid of. So we'll see what we do with that. I have a box of audio cassette tapes and from what I can tell, it can't be recycled, so if no one takes that I admit it will end up in the garbage.

Oh and finally, since I pissed people off saying I don't want to read Twighlight, I'll piss even more people off with this:

I don't like hockey.
I don't care if the Canucks win or not.
Hockey is boring.
For those of you who enjoy it - cool. But now you know where I stand.
And yes, despite that, I am a real Canadian. I'm just one who doesn't like hockey.

Misc. on a Tuesday night

Freecycle:
JOIN YOUR LOCAL FREECYCLE GROUP! FREECYCLE ROCKS!

Reasons I love Freecycle.
Today the following posting:
OFFER 1. Kenmore dishwasher (white)--purchased new in March 2007. Needs
macerator (available from Reliable Parts in Coquitlam) and need
pumpkins seeds removed from spray arms (long story).

Also someone offered a little kid's guitar, I emailed for it, but it was gone, but then the lady emails me and says she has a learner sized guitar which she will put aside for me instead of listing if I would like. Now, how kind is that?! (very!) So we're picking that up on Saturday, will put it aside, and perhaps Duncan or Bean will use it some day?

American Idol:
We are back on this air! I love this show. No, it is not all about bad singers and the judges being mean. Sure the beginning makes you laugh b/c there are some pretty bad singers out there (which is okay, not everyone can sing, but that they are trying out for this show is funny), but get past that, you get down to the talented singers, and you have a few months of some really good live entertainment.

Duncan:
He's such an awesome kid and I love him. I love Bean too. I look forward to two to love.

Health:
Getting better! Ears improving every day, cough continues to diminish, energy levels slowly back on the rise. It's all good! I am grateful for modern medicine.

Ronnie:
I like Ronnie. She makes me laugh. She doesn't read my blog, but I love you Ronnie.

Bill:
I also love Bill. I mean if we're talking about people we love here, really, he's rather right at the top of the list there (with Duncan and Bean, really I'm equal opportunity).

Decluttering:
Sooooo... since our place is off the market we need to get our stuff out of storage, sort, declutter even more, and figure out what the heck we're going to do with the stuff we just can't bear to part with. We are buying a shed for the backyard to help out, and Oma and Opa have said we can keep some stuff there, but the above mentioned freecycle might be winning out in this case.

Red the Fire Engine:
Okay, really kicking myself here. Duncan has a bunch of the Cars from the Pixar movie Cars. I saw Red the Fire engine once, didn't pick it up, and now you think I can find it anywhere? Nope! Turns out it's rare. Arg. If someone sees the Die Cast Red and Stanley set (not the Mini version) and if it is a normal price (ie, I am not paying $30-$60 for a red fire engine my 2 year old is only going to crash around anyhow), would you either pick it up and I'll pay you back, or let me know so I can get it some how? Thanks. Duncan loves Red.

Grumble, grumble, grumble

For the record I'm actually not in a bad mood, but just had one of "those" commutes causing me to be almost 30 minutes late for work. My boss says no worries, but it still bugs me b/c I don't like to be late. Traffic on the Mary Hill was worse than normal, there was a semi-truck pulled off to the side on the freeway causing back up, there was some airhead driving a truck for Sears not paying attention and going far too slow in the lane we were in. I just missed the Skytrain, had to wait at least 5 minutes until the next one, and it was packed. Broadway was even worse and so we waited for the next train and some numb-skull comes and waltzes right up in front of the line, and when he's on the train stands right in the door. Consequently at each stop, when you're near the door you normally, as a courtesy, step off so people getting off have room to move. Well this guy didn't. And he had the look on his face "I dare you to challenge me". Escalator wasn't running in Royal Centre (again) so I take the stairs (I find the spacing on the stairs much more "normal" than escalator steps when they are not moving - so I thought it would be quicker) only to get caught behind some lady taking her really sweet time. *deep breath*. But I'm here! Yay!

Let's see... house is coming along, but not quick! We're getting there though. No way we're listing this week though. Down to Jesse and Laura's on Saturday - Mom and Dad are watching Roo for us. That should be good.

I was going to write about something else, but I need to get working. Oh, Freecycle! Freecycle is awesome. I posted some things yesterday, and of course got some quick replies, which is nice. So I post my "taken" posts, and this morning I have a whole bunch more from people wanting the stuff. Pay attention people! Oh well! I posted taken, so I don't need to reply to them all. Glad we could make some people happy.

Freecycle Rocks! (and other things)

Freecycle is the best! Okay, I know a lot of people already know this, but if you haven't, and you don't mind used items, check out your local freecycle group.


This weekend I received both the card game "Killer Bunnies" which Chris has been wanting to play, and I responded to a post for "Quilting fabric, craft books, and a quilting frame". So on the way out to John and Amy's yesterday we stopped to pick up the quilting stuff, and it was loads of fabric! Bill had to stop me from going through it all with glee right there in the people's driveway. I'm attaching pictures, but I just need to say I am so tickled by this. A quilter can never have too much fabric in her stash (especially when it's free!), despite what her husband (Bill) might say *grin*.

On that note, I am freecycling a pair of lazy boy recliner/love seat type chairs. I'm attaching a picture. If you want them, you need to come get them, but they need to go soon. Mom and Dad are redoing their bedroom (it's going to look awesome!) and my piano no longer fits, so after all these years the piano is coming home. It needs a lot of work, but since it needs to sit here for about a month 1st, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. And for those people wondering, no I don't really play the piano. I like to fiddle on it, but I don't perform :) But Bill wants to learn and we hope Duncan will be interested too.