So many posts I could be writing but instead I’ll write this one…

I love my British friends.

 

See they know what I like and they send me wonderful care packages. I love getting mail, but i love it even more when that mail is either laugh out loud funny or filled with chocolate and other goodies.

 

My first British care package arrived sometime late last year. It had a short funny story that one of my awesome friends Barcardi wrote for me. I’ve carried that thing to many an event where I knew I might need cheering up and it has helped to keep a smile on my face.

 

Then at Christmas she sent me another lovely care package filled with chocolate and presents for the wee one. Not just any chocolate mind you, but the GOOD British Cadbury’s (and yes there is a difference from American Cadburys).  I’m a sucker for chocolate.

Throw in an adorable bear for the wee one and I’m a goner.

 

The end of last month another friend Mirth sent me a care package chock full of Wagon Wheels:

 

Which are similar to the American Moon Pie but 100 million times tastier. She also sent me a LOL picture, but I am too stingy to share it(because frankly it’s a personal running joke, and would take far too long to explain). Lets just say it is totally fun and I grin every time I look at it.

Same day the WW’s and the LOL picture arrived I also found a new little friend in the mail:

 

That is a pewter squirrel pin that my good friend Sam sent me.

 

So imagine my surprise the other day when I went to the mailbox and found from Barcardi an envelope chock full of English Cadbury goodness. I’ve now hidden it away in hopes that this time it lasts me more than 2 days. Though with a night like tonight that is doubtful.

Just a little more proof….

I’ve always known that I’m considered to be the ‘smart one’ amongst many of my friends. Tonight I also got further proof of the fact that while I may be the ‘smart one’ it does NOT mean that I am the ‘artistic one’.

 

See last night I was at my parenting group and we had a local physician come in talk to us about a variety of subjects. One of the questions had to do with vaccines/vaccinating. He asked if anyone knew the history of the Iditarod race(that it recreates the path that they took to get the diptheria medications for the people of Nome).  I know this(see last bit) and so tenatively raise my hand and answered the question. He also spoke a little on some other subjects of which I also have knowledge.

We then moved into the ‘craft’ portion of the night. In honor of Valentines day we were doing cake decorating. I was given 2 colors of food coloring with which to decorate- green and yellow.

So I made the following cake:

 

Kudos to anyone who knows what it *Actually* is.

Wine, wine, wine

So today I had the honor of purchasing my very own first wine selection. I bought a bottle of Pink Truck Wine. This wine is made by the Red Truck Winery and was just delicious. It was very smooth and well blended with just the right top notes, and undertones. It is the perfect combination of sweet and dry, with a wonderful bouquet that doesn't overpower the taste.

I had heard many wonderful things about the Red Truck brand, but had yet to try it, and so was quite pleased to find it lived up to all the hype. I know I'll be purchasing another bottle(or 2) on my next shopping trip, as the one in the fridge is nearly gone.

Something I learned to do yesterday

Make two-tone Jell-O!!!

Step 1: Start with Jell-O pack 1

 

Step 2: Boil 2 Cups water

 

Step 3: Empty Contents of Package into Bowl

 

Step 4: Wait for water to boil

Step 4a: Be bored Make designs on Jell-O (OPTIONAL)

 

Step 5: Add 2 cups boiling water to Powder

 

Step 5a: Stir:

Step 6: Stir in 2 cups cold water:

Step 7: Refigerate 2 and a half hours or until firm BUT tacky

    

Step 8: Repeat Steps 1-5 with Jell-O Pack #2

Step 9: Pull out Cooled Jell-O

Step 10: Pour Second Jell-O mix slowly and carefully over 1st:

Step 11: Cool 4 hours, then remove and assume you have failed as the Jell-O appears purple(apparently I lost my color lessons)

Serve:

The Bathroom Diaries

Item #1: The Alcove:

Item #2: The Sinks:

So today was an intriguing day. My grandmother, the midget and I all drove up to Canada to have lunch with some of the relatives(yes I have Canadian blood- you got a problem with that?!)

After what felt like 7 zillion hours being lost we arrived at my Great Aunt's home. We visited briefly, then all loaded up into the car, and headed down to lunch. She insisted upon taking us to a particular restaurant. When we arrived that should have been my first clue as to what kind of gin joint we had walked into.

The lobby was done in a fancy-ish stone with 'artichoke lights'(lights shaped like artichokes) hanging from the ceiling. We were seated at a table near the kitchen and waited upon hand and foot. A few minutes after we'd placed our order I realized that I needed to use the restroom. Now in a normal situation this would be no problem whatsoever and actually quite easy. As this was a 'fancyish' restaurant not so easy.

I get up and I head down the hall to the 'Washroom'(again SHOULDA been a clue), at the end of the hall I found two sets of heavily frosted doors after a moment of intense study and deliberation, I discovered that there was a minute "W" marking the door to my left. When I stepped through the door I never imagined it to be a portal to a whole 'nother world.

As I entered directly in front of me was a leather love seat, against a lovely wall that was covered in a gorgeous piece of art work. To my left were the ornate sinks, and a giant mirror. To the right was a hallway leading to an alcove of sorts, that was filled with more heavily frosted glass. I quickly noticed that the glass panels had handles, and a sign that denoted its 'occupancy'. I determined that the glass panels must conceal the facilities. So I endeavored down the alcove and found an empty stall. I stepped inside and was SHOCKED at what I found.

Inside I met the most technologically advanced toilet I have ever laid eyes upon. It appeared to be the 'standard toilet' except for a few features- the seat was wrapped in plastic sheathing, that was an automatic seat cover. There was a button on the left side, which when pushed changed the seat cover for you. You then proceeded to sit down and attend to your business, all while watching the 7" Television that was located in the door. That's right there was a TV INSIDE the stall. When you were done instead of standing up and having to touch the grimy gross handle with your hands you merely stepped on the conveniently placed button on the floor, and exited the chamber.

Once outside you proceeded back out of the alcove to the automatic sinks. The automatic sinks of doom, I should say. You wave your hands in front of the sensors about 20 times before the water turns on, then you get the soap and start washing your hands, and the water has shut off already(it was on about 30 seconds). After soaping you proceed to rinse, get about half a rinse done, and the water shuts off, repeat the waving at the sensor procedure and finish rinsing your hands. Now exit, the restroom.

I returned to the table laughing, at the restroom, and sent my grandmother to experience it. She came back and I swear the ONLY thing I heard about the rest of the trip was the bathroom. Oh, and random border crossing guy? Yeah, so sorry she sounded like a raving idiot describing to you in detail the bathroom, thanks for letting us back in!

To go or not to go that tis the question

So as many of my longtime readers(are there any?) may know or suspect, I am a HUGE stargate fan. On april 3rd at the FUEL restaurant, in Vancouver there will be a large fan dinner, with a couple of the writers/producers there as special guests. So do you think I should go? or not?

Retreat!

As some of you know I went on a retreat over the weekend and had a BLAST!

We left on Friday afternoon and headed up the freeway to Bellingham stopping at Red Robin for dinner which was amazing, I had a Bacon Cheeseburger, and a Mocha Smoothie that was just a nice way to start off the weekend. We then headed out to Cedar Springs to get settled in.

Let me just say Cedar Springs is an AMAZINGLY goregous place. We had a whole lodge to ourselves(though there were many other groups there as well), some of the ladies had arrived earlier and so we walked into the lodge to a roaring woodfire and nice comfy chairs. We had a short session Friday night a 'get to know you' and then we got to do the spa stuff(this was a 'spa retreat'). I honestly have no idea how I had never experienced the wonderfullness that is a parafin treatment before. I did the 'relaxing hands' station which was amazing because I NEVER spend anytime taking care of my hands/myself with the little one around.

Saturday I had planned on getting up and going for a walk around the ponds but that just didn't happen instead I slept in until the golorious hour of 7:45. A small group of us went for a quick walk up to the upper pond and the mill pond before breakfast stopping to take a bunch of pics at the mill pond. We had a nice quiet breakfast and went up to worship before another spa session. Saturday morning I was treated to a pedicure that was just amazing my feet have never been so soft. We had taco salad's for lunch, then I went out on the pond canoeing which was fun until the gardeners showed up on the far end ruining the 'peaceful' atmosphere. I opted to join a couple of the other women on a hike up haystack hill. WOW! that was a workout it was a 750 ft hill that was almost straight up. We reached the top and the view was just amazing, we could see all the way to Canada. We headed down the hill and on the way down I sadly slipped and slid and ended up twisting my ankle. We had a WONDERFUL dinner of salmon that was so good it melted in your mouth and didn't even taste like 'fish' that a lot of people complain about when eating salmon. That night I got to have a wonderful facial that really made my face feel brand new and so soft. A small group of us stayed up for some of the night just chatting which was wonderful.

Sunday I had again planned on getting up early but it jus didn't happen as I didn't sleep well due to the big scary bug in my bathroom. I debated sleeping through breakfast but alas that didn't happen either as a couple of the wonderful ladies woke me up but boy was I glad that they had we had a wonderful blueberry crumb cake and wonderful scrambled eggs for breakfast. The wonderful caretaker went while I was eating breakfast and took care of my 'little' bug problem, apparently it was a caterpillar moth that had partially transformed into a moth. After breakfast I packed up and grabbed a nice shower then went and participated in our final session before heading home.


On a side note I was sad, because on our hike I had taken my camera with to snap pics and we got about halfway up and pulled my camera out and went to push down the button and it just didn't happen. So I glanced down and the shutter button was missing! So I get to deal with having my camera repaired now.