I love my sister! :)

EDIT: I still love my sister, the picture just doesn't love me.

I live in a mouse house.
We have mice. Ugh. I bought some traps and set them last night. It only took Po two snaps to figure out this wasn't a new toy for him. Craig thinks he knows where they are coming in so he's going to fix it tomorrow.

I also made super yummy banana bread, homemade lemonade and chai tea for Craig.

I have the urge to fly home and visit my family and just chill out and BE CANADIAN. Whatever that means. I feel like I can just be who I am at home. People leave you be and appreciate you for you. Not for what you have. Down here there is so much emphasis on material things and keeping up with the Jones'. I find myself getting caught up in it. I have to take a step back and remind myself, This isn't who I am, this isn't how I was raised, this isn't what matters.

What is important is stuff like watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles with my sister the other night. Well, we were on the phone and she was watching it so we "watched" it together. Not the whole thing, just the part where they're driving down the highway and John Candy is doing the Mess Around thing. Hehehe, I'm starting to laugh just thinking about it. I love my sister :) She's the only person who gets me sometimes.

I also ordered a new cell phone (T616), hooray! I'm so tired of this crappy Samsung phone and crappy Sprint service telling me there is no signal (even though my phone is showing full signal strength), dropping calls, not working inside buildings (where everyone else's phones work!), and fading out so I can only hear every 3 or so words of the conversation. It worked great when I first got it, but 2 years seems to have taken its toll :P

"Everybody's doin' the mess around!"

The real State of the Union
Thanks to Aja for pointing me to that url!

I am tired and going to sleep. I went over to Teresa's for awhile. She had a craving for crêpes at IHOP so I went with her and kept her company and we talked. Then we went back to her house and Todd took Lane and Catherine out somewhere so Teresa and I flipped off all the lights and flaked out (she has very comfortable furniture) and watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. We were both super tired by the end so she went to bed and I left to come home and now I go to bed too. Must rest up for tomorrow. BBQ and HOUSE CLEANING!!! My house is so cute when it's tidy!

I ran away from my Dean duties. I had been downtown doing stuff since 9:30. It's the "Lettuce Days" festival downtown, (don't ask), and there are people EVERYWHERE. Which means there are NO parking spaces. So after walking 10 blocks roundtrip twice to get stuff from my car, then being sent to go pick up pizza and sitting in traffic for 45 minutes for what is routinely a 20 minute trip I had had ENOUGH and decided to come home and be with my doggy. Who, as soon as I walked through the door, decided he'd rather be outside munching a Greenie. Oh well, I got a new Cosmo yesterday and I'm going to go read that. I hope Rodney doesn't call me and tell me I have someone staying with me tonight, I told him I needed to know BEFORE they got here so we could chat with them first.
I was also verbally assaulted by some street performer but I just yelled back so that was okay. I enjoy yelling at people who deserve to be yelled at.

Bugger, I need to do tax stuff too. I want to get it in early this year. I said I was going to last year and didn't. This being a grown-up isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I didn't realize it was almost 10. I guess I lost track of time while I was at my Dean meeting tonight. We just sat around at the Dem HQ and got the brochures labeled and ready for the drops this weekend. Just sat around and talked and worked. It was actually fun. I hadn't really wanted to go but I promised Luis and Ed that I would and it was actually fun. Unfortunately the cable was out so we couldn't watch the debate while we were there.
Sometimes I feel like I am starting to belong here. Like just maybe I have a little place that I fit into here. With people that just might understand where I'm coming from. Nowhere but K-town will ever be HOME...but maybe I won't feel so isolated anymore. It's a good feeling.

Po is making a meal out of one of my old hairbrushes. He already played around in the pond and retrieved a dead fish. He also stole the loaf of bread I made this morning off the kitchen counter and deposited it onto the doggy bed. What a monkey.

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. I want to rest and completely kick this cold's butt. Craig's grandparents are here this weekend so we have two family dinners to do with them while they're here.

There is a Nine West purse that I really want but I can't find one with my initial! I would settle for one with an 'm' even! It would seem silly to have one that has an initial that isn't mine...and I've looked at identical purses that have no initial at all and they just aren't as fun.

Time for snack and bed.

Fritzi forwarded this to me. This makes the misery of my cold just melt away ... ;)

First Look: Bush's State of the Union Address

By Rich Procter

FINAL DRAFT -- POTUS APPROVED (ALTHOUGH HAS NOT LOOKED AT, TO MAINTAIN DENIABILITY)

"Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, traitorous Democratic vermin, distinguished citizens and fellow RepubliCorp Executives,

First of all, I'm saddened to report the untimely death of my former associate turned filthy, backstabbing scum, Mr. Paul O'Neill. Mr. O'Neill was apparently electrocuted in the Green Room of CNN before a taping of "Crossfire." This country's beloved Attorney Generalissimo, John "God's Enforcer" Ashcroft has already determined that Dick Cheney's heart defibrillator, found next to Mr. O'Neill, played no part in his death.

Now on to more important matters - how I'm going to re-electrify myself to the Presidentiary in 2004.

Last year I told you that Saddam Hussein had more dangerous offensive Weapons of Mass Destruction than Darth Vader put together. I was absolutely correct in this assertion - not because I actually WAS correct, but because if I were to admit I was wrong, that would violate the Bush Presidential Code of Immaculate Perfectiveness that is vital to our Worldly Pre-emptive Greatness.

The only question that remains is, what will I do to top my unblemished infallibleness in 2004? Here's a heapin' helpin' of chewy Presidential goodness from yours truly:

First of all, IRAQ. I am pleased to announce that from this day forward, there will be no more American combat deaths in Iraq. From now on, any soldiers allegedly, as the liberal media would bleat, "killed" in Iraq, will be listed as "Temporarily on Permanent Non-Living" Status. This list will, of course, be classified Top Secret. And the reason for classifying it Top Secret will itself be Top Secret. And I'm putting my man Dick Cheney in charge of the list. Besides being optimistic and forward thinking, this policy will also provide a benefit to you taxpayers, since BushCo won't have to pay survivor's benefits to the families of the deceased, since there will be no deceased.

Free elections will be held in Iraq this summer. Since my good friends at Diebold will provide the machines for these elections, I am already able to tell you the new President of Iraq - Ahmad Chalabi - will receive exactly 79.1% of the votes. Congratulations, Mr. Chalabi.

Now let's move on to what I'm calling "Operation Moondoggle." A lot of folks out there are sayin' that my plan to shovel a ton o' dough at various Texas-based defense contractors in the vague hope of landing men on Mars 20 years after I'm retired and playing in celebrity golf tournaments is a cynical election year ploy to marinate myself in some of that ol' JKF stardust, without actually committing anything but another corporate give-away. To these people I say, 'And your point is?'

Moving on - let's talk about my plan to modernize, streamline, 'right-size' and re-configurate via free market solutions Social Security. I will introduce a plan to the Congress that will divert all FICA payroll taxes away from evil, Socialistic hand-outs to ungrateful, greedy geezers and instead give that money to Pharmaceutical companies, to do with as they please.

On to the jobs situation. I have decided to take the boldest possible initiative to insure that everyone in America who wants a minimum wage job with no health benefits shall have one. To this end, I will ask Congress to replace the current Department of Labor with the Corporate Board of Wal-Mart. Their first actions will be to cap salaries, outlaw overtime, exempt employers from offering health insurance, limit bathroom breaks to one a day, and lock employees inside the building during work hours.

Finally, on the environmental front, I'm creating 'Operation No Oil Drilling In Our National Parks." The purpose of this initiative is to explore oil drilling in our national parks. This must be done in a responsible fashion, so the derricks don't mess with red-state fun seekers on snowmobiles, jet skis, motocross bicycles and monster trucks.

In closing, let me just say that I welcome the opportunity to engage in a robust debate this election year. I pledge to use my 200 million dollar war chest to carpet bomb whatever girly-man loser the Democrats nominate in a wholly positive way. I just hope whichever piece of radical, defeatist, Satan-loving, Prius-driving, Hate-America-First scum the Democrats select will also run a positive campaign.

Thank you, and God bless.

I have a cold.
1 of my nozzles is stuffed up and the other is pretty much fine. My throat is scratchy too. I don't know anyone who's sick so I don't know who to thank for this lovely virus.
I took a pseudoephederine which helps clear my nose for about an hour then stops working. But I can't take another one for 4 hours :P
Bitch bitch whine whine.

Somewhow we managed to rack up a $400 water bill over a 62 day period. Apparently we used over 314,000 gallons of water, which works out to over 5000 gallons a day. Um, sure. I called the city water ppl and they lady said our usage has spiked and she thinks we may have a leak. Wonderful. I'll have to check for that later when Craig gets home.
Right now I need to get dressed and go pick up a new toothbrush for Po and possibly a few Greenies. Hopefully they will allay his penchant for chewing on things he isn't supposed to!

I had so much fun eating my crazy bread and watching Joan of Arcadia last night, and this afternoon driving home from precinct walking I thought, that should be my Friday night ritual. Then I immediately realized that Craig would never "allow" it. Cause crazy bread isn't good for me, ya know :P Bugger, that's what I had parents for...to tell me what to eat and do and whatnot. The funny part is, Craig is way more uptight with me than my mom and dad ever were. Bah, I wanna do what I wanna do. If that means sitting on the floor on Friday nights eating crazy bread and watching tv, so be it!!!

Anyway, Ed and I did well with the precinct stuff. We covered about 150 houses and Luis, Frankie and Carmen did another 150. We're getting together Thursday at the Dem HQ to get everything ready for the out of town volunteers who start showing up next weekend.

My feet hurt, I'm going to go flake out.

This morning I met Kass for coffee (which turned into a smoothie) and then did some running around before the usual Gracie afternoon. Craig and I had dinner out and I took a piece of Bailey's mouse cake over to Kass' with me after walking Po. We sat and ate it and chatted. Chase, Lakyn and Kyndra got in on it too :)
My dad's phone system went berserk and wouldn't let any calls come in or go out so I called my dad who was on the road to Davenport and he gave me instructions on how to fix it and I e-mailed them to my mom and eventually everything got straightened out. The wonders of technology :)

I just got off the phone with my Daddy. He is in Cambridge, ON tonight. It was so cold this morning that the RV wouldn't start so he rented a car (my sister had my dad's car off at work and he doesn't like driving my mom's car - no cruise control!) so he got away a couple hours late and then there was a 3 hour traffic jam in Toronto. Bugger. So he was hoping to get to Flint, MI tonight but that didn't quite happen; he's still hoping to be in Davenport, IA late tomorrow or early Friday. I'm so proud of him. So I'm doing my part here in Yuma and he's doing his in Iowa. Then when he is here in March he can do stuff here too :) I love my Daddy. I love my whole family actually. I'm lucky I ended up with such cool, loving, smart, openminded people :)

I need to go - Alton is teaching us how to make curry NUMMERS!!!

Tracy sent me this after I e-mailed her a picture of Po.

ode to po!

ADORABLE, ambrosial, appealing, attractive, captivation, charming,
cute,
darling, dear, delectable, delicious, delightful, dishy, fetching,
fluffy,
heavenly, lovable, luscious, pleasing, precious, suave

i think that one is just PERFECT. thanks for your help :c) *hugs*
-tracy

Tracy Rocks!!!

Alright, as you can see I had a small tussle with Blogger, but everything is getting back to normal.
Sings I fought the blog, and the blog won.

Eek!

Bah, ADOT tried to not renew my license! (Yes, I'm well aware that is a split infinitive; don't lecture me on it). They use my permanent resident card to give me my license, so when my PR card expires (as it does every year until the BCIS gives me permanent permanent residency), the BCIS sends me a new PR card and I go over to ADOT and they give me another license valid until my new PR card expires. So the BCIS is backlogged (by a year) and sent me an official notice that my card has been extended for a year from the original date on my PR card. So I march over to ADOT and give them my stuff plus the notice and the lady says, "We can't take this, it's not on our list of acceptable documents". And I thought, if the BCIS is okay with this (and they are HARD to please) then surely ADOT can suck it up. But no. So I tell her that the notice is the only thing I will get from them until they are ready for me to come to Phoenix and get a whole new card. It has my name and A-number on it and everything, I'm not sure what the problem was. So she goes to find her supervisor and they come back and they ask a few more questions about documents I have and the supervisor says it's fine, to go ahead and renew it. Thank you

I feel sick too. I felt worse yesterday. I woke up every 2 hours in the night. Not sure why, just did.

When I got home from ADOT I discovered Po had gone through the garbage and fished out a cake and eaten a bunch of it. He had also made a snack out of some, ahem, feminine hygiene products. *sigh* If he weren't so cute I'd kill him.

Cleaned up my photo album and added some new images. Lazy day. Made a coconut cake. Walked Po and grocery shopped with Craig. Did some cleaning. Read. Napped. We're thinking about rearranging the living room furniture. Not exactly sure what to do with it yet though. I'm going to watch SNL and then go to bed. 'Night!

I swear, I thought I'd be Beaker.


You are the the Swedish Chef.
You are a talented individual, nobody understands
you. Perhaps it's because you talk funny.

FAVORITE EXPRESSION:
"Brk! Brk! Brk!"
HOBBIES:
Kokin' der yummee-yummers

FAVORITE MOVIE:
"Wild Strawberries...and Creme"

LAST BOOK READ:
"Der Swedish Chef Kokin' Bokin'"

QUOTE:
"Vergoofin der flicke stoobin mit der brk-brk
yubetcha!"


What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Of all the assinine things that this administration has done so far this one is such a glaring grab for votes that it's almost funny.
Yes, let's invite illegal immigrants here. Sure, call it "temporary worker status" and say that it would give the government a way to document the illegals and it would actually be so much better for the country. BULLSHIT!!! What a slap in the face to everyone who has to wait in their home country, apply legally, and jump through the many hoops that the U.S. government requires. I have nothing agianst immigrants; I'm an immigrant! But I did it legally. I respected the laws and processes of this country and waited (9 months). And I'm still doing paperwork out the ass not to mention paying wads of money every year or so to stay here. Luckily that should be done by this summer, but that's a side issue. How lovely to know that my taxes and the social programs my taxes fund aren't going to the people who legally reside here, but people who are being rewarded for bad (illegal!) behaviour.
Christ on a bike. I'm usually very socially liberal, but this is something that just does NOT make sense. I hope people are smart enough to see that this is just Dubya pandering for votes.

I did kickboxing this morning and pictured Bush and Rove as my targets. That always helps me relieve stress :)

We are back.
I took Po on a long, brisk walk this morning then came home and did Pilates.

Tonight is the last Meetup before the primaries/caucuses begin! My dad also signed up yesterday to travel to Iowa for the last weekend before their caucus (19th). He will be back on the 21st. I'm so proud of him! I wonder where I get my political ambition from, hrm?

I'm burning my new sugarplum candle that Craig got me for Christmas, it smells great!

It turned cold overnight. Not unseasonably cold, just cold compared to the MILD weather we had since we got here. Went downtown with mum and Craig this afternoon. Did a few things. Had a good time. I will miss my city when I go back to Yuma. I am excited to see Po and my friends again and to be back in Craig's and my house but I will always be sad when I leave Kingston.
In happier news, we are going to get another Sammy! I love Po and I can't wait to have another cute little fluffball in the house! We aren't going to get one right away, but we are defnitely getting another when the time is right :) *excited*

Ok, I better go finish last minute packing and stuff for tomorrow. We have to get up at 4:30 a.m. :P

Looking at runaway Mennonites through Roman Catholic glasses.

I just went through a bunch of boxes of my stuff that are still in my parents' basement. There was so much stuff I had forgotten about; photographs, postcards Ryan sent me from Australia the summer that Craig and I got married, ticket stubs from my very first concert (Tragically Hip) in 1993, and a sketch by either Julie or Gail containing the above title phrase. U of T was a good time :) I wasn't overly enthused with my studies but my roomate, dorm and friends (not to mention that city) rocked. I'm going to have to tell Julie I found that. She'd laugh with me.

Went shopping with mum today.. She bought me cute earrings and hair clips at Angel's Rake and then spent a wad on clothes for herself at Old Navy (I'm not sure who loves that store more, me or her. No wait, me. No contest.) :)
I got darbar again tonight!!! SOOOOOOO nummers!

Lisa did my hair yesterday. Yay! I went back to blonde...it felt more natural...which is funny since my natural hair color is dark brown. Lisa says that's common. She also used her $200 straightening iron to straighten my tresses. It feels (and looks) soooo much better. I love Lisa, she always does such great stuff with my hair. I am going to get some Manic Panic to put in it when I get back to Yuma. The last time I used Manic Panic I was about 17...I used a kick-ass green. Marc Giroux and I compared hair at Foufy's that night (his was magenta). Now if Craig would only let me have my nose piercing (and others) back ;)

Here's to another year of escaped goats going steady.

Okay, present opening is finished!
Here's what I scored:
A placesetting of my wedding china pattern I have everything pictured except the teapot
A necklace
A homemade super soft flannel lamby blanket from my mummy!
Pajamas
2 Old Navy gift certificates
Fleecy hat and gloves for when I walk Po early in the mornings
A painting of Kingston
Homemade twinkly light potpurri jar from my Nana
Homemade stained glass keepsake box from Bobo
Chocolate and lottery cards :).
AND a super cool book from Craigory on how to train your dog! Even though apparently I am the one who needs the training :)

Here is what I got from my Yuma Christmas:
A super spiffy stainless steel toaster oven
A KitchenAid toaster
Gold Canyon candle
Gift card for Lowes
Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition!
Homemade knitted throw from Craig's mom
Baking tools
Pooh Bear Dixie cups!
REM 'best of' CD

And probably alot of other things I have forgot.
Apparently Santa thinks I was a very good girl this/last year. We won't let him know any different ;)