Sunday, August 31, 2008

unconscious mutterings

To check out more unconscious mutterings link here:

I say ... and you think ... ?

Groceries :: expensive
Deodorant :: roll on
Psychic :: network
Cherries :: chapstick
Spooky :: things that go bump in the night
Yogurt :: raspberry
Kitchen :: sink
Nothing personal :: an excuse to say something nasty
Be nice :: advise from mom
Delivery :: not to my house, we live too far away

Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday Fill In

To check out more Friday Fill in Participants, link here:

1. When I'm sick I'm grumpy.
2. When I take a walk, I think about how long until I can get back inside.
3. Money can't buy happiness but it can pay the bills.
4. Cotton makes me sleep comfortably when I have sheets made from it and leather makes me uncomfortable if I am trying to sleep on a leather couch.
5. The strangest person/character I've had lewd thoughts about was __________.
6. My favorite color these days is green because I can't wait until it's spring again.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include working - unfortunately and Sunday, I want to get some groceries so I can pack lunches for work!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: Summer winding down

Thirteen Things about LOVESMUKIWA

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


The summer is winding down, the weather has already changed. I am HOPING we have an Indian summer and get warm days through September, but I think we are plumb out of luck. I have never seen the leaves start to change this early in the season.
Before the snow flies there are some things in the house/yard I need to take care of.

1. Mow the lawn at least one more time
2. Finish "bucking" the tree I took down with my new chainsaw.
3. Take down some more old trees before the wind and snow catch them and they topple over.
4. Fill some of the ruts in the driveway
5. Put the storm windows back on
6. Pulling out the flowers in the flower boxes
7. Rototilling up the garden spot so it will be ready for next spring
8. Weather stripping the front and back doors where the pets have pulled it off this summer
9. Oil changes for both vehicles
10. Winter tires for both vehicles - (actually one vehicle needs to be traded in and we need to get a new one but I don't know if that will happen before the winter realistically)
11. Put Max's toys into the quonset (this will have to wait until the bitter end because he will be playing with them as long as he can)
12. Fall Pruning. (HA - did You think I wouldn't get that in there?)
13. Plan a birthday party for a two year old and get ready with Halloween costumes.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Crows

When we lived in town there was a family of crows that lived in a tree in our yard. The people that moved out of the house warned us that the crows were very "active" and would go so far as to swoop down on them when they were coming and going from the house. They were so agitated by this they they tried to get rid of them by throwing things at the nest, hoping that if they could get rid of the nest they could get rid of the crows from the yard for good.
They never did manage to get rid of the nest.
The whole time we lived there the birds never bothered us once.
Here is an article from the NYtimes revealing that crows remember faces. Check it out here.
Oh, how we underestimate the animal kingdom.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

ten on tuesday : ten things I hate about school

Interested in checking out more ten on Tuesday participants? Link here:

Actually I don't really hate school, so this is a little challenging for me.

1. Disorganised professors. (click on this picture to read about this absent minded prof!)



When I pay to go to school I want to learn. Trying to learn from someone who cannot remember what class they are teaching, or where the classroom is can be very frustrating. I WILL say that this has also turned to my advantage when one professor of mine came and told me he had lot my paper and so he would give me an "A" because it happened to him "all the time" and he could not fault me for it. I took that "A" grade and never did write the paper!

2. Overpriced text books.
Having to buy the newest edition of a text is annoying when there have been no revisions in the past ten years other than the color of the cover and the increase in price. The whole textbook "industry" is such a farce, people are making MEGA bucks by printing books over and over and charging ludicrous prices for them. Shouldn't the benefit really be to the student? By using new editions of texts professors also make it impossible for students to resell slightly used texts to others. BAH!

3. Group work.As long as I have been a student we have been required to work in groups. I have never liked it and I have never been in a class where group work was organised in such a way that the people doing the work got the credit. I have yet to work in a group where there isn't at least one person who does little to contribute and loves to share the grade. I think that in theory group work has a purpose, but to me it's a bit like socialism - It appears to have benefits on paper but has never been executed in real life to the benefit of all involved.

4. Grading systems
To decide what a student knows or does not know based on an exam where you have to memorize (then promptly forget) numbers, dates, names, etc. This system of scoring people really reflects in no way the real world where .. if you have a question you have an encyclopedia, google, and MANY other resources to find your answer. Shouldn't school be about teaching people to find answers - and relate those answers into their person experience so there is LEARNING instead of memorize mass quantities of information? (having said that I am pretty good at exams and they never bothered me, but I know MANY people who have such incredible test anxiety that a test does not reflect what they know, and the experience is, at least, disheartening and turns people off school completely.)

5. The "curve"

This is really an extension of #4. I have taken stats. I understand the curve. I know why it exists and I am STILL not convinced that anyone, ANYtime should be graded on the curve. I know grade inflation exists, and it is unfortunate.There are ways to control grade inflation that have a lot to do with professors and little to do with students. But if everyone in the class does equally well on an exam then there is no reason for some of those people to get a better grade - or worse grade than others.

6. Reading packets.

This is an extension of #3. Almost as bad as costly books are costly packets of photocopied articles which are never inexpensive. The quality of the copying is generally poor. The cost of finding a binder and the hassle of trying to sort through and organise everything is left up to students who aren't busy enough already. In my experience the professors who put these things together suffer from a problem the OPPOSITE of instructors who change their texts every term. These professors NEVER change the reading packet, and the stuff is horribly out of date or irrelevant. Trying to use any of these articles for a paper is virtually impossible because there is never the correct citation information included.

7. Classmates who like to talk - about anything BUT the topic at hand.

Really folks? That's what breaks are for. Take a break. Go out after class for coffee. But in the PRECIOUS limited time which I have to glean the MOST I can - can we keep on topic please? And quit talking while I am trying to listen to what is being said. (Don't assume because I am in the back row that I am not paying attention!)

8. Stupid questions.
"There's no such thing as a stupid question, only a stupid answer." You may have heard this and it is NOT TRUE. There are stupid questions. Now I know that whoever came up with this saying was inviting people who have a question about the topic but are too afraid to ask to ask the question and not be embarrassed. This is a good idea. I recommend it. I don't feel these kinds of questions are stupid. However, asking a question like "Do I have to take notes" in a master's degree course..... THIS people - is a stupid question.

9. Clothes shopping.

The whole notion of getting new clothing for school is something I veto. I hate clothing shopping at any time. Wearing a school uniform in elementary school was one of my all time favorite things. In addition to always knowing exactly what I was wearing to school, I never had to deal with issues of coolnesss, trendiness etc. Translation: I was not a complete nerd in the way I dressed until high school.

10. Public washrooms. Enough said.

Monday, August 25, 2008

my life reduced

Yesterday I sat down to write a family letter in response to a letter sent by my brother.
My family is quite good at sending regular emails updating everyone on what is happening in their lives. As I sat down to write, I was reminded AGAIN of how having a baby in the house reduces our lives to the barest of survival skills. If we can get through the day with everyone fed and diapers regularly changed I call it a successful day.
How sad.
My one brother and his wife travelled this weekend between three different provinces with two small children to attend a wedding, see extended family, attend a missionary farewell and get back home to go to work.
My other brother and his wife had a mommy-daughter and daddy-son weekend, with shopping for mom and niece and camping for dad and nephew as part of the agenda for their time.
My sister is in the middle of selling a house and moving to a new house, also with two small children.
All I did this weekend was:
#1. Take my turn on overnight baby duty only to fail miserably at about 3 am on my designated night and roll over to wake my spouse to PLEASE take the baby because I could not open my eyes and could not be certain what facial orifice I was trying to stick the bottle into. The trooper that she is - she took the baby and I rolled over and fell deeply asleep.
#2. Take another night with the baby because I felt so guilty about not doing my first night that I volunteered to do another one... this time I managed to get through the night, but then I had to nap almost all day to recover from my late night activities.
#3. I DID manage to go to work on Sunday for a check in of students which has come WAY too quickly (after I napped again).

This morning when I got up to come to work I put the baby into my Spousal Units arms and gave her a bottle so she wouldn't have to get out of bed to get him set up. She rolled over and said to me " What did the pediatrician say?" I told her that I hadn't seen the pediatrician since I went to bed to which she responded "I wish you would take notes."

I think we are still a little sleep deprived.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

888 update

non-fiction (Completed August 25 2008)

1. What Now? Anne Patchett (completed June 11 2008)
2. The Lost Children of Wilder. Nina Bernstein (completed June 30 2008)
3.Glass Castle. Jeannette Walls (Completed August 2 2008)
4. The Places in Between. Rory Stewart (completed January 19th 2008)
5. Infidel. Ayaan hirsi Ali (completed July 2 2008)
6. Hopes Boy: A memoir. Andrew Bridge (completed July 19 2008)
7. A Wolf at the Table. Augusten Burroughs. (completed August 19 2008)
8. Tweak. Nick Sheff (completed August 29 2008)

Young Adult Fiction Completed August 24 2008
1. The Canning Season. Polly Horvath (completed May 19th 2008)
2. Godless. Pete Hautman (completed May 26 2008)
3. Autobiography of my Dead Brother. Walter Dean Myers (completed May 27 2008)
4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Brian Selznick (completed May 27 2008)
5. The Burn Journals. Brent Runyon (completed April 26 2008)
6. Sold. Patricia McCormick (completed June 23 2008)
7. Absolute Brightness. James Lecesne (completed August 8 2008)
8. Montmorency. Eleanor Updale. (completed August 24 2008)

Pulitzer Prize Winners
1. Middlesex. Jeffrey Eugenides (Completed January 21st 2008)
2. Gilead. Marilynne Robinson (Completed January 13th 2008)

From the NYT Bestseller list. (I don't want to limit myself to books that have already been written. There might be some good ones published this year)
1.The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. John Boyne (Completed June 28 2008)
2.Bleeding Kansas. Sarah Paretsky. #15 January 13 2008
3. Playing for Pizza. John Grisham. #1 October 28 2007, (completed July 15 2008)
4. Light Before Day. Christopher Rice. (completed July 31 2008) This book was not on the best seller list, but the author has previously had a book on the best seller list, so I fudged a bit by putting it into this category.
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini. (completed August 15 2008)

Banned or "challenged" books
1. Go Ask Alice
2. The Lorax. Dr. Seuss (Completed April 24 2008)
3. The Well of Lonliness
4. Steal This Book. Abbie Hofmann

Books already on my Bookshelf (completed this section June 2008)
1. Gordon Korman. Island: Book one "Shipwreck" (completed February 1 2008)
2. Gordon Korman. Island: Book two "Survival" (completed February 1 2008)
3. Gordon Korman. Island: Book Three "Escape" (completed February 1 2008)
4. Christine Falls. Benjamin Black (Completed May 25 2008)
5. The Target. Gerri Hill (completed May 31 2008)
6. One Child. Torey Hayden (completed June 1 2008)
7. How to be a Canadian. Will Ferguson (completed June 4 2008)
8. Coyote Sky. Gerri Hill (completed June 5 2008)

Books based on or in Africa
1.Miracle at Speedy Motors. Alexander McCall Smith (completed May 15 2008)
2. A long way gone. Ishmael Beah ( completed August 25 2008)

Books I will check out from the library (completed this section May 2008)
1. Saturday. Ian McEwan (completed January 27 2008)
2. Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert (completed February 16 2008)
3. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur. Daoud Hari (completed February 18 2008)4. Biting the Moon. Martha Grimes (completed March 25 2008)
5. The Calling. Inger Ash Wolfe (completed March 29 2008)
6. Written in Bone. Simon Beckett (completed March 31 2008)
7. 19 Minutes. Jodi Picoult (Completed April 21 2008)
8. The Darkest night of the Year. Dean Koontz (completed May 7 2008)

unconscious mutterings

If you want to check out more unconscious mutterings click on the logo:



Cry :: where there is a baby there is milk near by (aristocats)
Stretch :: wake up
Efficient :: me
Brunch :: Natalie's
Afro :: my Brother when his hair gets long
Preheat :: oven
Delicious :: brownies
Global warming :: methane. Cows.
Actions :: equal and opposite reaction
Ride :: Sky ride

Friday, August 22, 2008

friday fill in

If you want to check out more people who are participting in Friday fill in, link here:
1. Dancing to the radio while holding my boy makes me smile.
2. The last time I went to deep water aquacize I nearly drowned myself.
3. When I drive I sing.
4. I saw my son standing at the top of the slide waiting for me to chase him.
5. Give me clean sheets, give me a dark and quiet room, give me a good book to read and I will stay there all day.
6. Next week I am looking forward to getting all the students checked back in.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to my turn with the baby, tomorrow my plans include reading another book before my classes start up again and Sunday, I want to stay home, but I have to work already!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

meme: One word

Stolen from My 2 cents.

TYPE ONLY ONE WORD. IT’S HARDER THAN YOU THINK.
Where is your cell phone? charger
Your significant other? Home
Your hair? Red
Your mother? Sick
Your father? Working
Your favorite thing? Reading
Your dream last night? None
Your favorite drink? Pepper
Your dream/goal? renovations
The room you’re in? Office
Your fear? unemployment
Where do you want to be in 6 years? vacation (that answer was lame)
Where were you last night? airport
What you’re not? Quiet
Muffins? blueberry
One of your wish list items? Camera
Where you grew up? Zimbabwe
The last thing you did? delegate
What are you wearing? Hat
Your TV? broken
Your pet? Zuva
Your computer? Slow
Your life? Busy
Your mood? frustrated
Missing someone? Sister
Your car? reliable
Something you’re not wearing? Socks
Favorite Store? Ikea
Your summer? over
Your favorite color? Green
When is the last time you laughed? now
Last time you cried? Yesterday
Who will/would re-post this? dunno
Four places I go over and over? Work, home, mailbox, store
Four people who email me: mom, des, jared, loralee
Four of my favorite foods: italian, mexican, pasta, bread
Four places I would rather be right now: bed, shower, vacation, home
Four people I think will respond: no-one,

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

parenting moments

Every now and then I just have to laugh as I see how Max is processing information and learning.
The last few days here it has been raining and raining which means we have to come up with things indoors to keep his attention. It is not so easy, he LOVES to be outside and all day long he is trying to go outside - rain or shine.
Well I was up with him in the morning and when I went to open the front door to let the dogs in, he escaped onto the front porch. The porch gets very slick in the rain and I wanted him to come inside. He was teasing me and every time I said "come here" he took one step towards me and stopped, looking up at me with a huge grin. So I decided to try a technique familiar to me, but not one i had used with him before. In my most threatening voice, I said "MAX. Come here NOW. ONE. TWO. THREE......."
Well he was listening all right, and he responded right away in the only way he knew how to respond to the "count". He jumped!
I completely broke out laughing, he did too. From now on counting will only apply to jumping.

Jill's visit


My little sister Jill came up to visit us this week. She is getting ready to go on a mission and we will not see her for the 18 months she is away.
We were lucky enough to be able to manage our schedules and get her up here to visit us before she left. We have had a really good time just hanging out together, playing scattergories, rolling our change barrel, dying my hair, and laughing lots. In the picture above she is using my super huge frisbee as a hula hoop.
Last night we were playing scattergories and the letter was "t". One of the topics was "things associated with money". As we are reading off our lists, Jill reads "things associated with monKeys!" She had written "trees" and we were able to extrapolate that trees make paper and paper makes money, so she still got a point! It has been lots of fun.
Max is completely in love with her and she is fabulous with him. Even though we don't see her very often we will miss her lots. It has been great to have her here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

home: hot summer days

The best way to spend a hot summer afternoon.

unconscious mutterings



Signature :: dish
Olympics :: crappy television coverage
100% ::
Damn! :: Hot
Gold :: Fish
Fresh and natural :: tomatoes
Fraction :: 1/3
Hurry :: Up
Summer :: Solstice
29th :: 30th

Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday Fill Ins


1. The last meal I had at a restaurant was fries and gravy.
2. My stupid dog pooping in the basement is something I intensely dislike.
3. The full moon is beautiful on a clear winters night reflecting off the snow.
4. "Yeah, No" is one of my favorite local expressions.
5. Sometimes it's best to turn off the alarm, roll over, and go back to sleep.
6. Untraceable is the best movie I've seen so far this year!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting the house ready for my sister to come, tomorrow my plans include picking up my sister at the airport and Sunday, I want to play with sis and family!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Thursday Thirteen: thirteen olympic events I have not seen televised

I have mentioned already that I am a huge sports fan and I LOVE the Olympics.
My spousal unit and I have been watching Olympic coverage on a daily basis since they started on the 8th. I am supremely disappointed in the Olympic coverage. (not only is the olympic coverage CRAP, if you want to go online to nbc.com and watch the coverage online, you get this nice little streaming message that says "sorry - you are in the USA and so you can't watch this video). What a load of crap. Who is being punished here?
The following are just SOME of the events that we have not seen. I do understand that diving, swimming, and gymnastics are popular, but in an olympic year I love to see the many different countries compete in all KINDS of events.

1. wrestling
2. tennis
3. soccer
4. archery
5. rowing (and kayak)
6. baseball (and softball)
7. field hockey
8. fencing
9. judo
10. trap shooting
11. air rifle
12. boxing
13. cycling

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hercules

A few months ago a student brought a frog to the office and said he "found" it in his unit. I was suspect (it's my nature) that it just "appeared" out of nowhere. We have a no pet policy and we often "find" things that don't belong.
Not wanting to flush the little guy I decided to take him home. I went and bought an aquarium and some things to go in it and named the little dude "Hercules". I conducted what I considered to be a fairly extensive search in pet stores, books, on the internet and consulting colleagues in the animal health department to determine what kind of a frog he was. At the time I was unable to determine what species of frog he was - partly because he was albino and so it made it difficult to identify any markings on him.
He was a great froggy pet. He lived in our kitchen and one he came out of semi hibernation he was very interested in everything happening in his froggy world and would greet me every morning in his water dish. I liked him.
This week he went to the great lily pad in the sky. He was fine one afternoon when I filled his water dish ( I was filling it often because it was quite warm in our house). I commented to my spousal unit to check out his pose because he was laying with his legs out in the dish with his head and one hand on the side and I thought it was cute. The very next day he was gone. I am sad he has left us. As I was looking for a photo (I never took one of him) I found this picture in the very first google search I did. He was a Northern Leopard Frog [Rana pipiens]. I think its weird that I looked and looked to see what kind of frog he was when I took him home and was unsuccessful and then today I found him right away.
RIP little Hercules.

color quiz




ColorQuiz.comlovesmukiwa took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

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Click here to read the rest of the results.


Tuesday, August 12, 2008

ten on tuesday: 10 favorite movie villains

Here are ten villains who creeped me out - they are not necessarily the most evil of all villains (and they creeped me out to different degrees depending on my age - and if I was watching the show alone or not)

1. Voldemort
2. Issac from Children of the Corn


3. Gargamel and Azrael

4. Flying monkeys from Wizard of OZ

5. Hannibal Lecter

6. Gollum
7. Darrell Lee Cullum in Copycat
8. The "things" in I am Legend

9. The house in monster house 10. Jimmy in Practical Magic

Monday, August 11, 2008

unconscious mutterings


Month to month :: living on the edge
Adjusted :: income
Prank :: laugh
Mop :: head
Clarity :: thought
Parenting :: sleepless nights
Glenn :: Close
Fingerprint :: criminal
Pineapple :: Pina Colada
Attorney :: Immigration

888 update

non-fiction
1. What Now? Anne Patchett (completed June 11 2008)
2. The Lost Children of Wilder. Nina Bernstein (completed June 30 2008)
3.Glass Castle. Jeannette Walls (Completed August 2 2008)
4. The Places in Between. Rory Stewart (completed January 19th 2008)
5. Infidel. Ayaan hirsi Ali (completed July 2 2008)
6. Hopes Boy: A memoir. Andrew Bridge (completed July 19 2008)
7. A Wolf at the Table. Augusten Burroughs. (completed August 19 2008)

Young Adult Fiction
1. The Canning Season. Polly Horvath (completed May 19th 2008)
2. Godless. Pete Hautman (completed May 26 2008)
3. Autobiography of my Dead Brother. Walter Dean Myers (completed May 27 2008)
4. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Brian Selznick (completed May 27 2008)
5. The Burn Journals. Brent Runyon (completed April 26 2008)
6. Sold. Patricia McCormick (completed June 23 2008)
7. Absolute Brightness. James Lecesne (completed August 8 2008)

Pulitzer Prize Winners
1. Middlesex. Jeffrey Eugenides (Completed January 21st 2008)
2. Gilead. Marilynne Robinson (Completed January 13th 2008)

From the NYT Bestseller list. (I don't want to limit myself to books that have already been written. There might be some good ones published this year)
1.The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. John Boyne (Completed June 28 2008)
2.Bleeding Kansas. Sarah Paretsky. #15 January 13 2008
3. Playing for Pizza. John Grisham. #1 October 28 2007, (completed July 15 2008)
4. Light Before Day. Christopher Rice. (completed July 31 2008) This book was not on the best seller list, but the author has previously had a book on the best seller list, so I fudged a bit by putting it into this category.
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khaled Hosseini. (completed August 15 2008)

Banned or "challenged" books
1. Go Ask Alice
2. The Lorax. Dr. Seuss (Completed April 24 2008)
3. The Well of Lonliness
4. Steal This Book. Abbie Hofmann

Books already on my Bookshelf completed this section June 2008
1. Gordon Korman. Island: Book one "Shipwreck" (completed February 1 2008)
2. Gordon Korman. Island: Book two "Survival" (completed February 1 2008)
3. Gordon Korman. Island: Book Three "Escape" (completed February 1 2008)
4. Christine Falls. Benjamin Black (Completed May 25 2008)
5. The Target. Gerri Hill (completed May 31 2008)
6. One Child. Torey Hayden (completed June 1 2008)
7. How to be a Canadian. Will Ferguson (completed June 4 2008)
8. Coyote Sky. Gerri Hill (completed June 5 2008)

Books based on or in Africa
1.Miracle at Speedy Motors. Alexander McCall Smith (completed May 15 2008)

Books I will check out from the library completed this section May 2008
1. Saturday. Ian McEwan (completed January 27 2007)
2. Eat, Pray, Love. Elizabeth Gilbert (completed February 16 2008)
3. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur. Daoud Hari (completed February 18 2008)4. Biting the Moon. Martha Grimes (completed March 25 2008)
5. The Calling. Inger Ash Wolfe (completed March 29 2008)
6. Written in Bone. Simon Beckett (completed March 31 2008)
7. 19 Minutes. Jodi Picoult (Completed April 21 2008)
8. The Darkest night of the Year. Dean Koontz (completed May 7 2008)

Friday, August 8, 2008

olympics: synchronized swimming

The 2008 Olympics started today. I love the olympics. I love to watch a lot of sports, and I particularly enjoy watching the olympics. Some of the sports I take more pleasure in watching and I honestly don't watch them all. One sport which makes me laugh is synchronized swimming. Don't get me wrong, I can appriciate the athleticism of these ladies (why are they always ladies?)
I once went to deep water aquasize and I had an asthma attack, swallowed water and almost drowned "WITH" a floatation device on trying to kick and lift my shoulders above the water. I know these swimmers are athletes. I laugh though because really - the glitter and noseplugs?


Because the cameras are on they keep their sparkling eyes open and smile UNDERWATER with creepy noseplugs. What is not funny about that?


friday fill in


1. You know you're old when - someone asks you if you are your child's grandparent.

2. My heart is divided between city living and country living.

3. Sleep uninterrupted by baby is what I need RIGHT NOW!

4. I have felt the end of the toilet paper role in the middle of the night, I have known the depths of desperation to find a new role in the dark without leaving the seat.

5. Gah, won't these people stop making excuses for why they don't do their jobs?

6. Take a vacation as soon as you can!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to sleeping, tomorrow my plans include watch GSP in ultimate fighting and Sunday, I want to nap!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

thursday thirteen: 13 yard/home dreams

Last Year we purchased our very own home, our first.

Since we will be paying on the mortgage for the next 30 years, I would like to make some improvements to the house and yard in that time. This year we are simply trying to keep up with mowing and picking up trash, but in years to come I hope we will see some of these improvements (in no particular order):

#1 A tree house #2 A rock wall

#3 A doggie door

#4. A labyrinth

#5 Lavendar field (but I don't know if we live in the right zone for one) #6 Raspberry canes
#7 A wrap around porch
#8 Window screens

#9 Glass tile bathroom. (Actually right now just any bathroom reno will do, but I dream of a glass tile bathroom. I'm a geek like that)


#10. We have the books, now we just need the library.


#11. A vegetable garden

#12. A windmill. At some point I think it would be cool to live off the grid. I don't know how likely that will ever be.

#13. A green house

three beautiful things

You can check out more beautiful things here: link

1. A cool bedroom to sleep in on a hot night
2. chocolate ice-cream
3. Afternoon naps

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

ten on tuesday: 10 events that should be olympic sports

#1. Red Rover: "Red rover, Red rover, we call the Ruskies over."

#2. Milk chugging

#3. Musical Chairs.
#4. Tug of War


#5. Twister. (keep the clothing on please)


#6. Three Legged Race

#7. Dodgeball

#8. Hula Hooping. If synchronised swimming and trampolining are already olympic sports then this will be one soon.


#9. Tetris

#10. Pillow fighting