Mmm, chocolate

I really wanted something sweet this evening. Due to someone (Wanda) eating all of the cookies, there was nothing in the house*.

Luckily, a couple of days ago I saw an article on how to make a cake in a mug on wikihow. Today I made a cake in a mug. I went for the second recipe. It puffed up while cooking, then went back down.

It was good, but I think I overcooked mine - it was a little dry in places.

* In the interest of full disclosure, she is the one who makes the cookies

Look at me cooking

I think I've mentioned that I've been working a lot. We had a big deadline on Friday, so this weekend I'm mostly not working. (OK, there were a couple of e-mails, but that's it.)

As a result, this weekend I made homemade pierogies.

I started by peeling (& boiling) enough potatoes to make about 2 or 3 cups of mashed potatoes.

While they were cooking, I made the dough:

You beat 2 eggs with 1/2 cup of oil until they're light in colour, then add 1.5 cups warm water and 1.5 tbsp salt. Next, you gradually add 5 cups flour and knead until it's a soft dough. (I started by using the mixer, but finished kneading it by hand.) Cover the dough, and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Luckily, while the dough is resting, you can grate the cheese. When the potatoes are soft, mash them, then add the grated cheese. Let it melt, then mix. Let them cool a bit so they don't burn your hands during the next step.

Next, stop eating the cheesy mashed potatoes. You can eat the leftovers later.

Roll out the dough, then cut in diamonds. (The recipe says to cut with a round cookie cutter, but I'm too lazy for that - diamonds work just as well, you just end up with triangles instead of half circles.

Put a scoop of the potato mixture on each diamond, then fold into triangles and seal the edges.

Put them in a container separated by waxed paper, and freeze (if you don't plan to eat them immediately).

To cook, boil a pot of salted water, drop the pierogies in and stir. Let them boil for about 10 minutes, then strain. (You want to let them cook several minutes after they float to the top.) After that, you can fry them in butter & onions if you want.

Registered

Life has been busy lately. (Well, mostly work has been busy lately.) I'm hoping it will get better on Friday & that I can actually enjoy a work-free weekend.

Anyway, enough whining. Today I sent a registered letter.

It was a little ridiculous cost wise, but necessary.

And there was much rejoicing throughout the ... house

My sister is awesome.

This morning she spotted my phone in the snow on the driveway. It was face down (like it is in the picture), so it was hard to spot.

I had driven over it at least once (it was in a tire track), but the snow cushioned it. We brought it in, wiped the snow off, and let it warm up. (I also dried it with my hairdryer, hoping that that would keep the snow from melting into the phone.) It's now on and working well. I have no plans to turn it off again anytime soon.

Let's talk about food

I think I've mentioned before that I don't particularly enjoy cooking. (This is another one of those things were I'm too lazy to search my own archives, so let's just assume I have.)

As a result, I'm always in favour of new ways to make cooking ... less necessary.

A year or so ago, I went to Dinner By Design in Kanata. This is a place where you do all of the assembly of a selection of meals, which then go in your freezer to be pulled out when necessary.

Because you do the assembly yourself, you can make small adjustments. For example, I can't eat peppers, so I can not put them in.

I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with a serious food allergy, but generally it's nice.

You choose either 6 or 12 meals to assemble, do the work there, and then pay and take them home.

Today I went to the Merivale location of Dinner By Design.

I went with a friend and my sister. The three of us assembled 18 meals in about an hour and a half. The total cost was around $450 - which works out to about $25 a meal, or $4 a serving.

I also changed one of my selections after I got there. The web site said that I could only make one Dijon Chicken Alfredo, and I wanted two. When I got there, I noticed that other people were making more than one, so I asked if I could change.

There is no whining in this post

I've mentioned boxing many times. I've also mentioned that I'm now in level 3.

In level 1, you work on the double hit on the speed bag. That consists of hitting the speed bag with the front of your hand, waiting until it hits the back of the platform, the front of the platform, and the back of the platform before you hit it with the side of the same hand. The bag again hits the platform 3 times, then you repeat with the other hand.

In level 2, you work on the single hit. This consists of hitting the bag at a 45 degree angle with the side of your hand, letting it bounce 3 times, then hitting it with the front of the other hand. You repeat this 10 times, then switch to the other side.

Now that I'm in level 3, I'm working on the double bounce. This is similar to the single hit, except that the bag only bounces once between the side hit and the front hit. The hands are supposed to move together, as if you're holding a bar in them.

It's pretty hard. I will be working on this for a while.

This week

This has been a frustrating week.

Monday I got home from the gym, and grabbed my gym bag & purse out of the back seat. My cell phone fell out of my purse, and I made a comment about how I never would have looked in the back seat of the car. I then picked up my cell phone and turned it off on the way into the house.

Tuesday morning I got up & left the house for an eye appointment. It took ages to get there due to increased traffic because of the bus strike that will not end. I reached for my cell phone, and it was not there.

I came home after my appointment, and it wasn't on the walk or the driveway.

I have cleaned the front hall, the coffee table, and my bedroom dresser. I found a necklace that I lost 2 years ago, but no cell phone. I have moved almost every piece of furniture on the main floor. I've gone through my gym bag & purse. I've moved the snow on top of the snow banks outside. Where is my cell phone?

Also, have I mentioned the bus strike? I am so sick of it ... and it's just a mild inconvenience for me. For some people, it means they're trapped in their houses.

So in other words, nothing new happening here, just much annoyance.

Let them eat cake (again)

At my former job, I worked with a great group of people. Somehow, I got elected the cake baker, and I baked cakes for everyone's birthdays. (This was not a sacrifice for me, I like baking.) My specialty was cheesecake (because one of the guys really, really likes cheesecake.

I tried a bunch of recipes, and ended up with a favourite - a graham cracker or oreo cookie crust with 3/4 of a can of pie filling


on it (baked for 15 minutes) and then the filling - 2 pkgs of cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups of sour cream, 1.5 tsp vanilla, and 3 eggs. I then put the rest of the pie filling on top of the filling, then mix it in (like a marble
cake). It bakes for a long time - over an hour -but it's a pretty light tasting cheesecake. I vary it, but that's the basic recipe.

Anyway, last week was a tough week for my former co-workers, and one of them has a birthday tomorrow, so today I made a cheesecake to drop off at my former workplace. I cut out a piece of cardboard the shape of the pan, then covered it in tinfoil to make the cake easy to transfer to the plate. Tomorrow I have to leave early so I can make the detour on the way to my actual job. So basically, if any of them read this blog, they will not be surprised. (They know about it, but I don't think they check it regularly.)

[Edited to correct the recipe, and to let you all know that the guys were very happy with the cheesecake, and are already angling for another one. :) ]

Yes, I'm alive

Work deadlines, extremely cold weather, and general apathy have combined to distract me from new things.

I did do something new on Wednesday. I was at the gym, and I tried the scary pull up machine. Basically, it uses weights to counterbalance so that you aren't lifting your full body weight. It was fun - or, at least, a good arm workout.

Before I got to work today...

This isn't new, but I feel like ranting.

1. The temperature was -25C when I woke up, and -26C when I finished breakfast.
2. The internet didn't work (for a stupid reason), which made me try to fix it so I could read my e-mail while eating breakfast instead of ... actually eating breakfast.
3. There wasn't a lot of snow, but the snow from yesterday had drifted, so I had to walk through snow well over my boots to clean off the car. (OK, the other option would have been to shovel the snow, but let's be realistic.)
4. The inside windows of my car were completely fogged up. I waited 20 minutes (after cleaning off the outside), then gave up and scraped them.
5. I got to drive behind a tractor for about 10 minutes on the way to work (and I was much later than I wanted to be due to items 2 & 4).

So how is your day going?

Reflexive

This is a day I thought would happen last year - I went to my first level 3 boxing class. Level 3 is when you move out of beginner mode and into something more advanced. It is also when you first hit the reflex bag. The reflex bag is a small bag on a spring, so it bounces back when you hit it.

I was a little concerned that this would lead to disaster. Luckily, that did not happen. You start by hitting it lightly. It went better than I expected - I was able to control it much more easily than I thought it would.

Generally

Today I went to the annual general meeting for the compnay I work for. Oddly, I don't recall there being an annual meeting last year.

It was held at the new Isaac's in Stittsville. It's a nice facility (although almost everyone drove past it at first and had to turn around).

Believe it or not

Today I filled up my tires at an air pump I had to pay for. Apparently, it has been a while since I last had to fill up a tire. It was not as painful as I expected, considering that it is the middle of winter.

Also, on Sunday I went into the Sassy Bead Company. I had walked by it many times, but never actually gone in. They were not busy, and were very helpful - or tried to be, although I was not really there for any particular reason.

Spade

For those of you who are wondering, I'm tentatively planning to do at least one new thing a week. I'm not sure how that will work out - it might result in me never updating, so we'll have to see how it goes.

As part of that, they will hopefully be "bigger" new things - i.e. not things I did at the last minute in order to get something done.

Today's new thing is not terribly big, but it is exciting - I used my spade drill bits. I did not succeed in fixing my sister's closet (which was the goal), but I am excited to have used them since I got them several years ago & they have basically been collecting dust ever since.

To be continued

Apparently, it's hard to get out of the habit of posting every day.

So, anyway. I decided to do a new thing every day in 2008 in October, 2007 when I read about Jen's In The New blog.

At that point, I didn't know if I'd be able to do it. I also couldn't have anticipated some of the things that would happen in 2008 - such as going to Africa twice.

There were also things I knew I wanted to do - like 10-pin bowling, cooking spaghetti squash, and fencing.

There were things I thought I would do - like finishing level 2 boxing & starting level 3.

Now 2008 is over, and I did something new every day - some days more than one thing. (Admittedly, some of them were pretty sad, and only happened late in the day after a great deal of panic.) Obviously, the year didn't happen exactly as I expected.

Doing something new was definitely a good experience. The interesting part is that it has changed the way I think.

I've also enjoyed getting to know (virutally) other people who are crazy enough to try to do something new every day.

By nature, I am a planner. I'm also the kind of person who tends to go to a restaurant a second time and order the same thing as I did on the first visit.

I've noticed that after a year of doing something new every day, I'm far more likely to choose something new just because it's something I've never done before.

There are also things that I had wanted to do that I didn't get to do.

This year I'm not going to do something new every day - but I will continue doing new things and writing about it here. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's been a complete year of doing a new thing every day. Expect a wrap up in the next couple of days.

Today I followed different New Year's traditions. (I believe I stole this idea from Sydney originally).

I ate cabbage, which are meant to resemble money and bring fortune in Denmark and the southern U.S.

I ate pork, which is another symbol of prosperity (in Austria, Germany, Portugal & Spain).

(The pork & cabbage were combined in cabbage rolls.)

I also ate 12 grapes, which again is to ensure future prosperity.

It's interesting that most of the traditions involve prosperity. I would think there would be more things that might be important in the new year.

Now I'm off to do something that's not really a tradition - I'm going to bed long before midnight. (I have to leave for the airport at 4:30 a.m. & I'm really tired.)

Happy New Year, all!

Packing to go home

I head home early on New Year's Day. (Actually, very early on New Year's Day - apparently I need to be at the airport at 5 a.m.). Today I did something I've been threatening to do for almost 5 years - I packed my niece in my suitcase. She thought it was a big joke, but I did have to promise that I wouldn't actually take her back to Ottawa with me.

A sew-sew day

(Edited to add the picture.)


Today I visited my uncle. He recently got married, and as part of the cleanup/merge of the two households, they found an old sewing machine.

Today I played with an old hand-crank sewing machine. It is powered only by your right hand turning a crank. It doesn't use bobbins - instead it uses a spindle. I didn't realize sewing machines like that existed.

Gregory

Today we got together with some relatives I hadn't yet seen this trip. We met at my cousin Nancy's, and I met her son Gregory. He is 7 months old, and is getting close to crawling (but currently only spins in a circle). I had not seen some of the other kids in a couple of years. Oddly, they are all getting bigger. I am a little confused as to why that keeps happening.

Make believe

When I was a kid, one of my favourite shows was Mr. Dressup. It's a Canadian show, and the star (Mr. Dressup, actually) had a trunk of costumes for acting out different things. He also was big on drawing and crafts. He used to make trees and hats out of newspaper.

Today I made trees and hats out of newspaper.

It was harder than it looked, and I had to look up instructions for the hats. The first hat I made was too big for my niece. The second was too small. You'd think the third would be just right, but you would be wrong - it was (apparently) a little too big.

Not really a Christmas tradition

Today my mom & I made fish & chips. This is something I rarely make - probably less than once a year, and always at my mom's place. Today I also made onion rings. Lately I have developed a love for onion rings, and the ones I made were very tasty.

Breaking the camel's back

The afternoon of Christmas day tends to mean that my family sits around and plays games. This year two people got new games for Christmas, so I played Straw and Wizard. Wizard is a game where you predict how many tricks you will take and gain or lose points based on how accurate you were. Straw is a game where you add cards (with different weights) to a camel's back. If you go over the limit, his back breaks and you add up points.

Both were entertaining (and compact, thus easy to carry).

Wii!

In my family, we open our gifts Christmas eve. It has evolved so that we go over to my aunt & uncle's place for supper, then open our gifts.

We were there before supper today, so I got a chance to play their wii. I tried the golf, the boxing, and the bowling. It took a while to get the hang of it, but it was fun. The boxing was excellent, but I didn't play for too long as it was too much of a workout for the circumstances.

Hanging out with my niece

We finally arrived around 10 (local time) last night.

Today my mom & I went to the spa. (Her birthday is just before Christmas, so this is her usual birthday present.)

After that, I took my niece shopping for her mom's Christmas gift. I have to say, she has good taste for a 4 year old.

I also got to put her to bed tonight, so I flossed someone else's teeth. Luckily, she's quite patient.

Bubble breaker

Today is another day I'm spending in airports. My first flight tried to leave 30 minutes late, but they couldn't get the gate detached from the plane, so it actually left 1.5 hours late.

Flights throughout the country are a mess. Halifax airport was closed, and flights were getting cancelled. There were people in Ottawa airport lying on blankets on the floor. (I don't know where they were trying to go). I'm in Winnipeg, and when we got here we waited for 30 minutes before a gate was available. (Luckily I had 4 hours between flights, because by the time we got off the plane it was only 2 hours - but, of course, my next flight was delayed 45 minutes.) I don't think there are any flights on the departures board that are not delayed. It's a mess.

However, as a result of the chaos, I had a lot of time, so I played bubble breaker on my sister's cell phone. It's an entertaining game. Sadly, her battery is now dead.

I can't believe we ever looked like that

I mentioned a while ago that I bought a hard drive DVD recorder. As a result, my VCR has been moved to the basement. It's not actually set up down there, and one of the things I always intended to do was to copy some old Christmas home videos from tape to a DVD.

Today I hooked my VCR up to the DVD recorder and transferred some old home movies. First I transferred the movies to the hard drive. Some of them are very choppy and hard to watch, but they also have what is probably the last picture of my grandma. Also, there is a clip of my grandpa singing O Christmas Tree in German. His parents immigrated from Germany, but the year my grandmother died (when he was 77) was the first time I remember him speaking German. My sister would sing O Tannenbaum, and he would then sing the next line in German.

Once the movies were on the hard drive, I set up a dubbing list and started transferring them to a DVD.

The problem with doing it this way is that you have to play the whole thing a second time to transfer it to a DVD.

It is not done transferring yet, but hopefully it will finish before I fall asleep.

Chesnuts roasting on an open fire

Today was fun. I got together with friends for lunch at the Elgin St. Diner. Afterwards, we wandered through the Rideau Centre, which is the main mall downtown. It wasn't all that busy, considering that it's the weekend before Christmas. I suspect that the bus strike is the cause.

However, that's not the only new thing I did today.

Yesterday I was short of ideas so I was reading through Sydney's archives. As a result, I realized that people actually roast chesnuts over a fire. (It's not just the song.) The grocery was selling chesnuts today, so I roasted chesnuts over an open fire. I was expecting them to split or something. Instead, they basically burnt - they looked like coals. The shells then got very soft, so that you could actually peel them. The nut itself was soft and chewy.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

Today I made a snowman snowflake. This gave me the opportunity to realize I have no idea how to make a snowflake in general. However, I eventually figured it out.

What's my name again?

This is another stolen idea - I think it was Kathy who did this months ago. Anyway, I spelled "Colette2008" with Spell with flickr



It's really easy to change the selected picture - but not easy to change back.


As an added bonus, here's my answers to a meme from Crystal. It's not my personal list, and it's heavy on places in the U.S. and Europe, but still interesting.


Things I've done in my life (in bold):
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - it was closed when I was there
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - I've been to France, but did not see the Mona Lisa
20. Slept on an overnight train - Nope, but I've slept on planes and ferries.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Technically no, but I've felt sick and miraculously gotten better once I called in.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - I've seen them, but was too cheap to ride in one.
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - Clearly the person who created this has never seen me play softball/baseball
32. Been on a cruise - Mediterranean cruise, 2005. I'd highly recommend it
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors - Ireland 2004, Germany 2008
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person - Yup. It is surrounded by buildings, which was a surprise.
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa - Three times - twice to Botswana, once to Tunisia (for 4 hours - see #32)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person - Yup. It's not really impressive because by the time you get there, you've spent 2 hours going through the museums, which are incredible
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - Yup. I have pictures taken from the top where you can see the shadow
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - Girl Guide cookies, actually
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - only twice, and I fainted the first time
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I don't remember having a specific favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - I've been laid off, but not fired
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - my arm when I was 11 or 12 - and probably a toe & a kneecap as an adult, but I didn't bother going to the doctor (although if I'd realized I'd hurt my knee as badly as I did, I probably would have)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper - possibly when I was a kid?
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee - I've been stung by a wasp, but not a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Work those lats

Only 2 working days left for 2008. I can't wait. Since we're closed as of the end of day Friday, and it keeps snowing, and there's a transit strike that makes traffic very slow, fewer and fewer people are showing up at the office every day. I might work from home on Friday if no one is around.

However, none of that has anything to do with my new thing for today. This is one of those things that I could have done anytime, but didn't .

I've talked about going to the gym before. Most of the time I go for specific classes - it has been over a year since I went simply to work out on the machines. The gym I go to has treadmills, elliptical trainers, and stationary bikes. It also has a strength training circuit with a bunch of machines. I've used most of those machines in the past, but there's one that has always intimidated me - the lat pulldown station. It consists of a bench you sit on, along with handles above your head (attached to weights) that you pull down.

Today I tried the lat pulldown machine. As is typical of things like that, it wasn't nearly as scary or difficult as I had built it up to be in my mind.

Feeding via pressing a button

(Edited to correct the number of days left. For some reason, I thought it was Dec. 14 all day yesterday. It was not. )

You'd think that since I have only 15 days left, I'd be doing big things these days. However, today was not that kind of day. Instead, I borrowed an idea from Jen S. and donated a meal via Cascade Feeds America.

Yogurt

Today I made yogurt cheese.

You start with natural yogurt (with no setting agents like gelatin). You line a strainer with cheesecloth, put it over a container, and put the yogurt in the strainer, cover the yogurt with plastic wrap (or, in my case, a plastic bag), and then put it in the fridge for several hours.

The yogurt becomes concentrated. You can then use it instead of sour cream in dips, etc.

I inadvertantly bought vanilla yogurt instead of plain, so I ended up with really thick yogurt. It was very enjoyable.

I was amazed - I got almost a soup bowl full of liquid out of one container of yogurt.

Pizza

Today I made pizza dough in the bread machine. I rarely make homemade pizza. (I think it has been over 10 years since the last time), but that was what I decided to make today. Since I knew I was going to be out until 3 or so, so putting the dough in the bread machine seemed like the thing to do. It worked well, and the pizza was tasty.

I also played a new game. I do not recall the name of the game, but it involved creating pathways for the tokens to move on. You were out when your token got maneuvered off the board. It was fun, and a good game to play with a group of people.

Let them eat cake

My first new thing for today was a new thing I had been holding in reserve, as it was something I would be able to do if, for example, I was really sick & couldn't do much. I rented a movie* via my digital cable box. I rarely rent movies, but this is definitely the way to do it - I don't mind going out to get the movie, but I hate going out to return it.

The second new thing is something I saw on Krstlchik's blog about a month ago - I made cake pops. Well, technically I did not make pops - I made cake balls. (I decided I didn't care enough to buy the popsicle sticks.)

The first step is destroying the cake. My sister was traumatized by me picking up the cake and tearing it apart.

Next you add the icing, then you make balls.

After that, it's time to put them in the freezer & wait for them to solidify a bit. (This probably wasn't as necessary a step as it would be if you put the popsicle sticks into the ball.)

After they are out of the freezer, you then dip them in chocolate. (My sister did a lot of the work for this part.)

I then decorated them, and they were done.

They took a lot of chocolate, so we had to eat some plain. (It was not really a sacrifice.)

* Elf. It was funny, and better than I expected

Feeling elite

Going to Africa twice in one year gets you a lot of frequent flier miles. In fact, I have enough miles to have elite status next year. As a result, today I chose rewards based on the number of frequent flier miles I have. I chose the upgrades & companion lounge access. Now I just need to go somewhere on a star alliance carrier next year.

In completely unrelated news, the gym I went to today recently got a massage chair. It is extremely enjoyable (although I am not sure why it is necessary in a gym).

Nice & warm

Today I took a shower while fully clothed. (A few other thing-a-dayers have done something similar, so this is anotyher stolen idea.)

It was interesting - I was in my boxing clothes. It was actually quite nice - the clothes collected the water and kept me nice and toasty warm.

The hardest part was carrying the wet clothes downstairs to the laundry room. My arms were tired from boxing, and the clothes were heavy.

Tied up in knots

Today I learned different ways to tie a tie. I tried the windsor, the half windsor, the pratt, and the four in hand. The hardest one was the half windsor. (Not coincidentally, that's the one I didn't take a picture of.)

Credit

Today I requested a copy of my credit report. I actually requested it from 2 different agencies - equifax and transunion.

I could have gotten it online, but that costs money, so instead I went for the free option and mailed it in. I should get it in a week or two.

Wrapping it up

No, this isn't another pre-Christmas post. Instead, today I wore hand wraps to body combat. It was weird - I wore my old boxing hand wraps. They are shorter and thicker than my new ones. (My new ones are stretchy, and very compact). At the beginning of the class, I was constantly distracted by the feel of the wraps. However, I adjusted and the class went well.

Eeek!

Today I made Christmas spiders. They are very cute.

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but the legs are a combination of long beads and seed beads. The body is one large bead, and the head is a medium size bead.

I do not plan to quit my day job - I ended up needing 10 leg pieces (instead of 8) and three body wires (instead of 2) for the 2 spiders.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I put the Christmas tree up last week. The Christmas music has been in my car all week. I spent yesterday afternoon wanting to leave work for no particular reason.

Today I made spiced nuts. They were easy to make and quite tasty.

Today I made a list of things that you may not know about me.

1. I have 4 younger sisters.
2. two of my sisters have started thing-a-day blogs since I started. (Both are more about things they like/appreciate than things they are doing.)
3. I moved to Ottawa after university because this is where I got a job.
4. I went to an all-girls high school for grades 9 & 12.
5. I've travelled to England, Ireland, the U.S., Germany, South Africa, Botswana, Italy, Tunisia, Malta, and Spain on my current passport, some of them more than once. On my previous passport, I only went on one trip - to England and France.
6. I like baking but hate cooking. Unfortunately, cooking is a more important life skill.
7. When I was 25, I received my Duke of Edinburgh Award from Prince Edward.
8. I'm currently into boxing. Other classes I have previously taken as an adult include pottery, Irish dancing, belly dancing, Italian for travellers, home maintenance and repair, ballroom dancing, yoga, and cross country skiing. There are probably more.
9. When I was 12, I broke my arm by falling off a horse (and landing on a fence). My arm was not visibly broken, and my aunt was more concerned about the fact that my ear was bleeding. (The ear never hurt, probably because my arm hurt too much.)
10. Both my elementary school and my high school closed the year I graduated.
11. I've done several backpacking trips and several canoe trips. Canoe trips are more enjoyable.
12. If you give me 10 things to do, I will get 9 done. If you give me one thing to do, it will never get done.
13. The summer before my grandmother died, I spent a couple of weeks helping her paint and shampoo the rugs. I had trouble keeping up. (She was 75, I was 22.)
14. I'm most productive in the afternoon.
15. Every couple of months, I have lunch with some co-workers I last worked with in 2004.
16. I'm currently a leader with Sparks (5-6 year olds). In the past, I have been a leader for Guides (9-12 year olds) and Pathfinders (12-15 year olds).
17. I have 2 friends in Ottawa who were part of the same high school graduating class as me. The high school we graduated from was in Regina, Saskatchewan.
18. I'm an introvert, and I try not to make plans for Sundays so that I have the day to relax and recharge.
19. I've always been away from home for Christmas.
20. I've seen a dog climb a tree (and not a small dog). When I was a kid, my cousin climbed up a tree and my grandparent's dog climbed up after her.

Blurry

It's Thursday, and I went to body flow after work. That gave me the opportunity to do an exercise class without wearing my glasses. It was fine - I'm not blind enough for it to be a big issue, but I do tend to get a headache when I don't wear my glasses.

This is when you should roll your eyes

This is going to be a political rant, so feel free to look away now. As in previous rants, I'm not going to fact check - that ruins a good rant - so what you're getting is my perception of what is going on.

The democratically elected head of Canada is the Prime Minister. The official head of state of Canada is the Queen's representative, the Governor General. She (officially) appoints the Prime Minister and, alternatively, dissolves parliament, which triggers an election. The Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party who received the most seats in the last election. Right now, that is Stephen Harper, who is the leader of the Conservative party.

Since there are many political parties (and it is possible to run as an independant), it is possible that there are more members of parliament in the official opposition and the other opposition parties than there are in the governing party. That's where we are right now - the Conservatives are a minority government.

This is important, because in Canada it is rare for an MP to vote against his or her party's official stand.

In a minority government, if the government loses a vote on an issue considered to be a confidence issue, they can no longer govern. (Budgets are always confidence votes.)

Canada's last federal election was October 14. That was just over 6 weeks ago. Harper was the leader of a minority government before the election, and after the election became the leader of a stronger (but still minority) government.

The other players:
Stephane Dion - leader of the liberal party (i.e. the official opposition) - he was the leader when they lost a lot of seats in the last election, and is has resigned as leader effective some time next year

Gilles Duceppe - leader of the Bloc Quebecois, which is a political party in Quebec dedicated to getting Quebec to separate from the rest of Canada

Jack Layton - leader of the New Democratic party

The political parties get funding based on the percentage of the popular vote they got in the last election.

Basically, here's what happened.

Harper saw an opportunity, and in the name of saving money, proposed to cut the funding to political parties. This would be devastating to the other parties - in particular the liberals.

The other leaders got upset, and started talking about causing Harper to lose a confidence vote. They then plan to go to the Governor General and ask her to let them rule in a coalition.

Did I mention that it has been 6 weeks since the last election?

And that her choices (after the confidence vote) would be to either let them rule in a coalition or call another election?

Sigh.

Anyway, this is a long and rambling way of saying that today I watched the Prime Minister make a televised speech instead of watching the Simpsons.

The political stuff was probably funnier, because:
- Harper's speech was shorter than expected (and didn't contain the concessions some were expecting),
- The network was waiting for a tape from Dion (which never arrived),
- Layton wanted to make a speech, and was complaining that he didn't get the same amount of air time as Harper and Dion

So to sum up:
- the new government is in trouble (and the Conservatives are running around in a panic),
- the leader of the coalition couldn't get his act together enough to provide the networks with a video tape for a national broadcast,
- the coalition contains a political party who's reason for existing is to break up the country, and
- the members of the coalition are already bickering

I think we should send them all to their rooms until they can come out and play nice.

Seriously, this is pathetic.

More about pierogies

You may recall that I bought pierogies on Saturday. Today I finally tried the meat pierogies. They were good. Whoever made them used a nice blend of spices. (I think I still prefer cheese pierogies.)

Cleaning up

Today I "borrowed" an idea from someone - I think it was Kathy - and microwaved a bar of soap. I used an old bar of soap that was almost gone, but hard to use due to a non-soap layer on part of the bar.

It started foaming up, but stopped when I opened a door to take a picture. (The soap was black with yellow and green, so it did not change colour.)

The kitchen still smells like the soap.

Dinosaurs and ... ducks?

Today I went to a Christmas pot-luck in November. (It is possible I have been to a Christmas party in November before, but I certainly do not remember doing so.)

While I was there, I played dinosaurs and ducks. It is a very odd game that I believe was made up by the 3-year-old and the 4-year-old I was playing with. It`s pretty simple - they were dinosaurs and I was a duck, so I had to run away. Then I was a dinosaur and they were ducks and they had to run away.

Deli-cious

Today was a very busy day. I had a million errands to do, plus it is my sister's birthday, so there was cake to eat.

One of my errands was to visit the Warsaw Polish Deli. I bought pierogies. This included some meat pierogies, which I have never had before. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

They also had strawberry pierogies, which sounded interesting. I may have to try them in the future.

Rorschach

Today is definitely a "stand on the toilet and yodel" day. Anyway, when I finally got home, I decided to learn about Rorschach inkblot tests. I read the wikipedia entry, and then I clicked to a couple of web sites that had some of the inkblots.

I hadn't realized that some of them were in colour before. It was interesting, but I can see why there is doubt about how the results are interpreted.

Persimmon

Over the last 11 months, I've become the kind of person who sees something in the grocery store and thinks "I have no idea what that is. I should buy it.". It's kind of odd.

Last weekend I bought a persimmon. It prompted a discussion with the clerk, who also had no idea what it was. It has been sitting on my counter all week.

Today I ate a persimmon. It was good - pretty mild tasting, with a melon-like texture.

Vegan

Today I pretended I was vegan. The hardest part was when I got home from the gym and had to wait until the food was cooked before I could eat - I couldn't just thoughtlessly grab a snack. It requires far more thought than I'm willing to put into everyday life. (A lot of things have milk products in them - I usually eat a granola bar on the way to the gym, but today I had to substitute almonds instead.)

(The food is oatmeal, homemade vegetable soup, and vegetarian chilli.)

Today I also broke my cable box. Luckily, I was able to fix* it.

* I unplugged it for an hour. Worked like magic.

Chatting

A long time ago (January? I'm too lazy to look it up.) I had a chat session over skype. Today for the first time I had a phone call over skype. It was more complicated than necessary since I don't have a headset. I had to borrow one from my colleague. However, in the end it worked out remarkably well considering that I was talking to a colleague in Botswana, and the internet there is usually quite slow.

Flat

Today I downloaded and used Google Earth. It was interesting - especially seeing the globe turn as it moved from one location to another - but there was not enough detail for the locations I looked at to make it really interesting.

Scrubbing

A couple of weeks ago I was in a kitchen store. I saw a scrubber that could be used on vegetables or pots. I decided to get one and try it on vegetables. Today I used the scrubber on vegetables. It did not work terribly well - it was not stiff enough. I might have to move it back to pot-scrubbing status

Strike!

Today I went 10-pin bowling. It took a while to adjust to - if you can make out my scores in the picture to the left (middle row), you can see that I got a total of 3 points for the first 4 frames ... and then a strike in the final frame. It helped once I realized that the 8-pound ball worked best for me. (I did better in the second game - 3 strikes - but that picture is too blurry to be useful.)

Anyway, it was a good time, and I would definitely be open to doing it again someday.

Not the brightest day

If you look through my twitter updates, you will have some idea of the kind of day I've had.

I started by going to the gym. After that, the plan was to replace my burnt out headlight, then head to Montreal.

I went to the new Canadian Tire on Carling to buy the bulb. This is an odd building - the store is actually on the second floor. Most of the first level is parking. Anyway, the bulb was purchased and I got it replaced. After I had struggled through replacing it, I realized that the reason the headlight was out was that the connector for the bulb had obviously melted and the wires were exposed. That meant I had to find a place that could replace the connector without taking all day - so the Montreal trip was off.

Luckily, the headlight was fixed by 1, so it was off to Montreal.

Traffic in Montreal was crazier than usual (due to construction and accidents), so we ended up downtown around 4. By this time I was getting tired. (It has been a busy couple of weeks.)

This lead to a parking issue. Basically, through my own fault, my parking ticket got cancelled soon after I arrived. This meant that I could not pay for parking when I left, so I got the manager to let me out without paying. They have my phone number, so we will have to see if they call to eventually get their payment.

Anyway, we were there for about 3 hours. It was a good trip, but it would have been better if I was not so tired. (I had lots of energy when we left, but that died down too quickly.)

In the dark

I just got home from work. (It is 11:44 p.m.). It was a long and frustrating day. Of course, I had to do something new.

I tried (during some down time) to fill an online shopping cart with $100,000 worth of stuff. However, I failed - I only made it to $88,000 before I had to go back to work. It was hard - I had furniture, appliances, power tools, bedding, towels, jewellery.

Luckily (?) on the way home I got stopped by the police. Shockingly, it was not for speeding - I had a headlight out. I just got a warning - but now I have to get my headlight replaced.

I do not recommend eating off the floor

Today I scrubbed the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. I stole the idea from someone (Sydney, I think). I was going to take a picture, but sadly my camera batteries are dead.

I thought the hardest thing about doing this would be that my bathroom floor is considerably larger than a toothbrush. That was not the case. (Well, the floor is larger than the toothbrush, but that wasn't the hardest part.) The hardest part was that the toothbrush bristles were too soft - which is good on your gums, but bad on a floor.

And the winner is ...

Today I played myself in Scrabble. The me on the right won with 234 points. The me on the left was a close runner up with 231 points.

It was hard - I am pretty sure one of the mes went twice in a row a couple of times. Also, since my inclination is to make words around 4 letters long, it got difficult to place letters near the end.

I can see your ... hand

Today I tried reading palms. First I read my palm, then I dragged my sister over & read her palm. Interestingly, neither of us has a noticable fate line.

It seems like an easy thing to do, but it's actually quite difficult. How do I know whether a line is unusually wavy?

Campfire

A few weeks ago my sister was talking about how she didn't go camping this year, and she missed having bannock over the fire. We talked about a couple of options for having a fire, until eventually I realized that I have a wood fireplace.

Today I cooked food in my fireplace.

Another busy day

Today was busy. I had a training for Sparks in the morning, then worked for a couple of hours in the afternoon. However, I did find time to go for dinner at Rockwells. This is another one of those restaurants that is really close to where I live, but yet I had never actually been there.

It is not a fancy place, but the food was good.

Sleepy

Today was a brutal day at work. I got in early (around 8:15 a.m.) and I left at 9:30 p.m.

Luckily, there was a break in the middle of the day because I went and got a haircut in the middle of the day. Technically, it was my lunch time, and it worked out well because things didn't get really crazy until 3:30 or so.

A lot of typing

Tonight I will be live blogging The Office. Technically, it played an hour ago, but I am watching it for the first time now.

Here we go.
'
We start with Michael talking about customs in different countries. Somehow, he thinks that washing your hands after going to the bathroom is polite ... in Italy. Remind me not to shake hands with him.

Oh dear. Now he is covering Meredith's face with a jacket. Oh dear.

After the opening, we see Jim starting his day. Apparently it is 6.5 days until ... something - oh, Pam is coming back. And apparently everyone is acting weird about it.

David Wallace is sending Micahel to Winnipeg as a reward ... and because no one else wants to go.

Michael is bringing 3 suitcases - 2 are empty for souvenirs. Apparently Andy is going as well. And Oscar. And Dwight is being, um, helpful. Michael is in business class, and the other two are not.

Michael insults Oscar's egg salad sandwiches, and then finds out there are no meals on the plane.
He then demonstrates how to use a blindfold - slash - facemask - and promptly gets hit by the drink cart.

Back in the office, Ryan is checking out his desk when Pam gets back, which is beside Kelly. Kelly talking heads about how she is over Ryan, and in the next shot they are mauling each other on the desk.

Back in Winnipeg, Michael, Andy, and Oscar are at the hotel. Andy goes over to the conceirge, who gives them directions to a sushi place. Michael is thrilled with her recommendations - possibly because he clearly has no idea what he is - he's confusing it with a geisha.

In New York, Pam has talked to her advisor, and she is failing a class. She has to stay to re-take the class - which will take 12 weeks. I thought her whole course was 12 weeks? Anyway, she and Jim are clearly both upset about it.

In Winnipeg, Michael, Andy, and Oscar are going into a restaurant - conveniently the one the conceirge is at. Michael goes up and re-introduces himself. He starts talking oddly, because she‘s “foreign“.

Andy starts checking out guys for Oscar. It‘s very creepy. But it‘s Andy, so what do you expect?

Michael continues interupting concierge Marie‘s evening, asking her test questions about where to get drycleaning done Christmas eve at midnight.

Oscar then asks Andy how anyone could be with Angela. Andy talks about how wonderful Angela is. Andy admits that he hasn‘t had sex with Angela.

Meanwhile, Michael goes home with Marie.

Oscar then convinces Andy to call Angela to find out what‘s wrong with her, but Dwight is there with Angela. Luckily? Andy is too drunk to catch on.

Michael gets kicked out of Marie‘s room. We don‘t know exactly why - but it‘s Michael, so really no additional information is required.

Back in the office, everyone knows that Pam failed art school. Dwight isn‘t surprised, and starts criticizing Pam‘s painting of the building.

Andy and Oscar are chatting. Oscar can‘t believe that they called Angela last night. Andy didn‘t realize that it was real - he thought it was a dream.

Ryan is trying to convince Kelly to break up with Darryl.

I have no idea why she wants to get back together with him. Anyway, Darryl says it‘s cool. Ryan is puzzled as to why Darryl isn‘t upset.

At Michael‘s business meeting, the client has talked to a competitor who can offer them a better price. Michael starts selling based on service.

Andy is back to first base with Angela - which means he can kiss her forehead. There‘s an Air Canada plane in the background, which is a nice touch.

David calls to congratulate Michael on making the sale. Michael is really depressed, and says the trip sucked. He starts asking why David sent Holly away - and then he hangs up before getting the answer. He then starts wondering why he has stayed at Dunder Mifflin so long (and he uses the phrase “you tell him off to his face over the phone“.

Pam is back. She doesn‘t like graphic design, and she isn‘t coming back because of Jim (except, of course, she kind of is). Dwight arrives, and asks here to make 5 copies of something. Pam points out that she isn‘t going inside, so Dwight agrees he can wait until morning.

And the tag: Ryan and Kelly are back together.

In summary: Michael is still Michael. Ryan and Kelly are annoying. And Jim and Pam are still sweet. So nothing is new.

It's time to start the music, it's time to light the lights.

Today I made a muppet version of myself. What can I say, it was a long and annoying day. (Also, I stole this idea from someone, but I don't remember who. I might look it up tomorrow.)

In other news, I got a call from a very nice woman at Bell today. She wasn't able to help me, but she got someone else (who, in theory, could) to call me. He tried 3 times today. (She was clever enough to call the cell phone number that I had the issue with. He was not.) However, he didn't actually help me in any way.

Now for a dilemma - do I leave it alone, or just change my home phone to Rogers? I'm open to suggestions.

Annoyances

Every once in a while (OK, quite often) when I'm bored at work I'll read http://www.consumerist.com/. It is a consumer site, and provides lots of information about how to get issues with companies resolved.

I've mentioned before that I got a new cell phone in September. Unfortunately, I've been having billing issues with it that I've been working to get resolved for the last few weeks. That hasn't helped, so today I followed some tips from the Consumerist and sent an e-mail to an executive asking them to help me get my issue resolved. Hopefully this will help.

Furniture

I bought some furniture when I moved in to the house. Ever since then, I get invitations to special events at the furniture store. Tonight I went to a special event at the store. It wasn't actually very interesting - there wasn't much staff, and there was nothing much going on. I did get to look at tables as part of my ongoing quest to replace my table & chairs.

Picture frames

Today I made quilted picture frames. I used a wood base with a quilted placemat from the dollar store to cover it. Ribbons are used to hold the pictures. Staples hold the whole thing together.

Groceries

Today I was out doing the normal Saturday errands, and I stopped at Food Basics to buy groceries. It is a discount grocery store.

I was impressed with the produce selection in particular. However, the dairy section was not so impressive. The milk expired on November 11, which meant I had to stop at another grocery store. That means that despite the fact that prices are a bit lower, I ended up spending more in total.

Bad timing

Today I went to my 6 p.m. class at the gym ... and it had been moved to 6:30. As a result, I waited at the gym for a re-scheduled class, and used a mystery machine while I waited. It was quite odd, actually ... not quite an elliptical trainer, but kind of the same idea. It was possibly something like this.

More toothbrush tricks

Today I used a battery-operated toothbrush.

It was an odd experience - more because of the sound than the actual feeling. Usually brushing my teeth is quite quiet.

Undoing evolution

I did a body pump (weight lifting) class tonight. I've been doing this class for a year and a half, but lately I've been finding the chest presses harder, because when my hands are at the top, I'm doing something weird (possibly twisting them) which means that the piece of my hand between my thumb and my first finger gets tired.

Anyway, at my instructors suggestion, today I did chest presses with my thumb going the same way as my fingers over the bar.

So basically, I was lying on my back holding a bar with 10 kilograms of weight just using my fingers (and no opposable thumb). Luckily, it did not end in tragedy, although I'm not sure if I'll continue doing this -it made it harder to keep my wrists straight.

And ... that's what I did for the rest of the day

Today I added (and played) hangman on igoogle. It is very addictive. I was surprised that the longer words were easier, but it actually makes sense (because you have a better chance of guessing correctly, so you have fewer letters to waste).

I also whined about the time change, but that's not new. I find it easier to adjust to 5 or 6 hours than to one hour. Maybe I should spend the next time change in Europe.

Joining the cult

Today I stole an idea from Kathy and signed up for NaBloPoMo. It basically involves posting one blog entry per day for the month of November. That's something I'm already planning to do, so why not?

More about bread

I've had a bread machine for a couple of years. I enjoy it, and often use it on the timer so that I wake up to fresh bread.

Today, however, I did not plan ahead, so I made bread on the rapid bake setting. I actually hadn't realized you could do that with normal yeast -I thought the fast rise yeast was required.

Manoucher bread

This is turning into a lazy weekend. I usually try to do things that involve leaving the house on the weekend, but the last few weeks that hasn't happened.

That means I have to find new things I can do while still being lazy. Today I tried manoucher bread. It is a Persian flatbread. It came in a large rectangle - the long side was wider than the grocery card. It was good, and did not last long. (Probably healthier than the massive amount of Halloween candy I also ate today.)