What the "h" "e" double-hockey-sticks is going on?

Last week people were fighting over bottled water, this week it's snow tires. What's next? I'm not sure but I think Vancouver might fall into the ocean ane we'll be fighting over kayaks or something.

Meanwhile our backyard is filling up with snow, it's so beautiful, I love it. But no one loves it more than Bubba.

I'm worried about the new evergreen Magnolia we planted at the end of October. We checked it every hour on Sunday and we shook the snow off every 2 or 3 hours. I keep thinking the branches are getting too heavy with snow and they're going to break off. I can't believe it's holding up as well as it is.

Since I wasn't able to get out and take my own pics of the mountains today I found some photos other people have taken. Click on the links below to see them.

abnormal... but beautiful by Judy B
Winter Wonderland by mountainhiker
IMGP4058 c by tim_flickr
Snow in Vancouver by L_Barnes
43rd Ave by rinlee

When will the dog ever figure it out?

This is a message to Bubba, these are not your chew toys!
Eating money is not a laughing matter, Bubba. it's bad enough we have to buy all your food and pay for babysitting. Do you really have to eat our money?

As it turns out Bubba, you did me a favour when you chomped on these puppies. Just the day before I was telling my co-workers how much I hate these boots and I don't even know why I bought them or even wore them, they're so completely ugly. I especially don't like the colour. They're seriously ugly, boring and uncomfortable. Good riddence!

Why the toe Bubba? And why only one side of one toe of one shoe? Did Kevin catch you in mid-chomp? How were you going to finish these off? I need to know!

This still works believe it or not. You're lucky, this time Bubba.

Who's in the doghouse?

This is Stellans latest thing, crawling into Bubba's crate with him and inviting Uncle Kevin to join the party.


Can you believe the nerve of this dog? Chewing on the insoles right in front of us! Yes, these are the insoles from the shoes/boots he chewed. He's been punished. Do you think he's getting the message? Aaargh!

Ole Hallow's Eve

CLick on picture to go to slideshow.

Lot's of fun was had by all. There were plenty of firsts on Tuesday night: my first pumpkin carving (looks good from a distance, at night), Stellan's first "tick o teat", Katherine and Brian's first trick or treat with their son. There were a couple of seconds too: my second time dressing as an ostrich jockey (the kids love it, so do I), and Bubba's second Halloween without a costume (he's too big to be Batubba this year). I'm looking for some spandex for him to wear when we go running together.

We actually ran out of candy at, not a catastrophe, we just starved the kids who their own candy. Check out the slide show to see Stellan in his Funky Chicken costume. He's never gonna live this one down. I think if he has a little brother, he'll probably use this against him at his wedding. I'm thinking of Blake burning his brother Ryan about his funky hair dos, specifically, the Vanilla Ice do, at his own wedding in front of their closest friends and family. Yup, I'm saving these pictures.

What did you have for dinner last night?

I made a pretty good-looking, Rachel Ray 30-minute Shepard's Pie last night. Since Kevin's been sick I decided I'd attempt to cook a dinner for him. It's been a long time, I'm a bit rusty but the grocery delivery helped. SPUD.ca, it's the shit! It involves some pre-planning which is hard to adjust to at first. Delivery is once a week on Thursdays so we have to know what we want for the week and order it before 9 AM Tuesday. I think it's worth going through this adjustment to not have to go to the grocery store every week. I despise grocery stores and shopping! I don't even want to start trying to explain how much I hate it cuz I'm afraid I'll waste all my blog space on this negative thing. I'd rather use SPUD. SPUD makes me happy!

Moving on... What made this dinner extra special was I used Kevin's new favourite cook, Rachel Ray's, cookbook, Comfort Foods. We first saw her on the Food Network in St. Lucia, on our hangover day when we sat and watched TV all day, guilt-free. Her methods are fabulous, the recipes need some spicing up. I was impressed with the 45-minute preparation and cooking time, not so impressed with the lack of flavour. Next time I'll add some chilis or Frank's Red Hot and more Worcestershire to the gravy.

If you don't know Rachel yet you will soon, the big news on the radio this morning was that Martha Stewart did her part to shine the limelight Rachel's way this week. It's a funny story. Martha was actually dissin' her cuz she stole her guest star and aired it the same day. Poor Martha, she's not her regular, organized self since she's been to prison and back. Rachel must be famous though, there's a "Rachel Ray Sucks Community" blog going strong. The thing that surprises me it 's 3 years old! What dedication!

I couldn't find anything online about who the guest was (I wonder if it was Barry Manilow?). If I was Martha I'd fight for him too. Anyway, I copied this bit below from a New York Daily News article for your (and my) amusement.

Two household names
Rachael Ray has been called the next Martha Stewart. But are they really that alike? We hash out the kitchen queens.
By JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ, New York Daily News

Martha Stewart
Food career start: Caterer
Philosophy in a nutshell: Aspirational - your dish-soap container should be a work of art
Signature saying: "It's a good thing!"
Cheesecake recipe: Bakes a mean raspberry-swirl cheesecake
Pictures of self in current issue: 6
Accessories: Recently ditched ankle bracelet

Rachael Ray
Food career start: Waitress
Philosophy in a nutshell: Accessible - who has time for measuring cups? Half a palmful will do
Signature saying: "Yum-O!," "Oh my gravy!"
Cheesecake recipe: Hates baking, but posed in skimpy outfits in the October 2003 issue of lad mag FHM
Pictures of self in current issue: 15
Accessories: Recently donned wedding ring

Ooops, I've run out of time. Halloween will have to wait 'til another day.

Thanksgiving flu in.

Click on photo to see the slideshow.
Katherine and Liz cooked up a great turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I wish I wasn't so sick so I could've enjoyed it more.

Me in the Benz

There you go, Uncle JD!

The other thing that happened this summer.

Click on the picture to see the full slideshow.

We had a great long weekend in the middle of August on Mudge Island with Belinda and Jude, the Tkach's. The pictures tell the story better than I'm able to in words. In a nutshell, there was drinking, swimming, fishing, more drinking, eating, sleeping, more swimming.

I think it's safe to say the highlight for all of us was when I caught the 10-pound starfish at the end of my fishing line. The hook ended up embedded in my leg and Jude and a very helpful woman surgically removed it right where I sat, there on the rocks.

Yes, there are pictures. I insisted that Kevin get the camera and document this.

Added some photos and comments

Click on photo to see updated photo album.

I added 5 photos I took from my standard 35mm film camera. It was all I had when Dad picked us up from the airport in St. Lucia, since Bubba chomped on our little digital camera like it was one of his chew toys and we had to send it to get it repaired again and it wasn't back from the shop by the time we went on our vacation. I had to take these spectacular photos. Take a look!

We have our camera back now, after almost three months in Toronto while they were waiting for parts. It's a Minolta X50, cute, compact camera. Unfortunately Minolota's camera and photo business has been taken over by Sony. This happened at the same time we sent our camera in for repairs causing a long delay for the repair company in receiving parts.

The great news is, three months later, we received what looks like a brand new camera for less than $180. Bubba only chomped on the LCD screen and the viewfinder. And we've learned a valuable lesson, from now on we're paranoid about keeping it far out if his reach. I check every single day. I wish I remembered to do the same thing with my sandals at the back door. Oh well.

More good news...

I have lots of new photos to share with everyone. Bear with me while I upload them to my computer (done), add captions (still to do), and post them for everyone to see (still to do). I have a few good photos from Ryan's wedding at the end of July and more pics from our long weekend with the Tkach's on Mudge Island in August.

Keep tuning in and thanks for the comments.

The Sunshine Isle

Click on the photo to see the slideshow.

I love St. Lucia. What's not to love about the Sunshine Isle? It's the best place to do nothing, explore, meet locals, meet tourists, eat fresh fish and tandoori, scuba dive, take a catamaran and see dolphins and sperm whales, drink Piton, and lie on the beach and swim in the sea.

Kevin and I spent two weeks there at the end of May to celebrate Kevin's 40th birthday and our 4th anniversary. If you haven't heard the surprise part of the story, check my last blog post, as they say.

We had a great holiday, the best ever, if I do say so myself! We did so much and so little at the same time. The highlight was the Rainforest Cable Ride. We were high from the exhiliration of it all for hours afterwards. Amazing! I was also mesmerized by the abundant food-bearing trees everywhere, especially in my Dad's backyard. He had an avocado, an almond, a couple of coconut and two mango trees.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I'm planning on adding captions to the Photo Album over the next couple of weeks so check back every once in a while to catch up. Also they seem to have uploaded in no particular order so I'll do my best to reorganize them when I add the captions.

Happy Photo Gawking!

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Click on the photo to see the slideshow.

Lordy, lordy Kevin's fordy! And boy, was he surprised. Not that he turned forty this year, he knew that was happening, believe me, HE KNEW!

It was the gathering at the hockey rink after his game on Good Friday that surprised him. He was not expecting Murray and Cheryl, the boss and the boss's wife; his good friend Rick and his family, Fiona, Riley and Hayden; Katherine, Brian and Stellan, his sister and brother-in-law and nephew; Liz, his mother-in-law; Chris, well he was expecting Chris but not his wife Nancy; Krista, Kyle and Kylie, and Janelle, his nieces and nephews; Belinda and Jude, his good friends; and Jamie and Jewel from work. (If I've forgetten someone, I apologize.) There's photos from that night and I'll upload them as soon as I find them. Thanks to all who were able make it to surprise Kevin! He was thoroughly caught off guard and ecstatic everyone showed up.

But that's not it! In front of all those people, a slideshow was played displaying Kevin's best moments caught on film, of course, during the last 40 years. He really was the epitome of fashion, especially in the 80's! If I hadn't scanned and taken some of these photos myself I'd think "that can't be the same person" in each one. Take a look at the slideshow. I'm disappointed that I'm not able to add the music to the online slideshow. Just imagine "I want candy" from the Napolean Dynamite soundtrack playing in the background.

To continue with the short story made long by my rambling, that wasn't even the last of it. To top it all off I handed Kevin an envelope with a travel itinerary in it. He was also surprised with 2 weeks in St. Lucia with his lovely, beautiful and thoughtful wife, yours truly. We've just returned from said holiday and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Keep looking for the latest update. I promise the updates will be more frequent in the future.