Happy Easter to YOU!!

I made a few more Easter Egg Cozies. First, a traditional bunny in lavender:

And next a Viking Helmet. For the Crusades, or should I say "crus-eggs"? yuk yuk

When we were kids, my dad told us about a game that he played on Easter. Before you could eat your hardboiled egg, one person would challenge another to a duel and then they'd bash the eggs together. The broken egg was the loser and you would continue on peeling your egg and then eat it. This Viking Helmet reminds me of that game. Let the battle begin!!!

The Death of the Christmas Card.

A couple of months ago Canada Post raised the letter rate to $0.85 ($1 for a single stamp) for domestic letters which caused many people to grumble about mail, and many vowed that they didn't need to send letters anymore. Yes, Canada has one of the most expensive postal systems in the World.


We don't have much family and don't know a lot of people so we often didn't get that many cards - but this year it's really sad. The very first card we received was addressed to "Pizza Lover" and was from our local Panago Pizza. About two weeks later, the second card arrived - from our vet. (Does it all make sense now? )


Sad.


So Sad.


December 19th and two Christmas cards. Even though I mailed about 15 cards, I didn't get any back. It almost feels like Valentine's Day in elementary school (before they started to dictate that every kid must receive a card).


 I thought maybe they'd become a status symbol -you know,  because the cards cost money and the stamps were expensive only those with money could afford to send them, then they'd become trendy again. No?


I guess not - or not yet.


What's your Christmas Card inventory? Is this a trend everywhere, or is it just me?

What I am thankful for

I'm cooking our Thanksgiving dinner today because we have a bunch of other things happening tomorrow. But true to my body, I woke up sick. It's not a surprise to me at all since there were many Christmases and Easters where I was in bed sick. Or I would get sick as soon as exams were over - that's how I missed my high school graduation party: I got all dressed up, went to the dinner and by the end of dinner I was sick. A teacher came into the bathroom and looked at me in disgust and said something to the effect of  "that's what you get for drinking so much". I guess she could say that since I was technically no longer a student and I'm sure it was the reason why many other kids were puking that night. But I hadn't had a drink. I had the flu. I spent the next 24 hours answering the phone from my friends calling to tell me about each fabulous party they were at, and wondering if I was better and if I could join them. I was home, sick in bed for at least 3 days.

It's not like being sick was on my mind - please don't tell me that through the law of attraction I brought this on. I haven't been sick in at least two years. Not even a cold. I'm not going to complain about being sick because I've dodged the sick bullets for a while.  I am just not surprised that in the middle of our Thanksgiving weekend that I am sick.

Still I have already walked the dog, made and baked the pumpkin pies. I just don't feeling like doing much else. I am thankful that we do not have a house full of people and I am thankful that I do not have to go to someone else's house. I am thankful we have a ham instead of a turkey and I am thankful that because it's only the three of us, I don't have to spend hours and hours in the kitchen (maybe two for dinner). I am thankful that I have tomorrow off and fully expect to feel better tomorrow. I am thankful it's s sunny day and I am thankful I am indoors and can rest in my comfy bed, which is where I'm going to go for the next couple of hours, with some yarn and knitting needles in my hands (of course).

How about you, what are your Sunday plans? 

Adventures in Asian Cuisine

Jp and I took a little trip to Richmond to visit the Japanese Dollar store called Daiso because I needed to get something from there that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. It's a little over an hour to drive there and so we decided to enjoy the food court in the mall, Aberdeen Center.  This area has a large population of Asian people and there are many 'authentic' restaurants to choose from. Many store signs in this area are written in Chinese or Korean (or other) languages and is almost like a very large "chinatown' that is common is many large cities.

At the food court I decided to try a rice dish with beef  and Jp tried a bowl of congee (it's like a rice porridge). He had heard people refer to congee many times as comfort food.

Unfortunately my dish came with the parts of beef I don't like to eat - tripe, lung, liver etc. And Jp's bowl of  congee tasted like a big bowl of wall paper paste - we have no idea how that can be comfort food for anyone. Usually we are pretty open to new foods and do like a wide range of food but I suppose  this was just too "authentic" for us. I had to throw my bowl  away and bought a bowl of lemongrass chicken soup from the Vietnamese restaurant which was absolutely yummy.  We were both disappointed  that we chose so badly on the Chinese foods.

We did have a successful shopping trip at Daiso and then went home to have some good old fashioned American hot dogs - that's our comfort food.

Photo credit: congee

PSA - How to Give CPR

This should help anyone remember how to do CPR:

Merry Christmas to you

Hope you're having a wonderful day and hope you spend it exactly the way you want it. So many people torture themselves (unless they secretly like it, but just want to complain) by filling their days with family commitments. I've heard many say they wished they could spend the day by themselves  - although to me that's pretty much what most of us do everyday and shouldn't Christmas be different?

For the past couple of years I've struggled with the Christmas season because it has changed so much from what I knew growing up. While contemplating this during a dog walk, I realized similar to the first rule of Fight Club,  my Christmas Tradition is no tradition (or non-traditional). You see my family doesn't live near me and Christmas traveling isn't always possible, and Jp's family always goes to their in-laws,  The Kid is always at his mom's for Christmas and Jp's not much of a Christmas guy.  This means that without those traditions, I have to find a way to make it meaningful and memorable on my own. I guess you wouldn't really be surprised to know that right now besides typing on my computer,  I'm doing the laundry because 1) it needs to be finished and 2) I don't know what else I'm supposed to be doing on Christmas morning. And later today I'll roast a chicken since a whole turkey is too big for us and I wanted more than just turkey breast this year.

I know not everyone celebrates (if they even celebrate at all) the way TV or the movies show it happening, at least I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen that way. How do you spend your Christmas day?

And now for some Trivia:

The first recorded celebration of this now biggest Christian holiday took place in Rome, Italy, in 336 A.D. The first Christ Mass was officiated by Pope Sixtus III in 435. The first three states to declare December 25 a legal holiday were Southern states: Louisiana (1831), Arkansas (1831) and Alabama (1836). Six other states would follow and by 1870, Christmas was declared a U.S. Federal holiday.

Hippopotamuseseseseseses + Christmas

Since the beginning of the week I switched to an internet radio station that plays Christmas songs so I can get in the Christmas mood at work. They are playing a really good range from pop to classic to country to cutesy songs. 

This is one of my all time favourite Christmas songs. The one that always brings up my mood and usually makes me stop and sing along for just one song: 

Do you like it too? What's your favourite Christmas song?