Time well wasted... maybe

I have started wasting a lot of time at the following lovely sites:

The Awesomer
Cake Wreck
Fail Blog etc.
Not Always Right
Overheard in New York etc.
Post Secret (only updated once a week)

Have fun wasting time and feel free to suggest other time wasters and I will add to the list.

Only in the Valley

G'Day! That's hello in valley speak.

Since moving to the valley I have experienced many different feelings including, pure joy, hatred, rock bottom sadness, confusion, excitment. This place some days makes me so greatful to be alive and other days it leaves me asking why? why? why would anyone live here.

Well some of the best things that has come from here for me is the experiences and the contacts. In no other place would I have these opportunities.

So back to only in the valley. The other day my friend and her college misplaced the name and number for a lady who had requested a group to go out and address a problem with a native rodent. I offered my help in locating this person on the basis that she lived near one of two towns, had a specific accent and owned property where this rodent may live. I made one phone call to a friend that lives near both of these towns and she said "oh, I bet that is ...." Only in the valley would someone identify someone by just those criteria.

I wonder if...

i write more posts if I will move up the list on of my friends links to their favouirte blogs?

The winter of Hibernation

This winter was long, beautiful, frustrating, back breaking, renewing and many other emoitions. By the end of it I wanted to curl up and emerge when the sun was warm and the snow was gone.

About two months ago I was driving past a local school (very very slowly as all the roads up here are horrible, you could loose your car in it horrible) and someone had put on the sign out front "Smile, Spring is Coming". I can't tell you how many times I drove past that school very slowly contiplating stopping, walking in the school and yelling at them "Do you see the storm we are having we are getting 3 feet of snow today, What makes you think in your right mind that spring is actually coming, and that I want to be reminded that spring is coming when yet again that it is the middle of March and we are getting a huge snow storm!"

polar opposite cows...

today the cow leila pushed me and crushed me against a door frame and continued to head butt me for the food i was carrying for her. then not ten minutes later the cow pay (i didn't name her i swear) decided to like my hair.. she loves me.

eggs, eggs, i love eggs!

one of my jobs this summer is collecting eggs from our lovely organic free range chickens. i do feel bad taking these eggs from the chickens as they think they are their babies, but really we don't have a rooster so they aren't babies they are just egss. the chickens have been known to attack me while collecting egss like flying at me and clawing at my back or my faviourite running at me full tilt and then head butting me in the leg.

collecting egss is a easy job and sometimes interesting. as you may know most eggs will look like the following.

well every once and awhile i find an interesting egg one that doesn't look like the others, one that doesn't belong just like on sesame street, it looks something like this:

on a sad note i fear that one of the chicken's will be laying scrambled eggs today as it was stepped on last night by one of our cows that was overly excited to get into the barn to get some yummy grain.

one to go down in history

the other day i was hanging out with a couple new friends and we decided to go swimming. unfortunately we were 30min from my home and i didn't have a swim suit with me and neither did one of the other girls. so we headed to a local store that carried cheap bathing suits. since it is the middle of summer you would bet there was slim pickings and you would be right. the only one piece bathing suits were in a size so small that my ankle would fit through the leg hole and then it would stop because my calf would be to big for the opening, so i had to chose the dreaded bikini!

now this was a location with a selection of mix and match combo to choose from, but for some reason there were many more bottoms than tops. i so i grabbed two different sets of bottoms and tops and headed for the change rooms. and this is where the magic moment occured never to be repeated again.

i picked the first suit up and tried it on (over my undergarments as the 5 sings on the changing room walls said i had to do) and guess what..... IT FIT!!!!
ok just take a moment and let that sink in. i went bathing suit shopping and the first suit i tried on fit and looked good.

so i immediately put my clothes back on and exited the change room and now i call my new swim suit my magic suit. i will keep it forever!

and today i made...

butter! i made butter! i didn't realize just how easy it was to make butter. you just put cream in a jar, close the lid and shake, and shake and shake. then you squeeze out all the left over butter milk and your done! oh the things you learn. i also made yogurt today, well its still making but i'm sure it will be done soon... i hope its good!
just so you know, i also made strawberry rhubarb jam, strawberry rhubarb pie, and i need glasses, all in one day!

farmer in the dell!

there is a possibility that i will be a farmer for the summer! yeah! organic farming with chickens and cows here we come. i will know for sure later this week..... mmmm smelling like farm. i think my husband may divorce me!

100th post yeah!

i'm scared, i planted my garden, and now its cold and rainy. i cared for those plants for so long and now they may suffer! oh my, i'm a wreck... maybe the sun will come out soon! on the plus side i haven't had to drage the watering can up and down the stairs to water the garden in two days, that's good!

local #6

i discovered a new local today, he lives two doors over. i'm going to call him bath robe guy, because that is all he wears. he wears it to put out the garbage, he wears it to bring in the garbage cans, he wears it when he is fixing his car on the road infront of his house, he pretty much wears it all the time. ah bath robe guy, why can't we all be as fearless as you?


an interesting fact... if you live in an apartment above a garage you can not store any gas in that garage even if it is in vehicle. in other words we can not store our car in our garage because we live above the garage. i learned this after realizing that my neighbour was syphoning the gas out of his ski-doo that he keeps in the garage to commute to school in the winter. yep we live in a hick town.

the non-locals... and then the locals

i spent two lovely weeks in my new town without knowing a soul other than my husband, oh and two friends from previous schooling which i haven't been in contact with. these two weeks were lovely, walking down the street and no one having a clue who you were, i could wear my pj's, pick my nose, talk to myself, and it wouldn't matter as no one would know who i am. but this all changed last weekend.

on the occasion a one of my husbands co-worker's wives birthday we were invited out for an evening of mingling, where i met 3 locals and 2 non locals. it was a great evening of video games and mc craps. since this day we have built a friendship of the nonlocals and even had a board game night last night (boi we played settlers!), which included another non local. so chalk that up to 3 local, and 3 nonlocal friends!

i must say its great to hang out with nonlocals as (no offence to the local friends - they are normal) most locals are a little crazie up here. but let me introduce you to some of the locals.

local #1: i was a little confused the first time i met this local i thought he was paying for something but no he was making the cashiers at the grocery store count his money. apparently he goes from store to store having people count his money for him. and the legend goes that he makes thousands of dollars a year picking up change off the street..... i sense a new career.

i haven't had the pleasure of meeting any of the rest of these locals but i can't wait until i do

local #2: this local lives a tim hortons. you will know it is him when he starts patting your hair. apparently harmless but he just likes hair. he sits a tim's all day talking away to any one who will talk to him, and apparently he is a local favourite, surviving on cookies, and doughnuts handed to him all day long.

local #3: in this lovely town it isn't suggest that you go around clapping. there is a local that will attack you if you clap at him. i'm a little skeptical of this local being true but as a precaution i will not be seen clapping though the streets!

local #4: apparently this local hates metal boxes, which include mail boxes, hydro boxes etc... he has been seen attacking such boxes as he walks down the street. i totally get his frustration, they are ugly and they just seem to be sitting there!

and last but not least....
local #5: beware as you walk through the street late at night in this town as an older man may follow you. but do not fear he won't hurt you. he has been known to follow you and then let of a fire cracker when you least expect it scaring the bajeebers out of you!

ahhh... this is a colourful town, i won't get bored around here. all the locals names have been withheld because i don't remember them, but feel free to name them as you will.

moved and how i became retired

well, some of you will know that i have picked up and moved, far far away. i've moved to this small little town called pembroke, well its not so small about the size of burg but less stuff in it. and how is that possible some of you may ask, well believe me i was surprised too, and get this it takes over an hour and a half to get to the next city that would have everything you needed, no driving to shwa, or the petes.

so my first two weeks here have been pretty quiet. not much going on except unpacking. i've come to the realization that if you don't want to unpack you can just reorganize the boxes and it looks like you have made progress. it took me over four days to unpack the kitchen alone! i'm anal about making sure all new products, and products that have been boxed in basements are washed before using. i don't even know how many dishes i washed.

its been great fun finally seeing all my (i mean our) wedding presents. it was like christmas all over again. thanks to all of you who helped with that!

i would also like to thank those who helped with donations to our new apartment. we started out with no appliances and now we have a fridge, stove, washer and dryer.... and best of all a pull-out couch!

so here's the real hiccup. so far i have no friends up here (well that's not true i have two friends from university and college, i should call them). but i know what your thinking what no friends? how could this happen to manda? well its true, its hard to walk up to someone on the street and say "hey you look nice, do you want to be my friend?". imagine doing that... they would think that i'm a little creepy. although i did almost have a friend the other day, he was nice, but i don't think he would fun to hang out with and do fun things. and this is the story of how we met. i think if i did that i would be part of my new game i made up, which i won't tell you about for fear of being harassed for the unpolitical correctness of the rules but boi you know what i'm talking about.

i was walking through wal-mart (that's right, i have to shop at wal-mart up here, there is harldy any other place that i have discovered that has things i need) and i wanted to get down this aisle but there was this elderly lady in my way with her husband in tow. now how did i know she was elderly, besides the fact that she was wrinkled? it was her sun glasses. she had those great glasses that attach to your sunglasses that flip-up, you know the ones grandma's every where sport them. well i kindly waited for her to finish snapping at her husband and for them to move out of my way. and then grandpa (that's his new name) turns and see me and asks kindly "were you waiting for me to move?" and i reply "no, worries, i have all the time in the world." (which is true, did you know as a house wife there isn't a real schedule, you don't work 9-5, you may work 6-8 then 9-5 and then 5:03-6:48 (dinner time) and then sporadically throughout the evening as your husband tells you the things you forgot to do that day (i.e. wash the floors, doing his dishes) well you get the point... and so i usually take my time when i'm out in the community, to really slow down and enjoy life) right back to the story, so that was it for my encounters with them in wal-mart.

scene change. now i am shopping in food basics (quality food at low prices!) and i notice the same couple (only in a small town can you choose the exact same stores to shop at randomly, i would like to see that happen in toronto). so grandma is leading grandpa around telling him what to put in and what to do (i sense grandma is a little frustrated with grandpa). i nod a grandpa in acknowledgment and he nods back. when i was done my shopping i get into the shortest line which happens to be behind my new grandparents. well, grandma is getting frustrated even more with grandpa as he is using the wrong box to box their groceries and that he is taking to long and that he is in my way. to which grandpa cooling responded to her "don't worry, that young lady is retired too." and i began to laugh, and think he gets me he so gets me, i wonder if we could be friends? but sensing grandma's possible problem with me asking if i could be friends with them or if they would adopt me as their granddaughter (which i thought of doing) i just laughed and said goodbye.

oh the stories i have to tell about my new home town, and hopefully i will tell you them right here. but i must go and work as a house wife (which has so many fun stories all of its own). but if i know you personally, you will have to come and visit us in our new apartment, (warning you may have many boxes in your room, unless i reorganize them) and if i don't know you personally, sorry you can't visit, it would be weird and a little scary.

ello there

hey, so i started school again. it felt like the i started from the beginning, i have no friends. but not to fear, i'm starting to make new friends again, and starting to hang out with my old friends. but no fear ma shef, i'm not limiting my friend intake at the moment, but if it starts to get out of hand i will for sure.

i'm taking a great course call environmental issues, and its a general elective. but we finally have a course where we get to say what we think about the issues with the environment. yeah! like that global warming is a bunch of crap, but climate change is real, but climate change isn't anything new, its been changing for years, its just we are finally paying attention to it. i'm very excited to be learning agian, and to have a purpose besides go to gym, go to work. by the way i'm liking the whole not working thing, its great!

and the hiccups run wild

so, i know i haven't posted in like forever so here's a new one for you, if you even look here anymore.

so the hiccups have gone wild. there is 13 days until my wedding and i can't contain them, i counted at least 4 in one hour today. so my advice to anyone who is thinking about getting married ever, just run away, don't have a big wedding. just don't do it, its so much work. so some of you may know that after the wedding trav and i will be moving in with trav's parents, now this sounds like fun.

now i know some of you are thinking, so what living with the inlaws no big deal, well its not that bad really but... and there is a some butts. dogs, dogs are everywhere. well i'll tell you the truth there are only two dogs, but they lie everywhere, on my bed on everyone's bed, on the couch, i can't get away from dog hair. and not only that but the cat eats on the dining room table. we don't even eat at a table, just on the couch in front of the tv, but the cat gets to eat at the good table. so the next couple months should be fun getting use to the new living arrangements, and i will try to keep you updated.

later

to the anonymous commentor...

i just discovered your comments about cures for hiccups... and you are getting through to people. if you would like to share your cure please just post it in the comment section and i will pass it on to others. who are you anyways and where are you from? as many other people will tell you about my site i don't update it enough, just ask the baa (bloggers against abandonment) they have made a complaint about my lack of blogging, as have many of my friends.

so here's an update. i just started my new job at the forest center and i'm now officially the grunt, doing all the tasks that no one else wants to do... but with this comes no responsibility... yeah! my frist day of work i was sent to clean the backrooms. now please keep in mind these buildings are really old and are falling apart and are located in the middle of the forest. so i was told to clean and organize and get rid of the mouse poop. so i set off to accomplish this task. i went to the back room and moved a couple things and much to my surprise i found a snake! now snakes don't scare me but i don't like to pick them up unless i know they won't bite me. so my friend came to my rescue and got rid of the big snake. i found out later that another co-worker had seen that snake that morning and knew i was going to be cleaning there and just forgot to tell me.... yeah right! so that's my new job.

and to all those out there getting married or ever getting married.... elope, just do it, elope, wedding planning is too much hassel!

and...... i'm back

so its been like forever since i bloged and for this i'm sorry. (many excuses inserted here.) i'll try to keep it up a little better this summer but no promises.

so for those of you who don't know... i'm getting married. there now its official cause its on my blog.

safety first... take if from me.

so since my teachers on strike i've had more time to enjoy the finer things in life. so today i decided to have a couple friends over for dinner. i was very excited we were having roast beef, carrots, green and yellow beans, asparagus and for some extra flair yorksire puddings. now i have made this yorksire puddings before and feel confident in my abilty to make them for my friends. these two friends have never had them before so i was giving them a little lesson.

but true to form when you get cocky and start to teach someone something it all goes wrong, and horribly wrong it went. when making these puddings you have to heat oil in muffin tins to start the process. that went fine, i took them out of the oven after a couple minutes and placed it on top of the stove. two of the muffin holes were smoking a bit but nothing to worry about. but then they started to really smoke which was weird cause they were cooling down. and then the smoke really turned to black smoke and i went to open the window and when i turned back there were flames! to which one of my friend commented in how they didn't realize that's how grease fires started. well i'm really confused and a little scared cause this shouldn't be happening. but i grabed a pot lid and smothered the fired... for a minute and then the flames start up again. then boi was like try baking soda, well i found the soda but the flames were really going so i grabed the extinguisher and boi smartly moved the other food so it wouldn't be ruined and my other friend opened windows. well i pulled the pin aimed at the fire and pulled the trigger and nothing. my extinguisher was dead.

oh my. so with that boi finds a large pan and puts that on it which works like a charm. but i'm still confused why the fire was still going, the grease was cooling down or should have. and then i looked under the muffin tin, and i realise that i had put the muffin tin on a burner and i had accidently turned on the wrong burner earlier and i hadn't been cooking the carrots like i thought i was. so we aired out the apartment and enjoyed our fine meal, without the puddings.

so next week i'm off to buy a fire alarm since with all this smoke no alarm went off anywhere and i'm a firm believer in safety first... and don't worry i have a new extinguisher in my apartment that is fully charged and the other one is on its way to be recharged... and for future reference no cooking with oil will be done by me ever again.

and its over...

i'm at a lost for words. i don't know what to do with myself. what am i going to do? its over... its really over. i just finished watching my last episode of friends. they've been with me for the last 3 months daily and now i've seen them all now. what am i going to do? oh my.

and today a hello goes to...

i would just like to take a moment to send a hello to that person who comes to my site regularly from california. i'm a little jealous that you get to live in california as today i had to spend vast amounts of time outside. now don't get me wrong i love spending time outside, it was just sad cause it was -8C which is like 17.6F. now this isn't really bad and i did have appropriate clothes for this weather. the problem was in the fact that i didn't have snow shoes. the snow was a couple inchs deep and hard to move around in. so today i would have loved not to have snow for easy walking. but i must tell you that the snow in the red pine stand was absolutely beautiful. i loved it! and i got to make a snow angel which was also fun.

so bascially i wanted to say hi to that person or people from california so "hi!".