TGIF

Hey Friday,

Where ya been?  I sure have missed you.

Plans for the weekend include:
- redoing my workout playlists [thanks iPod >:(  ]


Whatever your plans... enjoy!

Love, and Cupcakes, Me

Tuesday's child is full of grace...

 

He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell Tuesday, even if he doesn't spell it right.
 ~A. A. Milne quotes (English Humorist, creator of Winnie-the-Pooh, 1882-1956)
 

photo credit: S. Gabriel

Happy Family Day!

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

~Erma Bombeck

Happy Family Day*

* For those outside of certain Canadian Provinces – yes, that is a real holiday, apparently we "needed" a break so they threw one in.

I'm not complainng mind you, especially since work threw in an extra day! I get a 4 Day Weekend! Huzzah! Hallelujah! The laundry might actually get done. Ahahahaha no, just kidding!

Our plans are weather dependant – if it is a blustery feels like -27C (that’s a balmy -17F for you USAers) we’ll probably opt for indoor activities like eating, drinking, and arguing about music and politics. If it’s warmer we’ll venture out into the snow - maybe look for animal tracks in the woods.

The deer were pretty active last night; we’ve got little hoofy prints everywhere! Did either my ferocious were-beast, or vicious couch-cougar, alert me to their presence? No, no they did not, however they did make sure I got up in time for breakfast (no they did not start the coffee…)

To whoever invented fantasy, redwood trees, and apple pie for breakfast: well done.

~Dr. SunWolf

Go enjoy you day!

A Cautionary Tale

The liquor was spilled on the barroom floor
And the bar was closed for the night.
The little mouse crept from his hole in the wall
Into the pale moonlight.

He lapped up the liquor on the barroom floor
And back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long, you could hear him scream
"Bring on that goddamn cat!"
~ Author Unknown

Be careful out there tonight kids!

Half-Priced Chocolate Day

Happy Half-Priced Chocolate Day! (also Friday!)

I got turfed out of the house yesterday and forced to go to the gym as I’d become “intolerable” – “better you be bitching about being in pain than just plain bitching” – tis true! I admit it – I hate being inactive; especially mandatory inactivity*. My foot has healed well-enough that I am no longer inclined to listen to medical advice. I do promise to go slow so that my doc won’t smack me upside the head and give me that lecture again.

In other news:
The government continues to piss me off with its Big Brother-like antics and Big Corporate Donors before the Environment attitude.
I still hate Excel 2010
Not much else to report. (Thankfully!)


* I suffer from basic orneriness syndrome (BOS); I don’t do well with being told to do things (or not do things as the case in point). Tragically, this is a hereditary condition inherited by me kidlets. That, or my mother’s curse of “May you have 10 children just like you” came to partial fruition.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day

I'm not a fan of this manipulative commercial guilt-driven holiday.  If you love someone, tell them everyday.

Instead of romance how about we "love" everyone, or if "love" is too hard, lets just not hate.

Give a thought to your heart as well... February is Heart Health Month.  Get off the couch, get off the internet, go out and do something health for your heart! ... and while you're at it - Eat a vegetable or two.

Keep your heart healthy: Canada Heart and Stroke Foundation



Photo credit: http://wallpaperswide.com/heart_in_snow-wallpapers.html

Lady in waiting

I don’t know what it is about February; perhaps I’ve had enough of winter. Cabin fever? I want to go! Go! Go! Go! But I feel as though there is something holding me back. If I could identify what that something was I’d shake it off and be gone, but it remains elusive; just beyond my conscious efforts to identify it.

It’s a time of year where I’m feeling a certain ennui . Discontent. Languor. Worldweariness.

Friends pop off to southern climes for all-inclusive luxury vacations – am I jealous? Not really. The kind of beaches I like are the deserted fall and winter beaches devoid of sun-worshipers and noise. I prefer to be alone with the sea birds and the surf.

Gardening catalogs have started arriving – Every year I promise myself that this is the year that I’ll start that garden, but I never do. My thumb is not as green as my soul.

New spring clothes have begun arriving in the shops, but we are months away from sleeveless blouse and capris weather; now is the time of wet boots and mud.

Deer tracks are everywhere and the coyote tracks are never far either. The great horned owls can be heard in the woods.

And I am waiting for some kind of a start signal.

Looking

Looking behind I am filled with gratitude. Looking forward I am filled with vision. Looking upwards I am filled with strength. Looking within I discover peace.

~Quero Apache Prayer

We have come to be danced

We have come to be danced
Not the pretty dance
Not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
But the claw our way back into the belly
Of the sacred, sensual animal dance
The unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
The holding the precious moment in the palms
Of our hands and feet dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance
But the wring the sadness from our skin dance
The blow the chip off our shoulder dance.
The slap the apology from our posture dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the monkey see, monkey do dance
One two dance like you
One two three, dance like me dance
but the grave robber, tomb stalker
Tearing scabs and scars open dance
The rub the rhythm raw against our soul dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the nice, invisible, self-conscious shuffle
But the matted hair flying, voodoo mama
Shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance
The strip us from our casings, return our wings
Sharpen our claws and tongues dance
The shed dead cells and slip into
The luminous skin of love dance.

We have come to be danced
Not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance
But the meeting of the trinity, the body breath and beat dance
The shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
The mother may I?
Yes you may take 10 giant leaps dance
The olly olly oxen free free free dance
The everyone can come to our heaven dance.

We have come to be danced
Where the kingdom’s collide
In the cathedral of flesh
To burn back into the light
To unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
To root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced

WE HAVE COME.


by Jewel Mathieson

Photo credit: NASA (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16682)

Fix it...

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.

~Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

David Suzuki Foundation: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
Green Ideas Network: http://www.greenideasnetwork.org/
Ontario Foodland: http://www.foodland.gov.on.ca/english/index.html (buy local!)
Chooseveg.ca: http://www.chooseveg.ca/animal-organizations-canada.asp

start. please.

Snow. We haz it.

The snow. It fell. Like it does in winter, in Canada.
As the blizzard hit in the morning and was predicted to worsen all day  => =>   Snow Day!

We broke records for a single day snow fall, and we got the most snow in Ontario (or Southern Ontario - news happened pre-coffee)
We didn't lose power - Yay!
They've plowed our street - *lifting jaw up off the floor*
We've dug out ... and the sun is shining.

http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-destructive-canada-oil-sands-2012-10?op=1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/06/tunnel-solar-belgium-rail

I know which I'd prefer.

Be content to progress in slow steps until you have legs to run and wings with which to fly.

~Padre Pio

oops!
Happy New Year!
Happy Groundhog Day! (has anyone ever caught on to the fact that it'll be Spring in 6 weeks anyways? hmm? No? Okay)
Happy Imbolc!
and happy a-couple-of-full-moons

I think I'm caught up now...

Santa's Headaches

Dear Santa,  
How are you? How is Mrs. Claus? I hope everyone, from the reindeer to the elves, is fine. I have been a very good boy this year. I would like an X-Box 360 with Call of Duty IV and an iPhone 5 for Christmas. I hope you remember that come Christmas Day.  
Merry Christmas,  
Timmy Jones
 

Dear Timmy,  
Thank you for your letter. Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and the elves are all fine and thank you for asking about them. Santa is a little worried all the time you spend playing video games and texting. Santa wouldn't want you to get fat. Since you have indeed been a good boy, I think I'll bring you something you can go outside and play with.  
Merry Christmas,  
Santa Claus




Mr. Claus,  
Seeing that I have fulfilled the "naughty vs. nice" contract, set by you I might add, I feel confident that you can see your way clear to granting me what I have asked for. I certainly wouldn't want to turn this joyous season into one of litigation. Also, don't you think that a jibe at my weight coming from an overweight man who goes out once a year is a bit trite?  
Respectfully,  
Tim Jones
 
 
Mr. Jones,  
While I have acknowledged you have met the "nice" criteria, need I remind you that your Christmas list is a request and in no way is it a guarantee of services provided. Should you wish to pursue legal action, well that is your right. Please know, however, that my attorneys have been on retainer ever since the Burgermeister Meisterburger incident and will be more than happy to take you on in open court. Additionally, the exercise I alluded to will not only improve your health, but also improve your social skills and potentially help clear up a complexion that looks like the bottom of the Burger King fry bin most days.  
Very Truly Yours,  
S Claus
 

Now look here Fat Man,  
I told you what I want and I expect you to bring it. I was attempting to be polite about this but you brought my looks and my friends into this. Now you just be disrespecting me. I'm about to tweet my boys and we're gonna be waiting for your fat ass and I'm taking my game console, my game, my phone, and whatever else I want. WHAT EVER I WANT, MAN!  
T-Bone
 
 
Listen Pizza Face,  
Seriously??? You think a dude that breaks into every house in the world on one night and never gets caught sweats a skinny g-banger wannabe? "He sees you when you're sleeping; He knows when you're awake". Sound familiar, genius? You know what kind of resources I have at my disposal. I got your shit wired, Jack. I go all around the world and see ways to hurt people that if I described them right now, you'd throw up your Totino's pizza roll all over the carpet of your mom's basement. You're not getting what you asked for, but I'm still stopping by your crib to stomp a mud hole in your ass and then walk it dry. Chew on that, Petunia.  
S Clizzy
 

Dear Santa,  
Bring me whatever you see fit. I'll appreciate anything.  
Timmy

 
Timmy,  
That's what I thought you little bastard.  
Santa

This seems to fit the times...

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

The Talmud

Zooooommmm...

Wow.
I haven't updated since June?
Life got busy.
Perhaps I'll rectify the situation soon.

As you were.

Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

~Unknown

* To those who have died in war and conflict - Blessed Be

* To those who strive for peace - Brightest Blessings


Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... you whooo

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
-John Lennon

Hanging in...

I prayed for change, so I changed my mind.
I prayed for guidance and learned to trust myself.
I prayed for happiness and realized I am not my ego.
I prayed for peace and learned to accept others unconditionally.
I prayed for abundance and realized my doubt kept it out.
I prayed for wealth and realized it is my health.
I prayed for a miracle and realized I am the miracle.
I prayed for a soul mate and realized I am the One.
I prayed for love and realized it’s always knocking,
but I have to allow it in.
- Jackson Kiddard

To Do (with diabolical music playing as background)

Step 1: Go someplace public with your laptop.
Step 2: Click HERE
Step 3: Press f11
Step 4: Start typing frantically.
Step 5: Make sure other people see your screen.
Step 6: ???????
Step 7: Enjoy!

It pays to check your SPAM filter!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

It pays to check your SPAM every now and then…

Got an email from the FBI!!!!  

Hello, I am *insert phony name* The THIRD and I am the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FBI. It is true I would not lie to you!

The email went on to name drop a half dozen official sounding USA organizations and Interpol and the bank of Nigeria.

It then told me only to respond to this email and everyone in all organizations will disavow all knowledge of this operation as it is secret – they are trying to trap a criminal and must secretly monitor and wiretap my accounts and phone so if wouldn’t mind to please confirm my name SS# bank account mother maiden name…. Yaddayaddayadda… failure to do so is punishable by LAW. THE ARMY will ARREST YOU!

 Ummm okay sport. BRING IT! LOL

I have a problem! Someone schedule an intervention – I compulsively collect recipes. I have a billion pdfs on my computer, and my allrecipes.com box is fast filling up, and on Pinterest… *sigh*

However, it did pay off…

Buy a box of sugar cones; fill them with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, caramels, mini-marshmallows, nuts, and anything else you want to fit in.

Then, either:

1) Heat the oven to 375 -400F and prop the filled cones up in something that props them somewhat vertical (I used a small loaf pan). Basically you don’t want the melting goo to spill out. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

2) Wrap in foil and stick in a camp fire. (Can’t vouch for this method as I didn’t have a campfire handy)

Eat and enjoy.