Summer is back

Hah! I was going to try not to comment on the weather but I just can't do it. It's above zero and I've just been sitting out on the back porch with only a hoodie on. Well, and pants. I am so happy. Dance, dance, dance. The rest of the evening I've spent working on a digital Christmas album I'm putting together, based on Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand class. I've taken the photos based on her prompts and will transfer all of her carefully chosen quotes to my pages, but I've done 31 digital pages, with digital Christmas elements in bright non-traditonal colours. I can't help myself, I can never just follow directions. I SHOULD be doing other Christmas-related secret stuff, but I didn't. I did freeze the leftover roast ham and sweet potato-cheese casserole from yesterday's party and made ham stock for lentils and pea soup. That's the plan tomorrow night, making food. I'll have to stay away from the computer. We'll see.
If I can.

Maybe I should call this my weather complaint blog

I'm not complaining today, the weather is balmy, about 10 below. That's how I could go out taking pics, Had to wait till skin would not freeze in a few seconds, as it's a ways to walk to the bird sanctuary. Very peaceful though. I saw a deer walking across the ice. Nice.
The temperature has increased 31 dgrees in the last 24-hours in Lethbridge. Only up 17 here. But hey 17 is 17. Maybe I can not wear my fleece hoodie under my full length winter coat. This is exciting. Everyone's mood has lifted.

I'm going to sleep without socks tonight. If that doesn't tell you I'm a rebel, you're just not paying attention.

It's warmed up

to the point that I could go out shooting at the Bird Sanctuary today. With my camera, not a gun. I like ducks. I like everything about them. Look at all these ducks! And look at the one coming in for a landing in the midst of them. They don't even move out of the way. They don't blink. It's like "Yeah, hey, watch the suit, Whatever, hi Bob"

I'm OK now

Alright, after a good night's sleep with the furnace cranked way up, I'm back in the Xmas mood. I'm done with my hissy fit. This one, at least. I have been trying all morning to convince myself to go outside to the store for some ingredients for a Potluck I'm going to tomorrow night. I have a ham to cook today, for another potluck on Tuesday, but I need a few things. Racking my brain as to what is in the freezer and if I can get away with picking up some store-bought something-or-other tomorrow before work. Naah, that would be wrong. I suppose I'd better get dressed. Expect me to be crabby when I return. :-)

It is so friggin cold!!!!

OK, minus 36. That's just Stupid Cold. And speaking of stupid, I went Xmas shopping AT THE MALLS today. I must have lost my mind. I never go Christmas shopping in December. But I did today. Go ahead, ask me how far away I had to park and ask me if my jeans froze to my legs as I trudged towards my destination! Yes, they did! note to self. Do not leave your hat in the truck. Nor your gloves.
It was the kind of day that makes you want to park in the handicapped parking stall by the door and walk in some way that will make people think you deserve to park there. I WANTED to do that. But I didn't. Honest.
Stupid, stupid cold.
At any rate, that's the reason for the picture. Even though it wasn't especially hot when we were in Cuba, this photo makes me feel warm. And that's what it's all about today. Must feel warm. No matter what.

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Newsflash! Invisible Shoes Invented and We're Sufficiently Freaked

Newsflash! Invisible Shoes Invented and We're Sufficiently Freaked

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No Go

Well, we met up to drive to the prison and the consensus was it would be too dangerous to go. Good decision, as I drove home down the Deerfoot, it became a white-out. No fun, no fun at all. Having gotten up at 5:30AM to make this trip, I'm about ready to go back to bed. But NO! The shopper in me reigns supreme this morning, I'm going to go back out and pick up some Christmas gifts before the stores get busy. I don't have far to go, and the route has no open areas, so it'll be clear (she says with a laugh). At any rate, I'm outta here now.

Do I care?

about Tiger Woods? No. Not even a little bit. This guy is the new flavour of the month for the CNN talking heads and I am sick of it. Don't we have more important things to talk about? I guess not.
So here's some food for thought. I wear a wig sometimes. And I left my wig cap at the wigoptomist Is that a word? If not, it should be. But I wanted to wear my wig and needed a wig cap, so I pulled a pair of (unwashed) panti-hose out of my dresser amd cut the legs off. I put the remainder of them on my head, thinking it would work. They were too loose (even though they were control top). Plus they smelled like feet. (Better then butt, I guess) The point of this story? Well, it's that I've discovered my head is much smaller than my butt. I think I knew that, but it was driven home to me as I looked in the bathroom mirror in a cloud of shiny nude-coloured threads and eau-de-feet and cursed myself for forgetting the damn thing in the first place.

And now for the Friday Fill-In:
1. Good times: These days, getting home without rear-ending someone or sliding into a ditch. 2. I love, love, love my home. 3. Sleigh bells ring in my mind as I hum carols all day long. 5. Once more my cat is asking me if I could PLEASE turn the heat up????????? 6. Will this damn snow never end? &. And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to hitting the open road with a good friend, tomorrow my plans include driving up north to Drumheller for a workshop, assuming the roads are passable, and Sunday, I want to stay home and not set foot outside, because it's going to be minus 26.
HOWEVER, it was minus 51 the other day in Lethbridge, where my daughter lives. She and her housemates have 5 vehicles and not one of them started, even though they were plugged in. So who am I to complain?

EEHAW!!!

Winter arrived this weekend with a vengeance. Fortunately, I've taken four days in a row off work and therefore didn't need to leave the house in the thick of it. I went out on Saturday, and had no problem, but that's only because I have a 4x4. Without it, I would have turned around and stayed home. I understand it was 31 degrees below zero last night. OUCH. The bad news is that 5 homes burnt down on the weekend, as the firetrucks couldn't get to them. and apparently, EMS workers were leaving their ambulances and hiking to their patients. Not good, not good at all. I'm going out again soon, need to mail some parcels. I'm not worried, except about the other drivers. The ones who have bald summer tires and snowflakes-for-brains. That was me once, so I know whereof I speak.
Let's see, how many hats should I wear? How many coats? Do I wear runners or boots? AH, glorious winter in the great white north! By the way, that bus? and those cars? They were submerged shortly after this photo was taken.

So I have a question

What I want to know is, when did I turn into my mother? Was I napping that day? Was I out somewhere? Or was I just not paying attention? My mother would not let us make popcorn in her microwave oven (in 2008) because she was afraid her apartment would catch on fire. Right. I used to shake my head. But NOW, I am about as terrorized by technology as she was by microwaves. (Did I mention that when I went to Disneyland when I was 6, they were introducing people to these new fangled microwave ovens and everyone was just AWED by them?) This picture is of me muttering about why the heck is my shutter release not working on my camera FLASH!!!!! Geesh.
My daughter gave me a digital photo frame for Christmas last year. I just got the photos onto it last week. I took it to work, but couldn't figure out how to hang it. I had to ask the maintenance guy. The tire pressure light has been on in my truck for eons. I've checked the pressure, it's fine. I just ignore the light. Why can my computer never recognize me when I try to sign onto my own blog and why does it send a newsletter that I have been receiving for three years to my junk mailbox every day, even though I have told it over and over that it is not junk? Yet every website I have ever visited or even thought about visiting knows my bra size?
Uncle. I give up. I'm going to make some popcorn. In the microwave.

It's been a good weekend.

I've been decorating the house for Christmas, not as much as in past years, but I'm pretty happy with what I've done. Simple stuff, and in the colours of orange, turquoise, hot pink and lime green. I'll post some pics when I have time. A friend suggested I make a tree with branches, which turned into filling a monster vase with Christmas decorations that I bought last year, not thinking that my girl would have moved out by this Christmas. It looks SO awesome!
The girl in the LO is my little friend Anna, she was having such a good time that days! And so was I!

Friday Fill-in #152

I have one more comment for the evening. Well, not a comment, exactly, it's the Friday Fill-In. I thought it might help me relax after my debacle with Blogspot.
1. Wait! Wait, don't forget that you swore you would never throw your computer out the window again!!!
2. Have a cold beer, followed at once by a shot of 100-year old whiskey.
3. The trouble is I think I sat on my screwdriver.
4. Sometimes my mind is many miles away.
5. With a faint pop I found my screwdriver.
6. The soup I made for supper was unfortunately quite shadowy and ominous.
7. And for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to logging off this monstrous machine, tomorrow my plans include shovelling snow and Sunday I want to relax and do absolutely nothing I have to do.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

TGIF

I know, I know, EVERYONE says this come the end of the week. But I really really really mean it, as I am so grateful I don't need to drive into work tomorrow. We had a snowstorm today...early this afternoon I was hanging around outside, with no coat on, then BAM. We got slammed. It took me 2.5 hours to get home, a route which usually takes 20 minutes. I had the traffic report on in the truck, "almost 50 cars in the ditch, the north highway is closed, a 15-car pileup on McNight..."...when they said "there are too many accidents to report, we give up", I knew I was hooped.
I was in 4-wheel drive, so I wasn't spinning out like most others on the road, but it didn't make any difference, as I had nowhere to go. Cars to the right of me, cars to the left of me. Isn't that a song?
I've posted a mini-album here for the Opus challenge #34 Sweetie Pie. Check this site out, the ladies are a hoot and have both wonderful talents to share, as well as a great sense of humour! here
As an aside, Blogspot is terrorizing me tonight, won't let me add more than one photo to this post, and shuts down when I try to add more. As a last resort, I've put the pics in Smilebox. It was a fun challenge, as all the Poobah's are!

My Angel

I love angels. I used to collect them, but I realized some time ago that collections just get dusty. And I don't dust. This excludes of course scrapbooking supplies. And my albums. They don't get dusty. Neither scrapbooking supplies, nor my albums. Even if they did I would not care. So I guess it's all about what one WANTS to collect. At any rate, I no longer collect angels. Nor teddy bears. I just collect scrapbooking supplies. And they do not count.

Caroline Ikeli Scrapjacked

I really like the Scrapjacked site.
here The challenges are always so inspiring and wide open to interpretation, which works well for me. This month is no exception. I'll bet there is no one on their DT who is old enough to remember Mr. Bill from the early days of Saturday Night Live, but he was one of my favorites (in what was often a drug-induced haze) Those of you who DO remember him however, will be happy to hear that on this summer's Route 66 Road Trip, he neither was run over by a semi, fell off a cliff, nor was he caught in the jaws of a rapid dog. Mr Bill lives another day!

Some details as promised

Just a note

I've switched up the background of my blog. The last one, as much as I liked it, made me nauseous every time I looked at it. Too bright. So this one is a bit more subdued.My word for 2009 is CALM. I feel that now. That's the point of having a word.
I guess, now that 2009 is almost over, I no longer need to be calm? That opens up a number of possibilities.
And before I leave, here is an ATC canvas I've just completed. I love it and my daughter asked me why I wouldn't make her one? A. Not that I wouldn't and B. She's never wanted anything I've made before. I may. Details of a few of the ATC's are on the next post.

Mojo Therapy

I haven't done the Mojo challenge for awhile, no good reason, just doin' other stuff. I do love their challenges and their DT's work. I did one for the "Therapy" challenge this month tho-my therapy would be my friends. Sometimes they are f2f friends, sometimes friends via email, sometimes it's friends who visit my blog. Heck, sometimes it's my cat.
What else can I say? You do the best ya can with what ya have.