Thursday, January 31, 2008

Favourite TV ads when I was growing up



I loved this Michael J Fox Pepsi ad. I use to drink Pepsi just because of this ad. And because it was Mom's favourite




This ad made me bang stuff around afterwards


Oh, Amy...remember when we would steal Aunt Edie's gum just so we could try and put it in our mouth the way they do in this ad!haha

Friday, January 25, 2008

Sorting socks

Have you ever started out one day feeling better than better and then shortly after you feel as though you are two miles past wrong? It's as though you made a flight plan from Seattle, WA to Toyko, Japan and when you were punching in all your numbers and settings for your plane to be set at, you punched in one degree of latitude less. At first, it doesn't seem like a big deal. You are only slightly off the mark. You are still heading in the same direction. Only shortly after, you suddenly find yourself having to make an emergency landing in the Yukon because you now see that one degree might have not made a big difference in the beginning, but it sure makes a big difference after 4 hours. And you realize that if you don't take this ememrgency landing now, that you may miss your last chance of getting where you are supposed to go and being able to land safely.
That's where I am today. I am at the emergency stop in Yukon. Not literally. Only figuratively.

It's almost like my life right now feels like a bag of socks. There are always those socks that needing matching and pairing after the laundry. And every once in a while you find a loose sock with no mate. So, you stick it in a sock bag and after a while you dump out the contents of the sock bag to see if the two lone socks have met up with each other. Sometimes they have and you're relieved that the dryer didn't eat them. And then sometimes you can't match the loose sock to anything...not after four consecutive times of being a member of the sock bag. And after awhile, you have about 5 or 7 socks that have no partner, no matching piece, and they no longer make sense in your life. The easy solution is to throw them out (or turn them into sock puppets for your two year old). But, the romantic, hopeful side of you says,"Wait, I'll just give these guys one more chance. Maybe, just maybe, on the next wash, the dryer will release it back into my hands."
But that never happens.
And time goes on and you have all these socks that just need to been thrown out. They are good for no purpose.
That's where I am today. Stuck with a bunch of pieces of my life that don't add up or make sense. And they aren't even really big issues or important matters. They are just all these tiny things that are taking up space, yet don't really matter. Yet, I'm still hesitant to throw them away. After all, they did serve a purpose once.

And so that's where I am today: in Yukon, on an emergency landing, with a bag full of mismatched socks.

I hope that makes sense.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The packing continues...

box after box after box.....

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Cheeky husband breaks onto blog

(REUTER) In a surprising twist of events, Jeep (Allie's husband and fellow blog author) has admitted to tampering with her blog, hence the previous post of the ice cream question.
When interviewed Allie had this to say. "Frankly, I was quite shocked. I logged onto my blog and I suddenly saw words that weren't my own. It was very disturbing, actually. I may need therapy to recover...ice cream therapy, of course."
Jeep was unavailable for comment but sources revealed that when questioned about hacking into his wife's blog and posting on it that he blushed and responded with, "So?"
Further investigation revealed that Jeep did not hack onto the blog, but rather wrote on it after his wife failed to log out.
Moral of the story: You snooze, you lose...precious blog space.

What is your flavorite kind?

I like ice cream... Do you like ice cream? I like the Haagen-Dazs flavour: Carmel Cone Explosion! I also like Chapman's Strawberry Banana flavour. What is your favorite Ice cream flavour(s). Post your comment and let me know, okay.

Yours truly...

Where there is smoke, there's fire

So, the fire department dropped by my house the other day.
In my quest to multi-task (cook a meat loaf, pack boxes, paint cupboards, renovate, etc) attention to important details have completely slipped my mind.
A few nights ago, I cooked lasagna. A delicious, aromatic lasagna that had spilled all over the bottom of the oven while it cooked. I forgot to clean it up.
Fast forward to the next day, I was making a meat loaf. I stuck it in the oven and went to the living room to move some of the growing garbage piles to the outside so that we could go through more of our stuff and...throw it away.
As I walked up the steps into my kitchen, I saw smoke streaming out of an element.
"Odd."
I approached the stove and saw flames dancing around inside the stove, reminiscent of the early Sunday school felt board productions of Shadrach, Meschach and Abed-Nego and the fiery furnace.
"Very oddd. "
I walk over to my pantry and grab the fire extinguisher and the baking soda. I'm debating which one to use when I think "wait a minute...if I open the oven door, I will only add oxygen to the fire. That would not be good."
I call 911. I really just want to know whether or not I should use baking soda or the fire extinguisher.
I'm calm. I'm fine. I'm relating details to the 911 operator.
I tell her that the fire looks like it's burning itself out. She puts me on hold as she talks to the fire department.
I'm calm. I'm fine. I smile at Anne whose taken the intiative to get herself and her baby sister dressed to go outside in case things get out of hand.
The operator comes back on and says,"Ok, ma'am. They are on their way."
"They're what?"
"They're on their way."
SNAP. Lose it. Complete and total meltdown. I started crying and freaking out.
So weird. When things are in crisis, I'm fine. When help is on the way, I'm not. Strange.
Anyway, those boys move like lightening. I only have the chance to hang up the phone, check the oven and see that the fire has indeed burned itself out, pace the floor twice and usher the girls to the door just in time to see the fire department pull up into my yard.
The team leader is in full dress and I yell from my doorway, "it's out". He makes a gesture to the men who are unloading from the truck to stop.
Everyone stops.
The team leader and another man come into the house and ask me all sorts of questions. They look at my stove and tell me a few options I can do if this should ever happen again. I look out the window and see the other 5 crew members piling back into the truck (they all had their masks on and full gear), I watch the kind captain in his full outfit talking me through the situation and I look at the meat loaf that has no chance of survival.
The captain says, "...just flip the power switch off if it happens again."
And I burst out crying.
Both men give me a hug.
I apologize profusely but they tell me it's ok. They tell me that this is their job and they are here to help and it doesn't matter that the fire went out before they got here. It wasn't a waste of their time. They just wanted to be certain that my girls and I are safe.
I blubber some more and cry into the firemen's coat. Apparently my emotions are on a delayed timer and they come out after actual events take place.
The fire chief suggest I go show the girls the firetuck--he probably could sense that I needed to be outside after I snotted all over his coat.
I bring my girls to the truck. Thank the men profusely. They all eschew it and say they are just doing their job. Two of the fighters show Anne and Brie the truck and give them each a teddy bear. I take a picture on my cell phone and text Peter: "Guess who's here? The fire department." To which he quickly text back" What's going on?" I let him know we're ok and that he's not going to believe this one.
I've collected some pretty embarrassing moments in the time we've been married, but really this one takes the cake, the prize trophy and is worth a T-shirt that reads "Someone who loves you nearly burned the house down and ruined dinner."
At any rate, we were fine. The firefighters were awesome. These men are really amazing people. And I can't thank them enough for their kindness and staying with me until I felt ok and empowering me with the knowledge of what to do should this ever happen again. They assure me that this is their job and I did the right thing by not opening the stove door and giving them a call. Off they go...everyone of them heroes in my eyes.
I'm calm now. I'm fine now.
soon after, Peter gets home, gives me the biggest hug and whispers the words that I so desperately need to hear, "Baby, I'm taking you out for dinner."

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Moving on, moving forward, moving again

So, in a surprising and stunning twist of events, we are moving back to the Bridge! I can't say that I'm sad. I love it there. and here...well, here was slowly growing on me...like a fungus mushroom grows on a tree. (Wait...does that even make scientific sense?)
And God, with His usual brilliance and slightly dry British humour, has turned this into a very fun adventure.Case in point, I found out that we were going to move back on the day I finally unpacked our last box.
Ha!Ha! Really. I thought it was funny and so I laughed and made sure I saved that box for packing up.
So, I've been boxing instead of blogging and I'm thinking about how I'm really glad for yet another chance to purge out all unneccessary stuff. Anybody want a steamer that I haven't used for the last four moves? How about a toaster oven that's travelled with me the last three times or the new used lawn chairs I just bought. Anyone want them? Anyone?
Anyway, I'll be around...but now that I'm moving out of a house that I own I will be pre-occupied with following my kids around and wiping fingerprints off the wall so that it can be ready to show at any given point.
So, this is the sixth move in the past two years...I am a professional packer now and i am a pro at going with the flow and the cool way God keeps me on my toes. 2008 is beautifl, bright and as so clearly seen early on: full of surprises.
Lovin' life. Lovin' you! (then point your arm out at someone you know) - from Elizabethtown