"No I won't back down..."

Q: What kind of people spend $100 on tickets to a rock concert at the MTS Centre and then yell at the people in the row in front of them to sit down, despite the fact that half the people in the arena are standing and it's freaking Tom Petty?

A: THE PEOPLE THAT SAT BEHIND US.

Name that crop

barley

canola, canola close up

corn

oats

potato

soybean

Money

As much as I love the house... and I do love the house, and the yard, and the area, and lately (a little too much) my porch swing... I had a crazy amount of spare money when we lived in the apartment, that I don't have now that we're ear deep in renos and saving for big trip in the spring.

I don't smoke, don't drink, don't gamble (not even lottery tickets), don't buy daily anything (coffee, etc), don't have a cell phone, a gym membership, or my own car... I don't even buy bus passes, now that I'm riding my bike to work. No student loans. Rarely eat out. So by my calculations, I should be loaded, and I'm totally not. I'm extremely comfortable, and we're paying off the mortgage and household vehicle at comparable rates, but other than that, I barely spend any money. What am I doing wrong?

I blame the renos... so I guess what I'm saying is, party at my house when they're done (November), because I should be able to afford fancy refreshments by then. That's right, Sprite and 7-Up.

FYI

Dear world:

I am not a baby vessel.

I may have kids in the future. If, and when, is my business only.

That is all that I am going to say about that.

Special

A few weeks ago, I was feeling glum because of the onset of a sinking feeling that I was supposed to do something bigger with my life, that I have some sort of greater purpose. It makes me sound really arrogant, that it's fine for everyone else to work, eat, and sleep but that I'm somehow different. I talked about it with my partner and he said that when it happens, I'll know, that I don't have to go looking for it. That was about the best answer anyone could give me.

Drums

I played Wii Rock Band a few days ago and it was a lot of fun.

In order of most fun:

-Drums
-Microphone
-Guitar

I wish there was a scrolling program to teach me how to play real drums. Also, I can't wait until we get our drums set back up.

Canola, up close and personal

Treherne/Holland area, MB.

I just wish I could blog the smell...

sugar coma pancakes

This recipe (2 tsp baking powder instead of 2 tbsp as per a commentator)

Push in blueberries (L) or chocolate chips (R) or whatever after a pancake has been cooking for about a minute.

Top with leftover whipped cream and more blueberries or chocolate chips or whatever. Drizzle on pure Montreal maple syrup from a can.

easy fruit tarts

Ingredients:

Shells:
1 pkg of 12 frozen tart shells (I used "our crapliments")

Whipped cream:
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Fruit:
Ripe, washed, peeled fruit

1) Bake tart shells according to package.
1.5) Cool cooked tart shells.
2) While shells are baking/cooling, whip cream until it turns into whipped cream, then whip in the icing sugar and vanilla. Prep fruit.
3) Scoop whipped cream into tart shells and add fruit.

Pies and cookies

Me (flipping through a stack of cookbooks): "I was thinking of doing some baking tomorrow. What kind of fancy desserts do you like?"

Husband: "I don't like fancy desserts. I like regular desserts. Like pies and cookies."

And, so it goes.

Asessippi Provincial Park

Asessippi Provincial Park, including a yurt:

Wooden arches

Russell, MB: Now with arches!

Will you need me, will you feed me...

I read (skimmed, by the end) all of the comments and was particular struck by parts of numbers 15, 69, 209, and 496.

Mediocrity

"I'm having a hard time... coming to terms with my mediocrity"

that entry stung pretty hard.

One Great City

I've always been disappointed that many neighbourhoods in Winnipeg have nicer signs than the city itself, but now that they're being replaced, I feel a (teeny) touch of sadness.

As for slogans, may I suggest:

Letter to the editor of epic proportions

After my husband and I used a HBC gift registry for our wedding last year, we automatically started receiving "2: The Magazine for Couples". It's extremely fluffy, and I wouldn't pay a dime for it, but it's free, so I can't complain. However, I must re-print the following letter submitted to "2Mail", their feedback page. I won't reprint the name but on the off chance the person ever reads this, my kudos.

Dear 2, please take us off your mailing list. Unlike Andrew and Amie from Red Deer, Alta., we don't fight over your magazine when it arrives, unless it is to fight about whose fault it is that I slipped on a pile of junk mail and unsolicited magazines covering our front entrance! Although the relationship of Steve and Susie from Moncton, N.B., may have changed for the better because of your magazine, our marriage doesn't need your help. Your magazine is not helping my marriage! If my marriage ever becomes about buying crap, doing renovations, throwing parties and being "eco-friendly" (in a most obnoxious, consumption-driven hypocritical way), I'll be in touch.

The bits about other couples are taken straight from an ad about the magazine, inside each issue of the magazine, showing quotes from various couples about how much they like it. The closer is icing. I'm actually just impressed that 2 had the guts to print it.

Summber jubs 4 all

To the person who got to my blog by Googling "summber jubs students"... wow. Just, wow. Just a tip though, I'd practice a little before interviewing for any typing jobs (or entering any spelling bees).

Spanish

I'm learning Spanish off the internet. No, thank you, internet!

I am on Lesson 12 of 90. I can't do more than 1 lesson in 2 days and typically complete far less.

Lowball: 1 lesson per week = ~1.5 years
Highball: 1 lesson per 2 days = ~22 weeks or 5 months

So expect me to become fluent sometime in between those, probably closer to low than high.

Bike

I bought a bike... helmet. And a lock. Oh, and a bike too. Don't ask the brand, it's from Costco so expect to see many like it across the city this summer.

I also purposely didn't buy a July bus pass to force myself to switch between cycling to work and using bus tickets if it's crappy outside (but less bus tickets used = more money saved, so that is the incentive).

The phrase "it's just like riding a bike" is lost on me because after going a good decade without getting on a bike, I wobbled a lot on my first try, and still occasionally feel a wave of fear wash over me when I go over some rocky pavement or ride next to vehicles. It's going to take a lot of courage to cross the Disraeli Bridge to work, and probably a practice run this upcoming weekend (judging by the hurtyness in my legs and arms after a few neighbourhood jaunts).

Cheap like...

On a whim, while reading the 900th list exhibiting the same top (5, 11, does it matter?) foods that have antioxidants, probiotics, an alphabet of vitamins, and quite possibly the ability to make me grow wings and turn into a fairy-princess, I saw "beets" on a list and googled "cheap like borscht". What I got was this and subsequently laughed my брюки off. I don't like beets, or borscht, but the cultural aspect is not lost on me. As I turn on my Ukrainain air-conditioning (aka opening the windows)...

Ivies

The idea of "Ivy League" universities has consistently blown my mind. I find articles like The Disadvantages of an Elite Education very interesting (and ideas like a Ivy pre-k beyond ludicrous, but that's a whole other issue)

I chose the university I attended based on two factors:

• it was one of two universities in the same city I grew up in, and
  
• it was the bigger one of the two and had more science and professional programs, which is where my interests were.

Also, the idea of leaving the province to study somewhere else, rather than living rent-free with my parents in the house I grew up in, was unfathomable to me. Some people might leave home to go to university as a rite of passage, to leave the nest. 4 years into my degree, I left my comfort zone and took a summer job in another province, and then moved in with my boyfriend when I came home for the final year, which was pretty much perfect.

I completed a degree that I really enjoyed and absolutely prepared me for a job in the same field, in the same province/country that I fully intended on staying in.

To me, Yale, Harvard, and others sound like fancy, prestigious words, almost fictional in my mind. To this day I still think I would have been fine to attend universities in Calgary, or Regina, or the other university in my city, or wherever, based on where I grew up and/or intended to have my career...

I have nothing against any of you for getting schooled wherever you happened to want to get schooled (way to alienate half your friend/relative readers with this article, me), I'm just trying to explain why it wasn't for me.

Memories

Oates, Mustache Make Cartoon Crime-Fighting Team

Yessss. I would tell my main H&O story here, but it's already been told, on another, swearier blog, years and years ago.

IHOD

nataliedee.com


Apparently this comic reminded someone of me... I can't imagine how...

Free

Free to good home: 1 partially finished basement. Will not deliver.

Illegal downloading

CTV link #1

CTV link #2

So, what has the drummer for your favourite band done lately?

Dragonfly Inn, eh

As I watched a rerun this evening, my husband postulated that Gilmore Girls wouldn't have become as popular if it was set in Minnesota.

'Gonna take Luke down to the Dragonfly Inn, eh?'
'Oh yah, you betcha.' (nodding head)

Granted, the woodchipper might have improved Season 7...

"Maybe if I use my least nagging tone of voice"

When Mom and Dad Share It All (NYT)

Parts of this article struck me... and we don't even have kids.

All I have to say is... I would nag my husband far, far less if he did what I asked him to do (or remembered what I asked him to remember) THE FIRST TIME. My home life (and those that came before me) is very secretarial in nature. Appointments and routines and replacing things when they run out and much, much more. Maybe I'll reach a balance one day, between nagging and not sweating the small stuff... until then, it is definitely not appropriate for me to ask you several times per day over 4 days for you to order something you had intended to order online in advance of Father's Day, for you to finally ask me if you can use the computer to order it when I'm in the middle of a SPORADIC BLOGGING EVENT. What a scamp.

The Pursuit of Happiness

And now for a new section: actual phone conversations with my dad.

"Dad, next time you go on your evening walk, can you walk by my house and bring your Pursuit of Happiness CD?"
"Sure, which one?"
"The one with Hard To Laugh. I'm watching the video right now and it's awesome. I think I'm going to start liking PoH ironically and then for real, just like I did with Hall & Oates."

7 km

I walked home from work today. It was intense.

Oh my bento

I'm serious, how can I go to work tomorrow when there is art like this, and this, and this to be seen (whole set).

Bento

Bento lunches are extraordinarily cute. There are 341 Bento groups on Flickr... meaning there is a hefty possibility I will never leave the internet again.

Pork and Beans

I don't know how Weezer got Tay Zonday to be in their video but I'm pretty impressed:

Who wants some cookays?

1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz pkg chipits
The recipe says something about walnuts, but we don't worry about such things.

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients. Reserve.
3. Beat butter & sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time and beat well.
4. Add vanilla, chocolate chips, and nuts. Stir in flour mixture in 2 additions.
5. Scoop onto cookie sheets. Kind of shape with your fingers so they’re roundish. Don’t squish, so they bake soft and chewy and not crispy.
   

Incredible photos of Winnipeg

Check them out. The description at the top is so completely apt.

No commentary needed

Driving > Walking ? I don't think I have to comment on this because a lot of people already did and their comments are more amusing than mine would have been.

Clean g-word

FYI - Superstore brand recycled paper towels, or "PC GREEN Pick-A-Size Paper Towels" as they're officially called, don't work very well. It's always kind of sad when (g-word) products turn out not to work so hot. I've also found Method dish soap doesn't work very well, though some of their other products work alright.

I clean glass with a patented mix (I pour both in until it looks about right) of vinegar and water, using an old pop bottle with a spray nozzle screwed onto the top. The smell is slightly off-putting, but if you saw how I eat French fries, you wouldn't be that surprised. I prefer it to the smell of ammonia in Windex, anyway. Baking soda cleans certain surfaces very well, even the crap that gets baked on in the oven (if you have the time and energy to scrub), even if you don't use a g-branded variety.

Point D represent

Today I took a walk in the neighbourhood that my mom and dad grew up in. It was pretty neat.

Why are you still watching American Idol?

Seriously. How do you people (the zillions that tune in) watch this fake mind-trip?

In other news, I am finding myself frequently watching not only MuchMoreRetro, as per usual, but also the newly achieved MuchLoud - love it.

No, Oprah, no!

I caught Oprah's Earth Day special today. I left the room several times during the show because I wasn't able to handle certain portions. I know the journalistic integrity of Oprah is (seemingly, I'm no journalism major) relatively good for daytime talk shows, and that it's fairly dumbed down so that the entire public can relate, but still.

This is what today's episode consisted of:

• Environmental vagueness that I wouldn't expect outside of Sesame Street. Recycle! Compost! Don't use plastic OR paper bags!!!
• Sandra Bullock hawking her soy candle line.
• Julia Roberts declaring that she always keeps reusable shopping bags in her car so that she never has to take plastic bags. Oprah didn't have the heart to tell Julia that plastic-bag refusal doesn't cancel Humvee useage.
  
• Oprah scared of worms and vermicomposting. Way to install fear in the housewives you are trying to encourage.
  
• Oprah exclaiming that she didn't know that your skin absorbs the contents from applied beauty products. How else would moisturizers work, or self-tanners for that manner?
• Fear-mongering about SDS and parabens. I'm not saying we shouldn't be cautious, but I would certainly be pleasantly surprised if there was mass movement towards products without these ingredients by the Oprah-watching public, because they're in EVERYTHING and alternative products are usually more expensive.
  
• Extremely general environmental information, including the same frequent misuse of scientific language that is prevalent across the general news machine and public.
  
• Some mumbling by Al Gore at the end for good measure. (The audience seemed to clap more when they learned they would receive a free box of soy candles than for poor Al.)
  

"Chemical" or "chemical substance" refers to a substance for which we know the chemical formula. Water is a chemical. Salt is a chemical. It is not being used correctly if you purport that "chemicals" are causing problems in our water and air and beauty products.

"Pollutant" and "contaminant" aren't interchangable, but that's a story for another day.

I once argued with a seller hawking "natural" beauty products because she was boasting that other products are full of "toxins". The word specifically refers to a toxic substance produced by a living thing, and there isn't a lot of snake venom in regular beauty products.

Who wants to make me a cape?

I have wanted a cape for the longest time, and I found a pattern, so now I just need someone to do it up. I especially like "C". I sew about as well as I cook.

When I was in first-year university, I used to hang out in the Firepit Lounge to eat lunch with my friends (like all the other first-years). Occasionally we saw a male student in a black cape out the windows, walking on by to his next class, or whatever. Once or twice I ran to the doors, flew them open, so I could yell "HELLO, BATMAN!", to the delight of my friends, though he had already passed. I need to do more fun and quirky things like that more often. Blending in is for chumps!

Seriously though, guy had a great cape.

Prairie spring

Photos from last Friday:


So, so flat.


The Great Pumpkin rises... in Roland, MB

Frugality

Found this in my blog travels:

32 Reasons to Be Frugal Besides Saving Money

I like numbers 4, 18, and 28.

Comparisons

Me: "Isn't a male obstetrician... kind of like a deaf orchestra conductor?"

Husband: "A mechanic can learn how to fix a car, he doesn't have to become a car."

Me: "A woman is not a car!"

Hilarious Muppet Bloopers

I'm a huge fan of the Muppets, so I was pumped when I found this:



Well-played.

Watch out

Accidentally put my jeans in the washer with my watch in the pocket.

Again.

Good thing the washer was at a stage where I could pause and unlock the (front) door.

A Voyage to the South

I've been reading a book about travelling by Bill Bryson (and subsequently decided I need to read all books by Bill Bryson, travelling and otherwise). This post is a story about a journey I took yesterday, to an illustrious building known as St. Vital Centre. This post is brought to you by PC Double Chocolate Crunch Cereal (if I could choose a blog sponsor it might be that) and The Guys' 5-minute opus Man with a Mustache, which I keep meaning to send to my dad.

I have only visited St. Vital Centre 10 times or less in my entire life of living in this city. There were a few reasons for this. One is that I have never lived in the area, or in any area next to that area, nor have I ever had any purpose to go to the area or stick around for any particular length of time (school, work, friends/relatives, etc). Another is that every time I have ever tried to do any Christmas-related shopping or see a movie at its theatre on a Friday or Saturday night, I haven't gotten much further than the outskirts of a crowded parking lot rampant with middle-class citizens.

I departed work for St. V. with a few goals in mind. The first was to investigate the bus route, which was more than adequate, and the mall layout, which proved extremely pleasing. My other goals were to look for shoes (flats), and get some keys cut. I have visited other malls in the city far more often, so maybe it's just that familiarity breeds contempt. St. V. felt like a breath of fresh air after the many hours I spent at the other malls.


There's Portage Place, which shuts down in the early evening most days of the week. The downtown location is great for bus access, but not much else. I feel like I'm about to experience or at least witness a crime in at least 30% of the indoor space and 90% of the perimeter (not including the YMCA). Also located at P. Place: the one occasion I've ever seen someone shoplift, and I witnessed it up close. I watched someone walk out of Staples with a backpack, probably filled with merchandise though he may have just needed the backpack. He set off the alarm as he exited, and then ran away up Portage Ave, while the staff traded glances that said, I wasn't aware the 30% included our area.

There's Kildonan Place, which I used to visit often when I was 12 but grew out of around the same time I grew out of Claire's Accessories. Its blandness is simultaneously comforting and underwhelming.

Lastly, there's Polo Park, the largest mall in town and a multi-floored affair. Despite the number of stores, it's left me feeling hollow the last couple of trips. P. Park has Lush and Lululemon stores, which I used to frequent when travelling to other cities, but have lost their intrigue now that I can go whenever I want.

***

Upon arriving, I made the decision to look at clothing, but not try anything on, fairly quickly. I've bought a relatively large amount of clothes in the past while, and buying random pieces instead of adding more holistically to my wardrobe (aka stuffed closet) would not make sense.

Also, while browsing at a clothing store (the name is escaping me), I noticed a table of camisole undershirts in different colours. They were 2 for $25... but wait, didn't I pay $18 for the exact same purple one just two weeks ago at Smart Set? Curious, I went to Smart Set, and found the same table of camisoles in all colours, still selling for $18, EXCEPT the purple one which was now on the discount rack. I have to remind myself that the majority of mall clothing stores share brands and clothes between them, and the best way to buy clothes at a mall is really to check every single store for what you need and then go back and buy later when you've found the best deal. It seems like a lot of effort; I'm not sure if I've ever known anybody to actually do that.

Also, I was tired, and didn't have the energy to try on five thousand pieces of awesome clothing. Even if there were huge sales on. Because that money tree I planted hasn't sprouted yet.


Overall, I found St. V. to be spacious and airy to walk around. I quite enjoyed browsing over a few hours. I was impressed that they had a sushi restaurant IN the mall. (I should add that in this city, I still get giddy when I see TV screens playing ads outside banks and the MTS Centre and other places, because we didn't have them a few years ago.) There is a gigantic food court that has both a cinnamon bun place AND a frozen yogurt place, so you don't even have to choose. Also, St. V. is getting a MAC store and a Costa Blanca store. I enjoy browsing MAC stores in other cities (due to my infatuation with weird eyeshadow colours and glittery eye makeup), and bought a lot of nice clothes from the CB I patronized in Calgary a few months ago, so I'm excited for both.

During my journey through the mall, I picked up many, many Skecher shoes and balked at the price each time. Why are Skecher shoes so expensive, and beautiful? I ended up buying the flats I needed, and some other nice shoes (so that I stop wearing the one pair of Skechers I own with everything). I bought them at Payless, the most aptly-named shoe store of all time. I bought a couple of pairs of shoes for $4 each, no tax, at the Payless at the Mall of America a few summers ago. Someone must have been getting the short straw in that deal. How could those shoes possibly have cost that little?

I also scored a super cheap pair of winter boots at a closing sale. Another problem solved, since my old pair had just obviously just had its last winter. I didn't buy a hat, but I need one. I'm still secretly hoping someone will make me one of those knitted hats with cat ears. And also that someone will buy me this book which I perused in Chapters and has simply marvelous photos. Note to self: search Fbook to determine if there is a self-help group for people who buy cookbooks for the pictures.

My voyage came to a close around half past eight, and I bussed back downtown. I thought I might wait a few extra stops to get off, in order to wait for and catch my transfer bus somewhere relatively well-lit and safe: the MTS Centre. Instead, I made the split second decision that the extra few stops might be too much fuss, got off the bus as soon as it was near my transfer, and made my way to a corner with a crosswalk. I was immediately approached by a panhandler mumbling something about money for his wife, who was standing next to him in some sort of stupor. I politely declined, crossed the street when the light turned, and waited for my orange chariot to take me home.

Teeth

What do you think of my teeth? Be honest.

My new dentist referred me to an orthodontist because of some teeth issues that may cause problems (in the far future). I had my orthodontist consultation and was left underwhelmed, to say the absolute, very least (that's one I'll leave for "real life" conversations).

I'm really disheartened that the dental industry has shifted focus so heavily toward the cosmetic side of things. The commercials for whitening treatments and Mach 5 electric toothbrushes were one thing, but now the professionals are seeing dollar signs and adjusting their practices accordingly. My mom recently had some (arguably necessary) cosmetic dental work done, and her dentist took before-and-after pictures of her teeth, because he wants to move towards doing more and more cosmetic work.

I'm all for clean, healthy teeth and gums, but I don't think it's necessary for everyone to have a Hollywood smile, stick straight and so white that it glows in the dark.

Life edit

I added a couple of links to well-written, interesting blogs over there in the menu. All the posts are excellent, but I especially want to point out TV and Muppet references.

Earth Hour 2008 Addendum Pt. 2

Okay, fine, apparently it's the lights and "non-essential electrical appliances" (Wikipedia) So microwaving formula to feed a baby is okay; blow-drying your hair and playing Nintendo, not so much. Also: see Google (1 day only!)

Earth Hour 2008 Addendum

Apparently Earth Hour 2008 is meant to encourage everyone to turn out their lights, and not to avoid consumption of ANY electricity, as I originally thought.

I'm not going to consume any electricity tonight anyway. Here's the Fbook link if you want to add yourself as "attending".