#1 reason not to get a flu shot

True to natural cycles I picked up the flu this Christmas, probably somewhere in the airport...

*fake smile* It's the gift that everyone just keeps re-gifting!

About the only upside I can think of to having the flu after Christmas, is that once you've puked up twice your body weight, and completely and utterly exhausted yourself by being sick waaaaay past the point of being sick... you either come out of it lighter, or at very least a net zero in regards to the extra pounds you gained complimentary of those second and third helpings of scalloped potatoes.

It also gives you a greater appreciation for the health and well being that you've experienced up until this point when you realize just how quickly and effortlessly you can be reduced to a sniveling helpless blob of biomass.

In fact, this tried, tested and true formula has been refined for thousands of years... and is completely natural! Forget that lemon-cayan cleanse that everyone at work has been talking about doing that lasts all week, this baby'll clean you out in 24 hours or less*!!!

*Disclaimer: It may take more than a week for you to recover...

The force awakens... as do we at 2:30 am

Shockingly enough we made it to the theatre in record time at 3:45 am and found a decent parking spot only to realize that we were going to have to run the gauntlet of people who had just finished watching it and were no doubt talking about it. right. now.

At least no one looks pissed... that's a good sign. 

My eyes are burning and itching but my adrenalin is pumping and excitement and anticipation are coursing through my veins. Despite this my thought process is running at half throttle with a significant delay, and even simple tasks like going to the washroom take longer than one would think.

The wait is about to be over, where we find out if they were able to stay true to the spirit of the originals or if Star Wars as we know it is about to jump the shark at lightspeed.  

Also we have been dreading the possibility that the characters we've met only through advertising could potentially turn out to be Jar-Jars...

No spoilers, but I loved it, and would like to see it again... maybe like at least 3 more times, in addition to that I am looking forward to seeing where the rest of this story goes!

Ungodly hour in the morning after the show, to the guy whipping through the parking lot:

You better slow down dude, I know you're excited to see the movie but if you hit me I'll spoil it for you.

*unstoppable tired giggles*

Overprotection

Why on earth is this "sealed for your protection"... I'm not planning on consuming this, I'm not even planning on touching it.

BCAA, never leave home without it!

I'm slightly ashamed to admit as a Canadian, that I bought a brand new set of chains for our trip to the Grand Canyon and it didn't even cross my mind to bring a window scraper...

Luckily it was a perfect frost, and came off like burnt eggs on one of those fancy new Teflon pans.

She's not a friend of Spock

Standing in line for the washroom I overheard this Mom talking to her daughter...

"Don't do that, it makes me uncomfortable"

Wha??? Out of the corner of my eye I saw the little girl doing the split finger "Live long and prosper"

"I know, I see that you can do it, but Mommy can't do that... No, stop it I don't like that."

"It's fine that you can do it, just don't show me."

If only bottles grew on trees...

Oh but they do at the bottle tree ranch! 

Random and pretty in an eclecticly creative way... with a touch of abandoned wind chime middle of the desert creepyness ;)

In all seriousness though I wish we'd been able to meet Elmer? apparently this is what he does to keep himself out of trouble, and walking through spotting pieces of historical items hidden in his creations and going "Hey I remember that!" or "I wonder what that used to be for..." was pretty darn cool.

PIAA!

So bright I can seeeeah when you're even *thinking* of doing something stupid!

Super-Sam!

I love playing against ball teams that don't know that I can hit *grinch smile*

It means that I can hit the ball and run really fast, and even if it isn't out of the park... sometimes I can still get a home run ;)

Running so fast!

*sings* I don't wanna go to girl guide camp!

I was just in an elementary school washroom that brought back memories... in Obi Wan Kenobi's voice...

Only instead: "Now that's a smell I've not smelled in a long time... A long time."

In fact, the likes of which I have not smelled since Girl Guide camp when someone invariably added too much Detol to the latrine cleaning water. The worst by far was when the soles of Megan's shoes started "steaming"

Kids...

Student: I have two questions...

              1. Do clarinets and saxophones use the same reed? 

Teacher: That's a very good question, yes they sometimes use the same reed.

 

Student: And 2. Where can I buy a pumpkin big enough to fit over my head? 

Teacher: *?!?*  ...have you tried looking in a grocery store?

And you thought that your music teacher would be best person to ask this of?

You look like you need a hug

I know you used to be one of us, it's okay I still love you!

Silver lining

Listening to the gentle snoring of peaceful slumber...

On one hand it sucks, because I want to be snuggled up sleeping too... but on the other hand I'd rather be working while they're sleeping than missing all the fun they'll have while they're awake.

I'll treasure this little piece of time that is mine, and more thoroughly enjoy the time we spend together later today, however hectic it may be.

Roommates are awesome!

Because in that moment when you realize you took everything out of the bathroom in order to paint the vanity, including the toilet paper... you aren't in an immediate dilemma.

Choose your percentage of drunk

Hmmm I don't know how Math works in Japan... but from what I recall your level of Math is usually higher than our level of Math... but I'm pretty sure this isn't how alcohol percentages work in Canada (I would say America but they're using common core math, so who knows what they've done to percentages) 

Is this some kind of new alcohol percentage Math that I don't know about? Because if it is, I've been doing it all wrong!  I thought that no matter how much you put in the cup, it would still have the same relative percent of alcohol... No?  

The best laid plans...

I had plans this last weekend... plans to finish projects, clean the house, and go grocery shopping... among a few other odds and ends of 10 second tidying before my friends come visit.

Little did I know the Aunties didn't have plans, and would drop by with brunch and that we would then spend the rest of the day looking for garage sales, eating and spending money on things I didn't even know we needed at Costco (we did get some really good deals on stuff we're going to use anyways... I drew the line at 24 rolls of paper-towel - we don't need a 2 yr. supply of the stuff).  Now don't get me wrong, I made some poor decisions, I could have opted to stay home... but then I wouldn't have gotten 6x as many razor blades for the same price as usual, or found that perfect cabinet for over my toilet that I've been searching for ;)

It was slightly overwhelming, and a little nerve wracking wondering how I was going to get the bare minimum done in time, when I realized that it was great having everyone over and seeing them all, and that my friends, are coming down to visit me... not my house, it's just a box to hold all my stuff and keep me cool during the day.

I was also reminded that although family may be the people that drive you the most crazy, they're also there when it counts.  I'd like to sincerely thank Auntie Mayweather for cleaning my shower floor, I was hoping to get it half that clean, and she spent the better part of her morning before work scrubbing away my dirty footy-prints. 

It. looks. Ah-maze-ing! So amazing in fact, that I have resolved hence-forth to wash my dirty feets *before* getting into the shower.

Thank you Auntie Mayweather. No seriously. Thank you, so much... I owe you one.

Adventures in bathroom fixes

One phone call to my Dad for moral support (to see if he thought I could do it) as well as some safety first on how to check if something's *hot*... (preferrably the right way, not the 'just touch both wires with a screw driver while holding the plastic handle - and if it sparks it's hot' kind of way)

Also, I had colour coded the wires with tape so I could plug the fan I took out back in the right way, but I wasn't sure if there was a way to tell with the new one I was getting, which way it should go... Also I wanted to check if they had mickey-moused it by just twisting the wires together - Apparently not, as that's totally standard as long as they have those caps on, and since it's a/c it really doesn't matter which way you wire the fan in... which was good for me because they clipped the plug and wired it into two black wires.

Note from common sense: If you use these comments for home or bathroom reno's of any kind you're an idiot, I'm not a professional, and this is not an advice column.

One replacement upgrade kit later, that was much too large... partly because I guessed the worn off model number wrong, partly because I got excited about 50% stronger and 25% quieter! ...and partly because there's no perspective for how big something is online... *sigh* Oh well it will probably fit the downstairs bathroom :p

Once I had the boring replacement unit I still had to unscrew and flip the nuts around that hold the damn motor together, and swap on the old fan blade because the new one wouldn't fit through the hole... no upgraded fan experience for me :(

It sure is nice to hear the white noise of my bathroom fan again this morning though... for something I don't usually notice, I sure missed you ;)

"Day"-ja vu

That feeling that you've already been here today...

Oh wait, we have.

We literally went everywhere twice yesterday... except garage saling first thing in the morning...

We drove all the way out to Pomona to move the Ninja's cousin into his new place for school, drove all the way back picked up some stuff from Home Depot and then got the phone call to meet up for dinner at Gen Korean BBQ... back near Pomona...

Got cleaned up and organized, and on our way out there the plans changed... to Gen Korean BBQ near where we had just passed on the freeway, we exited, saw this Stop Korean BBQ place and researched it on the way back to the other one...

The other one had just opened and was crazy packed, so we changed plans and looped *back* around to Stop Korean BBQ via the freeway... which was less busy, and was able to seat our party of 8 when everyone got there *phew*

That's not all though... here's the kicker:

After dinner, we were going to play pool but the pool hall was a little more upscale than our collective skill set... so we ended up going home and playing at Scratch... which is in the same complex as the Home Depot

I'm not sure how it happened but it felt like something out of an episode of circus-circus

:p

Labour day weekend, how appropriate

562 trips to Home Depot and the project we started last weekend has an end in sight... of course that's what we thought yesterday... and the day before that.

Before we discovered that we needed just one more floor tile and they wanted to sell us the entire case... before a nice guy said this case is already open, its garbage to me (you can have that one)... and we hastily exited the store whispering "Start the car! Start the car!!!" Before we cut one wrong...

and as a desperate last measure cut it in half with mad exacto knife skills and made an overlap to fit ;)

Which was just before it turned 11 and was too late to nail in the base boards for fear of waking the neighbors... So here we are again, 12 hours later caulking the baseboards because they "mostly fit" and the end is still in sight...

The list is getting smaller, but each item has sub items you don't even know about until you get there... *fingers crossed* the end is drawing near, I can feel it!

Lady luck

I've come to the conclusion that lady luck smiles on different people in different ways... some people are lucky with parking and some with cards...

But me? well I'm just lucky. 

Not in any predictable way of course (because that might be useful), but I consider it the very best kind of luck.  I'm lucky when I need it, and sometimes when I don't think I need it or deserve it, like good karma.

Sometimes I win raffles, I get this tingly feeling literally just before it happens, like I just know it's going to happen, and then it does! Sometimes I have good shopping days, where I find everything I'm looking for, and it's even in my size! I've even had days where I'm able to find things someone else is looking for... in *their* size!

I think one of my favorites, was my Dad picking out a girl at a ski swap saying "You look about the same height as my daughter, go pick out a pair of ski boots" and she found me a $275 pair of boots (that still had the price tag on the bottom) which Dad picked up for ~$20... Which I then proceeded to wear for the next 18 years, until they were so completely and utterly packed out they hurt my son's and my feets. I never got to thank her, but I wish I could because they were wonderful! 

Recently I've been contemplating buying a wet suit so I can surf in the "winter" (who am I kidding, I'm acclimated and wussy now), but the trouble is that each brand fits a little bit differently.  I'd been looking at the swap meet because I don't need a new one, but was really struggling with sizing, some looked good in the top but then the legs were for someone with treetrunk thighs and the crotch came down to my knees :/ others were a good length, but were designed with Peter Pan in mind and there was no way they were going to fit over my boobs... 

So this last weekend we had gone to the swap meet with a list, the top item being a surf board bag... and we hadn't found it anywhere (so I bought a punching bag instead)... and then the Ninja found me the leather jacket I've been looking for for ages, and *then* while I was buying a churro because I was starving...

 

she found the surfboard guy we'd missed earlier! He said he didn't usually sell board bags, but since she was so charming and we'd come to the swap meet looking for just that and he *happened* to have an extra one he'd make an exception and sell it to me, and then I spotted this wetsuit over in the corner...

I liked it, and it looked like the most likely to fit candidate so far, but I was still wary about buying it without trying it on... and then he said I can give you a deal on the board bag and the wetsuit together, and tell you what, I'm here every Sunday... if the suit doesn't fit you can exchange it until you find something that works for you. 

*mentally SOLD*

At which point I had to ask the Ninja how much cash she had... *grins* I think we literally walked away from that swap meet with $4 left... in her pocket ;)

Oh, and the wetsuit? Fits like a glove *grins*

How convenient?!

The recipe called for two yolks, and I thought I was going to need two eggs.  Luckily I cracked this one first!