I've created a monster

My dad and brother in-law played Wii golf for 4 hours today. I don't think my mom is very happy that I took the Wii up to their house for the holidays. Whoopsies!

A poll

I really like receiving christmas cards, but I have no desire to send out my own. Does this make me a bad person?

Brinkley's Latest Adventure aka my most recent embarrassment

I'm still working on getting Brinkley to stop stealing things from the kitchen counter (I realize I've been working on this for over a year). This morning he decided to steal the dish scrubber so I kicked him out on to the porch. My mom built me a gate for the stairs so he is confined to the deck...or so I thought.
Just as I was about to let him back in the house he must have seen something really exciting (I suspect a rabbit) and he jumped over the gate and ran down the stairs. To make a long story short I found him in a house down the street. Needless to say the people who live there were a little shocked when he ran in the door but at least he didn't run on to 14th street and get hit by a car. My neighbors were also very understanding.

Video Games

My housemate Sheena bought a Nintendo Wii and I've been having a lot of fun learning how to play. I wasn't allowed to play video games when I was a kid so in addition to my natural lack of hand-eye coordination I also have almost no practice.
As a fun little perk on top of the games designed especially for the Wii you can also download old Nintendo games like the Super Mario games. So far I've made it to game #5 in the first level of Super Mario 3. Apparently that's not good. I'm way better at the Wii specific games...not as many buttons, a lot more spastic moving around...much more my speed.
Inspite of my lack of skills I'm still managing to waste a lot of my time playing the Wii. I now understand how you can end up spending an entire afternoon playing a video game and not really realize it. Its just so much fun! So far my favourite time wasters are fishing, shooting, and cow racing. Classy, I know.

Trips

I'm starting to think about what I am going to do after I finish school. I think I should go on a trip to celebrate, but I'm still trying to figure out where to go and for how long. A lot of my travel plans are dependent on how much money I can save up. I'm hoping to get a part time job next semester and then hopefully I'll be able to substitute teach in May and June as well. If that all goes as planned I'm currently considering the following destinations:

• Australia: Not the most adventurous, but there are a lot of opportunities for fun activities and it would be a good introduction to solo travel.
• Central America: A bit more adventure with the option of a side trip to the Caymans to visit my friend Nicole.
• The Trans-Siberian Railway: Currently at the top of my list. Big adventure, but also big cost considering I'd be flying to Beijing and then home from somewhere in Europe.

Unfortunately all of this is purely fiction at this point until I know how things are going to work out in terms of jobs etc. but its always fun to plan! If you have any other suggestions send them along!

Soap

I've decided to give bar soap another chance. I'm not sure exactly when it happened but at some point I started using bodywash and gave up on bar soap. So far the bar soap is working out pretty well. It is a lot cheaper and has way less packaging than bodywash which are both great features. The only problem so far is that the first bar went missing after about a week...I'm pretty sure the dog ate it. Whoops!

Back to School

Well, it's that time of year and I'm back at Elementary school for one more practicum before they hopefully give me a degree. I'm at my old elementary school which is fun and a little bit weird all at the same time. I teach Kindergarten in the mornings and grade 2 in the afternoon. So far it is a pretty good mix. Here are a few things that have happened so far:

• One girl cut her hair today while she was at the art center...I had to break the news to her mom. Luckily her mom wasn't mad. I swear it wasn't my fault...she knew better.
  
• Three of my students asked me if they could join lawn bowling after I told them about winning the trophy this year.
  
• I learned that duck, duck, goose is still a cool game if you're 5.
  

Lawn Bowling Champs!

Last Sunday was our wrap up party for lawn bowling for the year. We had beautiful weather and everyone had a great time playing a few final games. Unfortunately the Cupcakes didn't make it to the final round of the tournament but it turns out we did win the league play for the year! London 2012 here we come! I'll post a photo of our trophy as soon as I take one. Stay tuned!

Stop Drinking!

I think our obsession with hydration has gone too far. On the way to frisbee today I saw a woman wearing a fuel belt while walking her dog. Slowly. I cannot for the life of me imagine a scenario where she really needed to be wearing a fuel belt. Why did we become so obsessed with carry water? Are we becoming camels? Is the next step excessive spitting?

My new goals

Now that we're getting to the end of the summer I've decided it's time to set some new goals. I guess I've decided that I need goals in order to keep myself from spending all of my time napping. So, here it goes:

1. Learn how to play the guitar. I think this is an important skill for an elementary school teacher. My playschool teacher, Brenda, played the guitar and I still remember that.
   
2. Get better at frisbee. If I'm going to keep playing this game I need to be better at it...it's starting to become embarrassing.
   
3. Be more organized. I'm basically a complete disaster. It is a complete miracle that I am able to pay my bills on time.
   
4. Learn about moderation. I need to learn how to buy a box of fudgsicles and not eat them all in three days.
   

I think I better stop there. That seems like a lot of stuff to accomplish. I think I need a nap.

Oh Brinkley! What a star. My housemate's super computer is awesome...I wish I was fancy enough for a Macbook Pro! Make sure your sound is turned on, it makes the video way funner.

Pooch loves the sun

Rap for the Hearing Impaired

It could happen.

How about a hobo?

I am watching TV right now and a Dairy Queen commercial just came on that is yet another example of a trend that has taken over TV. This isn't really a new trend but I haven't ranted about it yet. Apparently TV has decided to try to disrupt the natural order which tends to match up people of equal hotness, intelligence etc. Most of us know this as the number system and frankly I think it has worked fairly well thus far.

There are a lot of TV shows on right now that have a super hot wife and a painfully average husband and we are supposed to believe they are an "average couple". In addition to looks the men on these shows are generally sort of dopey and the wives do a lot of sighing and eye-rolling. In reality this is an 8 married to a 3 which we all know is basically crazy.

The reason that these shows bother me is that if these super hot women are supposed to date/marry the chubby-average-dopey guys, who is an average girl like me supposed to date? A hobo?

Seriously.

Really?

Dear annoying girl on the train,

No matter how nice your lulu lemon pants are they are not dress pants. This means that they should not be worn with stilettos, even pink patent leather stilettos. In addition, you really only need to carry one bag. I realize you think you look extra stylish when you carry your fake Chanel purse but when you put your superman backpack over the other shoulder it kind of ruins it. Finally, the jewel you had put in your front tooth, really not cool. Unless your name is Chingy it pretty much just looks like you have food in your teeth.

Thanks for understanding

Hair Cut

I was having a low self-esteem day today so I got a haircut. The jury is still out on this one...it involves bangs. Here are the pros and cons so far:

Pros:

• My forehead doesn't look as big
• I think I look less like a librarian
• Sheena says I look less pointy
• I think its a bit "trendier"
  

Cons:

• Bangs can be unpredictable
• I think I'm going to have to shower more
• I may not be able to see the frisbee at ultimate
• I'm not sure I can pull off "trendy"
  

Science

Welcome to grade one science.

GlaS Petl
we mebit into a god shap we pot wois on it and slakrKs.
we taPt the GasPetl to the stro sothaT itworodFlot bek Holbti to Flot. wekivroThe ois
we kitthe plat and pota rok on The Plae metle woshrs Aad tiis.

Hint: We were doing an experiment where they had to make objects that float sink, and objects that sink float. Have fun!

Home Alone

My housemate went to visit her sister for a few days so it's just me and the dog at home this weekend. I'm really bad at living alone. Here are a few reasons why:

1. I'm not very good at entertaining myself.
2. I start talking to the dog (more than usual).
3. I watch too many home improvement shows and then feel bad about what my house looks like.
4. I get a bit too chatty with strangers at the coffee shop.
5. I get scared when its dark and have to check for bad guys around every corner like the cops on TV.

I'm always curious what percentage of the population prefers to live alone? I guess it would have some advantages such as not having to worry about your dog ruining other peoples stuff and being able to walk around in your underpants, but at this point I'm willing to forgo those potential benefits for the piece of mind that comes with knowing the bad guys only have a 50/50 chance of getting to me first.

My skinny dog

I took Brinkley to the vet this week. He had to have blood taken so that they could check his thyroid levels again. He has hypothyroidism which resulted in low energy and some weight gain for the poor guy. I'm happy to report that his thyroid levels are fine and he has lost 5kg! He is now pretty much at his ideal weight at 41kg (~90lbs).
I also purchased the FURminator last weekend and I have been having a great time getting rid of all of Brinkley's loose hair! (I know, I really need to get a life.) I was a bit skeptical about the Furminator, rarely do products work as well in real life as they claim to in the demo, but the Furminator has been worth every penny, its amazing! I highly recommend it.
A few other things that I have discovered about Brinkley over the past few weeks:
- He's scared of Snowmen. We saw one on our walk a few weeks ago and we had to turn around because he wouldn't walk past it. Then some kids built a snowman across from my house and he spent a full night barking at it while I was trying to sleep. I tried closing the blinds, but then he ate them.
- He loves raw potatos. He stole one the other day while I was cooking and apparently he's found a new favourite food. A bit weird. But a lot cheaper than TV remotes (the count is up to 12) and rawhides so I'm all for it!

Painting, Ping Pong, and Rec Rooms!

It has been a very busy weekend. Since Sue moved out Sheena decided to move upstairs, but before she did we had to paint the room. As it turns out I am the world's worst painter. You might think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I managed to mess up the trim, cutting, and I even got paint in my eye...and all I had to do was paint three walls white. Not to worry though, once I stopped trying to help Sheena got all the painting done and it looks great.

So how that we have the whole basement empty we decided to turn it into a rec room! First step in creating a rec room: A ping pong table!! I found one on craigslist and picked it up today. It is soooooo fun!!! The next step for the rec room is the purchase of a Nintendo Wii (Sheena is buying it, not me. I'm a poor student, I can't afford stuff like that). We have a couch and chair all setup with the TV down there just waiting for the Wii. Unfortunately it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a Wii! Oh well, we'll find one eventually and then the rec room will be close to completion. After that it'll be time for a party!

Unhibernation League...again

Unhibernation league is going to start up again the first week in February. Thanks to Ali and Andrew for hosting the first event in December. For those of you who couldn't make it we had a great time decorating gingerbread houses...well until Jon accidentally stepped on Maarten's gingerbread house, that part was pretty sad...especially for Maarten. I have too much homework to get anything planned for this week but it is definitely starting the week after because I really can't handle too many more nights hanging out at home with my dog. (wow, that sounds even more pathetic in print than it did in my head). Anyways, for those of you who are interested I'll be sending out an email with an event sometime this week. If you don't hear from me send me an email to remind me to plan something...I'm a bit forgetful.

oh, also an update on my new years resolutions...I'm switching it to one chin up...they're REALLY hard!

The Golden Globes

Phrases uttered in my house while watching the Golden Globes:

My dog's life is hard like Beyonce's

If you're Diddy, I'm Chingy

It must suck to be that one non-funny British person. Everyone would have such high expectations and then nothing.

I'd hate to go to an awards show. I'd feel so homely. I mean, I realize these celebrities have a lot of people helping to make them beautiful, but I don't think they're exactly uggo's when they wake up in the morning.

I wonder if they use paint chips to match the colour of their spray on tans to their dresses

Why is that guy from that movie with Jessica Simpson presenting at the Golden Globes?

Resolutions

I think I'm generally against the idea of new years resolutions. Primarily because I have a hard time wrapping my head around a period of time as long as a whole year. So I think this list is really more of a list of general things I'd like to be able to do in the next little while...let's say 3 months-ish.

1. Do 5 chin-ups...in a row. Currently I can do 0 chin-ups.
   
2. Knit something other than a scarf
3. Run faster
4. Drink champagne for a whole night to see if i have a hangover the next day. (there is a rumor that you won't get a hangover from champagne if that is all you drink...I'm intrigued)
5. Read the Economist every week

I think if I can accomplish at least 3 of these I'll be pretty happy.

Hawaiitis

I seem to be suffering from a fairly severe case of hawaiitis. It is a pretty debilitating disease. The symptoms are as follows:

• Lethargy
• reddening (or browning) of the skin
• increased body temperature
• cravings for alcohol and "tapas"
• inability to make decisions

I've been doing my best to work through the disease but its pretty hard. Anyways, happy new year!