The Funky Olive

Bottle bombs... what next?

2010-06-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

I was just reading this blog post by Amie titled "Bottle Bomb Danger" I hadn't heard of this yet, but what is wrong with our world today that people would stoop so low as to place these bottle bombs, and place them around in various places, like even in your yard or mail box! Good lord, we're not even safe in our own yards any more!

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Witch's tits

2008-02-10T16:52:00.000-05:00

I dunno. The saying goes "It's colder than a witch's tit". I've never been near a witch that I know of, and nor would I entertain the thought of touching a witch's tit, so I'll never know how cold that really is. But one thing I do know, is it's freakin' freezing cold outside here today! After almost a full week in my jammies, I put on some real clothes today and trekked out to get some much needed groceries in this house. I was blown away (almost literally!) at how cold it was out there! There's a strong and very nasty bitter cold north wind blowing. Needless to say it was a royal pita loading groceries into the trunk of the car, with that strong wind relentlessly fighting to blow the hood of the trunk down on my head! I just hope going out in that crap doesn't have any side effects on this nasty cold I've been down with. I'm sick of being sick!

Olivia

oh c'mon Mr. Blogger! Fix the damn spell check already, will ya?!

Oh yeah!

2008-02-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago or so I had posted about a cute little crocheted hoodie sweater I made and at the time of the post had it in the washer being fulled. Well, here's a picture of the now very tiny sweater. Gosh that green looks pukish in the picture. It's really a nice funky olive green color in person. However, it turned out much smaller than I had anticipated. I wanted it to end up fitting say a 6 - 9 month old, or even a wee bit bigger, which the little green mary janes would fit, but it's come out more 0 - 3 month, and maybe even bordering preemie size. Know anyone with a cabbage patch kid that's in need of a hoodie? I don't even want to bother putting a zipper in this one now, because I think it's kind of pointless. Just goes to show you though, there really is no rule of thumb when it comes to fulling or felting wool. The mary janes shrank much more minimally than the sweater, and they're crocheted with the same brand, type and dye lot even of wool as the sweater. I can only assume it's because there was more body to the sweater to allow for more agitation in the wash, hence more friction to the fibres resulting in more shrinkage. Well that's my theory anyway, and I'm going to stick with it! I really do love this sweater pattern though, and I think I might make another, but not in a wool yarn to felt -- this time I'll try a nice cotton or bamboo yarn instead and make a lighter weight springier looking hoodie, since Spring is going to be early this year, according to our beloved Wiarton Willie the groundhog that pokes his head out of his hole every Groundhog day here in Ontario to give his prediction!

Olivia

arrgh! this non-working spell checker is making me crazy!

Statcounter surprise!

2008-02-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

This is cool! I was just checking out the statistics on my stat counter to see what kind of hits I've had lately on my shop and this blog. So I see this one visitor to this blog on February 4th is from my home town -- Nanaimo, British Columbia. I thought for sure it was my sister checking to see if I had any new posts up, but then I noticed this person came in through a google search, and I knew it wasn't my sister then. Cool! They came up with this google search... This content is currently unavailable, which, when I clicked on that link made me happy to know that my post I did titled "Thith content ith currently unavailable" when I was frustrated with trying to watch the Price is Right show at the CBS website. I guess I'm not the only one out here that gets frustrated by hearing those annoying words when trying to see something online, because that has been searched many times, according to my stats. I was just excited to see that this time it was someone from my home town that visited this blog that time. Hello Nanaimo, whoever you are!! :-)

Olivia

curses to the spell checker here at Blogger for still not working! :-P

It's a beautiful day!

2008-02-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

It's nice and sunny out. I hear some birds chirping too. Mind you, there's still snow on the ground, and on my car, and I'm not sure if it's cold out or not. However, all kinds of icky gunky and sometimes a little chunky stuff is coming out of my nose and being horked up from my lungs. What a beautiful welcomed sight that is! As gross as it is, at least I know this nasty clinging swirly cold is finally breaking up and coming out! YAY!!! I'm sick of being sick!

I did do a little knitting while I've been in bed this week. I'm almost finished the second sleeve of a sweater I started making myself in the early fall. Then I'll just have to put it together and knit up the collar and stitch on some buttons. It's a quick knit, because the yarn is quite bulky. But I have this bad habit of not following a pattern completely. I have this inner need to modify this, and tweek that, so the style suits my liking a wee bit more. This particular sweater was to be a bit longer, as in come down over the hips. Well, I didn't want that, so I shortened it up a few inches, and then I decided that I wanted more of a 3/4 length sleeve, rather than long sleeves. This is where my problem came in. I had to modify the stitches and the increases, in order to end up with the proper sized top of the sleeve, that will fit the sleeve opening on the sweater. Before I went to Cuba back in November, I did the first sleeve, and was very careful to make sure I wrote down exactly what I was doing for when it came time to make the next sleeve. So I went on my vacation, and when I got back it was that time of year to put all my free attention towards Christmas, so the sweater got further tossed back on my list of to-dos. A couple weeks ago, I got back to it, and was devastated to find that I had lost my crib notes on my sleeve modifications! Ack! Now I had to read the actual knitting on the first sleeve, which is something I'm not real good at. I lose track when I'm counting, or I get off track by a column or two, altering the count. To make matters worse, this sweater is brown, so the darker color is even worse for me to try to count, with my eyes not being the greatest. Yes, I do have to get to an optometrist real soon! Anyway, the other day, after I finished knitting a wool hat for hubby, and I was feeling a little bit better at the time, I tackled this sleeve again, and I think I've finally got it! So I have a few more rows to knit up now, and hopefully I'll still get to wear this sweater before the warm weather gets here again! I'd take a picture of the hat I made (on one of those big corking rings) but hubby is out right now, and appears to have his new hat on.

Until next time...

Olivia

p.s. for some reason the spell checker doesn't want to work here all of a sudden, so I apologize for any typos I have committed!

Cough, gag, sputter, sputter, cough, cough

2008-02-08T07:47:00.000-05:00

Man oh man, I've been down with a nasty cold all week. It seems as I get older these damn colds really seem to knock me on my ass when I get them now. They never used to stop me before. Maybe slow me down a bit, but that's about it. Now though, I'm literally put to bed by them, and they seem to last longer too. This one started on me last weekend. I had a bit of a sore throat when I was out at a friend's place last Saturday night, and woke up Sunday to a sore throat and my entire body aching from head to toe. I went to work Monday, and ended up coming home early. Well, if you can call an hour and a half really early, but that was the earliest I could get out of there. Straight to bed is where I went, and I slept through that night and the next day. Wednesday I felt a wee bit better in the latter part of the day, and then I felt like major crap yesterday morning, so another full day of sleep in bed. I thought for sure I would be able to go to work this morning, but it seems this cold has swirled once again, and it's gone from my throat and chest yesterday back to my head -- runny nose, sinus headache and sneezing again. What the hell? Are these cold strains getting worse as the years go by, or is old age creeping up on me with a vengence and my body is weakening to the point of not being able to fight back like I used to be able to? I'm really getting tired of this nasty bed head hair I have from sleeping so much!

Achooooo!

Olivia

Productive

2008-01-27T16:30:00.000-05:00

pro·duc·tive: \prə-ˈdək-tiv, prō-\
adjective
1: having the quality or power of producing especially in abundance
2:
effective in bringing about
3 a: yielding results, benefits, or profits b: yielding or
devoted to the satisfaction of wants or the creation of utilities
4: continuing to be used in
the formation of new words or constructions
5: raising mucus or sputum (as from the
bronchi)

Oh yuck on number 5! The kind of productive I'm referring to here today is more of a number 3 I guess. What I'm getting at, is that today is turning out to be a productive day for me. I'm multi-tasking here, and getting a good amount of tasks accomplished. In other words, I've managed to keep my ass out of the Pogo website so I can get some stuff done! Yes, I've ended up reviving my addiction to playing online games at Pogo again. It's fun, but it doesn't get stuff done!

So today, as most Sundays are around here is laundry day, and I started out with a nice mountain of it today! But while I've been doing the laundry chores, I've been getting other things done as well. Had the oven on cleaning cycle, the dishwasher going, and pre-sprayed my bathroom down with Tilex, wiped down the kitchen then swept and mopped the floors throughout the main part of the house. That's like what... five or six different tasks going all at once?! Cool! Work smarter, not harder! Once I was done with the floors I went and finished off the bathroom, then unloaded the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Still switching laundry loads, I did some dusting and then I decided to sit on my butt and finish off the last sleeve on a sweater that I have been crocheting. But even though I was sitting on my butt, I was still multitasking. While crocheting, I sat at the computer, and watched an episode of Celebrity Apprentice online that I had missed on TV. After that, I went on the hunt for the first episode of Moment of Truth, which is a new reality TV game show that aired this past Wednesday on Fox. My sister was telling me about it last night on the phone, and I wanted to see if I could find any video coverage of it online. I managed to find an 8 minute condensed clip of the first show at YouTube, so I watched that, and decided it will be part of my Wednesday night line up! You can view the entire episode at Fox on demand, but I didn't bother attempting to download the player you need there, because it never worked for me on my old computer, and I don't want to clutter this one up with a bunch of useless crap!

Anyway, now I've got my sweater in the wash, being felted. I should have taken a before picture of it, but apparently I wasn't thinking at the time! It's green though -- I used the same green wool that I made the little felted Mary Jane slippers out of, that I posted previously. I hope it looks good after the felting process, because it sure was cute before! It's a little hoodie sweater. Aww, simply adorable! Anyway, I'll post a pic here when it's done... if it turns out okay! ;-)

Olivia

Cha-ching! Aww, crap!

2008-01-20T14:57:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately the Cha-ching is outgoing, and not incoming for me. Not a nice week I've had! My computer cacked on me this week. I thought it was Monday night, but I guess from looking at my last post, it was on Tuesday night. Whatever.

So here I am, back in black, since my system is black, scrambling to get all my email addresses and links back. What a nightmare this trip has been! And you know, I said it the last time my older puter died that I was going to be faithful and back up regularly to cd my stuff --pictures and crap like that. Yeah, I did it for a bit, but then I got lazy and well, what can I say, other than the burn hurts like hell! The worst of it, other than digital pictures that are long gone, never to have again, is trying to remember all those damned passwords and user names I have here and there. I'm never ever, ever going to have Windows remember my passwords again. I'm going to write them down in a book, the old fashioned way! Same with email addresses. So many people out there now that I have to wait until I hear from again before I get their address. Shit! I really don't think I like the new Windows Mail program that has replaced Outlook Express in Windows Vista. I suppose like anything else though, that I'll get used to it eventually, but what a PITA in the meantime! I had to actually call my server support to help me set up my addresses too, because I couldn't seem to get either one of them working.

One thing I do like about Vista is the gadget bar on the desktop. Is that traditional dial clock not the coolest thing ever?!! I love it! And I like the little post it notes too. That will come in handy when I'm adding new items to my Funky Olive shop, for copying and pasting. Cool beans!

Oh, another thing that sucks too... I was working on a new look for my shop, and all that work is gone down the tubes too. That blows. It was almost ready too. I was going to match my new website, The Funky Olive, that I haven't really done much with yet as well. Guess I'll have to start from scratch again. I don't have a choice, do I? Just a lot more work to do for me now.

Olivia

Before Ed Sullivan

2008-01-15T19:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so you young'ns out there are asking who the hell is Ed Sullivan? Us old fogies remember Sunday nights gathering 'round the one boob tube with the whole family to watch the Ed Sullivan Show. It was on this show that we were introduced to many that would turn out to be extremely famous people. We're talking Elvis, Michael Jackson, and numerous others including The Beatles!

I was just a very small child at the time, but I do remember those Sunday nights. I got to stay up a little later, so I could see the little mouse named Topo Gigio segment. My older sisters and brothers were excited to see these new singers that they would buy records of, but I was so happy to see that cute little Topo come on the tv screen!

Anyway, enough of the trip down memory lane, and to the main purpose of this post. I heard on the radio today that this company named Fuego Entertainment claim they have acquired 15 very old live Beatles tracks. They were apparently recorded in 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, while the band was performing at a place called the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

These tracks are believed to be the earliest live recordings of The Beatles after Ringo Starr joined up with the band. And apparently they also have a snapshot of the band while they're performing to a crowd of about 20 or 30 people. Knowing how huge they became, that's so hard to believe, but I suppose there has to be a starting point for every great band!

Olivia

Listen and learn

2008-01-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

I know I've blogged about Capella U. -- the accredited online university -- before, but I just learned something rather new that they have at their site. They now have regular podcasts, which are available at http://www.capellacommons.com. They offer an rss subscribe feed to these podcasts, and you can also subscribe to them through iTunes. These podcasts ordinarily run about 15 minutes long, and consist of different interviews with actual students of Capella, as well as faculty and staff.

For those of you that are not familiar with Capella U., they are an online university based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 1993, they have been offering both graduate degree and bachelor's degree programs in various areas from business and education to public health and information technology to students from 56 different countries throughout the world.

Olivia

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

The rat came back...

2008-01-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

I was watching the news tonight, anxiously awaiting the live drawing of the ten grand prizes for the Canadian Cancer Society that I have a ticket on. Needless to say, dinner was ready and while I went to dish me up some grub, they managed to quickly flip from a segment on some awards show that took place yesterday to the drawing. So I missed seeing the first five draws. I didn't win the last five draws, and I'm hoping I might have won one of the first five. That would be pretty cool! They were cash and car prizes, or you could take all cash. I'd opt for the all cash personally, and buy my own choice of vehicle... maybe even a newly used one at that. I hate that depreciation factor as soon as you drive a new car off the lot the first time!

Anyway, one segment they had that I found pretty interesting, was about this team of scientists at the University of Minnesota that have managed to create a new beating heart. They started out with a dead heart from a rat, and injected it with stem cells from newborn rats, which in turn brought it back to life and they actually showed it beating! Pretty cool! Now of course they said that a rat's heart isn't going to work for a human, but a pig's heart could, and they would inject it with the recipients own stem cells, which should in turn avoid the problem of the body rejecting it. Pretty cool science, if you ask me!

Olivia

Court case money tied up?

2008-01-14T18:55:00.000-05:00

Say you've had a personal injury claim, and you've gone through the court proceedings. Judgment is in your favor -- you've won your case! Finally, you're going to be paid for those medical bills, loss of income while you've been off work, or will never be able to return to work. In the meantime though, your bills have been piling up with no income. You owe everyone in your circle of family and friends that have kindly helped you out during this time. Your payout is going to be in the form of Structured Settlement Payments. While it's nice to know that you will be compensated for your misfortune, you still need access to a chunk of that money now, so you can settle up with all your debts. So what do you do? Get in touch with a company like PPI Cash, and they'll go to bat for you to free up some of that cash for you based on your current financial needs. They can arrange for you to receive a lump sum payout for either all or just a portion of your payments, making things a little easier on you financially now.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Over 100K!!!

2008-01-14T17:56:00.000-05:00

Oh my God! I just went and checked in on that Sky Commuter on eBay that I blogged about the other day. The auction ended this morning while I was at work, and I was curious as to how it ended. I can't believe it finished off at $131,700.00!! When I blogged about it on Saturday, it was sitting at $48,200. Looks like there was a major rush of last minute bids. That's the most exciting thing about selling something on eBay, for me at least, is refreshing the screen to see the bidding frenzy in the final minutes! How cool for that Steve dude! Mind you, I don't know what his cost was for this plane initially, plus the money he's put into it while he's had it as well. Now he didn't have a reserve price on it though, so my guess is that he's ending up with a tidy profit, and a little bit of online fame! Hmmm, wonder what I could find to sell for nice chunk of change...

Olivia

Dim and Squinty!

2008-01-13T23:58:00.000-05:00

I really need to get my butt to an Optometrist real soon. My eyes are getting worse by the minute. I've been wearing those cheap magnifying reader glasses that you can pick up for a buck at every dollar store, but I really need to go for an eye exam. I think by the time I do get a prescription for glasses, we might be talking bifocals! *GASP* I'm getting old!!!

Thankfully though, there is some really chic-looking eye wear out there, so I won't have to look like an old lady in my bi's! The only thing is, if you want some nice looking frames, you're going to pay for them. I get coverage through work. If you can call $100, every two years for glasses coverage, with what the end cost is! Now if I lived in the USA that would be great, because I found this Great Discovery: $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglassess! Can you believe it? $8 for some nice frames! I like these ones here, and they're only $8!

Sadly, I can't see where Zenni Optical ships Internationally, so I'll probably end up paying $100 or more some similar frames to these ones, plus the prescription glass and all the other extras to safeguard them from scratches, etc. In the end I'll probably have to pay about $300 or more for a pair of specs. Maybe I'll toss out an email to Zenni and see if they will ship to Canada. Wouldn't hurt to try. It would be great to be able to get a couple pairs. You know, spare pairs to go with different outfits and moods! Geez, with prices like that, a person could be just like Elton John and his wardrobe of glasses! ;-)

Olivia
~*This is a sponsored post*~

Cool looking glass!

2008-01-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

I was just browsing around on Etsy, when I went to double check my link for my last post, and I came across this one seller that sells all these cool mirrors. We're talking little purse mirrors. I'm going to order a few after I post this. I think they'd make great little gifts, and they're so fun too! This is the one I'm going to order for one of my sisters. She'll get a scream out of it!

Anyway, check out My Favorite Mirror, and see all the cool things they have for sale. Their prices are great too!

Olivia

Nice Booty!

2008-01-13T22:14:00.000-05:00

I don't really know why I'm doing this, but lately I've been crocheting up some little booties. You know, the ones for babies?! Okay, I do have two little twin great nephews that I could make things for, but did I? No! I did little girl booties! So I don't know what I'm going to do with them exactly when they're done, but they're going to be cute, from the looks of them so far.

I've really got into felting, and I had a vision that some felted baby booties would be just to gosh darned cute, so I had to make that vision come to life. I've started with three pairs of booties that I crocheted from 100% wool. I then water felted them, and they're cute on their own like this...

They're stuffed right now while they finish drying by the way. So anyway, I want to embellish them still. You know, jazz them up a bit! I'm going to needle felt some sort of decoration on them, to give them a little oomph.

I had received some money for Christmas this year, so I decided to buy some felting needles and some wool roving to try my hand at needle felting. I've been intrigued by it, and what all you can with it. I want to try some sculptures with this medium. So far I've just made a ball, with a another ball felted to it, and this serves as a pin cushion kind of thingy to stick these wicked needles into so I don't have some sort of accident with a stray needle. They're really sharp, and they have barbs on them as well. I tried to get a close up of the needles with my camera, but I couldn't manage to get those little barbs to show clearly, but here's a picture -- a kind of blurry one at that -- of the needle felted pin cushion ball I made, and it's holding my needles...

So what I'll do with these booties when they're done, I haven't quite decided yet. Maybe my niece will get pregnant again and have a little girl for the twins to protect when they get older! Or maybe I'll try selling them on Etsy or something. I've never sold anything there before, but it may be worth checking it out. I don't know... we'll see.

Olivia

A golden outlook

2008-01-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

So another year has passed, and a new one has started. So many people have new dreams for the following year ahead of us. Some want to go on vacations. Some want to move to a nicer or bigger house. Some want to get a shiny new car. And most of us want to have good health and prosperity.

I of course plan on working as hard as I can to help paying down my debt. It's looking pretty good since this time last year, so I must be doing something right. I just want to be able to do a little better this year. Okay a lot better is fine too! It would be nice to be debt free and be able to invest more for my retirement. I wouldn't lock everything into any sort of registered retirement fund though. Uh-uh. I would like to be able to spread it around a bit, and invest in other avenues as well. Take gold and silver for example. Have you ever followed the prices of these precious metals for any length of time to see how they're rising? Gold has more than doubled in price over the last five years -- almost tripled, in fact. Same goes for silver too. It sure would be nice to be able to have a few extra bucks to spend at Monex on some gold and silver, and sock it away in a safety deposit box for a couple decades, but for now I have to concentrate on paying that loan of mine off! ;-)

Olivia

Havana, Cuba -- A Must See!

2008-01-12T17:05:00.000-05:00

While we were in Cuba, we decided to check out the capital city, Havana. We booked our day trip to Havana through our Sunquest rep at the hotel, and we paid $125 CUB each for this excursion. For that we had a brand new tour bus take us to Havana from Varadero. We had a tour around the city, stopping at the International building to take pictures of the bustling sights, people and wonderful architecture that makes up this city. We stopped for lunch at a nice spot and that was included as well. It was a typical meal that you would receive at any hotel, and yes, the food in Cuba is somewhat on the boring side, but you have to consider you're in a third world country, and if you're going on a trip with the main purpose of what you'll be eating, then I suggest you go elsewhere in the world.

After lunch we carried on to Old Havana for a 45 minute walking tour, that was very informative by our guide. We were able to wander around on our own there for another hour afterwards, where we took in a mariachi band, and soaked in the sights. From there, at 5pm, we were whisked off to the Habana Libre, which was initially the Havana Hilton. We were divided into 3 groups; 2 of 8 and 1 of 7, and given a room for each group with a key for each person, where we could freshen up with a shower and get changed to our evening clothes. Also included was the buffet dinner and one drink for everyone of us. The buffet at this hotel was far superior to the buffet at our hotel in Varadero, and we really enjoyed it.

At 9 pm our bus picked us up at the hotel and we headed for the Tropicana. It was so exciting pulling up to this famous cabaret, and walking in to the wonderful courtyard area where the show is performed. Upon entry to the courtyard, each woman was handed a flower, and each man a cigar. Our seats were very good, in the third level up. I wouldn't want front row seats, as we saw another cabaret show at our own hotel the next day, and were in the front row. My personal opinion is that it is too close to take in the whole setting with one focus.

I had been reading a bunch of reviews online about this club, and found that people were pissed off at having to pay to use their camera during the show. I readily paid the extra $5. CUB to take pictures, and I don't think it's unreasonable for them to charge for this entitlement at all. How many shows have you been to where cameras are strictly prohibited? I know I have been to many, and I'm not that worldly at all. $15. CUB to take a video camera, and again, I don't think that's unreasonable either.

We were given one bottle of rum per four people, along with a can of coke and our table of eight shared a very large bucket of ice that certainly left no shortage for any of us. As well, we were each given a glass of sparkling wine, and a small personal plate of hor d'oeuvres, which we weren't hungry for from our lovely dinner at the hotel.

The 2 hour show was very colorful, and we found it extremely entertaining. Again, in the reviews I had read, people were bitching because there was only 30-40 girls onstage, and not the 100 that they were led to believe they would see. I didn't take the time to count the girls, but that wasn't something that was important to me. I don't see why it would be something that would require a certain number of girls in order to qualify as a good show. I do know that there were many of them on the stage, and in other areas of the courtyard, but how many exactly, who really cares?! I thought the costumes were very nice, and for all those people that left reviews about the old outdated costumes, they need to give their head a shake. Again, it's a third world country, where supplies are harder to get, and these costumes are used over and over for the shows, so there is bound to be some wear and tear on them, and I'd like to see what their shoes would look like after dancing a couple months like these dancers do. Scuffed up? Have you seen a ballerina's shoes close up? I think complaining like that is just petty and well, downright ridiculous! And where the repetition of the acts comes in, I don't get where they're coming from. There was definitely a variety of acts in the show, but if you think the butt shaking and parading around that these beautiful Cuban women do is supposed to look different with each number, then you just don't get it, period. Each act was unique to itself, but may have contained some of the same steps in the course of that act. I thought the choreography was great, and full of energy to keep the audience in awe.

Here's a small video from the show...

Our bus ride home, although late, was bustling with the satisfaction of money well spent for day we'll never forget! Once on the highway back to Varadero though, we all tried to catch a few zzz's for the rest of the journey.

Olivia

You taking your personal jetpack?

2008-01-12T14:53:00.000-05:00

Or your own little personal commuter plane that looks like something out of the space age? Don't have one? Well, for a mere 50K or so, you can have your own Sky Commuter. That's if you have that kind of dough kicking around, because the dude that's selling the last prototype of this plane wants guaranteed funds, as in cash in person, or a certified bank draft. Steve is his name, and he sells on eBay under the name pro-amc. This auction is currently sitting at $48,200, and it ends on Monday, January 14, 2008 at precisely 07:51:56 am PST. He's got a whack of pictures to go with it, and as well a whack of replies he's made to questions and comments about this craft. It's pretty cool to check out. Click on the picture and it will whisk you away to the auction; at least for as long as the link and pictures are viewable. Initially designed to fly to your destination, and then drive to the spot where you plan on parking it. I would assume it would fit in a regular parking spot, since it only measures 14 feet long and 8 feet wide. Oh, and before you consider upping the bucks to buy this plane and start making plans to take to the skies for a weekend trek to the Poconos in this two-seater flying machine, don't get too excited about it. Remember I said previously that it's the last prototype of this model that is left on earth? That's because it has never been off the ground, other than to be on a trailer in transport. The rest of these prototypes that were built all crashed in flight. Still though, you'd get some heads turning driving this puppy down the street to the local Walmart!

Olivia

Hello, is anyone in here?

2008-01-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

I guess you could say I've been on a blogging hiatus, huh? Life just gets too busy for me sometimes, and other times, I just get too damned lazy! I went on vacation in November. We went to Cuba. Stayed in Varadero. It was my first time going there, or anywhere that required me to have a passport with me for that matter. I'm a beach person, so Varadero was just perfect for me, with it's 22 km of stunning white sand beach front. And our hotel we stayed at, the Hotel Internacional, was right on the beach, as in we stepped off the terrace and we were walking on sand. Beautiful! Here are a few views we got to enjoy from our room on the top floor...

The two top pictures were taken later in the afternoon, and the bottom picture was taken in the very early morning, so you don't see too many people on the beach, but rest assured, the weather was beautiful, and many people, myself included frolicked in the waves during the main part of the day. The nice thing about going away in November, is that it's really off season, so the resorts and the beaches aren't overly crowded. Because of this, I know it looks like nobody was in the water in most of my pictures, but we really were! In fact, here's a picture of me in the water by myself. The people I was with were poos though, when it came to getting wet.

And just to prove that people other people were actually in the water, which I have to admit was warmer than the hotel pool, there's a picture of one of the many beach carts that come around to sell their wares. I loved those carts! And yes, I did support these guys buy buying some funky fish bone necklaces in festive colors. Can't wait until spring to wear them!

Another thing I loved about Cuba, besides the very friendly and accommodating people that live and work there, is how they make use of the old. The streets are loaded with these cool old cars. Yes, there are new models there as well, but the oldies were so much fun to see and to ride in!

The first picture is of my mother in law standing in front of a taxi that picked us up at the hotel to head to the big market in town. The second is a picture of the parking outside the International Building in Havana, and the third is another taxi that had stopped at the bank for us to change some money on our way to the big market in town, since we decided to go back and get a few things we had seen earlier and didn't want to go home kicking our butts for not getting them. Yours truly is the one standing up in the middle of the red taxi. That was when my hair was still long. I've had it cut since then. See, so much news to tell!

And as I said, the people in Cuba are so nice! They are definitely aimed at customer service and keeping the tourists happy! Here's a few pics of some of the people I met there, that will leave a lasting memory in my mind, and that I hope to be able to meet again on another trip...

The one thing that makes me really sad, is that I never did take a still picture of our beautiful maid, Marsaladies. She was such a sweetheart, and her genuine kindness came straight from the heart. I do have some video coverage with her on it, but I stupidly didn't take a regular picture. I can only hope that I will run into her again in the future. So, of the pictures here, we have our favorite "little" bartender, Jesus, and one of his co-worker pals, that I unfortunately don't know his name. Second we have Ricardo, who was an old man I had a conversation with in Havana. Well, tried to have a conversation with anyway! I don't speak Spanish, and he doesn't speak English, however we did manage to carry on a little chat. Third is my fisherman friend, Alberto. We met him fishing with many others down at the canal in Varadero. He was a nice old guy, and very readily answered all our questions.

Anyway, I better cut this off here now, before it scrolls down to the cores of the Internet with all this rambling and pictures I've shared! Bottom line though is that I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, and can't wait to go back again next year!

Ola! :-)

Olivia

They'll never starve!

2007-10-31T23:15:00.000-04:00

We've always teased my sister about her grocery shopping habits. Their fridge is always totally stocked up, the deep freeze is always full to the brim, and in their old house, she had this huge pantry cupboard that her daughters dubbed "the millennium cupboard", because it was jam-packed full of canned and dry goods. I don't know what it is about her, but I think she gets a little bit of that from our dad. He always liked a well stocked fridge and freezer too. So I guess she really does come by it honestly. And then of course she works as a cashier in a large grocery store, so she's in that element every day and sees all kinds of things to try out coming down the conveyor belt at her till.

Anyway, when they sold their house last year and bought their new, smaller home, she's had to adapt to not having a millennium cupboard, and having a much smaller fridge than her old house. She always hated this fridge she has now, complaining that it's too small. So when my brother in law was building a shed to store all the stuff he had temporarily placed in the garage, because they have no basement in this house, she told me once the garage was cleared out, they were going to put the fridge in there to keep extra beverages in, like a beer and pop fridge, and buy a new fridge for the kitchen. Great, now she'll have two fridges to fill!

Well her wish has finally come through. She called me last night and was telling me she got her new fridge, and how beautiful it is! I asked her what kind of fridge they got, and she said they looked at pretty much every make and model known to man. They decided they really liked the three door General Electric Refrigerators. You know the kind that have the bottom mount freezer, which she really missed from her old house, and then it has the two side by side fridge doors on the top. She said it's much larger, capacity wise than the one they moved to the garage. So I asked a silly question -- if she had it full yet. Of course she told me both of them were loaded up, and she felt good about that. Now she's trying to figure out where she can fit in a big pantry cupboard! She's too much! But at least you know you'll never go hungry when you go to visit her! ;-)

Olivia

We're down 50 or so

2007-10-31T22:59:00.000-04:00

Well Halloween is coming to a close for another year. I've got so much candy left it's insane! We normally have about 150 kids or so, but this year we only had about 100 ghosts, goblins, Spidermen and fairies come trick or treating. Naturally I had prepared for our normal volume, so I have lots of leftovers to take to work in the morning for the girls! I don't dare keep these sugary treats at home. Hubby and I have already ate more than we needed to, and we'll just continue to gorge away if I don't get rid of them! Better to get rid of the temptation than to keep it around. I wonder why the major drop in kids though. That's like a third less than normal. I always used to say I swear they truck the kids into our neighborhood. Maybe this year they didn't!

Olivia

How sad is this?

2007-10-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

One of our clients at work -- this really nice couple -- were just in recently for a remortgage. They had been having some financial difficulties, and were so happy to get this remortgage to help them get back on their feet, instead of barely scraping by. Sadly though, he was killed in a car accident on the weekend. Even more sadly, is that they opted out of mortgage life insurance for whatever reason they decided to do that. Now this poor woman is left with a young child and a mortgage that she's not likely going to be able to afford. I can't imagine why anyone would not pay for this insurance, no matter what your situation is. It's well worth the money you pay for it to have that peace of mind. You never know what's going to happen around the corner.

Olivia

Could I?

2007-10-31T22:02:00.000-04:00

Tonight's 649 lottery draw is for a nice tidy sum of 25 million, and I ask... could I win? Please! It would be so wonderful, and I'd be able to help my entire family and many friends too! Yeah, it would be mind blowing all right. There's no doubt there.

What would you do if you won a lottery like this? So many times I hear people say that they wouldn't quit their jobs -- that they may go to part time hours, but they wouldn't quit all together because they'd get too bored. Not me! That would be the first thing I would do! I don't have enough hours in the day as it is now to do all the things I'd like to be able to do, so that's not even a thought I'd have to ponder! It would be instant retirement for me! The second thing I'd do is to book a trip to Hawaii for a couple weeks. I'd do that to go away and collect my thoughts, and figure out how I'm going to divvy up my dollar gifts to my family and friends.

I'd still keep my online shop going, but not for the money though. I'd keep it going because I like to do that, and I'd donate the money I earned from it to charity. I certainly wouldn't need the income it generates, but it would be nice to give that money to somewhere that does need it. Which charity in particular I don't really know. Perhaps a different charity each month to spread the love!

I wouldn't buy a new house here in the city I live in. I'd get this one exactly how I wanted it though, with new furnishings, and that's only because our furniture has seen better days! I would probably invest in some real estate out west, in my home town. That way I would have a place of my own to stay at when I'm there. I think maybe just a nice condo where I wouldn't have any outside maintenance to worry about. Not a luxury condo though -- just a nice place to hang my coat when I'm there, because I'd be able to go there a little more often than I do now, and I'd be able to stay longer too. I'd also buy hubby and myself new vehicles, but they wouldn't be anything outrageous either, although he'd love a luxurious extremely expensive car, like a Lamborghini or something crazy like that. Personally, I'd just like a new car similar to what I have already -- a Pontiac Sunfire -- but mine is 12 years old now, so a new car would be nice. Maybe even a Toyota Camry. They're nice cars, and a little more luxury than my Sunfire.

Probably the most extravagant money I'd spend would be to pay for a trip for myself, my sisters and my brother to go to India. Our grandfather was stationed in India many years ago, while working for the railroad, and that was where our Mother was born. My sisters and I have always thought it would be really cool to go there, and see where mom lived when she was a young girl. The pictures we have of her house are amazing. They remind me of Gone with the wind, with the enormous plantation homes. Her mother was Indian, but she never knew her mom, because she died three days after our mother was born. We're sure that we must have some relatives there, and it would be so cool to go there and see what we can find out.

That's pretty much about all I can think of that I'd do with the money. Like I said though, I'd make life a lot easier for my family and friends, and that's more important to me than blowing a lot of money on frivolous items because you can. I think sharing the wealth would bring much more happiness to me than a lot of high priced material things. But I certainly won't still be going to work every day! I'll be doing what I want! Now if only my lucky numbers come out the shoot tonight! ;-)

Olivia

So much excitement!

2007-10-30T08:13:00.000-04:00

Last night we went to the Greg Frewin show, and it was fantastic! He's truly amazing, and I would recommend going to see his show if you can. The only problem was it was supposed to be a dinner/show, but apparently there were not enough people for the dinner end of it, so they cancelled that part for the evening. So we had to find somewhere we could go that was nice, served good food, and was fast, since we really only had about an hour to spare. We ended up going to a Chinese restaurant that was close to the theater and gobbled down some yummy food. But we didn't really have time to talk much, and there had been so much going on since we were all together last. So after the show, we went for tea at our one friend's house and chatted for a couple hours, catching up on all the going's on in our lives. While we were there, our friend's daughter came home from a few days away. She had gone up north to the city she went to college at to be in a friend's wedding. She was all excited, and was telling us all about this wedding, and showed us all her cool bridesmaid gifts and party afterwards. Then they all also got a beautiful velvet handbag that would be really nice to use for like a New Years Eve party. It was black, so it matched their dresses, since it was a black and white wedding. she got from her friend. All the girls were given these cute t-shirts and baseball hats that said bridesmaid on them, and of course the maid of honor's said maid of honor. They all wore them the day before the wedding for the rehearsal Inside the bag was this gorgeous sparkly Swarovski pendant. I love Swarovski jewelry! She said it looked so nice with the dress, and I'll bet it did. I gave my girls in my wedding a pearl pendant, and it was small -- nothing compared to this beautiful crystal! I think the next time I'm in a Swarovski store, I'm going to have to check out this pendant and see if I can't talk darling hubby into buying his bride a gift! ;-)

Olivia

Dinner and magic and tigers! Oh my!

2007-10-28T23:06:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow night, three friends and myself are going to dinner and a magic show in Niagara Falls. We're going to see the Greg Frewin show. I had never heard of him before, but one day at work, we were checking out the employee offers on our computers, and came across discount tickets for this theatre. So after we checked out the website, and saw that it was a magic/illusion show, we decided to go. I think it's going to be pretty cool, although I am hoping that the tigers that are part of the act are well contained in some sort of cage. I'm a little freaky about that kind of stuff, and especially a little more so after the incident in Vegas at one of Siegfried and Roy's shows. Yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a weenie at times like this! But I do love all that illusion stuff. You know, kinda like Criss Angel stuff. He's so hot! Oh, it would be so cool if Criss ended up being there as some sort of surprise celebrity guest. A girl can dream, you know! Anyway, should be a fun night!

Olivia

I'm amazed!

2007-10-28T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yippee!! Next Sunday the new Amazing Race starts!!! I love that show!! I was just checking out the teams over at their site. My, my, my, there are some colorful characters running this season! Cool! Should make for an entertaining race! Only one married couple that I could see -- a couple of lesbian ministers. Looks like the other couples are dating and using the race to see if they want to spend the rest of their lives with their race/dating partner. There is also a sister team, a brother/sister team, a father/daughter team and a grandfather/grandson team. And it looks like we have a new Barbie doll best friends team this season again too. I read somewhere while I was searching around trying to find the website that there will be no non-elimination days this time. I like that! Game on!

Olivia

Chrome it up

2007-10-28T14:18:00.000-04:00

This morning, while I was at my mother in law's house for coffee, my sister in law dropped by. She was telling us what she was buying her son for Christmas this year. He's got a Toyota truck -- the love of his life -- and he wants to jazz it up with some chrome accessories. So with our Canadian dollar being so strong, she figured she'd do most of her Christmas shopping online this year, buying from various US companies. She came across this one site that sells car and truck accessories and they have quite a bit of the shiny chrome goodies that her son wants for his precious baby. The only problem is this company doesn't ship internationally. So I told her to check out this one place in Niagara Falls, NY -- I think it's the UPS store, but I'm not completely sure -- where you can have a parcel shipped to and then cross over the border to go pick it up, which works for us because we're close to the border anyway. So she's going to check into doing that, and I told her if the lady that told me about this store comes into the bank in the next week or so, I would ask her exactly where it is and the name of the store for sure for her. I wouldn't mind doing that at times myself. Lots of times I've wanted to buy something from website but couldn't because they don't ship outside of the 48 contiguous states. I do have a good friend in Massachusetts that I could have a parcel sent to, and then she'll forward it on to me here, but I don't like to ask her to do that for me. I think it's a little imposing on my part, so using a place like this just over the border is a great idea I think.

Olivia

All caught up!

2007-10-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

After trying numerous times to view a recap episode of Survivor on the CBS site, I gave up trying. I'm so sick of hearing that monotone voice tell me that the file is currently unavailable. I don't think the recaps at their site are ever available! So instead, I went over to trusty old youtube and managed to watch the episode from last Thursday night there. I already knew what happened and who was voted off, but it sounded like a good episode, and I still wanted to see it. That whole immunity idol part was pretty cool! When my friend told me about it, she neglected to tell me that Frosty was in there like a dirty shirt helping Todd and Amanda tear down roof tiles of the arbor the idol was on. And the eating challenge! Did you see Courtney spit that eel out of her mouth at the end? I don't think she swallowed a bite! Maybe that's why she's so damned skinny... she doesn't swallow her food! She's really looking skeletorish now! Gotta eat girl! Like Papa Smurf said on the Survivors strike back blog, she only eats four grains of rice! Too funny!

Olivia

Ick!

2007-10-28T13:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I taped off my wall with the squares to paint the different colors. It looked real cool just with the tape. Damn, I should have taken a picture! Then last evening I started painting, and it was looking pretty good, with the main color painted all around these squares. I went to switch colors and start painting the squares, and the first color up was this sandy beige color that I had picked out. When I put it on the wall it looked a little off to me, but I kept going, knowing that it was going to dry a different color. Then I went to do the second color, and realized that I had forgot to buy it. It was a darker green than the rest of the green, so I thought I would try and blend a couple colors and see what I came up with. When I started painting, it was looking a little more grey than green. I figured it wasn't a big deal. If I didn't like the color I could always paint over it. Finally the third color. This one is like a Tiffany box blue, and when I started painting, it was making that sandy beige color look even nastier. It looked more like a dirty dusty rose than a sandy beige. Well it's dried since last night, and there is natural daylight in the room, and I friggin' hate that color! I was sure it wasn't the color I had picked, which is called Renoir Bisque. There is nothing bisque about this color at all. It definitely has a rose tone to it, and I just hate it! The color I mixed is fine. It does look more like a sandy beige, leaning more towards a sandy color. So I'm going to keep that color, but I'm going to go out shortly and get that darker green and repaint that nasty color. I hope it works out. If not, I'll have to repaint the whole wall, and there goes the hours I spent taping out this wall with a level to make sure my lines were reasonably straight, and I didn't end up with a parallelogram or something wacky like that!

Olivia

Plumbing courses

2007-10-26T05:51:00.000-04:00

Hmm... years ago, when we lived out west, my husband was going through an apprenticeship program to become a plumber. In Alberta, where we were living at the time, this is a four year course. He was in the process of getting his hours in before going to the 4th and final year classes, but got laid off work and couldn't find another job at the time. Companies don't like to hire 3rd and 4th year apprentices, because their wage is higher, but they still don't have papers.
Anyway, we moved here to Ontario, and he tried to switch his apprenticeship, but it's very different in this province from that province. It's a five year process here, and the gasfitter's license that he would have also got in Alberta is a separate course here in Ontario. So he managed to find work, but the board put him back to a 1st year for and would see how things would go after assessment. Of course the wage was really low and his commute was over an hour each way every day. It ended up not being worth it financially, after factoring gas costs and such, so he gave up and found other work in another field instead.

I was just reading about plumbing courses in the UK and it looks like it's only about two years to get your ticket there. I was at a site called avand.co.uk, and they offer this course there, along with an electrical course and a new Sales Training UK course that they have just recently started offering. I can't believe that it's only two years to get plumbing papers over there compared to 4-5 years here. It's funny to see the different specifics that the same trade has in different countries.

Olivia

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Not Surviving so well

2007-10-26T05:45:00.001-04:00

So another Thursday night has come and gone. I'm pissed off at myself because again, I fell asleep and missed Survivor this week. I saw the very start of it, where they recap last weeks show, and then I was out like a light, snoring for the next hour. I woke up about 10 minutes after it ended. What a drag. I had missed it two weeks ago too, and I've still not managed to watch the full episode at the CBS site, so I don't imagine I'll get to see this weeks episode either. I really have to try to stay vertical on my show nights. And now I can't sleep! Go figure!

Olivia

Outdoors gear

2007-10-26T05:29:00.000-04:00

Since I can't sleep, I've been poking around at some places on the net here, and I came across this one called LA Police Gear. They sell all kinds of 5.11 Tactical gear. Ladies, if your man does any hunting or winter fishing, this is a good place to head for some Christmas gifts. They've got all kinds of good stuff that is perfect for the hunter or outdoors man in your life. There's some great cold weather clothing, which I think would be good for when my hubby goes ice fishing. It gets mighty cold out on the ice all day! When you go there, be sure to check out the close outs section. They've got some great deals in that section, and I don't know anybody that doesn't like a great deal!

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Argh!

2007-10-26T05:25:00.000-04:00

I can't sleep! I've been awake since 2:45, and I can't get back to sleep. This is so damned frustrating. Hubby got home from the cottage and woke me up, and I've been wide awake ever since. I hate to think what I'm going to be like at work later on today. I wish I could just call in sick, but I can't do that, because I know my coworkers would have to work without a replacement, and Friday afternoons can get quite busy. So I couldn't do that to them. I'm going to have a smoke and try to get back to sleep for an hour or so at least.

Olivia

Mortgages for everyone

2007-10-25T00:02:00.000-04:00

If you find you're tight on financial flow, you may want to consider doing a remortgage on your house. Money Magic Mortgages handles all kinds of mortgages. They do first time buyer mortgages, commercial mortgages, International mortgages, bad credit mortgages, mortgages for the self-employed and even Remortgages.

What you do is go to their easy to use website. Fill out a short online form that will give them a starting point to getting you a quote. Then you'll receive a call from an independent financial advisor who will chat with you about your specific circumstances. After that you'll receive your quote for your mortgage. It's pretty straight forward and simple, so if you're feeling a little crunched for cash flow, why not check them out?

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

The howler is out!

2007-10-24T23:53:00.001-04:00

We have a dog somewhere in the neighborhood that howls whenever there is a full moon, so guess what I'm going to be listening to for the rest of the night? Yep, it's a full moon out there tonight, and I can hear this dog already. I wish it's owners would take him inside on nights like this.

On another note, I wonder what the next couple of days are going to be like at work. It seems we always have problems arise whenever there is a full moon. People just seem to go a little wacky with the moon, for whatever reason. Maybe they aren't really people... maybe they're werewolves! Nah, maybe they're just a little off, and the full moon does something to the chemicals in their brains. Yeah, that must be it!

Olivia

Concrete garages

2007-10-24T23:13:00.000-04:00

I think you know by know that while I might be a female, I still know my way around the building centers and hardware stores pretty well. I have my own set of tools, including power tools. That way my husband doesn't lose them on me, and I know exactly where they are when I need them. There's nothing worse than opening a box of drill bits to find most of them missing!

Anyway, in my travels the building centers, I've seen all kinds of Prefab Garages and shed kits. I was even checking out a shed kit the other day when I went to get my laminate flooring. We really need some kind of a shed in our yard real bad! But I've never seen a prefab concrete garage or shed until just a moment ago. Lidget Concrete Garages are in the UK, and this is what they sell prefab garages and sheds made of concrete slabs with an aggregate finish that go together to construct a building. I really like the aggregate finish too. I saw a lot of that in patios when I was out west this summer. In fact my sister's patio and walkways at her new house have an aggregate finish. I like the finished look of these concrete slabs, with the blended colors of aggregate they use to make them. They're really quite nice, and the garages don't look like a square cold cellar or bomb shelter like you'd expect when you hear concrete garage. They look like they'd blend in nicely in any neighbourhood.

Olivia

Holy shipping!

2007-10-24T23:03:00.000-04:00

I just got my invoice for that ship model I won on eBay. Ouch! The shipping charge is large! Twenty-three bucks, plus another five bucks they're charging under seller charges. I've sold many many things on eBay myself, and I've never ever put a seller charge, or any kind of handling charge, so I don't know what this extra $5. is for. I just emailed the seller to ask what it is before I send payment. I'll pay it, because I want the damn thing, but I don't like it when sellers put in any sort of handling charge. I find these same people usually have inflated shipping as it is, so what the hell do they need to gouge more money out of the buyer for. If they want to make more money, then start the listing at a higher price in the first place. This person started this auction at 99¢, and it's not my fault that I managed to win it for a low price. They could have put a reserve on it, or as I said, started it higher. Oh well, things like this kind of gouging will affect the feedback I leave. I always comment in the feedback if they've overcharged on the shipping from what shows they paid on the received parcel. Guess we'll see what it is when it comes.

Olivia

Bed talk!

2007-10-24T22:31:00.000-04:00

I think I've found something along the lines of what I want to build for a headboard. I found some different Oak Beds and I really like the style of this one in the picture here. It looks like it's panelled, and that's along the lines of what I was thinking. I just don't think that I'll make it so deep as this one. I don't really want a ledge along the top. I want it to be closer to the wall, but that's do-able.

Of course I'm not going to make mine in oak either. I'll probably use a combination of some smooth finished pine and some MDF board for the panels. I want to paint it that dark espresso brown anyway, so it doesn't have to be made with high end lumber, but I will pay a little extra for the nicer pine for the frame of the headboard, so I don't have warped wood and splinters to contend with. I could even actually use more MDF for the frame, but I think I'm going to go with the pine.

I'm still going to try to work in my little bit of jazz too. What I want to do is insert a nice brushed nickel finished rod across the top of the headboard. Hopefully I'll be able to find something that will work. I was thinking that I'll check out some of the designer curtain rods to use for this. You know the kinds that you would put some cool finials on the ends? I haven't looked at curtain rods in a while, so I don't even know if they make them in a brushed nickel finish or even something that looks like that or not, but you see so much of this in all kinds of other accessories right now, so I'm hopeful. The new knobs I have for my dressers has this finish, so I would like to match that look and tie the headboard into my other furniture as well.

Olivia

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California Wildfires

2007-10-24T19:56:00.000-04:00

I've had CNN on since I've come home from work tonight, and my heart just aches for those people in Southern California that are living through these horrible fires. The pictures they keep showing are just devastating. I can't even imagine how huge and widespread these areas are that are being demolished by fire. It's very very sad to see.

Now they're saying that the fires in the San Diego area were possibly started through the hands of arsonists. That's just sickening to think that people could be that lacking brains to allow them to pull off crap like this. Have they no sense at all to think of the damage and loss to innocent people that their stupid prank has caused? CNN has just confirmed that arson was the cause, but I'm unsure if it was for all the fires burning. They said three different locations. I hope the FBI catches whoever the responsible culprit(s) are caught and dealt with appropriately.

Kudos to the hard working firemen that are working hours and hours to fight these fires. All my best to you heroes that you remain safe and injury free while you continue work like machines.

Olivia

ahhh... Paris

2007-10-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine has been searching around on the Internet to find a couple nice hotels for her parents when the go overseas next summer. They are going to a family wedding in Scotland, and since they will be celebrating their own 45th anniversary next year, her father has decided to take her mother to Paris, France while they are on that side of the Atlantic. Her mom is so excited, because she's always wanted to go to Paris ever since she was a young woman. My friend went there with a friend when they were 18 years old, but she doesn't figure her parents will want to stay in any of the hostels they stayed in when they were there.

I had told her to check out this website called cheaperthanhotels.co.uk, and because it has uk at the end of the web address, she was a bit confused that I told her to go there, assuming that this is a site for hotels in the United Kingdom. When I told her they had all kinds of France hotels listed there, as well as a breakdown of the different cities and towns, including lots of listings for Paris hotels, she thought she'd check it out. I told her I liked this hotel that I have the picture showing here -- it's the Magellan Hotel in Paris. What I like about it, is that with the ornamental iron work on the windows, it reminds of that one picture of Marilyn Monroe, where she's leaning on one of those rails looking down the street. I don't know for sure if it's this particular hotel, or even if that picture was taken in Paris or not, but this picture here just reminds me of that picture.

My friend's mother really likes the handbags that I make, so I think I'm going to make a special bag for her to take on this trip. I've got the perfect fabric to line this bag with too -- an all-over Eiffel tower print! And I think I still have enough of my Springtime in Paris fabric to use on the outside. It's really pretty, with vintage fashion ladies in different Paris scenes, like in front of the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and some shopping and cafe scenes. I'm going to make it like a tote bag, so she can carry her purchases with her. Maybe they'll pick up some cheese and a nice fresh stick of french bread and have a picnic on the grounds of the Louve! I think this tote will look awesome with a stick of bread poking out the top! She's going to love it!

Olivia

No idiots?

2007-10-24T18:24:00.000-04:00

Just when I was getting into this idiot of the day thing, there have been no idiots cross my path the last couple days. I guess though, that's a good thing!

I'm sitting here trying to think what I'm going to make for dinner. I didn't take anything out of the freezer so the choice is pretty wide open. I'm hungry, but I don't really know what I want. Maybe I'll just make a taco salad. I got some really good southwest ranch dressing on the weekend, when I was shopping. It's real tasty! Yeah, maybe I'll go whip up a big 'ol taco salad.

Olivia

Paris chic

2007-10-23T20:14:00.000-04:00

I've been checking out different headboards and beds online, just to get some ideas because I want to make my own headboard. Well I came across this site called Time 4 Sleep. They have a whole section of different French Beds, which I just love. I love that whole Paris thing. I have several different Parisian inspired decorative goodies, that I have here in my office/craft room. But I'm not doing my bedroom with a Paris theme, so a bed like these wouldn't work for me, but just look at this gilt and upholstered bed I've got here. If that doesn't scream Paris, nothing does!

What I'm planning on making is a little more streamlined and well, all around easier to build! I had thought of doing an upholstered headboard, but unless I could find a large piece of dark espresso brown leather to upholster it with, I think I'll just opt for wood and paint instead. I do have an idea to add a little bit of jazz to it, but I'll have to see if that will work first or not. Either way, I will post pictures when I'm done.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

I won! I won!

2007-10-23T19:54:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I won! I had been watching this one auction at eBay, and it was ending this morning at around 11:00 or so. Well I knew I would be at work, so I figured I would toss in a bid and hope for the best. So I put a high bid of just over $20.00 and ended up being the top bidder. It was sitting at $5.50 after I placed my bid, and I figured for sure that in the last few minutes my high bid would be bumped out. At lunchtime when I came home, I was totally shocked to see that I won this auction for $5.50! Yippee!!

For those of you wondering what all the excitement is about this auction, it's a ship model that I'm replacing for my hubby, because of his dog chewing the one I bought him last year for Christmas. I had paid just over $100. for it last year, and granted this one isn't brand new and sealed, but it's new in the box, never have been started to assemble. You can see the item here, if you want to take a peek. It's a beautiful day.

Olivia

Ready, set, SCREAM!

2007-10-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

I've never been much of a ride person at any of the Theme Parks around. I don't like spinney rides, because I'm afraid I'll end up getting sick all over the place and embarrassing the crap out of myself. As roller coasters and all those other high up in the sky rides go, I'm terribly afraid of heights, which is something that developed in me about 15 years ago or so, so those kinds of rides are out too.

But for those of you thrill seekers out there that get a rush from riding the rails of a coaster, then you have to check out Pleasure Beach in Blackpool UK. They've got over a dozen major rides. The Pepsi Max Big One is the coaster you see in the sunset picture above and it's a biggie! Over one mile of rail twists and turns along, picking up speeds of up to 87mph at points, is sure to turn your knuckles white and get the adrenaline flowing. That tall peak you see in the picture stands 235ft high! Way too high for me! New this year, the Infusion is the blue coaster, and it has five loops and rolls. This would be the perfect ride on a hot summer day, because it also has some cool water features that you ride through, which would help cool you off! And for those nostalgic coaster lovers, the Big Dipper (the picture on the far right) is a traditional wooden roller coaster. This coaster is also famous by holding a world record. Some dude rode the Big Dipper for three months straight. We're talking non-stop here! Around and round, up and down all day and all night for three entire months! Now that's just crazy! I can't think of anything I'd ever want to do all day every day for three months!

One cool thing I liked about Pleasure Beach's website, is that you can virtually ride most of the major rides. Although even that makes me a little queasy, but it's great for you coaster lovers! Apart from these major rides, there are also over 30 different family rides that the kiddos that don't fit height requirements on the coasters can have fun on, as well as some cool indoor attractions like the 4D Cinema. Check it out! Even this ridephobe typing this post thought it was cool!

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

No Angel in Vegas

2007-10-22T22:59:00.000-04:00

My co-worker was back at work today after her weekend junket to Vegas. Sadly she didn't manage to spot that hottie, Criss Angel to get me a picture. I guess he was too busy levitating or astonishing people elsewhere this weekend.

She said they had a great time. Spent way too much money, and did loads and loads of walking! They loved the Cirque's "O" show and were really impressed with Mandolay Bay, where they stayed. She also mentioned that they learned one thing that could have saved them a lot of footsteps. While they were there, they wanted to check out all the different casinos to take in the sights, but like she said, apart from the different themes, they're pretty much really all the same. One casino looks like another when you're inside them, and when I think about it, I would have to agree with her there. You have your slots, and gaming tables. Just the decor may be different, but how much of the decor do you see when you're inside really? Her way of thinking on this has me thinking whenever I go there, I won't be trekking inside every one of the gobs of casinos there. Sure I'll venture out and check out the different structures of the buildings themselves, but I'll save my tootsies from exploring each one individually inside the actual casinos.

Olivia

Disturbing commercial

2007-10-22T22:44:00.000-04:00

As a person that works in a bank, and has gone through two robberies in the five years I've worked there, I have to say that I find the latest commercial for Glad garbage bags pretty disturbing and in really bad taste on Glad's part. They're selling some bag called force flex or something like that, and it takes place in a bank. Two robbers come into the bank and one of them tosses one of these garbage bags at a teller and tells her to fill it. Well naturally because it's a garbage bag, it's pretty big. So she dumps her cash into the bag, and this robber keeps yelling at her to fill it. She starts dumping all kinds of things into it, like the phone, stuff like that. Of course Glad wants to show the viewing public that this force flex bag is strong, so they get shots of the corners of the stuff this poor distraught teller is shoving in the bag doesn't tear it. And because this bag is so large, it's taking a long time for it to be filled, so when the robbers walk out of the bank to the police waiting outside, they've got this bag with even one of those large silk trees sticking out of the top. I don't know what Glad was thinking when they made this commercial, but as a bank teller all I can say is it's not funny. For shame... for shame!

Olivia

Company's coming...

2007-10-22T22:29:00.000-04:00

Today my mother in law was telling me that our nephew is coming to town tomorrow with his father to visit. They live about an eight hour drive away, and they're coming for a week. It's going to be nice to see them, but I'm a little afraid for my nephew as well. He's got some addiction problems that he's been working on for the past month or so, and seems to be doing pretty well so far. My worry is that he'll get together with some of his old buddies here and end up getting into those bad habits. I can only hope that the drug treatment centers weekly meetings and counseling sessions he's been attending have made him strong enough to resist the temptations that he could end up facing if he meets up with his friends. It's pretty sad to have to think this way. A person should be able to look up their old friends they went school with, when they come home for a visit, without a possibility of doing harm to themselves. It seems drugs are so widespread these days, and much harsher than sharing a joint or two with your pals like when I was young. These kids are into some really nasty stuff. It's scary, just plain old scary!

Olivia

Two idiots today!

2007-10-22T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was talking about the "You are an Idiot!" segment on my radio station, and told you about the person I dubbed an idiot that I had come across while bringing my flooring home. Well today, I have not one, but two idiots to bitch about!

This morning, while I was heading to work, as usual, I went my regular route, and then cursing myself for going that way, because there is some real pain the ass construction I have to weave through. So I'm at the stop light, that's always flashing red, and there are flaggers directing traffic. Because three of the directions are down to one lane for a stretch, they are only letting one direction of traffic go at a time. Now it's my turn to go. The flagger has the "SLOW" sign up and is waving me through to make my left hand turn. I get out in the middle of the intersection ready to make my turn, when all of a sudden this man in the oncoming lane starts to go, and just whisks on by me, inches away from my bumper that's in a turn. So I had to slam on the brakes and honk at him! The flagger from his part of the road is just shaking his head, while still holding his "STOP" sign up to the rest of the traffic. So to the impatient one that doesn't know how to read a simple traffic sign, nor have the slightest bit of brain to think it's a major construction zone and those people holding those signs are there for a reason, you sir, are an idiot!

Now it's lunchtime, and I always come home for lunch. My bank is only about five minutes away from home, so it's nice to be able to get away from work and come home and relax for my hour lunch. I remembered to come home an alternative route, to avoid the construction chaos the other way. So I'm at a red light, waiting to turn left once again. I'm first in line, and I know there's going to be an advance turning light for both me and the oncoming traffic. The expected green turning arrow comes up, and I start my turn. All of a sudden this old man that is going strait, coming my way decides to go too. Um, it's an advance Mister! So once again I had to slam my brakes on and wait for him to clear my path, and of course, shake my head in disgust at him as he drove past me with a dumb-ass what's your problem lady kind of look on his face. All I can say once again is, I know you're an old man, and you're probably a nice old man, but you sir, are an idiot!

Now it's only Monday, so I don't know what way to head to and from work for the rest of the week! From today's events, it kind of seems like I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't! :-?

Olivia

Now this sounds like fun!

2007-10-22T21:07:00.000-04:00

I was checking out this website for St. Augustine, Florida, and in particular, the Events in St. Augustine, which happens to be the oldest city in the Nation, and because of that it's also known as "Ancient City". One thing that I thought looked really neat to take in when you're in the area, or if you life nearby, is held the last Saturday of every month. They call it "Uptown Saturday Night". I like the name too. It reminds me of the olden days for some reason.

Taking place in the antique district on San Marco Avenue, there are all kinds of antique shops that will stay open from 5pm to 9pm on these Saturday nights. All the shops will be serving refreshments, like wine and such for the patrons while they shop and enjoy the live music happening on the street. The book stores will have authors present for book signings and some may be doing readings from their books. There will be artists milling about in the art galleries for you to meet and talk to about their work.

Over on Aviles Street, which by the way happens to be the oldest street in America, you can park for free at the Mission of Nombre de Dios, which is the home of "The Great Cross". This cross stands over 200 feet high! You can also check out the Ripley's museum, which also stays open for Uptown Saturday Night. If you don't have plans for this weekend, you could head there and check it out. The next event takes place this Saturday, October 27th, and if you can't make it this month, mark your calendar for next month's event, which will be happening on November 24th.

I wish we had something like this event around here. I think it would be a fun way to spend a Saturday evening, taking in the sights and sounds, while strolling up and down the streets and checking out the cool shops. With St. Augustine being the oldest city, I can just imagine what kinds of neat treasures could be found in the antique shops! I love poking around in flea markets and antique stores to see if I can find some kind of nifty old gadget or funky old bauble. And the antique linens I'm a sucker for! You just can't find anyone these days that does the intricate embroidery that the ladies from bygone days used to do. I wish I had the time and the patience to attempt trying to recreate some of these designs they stitched on pillow cases and such.

So now I have another place to add on my places I want to go. St. Augustine is now there, and when the time comes that I do make it to this Ancient City, I'll be sure to be going there when I can take in one of these Uptown Saturday Nights!

Olivia

Achin' all over...

2007-10-22T20:58:00.000-04:00

Yowza! I'm feeling the pain from lugging all that laminate flooring yesterday. From head to toe, I don't think there's a part of my body that doesn't feel some sort of ache! I don't know if I did something to my left shoulder or not, but it sure does hurt. I'm thinking I must have wrenched it a bit when I picked up one of the boxes of flooring or something. I've put some of that stinky rub on it, taken a couple of aspirins and I'm having a cup of tea. Just gonna chill tonight. No work for me until tomorrow. Of course I'm feeling a little guilty about not doing anything though. I want to get my bedroom finished so I can start on the next project. I'd really like to have my bedroom finished and my flooring installed in the main part of the house before I go on vacation. So I hate to sit here looking at what needs to be done and doing nothing about it. But on the other hand, I don't want to overdo it either to the point of gimping myself out and not being able to do anything for a few days.

Olivia

A little 100 year old trivia

2007-10-21T23:28:00.000-04:00

My sister sent me this email tonight. It's pretty interesting to see what a difference 100 years makes.

Some of the US statistics from 1907...

* The average life expectancy was 47 years.
* Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

* Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
* Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

* The average wage in 1907 was 22 cents per hour.
* The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .
* A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year.
* A dentist made $2,500 per year,
* A veterinarian made $1,500 per year
* A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

* Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
* Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
* Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

* More than 95 percent of all births took place at home.
* Ninety percent of all doctors had no college education. Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and the government as "substandard. "

* Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

* There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads.
* The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

* The American flag only had 45 stars.
* The population of Las Vegas , Nevada, was only 30!
* There were about 230 reported murders in the entire USA.

* Sugar cost four cents a pound.
* Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
* Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

* The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
* Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
* There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

* Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

* Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

* Correspondence was done through snail mail, and now correspondence can be received from you all over the world in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years. It's pretty mind staggering, isn't it?

Olivia

Cuba gifts

2007-10-21T22:56:00.000-04:00

Well we met for breakie this morning and yack'd about our trip to Cuba. It's so exciting. I've never been anywhere out of Canada or the US before, other than a couple hours we spent in Tijuana Mexico when we went to California when I was a teenager, and that was a bazillion years ago! Less than three weeks until we fly! My friends were telling us that we did get a really great deal on our trip too. We ended up paying $646. including taxes for a one week all inclusive trip, flying out of Toronto. For giggles, they looked it up on the Internet this morning before they met us at the restaurant and it was going for just over $800. now for the same time, to the same resort! That's cool!

So we were asking them what sort of gifts to take for the locals down there, and my friend's husband whips out these pens and gives my mother in law each one. Now I have to tell you, he's a bit of a nutter, and he's so much fun! Well hasn't he gone and had these custom pens made up that have a Canadian flag on them, and on it says, "A gift for you from your Canadian friend" and then his name. They go to Cuba every year and sometimes twice a year, and they usually stay at different locations every time, so he figured he'd get these pens made up to take on his trips there and give them out to all the Cubans he meets. I asked him if he really wanted to saturate his name throughout the whole island, and he told me he had enough pens that he probably could! Too funny!

Apart from taking some old clothes there to hand out, I think my MIL and I will stick with the standard nail polishes, lipsticks, gum and candy for the kids and any other little goodies we find at the dollar store that we think they'd like. But I am willing to help buddy saturate Cuba with his pens!

Olivia

One in every crowd!

2007-10-21T22:29:00.000-04:00

On the radio station I listen to, there is this one broadcaster that has a morning show, and he's hilarious. One of the segments of his show is called "You are an idiot!" What he does here is tell a true story about someone that's done a stupid thing. It could be someone in the media, or just someone he's come across in his daily routine. So he tells the story of what this person does, and then ends it with "You sir/madam are an idiot!", and this funny music plays singing this you are an idiot song.

Well today, I have a "You are an idiot" story of my own. I went to a local home center here to get my laminate flooring for when I do the main part of my house -- the living, dining room and hall. I'm not ready to do this job yet, but they had a sale on this weekend that was too good not to buy it now. We're talking 1/3 off, so I saved about $150 by buying this flooring now! Woohoo!

I needed to get 14 boxes of this laminate, and I would say each box is about 50-60 pounds or so. I know it's not much for you guys and gals that are in shape, but I'm an out of shape, slightly overweight middle aged woman, and they were getting darned heavy after a bit! I had to load them all first onto the cart, then from the cart to my car. Yes! I took them home in my Sunfire! I know I was pushing it to the weight limit, but it was a sale. A sale!! And besides, I wasn't far from home, and just figured I'd take the drive slow and easy.

So I'm driving down the road, with my hazards on, minding my own business. This guy in a truck comes roaring up behind me at a red light. The second the light turned green, he started honking. I hate that! I know the damned light is green already! I don't need a reminder! I start driving, and of course I didn't gun the car because of the overload I'm carrying, but remember, I have my hazards on too! This jerk starts wailing on his horn and waving his arm out his window. What the hell? I looked at my speedometer and I was going the damned speed limit, and those hazard lights aren't flashing for no reason, and, to top it off, there are two lanes with nobody in the left lane, so what the hell is wrong with this guy? Why did he have to carry on like an ass? Why didn't he just switch lanes and pass me? I'll tell you why... because "He is an idiot!" I wanted to stop the car, get out and go slap this idiot! He was pushing my already high progesterone levels through the roof, and I'll tell you one thing guys, to all of you that are like this jerk was, honking and carrying on, don't mess with an out of shape slightly overweight middle aged woman with high progesterone levels! It can be a real ugly experience for you!

Olivia

See, I have no time!

2007-10-21T01:34:00.000-04:00

It's 1:30 am here right now, and I better get my butt to bed. I've got a breakfast date tomorrow with my mother in law and a friend of mine and her hubby. We're all going on vacation together next month to Cuba, so we're getting together to yak about it. My MIL and I have never been there before, but my friends have been there several times, so they're going to answer all our questions about what to expect, what to pack, what kind of stuff to take to give to the locals, etc. And she's also got our tickets from the travel agent, because she works in a bank next door to the agency that did our booking. So after breakie tomorrow, it will all seem more official having the tickets and all! So exciting!

Night all! Zzzzzzzz...

Olivia

Vegas, baby!

2007-10-21T01:14:00.000-04:00

I wonder how my co-worker is making out in Vegas this weekend. They left on Thursday and come home tomorrow. I can't wait to hear all about it on Monday. She promised me that she was going to keep a close eye out for Criss Angel to take pictures for me. I told her to get a video of him telling me to come visit him sometime! I'd be there in a flash! He's so hot! I can't remember the name of the hotel they're staying at, but she said it was right next door to the Luxor, where Criss is. He's so hot!

This girl is so lucky too. Her hubby works as a manager for an upscale restaurant in Niagara Falls, and his boss is going to pay for them to go to dinner at a couple restaurants there to observe and take notes. He gets to do that whenever they go away. So she was picking out the restaurants to go to, and she wanted to try one of the winners from Hell's Kitchen, but then she figured they'd go somewhere else, because apparently they are a bit away from the main area. And besides, they're going to New York City next month, so they're going to go to Gordon Ramsey's restaurant "At The London" instead. See, she's a very lucky girl!

They were also going to see Cirque du Soleil's "O" while they're there. I'm so jealous! I love the Cirque, and I would love to see the shows that play in Vegas. One day! And she said her and her friend that's also going with them were going to try to talk their hubbies into letting them head over to Rio Las Vegas and take in a Chippendales show. Again, I'm jealous! Oh well, I'm just hoping she manages to run into Criss Angel and gets a good picture of that hottie for me! Did I mention I think he's hot? :-)

Olivia

Oh yeah, I just remembered!

2007-10-21T00:59:00.000-04:00

Still on the ATC topic... kind of! This morning I was poking around on eBay to see if there were any ATC cards, or cool collage stuff for sale. I came across this one woman's cards that I really liked. I can't remember her eBay name, but most of her cards were done like altered art. I love that kind of stuff -- altered books, altered cards, etc. She had a few cards for sale, and she had also made some really cool jewelry as well. It had that kind of altered look to it too. Mostly she had pins, but she also had a couple of pendants. It's kind of funny, because on a recent trip to Michaels I had bought this book with all these cool projects in it, and some of them were jewelry pieces, which was why I actually bough the book. So after seeing this woman's work and remembering my book, I want to try my hand at making some neato stuff for the girls at work for Christmas this year, and of course, some goodies for me too! Again, something more to stress about getting it done on time! But it's all good! ;-)

Olivia

ATC frenzy!

2007-10-21T00:45:00.000-04:00

My sister in law belongs to this online crafting club, and has been making gobs and gobs of greeting cards, ATC cards (artist trading cards) and fat book pages. After much nagging on her part, I did join this club as well. Again, why do I do these things to myself?! I love this craft, although I am quite new to making ATC cards, and I've never made a fat book yet, but they are cool.

Anyway, so I joined the club a couple months back, but haven't really been participating much. I just don't seem to have the time to read all the posts there. These ladies are forum freaks! Nice ladies, but I think they're all a little older, and most of them retired, so they have the free time that I don't. So the other day, my SIL was at my mother in laws when I was there, and she asked me when I was going to do a swap. I told her one day when I have the creative bug. I can't seem to sit down to make something unless I'm in the mood. And I also told her, besides I can't do any swaps yet, because I haven't made enough posts there yet to qualify for participating in a swap. She assured me that if I were to private message one of the ladies running the swaps that they'd let me in. So I told her I'd look into it, and do that.

Next thing you know, I've got a message from this nice lady in Australia asking me to do a swap with her for three ATC cards, and I can do whatever theme I want to do. Yikes! I've got enough on my plate right now, but I couldn't say no to her. I mean, she asked so nicely! So now I'm racking my brain trying to think up what I'm going to do. I wish she would have given me some sort of theme. I emailed my SIL and she informed me that she was chatting with this lady and they got talking about me, so that's how this swap all came to be. She also told me this lady loves teddy bears, so I'm going to stop by Michaels and see what they have with teddy bears for stickers or something. That will take care of one card, but I still have two to think about, and stress about getting them made and sent out!

Olivia

A difference of projection

2007-10-21T00:26:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine called me today and we got into a little debate during our conversation. She was telling me that they are shopping for a new television. Her hubby wants a larger TV. Which I also have to say, what is it with men and TVs? Not only do they have to maul the remote like it's the most precious thing in their lives, but they have to have the biggest TV they can possibly find! What's up with that? I've been cursing my own husband about our own TV because it's way too heavy to move, but he had to have larger!

Anyway, my friend was telling me they are looking at projection televisions, so I asked her if they were going to buy a screen too or were they going to project it on the wall. She started laughing and told me I was real funny. I didn't think I had said anything funny; I was asking a serious question. She said they were going to buy a TV, not a projector. I asked her why she said they were looking at projection TVs then, and she said because that's what they're looking at buying. So of course I said, well they'd need something to project it on, be it a screen or the wall. By this time, she started getting a little short with me, like I was stupid or something. So I told her about my brother's projection television that he had from years ago when he was in the satellite dish manufacturing business. He had a projector that was installed on the ceiling, and a special screen that the show he was watching was projected onto for them to watch whatever it was they were watching. Finally she understood where I was coming from, and started laughing again and told me she was the idiot in this conversation. She didn't know that you could purchase such a system as this. What they are looking at buying is a rear projection television. All righty then... now we're understanding each other, and the call ended happy as ever! :-)

Olivia

Did I mention...

2007-10-21T00:16:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I just want to slap myself for getting into the predicaments that I manage to get myself into. Like for instance, did I ever mention that I hate painting those popcorn ceilings? Whoever invented those types of ceilings should be shot down and pissed on! I tell you, painting that ceiling in my bedroom was an absolute bitch.

Naturally I had to do two coats, because I haven't painted in there for awhile and the paint just soaked up into those nasty little popcorns... well those that didn't drop down on my head or in my face! Now before you say anything, I know I'm supposed to seal those bumpy little buggers with an oil based paint, but I hate painting with oil paint. The only type I will ever paint with is melamine paint, and that's only because I like what can be done with that type of paint, but regular old alkyd paint, forget it! I don't know what the problem was; why it took me so long to do this room's ceiling. I just seemed to whip through that job when I was doing my kitchen a few months ago. So now I'm feeling like I've been beat up. My wrists are killing me from pushing on that roller to get the paint into that nasty popcorn.

I was really hoping to get the walls all painted today, well, not the squares on the feature wall, but the other three walls, and the white base coat for under the squares. All I managed to get done other than the ceiling was the white base coat. Now mind you, I also did five loads of laundry and ran out on a couple errands. Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Olivia

Boom, boom, out go the lights!

2007-10-19T22:40:00.000-04:00

We've been having some insane weather here lately for this time of year. This week it's been quite hot, and humid too. It's so weird to have temperatures like this when the leaves on the trees are turning color and falling.

Last night when I went to bed, I switched the TV onto the weather station to see what today was going to be like. I found out we were under a severe thunderstorm watch for overnight. They were saying this storm was coming up from Michigan way, where they were having reports of twisters. That really freaked me out, because number one, I can't imagine having a twister warning in the first place, and number two, to have these warnings in the night while you're supposed to be sleeping and it's dark and you couldn't see one coming just totally gives me the willies.

So anyway, this morning at about 6am we had a real banger of a storm move in. A real loud clap of thunder woke me up, and it has to be pretty darned loud to wake me up from a sleep. Thank goodness it did though, because when it zapped the power out for a minute or so, I realized that my alarm clock needs it's batteries replaced. When the power came back on it just flashed 12:00 instead of resuming the time from battery back up. So I ended up getting up then, because I was afraid if the power went off again I wouldn't wake up in time for work. Guess I better pick up some new batteries this weekend before work Monday morning in case we get any more storms.

Olivia

Wicked

2007-10-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

Well I'm a little confused here tonight. Someone told me that Wicked was coming back to Toronto in December. I was so excited because I missed it when it was there last year. Our manager at the time took her daughter for a fun girly weekend that entailed shopping and going to see Wicked. She was telling us that it was an awesome show, and how much her and her daughter enjoyed the show. So I've been searching online her for Wicked tickets for Toronto, but I'm not finding any at all. What a bummer. Guess I'll just have to wait until whenever I make it to New York city and see it on Broadway.

Olivia

Just a donkey

2007-10-19T21:37:00.000-04:00

I have to tell you about this little boy that was in the bank today with his mom. We've got some different Halloween rubber stamps for stamping the little one's hands when they come in. They love that! So while I was stamping this little guy's hand I was asking him what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween this year. He told me he wanted to be a donkey. So I asked him if wanted to be a donkey like Eeyore. He flat out told me no, he didn't want to be Eeyore; that he just wanted to be a donkey. His mom was then telling me she was having a hard time finding a costume for just a regular donkey; that all the costumes in the stores were of Eeyore of course. I told her to try online doing a search for animal masks or animal costumes. Surely there has to be a regular donkey costume or at least even a mask out there that she could order. Anyway, it was cute how matter of fact this little one was that he didn't want to be an Eeyore -- just a donkey.

Olivia

Hurray for payday!

2007-10-19T19:15:00.000-04:00

Today is payday, and it used to be such a sad and depressing day before I did my consolidation loan this past summer. Now I've got a great little budget that I'm living by, and it's almost exciting to get paid and send my hard earned money to this account and that account, and we're talking savings accounts! Yippee!

Before I used to dread trying to divvy my pay between utility bills and credit card payments, only to see that grocery money was not much to be had, but not anymore. I opened three online savings accounts, one for regular savings, one for vacation savings and one where I put all the bill money in for my utility bills. These are all high interest bearing accounts, no matter what the minimum balance is, so even the bill money is earning me money until a bill is due. I always have enough grocery money now, even with the prices climbing higher and higher. Every payday I've managed to pay a little extra on my loan, which of course goes right to the principal, so that's a bonus. And the best thing of all, is that I am now able to regularly save some money too!

I really want to pay off this debt as fast as I can, and I hope that I'll never ever be in the financial predicament that I used to be in. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. It's way too stressful fighting the interest costs and payments. I would suggest to anyone that may find they're living that kind of life to get off that ride and look into consolidating your debt. If your own bank won't come through for you, then look into one of the many companies that offer online loans. The Internet is a great resource for services like this. I think I'm a prime example of that. I work in a bank, and although yes, I did get my loan through the bank I work at, but yet my savings accounts are with an online bank because my own bank doesn't pay anywhere close to the interest I make with this bank.

I'm really loving keeping track of my budget, and I think in my next life I'd like to come back as a financial consultant, helping others to de-stress their lives by living with a workable budget plan. Plus the spreadsheet I made for my own budget is real pretty to look at too! ;-)

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

A crappy ending to a good week

2007-10-19T18:57:00.000-04:00

I was so pissed at work today. One of our tellers is off on a mini vacation to Vegas this weekend, so she wasn't there yesterday or today. Our replacement was this annoying woman, to put it nicely, that takes forever with the clients, and is nothing more than a back-stabbing phony brown-noser! I can't stand this woman. She gets coddled at all the branches she works at because she sucks so much management ass! The last time she was at our branch, I had some words with her, so she had refused to come back and work for us again. Good! I would rather work alone than work with her! Well our manager must have done some smoothing of her feathers and managed to have her fill in these two shifts this week. Yippee...

So today, while the other teller was on her lunch break, and this one is taking forever with this one client trying to suck them in for every financial product that we offer, I get a client that had some serious problems with her bank books. Someone at one point, back in June for pete sakes had messed up her books when they went to update them, and got them switched around. This poor old woman was so confused when she came in today, and of course doesn't speak very good English or understand a lot either. We have a lot of older foreign clients at our branch, due to being very closely located for both the Italian and Polish communities. Anyway, the line up started getting very long, and at this point our other staff, manager included are supposed to come out and help out with the line up, helping people that maybe just need a book updated, or are making a deposit, paying a bill from their account -- basically anything that doesn't require them to need cash to give to these clients. Well nobody came to help out.

After about 10 - 15 minutes or so, I finally get this poor old lady's books straightened out so she understands what's happening, and little miss phony is still trying to sell the same damned client she's been serving another visa card! So I get to start trying to run this line up through my wicket, and didn't every damned one of them freak out on me for having to wait so long! Of course they did, and so they should be mad. I'd be pissed off too if I had to wait like they did! The worst though was this one guy that has a business account with us, and has banked with us for close to 30 years, and all that time he never ever complains about having to wait. We're a pretty busy branch for the most part, so waiting is nothing new, but waiting 17 minutes to do a 20 second transaction that he did is a bit much. I felt so sorry for these people, and tried my best to apologize for the lack of service they received. Worst of it was, do you think one single person complained to the phony bitch working next to me? Nada one! Let me tell you, I was never so happy to see today end! I need a drink!

Olivia

I don't know about this...

2007-10-18T23:50:00.000-04:00

Check this out... If you always wanted a Lamborghini so you could have those cool doors, but can't afford such a car, there's still hope for you. Even if you drive a Pontiac Sunfire like me, we can have those cool doors. Although I'm not too sure about them on my Sunfire. They just seem to lose something without that sleek sexy look of a Lamborghini. But if they're something you would like, you can pick up a pair of vertical doors at the Wood Dash Experts.

They've got some real nice dash kits, and some cool billet grilles as well. Now those are things I may consider for my car. A polished wood dash would be pretty cool, and stainless steel grills would help with stones that get kicked up on the highway. Then again, a Lamborghini would be nice too! A girl can dream! ;-)

Olivia

Survivor night

2007-10-18T23:15:00.000-04:00

So another episode of Survivor aired tonight, and I managed to stay awake for it too! Yay! However, I did miss about 20 minutes or so of it in the middle. My brother called me from out west. He said he just had to tell me about his day today. He's on holidays this week, so him and my sister-in-law decided to go to the casino today and try their luck in the daytime. They usually go at night on a weekend. Well didn't he win, and came home up $1200! I know it's not a huge win for a casino, but we just play the smaller machines, and the funny thing this win is that he was the one that hit the jackpot! He usually is the one to loose the money and his wife is the one that hits the jackpots the odd time. So he was pretty excited about this win!

Then he went on to tell me that he was in a golf tournament through his work this past weekend, and he won a Mizuno golf driver. Now I play golf myself, but I'm not up on all the high-tech gear, but when he told me this driver is worth almost $400, I couldn't believe it! My measly set of clubs -- all of them, and the bag too only cost me about $400, so I can't imagine having one club alone worth that much! I would be scared to use it, in case I got a mark on it! He said he's not sure if he's going to keep it or not. He said he already has a good driver -- a Big Bertha, so he may sell this Mizuno club. I guess this must be his lucky week! Way to go, Bro!

Olivia

What the hell???

2007-10-16T20:33:00.000-04:00

Grrr!!! I'm pissed right now! It's Tuesday night and time for The Biggest Loser to be on, but instead, hogging my channel 2 is some special about Idaho Senator Larry Craig, trying to convince America that he's not some gay dude having sex in public washrooms. I certainly don't give a rat's ass whether he's getting his dick shined in a men's room or not. And then on channel 12, the other station that is supposed to have The Biggest Loser on, there's some interview with John Stamos and his life on TV. Again, who cares?!! I hate it when shit like this happens. These stations better be airing The Biggest Loser at 9 or I'm afraid of what I might do to my TV!!!

Olivia

That's heavy!

2007-10-16T18:26:00.000-04:00

We have a TV in our bedroom, as I'm sure most people do these days. Ours is a biggie though, for a bedroom anyway. It's a 27 inch, but it's the old fashioned picture tube bulky kind of TV, and it's heavy! Not only the fact that it's heavy, but it takes up a lot of dresser room, and I have to have the dresser pulled out from the wall so that bulky protruding back will fit in without the TV falling off the front of the dresser! Now that I'm going to re-do the room, I was thinking that it would be nice to have an LCD TV that I could hang on the wall, and get my dresser top back for other things, like maybe a nice plant, or a cool piece of art, or even nothing! I'm going to check out the pricing on them and see if I can work it in the budget. Thing is, after having the 27 inch, I don't really want to go any smaller. The old eyes aren't as good as they used to be, and I know from staying at my sisters when I'm out west every summer, that I don't want a smaller TV like her 15 inch. It's too hard to see, especially when you're trying to read an on-screen menu. We use our bedroom TV quite a bit when both of us are at home and we don't agree on what we want to watch. I'll check out the flyers this week when they come in, and hope that someone has a good sale on. It would be way cool if I could get a good deal on a TV/DVD combo unit. Not that I need the DVD player, but it would still be cool though.

Olivia

Sex, lies and drug addiction

2007-10-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

I felt so sorry for this old man that came into the bank today. He's an elderly foreign man, that doesn't speak much English. His son was with him, and they were checking on a couple of accounts he has with us, that were joint with his daughter, as he spends a few months in his homeland each year, and she looks after his finances and bills and such while he's gone.

Well it appears that this daughter of his has gone off the edge and has managed to drag her poor father down with her. She's completely stripped his accounts and put them in overdraft to the maximum. She didn't pay any of his bills while he was away since the beginning of July, so he came home to a pile of collection letters and cut off notices. And now, she seems to have vanished out of town and they're trying to find her. She's somewhere out there, because she's been using the debit card to take money out when his pension cheques are deposited. Her brother found out that she's addicted to cocaine, and that's where all this money has gone -- to support her habit. He also heard that she's been stripping for money as well. They want to try and find her and get her into some sort of drug rehabilitation program. I know this girl from her coming to the bank, and she's a beautiful woman that used to be very responsible. It's terrible to hear of someone like that falling dependent on drugs like this and screwing up their lives. She's not only hurting herself, but her family too. How sad is it that drugs can make you steal from your own father like that. Her poor old father looked so sad today. It hurt to see him like that. I hope they find her and get her the help she needs.

Olivia

Thith content ith currently unavailable

2007-10-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

What's up with CBS already? Geez! I went there just now to catch the season premiere show of Price is Right with Drew Carey (I love that guy!), and although their website claims you can watch the same days show after 3pm PST, I can never seem to view any show there, ever! Grrr!!! That show aired yesterday, so I'm well past the 3pm yesterday time right now, and all I get to hear is that annoying chick with the lisp that says, "Thith content ith currently unavailable." I was getting that the other day when I was trying to watch last weeks Survivor China episode too, from when I crashed and missed the whole damn show, and still I can't view it. I know that Dave the bartender dude was ousted, but I'd still like to see the damn show! I wish CBS would get their shit together and get theth contenth available for poor thapth like me that mithed the original airing!

Olivia

Saving your more money!

2007-10-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

I love finding more sites that can help save money. And with Christmas coming sooner than you think, it's nice to be able to go to a place to get a deal for your holiday shopping. Edealfinder.com is another coupon site that steers you in the direction of money saving coupons and deals to make your pocketbook a little happier while you're playing Santa. You can pick up some good Chadwick's coupons there for the fashionista on your list. Or maybe your kid needs a computer... they have some great HP coupons there too. Of course I'm partial to HP (both my desktop and laptop are HP models, and the next ones will be too), and they have coupons for other computer shops as well, but I love it when I can find an HP discount when I'm on the hunt for a new system. One thing I like about this site is they have a link to "today's new coupons", which is good to see what the latest deals are. Oh, and since I mentioned Christmas, did I also mention coupons for the Disney store? They got 'em! Go grab 'em!

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Got my paint chips!

2007-10-15T21:52:00.000-04:00

Oh, this is going to be cool! I managed to find the perfect blue that goes with the green I had in mind so nicely. I grabbed a couple different sandy beige kind of looking chips, but I couldn't really tell if they are the right shade that I'm looking for. It's kind of hard to tell under the lighting at the Home Depot. Anyway I figured I'd bring them home and see what they look like under the lighting the actual room, both the electrical lighting and better still in the natural daylight tomorrow. I had initially planned on putting a coat on the ceiling tonight, but by the time I got home I didn't much feel like opening that can of worms. I'll see how I feel after work tomorrow, and maybe do that before The Biggest Loser comes on TV. We'll see though. Tuesday night is usually one of those nights that I come home dog tired and don't want to do anything.

Olivia

Musical Intercourse

2007-10-15T20:47:00.000-04:00

Now that I have your attention with that title, I wanted to tell you about this website called IndieMV. So what's with the intercourse you're wondering? Well, what they claim at IndieMV - Musical Intercourse is the perfect way to explain what they're all about... bringing together music and people. In my mind from what I can see at this site, it's about the love of music, so musical intercourse is a perfect way to say it! Independent bands and fans are brought together here, kind of like a musical orgy. Remember, I said it's all about love, and we're talking the love of music here!

You can browse through the videos and vlogs there. The cool thing about this site is the sliders you use while searching for videos to watch. Say you're like me. I like a pretty wide range of music, so I personalized my sliders to my own tastes. Rock and classic rock I slid to the far left, because those are my most favorites, and then I like a little rhythm and blues, and a little pop, so those sliders I kept more in the middle. Then when I did my search, based on those slider tags, my taste of music popped up on the list. Pretty cool. I watched a couple videos of bands I had never heard of, so that's cool to find new music. Then I had to watch Sarah McLachlan singing Angel live. I love that song -- it's so full of emotion!

Anyway, if you love music, either to listen to or to play, you should check out IndieMV for a little musical intercourse to enjoy! And while you're there, check out the contests they have going on right now. They've teamed up with Unicef for the Unite Against Aids Video Contest.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Back at it

2007-10-15T19:07:00.000-04:00

Yep, it's renovation zone around the house again. Mr. Funky is of course up at the cottage, so that leaves me home by myself to don the handywoman superhero suit (aka my painting clothes) and wield the handywoman sword (okay, so it's a paintbrush) and redecorate our bedroom. I started this weekend, and last night I finished installing the laminate flooring. It looks great! Except now of course the rest of the room looks like crap, so I'm off to buy some ceiling paint and pick out the perfect colors I want to use. I'm planning on doing pop art feature wall where the bed goes. I want to do different size and colors of squares that overlap each other. I'm thinking a pale green, a pale blue, like a Tiffany's box kind of blue, and some sort of sandy beige. The rest of the walls I'm going to paint the pale green color. I'll check out the paint chips when I pick up the ceiling paint. Fun, fun, fun!

Olivia

Wow!

2007-10-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

So as I've mentioned before, I work in a bank. We of course have been closely watching the exchange rate for the US dollar versus the Canadian dollar. The Bank of Canada rate has been below par for a couple weeks now, but the misconception of most people coming to the bank is that is not the individual banks selling rate for US currency. Yes, banks like to make money too, so they do charge wherever they can! Anyway, long story short, today was the first day that we were actually selling US dollars below par in the branch. People were so amazed when they came in today to get either US cash or a money order or whatever. Everyone remembers a few years ago, like about five or so, when the US dollar was selling in our banks here for almost 60¢ above par, so now people are buying it up as investment. Some of them are purchasing real estate down south while the buying rate is so good for us. We have one couple that are heading south to check out some Naples Florida real estate. That's too close to the everglades and the alligators for me, but being on the Gulf of Mexico does sound more appealing to me than the Eastern shores too. Oh well, it doesn't matter to me anyway. I can't afford to purchase any real estate anywhere at the moment! But it is cool that people that are in that position have the buying advantage of the strong dollar we currently have.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

I hear no echo

2007-10-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

Saturday night I went out with a friend to watch another friend of ours who is in a band play. Before we hit the bar where they were playing, we went to one of our favorite restaurants here in town called Echoes of Asia. It's a combination of Thai and Vietnamese food, and everything is just scrumptious! I love Thai food! My mouth was watering for some beef satay and their chicken and cashews dish, and my friend was craving their warrior beef dish. How sad we were when we first pulled into the parking lot and discovered that the sign now read "It's Thai" instead of "Echoes of Asia". Then I thought and said to my friend that it was probably okay; that a lot of restaurants seem to go bankrupt and then re-open under a different name, so we went inside with that hope.

The decor was completely changed. Actually it was a little nicer than the Echoes decor. The waitress brought us our menus and that's where the disappointment happened. The menu was completely different. Nothing familiar was in the list. So after pondering for a bit, we both ordered an appetiser, which we split with each other, and then a main dish, again splitting. She ordered spring rolls, which were tasty as most are, and I ordered this beef salad twist thingy, where you get all these different toppings -- grilled beef, noodles, carrots, cilantro and a nice peanut dressing, and then you wrap what you want up in lettuce leaves. It was tasty, but the lettuce leaves were very small and hard to wrap around anything, so we ended up just dividing it all and making a little tossed salad on our plates. Her main dish was a beef rice dish, which was okay, but nothing to write home about, and I wanted noodles, so I ordered a shrimp noodle dish. The waitress asked me if I wanted mild, medium or hot, and apparently I wasn't paying attention when she had asked my friend this as well, because she had the brains to ask her if the medium was really hot! So I had ordered the noodle dish as medium, and it was so hot that you couldn't taste much of anything, other than burnt taste buds!

What a bummer! So we don't think we'll be going there anymore. Fortunately the band was stellar, as they always are, and the beer the bar served went down nicely too! ;-)

Olivia

Even grandparents need someone

2007-10-05T00:29:00.000-04:00

I know I've talked about different dating sites before, but I also wanted to talk about another group of people that could well be lonely hearts and looking for someone to share their lives with. We're living in a time when most baby boomers are now getting up in years, and are now the seniors of this era. Technically for the most part, if you're 55 or older, you're considered to be a senior. And while most seniors have partners they've been with for years, there are still a large number of senior singles out there. Some have gone through divorce, and many have lost their significant others and are now widowed. Living alone can be great for some people, but most people get lonely and it's always nice to have a special someone to share fun times with, even if, and especially if you're older and suddenly find yourself on your own. Maybe you need a friend to go on outings with, or perhaps you're looking for an intimate relationship with someone special to spend the rest of your life with. Either way, it's not so easy to meet new people when you're older, as it was when you were younger and used to go out to dances and parties. So it's good to know that there are some wonderful dating sites that cater to the older crowd, where today's seniors can go to meet new people and make new friends. And who knows, maybe find a new soul mate to grow old with!

Olivia

Arachnaphobia

2007-10-05T00:15:00.000-04:00

Eeek!! No wonder why I don't want to do things anymore! Tonight, while I was watching my shows, I was being really good by doing little odds and ends during the commercials. So I had a couple of loads of laundry going, and at one point, I ran to the bedroom to get the second load of laundry I had waiting, so I could run downstairs and switch loads. There it was, in all it's hairy creepiness, a big humongous spider perched on the side of my bed!!! Oh my god, I didn't know whether to scream, to puke or to pass out! I'm telling you, he was huge! His body was probably about an inch long, and he had these long thick legs, making him about two inches long. Oh god, I just cringe at the thought of him! Of course I've got bare feet with just skimpy flip flops on, and as I looked down at my curled up toes, I knew I couldn't possibly knock it down and squash this dude! He was too big, and I was sure he would scurry up on my bare toes, which would of definitely put me into cardiac arrest! Now remember, I'm home alone right now, so I couldn't scream for hubby to come and save his damsel in distress. So I looked around and spotted a pair of shoes in my closet. I grabbed one, and very very quickly knocked that sucker down to the floor and in warp speed I whacked him about ten times. He was certainly not going to be sharing my bed with me tonight! But I have to say I got grossed out when I saw the mess of his gooey guts on the bottom of my shoe! Ick! I'm not normally afraid of spiders generally, but this creepy thing was more like a spider monster! I'll be giving the bed a full inspection before I slip in between the sheets tonight in case he left any friends or family behind!

Olivia

Prizes for you too!

2007-10-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

I was telling you all yesterday about winning a prize at work. Well, I don't want you all to feel left out by not winning your own prize, so I'm going to tell you how you too, can be a winner! And these prizes you could win are much better than my prize I won at work.

First of all you head over to whogets.com and sign up for a free membership. Then, you find a prize you'd like to win and enter the whogets.com free sweepstakes for that prize. Then if you make it to the semi-final round, which you will be notified by email if you do, you get to do a posting of why you should be declared the winner. The other members at whogets will then decide based on the posts who that winner will be. In other words, "who gets" to win that prize! Pretty cool, huh?!

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

A sweet lady!

2007-10-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

I'm just home on my lunch hour at the moment, but I wanted to blog about my special delivery at work today. Remember I said we went to the parade on Saturday. Well, where we viewed the parade from, was in front of the BME church that I know some of the ladies from, when they come to the bank to do the banking. The BME church is a historical church here in town, that played a big part of the underground railroad years ago. We went there on purpose, because this one sweet lady named Ada was telling me they make and sell all kinds of food on parade day, and their specialty was chicken wings. My hubby is nuts about chicken wings! Well, when we got there, about an hour before the parade they were already sold out of the wings! They had sold over 150 pounds of wings by 11:00 am!! Ada felt so bad that they had no more wings for us, and she even hunted down her son to take his wings for us, against our cries of telling her not to worry, and let the poor boy have his wings! As it turned out, her son wasn't able to snag any wings either. So we ended up buying some Jamaican patties and some samosas, which were really yummy!

So today at work, in walks Ada, and she hands me a styrofoam container full of wings for hubby and I. She felt so bad about us missing out on Saturday, that she cooked us up a special order! What a sweetheart! I told her hubby was away now, so I got to have his share too, but she made me promise I'd save him some in the freezer. So I've just finished my lunch and guess what I had? You got it... chicken wings! And I even saved some for hubby... think four wings will do him? It better, cuz that's all he's getting! ;-)

Olivia

Another task to add

2007-10-03T22:56:00.000-04:00

I just went to unload my dishwasher, and as I was unhooking it from the tap (I have a portable -- sadly I have no room for a built-in) I noticed my kitchen faucets are real sloppy, as in loose and wobbly. Doesn't it just figure though. My hubby is an almost plumber! He didn't get his ticket, due to us moving across the country while he was in his last year of his apprenticeship. They wanted to put him back to a first year journeyman here, and considering the program he started out west is only four years, compared to the five years it is in this province, and that he would have had his gas-fitters license out there as well, he decided not to pursue that career and ended up working for the government instead. Anyway, apart from that, he fortunately did teach me a thing or two about plumbing along the way, so I'm going to have to dig out the pipe wrench and tighten up those taps! Hmm... maybe I'll buy a new set instead, since I'm going to have to climb under the sink anyway! ;-)

Olivia

I won a prize!

2007-10-03T21:47:00.000-04:00

This morning at work during our morning meeting, our manager announced some winners from a contest we had going this past summer. I had actually forgot about this contest, but then again, I don't pay a lot of attention to them anyway. Well it turns out I was wonderful, and had successfully referred the required amount of clients for a particular product and in turn, I won a prize! Woohoo!!

Ordinarily for these types of promotions we win a gift card for a restaurant or something, but this time I got to pick what prize I wanted from a list of different items. In all honesty, I would have rather had the gift card, because the choices weren't that great for me. There were a few different toys, but I have no kids to give them to. There was some jewelry, but nothing I particularly liked. And there was steam mop thing! Nice! What the hell kind of prize is that?! So in the end, I chose a prize that I'll give to my hubby. It's a set that consists of a radio and a flashlight with the cranks on them, so you don't need batteries. I figure it will be good for him when he's fishing. And of course it will be good when we need a flashlight, because it never fails that every time we need one the batteries are dead! Oh well, it's kind of sappy, but it's a prize and I won it! ;-)

Olivia

Gotta get me some

2007-10-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

Money! There never seems to be enough money. I work a full time job, I do some paid blogging, and I have I guess what you could a call a small home based business. That being my online t-shirt shop. I don't make a whole lot of extra money with these extra avenues of income. Come to think of it, I don't make a whole lot of money with my day job either! But all the time I hear so many people say they need extra income. It's there for the making if you want to put forth the effort to earn it. There are lots of different ways you can make a few extra bucks. You can do what I do, with the paid blogging. Sure, it may only bring in an extra $50 or $100 a month -- sometimes more, and lots of time less, but it's still a little extra money to help you out. You can sell items on places like eBay. There is no limit really to what you can sell there. Well, within reason and their seller's guidelines of course. If you're a crafty person, you could sell your handmade goodies there. Remember, not everyone has that creative ability, and would rather buy from someone that does. If you're a natural socialite, you could sell items through home parties. There are all sorts of different companies with all kinds of different items that can be sold this way -- candles, scrap booking, fashion jewelry, home products, etc., etc., etc. If you've got a product that people like, use and need, you're sure to have a financially successful business to help you out with a little extra income.

Olivia

Time saver for students

2007-10-03T20:53:00.000-04:00

There's a great site for students looking for both a college or university to go to, and hunting for a student loan to fund that education. PremierStudentLoan.com is not just about getting a student loan, although it's a great resource with many different articles to help you decide which is the best loan to apply for, and how much of a loan you need to consider looking at. This site also helps you to choose which school is best for your studies. Browse through their huge directory of schools in every state, as well as online campuses to see what school offers the best options for your desired field of study.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Pass the mustard!

2007-10-03T20:42:00.000-04:00

I found this picture that I'm going to send to my sister! She's going to love it! It was taken in Cincinnati, during the "Running of the Wieners", which kicked off the city's Oktoberfest celebration.

My sister and her hubby have a miniature Dachshund themselves, and little 'Fletcher' is such a cutie! He looks just like leader in this race. I love that dog. He's got such a great personality. I've never really given this breed much thought until they got him, and after my first time meeting him, he played surrogate puppy to my own Bizzy baby while I was away from home and missing her. Even though Bizzy is a rowdy Jack Russell, Fletcher is such a spunky little thing and so lovable too that he helps fill the void of not having Bizzy around when I'm visiting my family.

Olivia

Snowbirds take flight

2007-10-03T20:25:00.000-04:00

At the bank I work at, a lot of our clientele consists of senior citizens. Many of these older folks are snowbirds, and only live here at home during the warmer part of the year. Then come late fall or so they head to their winter homes. We've got lots of people that winter in Florida. Probably the bulk of them have a home in Florida state somewhere. But we also have a few that have homes in other warm regions as well, like Arizona and Mexico. We even have one couple that are lucky enough to have a home in Hawaii! I always joke with them that I'm going to knock on their door there one day, and they tell me I'm more than welcome to come and stay for a week or two. I just may take them up on that some year!

One of our co-workers that retired a couple years ago went to Arizona last year. She suffers from arthritis quite badly, and really loved how she felt so much better when they were down there. She said it was amazing to get up in the morning and not have to hobble her way out of the bedroom to the kitchen for coffee. They're planning on going again this year, and they're tossing around the idea of talking to a realtor while they're there. Like she said, they aren't looking for Arizona luxury real estate, but just a modest home or condo they can be comfortable in. That would be kind of cool too, if they were to buy a place there. It would be another place to go for a vacation and stay cheap! ;-)

Olivia

What's cooking?

2007-10-03T20:14:00.000-04:00

The one drawback of having hubby go away for weeks at a time, is that I don't have the luxury of coming home to dinner ready. He's the major cook in the house. He's good at it and he likes to cook. Now mind you he doesn't like to clean up after himself, but he does put out a tasty meal!

So for the next couple of weeks, George and I will be making my dinner together. George being my George Foreman grill! Tonight's menu included a couple of chicken drumsticks that George grilled up for me, some steamed cauliflower, baby potatoes and some coleslaw. I made enough so I have a lunch for tomorrow when I come home.

I think tomorrow I'll go pick up a couple things I need to make a big old pot of cabbage soup. That's my favorite! I don't make the diet cabbage soup, like everyone thinks I'm making when I say cabbage soup. I make my own, and I make it because I like it! I also want to try a potato soup recipe I found at Robbie's Recipes. It's called Loaded Baked Potato Soup, and it sounds real yummy... fattening, but yummy!

Another recipe I want to try out that a friend gave me is a crock pot recipe for Thai Chicken. It sounds good too, and she said she thinks I'll like it, so I'll have to give that a go. Using the crock pot is one way of coming home to dinner ready, or near ready! I don't have the recipe right handy, but I'll post it here soon.

Olivia

A little tight on cash?

2007-10-03T19:17:00.000-04:00

Years ago, before my hubby and I were married, we needed to borrow a small amount of money -- only $700.00. Neither one of us had ever had a credit card at that time, and we were desperate so we went to see a loans officer at the bank we dealt at. We were shocked that they didn't want to bother with us for such a small amount. They suggested we use a credit card, rather than take out a loan for a menial amount. After me crying in that loan officer's office and telling her that neither one of us had a credit card to use, and how we really needed this money, I must have hit a soft spot in her heart, because she gave in and drew up the paperwork that they said was a waste of their time, and granted us that loan.

These days it's much easier for people like us that are in a similar predicament and just need to borrow what is seen by the big banks a menial amount of money that isn't worth doing the paperwork for. A payday lender is easy to find for a payday loan. You'll easily find them on the Internet, and most cities have several such businesses around town where you can go get a small amount of cash for your financial emergency.

Even for people looking for larger cash loans that may not have the best credit history, or even no credit history, there are several companies around that will grant a bad credit personal loan, which I think is a good thing. Lots of people that have some skeletons in their credit closet have learned from their mistakes, and this type of loan offers them not only the instant financial help they need, but it also gives them a chance to help rebuild their good credit.

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

How do you organize your time?

2007-10-03T18:59:00.000-04:00

Time management is one of my biggest problems. From getting to work on time in the morning, to having enough hours in the day to accomplish things I need to get done. I sometimes wonder if I have some sort of problem or something. I just always seem to be behind the eight ball getting things accomplished or being on time for somewhere I have to be.

It all starts in the morning when I get up (after snoozing the alarm a few times, which is why I set my clock earlier than I have to!). I have my shower and get ready for work, with thoughts of stopping by Timmies to get a coffee, but when the time comes that I'm finally ready to leave the house, I'm already running late and never have time for that damned coffee! I'm normally late for work, only by five minutes or so, but just always! I don't get it. I don't take an overly long time in the shower, or getting ready. I get out of bed with well over an hour to get ready, which when I add up all the time it takes for every task, I should have a spare 20 minutes or so, and that's with getting my coffee and being at work on time. I have about a five minute drive to work, so that's no big deal there. Yet every morning it's the same thing, and I can't figure out where it is that I'm wasting time to cause me to be late. It's frustrating.

Then at the end of the day I get home, and I'm always just so damned tired to do anything constructive it seems. I still have my counters and some trim to paint in my kitchen from my redecorating I did in the summer. What's the problem here? That's not a big job, and I should be able to knock that off my list one evening after dinner, but I haven't. If I have any errands to do, like groceries or anything like that, I begrudgingly do them right after work, before I even come home, or else I know I won't want to go back out once I've sat for a bit.

It's like I have zero energy after working all day. My doctor suggested that I take Vitamin B12 for some added energy, but that's just not seeming to do anything, since I've been taking it for several months now, and I still just feel tired and lazy in the evenings. I don't know what the problem is, other than the fact that I think I may have just fallen into a rut -- some sort of lazy rut or something, and I need to crawl my way out of it.

I'd like to be like other productive people that go to work all day, go home for dinner and accomplish different tasks they have to to, like some simple housework and such so it's not all piled up for the weekends. I feel like I'm bombarded with crap to do on the weekends, and never seem to get any R&R time to enjoy before the next week starts on Monday.

So while my hubby is up north this time, I think I'm going to make up a chart of things I want to get done and schedule them in, even after work. Maybe forcing myself to do these things instead of sitting on my duff will help to pull me out of this rut I seem to be in.

Olivia

Gotta get organized!

2007-10-03T18:25:00.000-04:00

So my hubby left late last night for the cottage again. He's going to be gone for a couple weeks. He'll be cutting down some trees for firewood, and fishing of course.

While he's gone I've got a list of things I want to get done, as usual! I need to pick up some good storage bins for some of my fabric. I'm a little overloaded in my craft room/office, so I think I'll put a whack of my fabric into some bins and store them in the basement. Then maybe I'll have a little breathing room in here! My problem is that I do too many different types of crafts -- sewing, knitting, crocheting, painting, paper crafts like rubber stamping, card making, ATC making. Plus I make a lot of jewelry, so I've got beads and my polymer clay sculpting takes up some more room. And this doesn't even include the graphics that I work on too! I can't bring myself to lessen my interests to one or two, so I can't bear the thought of tossing out any of my supplies. I am thinking though about reducing my fabric stash a wee bit, if I can bring myself to doing that. I figured maybe I'd auction some of it off on eBay. We'll see though. In the meantime, I'll pick up some storage bins and take it from there! ;-)

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Well howdy!

2007-10-03T18:07:00.000-04:00

I've been MIA for a bit again. Had a busy week this past week. Nothing real major, other than just busy.

Saturday we went to the annual parade that runs here for our Grape and Wine Festival. Yes, we live in the middle of wine country. Anyway, I hadn't been to the parade for a few years, so my hubby and I decided to go. The daughter of friends of ours was in the parade this year, with her high school "Junk Band". If you go to their web page, you can see a short video of last year's band in the parade in their multimedia section. I tried to get pictures of her this year, but by the time I found her in the band (in the last row!) they were already past us, and I didn't really want a picture of her back! Anyway, it's a pretty cool band, kinda like "Stomp". All the band members are banging on things like garbage cans, buckets, water jugs and stuff like that, hence the name, Junk Band!

One of my favorite marching bands was also in the parade this year. From Burlington Ontario, the Top Hat Marching Orchestra. This is an awesome band to see in a parade! They play cool music and dance, more so than march along the parade route, and the band leader is amazing to watch! He really gets right into it and dances the entire way!

Anyway, other than that, I've just been busy doing whatever, chores, errands and stuff like that.

Olivia

Intranet Software

2007-09-26T08:19:00.000-04:00

Do you work for a company that needs a little better organizing to run smoother? I'm sure most of us can pick out some way, or ways in which the companies we work for can make changes here and there to run a little more efficiently. Communication is a big key to helping an an organization run like a fine tuned clock. Perhaps the company you work for would benefit from some help from a company that has the solutions. You might want to put a suggestion in the suggestion box that your company check out Epazz, where they offer some good intranet software, and you can also tell them there is a 30 Day free trial for their software. All they have to do is contact Epazz to get it setup, and before you know it, things will be running a lot smoother in the office.

Olivia

Someone for everyone

2007-09-25T18:24:00.001-04:00

That old saying "there's someone out there for everyone" is so true, what with the Internet and all the different dating sites out there. You can pretty much find a dating site for any kind of person that you're looking for -- young, old, near, far, every race you can think of, and for all the different interests there are. Take for instance if you're hot into body art... well there is a site called tattoolovers.com where you can hook up with all kinds of tattoo singles. This would be a great site for my sister in law, but she's not looking for anyone right now. She's got a lot of tats though, and has had many of them before tattoos on women became popular. That must be the trendsetter in her! She does have a lot of nice artwork on her body though. Personally I don't have any tattoos. I had thought of getting one at one point, but then I chickened out. I'm just not that brave around needles! I'll just admire everyone else's body art!

Olivia

Today I'm a celebrity!

2007-09-25T18:18:00.000-04:00

Cool beans! When I went to the PayPerPost site to see if there were any blogging opps, especially those nice high paying ones for 1K Tuesday. When I was there, I noticed that my blog is the featured blog of the day! It's like I'm a celebrity or something, with my name in lights! Or like flavor of the day, employee of the month. Okay, we don't want to go that far, now do we?! Well, anyway, I'm going to enjoy my five minutes of fame here today. Thanks PPP! Anyone want an autograph? :-D

Olivia

Spider Pig was there!

2007-09-24T01:40:00.000-04:00

Tonight we watched the season premier Simpson's show, and I got a good chuckle out of Bart's lines on the blackboard... "I will not wait another 20 years to make a movie", or something along those lines. Then, when the family all plunked down on the couch, there was Spider Pig on Homer's lap, and the music changed to the Spider Pig song. What a hoot! I love that show!

So we're watching along and Homer is jetting off with Mr. Burns in his private jet to Chicago, when all of a sudden my husband managed to hit the mute button on the remote, and the closed captioning kicked in, so we had to read Lionel Richie singing beer beer, beer beer! At first we didn't know what happened, but after me freaking out a bit, my husband realized which button he hit and un-muted the TV. I feel sorry for those people that have to read their TV shows. I couldn't imagine not hearing the different voices, especially the Simpson's voices. Just wouldn't be the same reading "A-ha!" instead of hearing Nelson say it. ;-)

Olivia

It's officially Fall!

2007-09-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

Summer is over for another year and now we're officially in the season of Fall. It's a beautiful day here today, and I'm happy to report that my laundry is blowing in the nice sunshiny breeze outside. No dryer or those useless blue dryer balls today! Yippee!

I've got the last load in the washer and am going to to outside to dig up one of my flower beds that has been neglected most of the summer. I've got over 100 bulbs I'm going to plant in it. Red, pink, purple and a mixed color pack of tulips, yellow daffodils and some anemone flower bulbs in purple and white that look nice but I've never planted before. I don't know if I'll have enough bulbs to fill this bed, so I might have to run out and get some more. I want this bed full of blooms in the spring. (Take note of that Mr. Squinky -- the pesty neighborhood squirrel!) I have some tulips and daffies in my other flower beds, but they look so nice when they're in bloom that I never want to pick them for cut flowers, so this bed is being planted with the sole purpose of having vases of lively spring blooms. I can hardly wait!

Anyway, I better get out there for now. I've got a lot of work to do!

Olivia

Tonight's the night!!!

2007-09-20T18:18:00.000-04:00

I'm so stoked for Survivor China starting tonight. I'm almost giddy about it! Yes, I know I may be a tad overexcited about it, but I don't care. I love that show!!!! I hope it's on for longer than an hour too. That's such a kick in the face when you've waited so long and then with the gobs and gobs of commercials, before you know it the damned show is over for the week. I haven't joined the Fantasy League at the site, but I should go do that. I did it once before but did miserably at it. Maybe I'll go give it another go right now!

WAAAAA-aaaaahhhhh....

Olivia

Say Cheese!

2007-09-20T00:15:00.000-04:00

Earlier this evening, like at sunset time, I went outside to take some pictures of the way the sun was hitting the clouds that where in the sky at that time. They looked really cool, and an idea came to me that would require me to get a bunch of different cloud pictures, so I figured I'd start with these ones tonight. Well something happened to my camera, and I don't really know why. For some reason it just kind of froze up on me, and the shutter wouldn't close, nor could I turn it off. I ended up having to pop the batteries out to get it to shut down. Strange. I've never had to re-boot my camera before! Now it's like the batteries are dead, so I have them in the charger and hoping that the camera and the pictures I took are going to be okay. I've been doing some digital scrapbooking for a gift for my mother in law for Christmas that I want to put on a CD for her, so I really do hope it will be okay.

I really would love to get a new camera though. Mine is about five years old now, but it's been a pretty good little camera for those years. It's a Toshiba, but like I said, it's old now, with only 3.2 mega pixels, and a 6X zoom. I'm find whenever the electronics stores send out a sales flyer, I always check out the camera pages to see what's new and what's on sale. The Canon cameras are nice. I'd really like an SLR model, where you can change lenses from a wide angle to a telephoto. I love taking what some may consider to be strange pictures. Must be the creative side to me. I think it would be so cool to be able to zoom in so close on something without it going blurry on me. Do I really need a camera like this? No, but I'd still like one. And besides, it may unleash the photographer within me!

Olivia

~*This is a sponsored post*~

Lucky girl

2007-09-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

One of my co-workers today was telling me of yet another trip she's taking to yet another place I want to go. She's already going to Vegas next month, which I was already envious of. Especially since they've got tickets to go see Cirque du Soliel's "O", which is going to be a must for me whenever I make it to Sin City myself.

Now today she was telling me they are doing another long weekend trip to New York City in November. Again, another place I want to go. She's so damned lucky though, because this trip is totally at no cost to them, just as it is every year. Her husband works for an upscale restaurant around here, and every year he goes to NYC for a convention, and while there, they are to go to some nice restaurants and take notes! They go with another couple, where the husband works for the same restaurant, so the girls make their annual shopping trip to Canal Street while the hubbies are at the convention. And of course they usually try to take in a show while they're there. This time they've purchased Wicked tickets. I wanted to see this show when it was in Toronto last year, but couldn't get tickets for the sold out performances. What a lucky girl she is. I'm so envious!

Olivia