KFC

In our house there is nothing that conjures up images of childhood Sundays better than a bucket of original KFC.

While we were growing up, it was a fairly frequent occurrence for Dad to stop by KFC on the way home from church. I imagine the aroma of warm chicken and fries would fill the vehicle and by the time we got home we were all ready to dig in.

KFC is still a common occurrence at our house and the tradition is being carried on to the next generation as my nieces and nephew enjoy having their "chicken on the bone" for Sunday lunch.

Even as I'm typing this, there is a bucket of chicken sitting on the counter waiting for everyone to arrive. Mmm, finger lickin' good.

The Voca People

They are are friendly aliens from the planet Voca, somewhere behind the sun...where all communication is made by music and vocal expressions.

After a millennium of space travel, The Voca People, are finally landing on the unfamiliar planet Earth, sadly discovering that their precious spaceship charger - Musical energy - has completely emptied.

The Voca People believe that life is music and music is life.

Slowly, The Voca People learn the strange habitants, habits and music of planet Earth, and with the help of the audience, musically energize their unique spaceship.




The Titanic


The God Father


James Bond

movies... movies... movies...

Today was a mindless movie day.

Well, let me clarify that, after I finished cleaning this morning, I went downstairs and holed myself up in the basement and worked on invitations for 2 of Lauren's bridal showers. While working on them, I "watched" several movies on various movie channels. Let's see, movies on the menu for today included: "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", "Fools Gold", "EdTV", "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", "My Sister's Keeper" and "Star Wars: A New Hope".

Most of these are repeats, so most of my "watching" was actually listening and then looking up to see favourite scenes (if I caught them). So today was a relaxing day and I finished one set of invitations and put a bit of a dent into the other set. All-in-all, not a bad day :)

sunshine express garden centre

I love it that the warm weather is here (for now)! The sun is currently shining, Mom is busy working in the gardens, the birds are singing, our cat is prowling, the golden finches are playing at the bird-feeder, the water-fountain is gurgling, the motorcycles are roaring by, kids are laughing as they ride by on their bikes and butterflies are flitting about. Mmmmhmmm... one of my favourite times of the year

Today was the day that Mom bought a lot of the annuals she plants around the house AND I got to go with her. I don't have much of an interest in gardening, but I do have an interest in beautiful things. So, I agreed to go with her. I think we left our house at 10:30 and didn't get back until after 1:30 - yes, 3 hours of perusing and talking and planning and choosing and sorting through hundreds of varieties of flowers.

Turns out we got many of the "usuals" that have been planted year after year, but we also picked up some "new" flowers for various locations around the yard. I'll need to go find the labels to the plants and then see if I can find pictures to put up on the blog because I'm kinda excited about some of the plants we've got.

In the wine barrels in front of our garage, we've got:

'White Ice' Euphorbia
'Gartenmeister' Fuchsia
'Lime Green' Sweet Potato Vine
'Blackie' Sweet Potato Vine
'Violet' Calibrachoa


In the big pots on the front porch, we've got:

'Scarlet' Coleus Wizard
'Velvet Red' Coleus Wizard
'Lime Green' Sweet Potato Vine
'Blackie' Sweet Potato Vine


More to come as it gets planted because I really don't know what's going where.

girls' night out

Living in one of the Canadian wine regions does have some perks. One of them being access to some unique Ontario wines. The trio of "Girls' Night Out" wines is no exception. I've bought it for exactly that purpose (a girls' night out) and I'm sure many other women do too. In fact, the most recent place I saw it was at a lingerie shower for one of my friends (I don't think we ever got around to opening the bottle that night). Anyhow, I'm just saying that... well, what am I saying... I guess I don't really know, but ladies, this is a good one. I think I'll try and pick up a bottle and bring it along to craft night tomorrow.

cleaning in progress

I always kinda chuckle at my Mom. As soon as the college/university school year ends, she is filled with "make work" projects for those of us who are students living at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (not really) I'm just getting it out there.

So, this years "make work" project is washing all the walls and baseboards in the house. Her logic is that because she's outside in gardens during the day and her nose isn't stuffed up then, her nose must be stuffed up when she's inside because of dusty walls. And I can't really argue her logic because she won't budge on it. But I think that what's really going on is that she's worried people will be wandering into the house during my brother's wedding reception which will be taking place in our yard at the end of August. Mom's busy in the gardens making sure they'll be perfect and doesn't really enjoy cleaning/housework. So, being the only student living at home, that leaves me with the honour/pleasure/duty of washing all walls and baseboards with vinegar water.

OK, so it may be true that there is an abundance of dust on the walls and baseboards BEHIND the furniture. BUT upstairs, 3 of the 5 bedrooms and on the main floor two-thirds of the rooms were painted within the past year. So, really, not so dusty. On top of that, 3 out of the 5 bedrooms are also not in use because there aren't enough people living in the house to fill them.

So yeah, there is much cleaning in progress happening over the course of the next 2 weeks or so. Our house will be sparkling!

a creative outlet

K, so I'm a bit of a "do-it-yourself-er" and a bit of a cheapskate (you know, being Mennonite and all). I am also a scrapbooker. So when a card-making class came up on a Thursday morning group that I go to, I jumped all over it. I figured that I'd be able to get enough of a scrapbooking feel without feeling like I'd have to lug half my basement with me. And I was right! I found a creative outlet! Plus I made some new friends, used up some of my scraps in my scrap bin, learned some new techniques and made several beautiful cards that I can give to my friends and family. Here are a couple of examples of cards I've made.

MAY THE 'FOURTH' BE WITH YOU

MAY THE 'FOURTH' BE WITH YOU TODAY... May 4th... Star Wars music blaring... yeah, I'm geeky like that... LOVE the original trilogy!!

I ended up re-watching the first three episodes of Star Wars this weekend as I was working on wedding shower invitations. Yeah, still don't really like them. But it was something "mindless" to watch as I got my assembly line going, so whatever.

Situation: I set myself up in the family room because I expected my folks to go out (like they usually do on Sunday nights) and because that's the only room with DVR and I had recorded the episodes earlier in the weekend in anticipation of this night.

Problem: My parents decided not to go out and not to invite company over and that they wanted to watch a movie.

Solution: Because I was already set up and working on invitations I suggested that maybe they could watch a movie in the basement. So I found a movie Dad would enjoy (I think) and set it all up so that they could watch "Catch Me If You Can", which they did.

But when their movie was over, I still had about 45 minutes left of "Revenge of the Sith". So, of course, my movie is still playing when Mom comes in to say goodnight and also to let me know that "all this weird stuff you're watching is really junk". I mean, I know my folks don't like the whole fantasy and sci-fi genres - for goodness sakes, they don't even like Superman. But really, is there something wrong with wanting to escape into a make believe world for a few hours of fun and relaxation?

Doesn't Dad do the same thing when he's watching his westerns and courtroom drama movies? Doesn't Mom do the same thing when she's watching the sappy romances and her sports movies? So, what's the problem - well, the sheer unfeasibility of fantasy/sci-fi. Like I really believe that there are orcs, hobbits, dragons, elves, wookies, ewoks, etc. It's not corrupting my mind, it's just allowing me to escape my reality for a couple of hours.

OK, so now I've had my rant and I can get on with my day...

if only the rain would decide to stay or go, maybe I would know what to do with the sheets - hang them up outside or throw them in the dryer...