Rabbit Trails

Today I was following a few rabbit trails through Facebook. I found someone I knew, so I looked at their list of friends and found someone else I knew and so forth. I ended up, after only about 3 or 4 connections coming across the profile of my coworker's step son and pictures of his new nephew (my coworker's grandson). It's a small world!

Oh my!

A condo in the building next to ours just sold for $250,000. It is an identical floor plan and square footage to ours. Earlier this year when we were calculating what we could afford to spend on our new house we estimated that by the summer we would probably be doing well if we could get $185,000 or $190,000 for our condo. With the way prices are going, we could have added an extra floor onto our house :P

A red couch?!

I am starting to get excited about decorating our new house. I know it's a long way off, and we would need to buy a lot of things to be able to decorate, but I would like to have some sort of vision for different rooms in our house. I have been contemplating the living room lately. Yesterday we went to a couple of furniture stores to check out some stuff. We obviously weren't planning to buy anything, but just get a feel for what is out there. We saw some nice living room furniture, but I think we may have problems finding the right bedroom furniture. I don't know why, but I seemed to be drawn to red furniture. I honestly don't think we would choose red, but I think I may use it as an accent colour for our living room. I am starting to get all these visions, and looking through the Sears catalogue I found some nice blinds and some nice decorative wall hangings. I think that decorating will be fun :) It will be our own place. Not that this isn't, but Jay lived here before me and it was pretty much decorated before I moved in. This house will truly be our place to decorate together and make our own.

A couple of weeks ago I signed up on Facebook. I have been able to get back in touch with a few people and it has been interesting. I would say that the neatest by far has been getting back in touch with Charity whom I was friends with in elementary school. Karen, Arleen, Charity and I were pretty tight back then. After grade 8 Charity's family moved across the city (I know that it's not that far...) but we lost touch. I admit that there have been times over the years that I have wondered what she's been up to and I think it's pretty cool that have been able to reconnect :)

I also wanted to recommend a new restaurant. Well maybe it's not that new, because I think it was there last year when Jay and I tried to go for ice cream at Homestead. We went for ice cream and Homestead was gone, luckily we noticed that it had just moved a little ways down the street. In it's old place was a new Mexican restaurant called Las Palapas. I have been in the mood for trying some more authentic Mexican food so today after church we decided to give it a try. I think it was very good! I tried a chicken and charred corn burrito and it was served with bean salad and Spanish rice. Jay had a beef quesadilla with sweet potato fries on the side. I have never been to Mexico but I think that is quite authentic. The flavour and service were really good and the prices were reasonable. I would definitely go back again!

If you are in need of a smile today, these should do it!

Our first house-related disagreement

I have been very happy with the relative ease with which Jay and I have been able to choose our flooring, fixtures, paint colours, etc. for our new house up to this point. I can't imagine how stressful this might be for some couples who have very different ideas about what they like. I also can't imagine being the employees at the businesses where people pick out these products as it sounds like a lot of couples are quite vocal with their disagreements and end up taking FOREVER to actually choose.

Today Jay and I had our very first disagreement. We went to the cabinet place to choose our wood, knobs and counter top. We had no problem agreeing with the choice of knobs and counter top, but when it came to choosing wood we had a problem. I think the problem was that neither Jay nor I were very familiar with the different woods and what they look like. We just assumed that we would go with oak because that is what we have now and we both like it. But looking at the oak samples they had, I really didn't care for any of their stains. They were either too golden/yellowy or they made the wood grain too dark.

I was feeling kind of discouraged until I noticed another sample that I really liked. It was cherry wood and had the perfect colour with some wood grain to it. Jay on the other hand tended to like the oak with no stain on it. I would agree that it was really nice, and I probably would have chosen it had I not seen the natural cherry wood. We stood and thought about it for a while and finally Jay, said "Sweetie, go ahead and choose what you would like." What a sweetheart! I chose the cherry wood because I just loved the smooth texture and wood grain appearance to it. I totally thought that cherry wood would be more reddish coloured but it totally wasn't. I am excited to see what our kitchen will look like :)

Not as nerdy as I thought

How White and Nerdy Are You?

I really enjoy Weird Al's song White and Nerdy. I think that I am a nerd at heart, but I don't necessarily partake in all of the typically nerdy behaviors. But I think the fact that this song makes me laugh proves that I am a nerd.

Assumptions

Why do people assume that it's no problem for people in wheelchairs to climb stairs. Not that they think that they can climb a whole flight of stairs, but just one or two steps seems perfectly logical to them. I should bring an extra wheelchair along for those people who think it must be easy to climb stairs in a wheelchair and let them give it a try with their non-paralyzed hands and functioning trunk muscles. I imagine that someone who was a strong paraplegic could probably do one step or perhaps two if they are freakishly strong and have good balance as to not tip over backwards :P

Yesterday my family went out for lunch for Mother's Day to JD Peppercorn's. Any other time we have gone there, they have seated us in a place that did not involve going up a step. When my sister called to make the reservation she asked that we be seated in a place that was wheelchair accessible. They had a big brunch buffet set up where they usually seat us when we go there for lunch and I understand that they didn't want us jammed in between the roast beef and potato salad, but they could have maybe thought of that when my sister called. I can't complain too much because between me and my dad we were able to help Jay up the step, but come on, please don't look at Jay and say "Can't you just climb one step?"

Healthy Foods VS Flavour

I have found in the last year or so that I don't mind eating healthier foods. Don't get me wrong, I still love my sweets and occasional fast food. I find that when we are grocery shopping that I will choose healthier things because a lot of them still taste good. I have found that I like brown rice. I know that not everyone has the time to cook it (needs to steam for 45 minutes), but I think it's a pretty easy way to make a healthier choice. Last night I made lasagna for Jason and I and decided to try whole wheat noodles. I could hardly tell the difference (they definitely were firmer than the ones that don't require precooking that we used to use). I used to always eat toast with margarine and jam for breakfast, but I have found that I like eating cereal and fruit even more (spoon sized shredded wheat with bran to be precise). I know that there are times where low fat products tend to have less flavor, but I definitely find it easier to choose healthier when the things still taste good. In the last few months I have switched to drinking almost exclusively diet pop (I realize that aspartame isn't very good for you, but all the sugar in regular pop isn't very good for you either), and when I can I choose calorie wise or fat free salad dressings. I won a free sample of 3 onion dip mix at the Epicure party I was at a week or so ago and yesterday I mixed it up with plain yogurt (in place of sour cream) and low fat mayo. I think it tasted as good, and possibly better than the ones at the party (mixed with equal parts sour cream and mayo). I am not trying to sound like I am some health expert or anything, but I am just realizing that it's not hard to make healthier choices and I think that it does make a difference overall. Now if I could just get into a regular exercise routine...

Weird Al is coming to Saskatoon on July 26th. I think that might be one of the few concerts that I may have an interest in going to. Just for interest sake I looked it up on ticketmaster.ca and the most expensive tickets are only $44. I respect that. I would probably pay that. But I see that after being on sale for almost a week that there are still tickets available on the floor. I wonder at what point they would cancel it due to lack of interest. Hmmm...

William

My sister stopped by yesterday to drop off some Avon for me and brought the boys with her. Since I saw him last, William is now crawling very quickly. At my sister's house they have laminate flooring throughout the main living areas, and since it is hard on little Will's knees he has taken to crawling on his hands and feet. It is quite hilarious!

Question

If you saw a $20 bill on the ground, would you pick it up?



After work I found what I thought was a $20 on the sidewalk outside of my office building. I looked around to see if there was anyone who might have dropped it, and there was no one, so I picked it up. As I walked to my car I started to feel guilty about picking it up. Maybe whoever lost it really needs it and was on their way to look for it. Or maybe some drug addict would have picked it up and used it to go buy drugs, and in picking it up I did them a favor. When I got to my car I unfolded it and realized that it wasn't just $20, there was a $10 folded inside of it. I have never really found much money before. I remember when I was about 10 or 12 I found a $10 bill on the street near our house and it was right before mother's day so I used it buy mom a mother's day gift. Maybe I should use this $30 to buy my mom a mother's day gift. Or maybe I should donate it to a charity or give it as an offering at church. Any thoughts or suggestions?

The Queen

I have always appreciated the queen. I was watching the news last night and she stood up there on stage while Bush gave a speech about the USA and Britain's alliance in regards to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then she got up to the microphone and proceeded to say that this visit wasn't about policies like that. I was just amazed at how clear and poised she is for a woman of 81. My grandma was always a big supporter of the monarch, so whenever I see the queen I think of my grandma. Speaking of the queen, I still want to see that movie 'The Queen'.

Last night

What a pretty ending to a nice day spent with my sweetheart. :)

Last night my sister had an Epicure party. I had never heard of them (that I knew of) before last night, but found out that the souvlaki seasoning we use comes from them. They specialize in different dip mixes, spice mixes, salad dressing mixes, balsamic vinegars and some specialty cookware. All of the products are free of preservatives and most of their dip mixes have no salt in them. You just mix the dip mix with sour cream, mayonnaise or plain yogurt. It was a very enjoyable party and was easy to choose a dip mix or two without breaking the bank. If anyone is looking for a party to host, I would suggest Epicure. They bring about ten different dips to sample, plus some fruit dip and some of their other products. So lots of eating is involved which is always a good thing :)

You learn something new every day

I learned today the difference between a bay and a bow window. I always thought that the difference was that a bow window did not include the floor, that it usually ended up having a window ledge and that a bay window included an extended floor. I found out that I was wrong. After looking it up on the internet I found out that a bow window has 4 or more same sized windows whereas a bay usually has a picture window in the middle and two smaller windows on either side. Totally did not know that!