Yesterday as I was sitting in the kitchen, I kept hearing odd little scratching noises . I thought it was Steven under the sundeck, and I feared going to see what he was doing (see the post below this one for further explainations) Out of the corner of my eye I could see a slight movement which I thought was a broom. "Geez" I thought, "Maybe Steven is stuck under the sundeck and is pushing a broom though the floorboards to catch my attention. I guess I should look." Imagine my surprise when I came almost eye to eye with this squirrel, peering into the window. He balanced for a few minutes on the rotisserie, then leaped away and scampered off.

*sigh*

One thing leads to another....Steven decided to fix a closet door in the spare bedroom downstairs. A simple and easy chore, right? Apparently not. After listening to all manner of bangs and thuds, I ventured down the basement only to find this: Two walls totally torn apart so that there is now a viewing corridor into the workshop and the spare room. However, the closet is fixed...

Hockeyville.

Cranbrook is in the running for the title of Hockeyville Canada. We are one of the 12 finalists (out of CANADA!) We now need to vote to become one of the top 5, and then, if we win, we get $100,000 towards an arena upgrade and a pre-season NHL game played here as well as a one hour TV special. Pretty big stuff! How can we lose? We have three hockey arenas on one street, and even when the snow is gone, we play hockey...all ages welcome! This is my neighbour boy on the other side of our house, as well as his Dad and Steven.

Changing of the guard

Let me introduce Mr. Noble Beak. Since we have no dog living here right now, my little neighbour girl decided that the tree that is on the little patch of yard that separates our two homes would be our new "watch dog." It would protect our flowers from the deer that stop by almost every night for a quick nibble. When I spotted this "tree face" for sale downtown, I quickly snatched it up and raced home where Steven couldn't wait to put it up and see the childrens' reaction. All three of them (the girl, 4 yrs, and her two twin brothers, 2 years) were enthralled and when I said they had to give him a name, the girl quickly came up with Mr. Noble Beak. The one boy said "I like him" and the other said "Is that a tiger?" So here is our new guard, watching out over the neighbourhood.

My jiggely bits.

So. We are going to Cuba in a few weeks and I decided I should try on summer things to see what fits. Put my bathing suit on, and while it did indeed fit, the sight was not pretty. Not bad enough that mothers would cover their children's eyes as I pass by, but bad enough that I wanted to cover my own.

I realize that I have two choices.

1. Do nothing. The suit still fits.
2. Diet/exercise like mad for the next few weeks.

My mind is bouncing around with various thoughts.

Why should I kill myself with exercise and deprive myself of things that I enjoy just to try and make myself look like I looked 25 years ago? I'm not the same person I was back then, neither mentally, physically or emotionally. Who said that the goal of life was to stay as close as you can to looking like you did when you were 25? What's the point? I should kill myself to get in shape so that others can judge me and see if I'm hanging together pretty good? Oh Shannon, grow up!

I don't weigh much more than I did back in the day, but the few pounds that I have gained seem to have become the boss of the pounds I already have, and these new pounds have talked the other pounds into shape-shifting and turning into jiggley bits, as opposed to the firm bits I once had.

And really, is that so bad? Well, depending on how I feel (and what I wear) on a particular day, yes and no. *sigh*

I need to learn to live with my own values. No one can make me feel badly about my body without my consent.

Example: There are cultures in which women are ashamed if they don't have metal rings elongating their necks, or wooden disks in their lips. I don't have either of these, but I'm not ashamed...and why not? Because I don't adhere to these standards of beauty.

Dimples adorning your smile are cute, dimples on your thigh...not so much. That's the normal way of thinking. BUT, I have decided to embrace my dimples and enjoy my dinners, and wear my bathing suit with pride! Or, at least without shame.

Sad.

Sam Emerson: Look at your reflection in the mirror. You're a creature of the night Michael, just like out of a comic book! You're a vampire Michael! My own brother, a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire. You wait 'till mom finds out, buddy!

Oh, get serious!

I spotted these at the grocery store today, at first I thought it was canned oil, like Pam. On closer look, it's pancake batter in a spray can!! And it's considered organic no less. How absurd is that? It's bad enough that no one makes anything homemade anymore (and that does include me in a lot of things too) but Geez-Louise, pancake batter in a spray can? What will we be buying next? Cheese in a spray can? Whipped cream in a spray can? Oh...wait....

Holy Photo Batman!

This old chest was what my Mom kept all our recent holiday pictures in. Behind it is my digital picture frame that flips through whatever pictures I choose to put in there. What a difference a decade or two makes. Being able to take a photo, send it to someone in seconds, via email, them being able to download it instantly and put in a frame like this for everyone to see was something that we couldn't even dream about. The type of stuss seen in Batman movies. The old movies that is, the black & white kind.

What next?

I really don't agree with messing around with Mother Nature...I mean, things have rolled along just fine for millenia without us screwing up genetic lineage and no good can come of this...but honestly, have you ever seen anything cuter than these mini-pigs? They grow no larger than a tea-cup. Sadly, they are being snapped up by the likes of Posh Beckham and Paris Hilton, as "accessories". Although, I have to admit, if I had a spare few thousand dollars, I just might be awfully tempted....