Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I'm alive!


candle
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
and I'm not giving any credit to Jeff Lynne! (although I always - sadly - think of a certain song from the Xanadu soundtrack when I hear "I'm Alive")

Between computer woes (first we were without internet for a few days, then my motherboard was fried and needed replacing) and being sick (last week, weird bug, thankfully it's gone now I think) I've not been spending a whole heck of a lot of time in front of the computer.

I have been doing other things though:

- sleeping
- sneezing
- blowing my nose
- working
- baking bread (in my bread machine)
- talking to my goldfish
- complaining about having to wear winter boots again (I shouldn't complain, it's only been 2 weeks)

I've been doing other things too... but nothing as terribly exciting as talking to fish or snot production.

Oh, for five minutes yesterday, I liked Michael Buble. He said, in the press, something that I've been saying (loudly) for years, that the Grammys were bullshit. They are and it's true and he said it too and even though I don't care much for him, he's popular and he has the ear of people who like the kind of music that is put in the spotlight in these horrible award shows. Of course, he no sooner said it than he took it back ("you can't take it back, it's already out there").

Sorry, you wishy washy crooner boy. I thought I'd be able to like you but alas, I was wrong.

Monday, January 15, 2007

on telemarketing

Hello, my name is Kelly...I'm calling about our lame local paper. Do you subscribe to our lame local paper

Oh my goodness gracious!! NO!

Really??

We prefer to get our news from reliable sources so no, we don't ever read our lame local paper. Thanks for calling though, I hope you have a nice evening.

...giggles... Okay, thanks, you too!! ...more giggles...CLICK

Friday, January 05, 2007

fuzzy lights


fuzzy lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
it's the last official day of my christmas vacation.

I have the weekend off too but this is the last week-day that I'm off, how did that go by so quickly?

I did a bunch of stuff today though, made the most of my last day off. I got all of my errands done early (like really early), puttered around the house, cleaning up and doing some laundry...

Mark and I even went out to mum & dad's to fix something on her computer. Not an overly exciting day but it was a good day for getting things done.

one little weird thing that we did see today, well, weird for January anyway, when we were walking up the front walk at my mum's, there were all of these tiny little bugs (a bit bigger than midges) flying around her flower bed. how is that even possible, in Ontario, in JANUARY?

Thursday, January 04, 2007

baked


Chewy Skor Toffee Bits Cookies
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
I've been inspired to bake more.

I baked a lot before christmas, literally hundreds of cookies, most of them were given away as gifts.

We didn't keep too many in the house and I still have the best part of a huge ass bag of flour in the cupboard so I baked some cookies today.

I didn't bake the ones in the photo (the skor cookies), instead I made a batch of chewy coconut cookies and a loaf of banana bread. the banana bread could have done with an extra 10 minutes in the oven but it still looks okay. I'm sure it'll taste just fine.

the two things I like most about baking, besides the obvious yummy results, are the way it makes the whole house smell good and the way it warms up the kitchen floor.

home feels more homely when it's full of yummy smells.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

on visiting


Fairfield Park Lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
today I went a-visiting

last week, lots of visiting was planned but the plans were shelved when Mark got sick

it's nice to see people and to visit and get all caught up on stuff and drink lots of tea

it makes me sad though, that it so hard to find time to do all of this visiting during the rest of the year

I want to visit more in 2007.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

packed up


2007 punk rock calendar
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
packing up christmas takes a long time.

at least it takes a long time if you do it very carefully and neatly, which is what I tried to do.

yesterday was sort of funny, in a weather kind of way anyway...to me at least. on Sunday morning, we went out to do a couple of errands before all of the New Years Eve crazy people were out and about and I wore my boots, snowboots, because there was still some ice and snow on the ground from Saturday's storm. Yesterday, in the afternoon, I went outside to take down the lights from our porch and from the tree on the lawn. I actually wore flip-flops on the grass while I did this! It was that warm and dry and spring like. I didn't even have a coat on, just a fleece hoodie.

too strange. I don't really mind but it's very strange for this time of the year. I'm glad I took advantage of the mild temperatures to dismantle the outside lights. Once it freezes, it's almost impossible to get them down. Of course, I don't know that freezing is going to be a problem for us this year!!

Today, all I had left to take down and put away was the tree. All of the other ornaments were packed up yesterday. The tree is kind of piddly to do but I put on the first disk of the Freaks & Geeks DVD set and watched 3 episodes while I packed. Oh my goodness, I forgot how funny it was. Particularly, I forgot how wonderful Joe Flaherty's character was, very very dad-like and authentic I thought.

Well, now that Christmas is packed up and put away, and the living room is cleaned up (and the furniture all re-arranged), I think I shall go enjoy the sunshine that is shining in through the living room window. My goodness but it's been a gorgeous day!!

Monday, January 01, 2007

it's a new year


pile o'cards
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
The top of James McAvoy's head resembles the top of Rufus Wainwright's head. At least the photo on the main page of imdb did this morning. I thought that it was Rufus in the birthday box but alas, it was James.

Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully, you're not all nursing big fuzzy hangovers this morning. I was so sleepy last night that I didn't even make it to midnight. I fell asleep watching Family Guy at around 11:30 p.m. I woke up briefly at 12:24 a.m. but it was all over. There's not much to miss though, is there? It's kind of a one-minute holiday.

Mark was scheduled (or so he thought) to work last night. He even went in but there was a communication breakdown along the line somewhere and in the end he didn't. We were both kind of pissed about it at first but in the end, it was for the best because he wasn't out on the streets last night with all of the crazy drunk drivers.

Deciding what will be the first music you listen to of a new year is not an easy decision, at least not for me. This morning, I decided that this year's first listen would be "Dusty in Memphis" because it's lovely and I love it and I wanted to hear something lovely while wait for the Tournament of Roses Parade to begin. The countdown show is on right now, on KTLA but I'm dvr'ing it so we can zip through it just before the parade starts. I hate football but I do loves me a parade.

Speaking of watching, we did end up watching Thank You For Smoking the other night. I thought it was very good. I like the way it was written. It wasn't so much about smoking as it was about "influencing outcomes." It's a very funny film.

Last night, when Mark got home, we watched "Little Miss Sunshine." Another winner, in my opinion. The cast was excellent and it made us laugh out loud a lot. I particularly thought that Paul Dano was outstanding in the role of Dwayne.

Today, I hope to get the holiday decorations at least partially taken down. Even if I can get the storage boxes upstairs and start sorting things out today, that would be nice. Once that's done, actually putting stuff away tomorrow won't take long at all.

However you spend your first day of 2007, I hope you have fun and relax a bit before the post-holiday madness begins again!