Another amazing cover by our own Matt Andersen ...

EPIC PERFORMANCE!!

Thursday this week is special ...

Guess what today is?



This was on the table at breakfast ...

Wednesday Weather Report

For the love of God, DON'T skip the comments at the end - they are the funniest bit!

Tuesday Tourism

I love my little corner of the universe - it's one of the most beautiful spots in the world, with some of the most fascinating natural phenomena. Over the summer, it will be my pleasure to introduce my province to you.

Because it's in the news right now, being one of the finalists for the Natural Wonders of the World, AND because I grew up (and still live and work) on its shores, my first post will introduce the Bay of Fundy.

This NB tourism video explains where the Bay of Fundy is, what it does and why:



Here's the effect it has:



This is the most popular natural tourism destination in Canada, found at the top of the Bay:

Five on Friday

This week on Tuesday, Steve, the B-man, Daisy and I celebrated our first anniversary living together as a family. Not so long ago, I never would've believed a man could help me rebuild my confidence the way he has, not to mention putting a light in my son's eyes that I'd never seen before. Our Steve is a pretty special guy and in his honour, I'm dedicating this FoF to him. 381, sweetheart!

I don't have to tell you that you're the only one who does it for me ...



Your random kisses and hugs are food for my soul.



I'm aware that this next is a Christian worship song. However, with some of the most powerful lyrics I've ever felt, it serves a dual purpose.

"Draw me close to you
Never let me go.
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I'm your friend.
You are my desire.
No one else will do,
Cause nothing else can take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace.
Help me find the way;
Bring me back to you."



You're always there for me, in every way possible. You hold my hand when times are good and you carry me when they are not.



With all that you do, do you know how you make me feel? Oh yeah, you do ...



So here's how you play:
1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your Set of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the Set, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky on Trav's page so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Thursday's Short

Absolutely stunning concept ...

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart

A year today, with all the ups and downs and we're standing strong, still holding hands. 381, Steve. I love you.

:)

Still struggling with health. I'll be back when it's better. Everyone take care.

Five on Friday - 27 May 2011

My first FoF in a while and I was mulling over which topic I should choose ... and then it occurred to me. I'm not a betting woman, but I imagine mine won't be the only blog about this.

Oops sorry, wrong rapture ...

Rules? There are rules???

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your Set of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the Set, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Hmmmm ...

I thought it was a temporary problem a few months ago, but everytime I try to switch from "compose" to "edit html", everything shuts down and I get booted off the internet. Anybody else having this problem?

People are strange ...

A man was trying to pull out of a parking place but bashed the bumper of the parked car in front of him. Witnessed by a handful of pedestrians waiting for a bus, the driver got out, inspected the damage, and proceeded to write a note to leave on the windshield of the car he had hit.
The note read:
"Hello. I have just hit your car, and there are some people here watching me who think that I am writing this note to leave you my name, phone number, and driver's license number, but I am not."



A Pastor goes to the dentist for a set of false teeth. The first Sunday after he gets his teeth, he talks for only eight minutes. The second Sunday, he talks for only ten minutes. The following Sunday, he talks for 2 hours and 48 minutes. The congregation had to mob him to get him down from the pulpit and they asked him what happened.
The Pastor explains the first Sunday his gums hurt so bad he couldn't talk
for more than 8 minutes.

The second Sunday his gums hurt too much to talk for more than 10 minutes.

But, the third Sunday, by mistake he put his wife's teeth in and couldn't
shut up...

RIP Playlist

You may or may not have noticed that all my playlist posts are no longer functioning. In whateve wisdom that may have been contrived or manufactured by the almighty "POWERS-THAT-BE", the tracks on Playlist are no longer available in Canada, due to our stringent copyright act. Thanks a whole lot, CFC. Music nazis ...

Not sure how I will participate in Five on Friday, but I will figure it out.

Back ... sort of

Wow, remember that health issue that I mentioned a couple posts ago? That'd be about 2 months in the past now. Well, it became a bigger issue very suddenly. I was rushed to the hospital one night, had emergency surgery the very next morning and have been recuperating ever since. Officially, I've been off work for 7 weeks, and it's going to be a little while longer before I can return, due to stupid complications. Good news is, the initial health problem is now resolved. Yay!

Steve has proven his mettle during this crisis. He really stepped up, taking care of my babies during my hospital stay, and taking care of me, too. How can you not appreciate and love that in a man?

More great news: Steve has been offered a permanent full-time job with Industrial Rail - the job specs suit him to a tee. He'll be working with a team, refurbishing passenger rail cars to make them disability-friendly. Lots of reading blueprints and fabricating metal parts for my guy. He's so excited about this job. He even gets to teach - his job includes apprenticeship responsibilities.

Even more great news: the B-man has passed the final step prior to becoming a black belt in tae kwondo. Last Thursday, he tested for his brown belt and got it! The weekend before that, he participated in the Provincial Tae Kwondo Championship and received a bronze medal for 7-9 year olds in Poomsae (form). Not too bad for his first tournament. We're proud of him.

A friend of mine has just started a new blog. Please check her out ... I mean her blog ... ~Designs by Debbie~ at designsbydebbie-debbie.blogspot.com and no, I still don't know how to insert a link here. Sorry, but that's what ctrl-C is for, okay?

That's about it for now. I'll get back to this gradually, as I start to build my strength and stamina back. Oh, and I'm creating this on a friend's computer (mine is belly-up right now) so no piccies. Hope to remedy that in the near future. Hope everyone is doing super. Miss you all.

Five for Friday (times two!) ... Ear worms

The definition of an earworm comes from a translation of the German "ohrwurm", a portion of a song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head."

It's such a fascinating phenomenon, authors have written about it for years. Take Arthur C. Clarke's 1956 short story "The Ultimate Melody" for example. In it, the protagonist, Gilbert Lister, develops a melody that intrigues the brain so completely that the listener becomes entranced by it. His theory is that a great melody impresses itself on the mind because it perfectly matches the brain's electrical impulses.

In 2007, marketing professor James J. Kellaris PhD, of the University of Cincinnati conducted a study about the top ten earworms. It boggles the mind how some people manage to justify their paycheque ... but the results are interesting:

1. Other. Everyone has his or her own worst earworm.
2. Chili's "Baby Back Ribs" jingle.
3. "Who Let the Dogs Out"
4. "We Will Rock You"
5. Kit-Kat candy-bar jingle ("Gimme a Break ...")
6. "Mission Impossible" theme
7. "YMCA"
8. "Whoomp, There It Is"
9. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
10. "It's a Small World After All"

I don't even KNOW some of those songs and NONE of my most persistent nuisance-tunes are on the list, so I guess I fit in with number one. The obsessive musical thoughts that frequently plague my mind are:

Fortunately for me, not all of them are "claw-your-eardrums" annoying. In fact, some of them can be quite pleasant accompaniment to my day. I know there are only supposed to be FIVE, but try telling my subconscious that and see where you get. I was lucky to pare it down to ten! So, since I didn't get here to post last Friday, I'm taking both week's five together.

So ... what is your most persistent "tune wedgy"?

Hi, how y'all been?

(Is anybody else having trouble with blogger lately? I can't switch between Edit HTML and Compose anymore!)

Yeah, been a little busy this past week. Work, mostly. Middle school report cards, parent-teacher meetings, midterms and then high school report cards fall into the space of about 3 weeks. I'm in the midst of it now.

Some personal junk mixed in but nothing major. Something new cropped up with my health but it wasn't anything I didn't expect. It's only slowed me up a bit so far. It's been a hard winter and I'm gen'rally feeling rough - ragged, y'know? Bulbs are up and the robins are back though, so I 'spect spring's finally here.

Steve's been amazing. He truly is my rock, but finances are getting tight with him not working. I hope he gets called back soon. Construction work is nearly impossible when there's 9 feet of snow on the ground but it's melting now, so it shouldn't be long. He's looking forward to it, I know.

The B-man passed his brown-stripe belt in tae kwondo last Thursday. Only one more before black now. Master C has taken a special interest in him, for which I am eternally grateful. It has been so good for B's self-esteem. He's a pretty wonderful little boy, but of course I'm going to say that, right? The difference is that everybody else seems to think so, too. I always ask myself how I got so lucky, having a kid like him.

Steve and I hosted our monthly movie night on Saturday. Only 8 people showed but it was sort of short notice, being a re-schedule of the one we had to cancel a couple weeks ago for health reasons. The viewing was RANGO, followed by CALIGULA. Yeah. Not gonna comment on that. Feel free if you are so moved, though. Anyway, there was double chocolate cheesecake along with the usual munchies. It's always fun getting together with our friends.

So, that's what I've been up to. How's your life going?

Music on Monday

The topic of the day is BAGPIPES ...

There was a young Scottish boy called Angus who decided to try life in Australia. He found an apartment in a small block and settled in.

After a week or two, his mother called from Aberdeen to see how her son was doing in his new life.

"I'm fine," Angus said. "But there are some really strange people living in these apartments. One woman cried all day long, another lies on her floor moaning, and there is a guy next door to me who bangs his head on the wall all the time."

"Well, ma laddie," says his mother, "I suggest you don't associate with people like that."

"Oh," says Angus, "I don't, Mum, I don't. No, I just stay inside my apartment all day and night, playing my bagpipes."

Q: What's the definition of a gentleman?
A: Someone who knows how to play the bagpipe, and doesn't.

Q: What's the difference between a cat in the road and a bagpipe in the road?
A: Most people would actually swerve to miss the cat.

Q: Why do pipe bands march when they play?
A: Moving targets are harder to hit.

Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and an onion?
A: No one cries when you chop up an bagpipe.

Q: What's the difference between a dead snake in the road and a dead bagpiper in the road?
A: There are skid marks in front of the snake.

Q: How can you tell if a bagpipe is out of tune?
A: Someone is blowing into it.

Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a chainsaw?
A: The chain saw doesn't have vibrato.

Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a lawn mower.
A: People get upset when someone borrows their lawn mower and doesn't give it back.

Q: What's the difference between a bagpipe and a trampoline?
A: You take off your shoes when you jump on a trampoline.

Q: What's the definition of "optimism"?
A: A bagpiper with a beeper.

Q: What's the range of a bagpipe?
A: Twenty yards if you have a good arm.

Q: Why do pipers walk when they play?
A: They are trying to get away from the sound!

Someone once said, "You don't PLAY bagpipes, you WIELD them."

Q: How can you tell the difference between bagpipe songs?
A: By their names.

Q: Why do most people hate bagpipes right away?
A: It saves time.

"I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made object never equalled the purity of sound achieved by the pig." - Alfred Hitchcock

Five For Friday - Going to the Dogs

I love dogs. I love the "dogness" of them; the inherent openness of spirit; the unconditionality of their hearts; the inherent curiosity and wonder of their nature. I even love their childlike dependency. From the most adorable puppy or the most elegant pedigree to the scruffiest mutt, my heart melts for dogs.

The few periods in my life when I didn't have a dog were mere transitions. I grew up in a dog family and my son has never known a life without the comfort of a cushy, furry, drooly, devoted heart-on-legs. At first, we had two. Mandy was the "momma-dog" who cuddled the B-man and herded him away from perceived dangers when he was a toddler. We still miss her but we remember her with smiles and laughter. She was a character and the stories never grow tiresome, no matter how often the B-man asks me to tell them.

We still have Daisy. She has always been the B-man's playmate. Even now, at the age of 14, she staggers gamely along with him on our walks. She's not as fast as she used to be but the B-man shows his love by slowing down for her and not going where she would have difficulty following him ... because he knows that she would follow him anywhere he leads her. That's what dog-love is, after all.

March Break ...

No posts for the past week. I've been doing taxes. Paperwork. Housework. And I spent a little time in hospital. Seems my emergency surgeries a few years back have left me with a legacy of abdominal problems. This time, though, it's not urgent and I can wait until it's convenient to have the operation to repair the damage. There's always a bright side to everything.
There were some really outstanding parts to the past week though. I got to spend a lot of quality time with Steve and the B-man. We went bowling, swimming, to the indoor amusement park and the giant bookstore, and we saw some movies together.
First, Steve and I escorted the B-man and his best friend "Big D" to see RANGO. It was absolutely wonderful. It is a great script, and the scope and range of Johnny Depp's talent never ceases to amaze me. The boys, of course, were exhilarated by the gunfire and explosions. It was a noisy drive home ...

The very next night, Steve and I got a grown-up date while B went to his grandparents for a sleep-over. It had been years since I saw an adult-type film in the theatres, so we did the traditional dinner-and-movie outing. We got to try out a new Indian restaurant, then held hands in the cinema through THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. The concept presented in the storyline was more interesting than the movie itself, although it was decent enough entertainment. I think we were both just enjoying the absence of squirming question-factories for a change ...
Our third cinematic outing was a birthday party. B-man's little girlfriend, "Doll-face", turned 8 and we were invited to a private screening of GNOMEO AND JULIETTE. It was cute. The B-man thought the kissing was gross, much to his admirer's dismay but he liked the lawnmower races and ... the explosions. Yup. He later informed Steve, though, that the best part of the evening was getting to club a Disney Princess pinata to death at the party after the film. I witnessed the massacre and it was brutal. That, sad to say, is the mindset of an 8-year old boy ...

Although not a theatre experience, the last movie I saw before returning to the grind of a regular workweek came highly recommended by our Ann. Steve downloaded PS I LOVE YOU for me and we watched it together. I love Steve sooooooo much! He wanted to make me happy and share the experience, but he fell asleep about 30 minutes into the film and let me blubber in peace. Now THAT says love to me ...
Not too shabby, huh? Glad I was to get in some playtime along with all the other stuff. It makes me feel good that I was able to balance things. B-man even got lots of playdates and a couple of prime sleep-overs.

Could've used another week, though ...

Five for Friday

Officially, I'm on vacation. Unofficially, it's a working vacation because it's tax time. Yuck. So, instead of a joyful, "I'm-on-vacation" songlist, I've chosen the common theme that's uppermost in my mind right now. You guessed it ...

Have a great weekend!