Cary
sent me an e-mail this morning with some pictures of the JA
company trip, while they were still there. That's
dedication!
Do you readers recognize these people? That's Andrew, Emily,
Ray, Jeremy, Todd, Sally, Someone, Alison & Sonia, and Julie
& Caitlin's backs. Caitlin! Your hair is so long again!
Everybody looks great. I miss them so much.
We've had pretty continuous rain since Friday and I hope it
stops soon. This, combined with the time change makes me sensitive
to Seasonal Affective Disorder.
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10-27-05 Anyone catch the end of this week's The Apprentice? SCANDALOUS!!
Tonight I made Key Lime Pie for Dario since it's his birthday. I was
told that he's not into cakes, and I definitely need practice making
pie. It turned out good! So good, in fact, that I also made two little
mini pies for Sean & I tonight because there was NO WAY I could
sleep knowing that pie was sitting in the fridge. Crust*,
Key Lime
Pie, Faboo
Whipped Cream.
*This crust was good, but the second batch (ahem) was fixed - don't
bake the graham crumbs - they just burn. And it would help to chop
it in a processor so it's not chunky like mine was. Oh, and I added
a couple tablespoons for brown sugar because the first batch
wasn't sweet enough. That, and it was burnt. But that whipped cream
recipe? That's what I'm making from now on. Johnston
Architects is having another trip to Mazama and I'm horribly jealous.
I miss the crew, and I had a great time on the last company outing.
Once in a while when I'm feeling blue, I look through all those pictures
from the 15th Anniversary party and sigh. That was a fun week. I had
a lot of fun weeks at that place. I was lucky.
For those of you not in our Blogaslovakia circle, Erika had her baby
- a girl. Go look
at the wonder of it all.
Tomorrow night is Danica's Housewarming party, then Saturday Sean
and I have BIG PLANS involving cleaning Jalen's feet.
I'm totally serious.
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10-24-05
I've
just got to stop working part-time. Today I
made a (crappy) cake
and two full batches of cookies
(some are still in the oven). I also started reading The Handmaid's
Tale (thanks, Estella)
and cleaned the apartment and did laundry. Sean is presently
playing volleyball so I just keep on baking. Starbucks
stock finally split, so now I'm anxiously awaiting for it
to hit $30 a share. When it does, I am unfortunately cashing
it out to get Hobbes and Dominique's teeth cleaned. I am thankful
that Jalen had all of his teeth removed all those years ago.
I can't believe I'm cashing out our only savings for MY CATS'
TEETH. (Everyone! Buy Starbucks stock! Do it for me!)
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10-23-05
Shawn & his cake
Happy
Birthday Shawn!
Friday was the usual beers on the patio at work with the addition
of Michael's birthday celebration. Later that night we went
to a party at Jen's house (friends from work) - the place is
HUGE and they have a fire pit in the side yard, so we huddled
there for a couple hours and met some very funny people.
Saturday I made the trek to the downtown Vancouver Sears where
Laura in the Bedding department handled everything with grace
- the new comforter and sham should be here by Thursday, and
they even said they'd sent it over in cab (!!!) if I'm home
that day. Sean finished painting the bed today, and it should
be assembled and completed by this week, so it looks like our
bedroom will be quite improved shortly. Finally. We pulled away
the bed to wash the sheets this weekend and found black, wet
mildew on the floorboards (where our mattress rests) and sure
enough, one of my pillows had mildew (on the side that was against
that wall). I used a Magic Eraser to clean it up, gave up on
the pillow, and purchased a dehumidifier for $250 while I was
at Sears. We had NOT planned on spending $250 that day, but
since we plugged it in, it's pulled in a full bucket of water
(in 24 hours) so obviously it was a necessity.
Saturday night,
upon returning from Sears, Sean informed me that it was Shawn Bristow's
birthday, and in the next 70 minutes I rushed like a madwoman to make
a birthday cake. It ain't too pretty, but it did the trick. The Fringe
Cafe provided a mere few plates and forks for about ten people - by
the time we left, people were just digging in to it with their hands.
So it was well received.
Today Sean, Uncle Pete and I headed for the Sunshine Coast, only to
miss the 1:20 ferry, so we had lunch at Horseshoe Bay and headed all
the way back. I sat in the back seat on the way home and was a sleep
zombie for most of the ride. Ever since I was a little kid, if I'm
in the back seat of a moving car for more than a few minutes, I'm
out.
My site is currently down as I type this - I have no idea what's going
on with the server - I just hope it'll be back up by tomorrow morning.
More on Flickr.
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link 10-21-05
They MUST be JOKING Hello,
Thank
you for taking the time to contact Sears.
The following items were shipped out after schedule the date being
17th Oct/05 you shoud recive them anytime now.
96 08 75662 QUILT,QN REYNAR 74.99 1.0
96 08 75664 SHAM,STD REYNAR 19.99 1.0
If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact
us.
Thank you for choosing Sears.
Regards,
Alwyn
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P.S. Those misspellings
are his. 10-19-05
I'm
proud to tell you all that Potluck Tuesday went without a hitch!
Ryan and I made duck
tacos for about 16 people (I never did a final count). It took
the full hour to get it done, but thankfully everything finished
at the proper time. With the duck from my family's farm, we
managed to stay within the $50 budget and everyone walked away
full.
I finally started watching Estella's
DVDs of Arrested Development, and I just want you all to know
that it's HILARIOUS and I watched the whole season in a couple
days. Because I do that. I have moved up Season Two to the top
of my queue at Zip.ca,
which is Canada's Netflix.
Today I finally received the shipment I've been waiting for
- a gift for Sean & I for our anniversary that coincided
with the bed he's building. It was supposed to be a surprise
but instead he came home to me, flipping out. I'm angry on multiple
levels.
Here's what happened:
Me & Ryan
Dear
Sears.ca
& Purolator: I made a purchase this weekend at Sears.ca for a
comforter and pair of pillow shams to be delivered to my house,
as the items were not stocked at my local Sears store. Although I
never received an e-mail verification from Sears, I hoped it was on
its way.
Two days later I received two separate Purolator notices on my door
for two missed deliveries, which stated that I could pick up the order
at the airport in Richmond unless I called to set up another attempt
to deliver.
I made this call and went through a surprising list of things I had
to do just to make sure the drivers would leave the packages by the
front door.
Here's what I found this afternoon:
Road Rash Included
The
little bag above is the single pillow sham. First, who sells
single pillow shams? I had no idea that I was paying $20 for
just one pillow case - I've never heard of pillow shams NOT
being sold by the pair.
Second, is this is kind of packaging you trust to deliver your
bedding in the Pacific Northwest? Are you crazy? Also, why were
the packages shipped separately? Did I have to pay more for
that?
Next, note the ripped plastic bag that holds the comforter.
It's light, flimsy plastic with a shipping label stuck to it.
And since the packaging ripped before its arrival, I now have
a muddy comforter (the ripped part was placed face-down on my
wet, muddy patio). I actually considered just trying to wash
it, but what if it's stained? And who will replace this for
me? Sears or Purolator?
I am disappointed in the product as well - on the Sears website
there's no sign of this country-looking cross-stitching. The
description mentions "whipstitch detailing" and I
guess that translates to "big X country stitching".
I am curious now who can help with my complaint. I would like
a clean, well-packaged comforter and two pillow shams delivered
to my house unharmed and unstained. And that includes the stain
on the sham that had nothing to do with the shipping:
This
was found after unwrapping the grey bag which held my loose
pillow sham in it. So now I have not just one return, because
of poor packaging, but two, because I received a stained product.
I am willing to re-pack these items and take them somewhere
to be sent back to Sears, or I can go to my local Sears store
and re-order these items. I would prefer that I have the new
items sent to my local Sears (Pacific Place, Downtown Vancouver)
instead of dealing with Purolator, since I called Purolator
this afternoon, and Gladys informed me that I had to file my
complaint tomorrow, as that department has gone home for the
day.
Shameful.
Sincerely,
A Customer Waiting for a Much Needed Response
Sears order #2030261511-00001
•
link 10-16-05 I have a picture of Sean & I from Jon & Amy's wedding
rehearsal that I was going to scan to put on the front page of Daymented
for our anniversary, but then I realized that I currently don't have
a front page, so instead I'll just tell you all that it's our anniversary
- 11 years married and 17 years together. And we did absolutely nothing
to celebrate it, but that's not because it doesn't deserve celebration,
but because it was raining, so Sean couldn't work on the bed he's
building, and the gift I ordered for us online won't arrive for a
week or so.
Wow, that was two long sentences!
It's been dumping rain. It started Friday afternoon at work and hasn't
let up since then. I hope this isn't the start of the monsoon season
- I'm not ready yet.
Today I had a
bizarre craving for fried chicken. We went to Church's on Broadway
only to find that it shared space with a gas station and the menu
grossed me out, so we went down the street to KFC and really - I don't
need to ever go there again. And I don't think I'd been there in 10
or 15 years so I don't think I'll miss it. Did you know that they
don't have corn on the cob or mashed potatoes anymore? But since we're
in Canada, they do offer poutine as a side order, which Sean
got. I wanted to show my American audience the art form that is poutine
- a French Canadian delicacy comprised of french fries, cheese curds,
and gravy - best eaten when highly intoxicated and preferably after
midnight. Or at KFC at three in the afternoon, I guess.
Also note the PFC for Poulet Frite Kentucky - which confuses me, since
I thought KFC went from Kentucky Fried Chicken to just KFC, so why
would the KFC be translated? Wouldn't KFC translate to KFC in french?
Is this a legal thing?
Hey I just found this
online. That's our cousin Shane in the back. And Shawn in front -
and right about now is where I'd link to the whole month of January
2005 IF IT WAS ONLINE. * sigh * JenB "Where
the Lions Are" by Bruce Cockburn is on. I just want you to know
that. Sean put it on the stereo computer from your Canuckistan CD.
I'm sure you can imagine how much I appreciate this right about now.
Time to make a bowl of Corn Flakes for dinner.
(Comments are being funky - just keep hitting F5 until they load.)
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link Earlier October entries
