Overwhelmed

I was all set to publish today's lighthearted post but am overwhelmed by all the sad news in the Pacific Rim. Typhoons in Vietnam and the Phillipines, tsunami in Samoa and now a massive earthquake in Indonesia. Those poor people. At this moment, survivors are happy to be alive, even if they've lost all their possessions. It's unthinkable the feelings of those that have lost loved ones.

Well, here goes the rest of the post that I had started writing yesterday which now seems so irrelevant:

Cathy's Capers posted a great joke, called 'Granny Funnies'. I loved it.

My friend Japra is in the Netherlands learning Dutch. Have a listen to the Dutch Happy Birthday song she just learned here.

Adam Lambert’s (the American Idol) upcoming album has climbed to #1 on the Amazon.com bestsellers list after it suddenly became available for pre-order on Sunday without any publicity. Ok, then I pre-ordered my own copy as I am a big fan myself! I also ordered 'How not to act old' and a new organizing book by Helen Buttigieg.

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Create Tuesday 08

Here's my entry for Lissa's Create Tuesday 08. Click on the link in the sidebar for more details if you would like to participate.

This week's theme is 'Walking on a Dream'.



Bare feet on hot sand, summer at a Northern Beach fronting onto a lake.

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Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal

If you can stand a little romance, watch this Disneyland musical marriage proposal (about 5 minutes long).

We enjoyed watching the season premiere of 'The Amazing Race' last night, that is a quality show, it wins Emmy awards every year.

The kids took the car and drove over to Main Street yesterday to meet L's friend. L wanted to get some kettle corn from the Farmer's Market. K got a beaver tail. They ran into some old school acquaintances and felt obligated to chat for awhile. One of the boys is now in university, but has become quite a character. He now smokes, does drugs and says he is gay. His whole look and manner of speaking has changed. He offered them a sniff of nicotine powder that he says is helping him to quit smoking (which they declined). It turns out his kid brother (who was with him) is in K's class at school and is just a regular, nice kid. In fact, they all went to the same preschool. So that was the day's excitement.

It's rainy and there is a wind warning today that will apparently bring cooler temperatures.

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A PhD graduate and an ordinary man

A PhD graduate and an ordinary man went on a camping trip, set up their tent and fell asleep. Some hours later,
the ordinary man woke up his PhD friend: "Look up and tell me what you see?"

The PhD man replies: "I see millions of stars . " The ordinary man asks: "What does that tell you?"
The PhD guy ponders for a minute, and then spoke:
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets .
Astrologically, it tells me that Satan is in Leo .
Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three .
Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant .
Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow . What does it tell you?"

The ordinary man is silent for a moment, and then speaks:
"Practically . . . . . . . . it tells me that someone has stolen our tent"


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Move your boogie body 1982

A friend sent me this jazzercise video. The younger set may find it corny, but I love it.

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The Good News

Taken on my walk

Well, it's a little breezy today, I went back to get my windbreaker. It's gorgeous and sunny however. The good news is I've lost the 3 pounds I gained. I decided to make a simple checklist of what I'm supposed to eat each day, based on the Canada Food Guide. The other trick is to really monitor the portion sizes. All the little extras do add up, especially if you're a food lover.

I just heard David Suzuki, the Canadian environmentalist on TV recommending that we all eat less meat. It's easier on the environment of all things and also healthier. Well, according to the Canada Food Guide, I only need 2 palm-sized pieces of meat per day anyway.

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Chili Garlic Sauce

I took this photo on my walk the other day. It is gorgeous and sunny today, a lot of people will be doing their summer cleanup this weekend. I tend to wait until the plants have withered and dried away before I do that, hopefully during a warm spell. M likes to give the cars a good cleaning before the winter.

K brought 3 friends over after school yesterday and they had a great time. They hung out in the basement and left around 5 pm as they all had a lot of homework. L is out of town overnight on a school trip. She is a last minute packer and was stressing about the 2 outfits she needed to put together for the trip. We always get the 'I have nothing to wear' sighs until she manages to find something.

I bought my first jar of chili garlic sauce this week and have been having fun with it. I put a few teaspoons of it in my stir fry beef recipe and it was pretty good, something different . I didn't find it that hot at all, just tons of flavour. I've always liked it in the Chinese restaurant dishes.

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