4 Days and Counting

Xmas Flower Arrangement at the Mall


Well, K is excited and actually counting the days to Christmas. We ended up seeing the 10 pm Avatar movie in 3D on Saturday night as the earlier shows were sold out. We normally wait until the crowds die down, but we decided to go ahead and brave the lines (after reading all the great reviews). It was a long movie and we left the theatre at 1 am. L was at a sleepover. M and K loved it. I appreciated all the work that went into making the movie and it is certainly memorable. It's non stop action and excitement, and will be sure to appeal to the guys. I felt a bit tense afterward. My sister in California and her family also saw it and they loved it.

So we bought our 10pm tickets and went home for a couple of hours before the show. Some friends called, they were making their Christmas deliveries, so we were able to see them that night. They brought a homemade cranberry nut loaf, some assorted homemade cookies and some nice chocolates. Between that and the buttered popcorn at the movies...and the kids decorating the gingerbread house...it's becoming difficult to track what's going into my mouth.

I took a walk to church yesterday, it was very icy just on some of the pathways, otherwise no new snow until perhaps later in the week. They sang 'happy birthday' for the priest who celebrates today. It was really crowded, even the upstairs seats were filled, it's that time of year.

The kids have appointments today to get their seasonal flu shots at the doctor.

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Avatar

'Dylan's Candy Bar' Gift Basket




The new movie Avatar is being hailed as 'a visually stunning masterpiece that is sure to alter the course of cinema for years to come'. It sounds like a movie to see, if only for the effects.

In other exciting news, there was a knock on the door yesterday morning and we received a Dylan's Candy Bar Gingerbread House Kit from our financial advisor. It's already assembled, so the kids can decorate it with all the fixings, hopefully today. L told me Dylan Lauren is the owner and founder of this upscale candy store and the daughter of designer Ralph Lauren. She saw her on a TV episode of 'Cake Boss'.


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Review: Avatar

James Cameron's Latest Spectacle - this review contains a series of movie clips, the animation looks so natural

Your ecological footprint

How big is your ecological footprint? You can go online and complete a quiz to calculate it.

I figure most people in North America have a bigger footprint than they should and awareness is the first step to solving the problem.

L got nominated by her school for one of the big full scholarships at the university of her choice. Each school can only nominate one or two people depending on the university. We're thrilled, although there are likely a lot of contenders. Also, that's one more application for her to complete. She also already got acceptances into 2 other universities. It's less than a week since she applied.

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I'm Right

Well, the Olympic Torch was in town yesterday. It was cold, but it's exciting to think of it making its way to Vancouver for the winter Olympics.

We have this Scotiabank TV commercial called 'I'm Right'. I wish I could find a youtube video for it. This couple is sitting in front of a financial advisor at a desk. The wife says 'can you please explain to him that now is not the time to invest?' She goes on and on about the reasons why and if the advisor could please set him straight. So the advisor gets this knowing look on her face, looks at the husband and says 'he's right'. The husband immediately rips his shirt off revealing this white t-shirt trimmed in the bank's red colour that says 'I'm right'. Yesterday morning's local TV station was having fun with the joke. All the men at the station were wearing these 'I'm right' t-shirts and they had to explain to the female co-host what this was all about. It was funny. All the men were looking so pleased with themselves at this inside joke they're calling the new 'male anthem'. I just found the Breakfast Television video called 'I'm right', it's under the caption 'BT bites'.

It's a great morning station, they were also demonstrating live streaming videos, now on the Iphone. So a team downstairs started filming, and the team upstairs could see what they were filming live on their own iphones. Filming must not be the right word for this (capturing images?).

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Some healthy and delicious recipes

My friend's basement started flooding last week and they still haven't found the problem. Then their furnace stopped working and there was a carbon monoxide build-up. They think it was starting to make her sick. They had older detectors that obviously weren't working. Her husband told us we should likely be changing them every 3 years or so and also that the newer ones detect a wider range of gases. So we are going to get some new ones, ours are OLD. How old are your carbon monoxide detectors? Another friend just mentioned to me that she has a detector near the furnace as well as in other parts of the house.

I just received this recipe for a Salmon Vegetable Chowder, it looks healthy and delicious. The regular seafood chowder recipes are usually quite rich.

Or how about some Yogurt strawberry jam - jam muffins?

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Jersey Boys

SoccerMom had asked for a photo of our Christmas Tree and here it is, all decorated! I sort of threw everything on vertically, lights and garlands.

We just made plans with some friends to go see 'Jersey Boys' playing in Toronto over the Xmas holidays. So we will go to dinner somewhere first and it sounds like a nice night out, I am looking forward to it. They are advertising the show quite a bit on TV and we almost didn't get the tickets we wanted.

I forced myself to exercise at the gym yesterday morning and passed on buying that small lemon meringue pie at the grocery store later on. (270 calories for one quarter slice, pies are dangerous) Instead, I found this recipe for chewy peanut butter cookies at Blogger for Hire
and we made them. They really are chewy and I ate one too many.

One of L's teachers witnessed a fatal car accident yesterday and the poor lady was still in shock today. She was asking all the students to please take care on the roads and not to speed. This person was speeding on slippery roads, his car slid under an 18-wheeler truck and that was it, in an instant. He was driving right in front of the teacher's car.

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Drinking coffee, tea sharply reduces risk of diabetes: Study

10 great digital gifts for social media lovers

Creative Tuesday - Festive

Here's my contribution to the 'Festive' theme for Mr. Toast's Creative Tuesday. See the sidebar for details if you would like to participate. I really do think art helps you to 'think outside of the box' and be more spontaneous. I was inspired by a little toy flamingo I put out every Christmas, it was a gift one year from a friend in Florida.



I have to say, the weather yesterday was not bad at all, 2C (34F) was positively balmy, if a bit wet. It sure beats living in Canada's prairie provinces (like Winnipeg) right now, with dangerous -40C (-40F)wind chills.

L has officially submitted her university applications, hurray! There are some supplementary application forms due next February for a few of the universities, but those can be done in due time.

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Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas: Cute Seasonal Video

America's 'new poor' making painful choices - this article sounds like a good argument for universal health care

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