Old Spice -Questions commercial

quite possibly the funniest commercial ever...lol

Shortbread cookies...

Shortbread cookies are my favorite cookie.

I have tried twice now to make them and my recipes are the wrong ones i suppose because they did not work at all.

So I suppose I will just have to stick with ones from the bakery because I cannot make them.
But they sure are a delicious christmas treat. This is the only time of year I eat them, otherwise it just seems wrong.

Feeling Grinchy...

I love the grinch, I love the movie the grinch who stole christmas (the original version). I am feeling pretty grinchy this christmas and I have no idea why.

I've put up the christmas tree, hung the stockings and wrapped a few presents and tucked them under the tree. I've made christmas cookies a few times which have all been eaten. Turned the christmas lights on outside, put up the plastic snowman and tree on the porch.

But I still feel grinchy.

Off my list...

Like a picture from a postcard. I actually took this picture. I took this picture right before I walked half away across the golden gate bridge. What a magnificant structure. The architecture, engineering and design of this bridge is what makes it that way.

I spent some time in San Francisco and explored the city. It is quite the city.

I can now cross it off my list of places I would like to visit.

The Upside Down Christmas Tree.

A monk named St. Bonafice from Devonshire went to Germany. He spent time there preaching. He spent a lot of time in Thuringia. Now Thuringia is known as the birthplace of the industry dealing with Christmas Decorations. He used a triangular shape of the fir to describe the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, that makes up the Holy Trinity. As a result people started to worship the Fir tree as God's tree. (or better known as the tree in the garden of Eden). By the 12th Century the fir tree was being hung upside down from ceilings in Central Europe as a symbol of Christianity at Christmas Time.

The real history behind the upside down christmas tree remains quite vague, very little information is known about it.

The trend of hanging the upside down christmas tree has changed, the point of the fir tree pointing up to heaven . Many people believe that an upside down christmas tree is a sign of contempt.

Upside down christmas trees were popular for a short time and were originally just used as ,a marketing gimmick. It enabled customers to pick ornaments off easier and more conviently.

One other note on christmas trees while we're on the subject:
Christmas trees were not to be brought out and decorated until Christmas Eve (dec. 24th), rather than the first day of christmas (dec. 23rd). They are then to be removed after the 12th night which would be January 6th. To have your tree up before or after these dates was considered bad luck...just a thought for you :)

Amish Christmas

The Amish celebrate Christmas over two days
December 25th is for scripture reading, meditating and fasting and other religious activities. They reflect on the birth of Christ.
December 26th is for celebrating with family and friends. Having gatherings with friends and families, eating feasts or large meals and they actually do give gifts.

They do not believe or portray santa clause in their celebrations
Some do decorate a tree with candles, some write christmas cards.
Some do not.
Some Amish families exchange gifts by drawing names out of hats and exchanging one gift per person. The gifts they exchange are usually handmade or for use outside.
Younger Amish children recieve toys while older amish children recieve either something for a hope chest (if your a girl) or tools useful for the farm (if your a boy)
A few interesting facts for now....

I promise the blog is not dead!

Excuse my absence, I have been away exploring foreign lands and visiting dear friends...ok you got me I am not the super world traveller I would like to think I am but instead I went to disneyworld. That isn't so foreign like I would like it to be. I'd like to explore Ecuador, Nicaragua, Argentina...more of South America. I'd like to explore most of Europe except England because I hear it's a really dirty country. (anyone to prove me wrong on that?) Though maybe seeing the queen would be fun.
But For now disneyworld is where we went and it was fun. Exploring the parks, lounging by the pool. Enjoying the heat, I got a pretty sweet tan...only to return home to the city covered in snow, highways whited out by snow blowing freely across the countryside...and home to shovel this snow. I should have stayed at Disneyworld Longer...maybe avoided winter all together.

Google told me so....

So Google always has headlines and their "google" logo written in some interesting way...well it turns out it is the 115th anniversary of the discovery of the xray. One of the most important discoveries in science and health.

The xray was first discovered by german physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895. X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation. It was first utilised in a clinic in the united states in early 1896.

Some facts about xray and wilhelm conrad roentgen:

• born in lennep in rhenish prussia
• an only child of a merchant and manufacturer of cloth
• considered the father of diagnostic radiation
• First Nobel prize in physics in 1901.
• married to anna bertha ludwig
• had one child a daughter who they adopted at the age of six, it was his wife's brothers child
• the japanese word for xray is rentogen
• in turkey it is roentgen
• in lithuanian its rentgeno
• He died on february 10, 1923 from carcinoma of the intestine (cancer)
• Upon his death all his personal and scientific correspondence was destroyed in keeping with his will.

So hopefully you have learned a little bit of information regarding the founding father of xrays...it is rather interesting I think.

Happy xray day everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving....

Enjoy the Turkey....

Filed a complaint....

So I decided to get some chicken. I was hungry, the kids were already fed. So we packed up the car and went to our local chicken stop and hurried through the drive-through. Well there was a long ling up, the sun was in our eyes and the kids were quickly getting bored and wanting to return home.
We got to the window and I handed the drive through clerk my money. She got busy and didn't give me my change. She handed my meal and I asked her what was in the bag...it was the wrong meal. So I handed it back to her and she got the right meal. I kept asking her, do you have my change? Do you have my change? She handed me the right meal and told me "your change is in the bottom of the bag." I looked at her and said "Are you for real? Why would you put my change in my food bag?" "That's just gross!" She apologized profusely and I drove off furious and angry. I figured there was no reason to tell the manager of the resteraunt but to go above to greater authority. So I went online and filed my complaint with the head company and also dialed the complaint line, only to be put on hold for awhile, so I hung up. But be warned the complaint went up and beyond to the head of this chicken joint....we'll see what comes of this complaint...I am curious because i did write quite a lengthy letter to them...

Lost: One farmer in the city...

So It would seem my neighbor decided an oil pump wasn't enough to decorate his front yard with. He's got the brick deck in the background. A brand new fence to defend his yard from the intruding neighbor on the corner. (Which if you ask me is ugly because behind that fence is some lovely landscaping!)

He planted some lovely fake astro turf lawn that remains green all year round and you don't need to mow it. Maintence free yard work for the old guy and now to top it all off he has added a little john deer green what-cha-ma-call-it thingy. I don't even know what that green and yellow wheel thing is that he has suddenly erected on the front lawn. I think he's just doing it to piturb the nice neighbor next door. Frankly he's just turning our neighborhood into the "Funny Farm". I won't even mention how many times he has a tractor parked in his driveway either. Someone has definitely lost some marbles.

Eat some pie...

So it appears my blog has died again...

I don't have much to say on it, which is why I haven't had any new posts to report any new news.
I am working a stretch of shifts of right now, so once the weekend is over I should have more to write about and more time to write...so please if you do read my blog, stay tuned.

There will be better things yet to come and more of my sarcastic, witty, fun stories...I promise!

So spend time with your family this weekend, go do something exciting.

The blog will be back to life next week...

Waiting is half the fun!

Would you like to find.....

......One of these suckers between your toes?

Well I did and it grossed me out so much that I have decided socks and shoes are now the way to go...no more flipflops...well at least until I can determine where this one came from and how it ended up between my toes.

I was so grossed out that I had to shower and even after my shower I still find myself getting goosebumps from even thinking about how it got between my toes....yuck! I am utterly disguisted at the moment....

String Gel...

So I was reading on some blogs how to use string gel. I tinted it pink..but as you can see it is pretty white...I hope once it dries it will be pinker or I may need to start over. I used glass bead gel behind (the dark magenta pink color). I love to paint with that, it's so much fun. Now my string gel which is the lighter pink on top of the dark magenta pink color. Upon reading the blogs I discovered that a.) It is difficult to use and b.) It is frusterating to use by first time painters. I figured it would be easy sailing stringing it on and looping it around etc. well I ended up with clump upon clump and ended up wiping those off and restarting again. I finally got it and it turned out pretty good. Next I am going to be layering brown string gel ontop to get a contrasty effect...it should look pretty interesting!

Some time in the country....

The corn....its little and it'll be late this year....
The wheat field...
Spent some time out in the country and wandered through the fields...it was fun...I did take pictures in the corn field and wheat field for fun. It was nice to take a drive through the country and see what's going on outside the city.

moulding paste....

So it turned out using the moulding paste the second time was a tad bit more difficult. I mismatched the tinting and on the second painting have white flowers with a slight hue of blue instead of light blue like on the first one, so now I have to paint the flowers which works alright since the background is blue. I can hardly wait to try a whole other painting with other mediums...but finish one thing at a time. Almost done these and ready to hang them.

The blog is alive....

My latest masterpiece...
I just completed it yesterday, experimenting with different mediums. I used a glass bead medium for the background to give it the sand effect. And for the flowers I used a moulding medium...very cool! It was a lot of fun to work with and I got really, really, really messy! This picture is going into my basement bathroom...I want to try to add some green glass bead medium to the background since there is some green in my bathroom...but we will see! I kind of like it the way it is.

Krispy Kreme Cheese Burger

Introducing the Krispy Kreme Cheese Burger....

I am divided on whether or not this is a good combination for a cheeseburger.

I enjoy reading the news and today a headline caught my attention: "New spin on Cheeseburger at State fair creates buzz." Now I am an avid enjoyer of Bacon Cheeseburgers. Having tasted them all over the city and other places so a headline stating that sparks an interest.

The wisconsin state fair last year introduced chocolate covered bacon, this year it's the Krispy Kreme Cheese Burger. They test ran the idea at the fair and apparently a large number of people who tried it, loved the combination of the Krispy Kreme donuts on the cheeseburgers.

I view it as another healthy treat. You'll go Hyperglycemic from the krispy kreme donut on top due to the glaze full of sugar and you'll get your arteries clogged from the greasy cheeseburger. It is definitely a winning combination if your concerned about your health.

I think I will continue to eat my cheeseburgers seperate from my desserts.

Training wheels...

(picture taken at a red light)

I was driving uptown today and saw this...take a good look at it. It's a motorcycle, it really is but what you may be noticing is his nice red training wheels. I could not believe my eyes. A full grown man and his biker chick riding a motorcycle with training wheels...guess he didn't pass his motorcycle course? So they wouldn't let him ride without his training wheels? I had such a good chuckle when I saw this, so ofcourse I had to take a picture. But mind you I took it safely when stopped at red light otherwise I would have had to surf the web for a picture. But seeing it in person was just way to hilarious!

Bet he didn't sign up for this....

If you can see just above the driveway, my neighbors grass is dead....
Along the sidewalk, that goes along the house...more patches of dead grass.
I bet he didn't sign up for this when he got his driveway re-done or coated. There were stakes in the ground and yellow caution tape surrounding his driveway...No walking or driving on it. I respected this and stayed off his driveway and his sidewalk. I mean really, I have no reason to be on his driveway anyways. So I watched this guy spray chemicals on his driveway and it stank. It stank up the neigborhood and as well it just stank when you were outside period.
The man came and went, he did his job and the next day his driveway looked great. But who knew the next day his lawn would look dead and yellowy in color along all the edges where the grass touches the sidewalk. I am glad that I did not have grass there but wished whatever he sprayed would have touched my weeds and killed them. So I am sure my neigbor is not very happy right now, they are a bit of perfectionists, so it will be interesting to see if all the grass is ripped up and re-sodded...the adventure will probably continue...we'll see!

I am here....

I am still here, this blog is still alive...do not worry! I will be back when I have more to say but it is late and I am tired and need some sleep...So stay tuned for more!

The octopus was right!

So Germany placed third...as predicted by the octopus.
Netherlands placed second...as predicted by the octopus.
AND
Spain placed First in the fifa world cup...as predicted by the octopus.
To bad he won't be around for the next world cup in 2012...but at least for the time being those who were betting on games and listening to the octopus are richer and Spain is a happier country due to their win.
I was cheering for Spain and am glad I didn't jump on the oranje bandwagon with everyone else. So it was actually an exciting fifa world cup this go around. I am looking forward to cheering on Spain in the 2012 fifa. For all those who think Netherlands may actually win in the next cup, I am sure Spain is up for the challenge again...I know you Netherlands fans would like a rematch but you really did play a terrible game.

(Paul the Octopus)
So it would appear my Fifa picks for the final were wrong. I still believe that Germany will place 3rd, so that's ok. But I cannot believe Spain made it all the way to the final against the netherlands. Wow! That is great considering Spain has never made it that far. I am still on the fence as to who I believe will place first. I am siding with Spain but I think maybe Netherlands has a chance. But I guess we have to wait till Sunday to find out.
I will leave my predictions as to who wins to myself until paul the octopus tells the world who is going to win fifa because his track record for predictions has been fairly on the ball as to who will win what match. I am suprised Germany didn't turn him into Sushi when he predicted Spain would win against Germany.
So stay tuned for Paul the octopus' predictions...should be interesting.

My Fifa Final two pics.

Netherlands.
Germany.
Those are my two pics for the final two in the fifa world cup in South Africa.
We will see after Germany plays Spain but I am sure Germany and the Netherlands will
be the final two in the final match. What a game that would be!

A good blog...

I like trying to find medical blogs and things to read and I actually found one which is pretty good. It's an ER doctor who writes and sometimes his stories are serious and other times they are funny. If you don't mind medical things you might enjoy reading this blog:
http://storytellerdoc.blogspot.com

It's a good read!

Picture of the day....

Smiley dog!

mmm...cupcakes...

Delicious yummy mini-cupcakes...green icing and all.

Just a picture to leave you wanting one.

They sure tasted good.

Flip Flops and the Rain.

(Caption in picture says "Ouch...flip flops are not a good idea in the Rain.")

It is June. It is pouring rain out..Buckets upon buckets of rain. Raindrops that hurt when they hit you on the shoulder. But I am all for summer, I am ignoring the rain and pretending it is warm out because we've had like three months of rain. Enough is enough...my grass is green at least so I guess that is a bonus. The rain did not revive my dead tree either. So maybe it just added to the problem of the already dead tree in the front yard. Anyways back to my story.
I wear flip flops, I pretend that it is summer out...caught up? ok let's continue on. Flip flops as you know have no traction whatsoever, which is why they are meant for summer. They are meant as casual wear. I hate socks, which is why i wear flip flops whenever I can...unless there is snow, no flip flops then.

But today i choose to wear the flip flops. On the best of days I slip and slide around in them. I am kind of clumsy sometimes, tripping over my own feet. But I knew my flip flops were slippery with this rain, so I was being overly cautious. I climbed into my truck just fine and had no problems with slippery flip flops. I ran some errands and then came home, got my gripping on the driveway after i got out of my truck, took two steps to shut the door and the next thing i knew I had slipped because of my flip flops and landed on the driveway.

So the above photo is of the bruise it left behind post slip...it hurts, it's tender to the touch...but I bet you I will still be wearing flip flops tomorrow even if it rains because i love them and they are so much better than socks and shoes. If i wear my shoes without socks my feet smell too much so I would much rather wear flip flops and allow my feet to air out.

Time for an update....my subject? Hutterites.

(Some hutterite girls on the rocker thingy at the park)...
I like to take my five year old to the park in summer. Today was no exception to that rule. It was beautiful outside....the sun was shining, there was no wind. It was just a beautiful gorgeous day outside. So I figured since we hadn't frequented the "big park" lately that we would head there today. I didn't that on a monday it would be busy, seeing as parents have kids in school and this is post lunch, so the younger ones should be napping.....it shouldn't have been busy. Boy was I wrong. It turned out to be an interesting sight. A scool from a hutterite colony was enjoying the ammenities of the park. Kids in polka-dots running around wildly from one thing to the next...they were everywhere!! It was one big sea of polka-dots and boys in dark pants and suspenders. The teacher announced that there was only ten minutes left until the bus was to leave, so I figured we could deal with this for ten more minutes, then the park would be empty again....so i took it upon myself to stealthly photograph some pictures of some of the kids.

A little hutterite girl playing all by herself on another rocker thingy. I thought it was a neat picture.

Group shot! They gathered all the hutterite kids onto the bridge between the two play structures and began to snap away picture after picture of all the kids gathered together....Now I was ready for them to leave post-picture but this brought to mind something else...Photography and hutterites.

Alberta hutterites had been sharing driver licenses. This was a big debate in newspapers and in the court system as well because of the sharing of driver licenses and them being photoless. Their beliefs are based on the fact that images are prohibited by the second commandment. In may 2007, the alberta court of appeal ruled that photographs violate their religious rights and that driving is essential for them. So they believed that having photographs on drivers licenses violated religious beliefs...doesn't gathering school children for pictures do the same? But in July of 2009 it was made mandatory that hutterite colonies must abide by provincial regulations and rules for photos on drivers licenses...So I am still left to debate as to whether or not hutterites believe it is alright to take a picture or if it isn't.... I mean in this case it must be alright because they gathered the school children for a group photograph. Just an interesting debate...

So after the hutterites left, the park was empty for about two minutes until two busloads pulled up full of......No it wasn't more hutterite school children....haha

Things put up the nose...

We all love popcorn. It tastes so good, it's light, it's fluffy and its a delicious treat. When I make popcorn I use two bowls. One to pop the popcorn and the second one to transfer the fluffy popcorn to minus the left over kernels. I am fairly attentive to these little kernels because I don't want the kids to choke on them or bite them and wreck their teeth. So usually the left over kernels end up in the garbage never to been seen again. I had put my five year old to bed and had her all tucked in and settled for the night. I was in my room talking on the phone a few minutes later explaining to my mom that the kids were tucked in bed and settled. No sooner had I said that when my five year old came downstairs, her eyes were big and puffy and filled with tears. She admitted she had been playing under her bed when she should have been sleeping but earlier this evening she had found some garbage under there and had cleaned it up. All except for one kernel of popcorn, so when i had put her to bed she decided that was the best time to clean it up. She climbed under her bed, got the popcorn kernel and climbed out. She said she was walking to the garbage can and her nose itched, so she itched it and inhaled the popcorn kernel. After many tears and sobs, I told her the only way (other than a trip to the ER and tweezers to extract it) would be to blow her nose. Her first attempt was unsuccessful, so I said try again and this time we plugged her other nose and out shot a single kernel of popcorn. She began to laugh uncontrollably and thought this was the funniest thing ever. I then comforted her and proceeded to give a little lecture on how it was not ok to stick things that don't belong in the nose, inside her nose. I may have told her the next time we might not be so lucky and that a doctor might have to remove it with tweezers or by some other means. She still maintained as she was being put back to bed that she was itching her nose and she inhaled it, but I am not to sure that is the case...after all five year old's are curious and putting something in the nose. What five year old or child for that matter hasn't shoved something up their nose? It did remind me of this however:

Homer simpson and the crayons he was shoving up his nose and in his ears...One ended up making its way up towards his brain, getting lodged in there. Therefore making him the homer simpson he was...so he had it surgically removed which changed him into an intelligent being...Homer however did not learn his lesson and shoved his daughter Lisa's crayon up his nose to return him to his previous state... I find it funny that a popcorn kernel in my daughters nose could remind me of a simpsons episode...but I hope unlike Homer, she has learned her lesson.

Flat stanley...the stow-away..

This is Flat Stanley...at least one created by my youngster. He's reading all the flat stanley books and we decided last year to create one of our own before we vacationed in Hawaii. Well who knew that this flat stanley would be such an adventurer...He travelled all the way to Peru, stowed away in my carry on bag. We had such a great trip...hence why my blog has been dead for awhile now, we've been gone. We landed in the huge city of Lima and from there our adventure started. Traveling to Lima from Houston is about a six to seven hour flight. We stayed one night in Lima and then took a six hour van ride to Jauja...a small village or town south east of Lima. Spent four or so days there and then travelled another five to six hours south to a small village in the mountains called Cceccasiri. Where we stayed with a family for two days. Then headed back to Lima in a ten or so hour van ride. It was quite the adventure. Flat Stanley has now returned back home and is quite content still packed away in my unpacked backpack. I think he's waiting for his next adventure. During our time in the smaller villages and towns we worked with the kids in the schools and outside of the schools singing with them, doing crafts and putting on puppet shows. We played games with them and tried to talk to spanish to them...which was sometimes difficult. But seeing their faces, teaching them and spending time with them is rewarding.

So that is my little blurb for now...until I figure out what else to write about...

Complete Randomness today....

I was just clicking some pictures today...Above my caramel machiatto from Starbucks...it was delicious because it had not one, not two but three shots of espresso in it...xtra caffiene...much needed.

My neighbors ladder....I think he was taking down his christmas lights....maybe...

A tree branch on my tree in my front yard. I wanted to see how far I could zoom in before the picture was blurry and it did a pretty good job, this tree branch was pretty far away...so yes this is pretty random today...

Cute Conversations that shouldn't be had...

As a nurse you get to interact with patients and hear stories of their lives and stories about their families. In the same way some patients like to hear about your life or comment on your life or your personality or your manner etc...Some patients don't say much, others say too much and some don't say anything at all. They just lay in their beds smiling or grinning from ear to ear and nodding their heads pretending they know what your saying to them or talking about.
Today I met Patient Susie (*not her real name). A vibrant wonderful lady who was an ex-nurse. She seemed like outside of the hospital and illness she would be a busy woman with lot's to do. Susie* was worried about being in the hospital and away from her family. I gathered she was the care giver in the family as seeing she was an ex nurse and nurses are caring, and nurturing. So with patients like Susie* I like to ensure they are comfortable, taken care of...mostly try to distract them so they don't think about things going on at home and can care for themselves to get themselves back to proper health. So I talked with Susie* tried to calm her nerves a little bit and get her settled into her room.
Our conversation went as follows:
Susie* - It's so nice to have such a bright young woman as a nurse.
Me- Why thank-you.
Susie*- Your smile is wonderful and encouraging
Me- Well we just want to ensure you have the best care possible.
Susie*- You have a glow
Me- Oh really?
Susie*- When are you due?
Me- (my jaw is wide open at this point...)
Me- (finding the words to say)
Me- I am not expecting
Susie*-your not expecting? I just thought you had such a glow, a pregnant woman glows like you are.
Me- Trust me, I am not expecting, just a little extra weight.
Susie*- Oh......
The conversation ended, another nurse walked in and I beelined it for the door. Guess my caring personality misled my patient to believe I was expecting because I am a happy nurse, I like to smile. A smile in my opinion brings warmth and forges a type of patient/nurse friendship that is trusting....guess I need to stop smiling so much so my patients don't mistake it for a "pregnancy glow" next time....
Luckily a few of us had a good chuckle out it and compared other stories from other nurses who experiences similar to mine with patients.

The elephant and the mouse.

I thought elephants were afraid of mice, but this elephant doesn't seem to mind that he is about to step on the mouse. Most pictures I found were of elephants running away or sheepishly hiding from the mice in their pictures. This picture made me smile and laugh...poor mouse...But sometimes I feel like the mouse in this picture...Ever feel as big as a mouse? Or feel like your going to be trampled by the elephants? It's an interesting analogy...the elephant and the mouse....

Totally true story....

This is a touchy subject for some...death and do you get cremated or buried...I favor the burial route. But this is not a blog about the differences between cremation or burial. It is a story about the funeral home starting on fire today...Well on my way home sometimes you can see the local funeral homes smoke stack billowing away, when their smoke stack billows you know what is going on. Cremation or they are warming up the oven, getting ready to cremate. On a normal day it looks like the above picture, just a small puff of smoke, nothing seriously billowing out of it. Just a normal chimney puff of smoke...nothing unusual or different than any neighborhood smoke stack. I was driving home today and saw some smoke in the air. I figured there was nothing serious going on, probably coming from the funeral home...but the problem was I was nearly four or five blocks away and the smoke was really thick, black and filling the air...As I neared closer and closer I could hear the sirens. I was suddenly halted on the road by a fireruck and an ambulance whizzing past me. Now I am a curious person...I knew the firetrucks were headed to the billowing cloud of black...But what could be on fire?

The funeral homes smoke stack was on fire...literally! (note:above picture is not actual photo from todays events but merely my portrayal of todays events.)( I did not have my camera handy when I saw the cloud of billowing black smoke or the firetruck.) I could not believe how tall and how thick the smoke was, it was a thick black dense cloud of smoke with flames of red and orange shooting up from the smoke stack. The firemen hustled around the funeral home running around and within twenty minutes it was all under control. (I know it was twenty minutes because I drove past it again later) But I never had seen such thick black smoke and shooting flames coming from a chimney before. It left me to wonder, How often do funeral homes catch on fire??

My day...

My day documented by my 5 year old...here is her view on it...we started at the park...she wanted to take a picture of the houses on the road...so she did.

Drove past the lake towards downtown....another picture, she had a few of the lake as we drove past it.

Ooohh...got to get a picture of her shoe in here....very important! She took a picture of her shoes a few times throughout the day. Sometimes you wonder what they think when they do that.

Our delicious starbucks beverages...caramel machiatto for me, hot chocolate for her with a straw! There were a few dozen pictures of her hot chocolate from different angles as well.

The barbies on the backseat in the car...they were along for the ride. She took a picture of them together, seperately, sipping her hot chocolate. Well they did come along for the day.

A view of the coulees as we zipped past them...

A street pole with a no parking sign...So as you can see, she took pictures...but really we did a whole more than spend time in the car or sitting in starbucks drinking coffee...interesting what kids see when you had them a camera...

Blog is still alive.

My blog is still alive, just a post will have to wait another day...too tired to post right now and I don't have anything to post about. We'll see what tomorrow has to bring, I feel like I have things to do but cannot think about them right now...honestly I don't know what I have to do tomorrow, so we shall wait and see what comes up...so you'll have to wait too until tomorrow because tomorrow is another day and I am too tired....

Its warm out....

Mmmm...I love a good starbucks drink. Doesn't it look appetizing? It's vibrant color and appeal. A Shaken Passion Iced Tea Lemonade is one of my favorite drinks in summer. It replaces the mocha's and the tea's and other warm beverages I consume in the winter from starbucks. It is so delicious, but quite honestly.....

I wish they wouldn't put so much ice into it...your left with 1/3 of the cup filled with ice. When you get it, it's pretty much filled to the top with ice. I did however solve this dilemma and realized I could order it by asking them to use a little ice instead of filling the cup full. But if you like steeped tea, iced tea and lemonade then you will like this lovely blend of all three. I look forward to more of these throughout the summer...I wish too they would revive their blended tangerine lemonade, that was a delicious one but it sadly was discontinued. That was another one of my favorites to drink in summer. Hopefully they'll come up with something new this summer.

Dear Peru,

Dear Peru, thank-you for your meals of guinea pig, a delicacy of sorts. A meal commonly served throughout Peru. It was tasty the last time I had it, tasted a lot like chicken. You'd walk through the markets and hear their tiny squeals coming from the sacks ladies were carrying home to serve as meal to their families. Some facts I have learned->they are domesticated for their meat in the Andes. It is a major part of the diet there....mostly because guinea pigs breed quickly and take up less room than traditional livestock (betcha didn't know that...) It is also high in protein and low in fat and cholesterols. Peruvians also consume close to 65 million guinea pigs each year. It does taste like the dark meat in chicken (see told you it tastes like chicken!) So when I return to Peru, I will forget that we keep them as pets in Canada and see the furry little creatures in our pet stores here and remember that guinea pig tastes like chicken.

Dear Peru, Your wonderful stir-fry. I look forward to trying you again. Somehow the frenchfries you incorporate into the stirfry make it all the more tasty...Surrounding the frenchfries with peppers and vegtables and meat...a savoury combination all served on a bed of white rice. Delicious.

Dear Peru, I have been trying to brush up on my spanish to place my order at starbucks...but so far I have failed. I do not know anymore spanish than when I picked up the phrase book in the first place. So when I enter into starbucks and cannot read the menu, hopefully the barista will not laugh at me for my poor spanish skills and my hand gestures motioning to the board what I would like to drink...Maybe I can figure it out on the plane there how to order starbucks in spanish...I do doubt it though...(p.s.-your valet parking is awesome...but I won't be using it)

Dear Peru, the children, their smiling faces and grins are enough to melt our hearts. I wish I could speak spanish to them but enjoy making them laugh at me. (yes, at me...)Spending time with them and letting them know that half way around the world we care and think about them will hopefully give them hope for a better future. I wish we could take them all home with us but visits will have to do. They have homes, they have families and I am sure they have joy.

Dear Peru, your culture and vividness amazes me. The culture is alive in the streets with dancing and marching bands and people dressed up. Its nice to see the diverse customs and traditions. Every town has traditions and customs of their own. Every country is proud of its roots and it does show.

Dear Peru, your scenery is extraordinary. The Andes are breath-taking (literally!) The mountains and the streams, the waterfalls and the towns. The history and the architecture. All amazing sights. The towns and the cities, all have different stories to tell...The statues scattered on the mountainsides. The monuments covering the mountainsides as well. They all tell a story. The storefronts and shops in the towns. The townsquares each with their own unique features. Lot's to see and photograph.

This post was a little long but it was just a few memories of my time in Peru...and a few little pictures of those memories.