Did you turn out the lights?

So...we did turn out all the lights for earth hour...I actually had all the candles going by 7pm tonight. So our entire family, Caiti home from Kelowna and the dogs sat in the dark with the big screen tv going...it was pretty dark all around us. It was really rather silly but we did our part to support the cause...well with the lights but we could not imagine turning the idiot box off...we might have all started bickering if we had to spend an hour together talking eh?

Anyway...we sold the jeep today to dave. Caiti had gone out to UBC to visit her friends Danie and Kirky so we picked her up and went down to English Bay for our Tampopo sushi as we always do whenever Caiti comes home for a visit.
Then we went for a drive in the new RAV all the way to West Van to look at all the fancy waterfront homes, then to Costco to stock up the fridge and then home. Chrissy wanted us to go for a walk but we were all a little tired but she went with Sheba for a 6km walk and luckily for her she got back to her car before the hail pelted down like golfballs.
I bought Eckhart Tolle's book "A New Earth -Awakening to your life's purpose" and plan to read it since Oprah has been going on and on about it. He lives in BC and I am really interested in what he has to say! I am open to finding out about consciousness and since he is not aligned to any specific religion, his spirituality intrigues me and I am open to all opinions! My spirit needs to be lifted and I need to find a new sense of self.
Anyway...Earth Hour day come to a close...so off to read in bed my new book!!!

Easter Sunday

Here's a photo of Glen Pine at work decked out for Easter!Well...there was no easter bunny and no easter eggs and actually no chocolate treats for us...guess there will be no easter bunny again until we have grand-kids?
The turkey is in the oven and all the other side dishes are all prepped. Darcy and I had to make a run out to Safeway for poultry seasoning for the stuffing. Connie and Dave are coming over for dinner tonight. Chrissy hates ham and lamb so its turkey dinner for Easter.
It looks a little dreary outside at the moment so its good to have a quiet day at home. Caiti is in Kelowna and getting hours at work so she didn't come home this weekend. Anyway...easter sunday and its very quiet around here. Guess we shall just feast quietly this evening...open a bottle of wine and enjoy another day off.
My Easter dinner table before we sat down to eat. Notice that very large bottle of Yellowtail from the USA that cost next to nothing.
We had a very filling dinner and will have pie for dessert.
The flowers were from Connie. I had to put my easter lillies outside because Connie was allergic to them...I have tulips in the bathroom and daffodils on the coffee table.

Easter Long Weekend

I have actually been looking forward to some time off. Yesterday (Good Friday) seem to come and go and all I did was re-do Karen's dog agility website, did 3 pages in my Cait's Grad scrapbook project (it is 2 years overdue as it is) and then watched a 50th Anniversary Osmond Family special on PBS...it was excellent. If Ihad extra money I would support public television and for $250 would have got the DVD Osmond special, the cds signed autographs and all. I have to admit they were really good even as seniors. Marie actually has a great stage presence and it was very poignant and nostalgic when they sang "Through the Years" and "He's not heavy he's my brother" with old photos and old clips playing in the background. On Youtube there's like amazing old footage of the Osmonds. Who remembers "Puppy love", "the twelfth of never" and "paperoses"? Or watching the Donny and Marie Show for us in Malaysia it was our Sunday evening family entertainments...awesome!
Then Chrissy and I started downloading Bay City Rollers songs and Osmond songs so then I uploaded them into my IPOD and organized all my music. I bought some proper pink earphones so I am looking forward to getting back out there and walking now that I can feel Spring coming.

Darcy came home from his trip to Trail, and he spent it on business and visiting his parents. He came home with the family crest ring as well as an heirloom mah-jong set from his great-grandmother because he is very keen on playing mah-jong. On Fridays, mah-jong reigns supreme as an activity at Glen Pine.
We took the dogs and went for a walk on the PoCo dykes in the afternoon. Luis and Chrissy came too and then we stopped at Superstore and loaded up on Easter junk food...drinking pepsi and eating all-dressed chips as I type so that is really bad! I guess we are cooking a turkey tomorrow since Chrissy hates ham but we don't really have real family celebration to be had anymore. Darcy left a message for Connie but has not heard back from her as yet. So...Chrissy and Luis are playing Smash Bros. on the Wii and well, here I am typing on the good old blog...I am getting a little bit better about writing things down. Darcy and Chrissy are already sniping at each other and being very irritable about everything.

Trying my hand

So if this blog looks funny its because I have made a mess of my layout and trying to customize my own blog...frustrated the hell out of myself just because I wanted something pink and flowery!!!
Well...Darcy flew out to Trail for the rest of this week so its just me and Chrissy at home. After work today we went to Zellers and chatted Nicki (long lost other child and once best friend) who is out of school and working full-time at the store and is turning 19 this May. She hasn't changed one bit from that blonde curly-haired Nicki-Nick that we have known since I babysat those Chandler girls and all those years of swimming. Rene and Terry have moved all the way out to Maple Ridge so once their renovations are done we will go out for a long overdue visit.
We bought take-out dinner at T & T and then came home to watch the taped Oprah's Big Give...
So its a quiet evening for us!!!

St. Patrick's Day

I hope to go to Ireland someday...always wanted to be irish...love the accent...still crazy for Ronan Keating though we never hear anything from him or about him in North America. Wore green today. Darcy was really green and even wore his leprechaun hat he bought from Target all day. I will have to post the picture of him with it on. Besides that...went to work but we were as always so crazy busy that there never is time at work to relax or anything...maybe thats why its called work? Here is Glen Pine all decked out for St. Pat's day! Tomorrow, he will be all easter-ed up!
Not having a very irish dinner...should have made stew but no one likes it but I guess having curry is sort of a stew!!! Sláinte I think that is Irish for Cheers!

Spring Break

Today marks the start of Spring break for the kids...Chrissy's last one ever! Once real life starts there's no such thing as Spring Break though I will get 5 days off for easter (so looking forward to some quiet time). Today was a perfect day for a birthday celebration...kari's birthday! Janice made plans for us to visit the Secret Garden Tea Company all the way in Kerrisdale. Shannon picked me up and we drove together there and back which gave us a chance to catch up. Darcy did get her to boot me out at First and Boundary but thats my next story.

Anyway...the High tea was pricey but it was quite splendid. I picked Buckingham Palace as my choice of tea...a black tea that did get a little too strong tasting. We had a 3-tiered assortment of dainty sandwiches, scones, coffee cake, devonshire cream and jam and then desserts on the very top. The mini-croissant with avocado was scrumptious. I liked the lemon tart but the peanut-butter chocolate cake was a little too rich. It was a quite an extravagant afternoon but it was something very different and it was very trendy-ish.
Kari did get some nice gifts so I think she had a nice day.
So after I got booted out on First and Boundary...we had Chrissy, Luis and Jon in the Rav. They were going car-hunting as Luis is looking for a car for his family. From there we went to Bosa Foods for Ivan's sausages and some other Italian groceries. Darcy decided he needed to go to Uprising Breads for his bread so off we went there.
By this time everyone was starving...so we went down Commercial Drive to Riddim and Spice, a Jamaican/caribbean food place that supposedly is famous for its jerk chicken. Well, it was good but nothing to really rave about. I actually had goat curry and I thought the red bean rice that accompanied it with the salad was excellent. Then after this experience, the others felt they needed dessert so it was off to the 218 flavours Gelato place on Venables. I just had a lick of Darcy's because after this whole day of such rich food...I was done...feel like I need a big walk.
Tomorrow, we have the Special Olympics Meet at the new Chimo Pool and that will be good to get some community service done...as we start off this 2008 Spring Break.

Riding in the Rav

Well, all the paperwork finally came through for the new RED Rav 4 and today we were out running errands in it. It is quite a beautiful vehicle. I plugged my IPOD into it and the music was splendid. So now we get rid of the jeep and Walter. So if anyone knows of anyone looking for a used vehicle we can help. Darcy has always loved his his red cars so this will be the one we have for a while.
It was a nice sunny day today so it was fun to be out and about. We have our annual Trivia night tonight as well as Sharon's birthday celebration so it will be fun to have an evening out. Chrissy is also baby-sitting Proton for Karen and so far he has been a very good boy and is even good hanging out with Sheba and Speedo so that is great!
Tomorrow we have a Special Olympics swim meet we volunteer at Bonsor but we better remember to spring forward with the clocks or else we will be late.