The blow-dryer that couldn’t

I’ve had my blow-dryer for quite a few years, probably 6 and it’s always worked out well. It was pretty random how I got it… I went down to my parents for Christmas one year and back then my Dad was still manager of the Grocery store in Magrath. They’d been having problems with their freezers, they’d get to frozen and stop working so he took a blow-dryer from the attached Home Hardware and used it to thaw the freezers. Having been used to thaw a meat freezer it couldn’t really be re-sold, so offhand my Dad asked if I needed a blow-dryer. The one I had was on its last legs so I took it happily.

So here I am with the same blow-dryer. Over the past week or so I’ve noticed that it hasn’t seemed to get very hot so I was a little concerned but continued on like usual.
This morning right as I was finishing there was a horrible, loud whirring noise, the smell of burnt rubber/hair and a rattling noise. It’s fair to say the thing is dead.

So I think the plans for tonight will include the purchase of a brand new blow-dryer.
L

Miscellaneous

Messy
A friend of mine’s parents used to think that if his room was messy his life must be messy too. Sure hope that’s not true because our house is a disaster! There’s clean laundry and dirty laundry to take care of. Dishes and scrapbooking stuff… maybe tonight will be clean up night; sometimes other things just seem more important.

Baby fever
I’ve sure started to feel baby pressure. There are a lot of girls around my age that are pregnant and though I know I’m not ready for babies yet it’s hard not to feel like I should be having one. I’m hoping the feeling passes quickly.

Debt
As of today Brad and I are 100% debt free! Thank you tax return for helping us pay off our car 1 year early, we’ll save $120 in interest. It’s a good day.

In-laws
How did I get so lucky? I couldn’t have asked for better.

Life Goals

Today has been such a nice day.

My boss is gone, that tends to increase production and decrease stress so Iwas extra productive. Here it is 3:00 and we don’t have anything left to do. It’s kind of nice to be so relaxed.

So I've slowly been adding to this list of things I'd like to accomplish in my life, what better place to share them than here...

1. Go to the Conference Centre to watch the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional


2. Stay at the Chateaux Lake Louise


3. See Straylight Run in concert


4. See the play Wicked

Not life changing activities but things I'd like to do one day.
L

Conference Weekend

Yay, it’s General Conference Weekend! That’s great for a couple reasons…

1. I can sit on my couch in my pajamas and listen, all nice and comfy.
2. I get to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday.
3. Waffles are planned for Sunday with Jane and Ken, should be a yummy good time.
4. I don’t have to teach a Sunbeam lesson on Sunday! Yay!

A few conference memories for you
I have this random memory that maybe my Mom can clear up. My parents went somewhere and so I (we? Were my siblings there? I don’t remember) stayed with the Barnett’s. Why the Barnett’s though? We weren’t particularly close to them… I never stayed with them again, it seems like a random choice. Why not the Todd’s or the Tanner’s? Anyway, so I stayed with the Barnett’s and we went to their Grandmas house to watch Conference and I was so bored! I actually had to watch! My parents weren’t super strict at making me watch Conference. Now I look forward to watching.

Cora and I used to host Pajama General. Those were good times! We’d invite tons of people over and you had to wear your pajamas and bring a waffle topping. We’d all squish in wherever there was room and eat waffles and hashbrowns until we were stuffed. Some favorite toppings include bananas, strawberry yogurt, mangoes and ice cream. Sadly that tradition died out when we no longer wanted to pay for cable.

One year Cora, Nathan, Peter and I road tripped down to conference and Nathan’s mission reunion. That was a great time! Nathan showed up with two girls and we did our very best to make him look good. Some notable events:

• The morning Nathan and Cora woke up grumpier than you can imagine, I tried my best to drive the car without making either of them speak but I don’t really know how to drive a standard. Once on the highway everything was fine and as the morning went by they both cheered up considerably.
• How ridiculously nervous Nathan was going through the border, for no reason.
  The amount of food we ate at the Olive Garden.
• The disgusting person we sat beside in the Conference Centre who kept snorting… so gross! I could barely concentrate on the speakers I was so distracted.

So happy conference, I hope it’s relaxing and you learn something new.
L

These are a Few of My Favorite Things (right now)

1. Greek Salad
2. Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter icing
3. Here Come the Newlyweds
4. Lindor Chocolate Eggs
5. America's Most Smartest Model
6. The Sweet Raise I'm getting
7. Asparagus
8. How cute Brad is about his new baseball glove
9. My Wii fitness age of 25 (20 is the best)
10. American Idol
11. Jolly Rancher Gummy Bunnies
12. Sarah Slean's new album – everyone should go out and buy it, you won't be sorry
13. Tempura
14. How I Met Your Mother

Zoo Trip - March 2008

Brad and I went to the Zoo on Wednesday and had such a great time. We really only went to two areas, the stingrays and the Canadian Wilds.

The Rays are so cool! They're new, they've only been there for a month and they're incredible to watch. You can pet them sometimes but they're still new so it's pretty limited, we couldn't pet them when we were there but we want to go back sometime. The way they glide through the water is really neat.

I don't think I've ever been to the Canadian Wilds before, I really enjoyed it! I thought I might be bored since most of the animals are pretty common but nothing about it was boring. I loved the Caribou and the seals were so cute!

Here are a few photos we took, enjoy!
L

Still Great

I don't normally resort to a weekend recap but it seemed appropriate tonight.

1. We start with a really painful massage...
2. And move right on to the terrible haircut. There were all these crazy layers on one side but not the other, I finally took some scissors to it and it's better. Not fixed, as nothing will help the back but better.
3. We end Thursday with some great Tempura and Dynamite rolls with friends.
4. Friday starts out better, homemade pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.
5. We go to buy Brad a softball glove and find one for $80, the story turns great though because we went to Walmart right after and found the exact same glove for $45! The expensive one was returned.
6. Friends came for dinner (really great hamburgers) and lots of Wii (always a good time).
7. Saturday starts with the discovery that I'm strangely covered in really itchy hives (they've stuck around all day). I can think of no allergies and I haven't switched detergents... thank you Benedryl for keeping the itching at bay.
8. We played catch in the park with the aforementioned new softball glove
9. and had a super yummy lunch of chicken salad and croissants.
10. A trip to Banff for dinner to the Maple Leaf Grille finished off tonight. The risotto was awesome! The chocolate souffle disappointing. Elk is much better than I expected, it was delicious.
11. Tomorrow will include dinner with Brad's extended family at the Grandparents,
12. and on Monday we'll eat dinner and chocolate cake with peanut butter icing at the Wiebe's to celebrate a birthday.

There were some definite low points... the haircut, massage and hives stand out but this has been the greatest long weekend. We've gone to bed early and slept in late every morning. I'm dreading work on Monday but refuse to let it spoil the rest of my weekend.

I hope yours was just as great.
L

Worst Hair Cut Ever

So I have this really bad haircut... but it's late and I'm sleepy so that's all you'll hear about it tonight, I'll add to this post later but will leave you with some pictures... believe me, it's even worse than the pictures make it look.
L

Green and Pinchless

I actually had someone ask me if they could pinch me because I wasn't wearing green.

Flashback to junior high. Remember the days you forgot, when you had to try to come up with something to avoid the terrible pinching? I would inevitably come up with some tiny speck of green to save me the pain.

Happy St. Patrick's Day
I wish you a pinchless afternoon.
L

I'm disappointed...

I present you with this wonderful holiday, a holiday that's a joy to celebrate and I get such a tepid response. But it's Middle Name Pride Day... the third annual Middle Name Pride Day! Does that mean nothing to you? You've been invited to become part of my tradition, I want to share it with you. You mock me with you're lack of a response...

There's still time, it's not too late... you still have almost a week.
Let's come together and spread the joy and love of the season :)
L