Holy Random Batman

ENTSCHULDIGEN - Wo Bist Januar gegangen?

Seriously.

Where. The. Heck. Did. January. GO?

Also - where that that German come from? Random. I have no idea why some german (or at least my brutalized version of german/swiss german) just randomly likes to pop into my head. Because seriously...I know no German. Psh. And even if I wanted to take up another language (which I kinda do) would I brush up on my french? Eh. Maybe. Would I try to take the little German I know and expand upon it? Eh. Probably not. Too much hacking and gagging. And besides that..there are only some words that I really like. Like entschuldigen or genau - such good words with minimal hacking and gagging. I digress - so, would I be interested in learning Spanish? Yeah. Definitely. Would I learn Italian? In a heartbeat - except that where else besides Italy are you gonna speak Italian? Besides speaking to like..my cat..I really don't know how often I'd use Italian...I love Italy and want to go back soon..but I have a funny feeling I won't be going there enough to keep up with Italian or justify learning it.

Wow. End tangent.

Anyways. So - 2010.

We meet again. Well. It's not like you LEFT or anything..and I've been here..mostly..sorta...kinda...present..at times...but still. What the heck twenty-ten.

Think you're so fancy with your double names eh. All 'I can be twenty ten OR two thousand and ten - bow down to me suckas'..and little did we know that you'd be the year that likes to fly by faster than all others.

I thought that all of 2010's brothers and sisters were flying by...last thing I remember is that we were partying like it was 1999...because it WAS 1999...and now it's already 1/12th of the way through 2010. Explain to me how exactly that HAPPENS please?

I think that I'm going to have to make a little request that this year be slowed down. And by slowed down...I meant stopped until I can nap until I'm completley caught up on sleep, catch my breathe, get caught up with all of the other things I've been slacking on.

Sometimes I feel like life is a whirlwind tornado that I just have happened to have gotten myself caught up in.

How bizzare, how bizzare.

PS - If you aren't singing 'ooooh baaaaaaaaaaby...oh baby! it's making me craaaaaaaaaaazy! how bizarre, how bizarre" after the previous statement...then my heart is a little sad. And you're leaving me wondering how the heck I got so old and how the years have passed me by - and how you ever managed to grow up without that song and referencing it EVERY time someone says 'how bizarre'. So please just pretend. Please?

So, if you (the whole 2.5 people who are probably likely maybe unlikely reading this) could try to attempt to figure out how to slow down time too..I'd appreciate if you could gimme a shout when you do. As I've said...I don't do science shmience stuff...but I can probably steal your ideas and defy the laws of...something...somehow. Which would be pretty cool. And it'd mean that I could nap all day...everyday. Awesome.

Literacy & Exhaustion

I am not a morning person. I'm just not. When I get in a routine and a schedule (see: going to bed at a decent hour and getting enough sleep) I can tolerate mornings..but I still don't like them. I especially don't like mornings on the weekend though..because weekends are supposed to be for sleeping and being lazy...and not for being awake and productive and a contributing member to society...nuh uh I say.

All of this is made a little bit funny sad ironic by the fact that during the summer...I'm up somewhere between 4am and 5am each and every Saturday from June --> October. Saturdays are early mornings...it's just a fact of life when you're living and working on a farm. Come November though? Saturdays are supposed to be glorious sleep in days.

Ha - at least that's what I thought.

Then I took up a job tutoring a little girl that I know and so far..it's been really fun. We've now set up a regular day and time to meet..so that's kind of nice because it just ensures continuity...but it kind of sucks that the regular time is 9am Saturday mornings. Sure it allows me to get on with my weekend right after that..but...uhh...Saturday? Saturday MORNING? Ew.

Alas...it is what it is. And that's b-r-i-g-h-t and e-a-r-l-y folks. And of course by the time I get there I feel like a zombie because my body is like...SATURDAY MORNING! SLEEP! WHY ARE YOU AWAKE AND ATTEMPTING TO FUNCTION! SLEEEEEEEP!

And the little girl is like this:
ERIN!YOU'REHERE!WHATAREWEDOINGTODAY?!DIDYOUKNOWTHATWHENYOUPUTTHE'E'ANDTHE'A'BESIDEEACHOTHERINAWORDTHEYMAKEAN'EEEEEEEEE' SOUND?!
COOLEH!
YOUTAUGHTMETHATLASTWEEK!
WHATAREYOUGOINGTOTEACHMETHISWEEK?
CANWEPLAYTHEGAMEILIKETOPLAYWITHTHEWORDS?
CANYOUCOMEOVERSOMEDAYANDWEPLAYPIRATES?
WHAT'SYOURFAVOURITECOLOUR?
ILIKEBLUE!
BLUESTARTSWITHA'BUHBUH'B!

And I'm like...Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Calm down there Peppy McPepperson...I'm excited that you're excited about learning..but FYI - It's Saturday....MORNING.

Luckily..my brain and I are on pretty good terms and it lets me stay awake for the couple of hours I'm there while we do some phonemic awareness stuff, practice stretching out some letters into words and play some games to help with vocab, phonics and a variety of dipthongs. When my brain is about ready to call it quits..it's time to go home where I can apologize to my body for waking it up early on a Saturday morning..and make up to it by having a delicious Saturday afternoon nap.

Oh - and just to confuse myself even more...this morning...I was all ready to go. I had my lesson plan and all of our activities planned..and I even had some extra stuff printed off in a couple in a few different areas on a couple of different areas (both higher and lower) in case there was a lack of concentration or some frustration happening and I needed to switch more than usual (like I had to last week..) and what loop was thrown at my tired, old Saturday morning brain? Oh yeah...just throw in an extra child for me to work with without any warning what-so-ever! No worries!

Luckily..it all worked out well..mostly because I was awesome and accidentally had double of almost activity I was going to do with her...which actually happened to be REALLY close to both of their indivdual literacy levels. I must have KNOWN on some weird deeper level that was going to happen. Even when I didn't have double the activities...I quickly converted what we were doing into a group activity that they could both manage...instead of something for one kid. I'm not sure whether flexibility is my middle name or if it's just awesome.

And yes, you may now call me 'the most awesome tutor who has ever existed and rocks the socks right off of everything'. I'd be okay with that...because...well..I even rock my own socks.

And on that note..I'm now rocking my own socks right into bed where I intend to nap for the next couple of hours. Ah delicious naps...whoever came up with the concept of you is a freakin' genius.

That should totally be somewhere in my next lesson plan....eh...I'll sleep on it.

Canadian Camouflage

I bet you never knew that Canada had magical powers. But it's true..I swear to you...it is..we REALLY do.

You see, around and about this time of year...we as a country have amazing magical abilities. In fact, we're so awesome that we're actually almost the mighty morphing power rangers - it's seriously true.

It's a funny thing about living in this area of the world...winter hits and everything is lovely and sparkly and white. The whole world glistens this beautiful glow...

And then...

It happens.

I'm not sure whether it's because of a national security threat, or it's basic training in the possible event of a national security threat....or if it's just because we're just too plain old nice for our own good...but it HAPPENS.

What happens exactly you want to know?

We CAMOUFLAGE. Together. AS ONE.

Like I said - we the Canadian people...are the mighty morphing freakin' power rangers.

You see, as the winter goes on...the snow starts to look a little...not so nice. It gets brown and kind of gross and instead of being its nice, white, lovely self regular white yucky ..it's this brown icky everywhere you look. So, being the far too nice people that we are...we don't want to make the snow FEEL bad...so we camouflageingly morph our cars to look exactly like it.

Don't believe me?

I came home the other night and said "who the heck is here driving a BROWN CAR?"




..and then I realized that it was my mothers silver car.

Classic case of guilt induced camouflage morphing.

Classic.

"Someone"

You know "someone" is way too use to being the driver when:

"Someone" is at some sort of an event which requires that ve-hic-le transportation.

Probably because "someone" lives in the middle of nowhere.

This may or may not be an artsy fartsy sort of event that "someone" was attending.

(I don't know why I felt it was impertinent to this story to include what event "someone" may have been at...since where "someone" was has absolutely nothing to do with anything to do with this particular story.)

ANYWHO.

So this "someone"...was waiting around in the lobby for the friend she was with to return from the washroom. While she was waiting she did what any car driver does as they're about to leave a place and head back to their car...she got out her keys, made sure she knew where they were and put them in her coat pocket for easy access once she arrived in the general vicinity of her car. This was done to ensure that jumping in the car and getting out of the cold could be done as soon as possible.

Because nobody likes to wait around while the driver searches for their keys, especially in Canada, in the WINTER. Duh.

As the evening wound down, "someone" and her friend said their goodbyes and then left this artsy-fartsy event...walking back to the car so that they could return home.

As they walked into the car park.... "someone" pulled out her keys and clicked the 'unlock' button and watched as the headlights flashed and the car unlocked.

Then "someone" stood there staring with her mouth agape at the car...wondering how the heck she'd opened up someone ELSES car.

Then "someone" wondered where HER car was and why it wasn't unlocking.

Then "someone" started looking around the parking lot like a fool...and it was only then that "someone" remembered that she hadn't driven to said event and was merely a passenger standing in a parking lot wildly flailing about, clicking her remote unlock car thingy while "someones" friend looked on with mild curiosity, a hint of amusement and a slight nuance of worry.









PS - I don't want to give it away or anything...but I MIGHT be one of the two people talked about in this story...and I'll leave you with that...you can decide whether or not you think I'm the idiot or the person watching the idiot...the call is all yours.

Sewing Escapades

My friend Steph is getting married in a few months. Infact, the ticker on her blog says it's only 129 days away! Whoa!

As her maid of honor, it means that I've got some jobs to help out with - and since she's a super creative do-it-yourselfer kind of girl and both her and her fiance are students on a serious budget, it means that there are tons of fun projects for me to partake in! It's fun to help out where I can, and I'm really excited to be a part of their wedding. I've been in a few different weddings in my day, and attended quite a few more, so I've experienced everything from the super expensive country club kind of wedding to the potluck at the rec centre kind of wedding...Both of which were perfect in their own special ways. That being said, I'm excited for Steph's wedding because even though I KNOW that no two weddings are the same....I REALLY just know their wedding it will be completely unlike anything I've ever been to or been a part of before and I'm so excited for her adoreable wedding at the cutest venue with a bunch of wonderful people!

Last weekend I headed over to her place while her fiance was out of town and we had some chit chats and catch ups and then she pulled out her newish sewing machine that she has been teaching herself how to sew on. Then my oh so domestic self (Please stop laughing - I can hear you from here.) attempted to pass along my somewhat limited all knowing and awesome knowledge of all things sewing.

My mother laughed and laughed. And then LAUGHED SOME MORE when I recounted that I has passed along my sewing skills - asking which sewing skills exactly I was refering to.

Either way - we were awesome and the project turned out famously!

See?


Getting the project started..



Look at me go!



Steph gives it a whirl! And rocks the sewing socks right off of...everything.


I'm so excited for our next project - because it definitely means that I'll be hanging out with one of my favourite girls while we laugh, giggle, chit and chat the day (and project to-do list!) away :)

Drywall Demeanor

We live out of the city - which means that when you're going INTO the city, you need to make sure you're getting everything you need, want or desire because you're not necessarily going back right away, and there is no point making extra trips when a single round trip is upwards of an hour or more round trip - just to get in and out - that's not even including the time spent doing whatever you need to be doing. Or the time spent in traffic. Or stopping for Ride programs. Or time spent behind some idiot going 20k below the speedlimit. Or you know, the other hilarities life might decide to throw your way.

So before heading into town...I always try to ask if there is anything people need me to pick up or do and remind them that I have my cellphone if there is anything that they think of that I can pick up while I'm in town doing errands or visiting friends or what have you.

Today as I was about to start heading back home, I got a phone call from my Dad, who is keeping busy working away putting the kitchen back together again. Turns out, he needed something and wanted me to pick up some more mud stuff for drywall - and of course I obliged.

Well, let me clarify.

After a few minutes of him trying to describe what he wanted me to pick up for him he eventually told me that he'd call and get them to get it all ready for me. He then gave me some very exact directions as to how to get there, which door to go in and the people I should talk to in the department I needed to go to....and THEN I was of COURSE able to oblige.

Anyway, so I showed up thanks to the precise directions and told them who I was and what I was looking for...and the man sort of looked at me, laughed and said so you're stuck doing the errands today eh? har har har. I sort of laughed a little and was like..yep..that's me..the gopher.

But then another man that worked there walked by and was like So you're the gopher doing the errands today eh?! Somebodys putting you to work eh! Har har har and I just nodded and smiled my sweet, innocent slightly confused smile and continued waiting.

After I signed some paperwork to put it on my Dad's account the guy pointed me in the direction of the warehouse I needed to go to pick up the stuff I needed.

I showed up, I showed the guys my papers and he was like....someones got you doing all the running around picking stuff up today eh! ha ha ha!

And I was like..uhh..yeah.

And then another man came out and wouldn't let me carry the stuff to my car...even though I assured him that I was quite capable of carrying a measly fifty pound box of stuff, he flat out refused to let me carry it and carried it all the way to my car for me and told me to have a good day now, and to make sure I had someone to carry that big heavy box out of my car for me at home.

It seems that they all were completely and totally convinced that I was a little incompetent girly girl and that there was no way in hell that I would be buying drywall material...for myself.

I really don't know what gave them that impression.

Okay - so I'm not a guy.

And granted, I didn't have any drywall dust and muck all over me.

And I have to admit, I'm not the most adept about all of these things - but all I had to do was ask for one thing...it wasn't rocket science. And I don't think that I messed up....but I just couldn't figure it out - why were they ALL so very convinced that I this little ditzy girl that only ran around doing errands?

After thinking about it for a little bit...I figured that it was probably the fact that I had forgotten my truck at home and was driving my car. Which subsequently was the only car in the parking lot filled with trucks.

But it's not like I was dressed in a completely impractical but oh so cute pea coat, pashmina and ballet flats in the middle of January in Ontario or anything.

Definitely not. I mean, I wouldn't do that EVER. Let alone at a building supplies store.

Yeah, it definitely MUST have been the truck thing. Oi.

Bites of Heaven

One of my Swiss girls sent me an email today.

The one who co-incidentally was from the same small town that I am from. It's funny, because despite knowing multiple people in common and frequenting similar coffee shops/restaurants/farmers markets/stores/etc. we'd never met here, back home.

Instead, she was forwarded an email from me that I'd sent to a mutual acquaintance and already knew a great deal about my life in Switzerland before she'd even arrived or ever made contact with me. We were both shocked to find that we were from the same small town when we met in Zürich (and it wasn't until later that she realized I was the same girl whose emails she had read..ha!) because we co-incidentally both happened to stumble upon and work for the same, very small, aupair agency in a small suburb outside of the city.

ANYWHO.

She rambled on about what was new, how we needed to meet up and her plans for life for the next little while.

And then she started talking about things she missed, but mostly..she was talking about the Luxembergerli.


Jenn in front of the Confiserie Sprüngli at Stadelhofen



The delish luxembergerli in the flesh.


Oh how my tummy longs for them. We'd buy the worlds smallest quantities because A) We were super poor and they were super expensive... thus we couldn't afford any more than one or two on our salaries..ha. B) If you bought more than one or two you'd end up eating them all. In a matter of a very short period...and then you'd explode. And you'd probably think that it was still worth it...because yes, they are THAT good.

At this point, I just couldn't help myself. I turned into Pavlov's dog...and basically started salivating while reading her email. She talked about how she missed them so much and how she was so tempted to order some off of the internet once she had enough money. I had tried for so long not to think about them. I'd thought about the kids, the mountains, the cheese, the trains, the views, the chocolate, the music, the 200 dollar bills that made you feel rich...but I had refused to let myself think about the luxembergerli.

So what did I do?

Your darn right I went directly to the Sprüngli website and didn't pass go.

My heart did a double take as I remembered Swiss pricing. But then I remembered the sweet delicious taste of the luxembergerli. Their light, fluffy creamy inside..with their flaky yet not pastry-like outside. The way they melted on your tongue..and the flavours. Oh the flaaaaaavours. Raspberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, Champagne...Strawberry, Lemon, Stracciatella, Mocca, Lime - DOUBLE CHOCOLATE. The list goes on and on and on and then on some more. You walk into the Confiserie and all you see spread before you is a delicious feast of multi-coloured bites of heaven. The strawberry rhubarb though? Yeah - they take the cake..or in this case..the luxembergerli. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of tart...and an extra dose of awesome..just in case.

I tried to recover from the fact that they wanted 45chf (basically par with the Canadian/American dollar) for the SMALL container of the little bites of heaven. PLUS SHIPPING. But all my mind could think about was how much I loved them. How much I missed them. How just one little bite would mean I could magically take myself back there for an instant - So I recovered from my near heart attack..and I had almost stopped caring how much they would cost. I went as far as to go to the order page and fill out information. I wanted NEEDED one. And since I couldn't order ONE...a box would HAVE to do.

Until I realized that they don't ship them outside of Switzerland.

Grrr.

Stupid Switzerland.

Stupid Sprüngli

Stupid little bites of amazingly delicious bites of heaven taunting me from across the ocean with their perishable nature.

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.




..And just because I hadn't made myself swisssick enough already today..



The view from the house I lived in. The sun setting over the Zürisee..

The Beatles Vs. Britney

Yesterday we packed up ourselves and headed two hours south into The Big City.

As in, Torana. Or for your NON Ontario natives...Toronto.

We headed down because my Mom and my aunt wanted to see a musical, and my cousin and I aren't REALLY working and bum around all day and thought we might as well thought we'd tag along.

My mom had wanted to see the musical 'Jersey Boys' for quite some time...as did my aunt...so last weekend we bought ourselves the last couple of cheapie tickets (which actually turned out to be really good seats! Horray for cheap entertainment!) that they had available and yesterday we headed down to see what there was to see.

Turns out...even though I had no idea WHAT the musical was about, had failed to google it before leaving and on the car ride there was like....I have no idea if I actually know any songs by the Four Seasons (I plead ignorance and youth, your honour)...I actually really really enjoyed myself. Turns out that they sang basically all of the classic oldies that you love that you have no idea who wrote them. Or that have been re-done by countless people so that you have no idea where the original even came from.

The dancing was hilarious, the set was fabulous and I had a lovely time.

Not nearly as lovely as my mother and aunt though...who I'm pretty sure re-lived their childhood watching American Bandstand every week during the 2.5 hours we were in there. They proceeded to giggle..and they danced in their seats and reminisced during the intermission about how they couldn't believe that they had essentially worshipped these singers 40-50 years before. I enjoyed the show, but I enjoyed how much THEY enjoyed it even more.

Sometimes I think that I was born in the wrong era for a lot of different re sons..but one of the biggest is music. I love oldie goldie music like that..The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Buffalo Springfield - there are so many fantabulous musical artists that were way before my time and I'm eternally confused as to how music has changed SO much...and have always had a soft spot for the music of the 60's and 70's.

So I sat there thinking...how cute they were and how much they loved this reenactment of their childhood. Then I wondered to myself...in 30 years what would I take my kids to see..that was something from MY childhood?

The musical of Britney Spears? I think that'd probably have some pretty high PG ratings and probably not be okay for children.

Okay so what about The Backstreet Boys. Classic. Except that...well...yeah..they're the BACKSTREET BOYS. Who is going to make a musical out of THAT crap? Hopefully..no one.

Spice girls? Maybe? I mean - they have already made a movie and then gone back out on tour. It's a possibility. A scary possibility..but none the less...a possibility.

What from MY generation is going to stick out and be that thing that our kids look at and go - wow - so once upon a time THAT was cool...and my parents actually LIKED it? And despite themselves...they know all of the words too and sing along. Is there going to be anything? And if there is..am I going to be more ashamed than not of my generations contribution to the musical world?

Let's pray my parents generation has staying power..because I don't know if I have enough stomach power to handle sitting through a musical of any of the fabulous and famous popsters of today. Let alone admitting to my future hypothetical children what music we listened to...while I shudder in embarrassment..

Sometimes I wish that someone would just take me back to the place where I belong...

Peace, love and happiness..Dude.

CuddleBugs

Life has been crazy.

I haven't been making enough time for the people I love, or the people that love me.

I know this. There are future updates about my thoughts, worries and paranoia about this to come.

But for now..let's just say that I did a little catching up tonight. With friends who are dear to my heart where I was able to indulge in some yummy food and was subsequently showered in love by a little boy who always seems to make me smile..no matter what.

I was told that I'm never allowed to leave the country again, should never have a boyfriend unless it was him and then I was cuddled because I am the "berry best cuddlebug in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD". After that I was given a bajillion kisses and sang a song about how I am the very best auntie Erin in the whoooooooole world...which ended with a whole bunch of high pitched seranades describing how awesome I am.

Five year olds know where it's at. It being me, of course.

I can't believe that he's five. What happened to the little four pound imp I held at the hospital and was so scared of breaking? How did that little fella grow into this big boy who's gaining inches on me as I stare in disbelief and can't believe how tall he's getting. How is it possible that he knows his full address? That he can count to a bajillion and has a half a dozen girlfriends wherever he goes? (I'm his favourite - duh.) I don't know where the time has gone and he's grown up so much...it seems like yesterday when he took his first steps, when his only words were '(tr)ucks' and 'big (tr)ucks'..when strangers were scary...and cuddles and a popsicle could cure all of lifes woes. Those times stretching so far into the past these days...makes me so scared for the days when he pulls away from my goodnight kisses, when he won't hold my hand anymore and when he tells me that girls are yucky. Because, well, I'm not sure if you know this...but, well...I'm kinda a girl...and if girls are yucky..then that means he might think that I'M yucky...and then that will just plain old break my little heart.

For now I guess I'll just have to take my cuddles where I can get them, kiss him extra for when he's a teenager and he's too cool to come within ten feet of me and take lots of pictures to remind me of when he was so little, so sweet and the cutest little guy that I ever did see.

I need more times like this. Times that make my heart so happy...and I get my very own cute as can be cuddlebug.



Why can't boys MY age that are actually within boyfriend range be this sweet and cute? Write me songs about how much they love me and want to cuddle, offer up their hard earned pennies and dimes (erm - in the lil fella's case - it was...literally...pennies..and dimes) to treat his date (ME! :O) to dinner. Stupid life! Boys suck. Unless they're five. Then I love them.

Ugh...on that note..it's bedtime...because that's a whole other can of worms that is a completely different post for a completely different sleepless night.

The Opposite of Erin is...

My brother and I are complete opposites...and sometimes that's difficult.

We always have been, and I`m sure we always will be...it`s just the way that we are. Where I like reading, writing, shiny things and shopping..he`s more of a...save your pennys, i can do math, fixing things sort of guy. So far in our lives...it works out okay...we each do the things we like and since we`ve basically signed on to be business partners for life...that's kinda a good thing I think...especially since our roles in the business vary DRASTICALLY and we each need our indivudual skill sets in order to be able to prosper.

Sure, we have our differences....and I think that it makes it harder for each of us to understand the other and what they're doing sometimes...but that's life. Despite this...I think that we`re able to hang out and get along and manage to work together is because now that we`re older because...as much as we are different from one another...we are still very similar in our key foundational morals and values sort of way.

That being said...we're still very very VERY different.

I've always said that if he's good at fixing things...then well....I'm good at...breaking them. Opposites..yeah?

Need an example? Okay. I GUESS I could PROBABLY come up with one or two or a hundred gagillion.

So - last night I was all fiddling around with my laptop...when I noticed that some little piece of something had gotten lodged underneath one of the keys. Being the genius computer expert that I am...I was all...I can get this out..no worries.

So I was working away with various sophisticated tools (definitely not tweezers, a q-tip and a toothpick) to help me do this when suddenly...my ctrl key makes this weird breaking sound.

It doesn't look like that big of a deal - it's slightly askew..but nothing horrible..and then I gently nudge it to try and send it back to where it should be...and it REALLY pops RIGHT off.

Not good. Not good at all.

So I sit there for a good half hour fiddling with it and this little wire thing and these plastic bits (who knew keyboard keys had so many PARTS - they're KEYS for crying out loud.) in an attempt to put it back together..when I see my brothers fiance walk past my bedroom...she looks at me, looks at the keyboard and laughs - walks into my brothers bedroom and tells him that he needs to go help me...probably telling him what I doofus I am in the process.

He comes in, snip, snap, pop - and my computer is magically fixed and he leaves me staring after him wondering how the heck he did it.

Okay - So sometimes being opposites is just plain old awesome afterall.

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Our house is old. It's an old farmhouse.

In the summer..it's hot and sticky and there is nothing that you can really do about it.

In the winter..it's cold...and there is nothing that you can really do about it.

As we work towards re-doing the kitchen this winter...there are little bits here and there of newspaper coming out from the walls...that show you the insulation (or rather, lack thereof) which may have had some sort of impact on the flucuating temperatures of this house.

So in the summer...when people have gone to bed...if you keep your door open..there is a much better chance of air circulation happening and the room you're sleeping in cooling down.

In the winter...if you keep your down open while you're sleeping there is a much better chance of air circulation happening and the room you're sleeping in warming up.

Being winter..it makes sense that people keep their doors open when they're sleeping. Being the night owl that I am...I've sometimes stay up later than I should. This means that I go to bed long after everyone else has...and because bedroom doors are often left open so that they don't freeze to death because this is canada eh ...I feel really guilty turning on hallway lights to get to my bedroom because it usually means that the light shines into my parents bedroom and disturbs at least one of their sleep.

Sinve I've moved home...I've become a master of navigating throughout the house in the dark. It's not actually that difficult...and I usually manage without too many problems.

That is, before we started renovations.

And all of the stuff that was in the kitchen and all things christmas and basically the entire house..exploded. Everywhere. Especially onto the path on my way to my bedroom.

The other night I turn off the lights and started walking when suddenly I let out a screech and doubled over in pain. I limped back to the light and flipped it on...only to find that I walked right straight into (and almost through?) a chair that somehow got lodged in the middle of the path from the office to my bedroom.

Doh.

Next up? Eating so many carrots that my eyesight in the dark improves.

Or until I turn orange and explode.

Really...whatever comes first.

..And I said I wasn't science minded. Psh.

Science Schmience

My strengths do not lie in Science.

That my friends, is a fact. They just don't. I can chit chat to anyone. I love to read and devour books. I can find my way through strange cities where I don't speak the langauge. I am caring, compassionate and I hope that despite my sometimes scattered nature, the sometimes what-the-heck-is-she-talking-about confusion that my presence causes...I am a good person.

But I am not good at Science.

I can understand some basic principles - sure.

I can follow most scientific blabber - at an elementary level.

But when my VERY scientifically minded cousins start discussing drug resistant anit-bodies for HIV pathogens in the large intestine...I'm mostly lost.

Or when they start talking about the rumen of a cow and the nitrogen levels that exist within it....my eyes begin to glaze over. But just a little. And, erm, in the...good way.

So you have to excuse me for my complete and utter ignorance of most things scientific.

Except that I have discovered something that I'm sure has broken some huge, ginormous, monumental scientific law..somewhere. I'm SURE of it. It must have something to do with Einstein, Newton or Descartes. And maybe it has to do with relativity or perhaps it is gravity or the speed of light. I'm not really sure because, well, like I already told you - I don't DO science..but I assure you...it IS something BIG.

You see - in each day we have 24 hours. And within each of those 24 hours there are sixty minutes. And there are sixty seconds within each of those minutes. And each one is EXACTLY and PRICISELY the same distance apart from each other.

Scientific fact - right?

WRONG - It WAS a scientic fact - until NOW that is.

You see - they all SEEM exactly alike - and to the naked eye..they are. But look closely - especially when these hours, minutes and seconds are inbetween times when you've pressed the 'snooze' button on your alarm clock... (I PROMISE if you do this...you too will discover what my great scientific mind has already discovered...)It seems that that time when you're snooze button is activated is WAY shorter than it says it is. For REAL.

True story. I gaurentee it.

I hereby offically give this theory my scientific stamp of approval.

And yes, those really are the first thoughts that pop into my head as I groan and turn off my snooze button and drag my butt outta bed far too early on a Saturday morning to tutor a far too peppy seven year old.

Definitions

On the ride home from the airport the other day..my cousin and I were discussing our degrees..or rather..the lack of use-age of our degrees.

She has a degree in Life Sciences. And after she finished this...she spent five years in South Africa getting her Veterinarian qualifications. She's now moved back to Canada and while her husband continues his education and is specializing in a specific vet practice, she's staying at home to take care of her aging father who suffers from Alzheimers.

I on the other hand have a double major in History and Psychology. Oh - and before you point out how virtually useless that degree from my perfectly respectable university is.....I also have a Bachelors degree in Education. Useful in the practical sense - I think yes.

Unless of course..you're me.

Because if you're me..then you still don't really know what you're doing with your life. You've got it generally figured out - at least until anyone asks you a question pertinant to the real world and your position in it - and then you just stare at them gasping like a fish out of water.

Now this cousin and I were discussing how completely ridiculous it is that people judge us for our choices. People who think that she should put her father in a home and get a "real" job. (I dare you to even try to spend a day doing what she does - seriously one of the most difficult and heart wrenching things to have to go through EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.) And of course...the people who ask me if I've secured a teaching position yet - and try not to gasp when I tell them I haven't even glanced at the job postings.

From the time I was a little girl...everytime I turned around..someone told me I would be a wonderful teacher. I was so good with children, I have so much patience....and on and on and on. And when I volunteered in schools, teachers would write my reference letters and tell me how I had so much potential and how wonderful I would do. Once in teachers college, my professors praised my ideas and gave me glorious feedback of my teaching abilities.

But still - I wanted more. It made me happy, I loved it..yes...and it was something I was passionate about..that I AM passionate about...but I just couldn't see myself doing that for the rest of my life...at TWENTY TWO. There were too many places, too many things that I loved and wanted to explore for me to settle down.

When I left for Zurich I thought that in a year I would come back, find myself a teaching job and settle down.

But something happened - something changed.

I realized that just because I had all of these degrees, that just because people told me it was something I was good at, that just because that's the way that I or other people had pictured my life path going...it wasn't necessarily the right reason to do something.

What it all boiled down to...was that how we each defined our lives wasn't dependant on how many degrees we have. Or what we're doing with them now..it's that we both feel GOOD about our lives and where we are..and know what we won't have regrets and that we are happy.

I've realized in the last year that maybe there are other things that I love in life MORE than teaching. That maybe there are ways to balance maintaining them all in my life...and maybe that's okay.

That it's okay to not base all of your decisions on money and society's value of success.

Because I'm happy where I am - I really am.

And nothing is worth more than that.

My Very Best Becs

Some of the loveliest people that I know, I met in Switzerland.

I met a lot of great girls there - all nannies at the time...most from Canada, The US or down under in Australia or New Zealand. Bunches and bunches and oodles of great, wonderful amazing people.

Most of my REALLY close friends, the girls I hung out with ALL of the time and was inseperable from..are Canadian - which makes staying in touch relatively easy.

But then there is Becs.

My lovely Becs.

With her beautifully cute accent, bubbly personality and inability to determine time zones in Canada and their relation to her timezone in Queensland..LOL

It's funny - because today I was thinking about her - and how I missed her so much and how I needed to write her a note on creepbook and find that little peice of paper I wrote her phone number on once upon a time and catch up with her.

And then tonight..the phone rang. My Dad handed it to me and said 'it sounds like Sam' (one of my best friends little sisters) and I picked it up..said hello and was like...BECS! AS IF!

You see - Becs is basically one of the most special people ever...and I think that we've always had a special sort of friendship. No...not "special" like it's a bad thing. Special like it's an Ah-Ma-ZING thing. She has an ability to bring people together, to be friends with anyone and can make friends with EVERYONE. One of the first times I ever hung out with her...we were meeting up to go into the city after she was finished working for the evening. We'd been texting back and forth trying to figure out when the parents would get home and when she'd be FREE! It was getting late - and I didn't know what to do..the trains were only running once an hour...so did I head down to the train and hope that I could meet her and we could take that train...or did I wait at home for her to call and say she would meet me..and then leave. I decided to head down to the train station in hopes of her being here. And as I was walking down the final stretch towards the station..she calls my cell and is like 'Er-iiiiiiiin...I just got dropped off at the Herrliberg station - but you'll never make it here in time as the train comes in less than five minutes..so I'll wait here for you and we'll catch the next one in an hour!' and I was like...BECS! I'M ALMOST STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU! I'LL SEE YOU IN TWENTY THREE SECONDS! and hung up the phone. Because phone calls in Switzerland are RIDIC expensive.

And when I showed up on our platform she was like...OH MY GOD I CANNOT BELIVE THAT YOU'RE HERE (you know, in the worlds cutest accent.) and proceeded to tell me how I must have the most magical PMS to have KNOWN to meet her.

After I recovered from laughing - I asked if she meant ESP..waited for her to stop rolling on the floor laughing (what - it's not gross - the Swiss are INSANELY CLEAN.) and from then..our bond, our PMS was clearly cemented.

So after thinking about her multiple times today, completely out of the blue...I wasn't THAT suprised that she called. It seems that despite being quite LITERALLY on polar opposites of the world...our PMS is still working. Working so well infact, that we proceeded to have a marathon phone chat and catchup where we both just babbled on despite the phone delays, ringing up a bill the size I'm afraid to even guesstimate and laughing as we do. We rambled about and told each other all of the fun new news about our respective lives. Hers being MUCH more interesting than mine of course - but that was fine because so much of her news was so exciting that I just couldn't be happier for her!

I'm now desperate more than ever to go and visit her..and long for the next time our paths connect and I get to see her lovely self again. My face is etched with a permenant grin from lovely little chat we had and I'm more nostolgic than ever.

Time to start counting my pennies. I miss my Becs and now more than ever just want to jump on a plane and go visit her. I miss the train rides we'd have throughout the Swiss countryside out to the 'burbs of Zürich. I miss our random daytrips - like the one to Liechtenstein. And I miss stuffing our face with cheeseburgers as we ran through the hauptbahnhof in Zürich...laughing our faces off about something or another.


Becs, Jenn & Julia - "How do you think we get to Lichtenstein from here? The "Liechtenstein BUS" or something? Ha ha...Oh."


So disappointed that we couldn't stand beside a "Welcome to Liechtenstein" sign - so my darling Becs made one of course!


Posing infront of the "highly secured" residence of the royal family - who likes to BBQ...hahah!


Becs uses extend-a-straws and drinks off of plates. Told you she was special.


Becs, Me, Marissa & Jenn - Three of my absolute FAVOURITE "Swiss" girls - at Bec's goodbye party - oh how I miss her!

One day, a day not too far from now..I can only hope that our "Magical PMS" will bring us together again for a glorious reunion...ensuring that this blog will have oh so many more stories to keep it going on for years to come!

Creeping Love

Last night...I proved that I am a GIANT CREEPER.

And for once..it's not in the facebook way. Well, I am a creeper in that way. DUH. Infact, I am a GIANT creeper in the facebook way. But that's not my point. My point is...not only can I creep on facebook..but I actually have even more intense creeper tendencies than you could have ever imagined.

You see...I'm kinda like Perez. Except in the not gay, normal hair colour..not celeb obsessed way. Which MAY seem like no way at all...except that we're still basically the same. Except not. Unless you count that I get tips and info about the wearabouts of people in my life - even though they're not in the same city as me...and then can use them to my advantage being the same. Which I do. Because I use that advantage to prove that I'm a creeper and probably deserve a tiara of creeper-ness.

You're probably confused by now. Let me explain. SO. I was sitting around...when I was kindly informed that a friend who was out of town was out for dinner with someone my informat didn't know, in a city we don't live in.

So of course, being the giant creeper that I am...I texted to ask how her dinner was going....using the name of the restaurant she was at.

Which of course..resulted in some complete and utter confusion on her behalf.

Yeah - I have peeps following my friends. So that I can creep them out. And make them wonder how the heck I know random details about their wearabouts when they're on business trips. Mawhaha!

If that's not love...OR not awesome...then I just don't know what to tell you.

Creeping is love people, creeping is love.



PS - You should probably practice bowing down to my creeping powers now.

PPS - Next I plan to take over the world with them - watch out!

PPPS - It may have been a complete and total coincidence that both my "informant" and my friend were at a random pub last night. And since they don't live in the same city, and have only met each other once...that the friend didn't see or recognize "the informant". That being said, it MAY have been coincidence that I happned to talk to said "informant" that evening...and a small coincidence that they mentioned that they saw the aformentioned friend. And a slight coincidence that I used that information to confuse and freak said friend out via text message. Because I'm awesome like that.

PPPPS - I really like the post script function of writing. It's all kinds of awesome.

Airport Lovins

I kinda sorta maybe love the movie 'Love Actually'. I spent many a night last year cuddled up with my 'middle child' watching it...seemingly on repeat. For some odd reason..she ADORED that movie basically more than anything...and so after I tucked her little sister into bed..we'd often wrap ourselves in blankets, make some hot chocolate and settle in to watch it.

I have always loved the opening scene when Hugh Grant does the voice over while clips of arrival gates are being shown.

You know - the..."Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around." opening statement.

After spending multiple days this week at the airport...and more than fifteen hours going to, returning from or AT an airport...I can say without a doubt...what's not to love?

Well - there is the fact that parking costs almost $10/hour. That kinda sucks.

And that when I was buying a couple of muffins and a couple of drinks...it rivaled the cost of a tank of gas.

Oh - and speaking of gas prices. They suck. Especially when you've just spent two hours driving to the airport. And two hours driving back. Oh - and do that twice - in one week. To go to the stupid airport.

And the fact that the airport took my cousin from me. Grrr...Stupid airport.

Well - the first time we took her to the airport..they spit her back out at us thanks to some kinda dumb dumb head people...you know the ones that don't know what a Ph.D is? Yeah - those ones. And to be quite honest..I was quite happy about that...in an odd way..I mean - more cousin love? Sign me up.

But then today...they were all like...We love you! Right this way lady! And she was wisked away - off to be a Bostonian...and just like that the airport stole my cousin.

Blah. Turns out - I'm not so much of a fan of airports.

They're kind of expensive and smelly. And mean. WHO STEALS COUSINS?!

Although maybe I might be down with what Hugh was saying when the airport spits out my cousin back out again at her arrival gate in a month. I might "actually love" (ha. ha. ha.) them then.

Okay - turns out...unless I've got a ticket in my hand and a bag packed - I'm not so much a fun of the departures gates.

There is lots of crying. And people stressed about their bags weighing too much. And people going fun places that I'm not. And that's not fun. At least not for ME.

But the arrivals gates - well...they can still be in the good books. For now. But they better watch themselves..because I've got my eye on them.

Literally.

You know, since I'm now seem to be living at the airport.

Hoosh!

Know who is all fun and famous and awesome?

If you guessed Brad & Angelina...you're right.

But, my dear reader(s?)...did they write a guest post for Travel Tuesdays on The Misadventures of Miss Manship?

I think NOT.

But yours truly did.

Yeah - Check that out Brangelina.

Who wants to trade places with who NOW.

That's what I thought.

In the game of awesome the score goes a little like this:

Erin - 1
Brangelina - Zip.

I now leave you to go back to your other regularily scheduled blogs before your head explodes from awesome.

Or you know, to go and read more awesome that I wrote here. Go now. Read. Be filled with awesome. Hoosh. Hoooooosh I say!

My Little Tattle Tale

Tonight I was at my cousins house when one of their dogs started barking.

I don't have favourites. But she may be one that I love LOTS and LOTS and LOTS. Not that I don't love them all or anything. 'Cause I don't have favourites. But we do have a special bond...I mean...we have the same taste in clothes and EVERYTHING.



Erm - Please excuse the horrid picture. And the hair. And the sweatpants. And the general ick. I hadn't slept in days and it was the middle of the night trying to unpack my cousins house after we'd spent the entire day moving all of their crap in. So I was really tired. And a mess. And apparently gave up showering. And wearing normal clothes. But it's the only picture I have of us together wearing our twin shirts. It means we're soulmates. Duh.

ANYWAY. Her name is Dottie..and she's a tattle tale.

You see, they have three other dogs besides the dot-ster...and the biggest of the bunch is named trouble. Well - not actually. Her name is Alba..but it SHOULD be trouble. She is sneaky and far too smart and always finding ways to get into trouble.

And ANY time that she's even THINKING about getting into trouble..along comes Dot like a dirty sock - barking her little head off...sounding the Alarm that Trouble is coming. Trouble being Alba...of course.

So tonight we're playing some cards - when suddenly - barking happens. Not too unusual - it's a house with four dogs. And then I'm like...that's Dottie barking. Where's Alba? And of course - she's nowhere to be seen.

So I go into the kitchen and low and behold..She's opened the kitchen cupboards and has her head jammed in the cupboard staring at something.

If you guessed Alba in the Cupboard with a bottle of Vodka....AND if we were playing clue...you'd totally win. Totally.

Too bad we're not...sucka.




PS - Please note how in the horrid picture featured above...Alba is sulking in the corner and Dottie is staring her down. Point proven? I think yes.

Snow In Da FAAAAACE

As I mentioned before....I went tobogganing this weekend.

What I didn't mention is that I went tobogganing with some of the most lovely people that have ever existed this weekend.

I had an absolutely wonderful time. It took me back to my childhood. It reminded me of things that I had promised myself when I moved back home from Europe. It showed me how much I love the people who are in my life. It reaffirmed how life is actually pretty darn awesome.

The afternoon was entirely too much fun and filled with oh so much laughter and smiles. And bumps on the head, snow in the face and a few instances of almost running over each other. And maybe a small child or two.

I don't really know what else to write..I guess the pictures will sum it up much better than I can! So here goes!



The Dream Team



Climbing our way to the summit - which is much more terrifying then it looked at the bottom - Thus...we made the boys go first.



Next up? STASHLEY! And they're so cute!



Snow in da faaaaaaaaaaace



Matt is such a daredevil - no hands?! He's a CRAZY MAN.



Who needs crazy carpets when you have a real sled?



More snow in da faaaaaaaace.



My brother decided to try going down standing up. And he SURVIVED.



Hein after an intense ride down the hill - look at the condition of that poor crazy carpet - haha!



The gang. And you know, of course..the only picture with me in it..and I look like a fool. Apparently I was having so much fun I was sleeping. Or we can blame it on the fact that I hit my head. Yeah, let's do that.


Oh! And as for these questions - First - I am a little too old for this. I may not have broken a hip...but I did walk away from the hill battered, bruised and sore. And I may or may not have smashed my head into the ice...whoops. Secondly - Yes, I may have turned into a popsicle. For real. My hair got wet and froze into long icicles. Yeah. Welcome to Canada eh. Third - Yep - We were the only ones there without a kid on the hill. But it was okay..because apparently we were 'cool older kids' and all of the kids wanted to be friends with us. And wanted to race us. And sled with us. Because we're just that awesome. Finally - Hein did crash into everything and everyone - and even managed to do a full ROLL on his crazy carpet - somehow rolling right back onto his crazy carpet and continuing on down the hill. He barely managed to escape taking out two kids who decided to stand in the MIDDLE of the hill because our group of 20 somethings started screaming at them to get out of the way as he was barrelling straight towards them.

I'm still not sure how this day happened...a whole bunch of random awesome people coming together at the last minute to have a great time doing something that we haven't done in years! It was awesome..and confirmed to me that we must go do stuff like this again. Next week...skating..snow mobiling or skiing? Who knows..I may just turn out to like this winter crap after all. Maybe. But don't tell mother nature I said that..or you're dead meat.

Chit Chats

Sometimes I talk to myself.

Wow. That came out sounding like I was a whole lotta crazy.

But I betcha just can't wait to read more and see how crazy I really am?

Can you?

Nope. That's what I thought.

You just keep on reading.

More and more and more.

Waiting and wondering when I'll ever GET TO THE POINT

But alas, I like to see you squirm.

Not that I can actually see you.

I don't have cameras in your house

I'm seriously not creepy like that.

What was I talking about again?

Oh right. Talking to myself.

Okay - confession time.

I don't have multiple personalities. But I do manage to do my best thinking when I'm in the car. And sometimes I think better when I think outloud. It helps me to unjumble my thoughts and put my ducks in a row. Ducks being my thoughts, that is.

So sometimes when I'm driving I'm sorting through things that I'm thinking..and instead of killing my own ears screeching along to the radio quietly humming along in tune to a little diddy on the radio I'm actually working out the thoughts in my head. Out loud.

So next time you happen to pass my car and it LOOKS like I'm singing out loud, or perhaps I'm using some new fangled technology to use my hands free device so that I can talk to someone on my cell phone....you can be assured that I'm not distracted by any of these things.

I'm simply having a good old chat with myself.

And I swear, it's NOT in the crazy way.

Well....not in the TOO crazy way.

I hope.

Oh Me Oh My..

Turns out I really am going sledding today!

I'll give out updates later as to whether:

A) I *am* too old for this and broke a hip or something.

B) I've turned into a popsicle

C) We were the only sledding group who had no one under the age of twenty with us on the hill

D) Hein crashes into everything and anything because it's his first time EVER sledding.

Be excited. I might even share pictures. Hilarious, hilarious pictures.

White Yucky

If you've talked to me lately, read recent blog posts or been in tune with the vibes my body is giving off...you know that I'm getting a little fed up with winter.

And it has barely begun.

I know that we've got a good few more months of this to come..and that depresses me like whoa.

It was snowing again this morning. And if it were two or three months ago...I would have been all 'AW! IT'S FAIRY TALE SNOW! HOW CUTE! I LOVE IT! LOOK HOW PURTY IT IS!'

But now..I just grumble. And mumble. About how it's cold. And how I hate the freakin' snow because it's stupid and cold and wet and gross and yuck. Snow is totally yuck. Snow is just a big old pile of white yucky. Yeah, you heard me. White. Yucky.

Did I mention that I'm sick of it?

Driving when there is no traction..anywhere. Having to wade through it to get out the front door. Having to clean off my car that's covered in pounds of snow (..which of course by the time that I get out of the house to go anywhere means that it's either a) melting and not at all light and fluffy but rather heavy and even more wet or b) thick layers of ice which are permenently stuck to my mode of transportation.) Shivering despite being all bundled up...and you waking up in the middle of the night freezing because your 22nd blanket fell off and now you can't feel your toes anymore.

Ick. Ick. Ick. Ick. ICKY.

I've decided that in my next life I want to be a bear..and hibernate all winter long.

Or MAYBE...I'll become one of my cats and sleep cuddled up all day in that pile of clothes I was supposed to put away and never got around to.

Good plan? Good plan.

PS - Since it turns out that I don't ACTUALLY have magical powers (I know. Gasp. Sigh. Tear.) and I can't ACTUALLY turn into a bear/cat/other animal that likes to sleep lots....anyone wanna bundle up like whoa and go sledding tomorrow?

...If you can't beat them..join them? Or something stupid like that.

Roadtrips Rule..Planes Drool

So my cousin is moving on Monday. To Boston.

And last time I checked...that's NOT so close to me.

Which makes my heart a little sad. Well, a lot sad actually. I wish she could stay here and have fun with me..but alas..she needs a real grown-up job - and this was an opportunity far too exciting to pass up. (< Blatant Bragging > - ONE OF MY VERY BEST COUSINS WORKS FOR HARVARD 'YO - HAAAAARVAAAAAAAAARD < /Blatant Bragging >) And besides, it's only a...erm...ten hour drive. And a short plane ride.

Well it was a short plane ride. But thanks to some people behaving like idiots on planes lately..there are a whole hoo-ha of new security measures and restrictions and headaches when trying to board a plane...which make the plane experience a heck of a lot more difficult.

Now I understand that it's important to be secure...and I understanding taking extra precautions because some people can't grow up and be normal and want to do all sorts of crazy things. And I've accidentally taken things on planes with me before...so I know that the rules can (even accidentally) be broken. Scarily easily actually. Without thinking about it...I packed bottles of Ouzo with me from Greece to Milan. In my carry on. And I didn't get stopped or questioned. When I realized it...I wasn't going to be like...WHOOPS...I'm SO sorry...I'm an idiot...confiscate these please. Seeing as though I was ON the plane already and being like...I have things I'm not supposed to have with me on this here plane...probably not such a good idea. So I kept my mouth shut and my booze stored securely in the overhead compartments.

So I understand going through your things with a fine tooth comb. And I can live with them being extra thorough and over the top. And I understand that progress needs to happen, and that clearly the old ways aren't necessarily working.

But I don't know quite how to feel about this.

I get that it'll help to catch people who are doing things that they're not supposed to. And I definitely don't want crazys on my airplane. Or really, on ANY airplane. And it's all blah blah blah decrease other security measures like patdowns and such. Which aren't so much fun either.

But having someone see me naked through a scanner?

I'm pretty sure that I REALLY don't want that either.

...Roadtrips to Boston it is?

Local Idiot Award Goes To...

Reasons I Might Be AM An Idiot:

To start off...

The other day my car decided that it hated me. Or figure skating. I'm not sure. But it was definitely one of those things because you see, while *I* was driving to go see *figure skating* (see: one or the other - I'm telling ya) my car was all like...WHAAABAM - YELLOW LIGHTS OF DEATH!

And I was like....GASP! YELLOW LIGHTS OF DEATH?! NOOO!

So I did what any genius does while in gridlock traffic on the worlds smallest back street in my attempt to bypass the gridlock traffic on the main streets. I turned off my car. And then I was all like...Erin...you're AN IDIOT. Whatcha gonna do now if your car doesn't start again? Those ARE some yellow lights of death doncha know?

Lucky for me. The car started again.

Unlucky for me...so did the yellow lights of death.

I muttered under my breath. And sat there (in some lovely bumper to bumper traffic..) and damned my car. I figured that it MUST just be some little problem and it wasn't that big of a deal and no worries, we'd go into this skating event..enjoy ourselves...meet Elvis Stokjo (yeah we did.) and come back out and my car would love me and the yellow lights of death would have disappeared.

Just my luck..they didn't.

I drove home hoping that I'd survive and not have my car break down on the way to the middle of nowhere home which would mean that I'd be on the side of the road with no heat and no help and literally in the middle of NOWHERE. Luckily, I made it home safely, with no issues despite the lights of death glaring at me the entire way.

The next morning I got my Dad to make an appointment to have someone fix the lights of death and after making myself sound like a complete idiot (and having my Dad pass along my idiot-ness to the car guys), I refrained from driving my car for the next couple of days until they finally had an appointment for my poor little car.

As I went to get in it to go and take it to the car doctors, I looked at my dashboard..and were the yellow lights of death on? Nope. 'Course not. Perfect time for them to decide to play hide and seek. Right when I'm gonna go talk to all these macho car guys about my car and I'm pretty sure they ALREADY think I'm the biggest IDIOT who knows NOTHING about cars. Not that this isn't TRUE or anything..but I like to pretend.

So I'm driving to the place I get my car fixed...and I'm willing the lights to come on. It's the first time in my life that I'm like...heeeeeeey little yellow death lights...come out come out wherever you aaaaaaaaaaare! Don't make me look like a fool now! If I'm going to pay way too much money to have you fixed..you darn well better turn those lights on...OR ELSE!

Thankfully, I'm pretty good at persuasive speech..and right before I turned into the parking lot...BING.....the lights go ON. SWEEEET!

Normally...yellow lights of death..not such a good thing....but having them come on to make you not look like a fool? AWESOME.

So of course I rushed in and was like...THERE ARE YELLOW LIGHTS ON IN MY CAR! And the guy just sort of looked at me with the look that was like 'Uhh...good for you crazy lady'

And as if I didn't already make myself look like a moron? To make things better...turned out I'd mixed up the time when I was supposed to drop off my car. When I was supposed to have me ma come and pick me up and take me home. Yeah. I was an HOUR EARLY. Another genius strike in the idiot book.

Then I go to pick up my car...and the guy tells me that despite the light coming on and off..it's not really a big deal and c'est la vie...deal with it or shell out mass moola. I was all like...who doesn't love yellow lights of death?!

So I jumped in my car, and turned it on...all was good. Started driving and was like...man...it's cold. Turned on the fan for the heat. Nothing. Turned it off. Then turned it on. Still nothing. I'm at this point about a block away from the repair shop and freaking out that I've taken my car in to be fixed and now it's more broken then when I took it in. I'm starting to get all freaked out because HELLO...I live in CANADA..it's COLD and driving in a car with no heat..is no fun. Let alone if like..I breathe..and it gets all foggy..and then I can't see anything 'cause THERE IS NO HEAT. And didn't I mention that it's flippin' COLD?

Then I realize that I've turned on the fan. But did I turn on the heat? Nope. Forgot that one. Erm...I'd better stop counting the ways in which yours truly has proved herself to be an idiot.

Seriously...I don't even have to TRY. It just happens naturally.

OH-EM-GEE

Tonight my brother blew my mind.

He sat down infront of me. And solved a Rubik's cube.

Just like that. Twist twist. Turn turn. Twist twist. SOLVED.

And it's not like it was anywhere CLOSE to being solved to begin with. It was a big old giant mess of rubiks cube.

And I was like...WHAAAAAAAAAT. You DID that? And you didn't even move any STICKERS?!

Turns out...he's a genius.

Then he TAUGHT ME HOW TO DO IT.

A bazillion instructions later, a couple of frustrated 'no, I said turn it COUNTER CLOCKWISE - THATS CLOCKWISE"'s and probably an hour later...I too had solved a rubik's cube. WITHOUT TAKING ANY STICKERS OFF. Well, solved in the sense of...he basically told me step by step what to do. But I was the one who moved the sides (Totally counts - just sayin') to make each side it's own colour - so cool!

All this time. I thought it was just a giant game to mess with my head that was probably invented by 'the man' to smash me down and be like..YOU KNOW NOTHING - BOW DOWN TO ME.

Turns out...I just need to bow down to my little brother and do everything he says.

..Or pretend that I don't know that he's smarter than me until he finds this written on here and uses that statement against me for the rest of my life.

Das Ist Sehr Gut

The other day I opened Itunes and sighed.

Same old boring music.

Then I went to my other computer.

Eh. Not so interesting music either.

So I decided to peruse the in-tra-net in hopes of finding a half decent radio station to listen to live. But then I got angry..because I really don't CARE about some new special on fake n' bake tans or lumber or whatever else the adverts were trying to sell me. I just wanted to listen to some MUSIC. And when the radio stations finally did start playing music..it wasn't even that GREAT. It was just..eh. Okay..ish.

Way to let me down world.

Then I started getting all nostolgic...Remembering how in Zürich the radio station was just so awesome. Yeah, the radio STATION. Not stations. There are like, four radio stations in all of Switzerland and they're all government funded...so there are basically zero ads on them and they just play good music and have good contests and it's amusing. At least this one that I (and virtually everyone else..) listened to did. It was really the only one that mattered anyways.

I never dreaded getting into the car because I always knew that I'd be happily listening to some good tunes while driving around. I never doubted this. Whether it was a latest song that was topping the charts, some ACTUAL classic tune from the 90's or some hilarious germans crooning words that I didn't at all understand...I was never disappointed.

I got a little woe is me thinking about it. Thinking about how much I miss Europe...but how much I REALLY miss european radio. That stuff is just awesome.

Then I decided to search for the radio station online. Since it's the biggest radio station in Switzerland...they probably would live stream it? Wouldn't they?!

..and what do you know? They DO!

And to listen to it...all I had to do was navigate the site in German and after twenty minutes of fighting with it to just let me listen for gods sake - ta-da - the euro top 40, some good old 90's tunes and the news in German. I even heard an advert for the new Stress concert. But the fact that there was some small slight ads on my favourite radio station didn't bother me. Because the only thing I understood out of the entire blip was that Stress was doing a concert. And tickets were 75 francs. The rest...was just some German babbles that was completely over my head. And I don't even mind the harsh icky sounding German anymore....kinda made me a little nostolgic and put a little smile on my face.

Who'da thunk it?

Smashing Walls Is Fun.

For years, my family has been talking about re-doing our kitchen. Back in the day, before my father deciding to move to the country and take up farming, he was a cabinet maker. He designed peoples kitchens, made cupboards and made their kitchens lovely and beautiful.

We use to live in a cute little house on an adoreble little street in a city not too far from here. When I was little..my Dad re-did the kitchen and made it absolutely beautiful. From the little I remember, and what I've heard about it...it was their dream kitchen, absolutely perfect in every way. And shortly thereafter...we moved out to this here farm. Typical. To a farm where the kitchen hadn't been redone since sometime in the 60's and was redone poorly then. It's a typical farm house...where everything was just sort of a jumbled mess. Complete with the ugliest linoleum you ever did see on all of the floors. Oh, and when we first moved here there was a woodstove in the kitchen. It was big, black, constantly covered in sawdust. When it felt like it...it shot little burning specs out of it onto the worlds ugliest linoleum - which in turn, caused my mother to scream, run and stomp them out with her slippers. Leaving lovely little burn marks all over the already hideous floor. It was far from their dream kitchen.

So, after twenty years of maternal nagging waiting...the kitchen is finally being redone. Again.

And of course..the project that probably should have been redoing the cupboards and floor and what have you...has turned into this whole big production. Including redoing all of the wiring, moving plumbing, moving doors, windows, walls and instead of simply doing the kitchen..we're now ripping apart the entire laundry room, downstairs bathroom AND kitchen. And because we're farmers...this can't be done during the busy season (February --> October) so if it's ever going to be done....it has to be done..now. When the thermometer sometimes gets up to the single digits..on the negative side. When the wind is blowing a cold brutal wind, and there are a couple of feet of snow covering everything up. Did I mention that as of right now..you can see the outside..from inside. Where there AREN'T windows or doors? Fuuun tiiiiiiimes. Especially since we no longer have a sink. Or running water in the kitchen. And our stove and fridge are currently beside the dining room table. And our living room is filled with so much crap that you can't see the floor kitchen stuffs.

Did I mention that it was a balmy -8 today? Warmed up real nice so that my Dad could smash through yet another wall on the outside of the house!

I'm a real good helper, in case you weren't aware. I kinda like ripping things apart. And smashing. The smashing is just some plain old fashioned fun. But now that we're getting back into this whole BUILDING stuff thing..and putting things back together. Well...it's not quite my forte. Not like the smashing anyways. Unless you count smashing nails into wood to put something back together. Then I'm really good at that. Sometimes. Sorta. Kinda. Maybe. Okay, not really at all. Okay - so I'm REALLY good at putting them in on an angle. All crooked like. And bent in half. That and smashing...those are the things I excel in.

But at least I try?

And I'm sure I look mighty cute with my tongue sticking out of my mouth in concentration as I do.

Pro To The Ductive

Today I've been working away preparing a presentation that I'm doing next week. Evidentally someone thinks that that it'd be a joke and a half to label me an 'expert' in my 'field'. Field being farming and marketing and all that jazz. Which you may be so inclined to be like..what are you talking about? You're a TEACHER foo'. You didn't pay thousands and thousands of dollrs to go to school for five years to be an expert at farming now did you? You majored in history and PSYCHOLOGY. That's not even close to plants, dumb dumb. Alas, I just can't help it if they just see my supreme level of awesome despite these things.

So this agricultural symposium that's being held next week was all like....YOU SHOULD COME AND SPEAK ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW - and we'll give you FREE LUNCH.

And I was like...Uhhh...lemme think about it for a - OF COURSE I'LL DO IT! I'd be HONOURED!

...because who doesn't say yes to free lunch?!

I neglected to tell them that I'm anything but an expert...and am now frantically putting together a presentation about blah blah blah that's filled with erm ahh oooh's that will wow them them into letting me stay for lunch. But as of right now...it's basically an empty powerpoint. I think that I typed the name of our farm in there somewhere. Maybe. And I did one little drawing on my notepad of me killing a powerpoint presentation. Okay, maybe three. But other than that...I'm at a loss for what to do. Completely and utterly unproductive.

Okay. That's a lie. I did break into my mothers facebook account and change her profile picture to this lovely little picture of her doing a belly flop in my cousins dining room on new years eve.



Tell me that's not productive. I dare you.

A Love Letter

Dear Canada;

I know that lately we've been distant. In the summer our reunion was grand, and I thought that we'd never drift again. But it seems that I've left you on your own on a few occasions in the last few years and it has caused a rift deeper than I thought possible, which I know is not fair to you, or to me. I know that I've been absent off and on for a few years but I thought you understood. I know that this time of year has been especially hard on our relationship, but you need to see where I'm coming from and go easy on me. It's not that I don't love you - I do. It's just that, well, I find you rather...a tad...cold lately. You're nice and all, but when I'm around you I can't help but shudder, to the point where sometimes I can't stop shivering - just when I THINK about you. It's not YOU exactly, it's just the way that you present yourself. You give off the impression that you're warm and friendly. I can see you from the windows of my house, and you look rather respectable. Like something that ANYONE would want. The sun is shining and it makes the cape that you've covered yourself with look as thought it's made of diamonds...and we all know that diamonds are a girls best friend. You trick me with your beautiful blues into thinking that you'll be what I want to surround myself with...but once I take a step towards you and open up to greet you, you take my breath away. And not in a good way. The negativity that surrounds you is getting to me and when I look around and see you plummet further and further into the dark depths of this negative side of the spectrum...it makes me want to curl up in my bed and never go outside again. I need you to be positive once again for the sake of everything good in this world, but especially our relationship. I remember the summer when we laughed, danced and frolicked about and those memories make me so happy, that I just want those times back again.

I'm sorry to have to break it to you like this, and I don't want to hurt your feelings..because I really do love you with all of my heart. But until are able to find warmth in your heart, until you stop tricking me and making me believe that you're something that you're not...like you do every time this time of year...I don't think that this relationship can continue.

You may think that it's all a big game. And I know that your mother is putting you up to it. It is her nature after all. But it's time for you to clean up your act. Take off your cape to show the true beauty hiding within to me and once that happens...I know that we can be friends again. And maybe, one day hopefully not too far away from now...things will blossom into something more.

In other words....something needs to be done. Warm the heck up, or I'm leaving you.

Again.

Love Always Conditionally,

Erin

PS - I'm willing to meet you in the middle on this issue, but I can't be the one to do all of the work and give up everything in this relationship. You warm up a bit and I'll add another layer to insulate my feelings when I feel insulted by your behaviour. After all, isn't that what relationships are all about? Finding a way to meet in the middle so that everyone is happy...or something like that.

Times Are A Changin'

Wow. It's 2010. (Twenty-Ten? Two-Thousand-And-Ten? Erm...Whatever-it-is..) and I'm not quite sure how that happened.

Where exactly did the last decade go? Ten years ago I spent new years with my parents in the nations capital on parliament hill....spending time with family in Ottawa. This year was quite different. We didn't go out, there were no huge celebrations or fireworks. But there was family, good food and laughter and I had a smile on my face the entire evening...so what more could I ask for?

I remember talking about the year 2000 and how far away it seemed, how old I'd be and how crazy it was to even think about it. And now it's the beginning of yet another decade...and life is just as crazy as ever..and I still don't know how it happened.

So much has happened in the last ten years...it's impossibly crazy to think about how different life is and how much I've 'grown up'...so here's a little recap of the last ten years..

In the last ten years I've...

*Graduated from highschool
*Moved out on my own into an apartment with one of my best friends
*Become an 'adult' in the legal sense of the word
*Graduated from university with a BA with a double major in history and psychology.
*Traveled to, through and around South Africa
*Graduated from teachers college
*Spent a year living in Switzerland
*Been a bridesmaid in two weddings for people I love
*Got my drivers licence
*Travelled to: Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, London, Paris, Athens, Florence, Berlin, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Milan, Vienna, Zurich and oh so many other wonderful European cities
*Was a nanny for three (kinda-sorta-really-spoiled) girls.
*Roadtripped to the east coast of Canada - twice.
*Worked on our farm every summer
*Said final goodbyes to a grandmother
*Watched as friends became mothers
*Cut off more than half my body height in hair in one ginormous cut
*Realized the importance of true happiness and following your heart (or your gut) regardless of what other people are doing, saying or thinking.

And that's just a small little list of some of the 'big ticket' life changing things I could think of off the top of my head.

The last ten years have been pretty crazy and amazing. They've been full of a lot of growth and a lot of changes...and I'm quite excited to see just what the next ten years bring :)

Cheers - and Happy New Year! All the best for 2010!

...However you want to pronouce it :)