Crazy Pictures of the Week

Grandma in Denial perhaps?

Grandma & Thong Boy's Dad

Wonder what a tattoo would have looked like now?

Do you think they're real?


DISCLAIMER: THIS POST AND THE PREVIOUS THONG BOY POST WERE CO-ERCED, AS I WOULD NEVER POST SUCH THINGS ON MY OWN. JEWELS MADE ME DO IT

Gaining Some Balance

After ignoring the ever worsening shifting of my driveway, it finally came time to bite the bullet, and get it fixed before someone hurt themselves. It also was very bad feng shui, as all the chi was sliding away from the house.

Went with a newer process called concrete levelling, where they drill quarter-sized holes in the existing slabs, and pump a concrete mixture into the holes, lifting the slabs. Much, much cheaper than having the old driveway removed and a new one poured, but still very expensive.

Here's what it looked like before :

Notice the ramps I had to use to get into the garage

Here's how much the slabs had shifted in the center.

The step from the driveway to the front porch.


After a few days of work, here's a few after shots:

Where the driveway & garage meet....no more ramps!

The driveway looking out towards the street...you can see the holes they drilled and then filled back in.

The front step now, raised about 4 to 5 inches, and levelled out.

Feng-shui-ifed!

Emergency Room

I spent the night, well not all of it, just from 1:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m at the local hospital emergency room. My mom was running a fever of 103.5, and after much cajolling, I was able to convince her that she needed to go to the hospital. At 12:30, I was able to convince her, at 5:00 in the afternoon, she didn't want to go. LOL!

They undertook a number of tests and found that she has a very bad bladder and kidney infection. She was put on I.V antibiotics about 2:00 in the morning, and we had to wait until the medication entered her body.

While we waited, I realized that the acoustics in the emergency room are excellent. Actually a little too excellent, as you can hear the conversations from behind their respective curtains, of the other patients and family/friends, even when they whisper. At 2:00 in the morning, waiting around the emergency room, it was something to do...I know I shouldn't have been eaves dropping, but like I said the acoustics were a little too good, and there was nothing else to do, except watch, count and time the I.V drips --which I also did. Lol!

The girl across from us had had difficulties with her parents, and was debating whether or not to call them and let them know she was having minor health issues. Her friend, (and I, since I could hear everything) were kept entertained by the stories of her assorted family members. She was sent home around the same time we were, with a bladder infection diagnosis.

Another one, right next to us, was named Diane, and was brought in by the paramedics, because she had had too much to drink, and her vital signs weren't too good. She was placed on oxygen, with much prompting from the nurses to get her to move in the proper position. When she finally woke up, she didn't know where she was, and tried to get out of bed, and fell. The nurses ran to pick her up, and admonish her that no she couldn't get out of bed to go outside and smoke. She was still there when we left.

Two beds over, was Jane and her husband/boyfriend John. Jane came in as she was having difficulty urinating. After the initial visit and blook work, the doctor came in to tell Jane that he wanted to talk to her in private. She insisted no, that anything he had to say, could be said in fromt of John. The doctor persisted, that he wanted to do a pelvic exam in private, but no Jane needed John there to hold her hand. John stayed, and the doc performed a very painful examination, after which he said, he couldn't be sure until the cultures came back in a few days, but that he was fairly certain it was a sexually transmitted disease. This caused both Jane and John much upset, with both of them professing to themselves and to the doctor, that his diagnosis would surely be proven wrong.
They were still there when we left.

It's now Day 2 of the meds, and things seem to be progressing slowly better from an infection standpoint. The pain however, continues to be a major issue, and has taken on a life of its own, and fills her every waking thought...and by default mine. Of course, the more she thinks about it, the worse it gets.

Internet Psychology 101

You Are a Jam Cookie

On the outside, you project a straight-laced, innocent vibe. But on the inside, you're complex, exotic, and full of flavor.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

You Are a Carnation

You are down to earth and grounded. You tend to be more traditional than trendy. Your confidence gets you through anything. People trust you and are very loyal to you.

What Flower Are You?

My Friend

As you may or may not be aware, Jewels aka Julie aka Julietta (yes it is confusing and I sometimes don't know what to call her) is my friend. Jin asked if I would write about how we met & became friends, recognizing my inability/reluctance to reveal TMI or Too Much Information.

So here, in brief:

My friend Mary, aka Nutmeg, harassed me to join a gym that was supposed to opening soon. One year and half later, it finally did open. Along the way, Mary & I thought about getting our money ($400) back and cancelling our contract since we were so frustrated that it took so long, and were afraid we'd lose our money. Yet we hung in, and the gym finally opens.

We, or should I say, I start to go, doing machines & weights and not really seeing much in the way of results. I had gained about 20 pounds from where I wanted to be, from a combination of medication side effects, plus just a slow down in metabolism (or the tons of candy I love.)

One day, my cousin tells me that Barb, a girl we used to both work with, goes to the gym and is going to strip classes, and had I gone to these classes. I see Barb in the next few weeks, and she confirms that she has been going to the classes, and loves them. Not wanting to go by myself, I make plans with Barb, to make sure I have a partner in crime in the class. This continues to this day, with Barb & I getting in trouble constantly for talking during class.


I start to go to the classes, and find that I really enjoy them. The instructor Jewels, puts on a great class, explaining things in detail; I get a good workout and start to see results. (BTW she helped me lose my weight.) As an added bonus, she makes the class fun-- while some of her stories are a little outside my realm (ok a lot outside), she is very funny and quick witted and I keep going back.

As she has a tendency to "pick on" the students, I hide out in the back corner, to stay under the radar, so I thought. Our area of the room has been named Speakers' Corner. Speakers' Corner started during the times in class, when Jewels is doing movements, that we can never, no way no how, not even if we practice for the rest of our lives, ever do. So instead of doing the exercise, we talk, and she yells at us.

That plus the fact, that we didn't want to stay beside her and see ourselves & her in the mirror. She's downright intimidating the way she can move--it would've been like the S-Factor Do's& Don'ts--so we sat at the back in the corner. After a few classes, she starts to "pick on us." She gives me the stage name Kashmir. (not the toilet paper spelling fyi!)

One day, she asks if I would give her a ride home. I must admit that I was little scared or cautious of her. On the way home, she tells me a TMI story, and I'm thinking OMG, and I get very quiet. Thankfully, she lived not far from the gym. Lol!

One day in class, she's telling us about various names, stage and otherwise, that she used, and I asked her, Well what's your real name? She actually blushed and shyly said Julie. So I thought to myself, she's not so tough after all, and I saw her, not her personas.

Lo and behold, I did give her another ride home, and it became a bit of a routine. After a few months, we stopped at the local Tim Horton's for coffee on the way home. It was so uncomfortable--I said nothing, and she was a TMI Chatty Cathy. She actually asked me personal questions about myself...gasp--the nerve of this girl. I get quiet when uncomfortable, she said she gets chatty. Thank God, or we would have just sat there. She filled in most of the silences, and boy did she fill them in. My sheltered, Catholic Italian, anal-accountant ears, burned a few times.

Over the next year Tim Horton's evolved to Starbucks Kwaffee Talk, evolved to Mai Vi evolved to shopping, and visits, and daily phone calls, and a true friendship. Over Kwaffee Talk, I learned more about her, and she slowly learned a little about me.

Along the way, I saw her talent in creating the most beautiful beaded jewellery, and thankfully, I have qualified for the family & friends discount, or maybe the volume discount since I'm the proud owner of many of her gorgeous creations.

I've also seen her boundless capacity for caring, kindness, and empathy and admire her for it, especially in light of some of the things that life has thrown her way. She has offerred her help always, whether it's setting up an awning or swing in the backyard, making stew or spring rolls for us, coming over to visit, or escaping to Starbuck's when I'm down; or offerring her help in a way that 99.9% of the population would never do for someone. (not going there, as that's TMI)

So we're Thelma & Louise, Felix & Oscar, a bit of an odd couple on the surface, but she's my BFF, I'm so glad to have met her.

Extreme Make Over

Wednesday night, I attended the Extreme Make Over night with Jewels & Jaimee. We received instruction on the appropriate methods to utilize if one wishes to perform Belly Dancing on stage. The make up was over the the top, suitable for the Belly Dance stage, and maybe for drag queens and hookers. LOL! It was much, much fun.

Here's a few pics, which I didn't get around to fix the red eyes. Oops.

The Weekend Part 2

It was a great weekend!

Saturday, was spent shopping for a prom dress for Steph. We went to the Boulevard Mall "over the river", ie. the U.S., and were able to find a beautiful black dress with fuschia floral accents and black & pink beads. The shop was unbelievable, jam packed with these dresses, floor to ceiling. We quickly realized that once we got in there, they had no intention of letting us out without a dress. Two hours and 5 or 6 or 7 dresses later, the final selection was made.

There was a very entertaining and flamboyant designer named Jimmy, who would recommend various dresses, and honestly tell the girls what looked good and what didn't. When the right dress was found, his compliments made them all feel like a million bucks, (and ensured that mom would have to buy the dress. LOL!)

Since we were in there for so long, I was even able to get him to recommend a style for me. Straight, no frills, avoid yellows; greens; purples; go for chocolate brown; or black; or certain blues and certain reds. Complimented me on my lean body with curves, and gave me a $25 gift certificate for my return visit. LOL!

On our way home, as per usual, we stopped off at La Hacienda for dinner--pizza, salad & life saver sucker. It was so good, and so worth the calories, as I've mentioned before.

Sunday, Mother's Day, invited a few friends over, and we had a wonderful day. Menu consisted of roast beef, lobster, salad, mashed potatoes & gravy, and purple sweet potatoes, that are not purple inside, (false advertising lol! )and strawberry shortcake for dessert. It appeared that much fun was had by all.

Here's some pics.

The weekend

Fav Food Spots

Was tagged by Jin today, re: listing my favourite 5 restaurants. This is going to be tough, as I easily rhymed off about 10, and could probably come up with many more if I think about it, so it'll be tough to limit to 5, but here goes:

1. Sahla Thai, St Catharines

If you love Thai food, this is one of a few great ones in the City. Dishes are served in spiciness ratings from 1 - 5 (recommended for Thai Nationals )...I usually get a 2, and it's spicy enough to tingle the lips and taste buds, but not so spicy that you can't taste the actual food. Great spring rolls, pad thai, curries, and rice served in beautiful hammered silver soup tureens.

2. Echoes of Asia, St. Catharines

Another Thai/Vietanamese place. Done up really nicely, considering it used to be a Harvey's restaurant. My hands down favourite here are the fresh rolls - shrimp, fresh peppers, carrots, vermicilli noodles, wrapped up and served on crunchy noodles with a delicious peanut sauce. Ms. J's are just as good, BTW) . Red curry chicken & rice is also a fav.

3. La Hacienda of New York, Niagara Falls, NY

Contrary to the name, it's an Italian restaurant, with Mexican decorations. LOL! Wonderful salads, with fantastic WHOLE milk mozarella cheese, on top of the lettuce, chick peas, cukes, and tomatoes--equal parts cheese & salad. They make a delicious thin crust pizza--pepperoni & double black olives on mine please. Life saver suckers given out at the cash register. Definitely not low cal. Located in not the best part of town, but well worth the risk.

4. Como's Restaurant, Niagara Falls, NY

Located just down the road from La Hacienda, is Como's. Been there forever, and so have some of the waitresses. Another Italian restaurant, but I order only the appetizers, as I won't order Italian food that we make at home, as ours is usually better. My Como's orders consist of herbed foccacia bread starter, clams casino, battered broccoli, and eggplant & prosciutto parmiggiano.

5. The Epicurean, Niagara on the Lake http://www.epicurean.ca/

Located in beautiful downtown Niagara on the Lake, aka the prettiest town in Canada. Cafeteria style, with wonderful soups, salads, entrees, sandwiches. Once you're done your lunch, you can stroll through the other shops, and stop at another little cafe that serves gelato, and Espresso/Latte's, (can't remember the name of this one.)


Now I'm hungry!

Blogger's Block

Just had a look at the time that's passed since my last blog, coupled with the lack of content in the previous few blogs, and have come to the realization that I'm suffering from blogger's block, or a lack of time to devote to this, or maybe a little of both.

Here's my weird picture submission of the week:

Further to a previous post, I've been attending the accupuncturist, for tiredness and a geographic tongue. I believe my treatments are working, as I'm feeling more energized and less geographic. I was so energized last week, as I almost jumped off the table, when she inserted a needle in the top of my foot. Not sure, if she just hit a sensitive spot, or if she was a little more aggresive than usual, due to her regaling me at the time she was inserting said needle, about her anger at the government imposing a sales tax on her services.

I went back tonight, and asked to please not touch my foot. She complied, but said I was little less relaxed than usual, and that the needles will hurt more, if you don't relax.

She's also treated my neck & shoulder problem, with a procedure called cupping. It works great, but it leaves these lovely marks on my back, aka back hickeys. LOL! Hopefully, they'll fade before I need to wear a bathing suit. It is a small price to pay, however, as this has worked better than anything else I've ever tried for my chronic neck problem -- monthly massage; physiotherapy; heat; cold; meds; etc.

If Gweneth Paltrow can walk around with these red badges, so can I.

Try to Determine What It Represents

Try to guess what the picture represents. FYI: The first one is Light Beer.

Post your guesses, and I'll put up the answers later, if necessary.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ANSWERS :

Image 2(above)

Image 3





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Image 11

Sugar, Sugar

My name is NOT Ashley, and I think I am a sugar addict.

Over the past few months, okay maybe 6 months, I had ever so gradually increased my sugar intake. It happened so slowly, that I didn't notice at first. Monday, I realized that I was ingesting way too much sugar. On that day I had, a piece of pie, a piece of cake with ice cream; two handfuls of Swedish Berries; 6 or & Kraft caramels; the odd piece of chocolate; and a few jelly beans.

My body yelled STOP! Coincidentally, another friend mentioned Monday night, that she was feeling the same way. Something in the air perhaps? We agreed, or she agreed for me, that we would stop all sugar intake. I know I can't do that, so I set myself a more workable goal of reducing it gradually.

In any case, Tuesday was the start of my reduction plan. I didn't do so bad: One Piece of Raisin toast, and half a piece of Lemon Raspberry Cake. (Oddly enough, shared with the cold turkey no sugar friend. LOL!)

Today, so far I haven't done too badly either, but the day's not over yet, and I'm off visiting tonight, so I'm sure I'll have a little something or two.

But No candies in two days....that's a first in a long time for me. Wish me luck in my sugar free quest.

The Weekend GetAway

A friend owns a cottage near the beach, which they rent out during the summer months. She decided to invite a few of us over this past weekend, before the renters come in, for the weekend. It was great fun, with lots of food, lots of laughs, and a side trip to the local casino, where we all made donations, as none of us won. Do you know how annoying it is to see the 50 foot high neon THANK YOU sign, as you're leaving the casino after losing, at 2:00 in the morning.

In any case, it was a great getaway, and marked the first time in about 7 months that I was able to spend a night away from home. What a treat that was!

We managed to attend a wedding of a local couple and do a bit of fishing to boot.

Here's the lovely couple

Here's their cake, (not made by Jin)

Here we are fishing after the big rain storm at the cottage.

TMI

Got tagged by Jin, so here's what I came up with:

A- Available or Single?
Tough question: single

B- Best Friend? I have a select few, but Julie has so quickly become my BFF.


C- Cake or Pie? Cake, especially Marble and Lemon Poppyseed.

D- Drink of Choice? Hot Drink: Coffee in its many forms. Cold Drink: Diet Pepsi

E- Essential Item? A little bit of downtime every once in a while to recharge myself.

F- Favourite Colour? Blue

G- Gummi Bears or worms? Bears--the worms are gross.

H- Hometown? Thorold --still here!

I- Indulgence? Coffee and Swedish Berries

J- January or February? February, because it's one month closer to the warm weather.

K- Kids? None of my own, but have a few that I share a special bond with

L- Life is incomplete without? Family and friends.

M- Marriage date? July 1, 2010 LOL!

N- Number of siblings? Only Child and no I'm not spoiled.

O- Oranges or apples? Love both, but will pick Apples, because there are so many varieties.

P- Phobias/fears? Revealing TMI; dogs; public speaking (which is a hoot, considering my job); going to the hairdresser's, and a few more that I'd tell you if it weren't for point 1 about revealing TMI.

Q- Favorite Quote: Deal with It and Move On

R- Reasons to smile? My godson says we both suffer from some phrase in German that translates into Shameful Joy, like watching Dancing with the Stars and hoping Heather Mills falls...sorry..I know it's mean, but you asked. Oops, I should have said: sunshine; lollipops and rainbows. (see W re: sarcasm)

S- Season? Early summer.

T- Tag people. No one, as not many know of my blog.

U- Unknown fact about me: I'm shy.

V- Vegetable you hate? Squash.

W- Worst habit? Slightly anti-social and not so slightly sarcastic

X- X-rays you've had? Head x-rays as a child (maybe that's what's wrong with me); Chest x-rays for multiple bouts of bronchitis; Abdominal x-rays for a few flare ups of appendicitis; Neck x-rays a few times for getting vertical whiplash from a collapsed lawn chair, and continuing complications from this over the years; Pinky finger of my left hand, when I smashed it against a locker and broke it, trying to catch my falling eye glass; dental xrays

Y- Your favourite foods? Thai, especially fresh spring rolls; Carbs of any kind, especially pastas and potatoes; Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia Ice Cream; White Pizza; Rice Balls; Zuppa Inglese; Chips; Candies

Z- Zodiac? A true Scorpio.

My National Geographic Tongue

Further to previous post, I have been attending the Accupuncturist for 2 weeks now. She's concentrated firstly on my neck and shoulders, as I have chronic pain from an old injury, plus from sitting at desk on my computer for hours on end at work. She applies about 7 needles in various places: top of head; back of neck; a couple in my shoulder; a few in my leg; and a few in my arm. Then she applies cupping: small fishbowl shaped glass cups into which she throws a lighted liquid infused piece of gauze, and places on your skin. The heat causes a vacuum and the skin is suctioned into the bowl. After four treatments, I have found that my pain and neck mobility is much better. I have one more treatment to go.

Then, she'll move on to the "body tune-up" treatments. She doesn't like that I look so tired all the time, and she really doesn't like the look of my tongue, which she's determined is geographic, ie. not uniform with different coloured areas, like a map, like this:

This is my geographic tongue. LOL

Apparently, people with geographic tongues, are more predisposed to develop cancer/tumours than people without geographic tongues. Great, this is just what I need to hear in my present frame of mind.

My tune up will provide me with much energy, and help me get over my tiredness, which will be reflected in an improvement in tongue geography. Then again, so would not working so much; and not having to stay home and care take most of the time.

But since the latter is not an option, guess I'll give the accupuncture tune up a try. After the treatment, she promises I will be so energized, and my tired haggard look will disappear, along with tongue circles.

Will keep you posted .

Gumby

At the risk of revealing too much information, yes I did watch Gumby and Pokey as a child. It's odd, that over the past three days, I've seen and/or heard about Gumby three times, once a day since Friday, after many, many years of Gumby oblivion--how weird is that?

It all started Friday, when an MSN contact had a picture of Gumby & Pokey. Saturday, Ms J & I are stopped at lights behind a car, that has a Gumby sticker on the rear window. Tonight, my mom out of the blue, mentions Gumby. Again, how weird is that.

I loved/love Gumby and Pokey, but in all this Gumby-ness, couldn't remember the Gumby theme song, other than the first few words, about a little green slab of clay--Ok did I mention I was a very small child at the time, and may have caught it in syndication????

Anyways, I was compelled to find the Gumby theme song, so I can watch it to my little heart's content, and share it with any other Gumby fans out there. (if you're old enough to remember Gumby)

As I'm typing this, I remember another claymation cartoon from my childhood---anyone remember Davey & Goliath?

Anyone remember Gumby and Pokey? Can anyone explain why Gumby is following me around?

Weird Picture of the Week

THE MAN IN THE COFFEE BEANS

Doctors have concluded that if you find the man in the coffee beans in 3 seconds, your right half of your brain is better developed than most people.
If you find the man between 3 seconds and 1 minute, your right half of the brain is developed normally.
If you find the man between 1 minute and 3 minutes, then the right half of your brain is functioning slowly and you need to eat more protein.
If you have not found the man after 3 minutes, the advice is to look for more of this type of exercise to make that part of the brain stronger,
and yes, the man is really there!

Real Deal or Real Steal

Have been attending the accupuncturist/natural medicinist to treat my mom's shingle pain, and had her third visit tonight. So far, it does seem to helping a bit.

Tonight, however, the attention focused on me, with said acc/nm, asking me if I had had a tough day at work, and that I looked VERY tired. This proceeds to being asked to stick out my tongue, and her gasping that I have other problems, serious problems, as she takes me over to the tongue wall chart, and points to a particularly nasty picture of a coated tongue with swirls in it---VERY BAD!

Well, I explain, I did just get over the stomach flu a few days ago. Oh No, your tongue is not displaying a few days worth of problems, but problems you've had for a long time. You need to get your body back in balance or you are in for big trouble.

I have my first appointment with her next Monday night, at $40 a visit. In the fog of big trouble, serious problem, I recall hearing 10 visits. Cha ching $400.

One's health really is priceless, but I sit here wondering, do I really have big problems, or is this a marketing technique?

Glass Paperweights

Here's some of my glass paperweight collection, as requested by Gnat, ranging in price from $2.00 at a flea market for the small yellow, green & red one, to $75.00 for the mauve/gold coloured one. :

What's Wrong With This Picture??

Since odd pictures seem to generate interest, here's another one for your viewing pleasure...Ms J. has already seen this.

Fill in the Blank:

Make Up $60

Boob Job $6,000

Forgetting to _____________ Priceless