Happy Holidays

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and may you have a joyous and blessed 2008!

The origin of the GREAT Nanaimo Bar

Picture from here

It appears that there are those in the world who don't know the wondrous delight of sinking your teeth into the scrumptious Christmas time treat known as Nanaimo Bar.

This shocks me.

And I am so sad for you.

Really. You need to make it and then sit down and savour (yes, with a 'u'!) every crumb.

Apparently it hails from Canada, Nanaimo, BC to be exact. Here is the recipe (GET IT, MAKE IT). It also mentions something about "New York Slice". Whatever, if y'all want to mimic us Canadians go right ahead... but don't steal the name.

I kid, I kid! I have no idea where it came from but I have always called it Nanaimo Bar.

And don't fool yourself into believing that the bought stuff is just as good. As my family's self proclaimed Nanaimo tasting expert, I assure you, it's not EVEN close.

Tricky McTrickster

This is my favourite Christmas treat. This one smells amazing but it's not edible. I found it at a local bath shop and had to get one for my cousin. She LOVES my mom's nanimo bar almost as much as I love it. For me, it just wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Maybe I'll even save a few peices of the real thing for her. Or not. With me around there isn't likley to be any left by the time I see her on the 29th!

And I just had to take a picture of this Candy Cane. Or is it a Candy Cane? Seems to me it's missing the very thing that makes it a Candy Cane. Jay came home with it from work. Seems his boss must be skimping... maybe the ones without stripes are cheaper?

Bah Busybug!

Do you know what busy does?

It chews you up, spits you out, then dances on your head in stilettos.

Oh yes, busy is female, I assure you. No male would feel the need to try to balance 3,742 things at once. They have no need to “to do it all”. That’s a trait we females seem to wear with pride.

Not me though, I always prided myself on never taking on more than I could handle. In fact, I normally err on the side of caution in terms of scheduling myself.

Those days are but a distant memory for me right now. In fact, the time it is taking me to type out this post should most likely be spent on about 1000 other things. Some that earn me a living (read: support my shopping addiction) and some that just need to be done (read: clean the bathrooms, laundry, cook actual food for my family, spend time with said family….blah, blah, blah).

There are 17 on-line students requiring attention, there is a case exam that must be authored, there is a project with team members that must be managed…. Oh and it’s also Christmas in a week and half.

Right, so sleep? Not really necessary right? I am too stressed to relax and actually get a good sleep anyway so what’s the point. Although, I did get up at 6 this morning to get some work done before the kids woke up and discovered that my eyes don’t really focus before 8 am.

Good to know, good know.

And to top everything off we had to rush up to Toon town Monday because Jack had another appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist on Tuesday morning. Really this turned out to be sweet because Bon Jovi was playing there. We had decided we really couldn’t pull Jack out of school to attend the concert but an appointment the next day? That’s a legitimate reason to be absent. So we enjoyed the fine specimen of Jon for a couple hours – the man? He’s hot with a capital H. It was fantastic. (PS love you hon, I only like to admire Jon from afar, YOU are my man!)

And Jack is scheduled to go for surgery sometime in March. Remember how I haven’t been getting much sleep? Yeah, this really helps. My baby is going to put under. I’ve never experienced this unless you could the valium induced awake coma courtesy of the anesthesiologist when Jack was delivered via C-section (that dude is on my hit list by the way). That translates into fear.

I know that this is the best thing to do if we ever want Jack to have binocular vision (ie focus with both eyes at once) but when it’s imminent, suddenly I am not so confident in our decision.

Throw in a b-day night with my best bud last night, two Christmas concerts and I am not even sure which way is up.

Anywho, enough about my ridiculous busyness. It’s my own fault so let’s not wallow in it. This too shall pass.

I do have to give a shout out to the best husband and Daddy I know. Jay, you are my backbone. You always quietly, with never a complaint, take over and handle all the mundane tasks that would otherwise get left undone. Our stomachs thank you from the bottom of their hearts because I can’t remember that last time I set foot in the grocery store or cooked a meal. And laundry, well, I think I may have forgotten how to use the washer. You rock and if I had custom ordered you from Heaven, I would have settled for mediocre compared to you.

I love you!

And my dear friend, Candace for taking my Kamden for more afternoons than I can count to play with Logan instead of standing by me and my laptop asking when I can play with him. I owe you big time!

Okay, so I finally got some spirit

Suspicious minds!

Teeni tagged me with this meme a couple of days ago. Here are the rules:

Write a list of things of which you are suspicious. Any number of them will do. Even the number 0 works. This is the first meme that can be done without even doing it. In fact, you’re doing it right now.

1)Include the list of rules, if you feel like it.
2) Link back to the person who tagged you. Or not.
3) Tag however many people you want to tag. You can skip this step.
4) If you acted on rule four, leave comments on their websites to let them know that they have been tagged. This step is also completely optional.
5) Feel fantastic.

So in no particular order, here are things that make me go Hmmmmm….

1) When my computer randomly locks up. Or my email quits working. Or when your comments from here don’t end up in my mail box, like for the last three days for example. My theory is there is some computer gnome who steals my comments and messes with my system. My message to the gnome is:

“DO you know what this does to me? Do you? Do you really understand how crazy it makes me?”

Right, so that’s probably why you do it then? Good, glad we got that cleared up but let me tell you, one day, I am gonna get you.

And get you good. Consider this your warning.

2) Crunchie bars. I mean, what is that stuff in the middle? Is it Styrofoam? The stuff you stick flower arrangements into? What?

All’s I know is that it ain’t food.

3) People who enjoy going to the dentist. What is it that you enjoy exactly? The swank paper bib that you have to wear like your 6 months old and you drool? The demeaning experience of having a piece of plastic draped over your mouth? The sharp tools in close proximity to your eyes?

What?

Seriously, you need to go talk to someone about that. It’s just not normal.

4) Teletubbies . Need I say more?

5) When it’s quiet in the house and we are all home and the TV is NOT on. That’s just bad news, my friends, bad news.

And I am feeling fantastic! My work here is done.

A few of my growing collection