Sunday, December 21, 2014

True joy






When I found this I had one of those "oh man, this is soooooooooooo true" moments, and I just felt I had to share.
I am not sure when I lost the "oh I man I can't wait for the weekend" or the "oh I can't wait for THAT party".....it just happened....just as my journey with being okay with myself. It was not just a huge BAM moment...it has slowly happened over time...not that I have not always been a happy go lucky type person to begin with...but lets be honest...we all have issues of some sort....and it's how we deal with them that makes our journey of life is so interesting.
I literally love everyday....even Monday's....I love that at any and every moment there could be a big moment...or that any moment I can MAKE that big moment....how awesome is that really....to be in charge of your life and to enjoy it all, even the bad shit....cause really, I get to decide how I am going to deal with it so it's all good, no one else does it for me!
So happy Sunday, my moments so far today have been pretty darn exceptional. Happy winter solstice too!


Monday, December 15, 2014

Giving feels so goooooooood!

So the hubster and I joined this years craze...which is a thing called Reddit...where you could sign up for an international or just in your own country secret santa gift exchange. The hubster opted for within Canada, and I opted for international. You could also choose to do just gift or do gift and card, each going to different places.
So today, hubster got his gift from somewhere within Canada, and my card exchange buddy (who was in California) got his card today.

Yup, I homemade a Christmas card for a grown ass man lol....but this is what he requested....a unique card, so that's what I was striving for. After all....it's not that often that a Canadian hand makes a Christmas card for some dude in California lol.
Hubster's gift came from Victoria....he got a beer stein, and remote control car thingy that he controls with his cell phone, and some chocolates. It was so cute and totally perfect for him.
I have yet to receive my card or gift as of yet....but I sit in anticipation of them. My gift that I sent out went allllllllll the way to Slovenia. I can hardly wait for that lady to open up her epic Canadian box!
We also sent out a pretty darn epic Germany box the other day too...I can hardly wait to hear about all the giggles and laughter when that special box gets opened by our loved one's over there.

I also handmade a bunch more cards and special treats for some random strangers I have never met or know but who attended the Shambala music festival....I had posted on their facebook page a note saying "hey, it's not too late...who wants to exchange homemade Christmas cards" and the response was awesome....so I crafted away this weekend and sent them out this week to strangers once again.....I just LOVE sending people stuff....cause really....who doesn't like getting stuff in the mail that makes them smile....I just wish people would do this ALL YEAR ROUND!!!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

You tell me this NOW!


Let me start off by telling you about this amazing vegetarian restaurant in Calgary. It's called The Coup and it's completely dedicated to vegetarians and vegans...the other awesome thing is that my son's girlfriend works there! She too is a vegetarian, and so when we went to the city yesterday they took us there and it was FABULOUS. I have never been so excited to be in a place where I could eat EVERYTHING on the menu and the hubster and NOTHING to choose from cause there was no meat...but it was so great for him to experience the roll reversal and feel exactly like how feel ANYTIME we go out to eat...he's able to find something on the menu is 5 seconds and it takes me 5 minutes.

This place is my new favorite!

Three of my favorite humans ever!!!

the full monte

2 pieces of French toast stuffed with smoked tempeh, swiss & 3 year canadian reserve cheese, arugula & roasted pepper, served with a shot of seeded mustard maple syrup and organic hash

So once we got home from the city, I called my Mother back in BC to tell her about this great place and how it was catered to us vegetarians and how when they come out around Christmas we should go there so that Dad may have the same experience I did...cause he's a veg head too.
So out of the blue my Mother some how, for some reason....tells me some information that I have NEVER heard of before in my life.....she tells me that most of the people on her side of the family were VEGETARIAN......so after I picked myself up off the floor and could form words I began scolding my Mom lol.
I said...."did you not think to tell me this a long time ago....or least 2 years ago when I became a vegetarian?"....she just laughed. So her Mother, my Granny grew up in a Doukhobor heritage...now there were two kinds of Doukhobor's...the crazy kind and the normal kind lol....my Granny's were the normal kind...I'd go into further detail of the difference, but if you google search Doukhobor I'm sure you'll find some crazy shit...and that would be the other one's lol...not my relatives kind.
So in this heritage....for religious reasons....they did not eat meat of any kind...so I found it fascinating that all these relatives that I have history with, that I remember visiting as a child in Grand Forks B.C and in the Fraser Valley growing up...were all veg heads....WOW....this just seemed amazing to me for some reason....the the whole veg head reasoning has history...now there were some of those relatives on my Mothers side who "fell away from those beliefs" and chowed down on some good ol meat in their lives, but for the most part...they were fanatical about there belief in not eating animals for self pleasure....my Mom even told me that one of my great Uncles...Uncle Bill...wouldn't even eat at her house because she cooked meat there and he could not be sure if she would use lard or some other form of ingredient that has meat products in it...so only my great Aunty Polly would eat there!  Information like this I think I really should have been told about don't you think!!! So I called my sister immediately after this conversation to make sure I was not the only crazy one that did not know this....but she said she sorta remembered something about that in the history, but not to the extent that my Mother bestowed upon me in last nights conversation.
So...now I have discovered this new amazing history of my family...I have to begin the search of recipes that they had...that are probably all lost and buried some where to see what kind of vegetarian lifestyle they ate!
Feels good to know that there we others in my family before me that probably struggled a hell of a lot more then I ever will with not being able to eat out!!

Friday, November 28, 2014

Snow day


Yup, I took a snow day from work today....it's not for trying though....I was up at 4:30am...started the car just after 5am...and left the house about 5:30am....only to be in a snow blind titlawhirl spin on the hwy ten min up the road. No I did not pee in the seat....I am ever so thankful that I pee'd before I left the house though....cause spinning on the hwy at that time of the morning in snow and ice is like...ummmm...there is no description for that shit...it's just shit and that's all there is to it!
So after calling work and getting my blood pressure down from the excitement I was not going back to bed....I was wide awake and ready to take on the world....the hubster....was not :-)
So I only banged around the house for an hour or so, and then I could hear that he fell back asleep...so I cruised the internet in blissful alone time and quietness....but that only lasted so long and then I was antsy again....that is when things got out of control....a whole large pot of coffee was made and all the xmas decorations came out.
So between bathroom cleaning, floor washing, box unpacking downstairs then coming back upstairs and being distracted by pretty xmas things again, my house got xmasfied lol.
So by noon my hubster was completely messed up by me being home and not at work he started drinking lol....and so in his drinking state he suggested that we put up the lights around the windows using the glue gun....yeah...that's what I said...WTF.....and so it happened....I got out the glue gun from the "oh this shit is from the 90's box" and he went to town on the windows and lights....and did a kick ass job frankly.


So although I didn't go to work, I managed to get a crap load of stuff done today AND I'm still up at 9:30pm at night WITHOUT having a nap and I have been up since 4:30am....did my hubster spike my tea? So now I have no clue what things we will get done tomorrow with being able to accomplish so much today....oooohhh boy....we might actually get shit that NEEDS to be done from like a long time ago done...whoa....crazy talk!
Happy weekend adventures to you all :-)

Sunday, November 16, 2014

City visits that warm my heart


Another MMA fight night enjoyed with my daughter in Calgary

We were super close to where the fighters walked in and got lubed up...which was sooooo spectacular, I mean...who doesn't wanna watch a man get lubed up for the ring!

The cage that captures my insensitive side...the side that loves seeing grown men beat the crap out of each other for what seems like my sick pleasure lol.

This guy spent the entire night doing different self portraits of himself...it was rather entertaining....so we dubbed him "selfie dude"...we only wish we knew where he was posting or sending all these selfies too!
Saturday morning breakfast with my kids is always the best!!!

My son had the most epic breakfast out of all of us!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Media propaganda







Yesterday on facebook was HORRIBLE...in the sense that EVERY post was all about "Thank you troops for saving our lives" bla bla bla.....SERIOUSLY....am I the only on this is AWAKE on this issue? How can I be the only one that thinks this is ridiculous?
Fighting is not saving me....our country fights because we vote in needless leaders who media propaganda this idea to death and brain wash us into believing this shit...that magically we would all die if they did not send us to war....ummmm NO....the gov't makes money off of war, plain and simple...I will not stand by and become one of the sheep that sit back and thank the troops. If you are a troop, I feel so sorry for you and that you have lost your sense of self and awareness and that  you think it's okay to fight or kill.....and that you would do it all "in the name of your country"....well....don't include me in your country then....cause I don't believe in war...and I'm not some pot smoking, non bra wearing crazy 60's hippie freak...I'm just a woman who is NOT falling for the bureaucratic bullshit that everyone seems to be soaking up. Please...if you feel this thought process is invalid....I would LOVE to hear how you would reason that the war is right or good!!!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

November winter






There seems to be no denying it...it is here, to probably stay...not melt away. This week is a cold one...cold enough that I am wearing long underwear to work already and it's only November...sheehs.
Thank gawd I was wearing long underwear at work actually, as I blew the ass out of my work pants on Monday, on my FIRST delivery....yeah...that was a great way to start the day...and yes...I was the "butt" of jokes for the morning.
This fall has been a busy one, busier then usual I'd say...I'm not sure if it's because we are closer to cities now and there is more to do, or closer to family so that makes it feel busy too...or the fact that I'm just getting out and doing more...either way, it feels good!



Two weeks ago I joined a roller derby league in Lethbridge...yeah....it's kicked my ass....not the people...yet....but the fact my body is NOT used to purposely falling so that I know how to get up type falling while rolling on four wheels at great speeds....AND not using  your hands to do it....SERIOUSLY...I think the last time this was done by me was at the age of 8! lol....so for the last week I have felt like I was 80...and I did not go to last weeks practice due to a snow storm...so my body has one more week to recover, or should I say prepare for the next ass kicking on Sunday lol....and I can't even complain that I'm old, cause there are other women my age doing this that are older or same age...so I just gotta suck it up lol.




Last week my son turned 24....yup....I'm pretty sure that makes me some level of old somewhere lol....he also moved into a new place...which is very exciting, since he was in a apartment for the last 3 yrs that had no elevator and he was on the top floor...and this new place has a nice big back yard for gardening and hammocks!
When I went to the big city for his birthday, we had a great dinner together with my sister and brother in law and his girlfriend...and then we played laser tag...to which I have never laughed so hard in my life...between laughing and screaming, not sure which I did more of...but it was a blast...and the important thing is that I did not come in last lol.....second last, but not last lol.

So this last weekend I was invited for to a fancy day and evening of learning and cooking Ethiopian food....filled with AMAZING conversation with some super fancy ladies. It was really really great to be with such empowering, educated women around my age for a girls evening of good food and good convo!

This next weekend shall be filled with more fun, as I head to the big city of Calgary for some mother/daughter time. She is taking me to some more MMA fights....oohhhhhh yeahhhhh...I am sure we will both be drooling and screaming like lunatics....for we both love a good fight....and she's even gonna join a MMA gym to start training her self....more for the fitness effect, but hey....I'm pretty sure it's for the "atmosphere" of fighters lol.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Village prop

Some villages have a giant egg, another has the largest kielbasa, hockey stick and the list could go on...I am speaking of other Alberta towns I have been through.....well now....my village will have one of those ridiculous calling cards too. A gigantic windmill blade. How this came to be is quite a story, that I am sure no one will ever really hear about either.
When they were putting up all the windmills last year, there was an accident, and one of the windmills got dropped....major shit hit the fan with the company, it was shut down for a few weeks and all kinds of protocol had to be established.
So life went on, and it was all completed. Except they had this one blade of a windmill...they were gonna scrap it, until my village stepped in, and said they'd like it....so this company said sure....I have no clue who's paying for this or funding it, I had no idea it was even happening until today when I was driving home from work and I drove into my village and THIS is what I came upon.







So I am not sure when this thing will be erected, but it sure is gonna be a mammoth looking thing in our tiny village that's for sure. So once it's up I'll take more pics, but for now....this big blade sits across the village practically lol. Long live the corporate companies who have nothing but money to blow!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The death of Bathroom Bob


I am so sad I have no pictures of Bathroom Bob. Bathroom Bob came into my life two weeks ago...in the Bathroom....hence why he was then named Bathroom Bob. He is a moth...a gigantic one, who somehow showed up in my bathroom and their he stayed. He would move from wall to wall, or mirror, or where ever he felt at home I suppose.
Well, I have not seen Bathroom Bob for two days...and Bathroom Bob had not become Livingroom Leo, or Kitchen Ken...he is GONE.
The hubster did say he saw him fly behind the mirror the other day, so I looked there tonight...but no...no Bathroom Bob :-(
So Bob....it was so nice to be greeted every morning when I did my morning pee, or after work when I was taking my contacts out....it's just not the same....I have no one to talk to in the bathroom now.
So...here's hoping he had a great life (but seriously, what is the moth life expectancy anyways? lol)

Monday, October 20, 2014

Fight night

I have a small addiction....thank gawd there is no rehab for this.....I'd never get out alive. I have loved UFC, MMA fighting for about 15 years-ish. I cannot remember the first fight, but I remember most of them...and how my love for the sport just grew and grew.
My brother used to go to a local pub with me years ago and we would watch the fights on the big screen, and he would laugh hysterically at how his little sister would turn into a crazy person yelling at the screen "punch him in the head, break his arm" and so on.
I am not sure where this came from or why it started, but non the less...I freakin love watching the fights.
This past weekend, my daughter came out from the big city and her and the hubster and I went to a live MMA fight night in our southern city of Lethbridge.
There were a total of 17 fights and it was AWESOME.....to hear the head punches live...and the leg getting smacked and seeing the knock outs right in front of you......OOOMMMMGGGGGG. I know, it's sick...but it's my guilty pleasure.
I posted some pics on my facebook page and I have a cousin who saw my post and responded with this:

"Ok so you stopped eating meat cuz you couldn't stand how we kill animals.... But you go and watch people be pulverized by another human with something some moron called 'sport'???? ... And consider it 'awesome' when someone is removed on a spine board..... HMMMMM"

I responded to her with this statement:

 
"Trying to tell you about my love for fighting over the last 15 yrs would be like trying to get you to smell the color orange! You just won't get it...and just because I have been a vegetarian for two yrs has NOTHING to do with what people WILLFULLY want to do in a cage as apposed to what happens to animals who have NO choice...a rather LARGE difference I'd say."




I can hardly wait to watch some fights live again....I have the girl child looking out for more of them in her bigger city. cause I totally would drive and hour and a half for that awesome stuff!
LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Thanksgiving sibling style


I truly have to most amazing siblings ever. The two of them that are here in Alberta create magical memories with me. I have one more, he is in BC and I rarely get to see him, but I am sure I would create memories too if he was closer.
Back to the two here though....my big sister is so caring. Her heart is larger then life when it comes to caring and compassion. Our oldest brother does not have his own family, and he's a truck driver, and so on special holidays he has no one to make him a home cooked meal to celebrate, and being a trucker, he is most often on the road.
So this holiday my sister brought it to him. He was delivering a load in the city and had a small window of time to meet up, and so my sister cooked all morning, and packed up all the food AND the good china with the GOOD silverware and all, and we all surprised him at his drop spot with a Thanksgiving picnic outside. It really was amazing!

The picnic table set up, my sister even brought decorative pumpkins for the table!


The crispy leaves under our feet, surrounded by big rigs and beautiful weather!
My son doing his puffer fish face....I'm not sure this family EVER takes normal pics lol

My amazing big sister who brought ALL of this together!

My big brother, who is loved by all of us and loved this experience!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Fun filled weekend


My weekend started off by driving to the big city of Calgary to see my daughters very first place of her own...she is renting a basement suite with one other person and it's just so amazing how fast she is growing up....just yesterday she had come back to the country with me to tend to some other business you will see further down, and we were watching home videos from when she was a year old and two years old...OH MY...what a flashback....such a cutie pie.

So after I checked out my daughters place we headed on over to a Starbucks for a morning coffee....and the craziest thing happened there....I ran into a gal I went to school with almost 25 years ago and have not seen her since....the crazy thing is that we BOTH lived and went to school in another province and here she was..in another province, in a big city at a Starbucks that I have never been to in my life up until Saturday and SHE notices me....CRAZY!...so we chatted and took pics...unbelievable...still blows me away.


After that we went and picked up another beautiful gal...my sons girlfriend and we had a girls breakfast in the city at the most AMAZING lil breakfast place...and I had the most yummy veg benny EVER...OMG...just looking at the pic again makes my mouth water!

Of course my life is always filled with some sort of randomness.....this day was filled with asking a stranger if I could take his picture cause I thought his mustache was FABULOUS, and the second pic is of I guess Calgarians transport there dressers...in small cars tied with string to hold it mostly in the car!
My day in the city ended with meeting up with my big sister for a wonderful supper together...which always includes a good dose of laughter!

My weekend ending with watching my daughter prep the buffalo heads for their processing. I cannot even tell you how crazy this whole things is...there are no words lol...really, shocking I know...but it's just so hard to comprehend what I did, what I watched and what will happen in my backyard over the next few weeks lol.
Happy Monday to you all!




Thursday, October 2, 2014

"Heads" up



There are no words to describe what you are seeing this vegetarian doing here....but rest assured.....it may look like I'm smiling, but this is NOT a smile, but more like I am gritting my teeth.
Two days ago, when I was working, I had to do a pick up at the hell on earth place called Bouvry...it's basically the place where they kill horses, buffalo, and any other kind of animal you want processed. When I call it the "hell on earth" place, I say this because, as a vegetarian, when you see the horses all lined up for the bullet and they are freaking out cause they know what's coming, there is something that happens in your mind and soul that just freakin makes you go to a "happy place", cause it's just so horrible there.
Well...being the good Mother that I am (lol), my daughter and son have been requesting some "bones" or skulls of any kind from me....which is so odd since I'm the freakin veg head in the family....but they know that their Mother's interesting life takes her places that are often just weird and lively :-)
So here I was...at the "special" place, and I worked up the nerve to ask the ladies at the front desk of this place if they have skulls...to which I was told..."we have what ever you want....even penis's". WOWZER....yeah, now try to imagine me keeping it together while I am told this. The list went on and on of what I can get...but I was told if I want a skull I have to take the WHOLE FREAKIN HEAD....and then she asked if I wanted a fresh one, like one just killed still warm and bleeding out.....AGAIN....WOWZER...thank gawd I did not have a container to hold the giant head in cause she told me it would be bleeding out into the container...yeah....that would be a lovely ride home I'm sure.
So I took two old ones, but they still have the dried up eye balls and brains inside and all kinds of other disturbing attributes to them.
The hilarious part of my day was bringing these things back to my warehouse at work and having to off load them there....the all know I am a veg head so when I asked them to help me unload some heads they all nearly freakin passed out, from disbelief and then disgust lol....oh sure, it's all fun and games to shout out "meat jokes" at the veg head, but when the veg head brings back some "head" they all freak out LOL.
This should be a fun process watching what my kids do with these crazy heads!
(I pray I don't go to vegetarian hell for this)
 

Saturday, September 27, 2014

The past





This post is difficult for me, because it deals with someone from my past. I am speaking of my son's Father. I speak of him as a Father and not as a Dad. He was not a Dad, but he did Father a son. These are harsh words, but they are true.
24 years ago when I was pregnant with my son I remember telling my son's Father that he will have to make a choice in life and I hope he makes the right choice so that he's not a sad and bitter old man in his 40's.
I am not sure where the hell this wisdom came from inside of me, I was only 18 yrs old at the time, but my soul must have already know.
My son's Father made the choice to not be involved...he might argue that he was involved...but when you have a adult child that is telling you now that he had either no memories of you at all or if he does have memories they are awkward ones....I'd say you were an absent Father. This would hurt anyone, I can't imagine having a child saying that to me, so I know it would be painful.
This thing that is hard about this post is that his Father wants desperately a connection now, and my son does not, and the fact that is Father keeps trying and trying is making it more and more awkward...he has no connection or common interests with him what so ever and he just really does not want to hang out with him and pretend.
I too have not talked to him in years, I too have my own struggles with dealing with him. He is a nice enough man, don't get me wrong, I know he loves the son he Fathered, but maybe he loves the idea of him more then the actuality of him. I know we all make mistakes in life and we all shouldn't pay for them, but you can't just expect people to "have a kumbaya moment and it's all just fine".
I struggle because I know the pain of having an absent Father my son has faced and is now dealing with as an adult. I think my son has adapted well, but hey, we are all human and some things just hurt, plain and simple.
His Father has contacted me recently and wants to discuss my son's "well being and mental health". These are his words exactly. I responded to this with a bit of a snarky reply (as my son pointed out it was not a response of love that is for sure), I replied with "oh do tell wise one how you have come up with the idea that there is something wrong with our son's mental health and well being, I'm curious to hear what conclusion you have come to on this subject".
So you can see, it was not one of open arms....because in my mind I felt "are you kidding me, you, who has NO EFFING CLUE who our son is or what his journey has been or where it's going and you have some type of opinion cause you came to the city one night after many years of not seeing him and you hung out for a few hours of awkwardness and you think you effing have a clue....yeah....good luck with that pal"
Again, I don't want to be this angry person, my son and I have been talking about this subject for a while now, oh how wise he his, it blows my mind how freakin wise he is and how grounded he is....he has been such a great inspiration to me.
How I am going to deal with this Father wanting to talk to me about a son he wants to know, is going to be difficult. I am hoping that I can go in with an open mind and a kind spirit of understanding....the big word here is HOPING...but I don't know how my actual reality will pan out. His Father lives in another province so the only way to speak is via phone, I hate having discussions of such deep proportions on the phone, to have them in person is much more pleasing to me, but this will not happen.
I am not sure when I will have the strength to deal with this issue, but I am not having it until I feel ready and I will not be pressured into doing so until then.
So here's hoping for some good vibes and vibes of courage my way!!!

Sunday, September 14, 2014

This...is just for THAT guy






I have that ONE co worker who EVERY SINGLE DAY that I have worked there in the last four months says the word "BACON" to me at some point in the day....most often it's first thing in the morning....and most of the time he just looks at me and says "baaaaaaaaaaaaacccooooonnnnn".
I thought if I replied with "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaale" he'd stop.....but no....I have even tried out right ignoring him....that didn't work....and I have had impressive arguments with him....and by impressive...I mean I was impressive with my knowledge..not him...so I am now left to just simply making the above face!
So this post...yeah....it's just for THAT guy :-)

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Winter driving as a greenhorn

Well over the past ten or so years, I have had the pleasure of hearing very descriptive stories from my oldest brother about his experiences of driving a big rig in the winter....he used to haul over the USA and Canada...now he's just in Canada but he goes to the coldest place ever....Fort Mac....YIKES...and some of the stories he tells me from there are terrifying.
So he giggles with delight at the thought of his baby sister now going through the same thing...however....I don't have to go nearly as far as he does...I'm just a local driver who occasionally goes no more then a two hour trip out of town...but none the less...driving in snow whether your five minutes away or five hours away can be a bit tricky in a big truck.
What made today even worse was it's the first snow fall of the year, first time I am driving a big truck in the snow, and I just finished watching an episode of Highway Thru Hell on t.v last night where there were a ton of truck accidents...so yeah....I was a little on edge lol.
Today I had to drive to Waterton Park, where I just was five days ago with my kids and it was so warm and beautiful...and today it was cold but yet still beautiful...just a white kinda beautiful is all lol.


This was not at all what me and the kids saw five days ago when here

Can you believe this is the same beach!!! Crazy what happens in Canada!





So I had this South African guy who works at the same place I do...this is his second winter here, last winter was his first time seeing snow and driving in it...so I found it hilarious that HE was giving me driving instructions on how to best drive in snow....his advise was "you just go, no need to stop or slow, you just get there"...and the other piece of advice was this "always make sure you wipers do not freeze...you will die of heat but you crank your heater defrost and then roll your window down for air breathing" LOL...seriously...WTF...is this what someone here in Canada taught him when he first came here?
So I started to get some accumulation of ice on the window and wipers and it was not going away...so I cranked the heat defrost...which totally worked, got rid of the build up, but just like he said, you can't freakin breath cause it's so damn hot...so there I am, driving down the road in a snow storm with my window open and the heat blastin...all cause the dude from South Africa advised me to do so and it worked lol
So I shall see how my winter driving goes...this was only the first day of I am sure to be many more experiences in the snow...happy white knuckle driving!