Input Required

I was fooling around with this virtual makeover website (http://www.makeoversolutions.com/) and now I need people's opinion on some haircuts. Initially I chose the lighter hair colour because the background was so dark, I wanted to be able to see the hairdo. Then I sort of liked it this light. Maybe one day I will go "light ash brown".

I like the length of this one, and the layers, but I have thinner hair than this.

This one is my favourite.
This is for the short fringy bangs look.

This is for the crazy permed look.
And this one I clicked on the "Paris Hilton" button.

Two more pictures

I forgot to post these the other day.

Hey is that for me?

mmmm cake

Celebrating Sage being One

Here are some Fotos of the party. It was cloudy to start off, but it warmed up as the afternoon wore on. The sun even came out! But the pool was down to 60 degrees, and no one went in. Rob did use it to cool down the beer tho, so it was put to good use. Hayden and Anya stuck their arms in a lot too, but not to get the beer. It was a great day!

Partiers from Afar

Wendi with Sage and Hayden having hat issues.
Granty Penny
Cheeky Sandy
Elmo cake! Hand crafted by yours truly.
Sage eyeballs the cake.
Munchkins gathering 'round sweet sweet Elmo..
Another munchkin, with similar hat issues. I wanted Rob to stay and be my Garden Gnome, but I was too shy to ask.
Me. Don't look at the greys. I'm obliterating them at the end of August.

Here's Part Won of Sage's party video...



And Here's Part Too

ha. that worked.

problems posting

I posted a note yesterday about it being Sage's birthday and I can't see it. Can anyone else see it? Can you see this note? If you CAN see this, could you please leave a comment? Maybe it's my computer needing a kick.

*kick*kick*kick*

Sage is One!

Happy Birthday Sage!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy BIRTHDAY dear Saaaaaaaaage,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Sage

I got in trouble for not posting any recent photos of Sage. (Just kidding Linda!) So here you go!

Eating an Ernie and Bert magnet

Saying "ffffffffffffff"
Yummy Crinkly Bottle
A nice view of the inside of his mouth. Also a natural posture for playing Flute!
So happy!
Is that my hand?
Standing at the front door.
Smiling around the binky.
Sage, Hayden, and their friend Robbie in the rocking chair.

Charged Online

Our Wii is finally playing others online with Mario Strikers Charged. A soccer game that comes with all of the fun and creativity of the Mario franchise. What I like is that it's not a serious sports game, there are shells flying, banana peels to slip on, and the great megastrikes with the team captains. And online play is great, you can play friends or just random people in ranked matches. What's better then playing strangers across the World in soccer? (I personally haven't won an online match yet but I'm slowly getting better) With monthly rankings and always someone to play against online I see long lasting appeal for Mario Strikers Charged.

Signed,

Jake

mm mm mm mmm mmmmmmmm

On a personal note (hey aren't these ALL personal notes?) this is my first pie that isn't a soupy mess! I was so happy *sniffle* Also I made it in a cake pan cuz I don't have a pie plate. It didn't seem to be a bad thing! Deep Dish Pie. mm.

Hayden's Costume and Pie

Today Hayden and I went in the newly refilled pool with our shirts on. Unfortunately his was the last one in the drawer, so we had to borrow one of Sage's shirts afterward. He looks like he's wearing a Sean costume, as I knew him before he moved out to Vancouver. IE wearing a baby t, spiked hair, no pants...



And HERE is my domestic creation to beat all others! I made FROM SCRATCH a Peach and Raspberry Pie! The crust was fun. I've never made a pie crust before, but I inherited a pastry .. uh.. masher I guess, when my dad purged stuff from his kitchen. When I took it I thought it was a potato masher, oddly shaped. It's got a horizontal handle and attached to it is a horseshoe shaped band of metal. The band is divided into 4 or 5 blades at the bottom of the U. I saw Anna Olsen using one just like it on Sugar the other week and I said "hey! That's like my potato masher!" and then it occurred to me that I might be able to make pie crusts by hand too. I'd only ever seen them being made by food processor on tv before. And I don't have a food processor. The raspberries are from up the lawn, and the peaches were on sale at Food Basics yesterday, $2.88 for a whole basket. I had to do something with them today because they were very ripe. Jake can use the basket for blueberry picking (or raspberries now I guess, since it might be too late for blueberries.) Anyway take a look at my pie. I can't wait to dig into it after supper tonight!

Check out the flakey crust...

Here's a closer look.. you can actually see the flakiness...

Incidentally if anyone wants to come over for pie.. you're quite welcome!

Been a while, eh?

A friend of mine posted on her blog that the summer was causing a big slowdown in posting frequency, and I have to agree.

Pretty soon I'll be returning to work at Canadian Blood Services. Tuesday September fourth to be exact. Mindilicious's birthday! I'll think of you all day long while they recertify me in WHMIS (for the toner LOL), Company Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP - basically means instead of scribbling over something when you make a mistake, you have to draw a line, initial and date. But they like taking a few hours a year to explain so in buggerish great detail.) and other lovely programs and policies. I'll see all the changes that have occured while I was gone, and I'll say phrases like this, I'm going to wager... at least 20 times: "Yep! I'm back." or "No actually I don't miss the kids too much yet." and the obligatory "Yes of course I missed YOUR smiling face THE MOST while I was gone." I'm keeping my Pennington's job when I go back, because I can work a shift or two a week in exchange for the 50% discount, oh and the paycheque.

So I'm taking a French course. Wanna know why? It's complicated, and I'm not sure how confidential, but I wasn't told it was, so anyway.. well,whatever. I'm probably making too much of this as an issue --

- insert footage of Monty Python's Holy Grail when the army stands on the crest of a hill and they all shout in unison "GET ON WITH IT!!" -

ANYWAY I am taking advantage of the career bridging program that CBS offered me since the new automated voice messaging (AVM) they're going to implement either at the end of November or January is going to mean I'm possibly laid off. So they gave me this information package which outlines how much CBS will pay either to move or to take courses. I decided to take French as a second language at College Boreal. I had a very fun assessment call from the teacher who said I could start at beginner level two. She almost said I could go into three, but my verb congigation wasn't so hot. SO If I take a few french courses, I'll be able to apply to more jobs. If I'm laid off. Sigh. I don't even know when I'll know if I'm laid off. Management said they would know the size of the new team in mid-September. A lot of CSRs are getting bumped off dayshift. Not laid off tho, they were promised AVM wouldn't cost them their jobs. (Too bad we ALL didn't get that promise.) ANYWAY I'm getting slightly bitter, so I'll just change the subject.

We're refilling the pool for the .. uh.. fourth time this summer. Good thing water is free! It isn't even costing our landlords any money because we're on a bypassed hose connected to the house (along with all the other houses and businesses in this immediate area) due to the construction happening on the highway right beside our house. We've had the bypass for almost two months now. Because the hoses lie on top of the ground, the water from the 'cold' tap is often warm and sometimes hot! I had to empty the pool again because it got really cloudy, and everything I kept adding to it just made it cloudier and cloudier. It ended up looking like milk. I bought a pool clarifier which said specifically not to use it with the type of pump I had, but I couldn't forsee why it would've said that, and thought that turning the pump off for the duration of its use would be sufficient. Nope. The REASON you can't use it with the type of pump we have is: The chemical causes the cloudy chemicals to clump together and they no longer are able to float suspended in the water. They sink to the bottom. Yay! So that happened. But then you have to vacuum out the layer of white gunk. Unfortunately the "clumps" are still small enough to pass right through the filter we have in the vacuum and the pump. Sigh. So there was nothing I could do except stir it all up again and empty it out. Luckily the water we're filling it up with isn't cold :o)

Kitty is getting a tummy on her. She is due to have her kittens on September 10th. That's the 63rd day after she had her romantic liaison with that little black tom who came a-callin. Did you know girl cats are called Queens? I think that's so much nicer than dog lingo - we all know what female dogs are called. I hope I'm home when she goes into labour. Maybe I should get a kitty midwife to baby sit her.

Ta ta for now!