Naughty things come in small packages…

How very true that statement is, especially when considering Taste of Edmonton! Teehee. I know, it’s too late for the reviews to be any use, but if you worked with me, you could see this review updated as I tried foods each and every workday lunch. So what did I try and how did I find it?

Smoked Mac and cheese with Boar bacon – 4.5 stars (OMG – this was sooo good – fabulous food to start with)
Vegetable Tempura – 4 stars (this is always good, but found the large was only an extra piece or two)
Donair Poutine – 4 stars (this was really good – the gravy was so tasty)
Mini mac melt – 4.5 stars (mac and cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon – how could this ever be wrong?)
Banana Bread Pudding with caramel sauce, whipped cream, and bruléed banana – 5 stars (wow – all around perfect goodness)
Wild Mushroom bisque – 5 stars (this soup was tasty and a good size!)
Mac scone with whipped cream – 3 stars (I love the scone, but please stop putting strawberries in the compote – it tastes better with the compote)
Beef lemongrass skewer – 3.5 stars (this was good and a lot of meat)
Jerk Chicken – 3 stars (It was good, just not spicy/jerky enough for me)
Dry Spicy Chicken – 3.5 stars (always good, have yet to really find it spicy, but a definite staple)
Mushroom cream sausage rotini – 3.5 stars (this was completely fresh – I watched him make it – and good, but needed some extra umph)
Cinnamon naan – 4.5 stars (the large was huge, but ohhhh so tasty!)
Chicken tikka and garlic naan – 4 stars (always a favorite of mine, but the size seemed smaller this year despite getting a large)
Bison cannelloni – 4 stars (tasty, great mushroom cream sauce)
Chicken and waffles – 4.5 stars (was expecting fried chicken, but got a healthy almost tandoori spice chicken which was surprising and very good – waffles was so sweet and the maple syrup over top was fascinating)
Limone sorbetto – 5 stars (totally what I wanted, perfect bite and freshness)

Aside from that, so much has been going on that it has been a mix of utter craziness and despair/boredom.

For work, I spent several days in Ottawa. On the last day we hiked over to Gatineau (so I can now say I have been as far east as Quebec in Canada). Ottawa is a beautiful city (well, downtown is) with the canal, all the green spaces, and the mix of old and new buildings. A coworker and I spent some time together getting to know each other, which is great since we will be doing training together in the future. Ottawa is also nice because I felt I could walk around by myself alone and not feel fearful. And boy did we walk. The first day I did the least amount of steps at 15,000 and the highest day was 27,000 steps. It was a half hour walk just to the meeting room and then we walked at lunch and then in the evening there was more walking. That is the nice aspect of Ottawa downtown, there is lots to do. I had a Beaver Tail (num!), but was disappointed with the poutine (it was okay, but the gravy wasn’t fabulous). I brought home some maple butter (oh my – if you have not had this yet, I highly encourage it!). My main complaint about Ottawa (besides the airport not having enough food places) is the humidity. There is no glistening in Ottawa; there is dampness and drips and puddles. I could not believe how moist one could feel when it was not raining. Blech.

Other than that, work has been crazy. I need to get more detached. I value right and wrong too highly and when others decide to follow a path that is so evidently wrong, unfair, etc. I get far too invested. I need to take that step back and let things go. Let the bigger bosses make their decisions and just cya myself. Once I have let them know where the considerations and potential consequences lie, then I need to go on to something new.

At home, the renovations have started again. As usual, the more you peel back, the more you find. I cannot believe all we have found thus far. My allergies are a mess, the basement seems to be a mud pit, but supposedly is solid, and thank goodness there seems to be no major foundation cracks. Demolition is done and we are awaiting a bit more info before the rest gets really started. So far, we had to call in a structural engineer for advice. We’ll see how the next steps go. I think once this gets done, there will be a lot more work we will need to do as a consequence of what is going on now. It is frustrating, stressful, and a relief all at the same time.

Psychologically, it is interesting how people handle the same situation so differently. D is reaching out and is so busy getting involved, while I am at home, trying not to impose on people. I need a girls’ night or something. I need some friends and conversation, some gossip and info sharing, and some laughter and tears. I need to feel again; not lonely or bored, but appreciated and included. I wish I could be doing some of my hobbies, but with the renovations, everything is so messed up – stuff is in boxes, packed and stacked and space is at a premium. I am catching up on True Blood – I can’t believe I was 3 seasons behind. I just finished last season, so I can starting watching Season 6. And it has been interesting. I am becoming one of those people who like watching the season in full. I still like the drama of having to wait a week, but it is nice watching a show like this back to back. So many more shows to do that with. I cannot believe how full my PVR is. Sighhhh… I honestly wonder if I will ever catch up, or even I should. I should just delete some things and get that over with, but that is so hard to me. I want to watch them, but I don’t want to waste my time in front of the TV. Such an endlessly annoying cycle.

I cannot believe how depressed I have been. I was busy for several weeks trying to pack up the basement and that kept me active. But now renovations have started and there is nothing for me to do, other than chores. My garden has exploded. What a difference a week makes. I spent 3 hours picking raspberries, peas, beans, and weeds. There is more weeding and picking to do, but I don’t want to. My house is as clean as it gets with renovations. I don’t feel like exercising, though I know I should. I don’t want to go shopping as there aren’t really funds to do that. My eating has been horrendous lately. I have been reading non-fiction books, which doesn’t really help my mood. And I have been spending a lot of time alone. I like being alone – it recharges me, but when you spend evening after evening, followed by weekends alone, it gets depressing. You start thinking and wondering and wishing and missing. And then when I do get out, I don’t want to talk about how depressed I am or how lonely my life is, so I either talk inanely or just listen.

I did devour the latest Laurell K Hamilton book, Affliction. God I love this author. I love her books, the world she writes in, her characters. I loved this line and thought it depicted some of my thinking in the d&d world lately:

“We hunt and kill things. When it comes to a stand-up fight like it did yesterday, we are soldiers first, cops second, because even if we negotiate with the bad guys, they know, and we know, that we are going to kill them. “

I think this very true of some heroes. We aren’t there to enforce the law; to some extent, we act like the law. We are helping take out evil, but sometimes, you have to negotiate with evil to get to the next point. It doesn’t make you evil because the negotiating is done with both parties knowing that someday, negotiating won’t work and death will be the only end. But today is not that day and so negotiating happens.

I saw that I am over 6000 visitors – whoot! That means somewhere out there, someone is reading about my life. Thank you. I do appreciate it.

Anyway, I should get on to some other chores. Have a couple bills to pay and prep for work tomorrow and make supper and maybe pick some weeds out front.

Travel Journal Entry June 15 to 18, 2012 Or To part is great sorrow and so we will return someday

Goodbye Scotland.
Goodbye London.
I see you brought the tears again. You cried when we left Scotland while London was happy to see us and now London is sad to see us go too.

What a change two weeks can bring to a city. London’s covered even more in constructions. I pity the people working there. It is so chaotic, trying to get around. This weekend had the colors parade, followed by some March on Sunday. Both left getting around chaotic, delayed and frustrating.

4 more hours and I can start relaxing. By then the plane should have taken off. We are both exhausted. Early to bed, but then we got waken up by the upstairs people, well elephants who were showering and stomping and banging things for an hour. Then D couldn’t fall asleep and it took me a long while. Early to rise and now I am tired, D is cranky, and I just want to sleep. Sighhhh. Have to do Customs & VAT thing, check in, get breakfast, and wait. Joy!

Hopefully, the toilets at te airport are free. So weird to pay 20 to 30 pence to use one.

So it’s about an hour until land time. I should catch up with all of the last few days. While I love the book and I wanted to keep up, I just got caught in living the experience and then I got a head cold the last few days. I took a reactine this morning and the fact that I am still sniffling and coughing lets you know how bad it could have been. I didn’t want to be that sick on the plane.

So the 15th was a Friday and our last full day in Scotland. We got to meet up with Robbie. We first hit the National Museum and did the Scotland side, then met with Robbie who had just had his tooth pulled. He wasn’t doing so well – as was to be expected. We met at Café Nero and he recommended an Iced lemonade – Num! We talked for about an hour and then went our separate ways. After all, he had to recover. The next day was the start of the next country roads of Scotland tour.

Because it was a rainy day, we ended up back to the National Museum and did the other side. Rob had suggested an Italian place near the Museum for supper and it was delicious! I started with soup and D with garlic bread. Then we shared a Milano pizza, followed by dessert, where D had the chocolate cake and I had the Dulca dish. The fun part was watching them isolate a mouse who had made it into the restaurant (not unexpected since the front door was wide open) without freaking out the customers. They were very good, though their methods would end up with the mouse suffocating under the raised eating section… so not sure how that will work.

Saturday the 16th was another rainy day. We were up and out for train travel. It was a nice ride, though sad. We ended up in London Victoria around 2 and by 3 we were out the door for shopping. It was sunny in London, supposedly had rained most of the two weeks we had been gone. There was a Colors parade that day, which we missed, but we got stuck in the traffic, so we didn’t do the Goth shopping. We did Madam Toussard’s instead. It was interesting – not worth the cost (and we had gotten a discount) – the crowds we terrible, but it was still cool. We did not do the “scream” section. We did talk a bit with one of the artists, which was fascinating and cool.

Then the long bus tour back, which would have been great except the sound wasn’t working so we couldn’t get the info about what we were seeing. We ate at the last restaurant Prezzo in Victoria Shopping Centre (i.e. not McDs, KFC or the buffet place) which was Italian. I had soup and D had garlic cheese bread. Then I had 2 different pastas, both of which were good; D had lobster and crab tortellini. We didn’t do dessert as we were both getting ill. D drank the Peroni.

Sunday the 17th we were out and about for Goth shopping. We headed out to Regent Park by the hop on the bus and then a good walk to Camden market. What a place! Too many people. We couldn’t find the place and no one seemed to know them (not even other ‘Goth’ type stores.) We walked back to Regent and got off on Oxford Street to visit Hamley’s. That was fun and huge! Wow!

Then it was a maze to get on the next bus because there was a March of some sort going on and lots of roads were being closed. I pity people who live there. As I previously mentioned, the construction had increased by the time we returned.

It was an early evening – to pack and go to bed early. Dinner was at a local pub – I had the Sunday chicken roast with Yorkshire pudding. D had fish and chips (which wasn’t as good as we had had.) Dessert for me was apple crumble with ice cream and D had chocolate cake.

We went to bed at an early hour, but the people above us were loud from 11pm to midnight. Ick! Ugh! Hard to fall back to sleep.

It was up at 4:30 am this morning, followed by a rapid walk to the train and trying to find things in Gatwick. We couldn’t get the extra VAT back – no one was working. Sighhhh.

Travel Journal Entry June 14, 2012 Or More shopping, more kilt stuff

Thursday morning and it is another beautiful day in Edinburgh. Today is shopping day! We have plans for hitting Romanes and Paterson, some jewelry stores, and maybe the Writer’s museum and the National Museum. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see if Rob responded regarding getting together tonight; there was talk of a literary pub crawl.

Rob was a no-go, but we should see him tomorrow afternoon. We did lots of shopping. D ended up spending almost as much at R&P and didn’t get a kilt. Oy! Then we got everyone back home presents and picked up some jewelry for me. Lunch was at The Filling Station – American food that was pretty decent. We each had a milkshake which was good. D had the pulled pork and fries and I had a spicy chicken wrap (not at all spicy). Supper was at the Advocate – food was cheap but tasty! D had scampi and chips for dinner and I had a Mexican chili salad. Dessert was a Banoffee Bash which tasted like a banana cream pie with toffee sponge cake and toffee sauce on top instead of whipped cream. It was tasty! D drank a pint of Golden Amber.

We spent far too much, which is rather annoying. And so much on D, which is also annoying! It should be all about me! Teehee.
Bed time!

Travel Journal Entry June 13, 2012 Or the buying of the kilt

Today, we are checking to see if Robbie responded and if not, then we are off to Old town again to do the pay required stops (after we get our Edinburgh pass). Then tomorrow, we’ll head over to New town and talk to the Kilt guy Robbie knows, check out Alstir jewelry on Rose street and not sure after that. We thought we’d hit the kilt tomorrow so we still have Friday available to do as we please. By doing Arthur’s Seat yesterday, we have freed up a day. No word from Robbie yet, which may mean we won’t see him. Something could have happened. Hopefully he is alright and nothing drastic happened with his tooth or because of his tooth.

Robbie finally got ahold of us. We agreed to meet him at 3 at the Roxburghe. Before that, we took the bus to Princes Street and bought a day pass for Edinburgh and then we spent the next few hours shopping and visiting the paid sites along the Royal Mile. (Editor’s note: we started at the Queen’s Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and worked our back up.) We saved a bit of cash. If I had remember that we saved in the gift shop, it would have been better. Sighhhh.

By 2:30, we were back on Princes Street and on our way to meet Robbie. He took us to HMV to go over the movies he had suggested - a recent Red Dwarf, then to the book store to see a book he think we should read (Word War Z). Then to the kilt guy – who was in the pub when we arrived. After a drink, we went to the kilt maker’s business and in about 2 hours or so, we bought a hand sewn kilt. Howie has done kilts for Vin Diesel, Alan Cummings, and Brian Cox. We got to hear some interesting stories, D drank some celebratory whisky and such is business. (Note: I made them squirm/laugh a couple of times, especially when I mentioned that paisley looks like sperm. Teehee! Neither Robbie nor Howie had considered that.) Then it was pack to the pub, where the kilt guy bought D a beer and Rob a coffee. We met some pals of his as well as his family. While Howie and his family were off to see the torch come through Edinburgh, D and I went to Iris for supper (Rob recommended it). Nummy! D had the swordfish; I had the rib eye streak – both were divine. We shared minted new potatoes and mixed veggies (carrots and pea pods).

Then back to the hotel to organize and such. Kilt should arrive around September.

Travel Journal Entry June 12, 2012 Or Deep thinking on a train

When it was mentioned in passing that someone was their maiden name, Robbie gave this look. It’s been bothering me since. It’s not that I don’t think people identify with being their married names, but they are also their maiden name and sometimes they have been their maiden name longer. I was thinking about the males (of course) of the Scottish clans whose heralds are half their father’s and half their mother’s. Can’t that be something that happens when you get married? I am not a believer or fan of giving over your identity when you get married. I will never be a Mrs. Something. I am a Ms. and I will always be. People can be individuals within a couple. So a person would be both their maiden life and their married life. Both are a component of who they are.

Maybe that is the difference when one gets married later in life. One doesn’t give up an identity or one has time to develop an identity before being part of a couple.

Anyway – Duart castle from yesterday. They have done some excellent work on the renovation to the castle. It’s interesting that the clan had to buy back the castle from the Campbells. We could not confirm Robbie’s story, but we learned that Sean Connery’s mother is the same clan. And that the director wanted to tear down a tree in the courtyard during the Entrapment movie, but the chief said absolutely no. The tree had been planted for the chief’s father’s 100th birthday. It was both heartening and amusing to watch D. For someone who tosses possessions, it was like D needed something to connect with (like maybe a rock from the millennium woods of the castle – nope, wasn’t me!) D loved the castle. We stayed almost 4 hours. We had soup and soda bread for lunch and shared a lemon drop (a 2 layer cake with icing on top and in the middle.) (Editor’s note: as we were coming back from lunch, there was the sound of bagpipes coming from the courtyard. D went up to investigate and found a German biker who had requested permission to play his bagpipes there. He was good. )

We waked some of the grounds, spent a heck of a lot at the gift store, had a good conversation with a few of the staff and then back to Oban. Hindsight – we could have grabbed the train at 6 and been back in Glasgow or even Edinburgh by evening.

We did have some excitement. When buying a second stash from the gift shop, our cards were declined. We were not amused. When back at Oban, trying to make a call was impossible. We had to find a payphone and then the number on the card wasn’t working. We were trying to track down some more info when the guy at the hotel bar offered to let us try paying the hotel bill – which went through. OMG!!! My theory is their machine is not set to do anything under 10 pounds on credit.

It peeves me off that D can be such an arse/hypocrite. D tells me it does no good to get mad and then proceeds to get mad. When I pressed on this, D said it is because when I get mad, I cry and that doesn’t help. Like getting mad at me and the iPod touch does any good. I don’t know how one just accepts this trait in someone. Or how to respond differently to it. It’s a resentment builder.

Anyway, we are on the train to Glasgow and then Edinburgh now. We sent Robbie a message, but haven’t heard back yet. We have some ideas of what we want to do still, so we’ll see how it goes.
(Editor’s note: I did a bit of a future entry, which I will expand on later. It was a looooong ride.)

Dinner was at Deacon Brodie’s Tavern. D had boar and chorizo burger. I had half Scholthrope chicken (roasted chicken). For drinks, I had a mango and passion fruit and D had the Caledonan red ale. Dessert for me was Banoffee – OMG – this was delish. Utterly delish!

After arriving, we took a taxi to our hotel and then the bus back to Old Town – well, that was our goal. We had asked the bus driver to let off as close to Arthur’s Seat as possible and he forgot. Oops! So we got a tour of northwest Edinburgh and got to chat with the bus driver. He says we should walk along the banks of the Fife as it is beautiful. We made it back to Old Town and walked to Arthur’s Seat. After stopping for an ice cream and pop (me and D respectively), we started the walk. I made it two-thirds up before my fears halted me. Pretty good, I think. D went all the way up. I’m disappointed that I didn’t make it to the top, but still proud of how high I had gotten. Between a lack of faith in myself and my backpack, I just didn’t feel comfortable. But I sat at the nearest embankment and took pictures of the view – which considering my fear of heights, that’s pretty good.

Travel Journal Entry June 11, 2012 Or Some of the people who made our trip fantastic

Early start this morning, but we are on the train to Oban now. We asked a nice gentleman how the train worked and he was impressed that we were early (we were really early, we hit mostly walk signs), so when the train arrived, he ensured we got on the right train and that we got a seat with a table.

To ask the chief – Entrapment movie –We were told that during the Entrapment movie, the chief stopped production because the name of the family was the Campbells. Since the Campbells had taken the clan castle from our clan and we just recently got it back, the chief supposedly said no Campbell will own this castle again; they couldn’t even rent it for a week. Supposedly it was proposed to change the name to MacDonald and the chief allowed them to continue shooting, saying the MacDonalds could never take the castle anyway.

As we ride the train, here it the rundown on some of the people we toured with so I don’t forget them.

John and Bronwyn from Australia – John worked for 30 years as a conservation person and Bron was a teacher, specializing in assessing special needs kids. They now own 23 hectares, much of which they are letting go wild. They recently installed solar panels and are now getting money back. John loves to take movies and he is on YouTube. His movies include some kids singing and kangaroos on his property. They are great people. They have been married about 10-11 years as well, but have been friends for 20-30 years. John’s wife died and within a year they were engaged and married. He found out after his wife died that she had told their kids that she hoped he and Bron got together. How utterly sweet and romantic!

Michael is an interesting gentleman. Quiet, behind the scenes kind of guy, he had recently retired after 42 years as a props master. His first job was in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. He also did some “fill in” animation for the Aristocrats, but decided it wasn’t for him. For TV, he worked on shows such as Jake and the Fatman, Starsky & Hutch, the Hulk, and more recently True Blood. We were the first people he told where he worked and of course, I am a fan of True Blood. He is a a really funny guy, who doesn’t look like he is in his 60s. He told me I was funny and then whispered in my ear that I was beautiful.

Helen and Rob from South Africa – Helen was a sweetie, very much like a grandmother. They were celebrating their 50th anniversary. She was a nurse and he worked… I want to say Finance. Both very nice and interesting people. Helen had a dislike of the ferries as well. So we bonded over shared Gravol pills (she liked the taste of the ginger.)

Julie and Sue are sisters, though the one who looked older wasn’t the oldest. Sue seemed quieter (the oldest) and Julie was outgoing. They stayed extra in Glasgow as well. They were very nice people.

Mark and Larissa were the more ‘annoying’ couple – both loud and heavily accented – they came across as rather pompous and demanding. They are both very intelligent and can be quite funny. They were also the ones most often late and wanting this their way.

Marlene and Reg are from Moosejaw and are also very nice people. They would be cool to hang out with, very down to earth.

And then there is Robbie. He singled us out at the outset with the last name. He was our tour guide. He has great stories and was quite willing to help D find roots. He recommended books and places. You know when you meet someone and you just are drawn to them; that’s Robbie. We spent several evening talking with him near the end, once we knew we could. He plied D with beer and whisky. He told us stories. It was interesting how some of the personal stories changed though. He started with having a girlfriend and last time he told us he was married. Still haven’t asked if the girlfriend is the same as his wife, who is getting her Phd. The last conversation we had, he admitted he was a geek, which got us into talking about games and such. I think it came about because he mentioned Vin Diesel and I say he was hot and had his d&d character tattooed across his stomach. So it was really cool to find out we have so much in common.

We are supposed to meet him in Edinburgh and speak to a friend of his for a kilt in the Ancient clan tartan. Then maybe do dinner or a pub tour.

We bought him drinks at the last evening. It’s only fair. He said it was interesting that the others only interacted with him when the drinks were free.

Dinner waswas at the Waterfront Bar and Restaurant where D had the shellfish pasta and I had the haddock. Very delicious and well deserved after a long day. D drank Fosters and I had an appletiser. Goodness, I love those appletisers. Teehee

Travel Journal Entry June 10, 2012 Or The morning after the tearful goodbye to the tour

Officially last night was the final big get together. So we got to sleep in and there weren’t a lot of people around for breakfast. We got to do a few tearful goodbyes and hopes of travelling again together. About 8 of the group were staying in Glasgow, but it seemed we were all doing out own thing. We had breakfast and made some plans for the next few days.

We went to St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Art and life, then to the People’s Palace and then shopping. (Editor’s note: The museum is fascinating. As someone who was brought up being taught about different religions so I could choose from a place of knowledge, I found the collection interesting and enlightening. The Golden Veil is a fascinating piece; there is a presentation on the second floor showing different people’s reactions to it and even when showing the picture to people, each person reacts differently. The other interesting there was a declaration signed by representatives of different religions in Glasgow saying they would accept each other and exist together. It was done in response to September 11. Glasgow is known for being very open to various religions. The story is the Scots were too busy fighting each other to worry about the other religions. Teehee. The People’s Palace was quite interesting as well – the tiles in the bathroom were of Shakespeare’s plays, the fascinating story of Glasgow and the Tenements, and the detailed presentations of the different classes along the years.) Compass Gallery wasn’t too exciting and it was closed (Editor’s note: I really wanted to pick up art from Scotland and this gallery was promoted as a great place to get economical art.) We went to Sauchiehall street and then down Buchanan street. D found a comic book shop and then we found a cool market where we bought some jewelry (Editor’s note: it was kind of a scary area, but the first vendor we came too had some excellent pieces and we bought some really funky pieces as we talked with them about their visits to the Calgary Stampede.)

Then it was back to the hotel to rest and do more planning and packing.
We ate at Wetherspoon – delish food and fantastic prices. It cost us 11 pounds for supper, which included a pint of Carlberg for D and lemonade for me; D had the bacon burger and I had the gourmet chicken burger (it was spicy goodness).

On the way to the Wetherspoon, we saw Tyler Hilton, the actor who plays Chris Keller on One Tree Hill. COOL!!! He was staying at our hotel! Whoot! Yes, I am a bit of a fan.

That night we spent some more time with Robbie and D had the Bobear and whisky from the Isles.

Travel Journal Entry June 9, 2012 or Glasgow is like coming home to Edmonton

We did the Glasgow city tour in the morning with the tour and ended up hitting several of our desired places. We then went to the Museum of Transport in the afternoon, which was fascinating. (Editor’s note: The story of the HMS Hood was very interesting. D stayed to listen to the whole presentation, but I just got the highlights. But the presentation was truly amazing in that as you listen to the display, these white lights come on and then 2 green ones, more white, a single green, and more white. You find out the three green lights represent where the 3 survivors were on the ship. Only three survivors out of a crew of 1418 on a ship that took 2 years to build, 2 years to outfit and 2 minutes to sink – a truly heartbreaking tale.)

Supper was at the Corinthian Club. D and I had the tomato lentil soup followed by the penne pasta. D had the strawberry shortcake for dessert and I had the sticky toffee pudding. Yum yum! (Editor’s note: What an elegant place too! I felt underdressed, but then again, I did not pack for fancy events.)

D tried the LowenBrau beer.

Travel Journal Entry June 8, 2012 Or My writing continues to be sketchy

It was a late morning start. We spent a bit of time shopping in Portree. I picked up some lovely jewelry. A funny fact – you shop for your real estate at the same place as you buy your meat – the butcher’s. Hilarious!

We then went over to the MacDonald Clan Museum for scones. Yum - even though I picked out all the raisins.

Then we took the ferry to Mallaig. What a nice ride – very calm, easy, but noisy.
From there, we took the Hogwart’s Express train… whoot! (Editor’s note: We got excellent pictures of the viaduct both coming towards and leaving. Note: do not open the windows when you go through tunnels on this train. It is a coal burning train and hence all the smoke from the burning coal goes into the car and you choke on the fumes. Some idiot in the front did this to us. Sighhhh… We did figure out half way along the ride that they do a short whistle before tunnels to let you know to close the windows. I wish someone had explained this at the start of the ride.)

We had a quick lunch in Fort William where D and I shared haddock and chips. Then it was back on the coach to the Three Sisters and Glencoe. What a sad, sad story.

Then we visited Loch Lomond, where I got a picture with Helen and me.
For supper D had the Belhaven best (Editor’s note: again I have no idea what we had for supper as it is not in my book. I am sure there is a piece of paper with this written down.)

Travel Journal Entry June 7, 2012 Or The days blur together and I forget to write

We drove along the coast – Tongue – coast and hill

Falls of Shin (Editor’s note: this is a beautiful area, but honestly my first thought was that we call these rapids in Canada, not falls. My second thought was these bleepin’ midges better get out of my face. Those are mean suckers – they went straight for my face, which considering I was taking pictures was not exactly appreciated.)

Oykel Bridge in Ross-shire which was made from Hadrian’s Wall. (Editor’s note: This was a fascinating tale about a General who used the material from Hadrian’s Wall to make roads and bridges during the war. What was funny was our guide betting the driver that he could show us Hadrian’s Wall, which the driver was convinced could not happen since we were in northern Scotland and the Wall is in northern England. Then he explained about the general as we paused by this bridge. So we got to check another thing off our list even though technically we weren’t anywhere hear the original wall. Teehee.)


Mountains – old rock to the rick, Thunder thing new rock to the left. Mountains along fault line – Knockan Crag (Editor’s note: A beautiful area showing how Scotland’s landscape was formed. Despite being a science student, I did not do any research on the geography before we left, so I learned tons. I did not realize that Scotland was along 2 tectonic plates and that much of it is formed from lava. Another fascinating reason to visit.)

Isle of Skye- we drove past on the way to Eilean Donan Castle (Editor’s note: I was not here for this castle, but I did get a fantastic picture of a rather gleeful D taking pictures of this castle.)

Supper was at Tonga Gate (Editor’s note – we were exhausted this day and we had a tour coming up, so sadly I did not write down what we ate or if I did – I am not sure where I wrote it because it is not in my journal.)

After supper we did the Skye tour. (Editor’s note: This was a fascinating tour. The guides here are fantastic with the weaving of fact with story and you are entertained at the same time you are learning. We took the bus on this tour and the driver had to do a hair pin curve. While that wasn’t the scariest moment on the bus, it was rather impressive. I swear we could have put our hand just outside the front window and touched the cliff going up and those at the back were hanging over the cliff going down. Skye is a beautiful place to visit – picturesque and quant.)

A Taste of Edmonton

For last few years, I have been attending A Taste of Edmonton for lunch each work day. Yes, this is one of the perks of working downtown. At the request of a friend, I rated the food I ate on a scale of 1 to Beam Me Up Scotty (i.e. 10). Here were my thoughts:


Day 1 - I highly recommend the Maple Bacon Poutine – wow is that delish! I think the maple is in the gravy. Num, num! Unfortunately, the Mac Scone Sundae has either strawberries or chocolate with it, so I couldn’t try that. So instead I had the white cream horn from Italian Bakery, which is as expected, very yummy! I would say Poutine at 8.5 and cream horn at 7.

I am holding out the beam me up Scottie yet… I think there are some Mexican options out there that might be higher… ;) Oh, and the tikka masala… and the pear pie… so many things to try!

Oh, don’t forget the Kraft truck. The waffle with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff was delicious! And free!

Day 2 - Today I had the burrito norento – that was a 9. It had the perfect spicy bit and the rice was good! Then I had the vegetable tempura, which is also a 9. This is a yearly favorite and you get so much for 4 tickets!

Day 3 - Today was the Rioja Braised Chorizo with Spanish Bean Salad – OMG – that’s a 9.5. So nummy!
I also had the Pear Pie with whip cream and caramel sauce – I would give it an 8. It was very tasty and yet light.

Day 4 - Teehee… too many choices, that is the problem… and so many that look so good… I have 5 items left to try. For sure I want the Roti Canai, the Jerk chicken and the Chicken Tikka. Other possibilities are the Taco al Pastor and the Calzone.

I did have the tandoori chicken samosa – it was good. A solid 8… very tasty, not too spicy.
I also had the smoked turkey gumbo. That was an 8.5. Good spicy, nice thick base, good smoked meat.

Day 5 - Today was a small day. I had leftover hot dogs I had to eat, so I just got one item and I had the chicken tikka with garlic naan. It was very tasty, the garlic naan was fresh, though I found we did not get as much as we did last year, so for that reason I am only giving them a 7.5.

Day 6 - Sorry – was going to send you an email yesterday afternoon, but got pulled in a few different directions and completely forgot until I was closing my computer to go home. Yesterday I had the spicy chicken which was okay – only a 7 – lots of food for the price, it was tasty, but they seemed to rely on red pepper flakes for heat and so it really wasn’t all that hot to me. I also had the Roti Canai which again was okay – it’s just pieces of tortilla/naan/pita type bread with some spicy sauce. I would give it a 5 – it was okay, but not really worth it.

Day 7 - Today is the last day and I have 11 tickets left. Oh the choices…
I had the mango lassi – which was tasty, I’ll give it an 8
And the Chick pea Salad – this was very tasty, though there was a lot of dressing at the bottom and not so much on top, so a bit of an unbalance. Overall, a 7.5
Lastly, I had the Jamaican beef pattie – this was good! Very taste, good spices, decent size. I give this an 8.5.

So unfortunately no beam me up Scotties this year, but some decent food. Thankfully, I had nothing gross. ;)

Travel entry June 6, 2012 Or The beauty in the starkness of the Orkneys

St Margaret’s Hope is a church built in the Orkneys. It was built for the Italian prisoners of war. They were asked to assist with building the bridges between the islands and some roads during the road. They said that would go against the Geneva Convention; however, the Scots argued that this was just assisting with infrastructure. So the Italians agreed to help as long as they could have a church. So the army gave them two structures and they joined them to make a church. Inside, they have painted the inside with such detail that the tiles look real.

We got to visit the Highland Park distillery and learn how whisky is made (that would be scotch to the rest of us). Fascinating process – love the smell of peat, but not the smell of yeast. We got to see a bottle of whisky worth $6200 Canadian. Whoot!

We saw the Stenness Stones – the Scottish Stonehenge. We drove by the Ring of Brodgar and then visited Skara Brae and Skaill House – which were fascinating. Skara Brae is a settlement from 5000 BC; the skill of the people from then was stunning – the building of tunnels underground to join the buildings so you wouldn’t have to go outside, the shelves built into the walls, completely awe-inspiring.
In the middle of the loch by Skara Brae and Skaill house is Ubby Island. A servant at Skaill house, Ubby, wanted his own island, so every night he loaded up his little boat with rocks and dropped them at the same place in the loch until there was enough to make an island. He covered it with turd and called it his. When he knew it was his time, he gathered some friends who went out and sat with him. He died on his island and rumor has it his ghost haunts Skaill house.

Lunch as at a hotel restaurant, where I had the haddock and chips and D had the scampi and chips as well as a Tennent beer. We had a great conversation with Michael – he was a props master on True Blood. Cool! He retired recently.

Just a note – the ferry is not fun! Thank goodness for Gravol ginger, an empty stomach, and willpower. (Editor’s note: I am really not sure if it was the ginger Gravol actually working or the fact that it tasted so utterly terrible to me that my body promised not to react to the rocking as long as I stopped feeding it this stuff! If you like ginger, you might like this. If you only kinda like ginger, prepare to think this is hideous… but it works. And the rocking of the boat - well let's just say the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea along the route - you can imagine the roughness.)

We got back to Thurso around 8ish – it was a hurry up to change and get down to eat. Supper was good – I had the potato and leek soup, veggie cheese pasta, and caramel honeycomb with whip cream. Num! D had herring, haddock and the same dessert and Tennent beer again.

Travel Entry June 5, 2012 Or Environmentalism in Scotland

Robbie doesn’t identify as Scottish or Irish – it’s all the same. He identifies with Gael. To him, Gael = us and Gaol = everyone else.

It’s fascinating to hear about the view of environmentalist here. How ‘they’ reuse to change their ways of preserving because they don’t want to acknowledge they are wrong. How because of them, people are getting paid not to have sheep. How because of the decrease in sheep , heather is taking over the ground. How shepards are out of work; they have gone from 20 to 2. The views are interesting.

It was a long day of driving. We stopped in the morning at the Culloden battlefield. Then we hit loch ness, the Emigrant’s statue at Helmsdale and the Castle of Mey. We stopped at the Woolen Mill for lunch.

Robbie bught us loch ness statues from the Monster hunter. He moved to Scotland and set up a trailer by the loch. The locals thought he would be a drain on society, but he makes money to support himself by making little statues and he helps out around the area, getting seniors their groceries and doing odds and ends as needed. His guarantee is that if Nessie doesn’t look like his statues, then he will return your money. Teehee.

The Castle of Mey was interesting, probably because the guide worked for the Queen mom or 20 years before she passed and so has a total of 30 years of working in the house (when the Queen mum died, she stayed on to work as a guide.)

We had supper at the hotel in Thurso. I had mushroom risotto with potatoes, carrots and cabbage. The starter was tomato soup and the dessert was lemon mousse, topped with raspberry mousse. Yum! D had the soup as well, the slaithe (fish) with Ember beer for the entrée, and chocolate fudge pie for dessert

Travel Entry June 4, 2012 Or Let’s shear us some sheep!

It is the first day of driving. I’m not comfortable with leaving our baggage in front of our hotel room door. That is an odd request. D was weird this morning. Snappish… I kept my mouth shut for the most part. Except when D was obviously wrong about stuff.

D didn’t sit with me on the bus – sat behind me. It’s both good and bad. Good because we are getting lots of pictures and I get the seat to myself. Bad because there is no one to talk to. We went to St. Andrews, which is not the oldest golf course, but I got dad a present and took some pictures. Then we walked up to the ruined castle at the end of the town (end is literal as just past is the cliffs into the North Sea.) Back on the bus for a ride into Pithlochy (spelling) for lunch, yes, D was still being a pooh pooh head, then to Blair Castle, which was interesting. I guess they do student exchanges and our castle guides were two of them. The gentleman we had was from Poland and he would be in Scotland for 7 years – wow!

The grounds were amazing with the tall firs – one was ~63.8M tall. Wow! There was a tree over a century old grown from a seed from what is now a 2000 year old tree from the Redwood Forest in California.

Then it was back to the bus to a highland sheepdog presentation. It was funny! The sheep decided not to cooperate and the ‘lazy’ dog let them go… teehee. So Niall had to go get the sheep with the rest of the dogs. Then I helped hand shear a sheep – he said I was the best he had all day. Whee. Then we played with 10 week old puppies. I reached in first to grab one. Teehee. Some people fed lambs, but I was too busy with the puppies. Even, while the demonstration was on, ‘Rob’, one of the dogs (he was named after our guide) sidled up to me for petting.

Then to the hotel for supper – delish! The haggis this time was not as yummy or gamey. Interesting. I had a great conversation with Bronwyn and John. What a lovely couple and story.

Travel journal entry June 3, 2012 or A nice slow start to the tour

No hot breakfast for me. I still ate too much.

Then it was off for our city tour, which ended the morning at the castle. The castle is cool. We saw most of it. The views are amazing! We took pictures from the top of most of the canons.

In the afternoon, we did Britannia, which was interesting but less so than the castle. We walked a bit through the mall and grabbed a couple of Paninis for lunch. Afterwards, we walked Princes street – got D some fancy gloves and me some cashmere gloves. It was actually cold enough that I regretted forgetting to bring my teeny dollar store gloves. And we were a bit worried it would colder in the Orkneys. We also visited the Art gallery, where we met some interesting young men from Germany. Finally, I broken down and had some ice cream. It was as good as I thought (and it certainly was not ice milk.) Now we are off to the Scottish dinner and cabaret.

The dinner show was interesting (yes, my favorite word). The food was delish/fantastic. D had the seafood and I had the beef. Haggis tasted really good, just like a peppery, gamier meat loaf. Neep and Tatties are just turnips and mashed potatoes. The things we learn.

It was a late night though. Afterwards, D and I walked towards the castle to get some shots in the dark as there was a full moon.

Travel journal entry June 2, 2012 or The Royal Mile before a reception

The hotel is quiet and the drapes are better for darkness. So we got to sleep a bit more, though it was a later night, so it still wasn’t enough sleep. Still dozed for a bit. Then up for breakfast, which was a huge selection. I didn’t like the eggs (too watery/too undercooked), so tomorrow no hot food. (Editor’s note: this was a common complaint of mine in Scotland. I like my eggs well-cooked, which we got in London, but Scotland tended to do theirs so it was wetter. Blech!)

Then it was off for walking and touring. We went to North Bridge and across to High Street. We visited the People’s Museum (cool!), the Edinburgh Museum (interesting!), then the Museum of Childhood (also very interesting!). We also checked out some shops – found some interesting gifts for Christmas and for ndie. We learned some new things. We stopped for lunch at a little café Pasta Fresca. D had a Parma ham and mozzarella cheese baguette and salad. I had chicken soup with part of a baguette.

Then we did the other side of the royal mile and saw the Tartan center. It was rather disappointing, but they had some great items at decent prices. Then it was down an extremely steep hill, over to New Town, where we walked and took more pictures, before heading back to the hotel. Next up – relaxing for a few minutes before our welcome reception with the Tour group.

The reception was interesting with an interesting selection of food. I had doubles on the lamb kebabs, warm pita with hummus, and the dessert. We met several people from our group – lots of Aussies! A few Americans and some Canadians, mostly from western Canada, but a couple from Toronto as well!

We ended up sitting and talking for a while in the courtyard. Then off to bed.

Travel Journal Entry June 1, 2012 or Welcome to Scotland!

Taking the train was adventure #1 – after watching two undergounds go by, we finally fit into 1. Squishy! Then King’s cross was interesting. We got to go to the First Class lounge and then determined our train went beyond Edinburgh and was waiting for passengers. We caught it on time. Whoot!

Lots of food options in first class – pretty tasty! 4 and a half hours later through beautiful varying landscapes, we arrived in Edinburgh.

We walked to our hotel – Wow! What a bathroom! Heated towel warmer, huge, soft towels. (Editor’s note: Oh yeah, we got totally spoiled at the Roxburghe. Thankfully, we started in London and so every room and bathroom afterwards was luxurious, but this was probably the best hotel we stayed at.)

We walked down George Street for a bit and then to Queen Street. We went to the national Portrait Gallery and then walked to Princes Street. We went into a kilt shop and spent several well… moments – about an hour and a half – talking about the kilts and getting a quote from Stuart. Not too bad. (Editor’s note: Stuart at Romanes and Paterson is a wonderful person – very personable, not pushy, very knowledgeable, and quite willing to take the time if you are interested to go through it all. We really enjoyed his company and often used his knowledge to help us later on.)

Then it was back to the hotel briefly and off for supper down Rose Street. Wow! Delish food! Element is a pub/cocktail bar kind of atmosphere. We share the chicken and roasted salad. A meal in itself and so yummy! Then D had haddock and chips – it was huge! I had the macaroni and Mull of Kintaire cheese. Oh my, was it divine! D tried the Douchester beer.

Then back to the hotel room to wash clothes and get some sleep.

Travel Journal Entry May 31, 2012 or 400+ pictures of Stonehenge

On our tour to Stonehenge, we met George and Michael from San Francisco (very nice people though I worried that Michael was sick), several Canadians (8), some Americans (15), and one Aussie who was formerly Irish.

First stop was Stonehenge. Amazing, beautiful, and thought-provoking. (Editor’s note: yep, that was all I wrote, despite the fact over 400+ photos were taken. We had special access to the stones, which meant we could walk amongst them and come within millimeters of touching them – but no touchy! Part of me was disappointed because I wanted that wave of magic to wash over me; you know, like what happens in the romance books right before she gets thrown back in time. No time travel for me. But it was amazing and the sheer size of the stones and the fact that you got the impression this was built by very advanced people. The fact that some of the stones are from over 400 km away – how did they get them here? How did they get these massive stones to stand? And the tall stones that make up the first and third circles have bumps on them to fit into holes in the lintel. Fascinating! What was the purpose? Why are there 4 circles? Why is there a ditch always around stone circles? Supposedly from the sky you can still see the avenue people walked to get to Stonehenge. The first and third circle stones are different from the second and fourth circles. And they feel different – despite being in the same environment, you can feel a temperature difference between the stones. Was this significant? In case you are wondering, they have stones by the front gates that you can touch. I appreciated being able to get that close to the stones. It was definitely worth the 4ish am wake up call.)

Next we visited to Lacock (pronounced Lay-cock) where we had breakfast. It was okay - the smoked salmon is not cooked, the waffle was delish but riddled with sugar, and the eggs were a bit moist. Next time I’d do the English breakfast. Visited the house Dumbledore lived in and the graveyard from the Harry Potter movies. Whoot! (Editor’s note: this town does not allow cables and such to be run above ground so to maintain its authentic look. Thus it is used in many movies.)

Then to Bath to see the roman baths – interesting, but tired by then. As well, the audio reading was lengthy. Then we walked around the square – had London sorbet (yum!) from Thayler’s. (Editor’s note: wow – can you tell it was a long day and I was too tired for details? The baths are very interesting and again such an advanced society - the way they used the steam from the water to heat the floors in other rooms. Over 1 million litres of water comes into the place at 46C. You can no longer bathe in the baths or drink the water – it is very contaminated, especially considering they used lead pipes. But at the end of the tour you can taste the water after it has been filtered. It takes like heavily mineralized water, but warm. If it was cold, it would have been perfect with that icy bite that I love. Warm – it was a bit blech.)

During the ride home, we all pretty much slept. We saw Harrod’s, but were too tired to go shopping. Instead we went back to our area – found Boisdale Bar to eat at (Fortunes of War) where I had the Boisdale Burger and D had crab meat sandwich. Tasty! D tried a Spanish beer which was enjoyed.

Then back to the hotel to organize for the trip tomorrow, pack, etc. My sore feet finally showed the blister. Ow!

Travel Journal Entry May 30, 2012 or London in a nutshell

After a rough night of sleep – D and I both slept well until 3ish, but then we were up. We both managed to go back to sleep around 4 after closing the window – not that it seemed to help. It wasn’t good sleep though and it is hot and muggy here.

I tried washing clothes last night. Surprisingly my pants dried better than the shirt and underwear should have. Yes – hind sight says I should have washed last night, but I wore the clothes for 2 days essentially and I thought if I did more washes of smaller loads, it might work better. A work in progress.

Okay – back to yesterday. We landed at 6:20ish, got out bags and got on our way to the train. That was interesting. So much people need to tell you. Got our passes validated for the flexipass. Got on the train, which was busy (oh – and for short people – it’s a bit of a step up). There is a place at one end for luggage or between seats. People sit in odd ways, so feel free to ask if an unoccupied seat is taken – it often isn’t. It is an easy 30 minute ride – no stops – from Gatwick to Victoria Station.

Then to get out – you need to fill out the date on your pass and show it to the guards at the exits. Yep, they have people manning the exits. Fascinating. And very kind. :)

It was an interesting walk to our hotel – which is quite close to Victoria Station. But with D getting little sleep on the plane and ‘leading’ from the back – we argued a few times. We arrived quite early at the hotel – guess D forgot to tell Simon (Editor’s note: Simon was told, he just forgot), but we were able to leave our bags, after reorganizing, and off we went.

Our goal – get our Londong passes with the travel pass. What really happened: As we walked past Buckingham palace, there were tons of visitors and lots going on. The Jubilee is this weekend. We ran into a nice man who identified us as tourist and proceeded to tell us where we should go to see the practice parade. He gave us some history and tips along the walk.

The practice parade was fabulous – 4 regiments, each with a pipe band to lead them. The Irish regiment also had bagpipers and a wolfhound. Supposedly the Mounties did fascinating things last weekend. We ended up following them to the square and got to watch them as if the Queen was coming in on her carriage. Fascinating! Nothing like watching the show early and being able to ignore the real thing.
After we found the pass place (OMG – what a hassle to find it – we walked around and around Trafalgar square before we found this short round building in the middle of the sidewalk. It was interesting – a very tight spiral staircase into a very small room). Passes in hand, we went to the Covent Gardens for shopping and lunch (which turned out to be at a breakfast place). Good shopping. The buskers were great. We walked back over to the national Portrait Gallery, then to Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly alley, and Burlington alley. Then back to the hotel for a nap – well, D had a nap, while I organized.

Supper was at Garfunkel’s where I had the Cajun chicken burger and blackberry/apple crumble. D had the club sandwich and London’s Pride beer. Then it was bed time.

Notes from May 30
- Bridge only opens now 5-6 times per week. Use to be 30 times a day. (Editor’s note: it opened the day we were there – whoot!)
- Mud based river, but it is clean. Let stand for 1 hour and the mud will settle and it will be perfectly clear and safe the drink.
- London bridge – opened in 1973 – last one sold to American company who shipped it brick by brick.
- Millennium Bridge – originally wobbled over a foot to the side when it was opened. They had to close it for 10 years to fix. When asked what went wrong, the architect said nothing is wrong with the bridge, it is the way people walk in London.
- St Paul’s Cathedral – 350 ft tall – 1 foot for each day of the year
- Lady’s bridge was built during WWII by mostly women
We walked to Westminster Abbey, but viewed St Catherine’s abbey instead (less people) (no pictures allowed though). Interesting fact – A bomb went off blowing out most of the windows; these were replaced with rather plain looking windows. Then we went to the Jewel tower. Interesting fact – the records were stored here for a number of years; in fact, because the records were stored here, most important documents were not lost during the great fire and the government was able to continue working.

Walked past the Parliament building and look kids, Big Ben! We crossed the bridge to the South Walk where we stopped at the Film Museum. Fascinating – highly recommend going! Lunch was at Giraffe where I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla and D had the chicken and prawn salad. I had fresh lemonade and D had 2 sprites (and learned they charge for each glass). We continued down the South bank, where I got stopped by a busker who made me a pretty friendship bracelet and then tried to convince me it was worth 12 pounds. He got a 5. We were tired of the buskers and walking, so we hoped on the Thames Cruises from the Eye pier to the Tower pier. We then visited the Tower of London (fascinating history, though the British don’t really do torture, so that section was very brief). From there we went by the Monument and across the bridge to the London Bridge Experience. This was a fascinating live actor lesson in history. There is a second half where they scare you, but we copped out and left. We got back on the Cruise to the Westminster pier. Due to our exhaustion, we grabbed the underground to Victoria; hence using our travel passes a whole one time! (Editor’s note: if you are doing the London pass for just a couple days, save some cash and don’t get the travel pass, especially if you get a hotel near Victoria station or near the Tower. You will be able to walk or cruise your way to most locations and thus the travel passes are not nearly as useful.)

Supper was at Café La Rouge – A nice French restaurant where D had the Chicken baguette and the 1664 beer. I had the soufflé fromage and crème brulee. I drank an Apple-tiser (editor’s note: an appletiser is essentially a sparkling apple juice – it is very very tasty!). OMG –the food was delish!

It's one of those days...

The many thoughts that plague my brain at odd times…

Welcome to my life. Should I stay or should I go?

Love is a leech, sucking you up. Love is a vampire, drunk on your blood.

Doritos Onion Rings and Ketchup chips are quite disappointing. Not enough onion flavouring.

I love my recipe for Cheesecake mousse… LOVE IT!

When out of the blue you dream about an old crush, they suddenly appear. Thank you universe!

Changed my mind. Old crushes should not show up on your doorstep unless they are spewing wondrous words of how awesome, beautiful, and sexy you are.

I have become one of THOSE people. You know the ones – they count calories and then go around telling everyone how many calories they are eating. I HATE those people and I have become one. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Since my new job requires no math skills, some sick part of me is really enjoying the counting calories. And I can’t shut the bitch up with chocolate, because I am allergic. ARGHHHH!

Grrrr, Arghhhh – I miss Buffy!

Mac Scone with Saskatoon compote is divine! I must resist having more than 1 during Taste of Edmonton. Perhaps I should figure out the calorie content. That should discourage me.

I am so lonely. One is the loneliest number. All we need is love. Why can’t we be friends?

My voice likes to give out in the middle of songs in Rock Band. I should not sound like a boy in the middle of puberty when I am singing Blurry!

Jalapeno pretzels are sooooo delish.

Kettle Crunch Jalapeno and Cheddar chips have changed their recipe to remove MSG and preservatives. Thank you for making them healthy, however, they are disgusting now. The point of jalapeno is heat. The point of the cheddar is to slightly cool that heat. Now they taste sweet. Ewwwwww! I actually thought there was a serious food poisoning problem with the bag. Thank you to Belinda from Old Dutch for letting me know and passing my opinion on.

Blonde thin women should not become dieticians. It is hard to believe anything you say when it doesn’t feel like you have been there.

No, I am not going to stop buying it on the theory that if it is not in the house, I will not eat it. If I have to walk to the store to get the item I am craving, you can be darn sure I am coming back with everything else and I am eating it all too. If it is in the house, then *I* will actually eat a few to feed my craving and put the bag down.

Apples and carrots do not replace chips in taste and texture. Next idea?!?

My food is all about life. Er, I mean, my life is all about food. See what I mean?!?!

Totally addicted to Monster High. http://www.monsterhigh.com Who knew seeing the dolls on the shelf would lead me to 2 seasons of web videos. Teehee!

I need the rain to go away for a week so my paint in the house can dry faster and I can move along to taping over this fresh paint for the next walls.

I need the rain to go away for a week so I can get some weeding done.

I need the wind to stay so there is a possibility of my bedroom staying cool-ish.

I need sleep! And sex! And a day of no calorie counting! And more sleep! And more sex!!!

I need to get a person with a truck who is off the same day I am on a weekday so I can get a lateral filing cabinet from the AB govt surplus store. I also need that day not to be auction week like the last two times I have been able to go. Pleassssse! I just want a two door lateral filing cabinet with solid bottom on both drawers, with all the pieces and a key. I found one last time, but it was auction week! It was only $15. Please universe – please! I will paint it my own color. I just want a pretty used one.

The mosquitoes need to go. I don’t need to get any itchier!

My ass is not a landing and feeding zone. And it makes for slightly embarrassing itchy spots.

My face is off limits. Find someplace to feed from. Little arses tried to take out my eyes!

I need to download pictures. I need to download songs to my computer. I need to start prepping for company. Instead, I dance and do puzzles and watch tv and play on the computer. Sighhhh – procrastination.

…Thank you for joining me on a journey of my brain. Hope you understand why sometimes even I think I am weird.

Okay - why is the website not publishing my post? Arghhhh! Perhaps I will put it up tomorrow then. Sighhhh... Okay - trying two days later (it was a chinese food and rock band night yesterday). :)