The Very Last

Tonight the very last Tangerine Orange Zinger tea bag in our home was steeped and sucked dry of its tea-yummy-liciuos decaffeinated flavour-ful-ness. The original plan was to save this teabag and several select others until I was done the "Summer Berry" tea purchased from Food Basics some time this summer, but tonight has officially, just now, by me, been designated Tangerine Orange Zinger night, and if you have any other kind of tea on a night which is officially a Tangerine Orange Zinger night, there could be severe consequences.
If you ever have a desire for a fruity kind of herbal tea, I urge you not to purchase Summer Berry tea from Food Basics. When I think of summer berries, daydreams of sweet strawberries, juicy raspberries and blackberries, mulberries and blueberries, and perhaps even cherries and a dollop of whipped cream (though they are not a berry at all) cross my mind and make my mouth water. Thus, while perusing the tea selection at the local cheap food store, Summer Berry herbal tea was the natural choice. Perhaps the MasterChoice label should have tipped me off, but alas, the juicy strawberry on the package caught my attention and urged me to add the tea to my shopping cart.
The aroma which reached my nose when I opened the package at home was slightly suspicious, but I gave the tea the benefit of the doubt and steeped a bag. However, once I sat down to enjoy some berry-licious tea, the flavour was more than slightly suspicious. This could not be berry tea!! This tea belonged in the deep winter, a tea tasting of apple and cinnamin and reminding me of cold winter evenings and warm apple cider. This couldn't be!! Where were my raspberries? Where were my blueberries? Where were the strawberries which so tantalizingly graced the package of the tea box?
I sprang up from my cozy chair to examine the package once more. While the description on the package promised a "delicate blend of strawberry, blueberry and raspberry flavours" which would "create a taste of summer sunshine", the ingredients told the bitter truth.

Hibiscus flowers
Apple granules
Rosehip
Cinnamon bark
Natural flavours
Elderberry

What kind of a "Summer Berry" tea ingredient list is that? The first four ingredients are not even berries at all. Who knows what kind of "natural flavours" they are talking about. And another thing, who thinks of elderberries when they hear "summer berry"? I don't think I've ever even eaten an elderberry before. The whole thing was a scam.
So now it is getting into the winter, and I decided that I have to work through this tea before I can justify buying some real berry tea. I have 11 bags left out of twenty, and I'm sure I'll eventually get through them. Anyone want to come over for a cup of tea?

Forget Me Not

So far, I have spent my whole day wondering what it is that I forgot to do. It started right after breakfast, and since then, I've been plagued with a little worry in the back of my mind that is telling me that I have forgotten something important. I checked several times during the day for some obvious things: yes, I brought my lunch with me; yes, I brushed my teeth this morning; yes, I put on my pants this morning; yes, my fly is zipped up. So now, it is 5:30 p.m. and I still haven't remembered what it is that I forgot. I was supposed to water the plants this morning, so that may or may not be the forgotten task. Anyone have any grand ideas?
I was working in the furniture department this morning, and I had a lady come in who needed a specialty chair. She was diagnosed with an incurable neuromuscular condition which affects mostly her neck but also her back, and subsequently she has a lack of control over her neck movements. After talking to her for a while and trying to find the best solution for her, she talked to me about her condition and how the doctors said there was no cure and nothing they could do for her. Instead of giving up, she has made up her mind that she's going to beat this thing and stun all the doctors. She has dedicated herself to a vigorous schedule of physiotherapy to strengthen her muscles, exercises to retrain her brain in its control of her movements, and Botox injections. I found it so enjoyable to talk to her, as she was so cheerful, friendly, and determined. After she purchased an Obusform chair, I took it out to her car and loaded it in for her. She gave me a big hug afterwards, and she was so thankful - she definitely made my day!!

What a Weekend

Well, it's now Tuesday evening, and although it's been a day or two since the weekend sadly drew to its inevitable close, it certainly was a weekend which merits some attention on this blog of mine. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Sarah and Jeremy!! I am so excited for you two, and I hope and pray that you will continue to grow closer together in this new stage in your life, and that everything goes smoothly in your plans for your wedding day and the rest of your lives together! This is going to be so fun!!
And I also must add how thankful I am that my wonderful husband is still alive and well, along with several friends, after an accident which could have turned out so much differently. It could so easily have been a "caution - escarpment ahead" sign rather than a "caution - use boat ramp at own risk" sign which warned them of imminent danger that was too late to slow down for. Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.
Not too much else is new . . . unless anyone is remotely interested in the fact that yesterday, I received my buttons. I now have three shiny silver buttons on my nametag which, although they are earned as a team, make it look a little bit more like I am a nice and good employee just like everybody else. Perhaps I should post a picture of my buttons. If only I had a digital camera . . .

Reminiscing

I know I'm a little late on the draw, but this past weekend sent me on a trip down memory lane. It wasn't a super long trip, not like a 10 kilometer hike into the one-digit-age years when I was much shorter and much less wise. This trip was only only a few hundred meters into the past, into the wonderful month of June. The event triggering this trip was the wedding of Elaine Bosma and Rick Mechelse . . . congratulations, guys!! (although I have a feeling you'll never read this). It was such a nice wedding, from the nicely decorated church, the beautiful ceremony, the happy and gorgeous/handsome bride and groom, the delicious food, and the great entertainment among many other things. The day brought back so many good memories of June 4, and I have to admit that I found myself fairly emotional the whole day, perhaps because on the day of our wedding it was so busy that, for the most part at least, there wasn't really enough time to process everything that was going on. I wanted to post a couple pictures, actually I'd like to post a whole bunch more but I don't know how much people really want to see a million pictures. So I chose just three.

What are You?

Tonight, I spent some time trying to figure out how to put pictures on my blog. It is quite frustrating. I found that this little eraser picture was mysteriously on my post when I returned to this page. Since I didn't put it there, I figure it tried to jump off the blog menu onto the post, and if it wanted to be part of a blog that bad, I'll let it stay. I am currently trying to drink the biggest glass of chocolate milk I have ever tried to drink.
As for the point of this blog, I decided to steal something from Bonnie's website that I thought was fun. You can figure out what classic movie / famous leader you are. I am a sucker for personality tests and IQ tests and any random tests that I can find on the Internet. Our representative personalities are shown below:

Movies:
Rachel = Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Mike = The Godfather

Leaders:

Mike = Abraham Lincoln

Rachel = Ghandi

http://similarminds.com/movie.html http://similarminds.com/leader.html

The Bad Week

Once upon a time, there lived a girl whose wonderful boyfriend gave her a beautiful aquarium for Christmas. She carefully chose a number of fish, who happily swam and played in their new aquatic habitat. They chased each other, ate food, and grew a lot bigger, and the girl was happy with her fish.
When the girl and her wonderful boyfriend got married, the fish made a big trip to their new apartment. They set up residence in a different, but also nice, aquarium, where they happily swam and played. They chased each other, ate food, and grew a lot bigger.
Then, there was a bad week. No one knows why there was a bad week, but there was, and it was bad. A neon tetra died. Another neon tetra died. The green and orange glass fish died. The red glass fish died. And one of the zebra danios just up and disappeared.
The girl was very sad. Her aquarium was very empty. There were only two neon tetras and a zebra danio left, along with a very large algae eater who probably ate the missing fish.
It was not a very good week.

Apology

An apology to any readers who happen to be out there: I've been a lazy blogger who hasn't written back to your comments! I will try to amend my ways, as long as the Internet service wants to cooperate with my efforts.

Fish and Feathers

Sad and happy things to report today. Unfortunately, last week, among the busy days and tired nights, the passing away of a little neon tetra in my fish tank did not manage to attain an announcement on this blog. Of course, I missed this little fish and was very sad by its departure into the sea beyond, but to be completely honest, he was one fish among four, a member of the crowd, and he did not develop much of an individual personality. And perhaps this sounds cruel, but he can be replaced.
This is not where my sad tale ends. Yesterday morning, just before I left for work, I went to feed my fish, as I do most mornings. I was terribly dismayed to find the smaller of my two painted glass fish swimming upside-down and trying to right himself among the aquarium plants. He certainly did not look very healthy. As I am not well-trained in fish CPR, I knew the only thing I could do was go off to work and hope for the best - perhaps he was trying to teach himself new swimming techniques. By the time I got home, however, his self-training lessons did not appear to have been very successful, and undertaker Mike flushed him to his watery grave. This poor little fish had such a fun personality and he will be missed, especially by his remaining buddy. If anyone has any idea where painted glass fish can be purchased, please let me know because I can't find them anywhere.
Happy news!! Happy news is much needed after so much sorrow. Yesterday, I got a new pillow from Ikea. It is big and fluffy and comfy, it does not hurt my ear, it does not poke me with feather shafts, it does not lose feathers all over the place, and it is actually filled with down, not tail-feathers (75% anyways). Home Outfitters also accepted my story and gave me a refund on my old pillow, and when the bedding lady took one look at my pillow she agreed that it did not look very healthy at all, and that my pillow was definitely "defective". Yay for good customer service!!

Wild Weather

Yesterday, I worked in the furniture department from 12-9:30. Although it's only the second night shift I've done, I've already decided that 9 1/2 hours starting at noon is way, way too long, especially because by about 8:00 I am sleepy enough that quality work becomes quite difficult to accomplish, and small things become far too amusing.
It was dark and rainy yesterday, and although I was working at the back corner of the store with no windows, I was glad I could hear the rain pelting the roof all day. However, around 3:30 or so, I was wishing desperately that I was scheduled to work cash, which is right up by the big front windows. There was a terrific thunderstorm developing, with wild winds and heavy rain and strange colours in the sky. All of a sudden, the power went out and alarms started going off all over the place! What excitement!
When the battery-powered lights came on again, I decided that for a few minutes, I could schedule myself to work cash - who wants to buy furniture during such weather anyways? It was just crazy outside, it was raining so hard that you couldn't see anything. Apparently, a tornado was developing and headed over our area, later to touch down in Hamilton and wreak some havok there, including ripping the roof off part of an elementary school and injuring some students, thankfully not too seriously. Who would have expected a tornado 'round these parts?
And this morning, we wake up to a sunny, albeit moody sky. It's cold and calm, and for some reason there are still colorful leaves on the trees outside our apartment, while most of the trees on campus are bald and dark. I'm glad they're still there - forecasters have predicted possible snow for today, and I'm still desperately clinging on to the last cool wisps of autumn before winter moves in for good. Soldier on, leaves!

Bubbling Over

So last night we went to bed, tired and with no expectations of mischief. Unbeknownst to us, however, sometime during the night, a group of three vandals snuck into the parking lot outside our little apartment and attacked our helpless and innocent little Escort. Already braving the high winds and the rain, the poor car now had to deal with the effects of some crazy and conniving mischief-sowers-of-the-night. When we woke up, Mike looked out the window and exclaimed, "What happened to our car??!!" Fearing that it had gone missing, I was somewhat relieved to look outside and see it sitting there, but it didn't look like how we had left it the night before. Mike went outside and discovered that it was covered in metres and metres of . . . bubble wrap? Yes, folks, bubble wrap. 50 feet of bubble wrap, to be exact, complete with a poem which handily gave away to us the identity of the perpetrators. There are few people I know who can craft such poetry, and while she could scarcely commit such a crime on her own, there are two more villains who we know would happily aid and abet.

Bubbling Over

There once was a girl, there once lived a boy

They loved each other and had much joy!

They did lots of things and had lots of fun

They sure worked hard and got stuff done!

But once in a while, where there was trouble,

The only solution was a bubble . . .

A bubble, you say, how could that help?

How can air stop a yell or a yelp?

Well, you see, here's the big clue

Bubbles give you a new thing to do.

Spend countless hours popping air pockets

Instead of valuable things like eye sockets.

Small bags of highly compressed air

Will soon alleviate every care.

Bubbles can be blown from dishsoap

But they pop fast, they can't help you cope.

But here's a solution that cannot fail

A wonderful plan that will never grow stale.

25 feet of the best bubble wrap

Of course, STAPLES brand to make you clap.

According to wise and expert input

That's just an amazing .31 cents a square foot!!!

And if you popped a square foot per day

All calculated out in a wonderful way

A day would cost just 3.6 cents

Leaving lots of money for food, books and rent.

Self-therapy that works for worry and stress

Bubble wrap is just about the best!

So pop all those bubbles and have lots of fun

Then drive to the store whenever you're done

Ask a nice sales clerk and she will agree

That this is the best solution you'll see.

We hope you like it, that you'll think it neat

So relieve your worry with 50, yes 50, feet

of Staples best brand of Bubblewrap!

Pop a bubble, it is a snap!

Pictures to follow

A Show of Hands for Hands

When I was at work today, for some reason I was really noticing people's hands. Possibly it was because my own hands were dry and had a sliver that hands were on the forefront of my attention today, or possibly because I was working cash and people were handing me things all day long. Anyways, hands are really interesting and can sometimes tell you something about the people who wear them. There are the pudgy fat-fingered hands which hand you slightly moist and wrinkled bills, the warm dry business hands handing over credit cards, and the dirty construction-man hands offering grimy money. There is the fine-boned lady-hands, and of course the fine-boned man-hands, we get those too. Some hands have terrible scars on them, and I wonder what kind of damage and pain they went through. Fire? Acid? Addiction to nail-chewing? Sometimes these damaged hands are peeling or blistering or just a funny color. One older hand that came through my line today was missing a finger. I wonder what it would be like to be missing a finger? I happen to like having the use of all my fingers.

Pebble in my Shoe

Tonight, I hope to get something fixed that has been frustrating me for over 4 months. Actually, to be completely honest, I don't think it's been at a level five frustration for the whole duration of time since June 16, and probably isn't quite at a level five now, but it's still been frustrating and it's always nice when you manage to get rid of something frustrating, like getting a pebble out of your shoe. The pebble in my shoe has been my pillow. My new pillow was purchased on a post-wedding purchase spree, as my old pillow was making me wake up every morning with a sore ear and was hence ready for retirement, as no one likes a sore ear in the morning. This pillow was advertised as a down pillow, and, sure, it felt like down in the store. It looked for all intents and purposes like a down pillow. The price was worthy of a down pillow. However, for reasons to be further pursued, I am now sure it is not, in fact, a down pillow at all. It is a tail-feather pillow.
After about two months, I noticed that my pillow was collecting hard lumps in the corners. Hard lumps are not comfortable to sleep on! Another problem was that whenever I was settling in for the night, I would randomly get poked in the face with feather-stalks, or whatever you call the stick part of a feather. So, already two months ago, I was growing dissatisfied with this pillow which was not a down pillow, but was more of a mix between a rock pillow and a bed-of-nails pillow.
Then, as time passed, I also noticed that everytime the pillowcase got changed, there was a flurry of feathers spread all over the room. This had happened at the beginning as well, but not to such a serious degree. Now, as I was cleaning up these feathers, I began to notice that these feathers were somewhat on the big side to qualify as down feathers. In fact, some of these feathers were LARGE and PRICKLY, and most likely not down feathers at all but tail feathers. I have saved some of the largest offenders to show to the people at the store tonight: one of them is 4 1/2 inches long.
So anyways, I hope my case will be accepted by the folks at the store. I still have the receipt (DOWN AROUND PLW Q, item #021191121547 994), which I imagine is a good thing. I believe it is false advertisement to sell a pillow as a "down" pillow, while in fact it is a "tail-feather" pillow. If I wanted a tail-feather pillow I would have bought one that said so. I wouldn't recommend it though.