25 random things about me

I was tagged by Joanne to list 25 random things about myself. Here I go.

1. I always wanted to be an architect when I was growing up
2. I gave up french fries for 4 years in 2001 because I was addicted to them
3. My favorite tv shows when I was younger were Macgyver and Three's Company
4. I bought my wedding dress for $99 - I love a great bargain
5. I still can't ride a bicycle
6. I love to run early in the morning as the sun rises over the ocean
7. The next place I would love to visit (other than the Philippines) is the Great Wall of China
8. I grow strawberries in my backyard
9. I like vienna sausages on homemade pizza - sounds gross, I know!
10. I attended cadet camp for 3 years when I was a teenager and got to shoot a rifle
11. I love getting together for a weekend away with my running girls
12. I love scrabble, boggle, and all types of word games
13. I love taking pictures and wish that I had a really good camera
14. I'd love to run the New York marathon some day
15. If I could, I would eat cookies and cake every morning for breakfast
16. My mom and I did an Alaskan cruise 10 years ago
17. Brian and I love camping in tent with Sid
18. I love reading murder mysteries
19. My favorite shrub is a rhododendren but they never grow well in my yard
20. Mom always used to perm my hair when I was in elementary school
21. I had lasix eye surgery a year ago and can now see perfectly - what a gift!
22. I would love to see U2 in concert someday
23. I took a sign language course several years ago
24. I knit lots of dishcloths and love cleaning my house
25. My favorite movies were The Goonies and Titanic

I love birthday cake!

Well today is Brian's birthday, so I left work early to come home and cook a nice meal and to bake a birthday cake. I had originally planned on making a cheesecake but when I got home yesterday I realized that I didn't have all the ingredients. I didn't want to go to the store because there was another big storm here yesterday and the roads were messy. So today I picked up the ingredients to make a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing instead and I plan on making the cheesecake this weekend. Oh how I love to bake! The chocolate cake came out great and we just had some for supper. I had two pieces but birthday calories don't count. I plan on making a turtle cheesecake this weekend - our favorite.

Today one of my co workers signed the provincial application to adopt a child from the Philippines. I was pretty excited about this as I don't yet know any other families here in NL who have adopted from the Philippines. They know it will take around a year to just get their homestudy done and approved provincally before they can send it off to ICAB - this is the best case scenario. Some families end up waiting longer but I really hope that things go smoothly for her. I look forward to the day when our children can play together!

I leave on Sunday to fly to Gander. I'm working out there for the week which I do every three months since the therapist out there is off on maternity leave. I love the week away although working out there is even busier than working at my regular job. I'm staying at my cousins house again which will be fun. It is always nice to visit her and her husband and we're hoping to fit some snowshoeing in as well.

9 month anniversary

Wow, were does the time go! I can't believe that it has been 9 months since ICAB approval. I can remember when Rachel sent out this same post (about her 9 months waiting) and two weeks later she got a referral! I definetely don't expect a referral anytime soon but I'm hoping for one in November or maybe December. That would be the 18 - 19 month mark which sounds more realistic. I initially thought we were going to wait for two plus years but I'm more hopeful now of hearing something a little sooner. I guess only time will tell and whenever it happens, will be the perfect timing.

Happy Valentines Day!

Well last night, as I was settling down to watch the hockey game (Boston vs New Jersey), Brian asked if it was okay to give me my Valentine surprise early. Of course I said yes. It was an official Boston Bruins jersey and Brian is going to get "Ryder #73" put on the back. Michael Ryder, a fellow Newfoundlander, is my favorite hockey player and he is now with the Bruins. I was pretty excited and I wore the shirt for the whole hockey game. They ended up losing 1 to 0 but they play again tonight and will hopefully have better luck. I hope that you all have a great day!

A change of scenery

After seeing my friend Sherri's new blog look, I decided to change mine as well. A while ago I attempted to switch over to wordpress but I couldn't figure that out at all. Thanks Sherri for sending me the directions of how to update the look of my blog. I couldn't have figured it out without you. I am very technologically challenged!

Our Mexican night was last night and we had a blast. We had tons of different mexican dishes including appetizers, main courses and off course desserts. The dessert was called a three milk cake. It was less than an inch thick and it was floating in a sea of milk. The guy who made it said that it was just lots of eggs, flour and milk, but it sure was good. It was definitely something you wouldn't see around here! I made chicken quesadillas but everyone else was way more adventerous and made things that were out of the ordinary so tasting everything was really fun. Sid tagged along with us and we didn't get home until 2 this morning. Sid is just getting out of bed now and it's just after lunch! He's a real sleepy head.

I bought a new swimsuit yesterday at Costco. They had Speedo swimsuits for just$20 so I just had to buy one. The worst thing about Costco is that there is nowhere to try on clothes so you have to bring it home. I tried on the suit at home and it wasn't very flattering so I may have to bring it back and try another style. Hopefully that will make a difference!

Snow day!

Well we woke up this morning to lots of snow and wind. I enjoy snowstorms especially when you have nowhere to be. I just watched tv, cooked dinner and did some laundry. The hockey game came on at 3:00 so I really enjoyed my afternoon. Boston won 3 to 1!! It was a lovely day. Sid spent the day curled up in bed and Brian spent all day out snowblowing all the driveways. I was really dying to bake something but our oven is broken which I guess was a good thing or else I would have baked alot and eaten all my goodies.

It's back to work tomorrow for another busy week. The weekend goes so fast that I hate going back to work already. I wish that we could have at least one 3 day weekend a month. I think that that would make the winter go faster. It would be even better if we could have a 3 day weekend every weekend! I can't believe that February is here already. The winter really is flying by but we probably still have 3 months left so it's not over yet. I really should stop wishing my time away but isn't that what we all do!
Sid cuddling up in bed waiting for the storm to pass. I had to drive him out of the bed at 10:30 am. He really didn't want to get up!

The view from outside our kitchen window. Doesn't it look cold outside?? I'll have a bit of a wait before I'll be seeing my garden again.

Weekend away

We had a great long weekend away in Terra Nova. We got out there supper time on Thursday but neither the furnace or electric heat were working. We did have a small wood stove but it was still pretty cold. We all gathered around the stove in our jackets, hats and mittens and we covered up in blankets while the guys were trying to fix the furnace. Anyways, it didn't get fixed until the next day so we had a very cold first night. We all went to bed and didn't take off any clothes because our pajamas were near frozen. Once the furnace was fixed, things began to look up.
View from inside the cabin of Terra Nova Lake. We had beautiful weather but it was very cold. We did manage to get out on two long walks with the dogs, but the snow wasn't very deep so we didn't need our snowshoes afterall.

The dogs all had a great time. After each walk, they would all come inside and curl up side by side on the couch. At night, Sid would curl up between Brian and I and wouldn't move until morning.

We cooked up a big breakfast each morning. As soon as breakfast was finished, we starting thinking about lunch! We ate a ridiculous amount of food and none of it was healthy. I weighed on Thursday morning and again on Monday. I gained 4.5 pounds! That's just crazy!

Sid had a great time at the boil up. He just sat next to us waiting for us to feed him some weiners, one of his favorite foods. It ended up snowing pretty hard so we had to come back early.

We had hot dogs and hot chocolate at the boil up, a great combination. I was still too full from breakfast to have any hot dogs but I definitely enjoyed the hot chocolate.

We had a great weekend and our now making plans to return to Terra Nova for another long weekend in the summer. There is a nice beach and swimming hole nearby so it would be a great mini vacation. We also just planned a Mexican night with our group for early February. We'll each bring a Mexican dish and attempt to dress in something that looks Mexican. We did a Hawaiian night a few years ago and it was a blast. Hopefully this will work out just as well.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get another snowstorm. We've only had a couple so far this year so we're due for one now. I'll still have to go to work but it probably won't be too busy because most patients usually cancel. The worst part is the drive home because it usually only takes 20 - 25 minutes to come home, but in bad weather it can take up to 90 minutes! We'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.