In aria's room

I hope you enjoyed my photoshoot in Aria's room. I just watched the taped "America's Next Top Model" and felt inspired. Although I am far from model, it was so fun to dress up in Aria's clothes and mess up her closet (only a little and yes we put it all back). We didnt snoop as the picture implies, mom suggested it as she got to be the photographer. Could have gotten a better shot of the cat if she hadnt been so upset that I held her for all of 30 seconds. Stupid camera shy animal.

Anyways, I am going to get to bed, getting up early tomorrow :P

RRROLL up the Rim to win...

Ya right! I was doing well this season, won a few for my mom and dad, but one day, I rolled up the rim prematurely...a third of the coffee left. Since then, havent won a thing since. I think the premature rolling cursed me.
Now the one who wins is my mother. Yes, shes had a good winning streak. She also gets "lucky fingers Mikaela" to roll her rims. That kid never loses.
I think this is the only time I really drink tims coffee or tea though. I enjoy the excitement of rolling the rim, even if I know I wont win.



a sad roll-up-the-rim-er is going to try to win again!

Computer art...

Hope you enjoyed my art. I love photoshop, dont know what I would do without it.
You also have mail coming, mom and I sent it this morning. Also, made sure the flower lady was booked for the wedding. So glad I am done with picking flowers....never thought there would be so much you needed to know about them. I dont have a clue what half the names of the flowers are, or what they look like as long as they are pretty I dont care. At the meeting we had with her, it felt like I had to care about every little flower in the wedding. Pffft! dont care, make it pretty and have some blue flowers in it so it matches the colours. Oh well, should look really nice now. Got my favourites in there (lillies). Love the smell of those.
I shall be off, momma has leftover chilli warming up, and I am hungry!

Be My Scape - Reliant K

:D I get to see these guys tonight!!! This is one of my favourite songs from them. Mikaela is so excited! Shes bringing most of her money so she can buy a music book and a t shirt.
After the concert, we are staying the night in vancouver and then going shopping for Mikaela at metrotown for a dress for the wedding. Everything is about her pretty much, and shes loving every minute of it.

After easter...

Feel a little sick from eating bunny, and the sugar rush is wearing off, and now the sleepy feeling is setting in....
Church was good, there were like 12 children in the nursery where mik was helping for the first time. It was a little overwhelming to see them all screaming at the end. She said they were good until the last 5 min. Poor kidlets.
One was making noise just because and it sounded like crying, but it wasnt. what a cutie.
Tony was there, and he was a little scared of all the kids crying all at once. It was pretty loud, even for me. Told him not to worry, as we wont have 12 kids all crying at once.
Made him feel better, but not much.

Snow and birdies!

While I was sitting at work trapped inside when there was snow to be played in, Mom and Dad went out to Princeton.

They didnt think it would keep snowing, well they were wrong. Time to test out the new van's brakes and such. Man freak snowfall was amazing.

They got some cool pics out there.

I remember icicles as big as me. That one came close to being half her size!

There was also this very bold birdy that came right up on my dad's hand to eat some crumbs. Pretty fat birdy. I thought rw's little one would appreciate the bird after what happened in her last post.

Feeding the birds reminds me of Mary Poppins! Feed the birds tuppins a day!

*and why does blogger put extra spaces in my paragraphs after inserting pictures! Frustrating!

dreaming of rats...

The other night I was sleeping, I heard a rustle. I live in a basement with ugly faux wood walls and a drop ceiling. Well, noises dont bother me normally, except it was a noise from over my head. It was scratching scuffling noises. I had the blanket over my head incase a rat dropped from the ceiling onto my bed. Nothing dropped, the noise went away, but it was a eerie feeling afterwards, and for the next few nights.

Well, I was in bed last night, almost asleep, and it came back! Scuffle! Scratch! I was not going to live in fear tonight! Quietly, I creeped out of bed, and turned on the light. No noise.....and then a MEOW! Well, the sneaky white cat was in the ceiling. I didnt see her at first, I saw her in the reflection of the mirrors.

CREEPY CAT! I pulled her out of the ceiling, and proceeded to boot her out of my room. Well, she didnt want that, she ran to the bed, cleaned her dusty self off and went to sleep.

She wanted in the room! I always close the door, and shes not the type of cat to scratch on the door, she has in the past head butted herself in, but never meow or scratch. Silly! I think I will have to get used to leaving the door open or else have nighttime creepers in the ceiling.

Whos this Cutie???

Pretty isnt he? Well, I wouldnt call him pretty, but unique is a very good answer for those who would avoid hurting the artist's feelings. He used to be a snake, as you can see with the highlighted red.

Way back in the day, Aria and I would entertain eachother when we were bored by playing drawing games. Sometimes I would tell her what to draw and she would have to draw it with her eyes closed. The requests got harder as we got older, but soon we were getting too good. So the newest game we played was that one would draw a scribble or line, and the other would have to make a picture out of it. At first we drew simple things, shapes, flowers, snails, easy stuff. The scribbles got a lot harder, but the game got more interesting and detailed.

We started playing with Mikaela at church. Mik doesnt have a sunday school class yet, so she colours. Well, she gets pretty bored of colouring. The bulletins have gotten pretty detailed over the past few months. Mom has gotten in on the game as well while listening to the service.

Today, Mik and I were doodling and mom felt left out. She was bored, and started adding on to Mikaela's Snake. While mom was adding lumps and hairs to the tail, I would whisper to her about adding nubbly wings or a horn. She was tearing up trying not to burst out laughing. She ended up with the lovely creation above. The horse thing, with runners.

Here are some close ups of the scribble game:

(I drew this one, it was hard because the scribble had a loop on it)

Mom did this one, again with the loops!

Mik made sure the punk rocker had all the required piercings.

Vampire Cat! Mom did this one, I told her to add fangs, but instead she gave it a tounge. This one had potential to be a real evil looking fella.

a little tid bit of info...

Mikaela figures polka dots are called "Polk-la dots".
Funny girl.

Introducing...

These are the tastey chocolate cookie treats that Australian's use to dip or suck coffee through. Found these last night in superstore.

(click to enlarge)

Dont know how to use them when I tried sucking tea through the cookie like Aria said, it went to mush! Blech! They are a good cookie to dunk in things. Mom likes them, but she thinks that theres no way to suck coffee through them. I think we are doing it wrong. Mikaela was not so impressed with them.

Flicr hosts these pics

Stories from Grandma

I took this video of Grandma Abrahams about a year or 2 ago. It was not too long after Grandpa passed away. Aria and I had just figured out how to use video, and tested it out on ourselves, and then without her knowing, we videoed Grandma telling stories to Mik. We always love hearing about when they were growing up, they have so many neat things to tell.
One of my favourites was listening to grandma tell us about how her and her family would ride in a sleigh at christmas time and how there was a little stove in that sleigh. She has the advertisement for the auction they had when they sold it and a few other items so they could travel from Sask. to BC.
I wish I knew how to rotate the video, but alas, I cannot figure it out. So all you watching will have to tilt your heads sideways.

The smelly dimpled one is.......

Mikaela!!!

Fractured her foot falling off the steps at school, and the girl walked all the way home on her gimpy foot. Poor thing, I on the other hand, would have laid on the ground crying uncontrolably until mom came to get me. A new mascara made miks pain lessen a little. (She can only wear it at home as she is 11 still.)

What hobbles on one leg, smells funny, and has dimples?

You will find out in the next post....

Spagetti Night

More dysfunctional dinner time stunts. This is one of Aria's favourite tricks. I hope that one day, I too will be able to do this, and not gag.

We put the 'Fun' in 'Dysfunctional'

Dinner time can sometimes be a rather chaotic event. Usually we eat, Mikaela talks, and she ends up being the last one at the table. Someone always mentions that Mik hasnt eaten the vegitable of the day, whining insues and sometimes tears fall. The parents then have to tell her to eat them or else, and this is when me or Aria mentions that if she doesnt eat them she will never grow, and be stunted for life. I know when to stop egging her on, Aria never really knew when to stop, or had to have the last word. Mikaela is a child that seems to never shut up until she has the last word. Those two usually fight until one gets hurt and cries (mostly Mikaela).

Now sometimes, everything is normal, or quiet. Its been pretty quiet since Aria is gone. Mikaela doesnt have anyone to fight with except me, and I dont fight much.

Well tonight, Mikaela started it (as if I would take the blame). She hit me, and I smacked her arm back, and it went back and forth. Mom got a picture of it. Typical dinner time fun.

Mom sighes ever other night and says "its not the same without Aria". Well, I think this helped make it more like Aria was here. (Mikaela was the one who started it, the Smirk on her face totally gives it away.)

A hug for Aria

I loved the pics of the Geckos, roaches, and flowers! Post them on your blog for everyone else to see. Grandma loved the flowers you have. I need to sleep, but I wanted to tell you that I love you and I miss you. BAH these things make me emotional. Anyways, you are going to recieve something in the mail soon. I wonder what you will get...hmmm. :) I am going to bed now. Love your older sister (by another year tomorrow).

Winter Picnic-ing

We havent had a winter picnic in years, but we did this year. Back when we were little, mom would pack hotchocolate and sandwhiches or whatever and we would go to cultus lake for the day.

Me and Aria would find the coolest leaves, or just chuck rocks in the lake.





So, we packed up the hotdogs, tea pot, campstove and wood and headed off to the lake (and grabbed a friend for Mikaela so she wouldnt get bored as easily).

We wanted to go to Hicks Lake, but they were closed. So off we went down the hill to Harrison lake.


It was great fun. Mik and her friend Danielle went exploring and we found freshwater clams and fish bones. Being the twisted little kids they were, they found a pile of rocks and declared those rocks to be the Splatter rocks.



They took turns finding clams and crushing them against the rocks. The innards of the clams splattered all over the place, including them.



:P yuck!


After squishing clams, we went exploring in the woods and found a creek. It was cold!


When I was trying to climb on the log and wait for Mik to focus I almost slid right off and into the creek. Never underestimate the slipperyness of Moss.

Girls played with the embers of the fire, trying to get it going again, until it was completly out, and even then, they had a great time pouring water on the hot sand and watching the steam shoot out.

I have some more pics of aria later that I will scan tomorrow. I was having a hard time getting the scanning program to load, turns out you need the scanner plugged into the computer... good job miranda! lol.

Status of the Cats with eating disorders:

My poor cat. Or, rather, Aria's poor cat. She has not been eating much. I shall introduce you now to what my cat does not look like just incase you confuse white fluffy cat with this:

Kiwi is part siamese. Shes a very tempermental kitty. She loves menthol/ mint tea smell, ham, cereal milk and her crunchy cat food. Lately she hasnt eaten any of her crunchy cat food. I caught her eating it and she reacted as if she wasnt allowed to eat and took off. Poor thing. We havent had ham for a while, and when I had some she gobbled it down. Gave her the rest of my vanilla icecream, and she wouldnt eat it unless I hand fed it to her off my fingers. Shes a thin cat, and I hope she doesnt get thinner. I am gonna try to feed her cheese. Now she doesnt get people food often, but when she doesnt eat anything for a long time, we can usually persuade mom to get sandwhich meat for mik and feed some to the cat. :)

The other cat binges on everything. She eats most of the crunchy food. We try to feed kiwi seperatly. Fat cat always gets a scoop of wet cat food every morning, and if she doesnt get it, she bites your toes in the morning to remind you to feed her. Shes a nusance! If you kick her off the bed, she will sit on you or yowl. Dad was mean and put a plate over the crunchy food to stop her from eating. Hes not being mean, cause the cat will eat the food so fast she will gag or throw it up. Its sick and yet really funny.

Kiwi hasnt eaten too much since aria left, but she is getting better

Oh and its snowing here now. Mom has some nighttime pictures of the snow. The weather man said 5 cm total, but we already have that and it keeps coming.

*mom took these cause i was too cold. I am a wus

Photoshoot last night with Mikaela...

She is doing so well with her guitar lessons, when you listen, its songs, not just random notes. I am so impressed with her and how well she has picked it up. (she can play "swing swing" by the all american rejects, and it sounds awesome!)

Me? Well, I am more the poser guitarist. I think me and the little guitar look good together. LOL I should totally try Canadian Idol. "what? I cant sing? But I look awesome with a guitar."


Finally tried taking pictures with the lightsaber, and its cool in the dark. Now if only I had another one so we could duel!

Mik was having a hard time taking a pic and not have it blur, so this one isnt the best, but it will do. I wasnt ready to pose lol. Ah well...

dont judge too quickly

A commercial that made me chuckle :)

for you aria...

Here is a picture of your Trend-setting Father. He misses you too, but hopes you are having fun. He also hopes you take better pictures than your friends blurry pictures.--lol just kidding that was more ME thinking that. We loved them however, and want more asap.

Oh and here is the new van!

The sliding door opens with a button on the keychain. When mom and I were parking in the driveway, the car doors kept unlocking and locking fast and then the sliding passenger door opened all on its own. Thought the car was possesed, until of course, we realized that mother had squashed the buttons while holding her coffee cup. Her excuse was that she was "tired".

We ate taco's and thought of you, and Mikaela almost cried as we explained how your fierce grip crushed the tacos before she could really bite into them. We eat a lot more of them now since you have been gone.

So Aria, what things would you like from Canadaland? Any kinds of candy you miss? Anything special, or anything you forgot? Let me know so I can pass on this info to the others :)

every picture has a thousand words...

Oh Baby!

promoted, and other misc things...

I applied for a senior technical support position, and I got it! I have only tried 4 times or so. I am happy, I get a raise...wooooooo! I didnt tell anyone I applied because everytime they get my hopes up, and everytime I was rejected, I would get so upset and fall hard. So only my work peeps knew and its was okay.
And now different news...got into a marriage course in the brodway mb church! YAY! Its on a saturday, so I am extremely happy. Needed it to be a friday or saturday, and its only one day, but ALL day long :P I am more of a person who prefers to have the info spaced out, but oh well, nobody else I know does this on fridays or saturdays.

Oh, and I bought new shoes. They are flat and black and cute! I will try and post an action shot of them. Mik already tried them on and said they fit her (ya right, they are 3 inches too big lol).
Oh mikaela...

Goodbye Aria!

Well, shes off to Austraila! We all headed out this morning at 8 am to drop her off at the airport. Had a going away party last night, it was lots of fun.

After the party, I was awake for a few hours, couldnt sleep at all (aria was up late as well with the same problem.) Hopefully she gets some sleep on her flight, as its 13 hours long *yuck*, or a good movie.

In December, the movie selection on Qantas Airlines was Snakes on a Plane, and the one about the 9/11 plane that didnt hit the whitehouse. When I saw that, I thought that it was kinda awesome that the airline had a sense of humor. At least she doesnt have to watch those now.

I found out from Mikaela that she got to LAX safely and found her way to the right terminal after a while. She should be calling tomorrow to let us know shes in austraila. Mikaela is a little emotional, especially tonight before bed. She got teary again, and hopefully she is alright at school tomorrow. I cant sleep, so I think I will watch a movie for a bit and then sleep.

(got a little teary eyed in the pic of the 4 of us, I hate crying pictures.)

Goodnight everyone out there, and you too Aria, wherever you are over the ocean!

PS Aria: Remember to read your comics I made you in the little pad of paper that you have

Commander Keen

Back in 1995 or so, I got my first computer. It was My uncle Darrels computer. It was really neat. It had a whole bunch of old games my cousins played and files from a library system. We didn't know what to do with those, so we left them. We were very new to computers.
No Internet, but solitaire was the Bomb! After solitaire we found a cool pinball game. Andy had all the high scores, but with a little work, I took over the high score list, making it impossible for Aria to get on the list. Looking for a new game to beat, we found a floppy disc for Commander Keen. Man, that was the coolest thing ever. Aria and I had never had a Nintendo, or Sega or video game ever before this computer (except pong on the Atari thing that plugged into the tv that my dad had when he was a kid). Keen was awesome when the computer was having a good day (good days were when we had colour , bad days were when the monitor overheated and everything turned purple, or red). Keen was a challenge then, but we did pretty well. Never beat the game, because one day, Aria in her infinite wisdom decided to clean up the computer files that were left there. Well she deleted almost everything, including the folder called "startup". Once the computer shut down, we were lost. It wouldn't turn on without that folder. That was a sad day. She dug up the floppy discs my uncle left with us, and she installed them one at a time (8 total) I took a long time, and we got it to work, but Keen would never work again. By that time we got a new machine, but it was sad because we never beat the game or got it to work on any other computer. Apparently it only runs on dos and windows that have dos.
This week I was on the Internet and searched the game for fun, and low and behold, you can run it on XP. I wont get into the technical details, but after half an hour of tinkering, I got it!!!
I played the game for a few hours last night and was grinning the whole time. The graphics are terrible and its got no sound, but man its awesome. Now I kinda wanna find the atari game my dad had, that thing was so old. I think he threw it out. ahh well. Time to sleep for a bit. Goodnight

aria bo baria!

Figured I would post this for you because you are leaving and I can embarass us both on the internets before you leave!

Tee hee!

I think this was her birthday where I gave her an onion with a happy face on it. I hope I gave her a real present too (pretty sure I did).

Those sunglasses, may they rest in peace at the bottom of cultus lake.

Man I cant wait until summer comes.

And while I was looking for more pictures, I found this one:

If looks could kill. CAT MAULING!!!!

Pon and Zi

These little guys are so cute, kinda dark at times, but cute.

They are named pon and zi.

Created by jeff thomas.

Found the dress

I dont have a picture of it yet however. I havent found a pic of it online, but I will take one soon as I finnish paying for it.

Took Tony shopping for a suit so he can dress up at job interviews. He looks so handsome! I havent seen him in a suit yet, and man, guys look so smart all dressed up.

Oh, Aria leaves in 20 days. Not long. She's got most of her stuff done, just not her blue card yet. Shes packed and unpacked her backpack a zillion times, and she models it almost everytime. Shes even vaccum packing one of her fleece blankets in a ziplock baggie.

Mikaela is learning the electric guitar, and loving it. She wanted to be a rock star when she grew up. To also encourage her guitar playing, I get to take her to Reliant-K concert this april. These guys are punk/rock christian band and their songs are cute and funny.

I guess thats all for now, its kind of a boring post but oh well.

dresses

Went shopping for a dress yesterday.

This one is not quite the same as what i had one yesterday, but its pretty close.

Its so cute!

cant find one quite like the other i tried, but it was pretty too.

I actually like the strapless dresses because they wont fall down on me (biggest fear).

anyways, I am off to find tony a backpack that can hold a laptop.

grrrr

Sometimes I cant stand where I work. Listening to some peoples grating voices drives me nuts.
grrrr!
So you know those cool iron on transfer sheets for making your own t shirts? I had a customer iron it on the shirt first and then stuff the shirt in the printer. Honestly, how can someone be that stupid? I mean, there are step by step instructions on the package, how do you miss that?? And then they expect me to cover the repairs to the unit under the warrenty! BAH! I also love the older customers who expect me to give them whatever they want because they are older, and tell me they know more than me and expect everything for free. Well, if you know everything customer, why do you call? Why dont you fix it yourself??? GRRRR! oh well. Audrey, you would understand. I read your last post, and I know its true.

Also, dont worry about being a geek, I played Starwars Lego, Sims2, Scene it, Scene it Harry Potter Edition and Guildwars all in one day, and it was great!