Double Iced Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies

**Warning** Prepare yourselves for a full blown sugar coma!

I've started on my Christmas baking for the second time this month. I made cookies and brownies at the beginning of the month, but they only lasted a matter of days. Being with a chocoholic/cookie monster does not allow for goodies to stay in my cupboards for very long. So baking a second time was very much in order!

This recipe was modified by myself from several different recipes all over the internet. I've struggled with it in the past, and have now made it to pure perfection! I hope your household enjoys them as much as mine does :)

Ingredients:

1 Cup butter
2 1/4 Cups sugar
4 Large eggs
1 1/4 Cups baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups flour
2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)

What to do:

• Preheat your oven to 350F (I have to put mine to 300 because I have a ghetto oven that does not know it's own temperature) and lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan (I put parchment paper on after I have greased the pan, and then grease the top of the parchment paper. This allows for an easy-peasy clean up)
• In a microwave safe bowl, combine sugar and butter and heat until butter is melted (approx. 2 minutes). Mix, and then continue to heat for another 90 seconds - 2 minutes until you have a nice frothy/bubbly coating. Make sure that it does not come to a boil, so keep an eye on it! Why this step you ask? This makes for a nice shiny top on the brownies in case you are not into icing them.
• In a separate, large bowl, mix eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla until smooth. I use a hand mixer for this.. a Kitchenaid would be fabulous (it's on my Christmas wish list ;))
• Add the hot butter/sugar mixture and stir until smooth
• Add flour, and again, beat until smooth. Now add the nuts and chocolate chips. (If you want your chips to be evident in the brownies versus completely melted in, allow your batter to cool for 20 minutes before you add them in)
• Spoon your batter into the greased pan. Shake the pan like a Polaroid so your batter gets distributed evenly into every nook and cranny.
• Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and it comes out clean. Keep an eye on them, as you do not want the edges to burn.
• Allow the brownies to fully cool

Now comes the fun (and tedious) task of making the icing!

Ingredients for mint icing:

5 Tablespoons softened butter
Pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
2 1/3 Cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon mint extract
Green food coloring
3 Tablespoons milk

What to do:

• Combine softened butter, salt, corn syrup and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Do not panic if it doesn't get smooth and fluffy. Sometimes my ingredients at this step resembles dough pieces the size of rice.
• Add mint extract and food coloring. 1-2 drops is good. I like mine a little more green, so I tend to add about 6.
• Gradually stir in milk one tablespoon at a time, then beat until fluffy and beautiful. This may or may not resemble toothpaste.

Now to ice those brownies! Take a rubber spatula and evenly distribute all the icing to every inch of brownie goodness. Once iced, place the brownies in the freezer to allow icing to harden before you put on the second layer of icing. This step is very necessary, otherwise your icings will mix together, and you will be swearing and throwing a fit, wishing that you would have.

While your brownies are in the freezer, start making your next batch of icing.

Ingredients for chocolate icing:

4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 Cups icing sugar
2 Tablespoons baking cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla

What to do:

• In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter and brown sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved, then add the milk. Bring mixture to a boil and remove from heat.
• Sift together cocoa and icing sugar. Blend into sugar mixture, and add vanilla.

This icing sets up f.a.s.t!

Remove your brownies from the freezer and start icing them from a corner and quickly making your way around the pan. If your icing starts to harden in your saucepan, simply place it back on the stove, and voila! it's smooth and spreadable again.

Once your brownies are all iced, cut them into squares and remove from pan. Remember, since you used parchment paper, your brownies will just slide on out! Store in an air tight container and enjoy :)

They are best served heated in the microwave and enjoyed with a glass of milk. Delicious!

Until next time..

Stop peeing on my couch!

Cats have always been a part of my life. I adore their cuddles, their friendly meows and their soothing purrs. Nothing is better than coming home from a hard day and having my kitties walk figure eights through my legs and look at me with loving stares.

When things go bad with cats, however, it always seems like the end of the world, and you are left with the questions, why me? why my cat?

My cat had been peeing literally everywhere for (what seemed almost every day, but was more weekly) the past four months. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I automatically started to panic and dollar signs danced in my head as I Bing'ed every potential cause of this highly annoying problem.

First thing first, we brought her in to the vet to run a series of tests - urinalysis, blood work, ultra sounds, you name it! We had to start with what would be the most obvious cause, kidney stones or bladder infection.

All the results came back negative. This was great news, but also left us with the unanswered question.. Why is she doing this?

I then began to be much more visual around the house and paying attention to her behaviour and where the pee was. I noticed that she would pee around any open area to the outdoors (windows, doors, and furniture around these areas).

I also realized that there had been a new cat in the neighborhood that decided that this area was his turf, and had been jumping over on to our balcony and terrorizing my ladies through the sliding glass door.

I automatically put two and two together. My little lady was being territorial and spraying, trying to tell this cat to F-off and that this was ours and only our territory. I know what you are thinking, a female cat that sprays? Yes. I know, I was surprised too. I had never before heard of a female cat spraying.

We literally tried everything to deter this horrible nuisance, from blocking off all the windows with cardboard, to buying anti-feline spray to deter her from her usual marking spots (one being peeing on our $2000 couch.. yeaaaa).

Absolutely nothing was successful.

I had a lot of "encouraging suggestions" that maybe I should get rid of my cat. No. That was in no way an option. When you take on the responsibility of owning a pet, you are also agreeing to all the headaches they come with, let that be large vet bills, ruined furniture, pooh, pee or vomit. EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. If you are not willing to deal with all the headaches that comes with owning a pet, then don't get one.It's as simple as that. Pets are for life.

After many sleepless nights and crying episodes from finding yet another pee spot on the couch, we have finally solved the problem. Perhaps it is just luck, but I like to think that I played a role in stopping this horrendous behaviour.

So, how did we do it? First thing, get rid of the problem ie. the "other" cat. I got so pissed off one day when he jumped over to our balcony, that I chased the damn thing away and down the alley way throwing rocks to scare him away for good (calm down animal activists, I wasn't throwing rocks AT him). Next, my little lady now sleeps in the bathroom at night with a little beddie, food, water and a litter box. And honestly? She loves it. Every single night, she runs to the bathroom, jumps in her beddie and starts kneading the feather blanket as if she is getting ready for bed. She loves her "room." Also, whenever I leave the house, I now put a blanket on the couch. So now when I come home, I come home to my kitty sleeping on the couch, opposed to peeing on it.

Hopefully no one else is suffering from this same problem. And if you are, hopefully my story has been able to aid you in solving your dilemma. I know it is hard, and sometimes the idea of kicking our pets to the curb seems like a good idea at them time, but there is always a solution. If a cat is capable of starting something, they are more than capable of stopping. Patience is a virtue people! Patience, patience, patience.

Until next time..

Cream of Broccoli Soup

With the cold weather pressing against us, it's not surprising that I have been very busy in the kitchen lately with both baking and cooking.

Soup is one of those things that is both wholesome and necessary for this time of the year. It's amazing how a bowl of hot, hearty soup can warm you from head to toe after a day out in the chilly air.

This week, I decided to veer from my usual turkey and rice soup, and instead went with one of my favorites, cream of broccoli; any cream soup, really, is just simply a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

So, here you have it!

What you need

2 Tbsp Butter
1 Chopped Onion
1 Clove Garlic (or more if you'd like)
1 Stalk Celery, Chopped
3 Cups Chicken Broth
8 Cups Broccoli florets (basically fill a produce bag. Don't panic if you do not exactly have 8 cups)

3 Tbsp Butter
3 Tbsp Flour
2 Cups Milk
Ground black pepper
Grated Cheddar Cheese

What you do

Melt 2 Tbsp of butter in a soup pot, and add onion and celery. Sautee until veggies are soft. Add chicken broth and broccoli, cover, and let simmer until broccoli is tender, approximately 10 minutes.

Pour into blender. This step will take a little bit of patience. Only fill the blender half way, making sure that you have both broccoli and broth. Hold down lid with a folded tea towel so you don't burn your fingies! Pulse a few times before fully blending the green monster. Blend into desired consistency. Since you are blending in portions, have a large mixing bowl to put the blended soup in to.

Wash or rinse out soup pot you used to cook up this deliciousness and put back on stove over medium heat and essentially make a roux. Melt 3 Tbsp of butter, and then add 3 Tbsp flour. Mix until smooth and bubbly. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time. Stir until thickened. Add broccoli concoction to this creamy goodness.

Et Voila!

Serve with ground pepper, salt and a generous amount of grated cheddar cheese.

NOTE: The color of the soup is a lot more green than most cream of broccoli soups. Don't freak out, you didn't do anything wrong. I think Campbell's Soup has permanently ruined our view of what real soup should look like.
Recipe easily doubles, and freezes nicely :)

Original recipe taken from here

Until next time..

The death of me

There are days when I am absolutely unproductive, and by unproductive I mean that I genuinely. do. nothing.

Today was one of those days. I woke up with good intentions: I had a plan to clean around the apartment and possibly bake cookies. Then I turned on the TV. Ultimate fail. I pretty much parked my butt on the couch and watched show after show all freaking day.

There are times when I wish that we didn't have television during the week. I could get so much done. Take today for example, I could have cleaned, baked, and caught up with school work before the weekend. Could have, would have, should have.

Of course I never would get rid of the ever so loved television because I just so happen to be obsessed with some of the new programming on. Five shows that I simply adore are Ringer, 9O21O, Grey's Anatomy, The Amazing Race and CSI. These shows keep my sane and allow me to have something to look forward to during the passing weeks.

I have been having a hard time connecting with my school schedule this term. I am taking a second half English course, and I am certain it will be the death of me. The upside? This is the last humanities course that I will ever have to take for the rest of my life. This course, however, cannot be over soon enough. I am sick of writing essays, sick of doing research on topics such as Gender Theory, and just sick of hearing what others thought of a gay-fantasia play. I am definitely a science and math student. Humanities can suck it.

It's amazing how many people share my same feelings about English. We had a discussion at the beginning of the semester on why we thought English was a requirement for every single program and what we thought about this requirement. Lets just say that everyone was in agreement that we thought it was a waste of time and money. This is a sad statement, but it's the truth. Why exactly is it a requirement? I know that we all have to know how to use proper grammar and how to write essays. I get that. But what I don't get, is why we must spend countless hours reading and talking about how we felt about our readings. Sounds more like a shrink session if you ask me.

But whatever. C'est la vie. I guess it's just something that I will have to get over in this long journey in becoming a doctor. It better be worth it.

Until next time..

Shut the hell up

Sometimes people need to shut their faces and mind their own business.

I am so sick and tired of people telling me that dental school is "hard to get into." Do you honestly think that I don't already know this little tid bit of information?! Look, I know it's "hard to get into," and it really doesn't help my situation, or my confidence, to remind me of it.

I have pretty much narrowed people's ignorance down to the fact that they are just simply jealous. I am sorry that you are not happy in your own pathetic life, or job for that matter, that you have to bring me down. I cannot help the fact that you didn't go to school to better yourself, and if you did go to school, that you didn't choose the right field, or were too lazy to spend extra time in school to be in a better program.

Why all this frustration all of a sudden, you ask? Well let me tell you. Yesterday was "info night" at my college. I had just gotten out of my English class and decided to see what it was all about.. and to enter into their draw to win $500 towards tuition. I am drawn to anything teeth, so I am automatically drawn towards to the Dental Hygiene booth and Denturist booth. They ask me if I am planning on applying for their programs, and I say no and explain what I am actually going for, a dentist. The next thing that comes out of their mouths astonishes me: They tell me that I need to be in the 90 percential to even be considered into top instituions, and they inform me of the price (DO THEY HONESTLY THINK I DO NOT KNOW THIS CRAP!?!?). They then go on to tell me that their program is cheaper and it takes less time.. duh, because in the end I won't have a "Dr." infront of my name!
I just honestly could not believe their response to me. No "good luck, you'll do great," just a bunch of discouragement to get me to enter their program. These, ladies and gentlemen, are the people that build our futures. They are our educators, and they are discouraging us.

I've encountered this problem before with other people, people that aren't important. Usually people that I have worked with in the past (again, jealousy) and random customers that I have delt with in the past while working in the sales industry. But to have this response from an educator just baffles me. I wish I would have said something, but I am always so taken back from their responses that I just stand there starting at them, wondering if I really just heard what they truely said.

So, word of advice. Do NOT tell students, or anyone for that matter, that they cannot make it. You have no idea what that individual is capable of. Also, you have no idea whether or not that ignorant comment you just made was enough to destroy that persons dream because they were already having doubts. Simply keep your mouth shut of your oh-so lame ass comments, and instead give a welcoming smile and tell them that they can do anything they set their mind to.

Until next time..

Technology nightmares

For the past month or so, I had been having insane computer problems; the internet was slow, pages wouldn't scroll down, my firewall kept disabling, the list goes on. During the past week, it got beyond bad. I couldn't even go on Facebook (Gasp!) without having to refresh the browsing page because it was running so damn slow.

So, today, I decided to get down to business and figure out what in God's green earth was going on. I did everything. I started off by running a full scan. Two hours later, I had to clean out the disk drive and perform a disk defragmenter thing, you know, and all that jazz. After all that was finished, about an hour later, I had to update my computer. That nasty ass update took three hours (?!). So now I am thinking that I must have had some sort of luck in fixing my computer. No dice. My antivirus is now yielding a huge red "X" and saying that my computer is at risk. Whattttttttt.

Praise the Lord that I have a smart phone, and thus have access to the almighty internet, so I go researching as to what to do next. To my astonishment, I find out that my antivirus program is the down right culprit. Ohhh the irony. Apparently, in 2000, the owner of the once fabulous antivirus program, McAfee, had decided to sell his company and from there it went all down hill. People are having problems left, right and center with this damn program, and it even makes up its own viruses. Lovely.

So, on I go to uninstall this "antivirus" protection. All these warnings pop up that say, "WARNING! You are disabling necessary antivirus protection and exposing your computer to threats." Pffffft.. as long as I am done with your ass, I don't see this being an issue. I click the "proceed to uninstall" button and voila! my computer is working like it did when I opened it up from its packaging back on Christmas day.

Lesson of the day, do not, and I repeat not, buy or use McAfee antivirus protection. I have never had so many problems in my technological life. Don't be a cheap ass (like I was being) and just stick with what works. ie. Norton.

Until next time..

Living green

I've always been in to the "green scene" and have been an active recycler of many different things: the obvious bottles for moola, bringing our own bags to the grocery store and local recycling service this lovely city offers - containers, newsprint and paper products.

Contributing to these different recycling options, we have significantly reduced our garbage in half. However, I still feel like it is not enough.

I want to start a home compost. Now, living in an apartment does not always deem this easy.. or maybe even possible, but I am determined. After briefly searching the wonderful worldwide web, I have come up with the idea of a "trash can" compost.. ironic, I know. It essentially consists of a plastic garbage pail with a lid and several large holes cut out (with mesh covering said holes). The idea thrills me. I can now imagine that our trash will be cut down ten fold because we throw away so much food.. yes, I know, I know.. why purchase food if we don't eat it? But don't rag on me because we all do it.

Now obviously a compost isn't really necessary unless you have somewhere to use it's wonderful composty goodness. Hence my next brilliant idea: I want to start a garden on our deck. We just so happen to be fortunate enough to live on the ground level and have a lovely large deck.. not balcony. I would love to get some large cedar boxes to line the deck and possibly some boxes to put on the ledge.. think along the lines of flower boxes. A little garden would not only save costs, but it would be better for our health.. no pesticides or herbicides. I could basically grow anything; carrots, peas, lettuce, potatoes, zucchini, asparagus, herbs, and even some fruit! I am thinking along the lines of strawberries and tomatoes. Not only will my apartment garden contain a bountiful amount of veggies, but it will also allow for beautiful flowers and luscious green grass for my three furry monsters.

I've always really enjoyed gardening, but haven't really entertained the idea of actually having one, with the limited space and all. Of course I have to have this brilliant idea come while we are in the middle of fall and with winter quickly threatening us. I suppose I can look at this as a good thing because now I can start saving for my supplies. I pretty much blame my Martha Stuart magazine subscription for subliminally presenting me with this gardening desire. I have been seeing way too many adds for gardening gloves (and embarrassingly swooning over them) and watering cans.. not to mention adorable gardening spades, and the essential gardeners carrying box.. yes, essential. Having this idea at this time of the year will also give me time to prepare and decide which seeds I would like to plant, and if they need to be started before being plunged into 'ol mother earth.

All this talk about gardens now has me excited for garden visitors, butterflies and bumble bees! And now I am inclined to also include a bird feeder. And you can't just include one bird feeder, you must have two to please both seed munchers and sweet nectar suckers, ie. humming birds. Now my cats are really going to love me! They get grass and a show.. a very tempting show.

Until next time..

Chicken feet

Don't knock it until you have had it.

I should first go on to say that not every restaurant serves good feet.. gosh, I sound like a cannibal.

There is an excellent Chinese restaurant here in the lower mainland that serves some of the best Dim Sum you could possibly find. Sure, it's not as authentic.. and by authentic I mean that the Dim Sum isn't wheeled around on a cart ready for you to pluck it off.. but it is instead made to order, fresh, and mmm damn delicious. I could eat their steamed shrimp dumplings all day, every day!

Growing up in a small town in northern BC, I had never been exposed to any food other than typical western cuisine; however, I should note that I think that my mom was Asian in a past life because we used to eat all kinds of chicken liver, chicken heart, fried rice and fried okra. Anywayyyyy.. besides my mom's unique diversions, we mainly ate the "typical" food found in Canada: hamburgers, chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, grilled cheese.. you get the point. 

So needless to say, when I moved to the lower mainland, I was blown away by the diversity of food. Not that we didn't have different kinds of food where I grew up.. okay, one Chinese restaurant. So, lets just say that I wasn't exposed to much.

There are so many different styles of food that I adore; however, I still cannot get over the fact that people eat cow stomach. I do not think that I could ever venture down that road. Something about gastric juices does not turn my crank.. Or chicken intestine.. okay, lets just say anything that involves the digestive track.

I think I will just stick to body parts that walked around in poo all day.

Such a double standard.

Until next time..

Adventures in waxing

I hate hair. Like hate. Capital H-ate.

I associate it with feeling dirty.

And I am obviously not talking about head hair here.. duh.

My sister and one of my closest friends had told me of their new found love of going to the esthetician and getting a full blown Brazilian.

This completely blew my mind and had me curious to no end. Sure, I had always seen this risque service offered at many different salons, but I always turned my head away from it because it was as foreign to me as Spanish.

So, this weekend I decided to get brave and give it a go.

It may or may not have been a good idea. I have yet to recover to let you know.

"Recover." Like it's a friggen surgery or something. But I am telling you, holy hell is it ever a recovery process. I would imagine it is the equivalent to having someone kick you in your extra special place.

I will warn that this procedure is not, and I mean not, for shy people. If you cannot go to the doctor to have a pap smear, you will want to stay far, far, far away. There is no shyness factor here people! You let it all show.. and with emphasis on all. My advice is that if you are deciding to walk down this road, ask a lot of questions prior and go into it with an open mind. If you do not, you will come out wanting to file a lawsuit thinking that this person has severely violated your personal space.

I've been informed that it does get better with each procedure. This amazes me. I like to think that they are delusional. But now this has my curiosity peeked. Can it actually get better? I might just have to brave the wax and figure this out for myself.

Until next time..

Living in a Gheto

I've lived in apartment buildings for about four and a half years. Some were good, some were bad, and some are horrible.

I am a bit scandalous, and have kept my three lovely felines under the radar with each apartment. Really? What are they honestly going to do? I know my ladies, and they aren't going to ruin anything that a bit of paint cannot fix. And to be honest, I am not dishing out a deposit of $250 per animal. No thank you.

I enjoy apartment dwelling for several reasons: 1. I am never scared to be alone at home, because I know there are literally people all around me. 2. Whenever something goes wrong, I do not have to pay anyone to fix it because the landlord comes and deals with it. anddd 3. I do not have a full on yard to maintain. ie. mowing the lawn.

Now for the cons. I can take the constant stampede of elephants that takes place every day above me. That's one of the sacrifices I am forced to just deal with. However, I cannot take the idiots that decided to rent two apartments, one on top of the other. Unfortunately for us, our bedroom is right beside one of two stair wells.. and what do these two-apartment renters do? Run back and forth from one apartment to the other at ALL hours off the night, while slamming doors and mosh pitting down the stairs. Not to mention their kids that are still awake at 12:30am?!, that run up and down the hallway screaming. Have some freakin' common courtesy!

I cannot tell you how many times I have violently opened my door and told them to calm the hell down, and to also remind them that there are several other people who live in this apartment complex.. you know, just in case they have forgotten.

It has come to the point now where I almost beg the hubby if we could just buy a house. Of course this is out of the question with my pending tuition of $210,000, and even just deciding to buy a town house in this city could end up costing us upwards of $400,000. Yikes.

Bottom line, I just cannot take it anymore.

But lets be honest? What can we seriously do? We could call the landlord, but really, all the landlord would do is talk to the noisy buggers and tell them to keep it down.. which I know would just go in one ear and out the other. Another option? When they are all snug in their beds, I could get up at 5am and run a marathon up and down the stairs too. Perhaps that would teach them.

So for now, I guess all I can do is just deal with it. Even though I am losing countless hours of sleep per night and waking up at 2am wondering, "what the bloddy H just woke me up?"

Until next time..

Broken

Although I would say that I turned out successful and full of determination, and that my situation.. well our situation.. was probably for the best, divorce in a family is probably one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. It will always affect me. My Dad always tells me to not dwell in the past, and I do believe I get my optimistic outlook on life from him. However, when dealing with a situation like divorce, it's hard to ultimately "get over it".

Now, I should start off saying that my parents were never actually married. There was an engagement, but that is as far as it went. My parents are two very different people with two very different outlooks on life. They both had different goals and different dreams. It was inevitable that things would never work out. But I tend to still call it a "divorce," because really, it still was a splitting of a couple once in love.

At a young age, I knew way too much about custody battles than any child should have ever known about.. really, no child should ever even know about it. I knew that mom had one house, and dad had another, and that mom had us on week days and dad had us on weekends.

In grade one, we used to sit around the chalk board with big fluffy pillows and share events with our fellow class mates. I remember that I used to always lie and say that my parents were finally going to get back together and get married. It breaks my heart to remember this deliberate lie.. or more so a dream. Here was a young girl, who's only wish in the world was to have a "normal" family.

Even today, at 22, I am still affected by this splitting. My mother is married to her husband, and my father is engaged and set to get married next year. My aching thought is always, "why couldn't they have been married." It always will be.

I have always promised myself that I will never do this to my own future children. Divorce really does have an impact on children and it forces them to grow up too fast at too young of an age. A child should not have to know that, "this is mom's house and this is dad's house." Children should not see their parents feuding over vacations and holidays, and have, in the end, them be divided between two families. Too much thought goes into what is best for the parents, instead of what should be the most important thought: what is best for the child.

This is a very hard topic for me to talk about. There is so much that I want to say, but I don't want to say too much. My parents are both wonderful people. They have both taught me lessons on their own that they couldn't have done together: My father has taught me how to stand up for myself, how to be giving without expecting anything in return, and how to properly deal with certain situations; my mother has taught me how to be a strong, independent woman, how to do things without being told, and how to be kind and loving.

I am fortunate to still have fond memories of when they still were happy and together. I remember several of our family camping trips, as well as frequent road trips. I can remember laughter and smiles and compromise. My youngest sister, however, is less fortunate in these memories, and I know that it truly saddens her. Something that I will always be grateful for, is that my Dad always had his video recorder attached to his hip. He would record everything. From time to time, I like to relive those memories and watch hours of footage. It makes me sad, and happy all at the same time.

My Dad once told me that a divorce or break up is almost like a death: we will always mourn the previous union. This statement has always been true to me, because honestly, divorce is like a death; divorce is a death of a bond between two people that, in most cases, will never reconnect.

My wish by telling this story, is that people will take this to heart. I hope that anyone facing a divorce or separation with children involved will remember what is most important: the children. Remember that we are the symbol of your love for one another, even if that love has vanished.

Until next time..

For you, Mom

This post is a tad late; however, it's better than never.

My mom is one of the most strongest women I have ever known. In a house with three daughters, my mom did it all by herself. She was provider, comforter, teacher, and encourager - just to name a few. Life wasn't always roses and butterflies, but she made it work, and in the end I would say that she raised us all in the direct reflection of herself, and that makes for three wonderful women.

I admire my mom for several reasons. She worked shift work at the local mill, which consisted of her operating heavy machinery - a crane to be exact. She would wear her steel toed boots and green hard hat everyday. Something that always amazed me was that she would never sleep in on her days off, or even in between shifts.. there was just too much to do - pay bills, chop firewood, shovel the driveway, maintain a garden, mow the lawn, rake the leaves, clean the house, and run daily errands which would consist of checking the mail and grocery shopping. And even after all of this, she would still manage to make all the meals. Ohhh the meals! Mom never skimmed out on the yummness factor. She would make good old southern classic meals: fried chicken, shorthorns, soups, beans and cornbread, lasagna, hamburger casserole, the list goes on!

My mom is a man and a woman in one.. in a good way. She is strong when she needs to be, yet soft, caring and kind when we needed her. Our house was not always clean, but it was comfortable - it was a home. Mom is an avid antique collector.. and boy, do I mean AVID. Her house is creatively decorated from floor to ceiling with not an inch to spare. Everything could tell a story. Although the majority of the antiques came from yard sales, a lot were handed down to her from my great grandma - a diploma that hangs in the hallway, and my most favorite and treasured piece, a pink light fixture that lights my mom's room via dimmer switch.

Mom's style always makes me smile; she really is a romantic at heart. Her bathroom was designed to a T in lovely shades of pinks and greens - her two favorite colors. She accented it with porcelain angels and soft laces. And the focal point is her claw footed tub.. in no other color than pink! I should also mention that her house, built many, many years ago is also painted pink and surrounded by a white picket fence.

Even when mom would have to work the night shift at the mill, she would still take the time to do her hair and put on her makeup. She always looked beautiful, even if she was only rocking blue jeans and a red plaid coat with holes.. and she would always wear earrings, no matter what, whether it be simple studs or daring hoops - she always dressed for a purpose.

Growing up I did not notice what all this wonderful woman had done for us. This was our normal. I never knew what it was like to grow up in a two parent home with both parties contributing equally. And you know what? I would not have had it any other way. This wonderful woman taught me so many valuable lessons that I could not have learned if our situation would have been different. Thanks to her, I cannot only chop wood like a super woman, but I can think independently, cook up a storm, change a tire and love with all my heart. She gave so much for her three girls, and for that, I am forever grateful. My mom is hands down the best woman on this earth!

Love you! xx

Fabulous

Did you hear the news?

THE CANUCKS ARE HEADED TO ROUND TWO!

..Just thought I would share that little tid bit of information :)

Image via Google

On the Right Path

Over, exactly, the past 15 months, I have been a full time, hard core student.

I am now DONE.

Let the choir sing "hallelujah".

I have been done for one week, and the weird part? I already miss it. Such an odd realization considering I despised high school and every little detail that went along with it.
I have become such a school addict now. I cannot seem to get enough of it. I love learning, and man, have I learned a lot the last year and a bit. One thing I did realize though, was that I do not like.. and I repeat, do NOT like Psychology. Okay, okay.. I know that you all are saying "but Psychology is sooo interesting". When was the last time you have taken it? Sure, some aspects of it are interesting, but the history behind it is so mind numbingly b-o-r-i-n-g. But, with that bit aside, I had an overall good term.

I am more than ready to start my program. I have been searching and searching for schools to apply to, and have decided that I want to stick to schools in BC. There are a total of about six schools - three in the lower mainland, two on the island and one in the Cariboo. I plan on applying to every one of them with the hopes that one of them will decide that they love me.. minus one in the lower mainland, which just so happens to be a private school, and wants $50,000 to complete the program, whereas it is normally $25,000 in a "regular" school. Bunch of scam artists.
Ideally, I would like to get accepted into the college that I am currently attending, but I have to keep my options open. I have attended the dental hygiene seminar that my college offers twice, annually, and I am seriously like a child in a candy store. I swoon over the x-ray equipment and all of the instruments. I cannot wait. Such a fascinating field I am headed into. I am so glad that my career choice will be something that I love doing. I couldn't imagine doing what so many people do - working jobs that they hate.. and that's exactly what they become - jobs.

Life is just too short to settle for something less than perfect, and I have come to realize this more and more with each passing year. It really is amazing how short life is. It's funny to think back to when I was a kid, when I thought that I would never grow up and that my parents were crazy and had no idea what they were talking about. How naive I was.

I hope to live out every single one of my dreams, and I am on the right path. Life truly is a gift.. that is why they call in the present.

Image via Google

Until next time..

Outraged

Today while on my way to class, I get off the bus and make my way to the sky train station.

There are the usual "paper boys" there handing out newspapers.

I don't normally get a paper, because frankly I think that it is just promoting litter to be strewn all over the streets in this city, but today I decided to grab one.

I turn to the first page in the paper only to find an article titled, "Dead dog found inside ice block". I am immediately outraged and ready to take a bus to this northern BC town to "take care" of whoever is responsible for this absolute horrific doing.

You can read the article here. I warn you to take caution though, because this article contains graphic content, and it isn't for the faint at heart.

I am so sick of hearing about stories like this. What makes me even more sick is when people claim, "It's just a dog" ... Well according to me, then "you" are just a human. Really. What makes people think that they are better than any other animal on this planet?

Officials need to do a better job to track down the people that commit these crimes. And once they are caught, they need to be given a much more harsher sentence. Why are these disgraces of people only getting a slap on the wrist? If it were up to me (which it should be) I would sentence them to the same treatment that they bestowed upon these animals. These crimes should be treated as homicides.. as murders. There is no reason that they shouldn't be treated this way. How is this any different than killing another human?

Call me insensitive to my own species, but I hate all of them.. okay, perhaps that is a bit harsh. Not all people obviously, but ones who are so messed up in the head that they commit these sorts of crimes. I hope their mothers are proud of themselves for raising such "wonderful" people.

Until next time..

Be extra, extra, extra cautious!

Being a student doesn't allow for too many work hours during the week, so you can imagine that my funds are limited when it comes to buying gifts.. especially during the Christmas season.

I wanted to get my hubby something extra special this past season because of everything he had done for me in the 2010 year.

I decided on an ipod because his mp3 player.. well mine that he was using.. was starting to die, and the storage capacity just wasn't cutting it.

Sooo, after much shopping, both online and off, I chose one that was being sold on eBay. Bad idea.

I received the ipod in the mail within 2 weeks of my purchase. I was so proud of myself for coming up with this genius gift idea that hubby had absolutely NO clue about. So, you can imagine my disappointment.. okay more like imgoingtofreakinkillthosemofos when I open up the package only to find a friggen FAKE ipod. Grrr. Seriously, if the purchase is too good to be true, then it most likely is.

You can watch my video of this fony baloney music device below:

As the video states, I was able to get my money back. However, I had to go through a lengthy 51 days of running around getting evidence that it was indeed a fake. This involved going to an actual Apple store and getting them to provide me with documentation stating that it wasn't a legitimate product. Thank goodness I live in a city where there are Apple stores on every corner of every street. I don't know what I would have done otherwise. I finally got my money back this morning. The final thing I had to do was destroy and dispose of the "ipod". Since I didn't want this thing to cause anymore damage than it already had, I took it to it's final resting place at the recycling depot.. after smashing it's ugly fake face in of course!

I just wanted to throw a "heads up" out there. You really can't trust anyone out there anymore. This is such a shame, because these scam artists take advantage of honest people like you and me. And they are seriously everywhere.

For example:

I was recently informed that an UGG website I was looking at to get.. well what else would I be getting from there? ..was a fraud website that sells cheap knock offs, and if caught up in this scam, there is no way to get your money back.

I just shake my head in disbelief.

So take extra, extra, extra caution while shopping online, and if you do get caught up in a scam, do everything in your power to expose and destroy them. Let's not let these losers get the best of us and our hard earned, honest money.

PS. I was still able to get hubby a REAL ipod for Christmas! Only the second time around, I went directly to the Apple store. Lesson learned.

Until next time..