Brother-in-Law

We got a nice (but short) visit from my brother-in-law last night as he is in Calgary for a work related seminar. He has also never seen our new place, so this was his first visit! Unfortunately I didn't get to spend a tonne of time with him since I didn't get home till 7:15pm (I taught a class!) But it was alright; Because I wasn't home to cook we ordered in from BP's. :) (Yeah, I know! I'm not really following my cleanse diet anymore... oops!)

Speaking of the cleanse, has anyone ever tried Silk? (Soy Beverage, like milk?) OMG, it's very good! (Eventhough I've heard differing opinions about the health benefits of ingesting unformented soy products...) In small doses, it can't hurt?!? Seriously... try it for breakfast with puffed wheat/millet/rice and fresh strawberries... DEVINE!
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Recycling Scammer

Since moving into my new house, I've been excited about the prospects of having community curbside recycling. Unfortunately, Calgary isn't installing a City Wide program like this till 2009 (rednecks much???) But there is a small local buisnesses within Calgary that do offer recycling services. (I googled to find it. Maybe that was my first mistake! I have too much faith in the internet!! I won't even post the link... that would be like Free advertising for them!) I looked over their list of items they recycle, and I was pleased that they took so many things (including Pizza Boxes, WOW!) Also, they accepted payments via Paypal! ("Sweet, I can pay now and have my recycling picked up next week!"... was my thinking.)
WRONG!
Apparently, I overlooked the "Areas that they service" and unfortunately my area does not fall in their jurisdiction. :(
So WHY didn't the company look at my address right off the bat, and realize I was out of their area of service and quickly rectify the situation and NOT accept my payment?

I have to go through this stupid rigamaroll now in order to get my money back, and they want to take all these service fees off the top! BOGUS! I really am mad about this. Last night I fired him off a rather lengthy email yesterday explaining my distaste for the situation and how it's been handled thus-far... I will be in contact with a higher power soon. Hopefully he's not such a d*ck...

No music!

I am not a yoga instructor... I teach Breathe, which is a fusion class of Tai-Chi, Yoga, Pilates and Meditation. We use music to keep the beat, and to keep our choreography flowing.

I teach most every Saturday morning. This morning was no different. I walked into the studio (my class is after a TKO class) and the previous instructor tells me "The speakers aren't working... I don't think the stereo is working at all!"

OMG! Now, I'm a little freaked... what am I going to do?!?

What could I do?!? Send the members away? NO! ...I improvised without music!!! I felt like a true yoga instructor! I have never taught a class in silence before, the only sound was me talking... no wonder yoga instructors start sounding so monotone and repetitive.
"Inhale, reach up to extended mountain. Exhale, forward fold.
Inhale to lunge. Exhale, downdog."

I was pretty proud of myself for making it through the class without a hitch. I guess that just shows my many years of experience shining through. :)
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Burnt Nuts

I went shopping for some more groceries to make another batch of Gypsy Soup, and I found a 1kg bag of almonds in the baking section for $12.99... such a good deal, so I bought it! When I got them home I opened the bag, and realized they were raw almonds (soft in the middle) so I figured I could dry roast them myself, in the oven! I googled how to roast almonds and found this great site. I followed the instructions but thought that cooking them only 10 minutes left the almonds still soft in the middle. I decided to put them back in... but for WAY TOO LONG, and ended up burning them! (...Probably 3 quarters of the bag! DUMB ME!)

Oh well... live and learn!



Maybe I should just stick to buying the dry roasted ones... (despite the fact that they cost twice as much!)

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Cleansing

I started taking my cleanse pills a day early (on Sunday) because I ended up buying a different cleanse kit then my friends did. (Theirs is only a 12 day kit, mine is a 15 day one) The pills smell so repulsive that I gag everytime I take them! (No wonder they tell you to take them on an empty stomach!!!) I think that's the worst part of this cleansing thing... the diet really isn't that bad. I am still allowed to eat a lot of things I would normally eat anyways.

I had my yearly physical yesterday. :( I hate the weighing in part! My doctor humored me by starting off the weight on the scale very light... but unfortunately the big dial at the bottom had to be moved. :( *tear*.

This was the look on my face as I was weighed yesterday!

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Coughing Fits!

I have not been getting to sleep very easily the past 2 nights. As soon as I lay down, I start getting a tickle in my throat and end up in a complete coughing fit! Last nigth Collin was ready to kill me, I'm sure... so I went downstairs and had a swig of cough medicine and layed on the couch till I was too tired to cough anymore.

But then I wake up in the morning with no cough (not even a sore throat really)... what is going on? I've started taking my multi-vitamin and Echinachia in hopes that it will help me fight whatever it is that I seem to have... but so far, it's happened 2 nights in a row. Let hope tonight won't be the same.
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Gypsy Soup

I have had the items to make this soup for almost a month... so I decided, since I'm starting my cleanse tomorrow, I'd finally make it . Well, If I can make it, anyone can make it! And it turned out GOOD!!
I've even scanned the recipe for those of you who want to try it! (I actually used crushed tomatoes from a can, instead of Step 1)
Good Luck!!!
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I work with a celebrity!

His name is John Morris... he's a curler! Here's his bio... He's fairly well known in the curling community... and I see him every year on TV during the Brier (he's that good).

Yes, I'm a curling dork... but I was flabbergasted when I saw him at the same fitness facility Christmas party that I was at! **Woot!**
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Posting some videos...

This is a video of my Grandpa visiting with his new best friend.
He sure loves animals!

Paige playing the organ!
I think all us kids had an infatuation with this thing whenever we'd visit.

Nolan, after his bath!
I was a big help at bath time.

My other videos: HERE
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Holidays, Whoop Whoop!

I have been enjoying my vacation immensly! I met my sister and her little ones at the airport on Saturday (Nov. 10th) and brought them back to my place for a few days (she had not seen my new house yet!) We created a bunch of resin pendants together (Paige wouldn't stop talking about them and wanted to make more and more!) We also discovered that my first 2 bottles of resin and hardner were rather old and that's probably why the pendants weren't getting completely hard upon curing. The second set of resin/hardner that I bought got hard almost instantly, after the alotted 25 minutes of working time... It was crazy!
Here are the pendants we created (this picture was taken just after removing them from the molds, so they still need sanding, etc...)
We then drove to Leduc to spend some time visiting with my Mom and Dad. When we got there we realized that my brother Joe and his wife were staying there also, so we all had to sleep in the spare room... me on the floor and my sister and her kids in the spare bed (which has shrunk since the last time I remember staying there!) After a couple of nights of that, I couldn't wait to get back to my own room! (Seriously, between the paper thin walls and the snoring... I needed some peace and quiet!!!)
We also drove up to Boyle to visit with our grandparents. (My Grandpa Joe unfortunately has Cancer and the onset of alzheimers... so there is no time like the present to go visit them!) It was a good visit! All of my aunts and uncles (my grandma and grandpa's kids) came out for supper too! It was nice to see them all! My grandpa and Nolan hit it off like two peas in a pod! They had a great time playing together and getting into a little bit of trouble together... hehe!
Unfortunately when we went to get some pictures, Nolan wanted nothing of it! He had a mini freak out... here's the picture we managed to get.


And on my drive home, I was listening to an Edmonton radio station called "the Bounce", and I discovered this new song... and I am in love with it! I even managed to find the video on Youtube... Check it out! Whoop Whoop!
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HTML coding help!

I've been wanting my sidebar to have capital letters in the headers for some time now, but despite my research on the proper HTML code
< style="text-transform: uppercase;"> ALL CAPITALS < /font > ,
they still do not appear as CAPITALS! What am I doing wrong?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
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Getting ready to go!

I'm getting excited for my sister and her kids to come visit!!! They will arrive at 2:30ish on Saturday! I should really start kid proofing my place, I have way too much crafting things out right now, and I know that they are the first things the kids will want to play with! (beads, resin and kids DON'T mix!!!)

Paige took one look at the Pony pendant (in my last post) and she went bug eyed! lol I told her that we will make her one when she comes to visit, and she couldn't stop talking about it! She really wanted one with a blue pony, but I don't think I have one... she might have to settle for a purple pony ;)

I'm really looking forward to this 9 day holiday coming up! Ahhhhhhh....
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PINKIE PIE pony!

My latest resin creation: Pinkie Pie Pony.

So freaking cute, if I do say so myself!!! ;)
And who doesn't love pink??? I mean, COME ON!!!

(I'm currently selling this at my Etsy Store, {http://roxngemz.etsy.com} so far, so good :)
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Beady Busy Weekend

After my friday started out rocky (I was in a mini fender bender... a woman backed into me as we exited a parking lot! :( I wasn't very pleased!) the rest of my weekend was relaxing.

Saturday morning, I taught yoga class, which is always great!!! That evening I decided to get started making the brooches for my grandma's (I've been planning on making these for them for AGES!)

Check out my handy work:

UPDATE: tutorial!

They turned out so much better then I imagined! I am sure my grandma's will love them! (As you can see in the picture, I still need to secure the center and attach pin backs to them.)

They took me about 20 mintues each to make! I'm getting really good at this bead weaving thing ;)
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TO EVERYONE IN BLOGLAND

UPDATE YOUR BLOG, ALREADY!!!!!

New face

I was getting really sick of my blog template... so I'm heading back to my original choice. It's so much more ME! :)

Halloween workout

Last night I really wanted to see all the kids in their costumes, but unfortunately I had to teach a class at the gym. :( Collin said we got about 35 kids Trick 'er treating... way more then the 4 we got at the condo (but we still bought way too much candy!!!)
When I got home at 8:30, the kids had all gone home already! I didn't get to see any costumes excpet on my bus ride home! :( My favorite holiday come and gone, and I didn't even get to partake in the fun! (Collin is a serious party pooper too... he was having none of it when I asked him to dress up! Poo on him!)

I'm in a blah kinda mood today. I don't really want to do anything. I do have to teach my Breathe class at 1:00pm today though, maybe that will rejuvinate me.
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