Turkey and Gravy Soda?!

My sister did all the hard work on this Holiday Album, but I am using the same link anyway since I have all the same photos (Thanks Melissa!).

One of our adventures over the holidays was trying these Jones Soda Holiday Flavours (a "gag gift"... quite literally... from the Forsyths to the Chus):
Antacid, Sweet Potato, Dinner Roll, Pea, and Turkey & Gravy. You know it's bad when you hear, "Hey guys, try this one, it's the best one of them all; it just tastes like medicine!"

Next year maybe we will go with the dessert pack instead:

Flavors: Cherry Pie, Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime Pie, Apple Pie, Blueberry Pie.

"Smoky Mountain Saloon"

Merry Christmas from the Gents and Southern Belles at the Smoky Mountain Saloon!

We arrived in Charlotte, NC on Dec 20 and spent the night in Mooresville with my twin sister (far right) and her family, and then packed up all 8 of us and headed to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We stayed in a condo/cabin in the "Hidden Mountain" area... near Seiverville and Knoxville. After 3 days there, we returned to Mooresville for Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve day, and had a nice supper and opened a couple of presents.

This morning the chaos was unleashed as Joel and Alisha (9 yrs and 7 yrs) were allowed to wake us all at 6:30 for their gift opening. Paper flew and the kids gleefully tore through each package thanking each giver if present. The grande finale was the new bikes in the garage from their Amma and Grampa (my mom and step-dad, above left).

Hope your Christmas was as incredible as ours. More pics and updates later, probably on the weekend when we get home and have pictures downloaded etc.

Blessings,
DC

Wishing you a Merry Christmas
& a blessed holiday season

Pre-Christmas Dinner

We are definitely getting the best of both worlds for today's family Christmas Dinner: We get a house full of delicious turkey smell, but aren't hosting the party!
But speaking of the party, I need to go. Just wanted to show off my new cupcake stand and some mocha cupcakes with cream cheese icing and sprinkles.
More pics to come... I head up to see my step-mom tomorrow, then return on Tuesday night... we'll see how the blogging goes. Honestly, I don't know how you gals with kidlets keep up... I bet it keeps you sane though eh? Kind of like journaling and "debriefing" with an audience...?

Anyway, off to turkify :)

D

"severe storm"

Abbotsford Weather-1

Funny how weather definitions vary drastically across the world... or say, between two provinces. I was on the Columbia Bible College website, and came across a news update, saying that today's Christmas party had been postponed due to severe weather... Severe weather? I hadn't heard anything... so I click over to The Weather Network and check out Abbotsford weather... MINUS ONE WITH LIGHT SNOW?! seriously... help me out here folks. Granted, I did then find this article on CBC regarding the snowstorm... but it doesn't defend the cause much.

Severe weather? Try an average 5-day high of MINUS TWENTY FIVE and see how sympathetic I am. For my American friends out there, that is MINUS 13*F. At least we get Chinooks... I have a hope of getting warm again by next week... Winnipeg however: Deepfreeze season, see you in the springtime!

Domestic Diva Part II

Did some more baking today... some of my gingerbread men thought they were the pillsbury dough boy (emphasis on the dough) but otherwise everybody came out okay...

Karl was playing "Winning 11" today on PS2, so I made him a lucky gingerguy player...

domestic diva

With a blazing high of minus 21 today, I decided to start some Christmas baking...


Lemon Poppyseed mini coffee cakes

The first step of chocolate caramel pecan squaresGood ol' fashioned sugar cookies (to be decorated...)


and of course... the flop... affectionately known as the "I'm-sure-they'll-taste-just-great-honey" -chocolate-mocha-merangues. And it's a good thing they do taste great, because nobody will be receiving this batch!

-Martha: over and out (or mostly just over?)

Fog Nog

Two years ago Karl invented one of our favourite espresso drinks, the "Comfort & Joy"... and I have a new one to add to the list: The Fog Nog... it's a London Fog, made with egg nog instead of milk (skip the vanilla).

All I can say is that it's perfect by the fire when it's a windy daytime high of minus twenty-something outside!

Let me know how it goes...
Dayna

You don't want to miss this!

I'm coordinating an event at my church for Home Based Business Women... Get your tickets soon, they're going fast! $5 advance, $8 door: includes dessert, coffee, seminar, and a chance to win one of 25 door prizes.

Tuesday, December 5
7-9pm
Christian City Church Calgary
(formerly Westhills Community Church)
1009 Prominence Way SW
Calgary AB

Five things that happened while I was on my road trip: Part II

1. Michael Flatley ended up in the hospital, making me selfishly fearful for the fate of my early Christmas gift... turns out things are going to be fine.
2. I ate the best bruchetta ever at Kelsey's... feta cheese and tapanades...mmm. turns out they don't really make it like that in Calgary.
3. TWO WORDS: Beaver Tails.
4. I missed out on the cutest snowman teapot EVER... I decided to go back the next day and buy it, and it was GONE :'( The blowing scarf is the handle and spout... and the top hat doubles as a mug. How cute is that? Why didn't I buy it right away? I'm a fool, a FOOL I tell you.
5. I got some wheelin' dealin' rates at a couple of sweet hotels... Sheraton 4 Points in London, and the Crowne Plaza in Ottawa. That was sweet.
   

Conversation of the Week

Trent: "Do you mind moving these couches?"
Carpet Cleaner: "Sure, they're plastic so they should be fine."
Trent: "UM... actually they're leather..."
Carpet Cleaner: "I meant the legs."
Trent: "Oh."

Five things that happened while I was on my road trip: Part I

1. Fynthia and Finnigan recovered
2. My sister and her husband went on a Carribean cruise to celebrate their 10th Anniversary
3. I ate the best chocolate pecan pie and drank the best latte of my life at "Oh So Good Cafe" in Ottawa thanks to a local tour guide (it was awesome Tim K!)
4. I drank a lot of starbucks... now affectionately called "St. Arbucks" by the participants on the CCUfairs Ontario
5. two words: new scarf

Faster! Faster!

There has got to be a Guinness World Record for everything. This one may not be the strangest... actually, it is pretty normal. A 16-year old Singaporean student set the record for fastest SMS typing. Hmmm... I wonder if the Guinness Book of Record sets the record for the most records in a book of record...

fynthia update

Well, Fynthia is not out of the danger zone yet, but she's looking much better already, after only 3 treatments (out of 6):
Finnigan has been doing strange things now though, so when the hospital room is available, he's getting a turn in there for a round of antibiotics.

Off to buy a 30GB iPod and head to Grandma Jacquie's for supper :)

Fynthia

We adopted 7 fish from Mary when my dad died. She was worried that they wouldn't do so well when she went away for a while, so I took them home with me last time I went there for a visit...

There's Snik, Nub, and Uhs (shubunkins, a type of carp/goldfish) an Finnigan, Fynthia, Dolly, and Little Amigo. We changed Uhs's name to Cal... because he's a Calico and Uhs was just awkward.
I used to make fun of people who did crazy things for their pets, like simmering boneless skinless chicken in gravy for a dog. That was until I found myself skinning individual peas and snipping them into bits so that my goldfish wouldn't be constipated. Right... and it helps to avoid bladder infection too, in case you were wondering. If your fish are ever swimming upside down, or floating at the surface, but seem to be alive, feed them skinned peas. Anyway, my excuse is that these fish have special sentimental value.

Here's a picture of Fynthia (she even looks sad...), who is now in a separate little 'hospital tank' beside our 35 gallon one... because she seems to have some version of "pop-eye" that may develop into some form of "dropsy"... Our water quality is nearly perfect and we're not sure how she might have got it. We hope she's okay, but she's not doing all that great right now. We're giving her antibiotics, but draw the line at surgery!

My Father's Eyes...

God's goodness does not change. I don't know what it means that He gives and takes away, but I do know what it means to choose to praise Him regardless.

I have a friend right now whose son is in the hospital with leukemia. Does that change God's goodness? No. I have another friend who's Dad just survived brain tumor surgery. I have survived brain tumor surgery... Does God take good care of His children? Yes. What if I had died, or if her dad would have died, does that change God's goodness? No.

If there is one thing that I have learned through losing my dad, and throughout my life for that matter, it is that God's goodness does not change. Our circumstances change, we lose those we love, God can choose to heal and sometimes doesn't... God hates divorce and cancer and sin, and no part of Him is in it... but those things are in the world.

My dad died too young. He only got to teach 2 of his grandchildren to fish, and won't meet the rest. He won't get to go camping again, head to the Yukon to visit his buddies from his gold mining days, or road-trip it in the motor home back to the island. I won't see him tug his black leather ball hat over his forehead, scarred from a motorcycle accident he survived 20 years ago. I won't hear him whistle through the gap in his front teeth, that he wouldn't let the denturist correct when he got dentures... there it was, brand new teeth and his good ol' gap crafted right in there. I won't see his handwriting on another belated-but-carefully-picked birthday card, "To my darling daughter, Sorry it's late! Love Dad." He was a good gift-picker, but I don't think I ever received one before my birthday had come and gone. My dad loved life. In a lot of ways I want to be like him; he was very generous and had a great sense of humour and a great laugh. He was impulsive and spontaneous and loved people... loved being the life of the party. Somebody at his memorial said, "Mike would give you the shirt off his back... but don't you dare take the last beer in his fridge!" That says a lot about my dad.

I can't say that I learned a lot of biblical spirituality directly from my dad, but I can say that he taught me about appreciating life... and Life in all it's fullness is what Jesus came to give (John 10:10). Genes gave me my dad's eyes, and now I pray that I will have my Father's eyes. I remember my sister loving this song by Amy Grant when we were new Christians, and I have a new appreciation for it now... here's the chorus:

She's got her Father's eyes,
Her Father's eyes;
Eyes that find the good in things,
When good is not around;
Eyes that find the source of help,
When help just can't be found;
Eyes full of compassion,
Seeing every pain;
Knowing what you're going through
And feeling it the same.
Just like my Father's eyes,
My Father's eyes, My Father's eyes,
Just like my Father's eyes.

My prayer for you is that you will also have eyes to find the good in things, when good cannot be found. God's goodness does not change.

Top 5 Christmas Gifts...

As you make your Christmas wish list this year, here's a few ideas for you...

A Goat
Mosquito nets
Vitamin A
Crutches
Hearing Aids...

There are more ideas for you here

Happy Shopping!

True Pacman Fan

So, as it turns out, I've been a Pacman fan from the very beginning! I was cleaning out some boxes in my basement and found this drawing that I did when I was 6...

Telemarketers

The telemarketers seems to be out in full force in the last couple of days. Our phone has been ringing off the hook. I don't know, may be it is the fall and they think there is a better chance to catch people staying home watching hockey or something. At any rate, I always know that there is a do-not-call list kept by the Canadian Marketing Association (http://www.the-cma.org). It had never been a huge problem, so I never took the time to investigate. Besides, I was under the impression that I would need to pay an annual fee to have our number added to the do-not-call list. Having had more than a few calls in the last couple of days, I was annoyed enough to be willing to pay for that. After about five minutes of research, I found out that one can now do that online without a fee. I will have to see if that works since it takes up to three weeks to take effect. Here are a couple of links:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/home/antitelemarketing/tips.html
http://www.cornerstonewebmedia.com/cma/submit.asp

They're back!

 You may know that the real estate market in Calgary has been extremely hot in previous months. In the last few weeks, there has been talks about it cooling down a bit. Today, I saw evidence of that -- open houses. 

conversation of the week

K (reading the Tiger Direct flyer): Hey, do you want a universal remote control for four hundred and forty six dollars?
D: Does it control the universe?
K: Probably.
D: Okay.

Giving Thanks

I can't help but be Thankful this week,

For Karl, you're amazing... what else can I say? You know my heart.

For Melissa, you know and share my pain like no other, but thankfully you also know and share my faith. Thanks for your strength and friendship and boldness in sharing the song lyrics that you shared, inviting those at the memorial to cry out to Jesus in their time of pain and loss.

For my Amma, sending me her favourite prayer,
"Loving God: As we go our way into the future, no matter what we face, not sure of the way to go, surprised by turn of events, may we say good-bye to the past, giving thanks. May we embrace Your future plans, showing us the way to follow Christ as leaders and mentors; Amen."
For cards & flowers & emails & calls & prayers & tears & taking on my workload...
from my family, my friends, and my colleagues...

Grandma Dillon (my Dad's mom), Aunts Carol & Maureen, Uncles Danny & Bobby, Cardium Vac, Darren & Sandy, Marky G, Wendy & Brian, and the many friends of my Dad and Mary's that attended the memorial and expressed their care and sympathy and Kim Roy for officiating with care. Strangers named John and Christina Goddard for being the hands of Christ, thank you for bringing meals and desserts that fed over 20 friends and family the night before the memorial. I wish I could have met you, but your card indicated your desire to shine God's light, and I thank you.

Mom, Trent, Ralph & Jo-Anne, Mark & Lynn, Blaine, Leslie, Rocky Mountain College staff and faculty, Gaileen & Ron, Lorne & Kelly, Trevor & Amy, Larry & Susan, Susanna & Glenn, Marian & her team; Tim K & Shelley and SSU staff, EMFT colleagues, Joy, Stacey, Kori, Keri, Rachel, Rachelle & Gerald, Nicky, Jane & Russell, Johanna, Dan C, Larry & Sandra, Grandma Jacquie, Brenda, Jeff & Lori-Anne, Randy & Donna, Amy, Tim C, Auntie Marilyn, Gordon, Jason & Melissa, Diane, Isobel, Sheryl, Ruth, Dunn, Andrea, Dennis, Gerald, Melanie O, Karen M, Mary N, Hilda, Kevin K, Bryan H, Ken, Darcie, Aly, Dawn, Weldon, Dianne, Pamela, Helen, Calvin, Tim H, William, Nita, Brian K, Vandana, Debbie, Jeff S, Arnie, Pam, Barbara, Karen R, Melissa S, Karin K, Rich & Melanie, Craig M, Irene, Stan, Stephen, Cheryl, Cathy, David, Abe, Marion...

There is so much more to be thankful for. Most of all to God my Father, who, though You give and take away... my heart will choose to say, "Blessed be Your name..."

Dayna

memories

August 2006 | Edson & Area
Dad, Mary, Melissa, Joel & Alisha
(www.sentimentsfromthesouth.blogspot.com)


Vancouver Island
January 2005


Friends & Family,
Thank you for your continued support and prayers in this time of loss.

"Those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. " Isaiah 40:31

I am committed

... or shall I say, "my submitted patch has been committed"? Today, my first ever contribution to an open source project has been committed into the project's source code control system. I am very excited about that not because that makes me special. Rather, I feel I have taken a very important step towards my career goals, and this is a significant milestone for me.

I had been wanting to get myself involved in an open source project for quite some time now. However, I was never motivated enough to actually hunker down and do it. Two weeks ago on Sunday after church, Dayna and I got into a long "let's blue sky it a bit" type of conversation. We asked ourselves what we want to achieve professionally, and what can we do today to edge us closer to that goal. The answer for me was to get involve in an open source project. I chose NHibernate as the project, picked an open issue to work on from its issue tracker, and two weeks later, I had my patch committed to the project.

I am committed and I hope my enthusiasm will continue. May be someday I will earn the title of Regular Contributor of NHibernate or some other open source project.

What is logic worth?

Okay, everybody roll your eyes now so we get that over with...

Let's follow some logic here: 1pm is before 2pm, isn't it? And 2pm is before 3pm, isn't it? So why is 11pm not before 12pm? Shouldn't "noon" really be 12am and "midnight really be 12pm? I am sure there are people out there thinking to themselves, "my flight at 12:05pm, is it around noon, or is it around midnight?" The clock is a system invented by man; if you were to invent something, I am sure your thought process would not go something like this...

Hmmm... let me see... these are the rules that will govern how this system works... it will work as is, but for good measure, let me throw in a couple of exceptions

It's tough to be a logician sometimes because so many things in this world, important or not, do not make sense at all. My brain is hurting now, I gonna go watch some TV.

The Blank Stare

I got it again... the blank stare.

Karl and I were driving to a wedding last night and the vehicle in front of us had one of those personalized license plates that read, "Gwamma."

This, OF COURSE, made me think of the old granny from Tweety & Sylvester, so when Karl pointed out the license plate, I said, "I tawt I taw a puddy tat!"

Blank stare.

So I briefly explained it to him as being from that cartoon.

Then today it came up again, and I said, "I have to blog that..."
and he said... "I still don't know what you're even saying..."
Which cracked me up even more, so I had to blog that too.

And, now I'm off to do my mystery shopper evaluations. Yes, they make you work hard for that $150 and free sushi lunch!

Amazing Photos

Scott (once again) opened my eyes this week by showing me these amazing photos. They were shot and processed using a technique called "high dynamic range photography" (HDR)... I bet you are googling it right now (ain't I right, Melissa and Kori?). I downloaded a trial version of Photomatix and played around with it a little bit and here is what I got below... not bad for an amateur, huh!?





[Updated 2006-09-11]
I played with the software a bit more and got, in my opinion, better results this time around. You be the judge...

PEARS!

New High Score... oh yeah baby...

Farofa and weekly awards

We had supper with some new friends last night, Dana (pronounced like my name) and Juliano (with a hard "J" sound, not "H"). Juliano is from Brazil, and they made us some yummy supper to thank us for setting up their computer (us with a capital K that is...). One of the things we had was Farofa: kind of a smoky, salty flour for dipping your meat in. It was sure a yummy addition to the barbequed steak and ribs!

So, the Dinner of the Week award goes to Dana and Juliano for barbequed meat and Farofa!

Other awards:

• Irony of the Week: Tofino, a self described temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island, nearly had to shut their town down this weekend due to water shortage.
• Freebie of the Week: Christian Blind Mission International is giving away free calendars. I got mine in the mail yesterday, presumably because I donated (and received) Christmas gifts last year through them. They're an awesome organization, and I did my Masters degree with the Director, so I also encourage you to donate.
• Smarty Pants of the Week: my niece, Alisha
• How to of the Week: "How to Decorate your Dorm on a Dime" ...Yep, I authored my first wikihow, and it wins my own vote as the "how to of the week" ... check it out here and add your hit to the 800+ hits it already got!
• Other Freebies of the Week: Knock Knock: Seth Godin's new ebook about effective websites, and Who's There, an ebook about blogging

Dayna Chu :: over and out

Spicy juice

Dayna brought home some ginger beer today because she knows I like it, especially a spicy one. This Grace Ginger Beer certainly passes the spicyness test, let me tell ya. I poured it out into a glass and as I was drinking it, my exhalation pushed the fume out from the glass and it headed right into my eyes. For a split second, I felt like being pepper sprayed... what a great ginger beer!

My obsession with Mario Brothers continues

This guy, Jean Baudin, totally puts my Mario Brothers ring tone to shame. First of all, I didn't know a 11-string bass even exist, never mind playing it like this.

Weekly Awards

• Survivor of the week: Can you imagine being the lone survivor of a plane crash?
• Photo of the week: Canada Place (photographer: Kori)
• Freebie Site of the week: www.redflagdeals.com
• Blog of the week: The Tuscan (especially Erin's "quotes of the day" from her kids)
• Sermon of the week: Winning in Times of Loss; Pastor Lorne Tebbutt (52:07)
• Quote of the week: "I'm using my manners because Jesus doesn't want us to throw bread on the floor." Matt W, age 3 (see blog of the week)
• My Martha Moment of the week: making Cranberry Pear Lemon Jam and Blushing Peach Jam (peach jam with strawberries and nutmeg)... It passed this morning's taste test... and even Michael agrees that it ain't too much for him...

And BINGO was his NAME-OH

So, do you ever come out with some random line from a song or cartoon or commercial from your childhood, and then your friend or husband just gives you this...strange...blank...stare? Well, it happens to me a lot... I venture to say more than others, due to Karl being born and raised in Hong Kong.

Anyway, today Karl came home from work holding a scratch-and-win BINGO coupon flyer thingy that was jammed in our door. So, of course, I bust out with, "There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his NAME-OH: Bee-Eye-EN-Gee-OH! Bee-Eye-EN-Gee-OH! Bee-Eye-EN-Gee-OH! and Bingo was his name-OH" (insert blank stare here) "...oh, you've never heard that one?"

So, help me out here people, tell him that I'm not crazy and that I am NOT making this up.

Probably even funnier was a couple of weeks ago when Karl was astounded at his own memory, reciting to me every lyric of a fairly complicated chinese cartoon theme song. So I amazed him with my memory too, and recited the main chorus of "The Smurfs" for him: "La la lalalaLA, La lalala LAAA..."

Seriously, I crack myself up.

practice makes perfect...

I caught Karl practicing his new skill...

Practical skill of the week

I will never have my laundry piled up anymore... have a look at this.

I wouldn't describe myself as an animal rights activist... but I feel sorry for anybody that is and buys this product. It's my new favourite... but reading the fine print under the list of ingredients cracked me up...

So, it's okay that rats eyes were burned out testing the methlyisothiazolinone that goes into the shampoo, but as long as the finished product was never tested on animals, well phewph, that's okay then.

Isn't it kind of like stating on a can of tuna, "No dolphins were injured in the process of labeling these cans..."

weekly awards 3.1

• photo of the week: Jasper Daisy (photographer: Melissa Forsyth)
• freebie of the week: www.flickr.com
• blog of the week: Seth Godin
• how-to of the week: How to solve a Sudoku puzzle (a new hobby of mine. And if you know me, you know any hobby of mine won't involve math!)
• Canadians of the week: Silver medalists!
• type-o of the week: Just when you thought you won the lottery...
• life skills tip of the week: 10 new uses for vinegar (if you're like me and by 10 litres of vinegar at a time with your new costco card!)
• Gadget of the week: Time Fountain

Flickr

More Kudos to Scott, you got me hooked on Flickr. Did you go pro?

Can!

Scott showed me and Ed this video yesterday. Scott was right, I almost needed some tissue paper; and it makes me feel pretty small too.

It amazes me how this father-and-son team has turn around a disability and uses it to inspire millions of people. The video is aptly titled "Can" as they could have given up so easily; and yet, they find ways to achieve excellence. Truly inspiring.

See here for the full story of Dick and Rick Hoyt.

Who needs a bomb?

Forget about liquid explosives, you may not be allowed to bring a Dell laptop into the cabin next time you fly. I didn't exactly think twice about it when I saw this about a month ago. I better check that my laptop is not on the recall list.

milliondollarama

these guys can buy 10.8 million things!

penpig

So, I cleaned out the junk drawers in the kitchen this morning. You know the ones. Among the scotch tape, batteries, orphaned keys and expired coupons I also found 39 pens. THIRTY NINE?! who does that? freaky. You don't have to wonder who has yours now when you can never find it.

it won't last

okay, so the new look is a bit artsy fartsy victorian for my tastes, but don't worry, it won't last.

daily awards

• pacman high score of the day: 83,650
• "how to" of the day: How to detect liquid explosives
• word of the day: Animus: as in, "the terrorists' animus against the American citizens motivated their attempted attack."
• Picture of the day: my nephew Joel in the mouth of a T-Rex in Drumheller.

high score

• pacman high score of the day: 69,890
• best meal of the day so far: nellies cinnamon bun french toast. yum.
• most anticipated meal of the day: supper at Boston Pizza with the fam. hmmm... maybe thai chicken pizza?
• pasttime of the weekend: Karaoke. Karl has mastered "Walk the Line" and my new favourite is "Wide Open Spaces"... look out world. Can you believe they added karaoke to the Calgary Corporate Challenge games this year? tee hee. I think Karl should enter :)

weekly awards

• Interior Blogsigner of the week (also inspiration for my updated look): Kori's House: www.korishouse.blogspot.com
• Blog of the week: www.juliaofarabia.blogspot.com
• "How To" of the week: How to make a duct tape iPod nano case
• Retro game of the week: Pacman
• Investigation of the week

The FAM :)

I'll link to my sister's album when she gets one up, but had to post some of these pics from recent family parties... it was a strangely quiet day Monday after hosting and attending one or more daily events on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

This is what we were wearing when I picked up Melissa from the airport. Like our friends that are twins...

Karl and I swiped Melissa's camera and took this one of ourselves...

Our family has some mixed generations, Melissa's kids are close to the ages of some of our cousins... My mom bought some "twin" outfits for my niece and cousin... which is funny and a bit ironic, because she never never ever dressed Melissa and I like twins. She wanted us to have our own identity... which I'm thankful for... but I guess it only matters if you're REALLY twins, and if you're cousins, it's cool to be like twins...

Friends, Family, Food & FUN: pics to come when Blogger quits being a pain...