Curling ROCKS

(see what I did just there? It's punny but it's also true. I know, I'm a literary genius.)

At various times over the last few years, Husbandly One would put a curling game on TV and enjoy it very much. Me, I would look up from my book periodically, look at the guys with rocks and brooms trying to whack some other guys' rocks, shrug, and go back to my reading. The whole thing was pretty lame if you asked me.

My city is currently hosting the World Men's Curling Championships, and curling fever has been increasing around here exponentially for weeks. Me? Mheh, still could not care less about the rock people. And then I went to a game.

Man, I had fun. I understood only 17% of what everyone around me was oohing and ahhing about (or groaning and moaning about, depending on what had just happened), but it was fun. The next night, we watched another game on TV and, determined to understand what was going on, I even created my own curling rink on paper, marking out wide circles, using pennies and dimes to represent the stones. As the game on TV progressed, Husbandly One would touch the corresponding coins on my paper and really explain what I was seeing. Huh. This game is pretty cool.

Well, we went to see another championship game at the Coliseum tonight. I understood what I was seeing. I understood what a sophisticated, highly skilled game of complicated strategy the game is.

It is possibly the coolest sport ever. Who knew!

(See look, I did the punny thing again.)

(Don't worry,no more puns next time.)

Off to make pickles

Hey, it's what all the cool kids are doing.

After my last attempt turned to te Dark Side because I couldn't process them in a water bath, I decided to grab my Mum's big pot so I could do it all up proper.

Of course, this meant that I had to call the young lady who is house-sitting for her and explain my mission. "Yeah, it's Irma? I need to come over and grab some stuff out of the basement. Bye!"

After work, I let myself in to the house using my key -- just to prove I DO belong there-- and yelled "Helloooooooo!" She came in to the kitchen, and was very friendly, and very co-operative as I explained to her what I was taking from the house, but I DID catch her glancing in to the livingroom a few times, I assume to check my appearance against all the photos Mum has displayed. She relaxed visibly once she decided that yes, clearly I am well known in this house.

Still it made me chuckle....if I was going to rob the place, I don't think it would be for the $15 pot in the laundry room behind the fabric softener. I thought about messing with her and saying, "Oh, and I'm just going to grab some jewelry out of her bedroom", but that would have just been mean. So I took Mum's car instead.

Bwah ha ha.

In a convenience store

On the way home tonight, we stopped at our local corner store so I could jump out and buy a lottery ticket with our favourite numbers.

The sixteen year old youg lady working the counter brightened when I told her what numbers I wanted. She knew those numbers! "Wait, this is totally for your dad, riiiiight?"

"Pardon me?"

"Those numbers? This is for your dad!"

"Umm, my husband."

"No no, your dad, that gray haired guy."

"Yeah, MY HUSBAND."

"No, the old guy."

"MY HUSBAND. Can I just have my ticket???"

"Fur sure. Hey, tell your dad I said hi."

Stupid Canada

This is the view off of my deck, taken a half hour ago. Fifteen centimetres of snow down, another fifteen to come before midnight. I have had enough of this winter stuff. Yes, those are my Christmas lights. And yes, I am tempted to turn them on.

The power went off this afternoon, while we were at work, and was back on before we got home. Awwwww, I love power outtages! And I missed it! Stupid storm can't do anything right.

On the other hand, as the snow has been slowly melting over the last week or so, all the "gifts" our dog has left us in the back yard have start emerging. At least now they are covered over again.

Oh BAD WORD

I just checked on my lovely Portuguese pickles. One of the jars had mold in it (ewwwwww) so I threw eveything out.

Guess I will have to start over.

Bad word.

Huh?

I need to get something off my chest, something that has bothered me for ten years or more. Maybe y'all can explain this to me in a way that makes sense and allows me to bury this question forever.

When people get married, why do couples BUY the woman's wedding dress, but RENT the man's tuxedo? Shouldn't it be the other way around? When I married my Ex-Husband fifteen years ago, I too went all bridal on his ass, and purchased a dress that cost almost $1000. Fifteen years ago. And it has sat in big box in my Mum's basement ever since. Money well spent, huh?

And in my OWN basement? I have my Mummy's wedding dress in a big box. Granted, one of her sisters also wore that wedding dress -- in 1971-- so it has "only" been a pain in the butt to all and sundry for 38 years. I know my Mummy had always hoped I'd wear her dress when I walked down the aisle....but the woman was 4'9" and weighed 90 lbs on a good day. Me? Not so much. I have zero reason to keep her wedding dress (or my own, for that matter) but I am now saddled with both for all eternity.

The reasonable thing for a chick with a penchant for a white dress to do is rent the bloody thing, and buy her man a tux. Granted, a man doesn't get to wear a tux everyday, but I can assure you he wears it more often than one five-hour period out of his entire life.

So why do so many women, myself included, go temporarily insane over the matter of a big white dress?? Explain it like I'm four years old.

Earth Hour in 83 minutes...

Trying to get us fed and watered before I turn off the power at 8:30.

Some people gripe that Earth Hour is just a publicity stunt. Well DUH, of course it is. Some people say that one hour's worth of conservation doesn't even amount to a single drop in the bucket. Well DUH, of course it doesn't. Some people say that, by abstaining for one hour, folks will think they have "done their share" for the year and immediately go back to their wasteful ways at 9:30pm.

But so what?

Who CARES if it is just a publicity stunt, or that some of the participants don't really "get" what it's all supposed to symbolize. Every little bit helps. Let me tell you, the way I use the earth's resources today is a far cry from the way I did even two years ago. The small changes, the minor decisions I make every day, they really DO add up. Especially when you add my changes to yours. And to your neighbour's. And to that guy's.

If you choose not to participate in Earth Hour, that's cool. Your choice, man. Just don't let anyone tell you Earth Hour is a bad idea.