Along with Cupcakes

Valentine's day has come and gone, but I thought it would be nice to mark the occasion with some goodies for the office. I recently started a property management business under the love and protection of the real estate office in which I work as a receptionist. I can take no credit for the initial success of this venture, since the people here have pretty much held my hand through the entire process, and have been the source of ALL my clients.

Yaay for cupcakes and home-made cards!

Still working on it.

Eventually I will mail this card, with the corresponding gift, to its patient and gracious recipient. Perhaps I will squeeze the word 'belated' in there.

CaRd

Meet the Dave

Amber: David, what is your full name?

David: *sideways glance of disdain* you know what my full name is.

Amber: How would you describe yourself?

David: Awesome.

Amber: Anything else?

David: mmmhmm. I would describe myself as a warrior class adventurer trapped in a 21st century North American culture who doesn't know where to go or how to get there.

Amber: Interesting.

David: You're welcome.

Amber: Favourite color?

David: White. And black. Because white holds all the colors and black hides them all.

Amber: If you were a car what make and model would you be?

David: No idea.

Amber: Really, you got nothing?

David: mm mm. (That's like the no version of the grunt).

Amber: Please complete the sentence: I will always remember...

David: a specific pain I have in my heart.

Amber: ...ok. Chocolate is...

David: for weak people.

Amber: You're going to look like such a weirdo on here. I don't understand...

David: corruption, no wait, I do understand corruption. I don't understand...(getting distracted by watching batman)...I don't understand why....why....I don't understand why....I don't understand...are you just writing that?

Amber: yes

David: *scratches head...pauses batman...why good people that are aware of bad things don't do anything about it..as a generalization.

Amber: What do you propose?

David: Let's not think about it and watch batman.

Sprinkles?

The snowflakes are not snowflakes. They are white, and appear to be made of half-frozen water, but they are perfectly round. And all identical. All the way to work this morning I was staring at the ground, at the snow piling in tiny peaks on the tips of my boots, trying to figure out what it was I was walking on. It was dry and almost squeaky, like styrofoam packing peanuts. It rolled and crunched under my feet and I realized the little beads were slightly smaller versions of those round sprinkles that come on doughnuts or Christmas cookies.

Wouldn't it be fun if they snow came down multicoloured like those sprinkles, although it would probably raise a few serious questions about the environment and climate change.

I hope that is what I dream about tonight. Rainbow-coloured sprinkle-snow that doesn't melt, but is perfectly healthy and is used as a flavouring for foods, like powdered sugar or maple syrup.

mmm.

It's creeping up on me...

My homework is starting to push me into a corner. It multiplies faster than rabbits, piling up in the corner of my living room. Behind me as I play 'asteroids' on the xbox and watch old episodes of 'The Office', next to my bed as I cuddle with the pups in the morning after Dave leaves for work, littered across the kitchen table as I eat my breakfast and read the morning news.

It knows.

By Saturday I had no other choice. I completed some history, some math, if only so I could leave behind the nagging feeling of being watched, stalked by a hungry predator.

This morning I will be done with English whether I've conquered my foe or not, the mid-term starts at 6.

Elizabeth helped me wage the battle on Sunday, as we waded through words, theme and hidden meaning alone in my kitchen. Without her, well, I wouldn't be here today.

Until next time, college papers, math assignments and history reading. Until next time..

THE FLOODING

The weather in Terrace is unpredictable at best.

We moved in March and had a beautiful, cheery spring that I thought would gradually evolve into a beautiful, cheery summer.

Nope.

We had about two weeks of hot weather the whole summer. Every other day was cloudy, cool and sucky. For me, most disappointing summer on record, hands friggin down. It was especially disappointing when this was our first summer in our own home - a home with a big, south facing, grassy yard and high fences. Any guesses at what I wanted to be doing?

This winter has been no less odd. During the fall months, every time I mentioned that we were from the Island I was greeted with knowing chuckles and warnings about blizzarding cold minus 40 temperatures and the mountains of snow. (Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that Terrace was North of my previous home, thank you for enlightening me with your infinite wisdom).

However, all the dire warnings I received about so-called "Terrace Winters" were bunk.

Instead we get big dumps of snow, about 2 feet at a time. Sometimes this will happen a few times in a short span, leaving us with precariously creaking roofs. The lovely added bonus about Terrace is that the snow plows leave a fully concrete windrow that is impossible to drive through (believe me, I've tried) in front of the driveway, blocking me in. Or out, on occasion.

But the kicker here, is that this type of insanity only seems to last for a few days, until you get an entirely new crazy-maker: Rain.

Yes the Rain. You'd think that with all the "minus 40 temperatures" people seem to think we get up here, we would not be able to get rain in the middle of winter. The thing about this rain is that when it comes, which is always a few days after a large snowfall, ensuring that the ground is completely frozen, it comes in sheets and torrents, causing FLOODING.

My house, so far so good. Other peoples houses, like the ones I manage professionally for my JOB? Not so good.

Flooding=Amberslowlygoingcrazy123456...

Swag

Love this stuff!

Nostalgia

This photo is of my Nonno and Nonna holding my dad as a baby. My favorite thing about this picture is my Nonno's wicked stripey socks.

Kermode Moose

Being the ignorant city girl that I am, when I moved to Terrace I was surprised to learn that there is a special type of bear up here called the 'Kermode bear' or 'spirit bear'. It's basically just an albino black bear, but there is a larger than normal population of them up here. I remember the spirit bear figures that were painted and displayed all over downtown Victoria a while back, but at the time I didn't realize that they were actually a real type of bear, unique to the Northwest Coast.

My bad.

It's a pretty big deal up here. A few months ago some people managed to snap a few shots of an albino squirrel and it was on the front page of the Terrace Standard for 3 days.

A sign of both the priorities of Terrace citizens and of how little happens here.

I know it wasn't spotted in Terrace, or in BC for that matter, and certainly not by me, but here it is folks, courtesy of Cute with Chris, take a look at your first Kermode Moose, bitches!