Yucky Yuck Yuck

I'm totally copying my friend's post here but I thought it was a neat idea. Since food is a subject near and dear to my heart, it's quite appropriate for my blog :)

The top 10 foods that I don't think I'll ever like!

1. Deep fried onion loaf.

It's too greasy and rich for me. Even thinking about it makes me gag.

2. Cool Whip

Fake food. Edible oil product. Why bother. BLECH!

3. Mushrooms

This is a fungus. Need I say more?

4. Warm milk

Warm milk does not taste good. Ever.

5. Walnuts

So bitter....so wrong.

6. Real Maple Syrup

The irony is not lost on me that I prefer 'fake' Aunt Jemima to real syrup. So be it. This stuff just tastes weird and is completely over priced!

7. Poached Eggs

A bit too gelatinous for my taste. I love eggs but this is one of the only ways to cook them that I am not fond of.

8. Brussel Sprouts

Stinky little critters. Stay away!

9. Oysters

Look at them! This does not look like something one should eat. Slimey and smelly.

10. Short Bread

No flavour, too rich and blah. I'd rather pass on short bread!

Well....what do you say? Am I complete freak? Let me know what you think!

Two Boys!

I think Chad was just a few weeks old in this photo on Mother's Day 2001. I had short hair which was a total pain in the butt to style. I was also looking forward to an entire year off work! I had only gotten a 6 month leave with Nathan and was thrilled that the EI had bumped up mat leaves to a year. What a blessing it was to be able to stay home with my boys for that year. I didn't have a vehicle so we walked all over Abbotsford to get our errands done. Nathan was and still is a great walker. Yep...good memories!

World Cup Mania!

Even the back yard critters are getting in on the excitement!

I Scream, You Scream...

...Except there was no screaming involved.

Take Me Back

My mom (aka Busy Lizzy) back in the good ole Amway days. I always admired that dress when I was a little girl. I thought it very fancy! My parents travelled quite a bit when they were in Amway for various seminars. Often we were able to go with them and sometimes not. At the time I would mock them out for selling Amway but looking back I now realize how priveledged I was to be able to stay in hotels so often! I remember that most of my friends back then had rarely ever stayed in a hotel! My brother and I were left to wander (gasp) the hotel while they were in meetings. Dad would give us rolls of quarters to use in the arcade or we could earn money by babysitting younger kids for the other parents. But the highlight of any trip was the pool. How I loved to swim!

Fa Day

I think it was a good day for Keith! The festivities actually began last night as I arranged for him to have a guy's night out at the movies which is something he rarely takes the time to do. This morning he woke up to gifts....and children jumping on the bed!

My parents and Andrew came over for supper. Keith's parents are in Ontario so we'll celebrate with his Dad later.

I made a very yummy dinner of sticky garlic chicken skewers, veggies, salad, herb bread and chocolate cake with fudge sauce for dessert. Check out MGCC for the recipe.

After supper we went on a long walk. Andrew and the boys stayed back to watch a DVD while we took my parents along the new portion of discovery trail. There is quite an elevation gain on the way home and my parents were huffing and puffing and uttering things that made it sound like they didn't like our walk :) I'm sure they were just joking...right?!

Liam was a bit cranky and needed to be let out to walk for a ways.
And then he 'needed' to hold hands with his grandparents whilst in the stroller. Oh my, he's spoiled!

Sadly I didn't get a photo with Keith and the kids. What was I thinking? Oh well...I can always take one tomorrow and pretend it was from today :)

Take Me Back Tuesdays

Just to add some interest to my blog I have decided to implement a regular Tuesday feature with some 'oldies but goodies'.

I always think it's good fun to relive one's past....some parts anyhow. There are some readers out there who may not be safe and I cannot guarantee your anonymity in the photos :) Ha! This is going to be fun!

I'll just post one today as a teaser.

My third birthday with my cousin Stephanie on the left and Christa on the right.

Furry Friend

Y'know how little kids just love those mascot/characters in costumes at parades and community events? Liam is no exception. We are lucky enough to have our own mascot here in the Dyck house. Chad just has to don his very old lion Halloween costume and Liam is one happy camper. He just loves it!

Mail Order Bride?

Playing dress-up used to be one of my favorite things to do. Forcing Andrew to play along with me was even more fun. In honor of my brother's birthday today I give you the sailor and his bride!

Thanks Andrew for still loving your older sis even though I tormented you in 100 different ways when we were younger!

This, That and The Next Thing

Well, here's an update:

-The renovations to our home are going painfully slow. As my insurance friend advised, they love the emergency call out but to get the renovations moving is a slow process. Today we had the dry-waller here so that is progress.

-Nate is in the process of auditioning for Abbotsford Children's Theater. We are waited with baited breath to see if he gets a part for their production this winter

-Nate just got new lenses in his glasses. His eyesight is quite bad with his prescription being -4.0 and -3.75. I don't know what those numbers mean except they get higher with each visit. Contacts will be in his near future.

-Liam doesn't like sleeping through the night anymore and Keith is getting really tired of popping in and out of bed to settle him. Really glad that's not my job :) We hope it's phase!

-We just celebrated Keith's dad's 70th birthday!

-My friend from Ireland is coming out this summer for 5 weeks and I'm so excited to see her!

-One more month of work for me and I'm off for 6 weeks! Sweet. Work is crazy busy now as we gear up for year end and prepare for next fall. Still loving my job, my co-workers and even the students :)

Those are the highlights of the past few weeks. The rest of the time we've just been living life and doing our best to savour the moments!
Hopefully there are more exciting or at least interesting posts in the near future.

I Like Clean

I just read the most interesting book. This book was all about the history of personal cleanliness. Fascinating stuff. I didn't realize that daily bathing/showering is a fairly modern concept that was really only started in the early to mid 20th century. You might think it very stinky back in the old days but they all stank so no one really noticed.

The author explores it all from Roman baths, to 17th century France (when cleaning one's self meant putting on a clean linen shirt), to public bath houses of Europe. There was a time when Europeans thought that the layers of dirt on their skin protected them from disease and would not let water come near it!

It doesn't read like a history text book. Ashenburg has filled the book with unique anecdotes, facts, stories, illustrations and photographs.

It was a random pick off of the library shelf for me but a winner. I recommend!