Soap Optional

We have the old school kind of dishwasher that rolls up to the sink and you hook it up to the faucet. But we actully have an extra hose connected to the water connection under the sink so our faucet doesn't get used, making it a little less old school. When Adam went to hook it up today he deduced that the nozzle on the hose needed to be fixed. So he scattered his tools all over the office and fixed the nozzle. Then we had the conversation. (Keep in mind the nozzle has nothing to do with the detergent.)

Dea: Did you put soap in the dishwasher?
Adam: But I fixed the nozzle.
Dea: Yes, but did you put the soap in?
Adam: The nozzle's fixed.
Dea: But no soap to clean the dishes?
Adam: I fixed the nozzle.
Dea: Clearly soap isn't needed then.

Good Articles.

This one
That one

Our House.

I was going to have the lyrics of that song here, but I can't remember them, and I can't be bothered to look them up. Anyhow here are some pictures of our living room.















This is the view from the kitchen into the living room. I love the stained glass!
You can see the evil couches, we are going to replace the long one under the window with a leather one, and the love seat with an over sized chair.















This is the view from the back of the living room, standing next to the wall that separates the kitchen from the living room. This is where we store the booze.
















This is the view from the couch. We made our own entertainment hutch using 3 Ikea shelves. I think it works quite well. Don't critique how I've dressed the shelves, it's a work in progress....

How to make your dog smaller.

Exhibit A.
Normal sized Chachi.

Then using the patented, special elixir,
et voila!
Small Chachi!

Monday's Mumblin's

Wouldn't it be a great idea if I had 7 new blogs, one for each day of the week? Like Monday's Mumblin's, Titilating Tuesdays, Weird Wednesdays, Thrillin' Thursdays, Friday's Forcast, Sloshy Saturdays and Sober Sundays? Good idea? No?

Anyhow, Adam and I had a great weekend! We were invited to go to a SF Giants game, which thrilled Adam because he's been wanting to go, but I've been dragging my heels because I'm not a baseball fan; rugby: yes, hockey: yes, football: yes, baseball: yawn. But the person who invited us had a suite to watch the game in. So to recap, baseball: not so much, suite at a sporting even: yes please!
Once there I quickly realized that I would be ruined for any sporting event ever again; sitting in second bowl seats at the HP Pavilion to watch the Sharks get beaten by some Canadian team will never be the same again. I'm okay with that. The suite was amazing. It opened up onto a balcony with an amazing view of the field and the harbour, since AT&T Park is built on a pier. The balcony had two rows of roomy seats and plenty of room to walk around and not get dead leg from sitting still for so long. Also there was a roof to the balcony, so when all of the people in the stands were breakin' out the plastic bag jackets as the rain started, we were all dry and cozy, livin' the life.
We arrived just as the game was about to start, so Adam and I took a seat on the balcony and settled in to watch the game. I decided that I would try to enjoy the game, even though I just wanted to marvel at the suite. The game started slow: swing, miss, swing, miss, ball, strike, blah blah blah.... Then Regan came to tell us that she was going to get food and so Adam went with her to get us something. This left me alone on the balcony with someone I had just met a couple of minutes before. I shrugged off my shy girl routine and struck up a conversation.
So he's a baseball fan and was shocked that I had no clue who Barry Bonds was. (Some baseball powerhouse who was rumoured to be all jacked up on 'roids) I had a quick lesson on Bonds and some baseball trivia as we discussed the merits of major league sports. (For the record I think that they are just a giant money making machine, and I don't get that wrapped up in the hoopla, I figure there are better things in life to be passionate about, like the Flames!) So we were watching the Giants who were now up to bat, swing, miss, blah blah blah. Then Barry Bonds came out to take his bat. The crowd hushed as the pitch came. He swung, and connected! The ball soared high into the sky. High, as in straight up, it was a pop fly, and a foul ball. Some fan caught the ball and everyone around him congratulated him. He is now a minor celebrity with his friends and family. Then the next pitch, he swung and BLAMO! The ball rocketed across the field, the centre field guy tried to catch it, but it was above his head. He did make a valiant effort running and reaching, but alas the ball was a home run. The stadium erupted into a massive roar and Mr. Bonds took his bases, reminiscent of a NASCAR winner taking a victory lap with the checkered flag. Bonds reached home base and the Giants had the lead in the game with one to zero. The game ended and the only score was Barry Bond's 739th home run, which is only 16 away from Ruth's record of 755.
After the game ended the stadium emptied in break neck speed, but we opted to enjoy the suite a little longer rather than rush for a train that would be packed with excited Giants fans. Instead we watch the field crew come and repair the field. We watched them groom the pitchers mound and then cover it with a custom made tarp, which fitted exactly. Then they did the same for the spot where the batters bat. Finally they rolled out a huge tarp which they covered the dirt part of the field up with. (Which Adam has reminded me is called the diamond.) It was interesting to watch them do this, and they were equally amused by the crazy people in suite #49 (us) who were cheering them on. (My favourite was the guy in the cowboy hat who was clearly the leader, and also the guy who wasn't wearing the yellow jacket and was clearly the rebel!). Eventually we were asked to leave because they needed to clean and we went to catch our train home.
Fun was had by all.
Once we were back in Sunnyvale, Adam and I went to a local pub for a really amazing dinner, a perfect end to the day.*

Yesterday we had some friends come over and we played lots of games. I lost most of them, which I am fine with since it was the first time I had played most of them. Also, I've come to the realization that while I am crazy competitive in sports and anything physical, I don't care really if I win a board game, because it's just that: a board game. Except when we were playing Settlers last night and I came out of nowhere, all stealthy and totally screwed Adam over. Yes Internets, there is nothing better than humiliating my husband at a board game. Ahem, I mean, I don't have to win, it is a game after all.

And now it's today. How was your weekend?

*I would have taken pictures to document it all, but everyone had such nice fancy cameras and we only have a wee little digital which is so puny. I didn't want to bring it out and subject it to camera envy.

Hello world.

I know I've been remiss in my blogging duties, I have no excuses, or apologies.
Now on with the show!

Adam signed us up for the Netflix's beta program which allows you to watch movies directly off of your computer. Initially I was not to excited about it because the movies were clearly B rated, but lately they have been getting some much better movies. I'm most excited about the range of Jane Austen movies and the workout ones, which personally, I think is brilliant on Netflix's behalf to include them. You see, you are granted one hour of watch now time per dollar you owe per month on your membership. Adam and I have the 4 at a time membership which is $23.99, so we get 24 hours of watch now movies a month. If you watch a workout video a day, that would take you over your limit. See? Brilliant marketing Netflix!

Also I've discovered this new product that I am all a-rave about. It's castile soap. (I would link to a definition, but my linky abilities are a little disabled at the moment.) Anyhow castile soap is a pure vegetable product soap, no animal fats in it, so that's great for vegetarians. I love it because it's a pure soap, not a detergent which is loaded with other stuff which are irritants. Castile soap can literally be used for EVERYTHING in the house. I use it for laundry, and it's been making my towels fluffier! I love it. I prefer it over detergents because I have crazy sensitive skin. Last summer I used a national brand which comes in a bright orange package, and it left me so irritated, I itched and itched until I bled. Bad news internets! So I try to buy sensitive kinds, but they still have the "stuff" in them, which bothers me. You can also use the castile soap to clean everything in your house (with a few exceptions). If you search it online you can find lists, I won't bother here. Some marketers sell it as a body cleanser or a shampoo, but I am a little leery about that because it has a higher PH than your hair and can be drying. So be warned. Also I've found it in peppermint and lavender scents, we have the peppermint and it's nice.
Oh and we mustn't forget that it's much more environmentally friendly than other detergents.

So that concludes my consumer report for today.

Onto other notes, I finally got all of the weeds pulled from my back yard which is nice. The citrus trees are blooming and the yard has this wonderful smell, it reminds me of jasmine tea. The past few days have been really windy and there are petals all over the yard from the flowers, and it kinda looks like a light snow! The neighbour has a tree that has flowers that grow in a ball, and several of the branches hang into our yard, it's really pretty. I'm really enjoying spring in California, although it's getting quite hot.
Next I aim to tackle my front yard, which the landlord have covered with large ground cover shrubs and trees, but there are still weeds which have infiltrated the plastic under the bark mulch. I hate that our yard looks so ghetto on such a nice block. Adam think it just looks like greenery, but I think it looks bad. I hope our neighbours see it like Adam does!

The pets are good. Chachi rolled over on command the other day and I was beside myself praising him. Bonsai is turning into an ornery old man, but he's still happy and healthy. I've started both of them on a new kind of pet food which lists meat as it's first ingredient, and contains no grain. Chachi loves it and pulls big mouthfuls out of his bowl and spits them onto the floor to pick out the new brand and leaves the old stuff behind. No matter how often I clean up the kibble around his bowl he perpetually has a radius of a couple inches of kibble around it.

Well that's all I have for now. I'm off to make Adam dinner.
ciao!

Conversations with a 33 month old.

The scene:
Tessa and I are sitting at the coffee table "playing markers" in one of those colouring books where the markers only work in them, not on regular paper or on any other surface. We open to a new page and Tessa proceeds to make a giant scribble, with gusto. She looks to me and says: "Look Auntie, unkatahster!"
I blink a couple times, "Uncle Tahster? Who's Uncle Tahster?"
"No, Auntie!" she replies, laughing at my misunderstanding. "Unkatahster!"
"Uncle Tahster? I don't understand, I'm sorry, who's Uncle Tahster? Do you mean Uncle Adam, is that Uncle Adam, is that his hair?"
"No, not Uncle, Auntie, it's akataster!"
"Akataster?" "What is this child saying?" I ask my mom, who has no clue either. Then my future sister in law sheds some light. "Tessa, is that a catastrophe?"
"Yes! A KASTASTER!" Tessa exclaims, excited that someone understood her.
I just managed to look at her shocked that she knew what a catastrope was, let alone use it correctly in context.
Clearly, she's brilliant.

Californian Girl

I've returned from the Great White North, which is really more brownish than white right now. While I was there I questioned myself if I still felt like The Okanagan was home to me. I didn't really feel like I was home. So much has changed since I lived there 7 years ago. Kelowna has grown and changed considerably, I have grown and changed considerably. Also my mom sold the house I grew up in years ago, and my grandparent's house was sold years ago, now my dad is selling his house, so I won't have a "home" to go to anymore. It's a little surreal to me, and a little sad. I can't say that I'm losing something, because the draw of the Okanagan was lost to me years ago. However I am really realizing it now, it's rather empowering. I still think the Okanagan is beautiful, and I will always encourage people to visit it, and possibly move there, I just don't think I can live there, maybe later, but not now. I'm loving the Bay Area. I love our proximity to San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa. The culture here is fascinating to me, and I have to mention the lack of snow. It saddens me that we don't have the close knit circle of friends that we had at home, but they're still our friends and we will still see them frequently (and they all know they have a place to stay!)