Celebrity Lunch

On Fridays my friend 'A' and I place an on-line order for sandwiches from Vincenzo's. It is a very popular place to get lunch so we like to preorder. The on-line ordering system allows you to enter a name for each sandwich. Normally you would enter your own name, but this week we decided to get a little creative.

I hope the person who hand wrote 'Cher' and 'Sonny' got a little laugh from it.

So, what should our next sandwich duo be? Suggestions.....

WWWinner

Can-tastic Castle

This was my favorite contestant at the Canstruction exhibit for the The Food Bank of Waterloo Region. The moat with Sea Creature chasing after the Kool-aid Tabasco sauce knights in a sea of egg noddle was so cute.But my favorite part was the Kool-aid Tabasco knights and their Noodle Bowl catapult. Who wouldn`t want Terry`s Orange chocolate balls thrown their way?

User Friendly Stew

Scene: RJ and I are sitting down to dinner. We are having a crock-pot beef stew from SupperWorks. I pushed dinner back a 1/2 hour and turned the crock-pot on high to make sure that the beef was cooked. I'm a little paranoid about crock-pot cooking.

RJ is sifting through his stew with his spoon.
RJ: For the life of me I can't find any meat.
K pause......gasp!!
RJ: What, do you have all the meat?
K gasp, gasp gasp!! hands covering face.
K: No, there is no meat!!
RJ: What?
K: I forgot to defrost the second bag that had the meat in it.
RJ: What? Why?
K: Because I forgot it was in two bags!! I thought there were two stews in the bag.
RJ: So all we have is vegetables with gravy?
K: Looks like.
RJ: Good thing we added the potatoes.

Minutes later
RJ: The potatoes are nicely done, not overcooked or mushy.
K: Oh be quiet!!

p.s. In case you got the impression that SupperWorks meals are hard to prepare, I want to reassure you that they aren't. They are totally user friendly. As long as that user (me) is using their head!

Giant Book Sale

On our drive back from Oktoberfest we past by the Kitchener Public Library where their sign declared "Annual Giant Book Sale - Oct 17 and 18th." Lucky for us it was the 17th. With a quick u-turn we were parked and in the library basement going through boxes of books. A massive amount of boxes on tables, under tables, along hallways and on shelves. It was sensory overload. We had only paid for an hour of parking so we had to plan our attack and act swiftly. We covered all four corners and were ready (really ready) to leave when our hour was up.

The Bag Deal included a KPL bag (regularily $2.99) and as many books as you could fit inthe bag for $10. Books have individual prices (I believe mainly $1 each) but the Bag Deal is by far the best option.

Here is our full and heavy bag.

On the right we have assorted issues of Better Homes and Garden Magazines from 1958 to 2001. How often does gardening change? or recipes for that matter? Then A Christmas Carol by C. Dickens and The Best Christmas Pagent Ever by Barbara Robinson. On the left (thank you for pointing Bauer) we have a car maintenance manual for RJ's 1992 Ford Probe, A Christmas Treasury idea book, a Jack Nicklaus biography, a Benjamin Franklin biography, and Value Investing Today.
And on the very top 101 card games. A book for the cottage.

A very successful detour and an event that I'll make sure to get to next year. The KPL holds the sale every October. The WPL also has a book sale but it's date isn't consistant.

Thanksgiving Sun

The Thanksgiving weekend did brighten up on Saturday after a full on build-and-ark rain storm the day before. We headed out to Bechtel Park to exercise young Bauer, who had a bundle of energy to expend.

The leaves were just starting to change. Bauer always leaves a few skid marks behind after diving for his frisbee. To completely tire him out we took him to the soccer field where RJ re-enacted some of his football plays from high school. Bauer likes to stalk him, ready to pounce.

Oktoberfest Family Breakfast

This morning we headed to the Oktoberfest Family Breakfast. We hadn't intended on going but we kept hearing commercials for it on the radio and we were hungry so we headed with our donation for the Food Bank.We were there around 7:00 am and the crowd was small, but the smell of fresh pancakes and BBQ sausages was very alluring. All the cooking was done by the students from Conestoga College's Culinary program. AND..who doesn't like to polka at 7:30am? Come on, show yourself if you don't like to do the Chicken Dance or Roll out the Barrel in the wee morning hours.

It's hard to photograph people doing the Chicken Dance, I get a lot of blurry photos. Overall a very enjoyable morning and another tradition that we will add to our Thanksgiving weekend festivities. Next year we'll stick around for the 9am barrel rolling contest.

Celebrity Encounter

Scene: Jen and I are waiting in line outside of the Elgin Theater to pick up our tickets for the Toronto International Film Festival showing of The Informant.

Celebrity Lady: Excuse me, is this line to pickup tickets?

Jen: Yes.
Celeb: How far back does it go?
Jen: Not that far.
Celeb: OK, thanks.
Jen: No problem.

pause - raised eye look between us

Me: Was that...
Jen: Yes....

pause - look around and Celebrity Lady 5 feet away

Jen: You think she would have 'people' to do this for her.
Me: Yeah, or have the tickets delivered to her hotel.

pause - I take a good look at Celebrity Lady.

Me: That's really...
Jen: Yes.
Me: Huh. It looks like she's going to the back of the line. Kudos to her.


We proceed to get our tickets and go to the end of the ticket holders line.

Jen: This is moving quickly
Me: I bet she doesn't have to go to the end of this line. They'll sneak her in.
Jen: Yeah. I wonder is she is in a moving that's showing or if she's just here for fun.
Me: I don't know.



We walk around the corner (it was a long line).


Me: Okay! Can we just say it out loud. That was Dana Delaney right?
Jen: Yes, right.
Me: Good, just wanted to make sure.
Jen: Why? Was it not obvious?
Me: It was my first thought, but honestly, she looks fabulous! I thought for sure I was getting her mixed up with someone younger. Don't you think she looks great?
Jen: Very good, but short. Why is everyone on TV so short?
Me: I don't know, but we'd be giants in their world, no one would hire us. I guess we should stick to the jobs we have.
Jen: Lucky us.
Me: Yeah. Lucky.

Bump it down

Here is a link to the post of our Summer session with illona and our little Grand Master B.

I occasionally call Bauer Grand Master B. Coined from Married with Children (a show RJ watched not me). However, there was a commercial that aired where the family called him everything but Grand Master B. Variations such as:

Bass Master B ~ Burgermeister B (my fav) ~ Court Jester B
Dusbuster B ~ Grand Marshall B ~ Grinchmaster B

Not really that interesting to know. This post is really for RJ who asked me when I was going to post something new to bump down the Gnomes post. I guess he's embarrassed or something. (BTW readers, he was wearing underwear just to clear that up.)

Uh oh, Hotdog!

Only one way to cool him down, another visit to Snyder's Flats.

Field of Dreams

We had our second photo shoot with illona from Scruffy Dog Photography on Friday. The Summer part of the 'Winter/Summer' special. Bauer had a lot more fun this time around (no skiers!). He was still a little shy of the camera but warmed up to it when he got to play ball and frisbee and jump in and out of hay fields for treats. We wondered around after some frisbee shots looking for Queen Anne's lace that wasn't 3 feet high.
illona had a sneak peak ready for us the next day and it's one of our favorites. Bauer looks so happy with the wrinkles on his cheeks and tongue hanging out.

Can't wait to see the rest illona, I'll be stalking your blog for a while.

Your ter-ruff-ic!!

Friday Breakfast - part one

RJ and I wanted to start investigating breakfast hot spots in our 'hood. RJ loves a 'big breakfast' and I thought it would put a little AM twist on 'date-night'. (I'm a morning person.)
Our first outing was to the Daily Grill (Davenport and Northfield). We went there for dinner once and we both enjoyed it. Their breakfast was very enjoyable too! We both had the Breakfast Special. Very tasty and quick. Don't you find that breakfast is always served more quickly than any other meal? I would have liked to try one of their freshly baked muffins but I was too full. An excellent start our research.

Coffee Pubs, the final frontier.

As Jen and I were heading out of Stratford Saturday night, I saw the sign for William's Coffee Pub. Jen and I have gone a few times to the one in Waterloo and enjoyed it. I had recently found out that the first 'Williams' was in Stratford, so I thought I'd share this with her.

K: Look there is Williams Coffee Pub.
J: Did you want to stop for coffee?
K: No. But did you know that the first one originated here is Stratford?
J: That's cool.
K: Yeah. It's explains why it's named 'William'.
J: Yeah, William Shatner.
K: William Shatner! What !?! No!!
J: I didn't mean Shatner, I meant Shakespeare.
K: I don't know Jen. I think your inner-Trekkieness is starting to seep out.


(Jen told me last week that she is a big Star Trek fan. I didn't know this. She watched all the Star Trek series and while she doesn't have any visible Trekkie characteristics, obviously Cptn. James T. Kirk is on her mind a lot more that she realizes.)

A Funny Thing

Jen and I went to Stratford last weekend to see the Stratford Festivals performance of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" . We decided to make a day of it and wander around the town. It's such a pretty little place. Wonderful shops and delicious food. This big guy was in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. He still has his hibernation weight. Who wouldn't living in a sweets store?

Then there was The Barkery. We looked around but since both our animals are on a 'weight watch', we passed on the many delicious looking treats.

We had dinner at Othello's. The Service wasn't great (I think they were short staffed) but the pizzas were very tasty and we both enjoyed our wine spritzers. I don't think I've ever noticed wine spritzers on a menu before. But Stratford does cater to a lot of 'older' folk. Huh, so what does that say about our drink choice? Who cares, when in Rome, spritz away!
After dinner we went for a walk along the river.This is the Festival Theater. The main productions are performed there. It's much prettier at night. The roof is trimmed in lights.

There are a lot of ducks.

We caught a glimpse of a swan and her young baby. He could barely hold up his neck he was so young. Papa swan was around but he was hissing at all the people walking by.

There is a small bridge by the Festival Theater. Do you notice anything odd about this picture?No, it's not Jen's "Be glad I'm not giving you the finger smile". She doesn't realize I have a high tolerance for annoying people (RJ and Bauer) while taking their picture. Back to the bridge. It's half painted. And in a different way than I would have expected. To each his own.

And finally the play. It was very well done. A lot of laughs.I snuck a quick picture before the performance started. I was so nervous I didn't take the time to select a particular setting on the camera. (ie: the Museum setting would have worked well). I was relieved when the flash didn't go off. Nothing says frisk me to a power-hungry usher like a camera flash.

3rd Annual Father's Day 10K

It's that time once again, it's the Father's Day 10K. Otherwise known in our house as the "They should start this race earlier because it's so bloody humid out" 10K.

Before the race I had RJ and Craig pose for the camera. I told them to give me a serious look AND to smile.RJ started to question me. Craig just tried his best. No questions asked. Good man. A few seconds afterwards they both confessed to being confused by my directions (what?? not possible) so I took a second picture and had them just smile. Ah, better.Once the race starts Bauer and I have a 40 minute wait. A good portion of that time (and my battery power) was spent trying to get Bauer to pose in front of the football tackling equipment. This was the best shot.He was looking straight at me (ie: the cookie I was holding) until a stray soccer ball caught his attention. Curses, another photo ruined to the retrieving instinct.

Around 46 minutes Craig came bounding around the track.He told me before the race that he wanted to break 45 minutes so he wasn't going to wave for my picture this year. Wind resistance maybe? He didn't make his goal (did I mention it was really humid?) so he could have waved. But how was he suppose to know.
And then along comes RJ.... A tad too serious. RJ loves to ham it up for the camera when he's running. But again the humidity can be mood altering. Congrats guys. Let's hope next year that Father's Day is a weekend earlier.

The Flats

Last weekend we took our first trip of the season to Snyder's Flats. The walk to and around the flats is complete torture for Bauer. There are three access points (we usually use the last one) and at each path Bauer runs ahead of us unable to contain his excitement. And then he runs back because we have walked on.

At the first access:The water is right there!! It was so serene and beautiful that morning.
Who knew 10 minutes later a black lab would shake the place up.

Access numero deux. It's there it's there. Can we go now? At the turn in the path there is a telephone phone pole that Mr & Mrs Large Bird build a nest at the top of every year. With my 6x optical zoom I got a pretty good picture of them.
Finally we are at the beach-y part of the flat and Bauer assumes the ready position And then there is a lot of this.
Pure doggie heaven.

For good behaviour

It's been a very long week. Can you see that little cluster of M&M's under my monitor stand? (nope, no upgraded monitor yet). That little replenishing pile of candy covered chocolate is what helped me scrape by.

Now on to better things. The weekend. We have a few outings planned. First to the Farmers Market to get a summer Chewber for Bauer. I think this is his fourth one. Then to another estate auction to scour for furniture just outside of Guelph.


And finally the most important and probably the most daunting task: buying a new camera. (Yes honey, I just woke up this morning and decided to buy a new camera. Surprise!) My Coolpix is slowly dying. It's been a great camera but I'm having too many problems with the lens; high usage (the picture above is number 7489) and a few bumps and bruises. I couldn't have asked for more from it. But now I want something a little more powerful. I'd love a digital SLR but the jump in $$ to that level is not an option right now. I'll try and find something in the middle. I'm leaning towards staying with the Nikon brand but I'll keep an open mind when browsing the camera store aisles.


Have a great weekend!

Where are you Mr.CN Tower?

Yesterday Jenn and I went to the HomeShow in Toronto. I like going into TO. We've been gone for 3 years but I still feel comfortable being downtown. However, I noticed quite quickly that things had changed since we left. There are new condo buildings everywhere. So many that while walking to the trade show building I was amazed to see that the CN Tower was partially blocked. I wish I had a 'Before' picture to compare it to.

Our Winter Session

illona at Scruffy Dog has posted about our photo shoot on her blog. A long time coming but you can never predict when your computer is going to be taken over by viruses!! Check out Shy Boy Bauer

RJ and I have quickly looked through the proofs and are very impressed and more than happy with the way they turned out. I'll go through them more thoroughly tonight and post a few of our favorites (with permission of course!)

Ladybug Love

Hi, my name is Ladybug.

I was found almost frozen in a snow bank by people who were taking their children to school. At first, they thought I was dead but when they got closer they realized that I was just cold and scared. They warmed me up and brought me into the shelter.

I was very hungry and the staff noticed right away that my leg was really hurting me. I had to go to the animal doctor to have my leg examined. After some x-rays the doctor called the staff and told them that I had a very badly broken leg and I need surgery to fix it.

This is where all of you come in. The surgery is going to cost the shelter approximately $1,000! After I have my surgery I have to spend at least 4 weeks with the shelter staff on very strict cage rest. I know it’s going to be tough but it will all be worth it when I am in my forever home.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
Love Ladybug

To donate to the Cambridge Humane Society please click here: Canada Helps