How Sweet It Is

You know that the summertime is on it's way when all you smell during the week is everyone's BBQ cooking hamburgers and steaks. I run Wednesday nights and this is all I can smell it doesn't help me with my running but it sure is mmmmm yummy. I walked up to the grocery store today and saw that there was a sale for corn on the cob, another of my summer favourites. So I picked some up for dinner tonight and I was so happy to have summer again. I look forward to all the special treats this season will bring and I hope to enjoy them as much as I can. What kind of summer treats are your favourites?

NHL Playoffs Round 2

So Round 1 finished and now we are on to Round 2. Here are my opinions on the up-coming series. Again this is both what I think and hope will happen for how I think the teams are stacked up against each other.

In this series I definitely think that Buffalo will take it in 6 games. Even though the Rangers are ranked at 6 I think they will put some pressure on Buffalo especially since they swept their last opponent away 4-0.

In this series I am going to go with New Jersey winning it in 7 games. I think that both teams have great skaters and scorers but when it comes down to it Jersey has the goaltender, where Ottawa has a rookie.

For this series I think that Detroit will be able to win it in 6 games. San Jose has some great forwards but are lacking the goal tending they need to take it all.

Finally in this final series of this round I think that Vancouver could take it in 7 but Anaheim won't let them win it easily.

Which One?

I have written on here before about what type of a job I will be looking for in September. Well, I have sent out my resume and I am meeting with a Montessori school this week for an interview. Actually, it is the same Montessori that Choo Choo goes to and the teachers there all know me for about 3 years now. They have already told me that they would love to have me work for them. Yeah!

However before I got all this feedback from the school, the Docs I work for told me about the anesthetic guy who works in the hospital with them. His wife is due in June with their first child. She is not sure how long she will take off for maternity but I did meet with them and they are a lovely couple and I would love to work with them too. They also told me that it wouldn't be just a 4 year thing because they are planning on having at least 3 children. She is doing her residency for becoming a doctor, so maternity time is limited if she doesn't want to go back and redo some elements of that.

I have no idea what to do. I know that the nanny job would pay really well, but then if I want to be a teacher after than I will be that much older. The teaching job won't pay much but then I would have my foot in the door to maybe some other options after a few years. I would really appreciate some feedback or some pointers on how I should decide my next step.

The Tenth Circle

The Tenth Circle is about how much a parent will do for their child under very difficult circumstances and where they will go to protect her when she was hurt in a most terrifying way. It gave me a look at how the Natives from Alaska deal with the same kind of circumstances. Again a good read by Jodi Picoult and I am now ready to read My Sister's Keeper also by Jodi Picoult.

NHL Playoffs 2007

So the NHL has started the final quest for that main goal "The Stanley Cup". I have made my picks for which teams I think will advance in this first round.

I will start with the Eastern Conference since that is where I am situated and even though I would have loved to see my Toronto Maple Leafs make it, I will have to wait another year.

In this series I think that Buffalo will sweep the Islanders 4-0







In this series I think that Tampa will win 4-3 , New Jersey will make it hard for them though

This series is another difficult one, although I think that the Rangers will win 4-3 over Atlanta

This one I will have to go with Pittsburgh 4-2 over Ottawa

Now for the Western Conference. This Conference, I find, is a tougher group of teams, but only one team can win the Cup.

In this series I will have to go with Detroit to win 4-2 mainly because Calgary had a weak last few games of the regular season

This is going to be a good battle but I think that Anaheim will take it 4-2 over Minnesota





This one I definetly think that Vancouver will take it and it will be a quick one 4-1 over Dallas






This series will be a long one but I think that San Jose will overpower Nasville and win 4-3

ABC Tag

Tagged by Cheryl

A - Available or Single: Single

B - Best Friends: Laurie, Cheyanne, Jen

C - Cake or Pie: ice cream cake

D - Drink of Choice: strawberry daiquiri

E - Essential Item: my car

F - Favourite Colour: red/orange

G - Gummi Bears or Worms: gummi bears

H - Hometown: Ottawa

I - Indulgence: shopping/chocolate

J - January or February: February

K - Kids: work with them maybe one day will have my own

L - Life is incomplete without: hockey (Go Leafs Go!)

M - Marriage Date: not married.... yet

N - Number of Siblings: 3 - 2 sisters, 1 brother

O - Oranges or Apples: clementines (do they count?)

P - Phobias/Fears: spiders

Q - Favourite Quote: I'll get back to you

R - Reasons to smile: kids/sunshine

S - Season: Autumn especially in Ottawa

T - Tag 3 People: whoever wants to

U - Unknown Fact About Me: I make bad coffee

V - Vegetable You Hate: Squash

W - Worst Habit: nail biting

X - X-rays You've Had: teeth and my knee

Y - Your Favourite Foods: chicken and steamed veggies

Z - Zodiac: Leo

Ultimate Update

Yesterday my team won their first game with a score of 11-10. Hey we'll take it a win is a win. Plus I played my best game yet which made me feel really good. I stopped the other team a few times by blocking the frisbee from getting to them (although I hurt my thumb one time from doing that). I even caught the frisbee once in the end zone, unfortunately it didn't count towards a point because the guy who threw it wasn't half way yet so we had to give up the frisbee to the other team. I am having a lot of fun with this new sport, and I signed up for a summer league although it is a female team and it will be played outside but we are going to be getting together a few times before the league starts to go over some drills. I am quite excited about it and I hope that I can play with some of these people again.

Blades of Glory

I went to see this movie last week. I recommend it but only if you are there for a good time and not for some serious drama. It is a classic Will Ferrell movie. I did laugh at lot.

Running Running Running

Now that it is Spring, the weather is nicer, the birds are singing and the sun shines so much more. Plus, I have signed up at the Running Room and joined a 10km clinic which should help me learn to run the right way and finish (hopefully with a better time) in the Nordion Race weekend. I did the race last year and was able to finish in under an hour. I started last Saturday and was given a schedule of which days to run and how much on those certain days. So far I have followed it to a tee but I can't say I will for the whole 2 months that are left. I run with the Running Room on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays plus a few days on my own which I have been doing on the treadmill when Choo Choo sleeps in the afternoon.
In a few weeks we will be doing some hill training (not so fun). The nice part about the Running Room is that there are always lots of people there that motivate and keep you going, and they have different routes each time we go so we don't get bored looking at the same houses over and over again. I could even just stop by the store at anytime and ask for a map to go out on my own. They know to look out for us if we don't return the map in a long while and watch out for us too. So if you are around the Ottawa area at the end of May you should come out and cheer me on and the other runners too.

The Volcano

So Nugley and I have made the volcano. It was a good experience for us both. He taught me a few things also.

The first day we started off by mixing the plaster in a bowl and pouring it into a mould. We had to let it dry for about 30 minutes then take off the mold and let it dry for the rest of the day. So I took him to Chapters and let him pick some books. I was hoping to pick him up some chapter books now that he's getting older and can handle it more. We were looking at The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osbourne. I picked the first book in the series for him "Dinosaurs Before Dark". He saw a "cool" book, it was part of the Magic Treehouse but it was a Research Guide on Tsunamis and other Natural Disasters which included volcanoes, earthquakes, avalanches and land slides. He was very excited about that one so I could I say no? Then I thought maybe getting an early readers book would be nice for him to keep him practicing with his reading. Plus we can't forget Choo Choo.

Then the next day for the volcano was a painting day. That was all up to Nugley, he didn't need any help with that. I let him go free, he mixed colours (which he learned about at school) he knew which colours were on a volcano before, during and after an eruption. He didn't even want me to look until his masterpiece was finished. Then we had to let the volcano dry for the rest of the day.

On the third and final day of the volcano we finally let it erupt. First we went to the Museum of Nature and looked at the dinosaurs, we also watched a little film on how the dinos became extinct. Well it was a volcano type of effect. Then in the afternoon when Choo Choo was home from school we let the volcano erupt. Nugley added the baking soda and I added the drop of food colour (for effect) some soap and finally some vinegar. And we watched as it slowly came up the funnel of the volcano and dribbled down the sides bubbling as it rose. It was very cool and had some great effects.

All in all, it was a great experience for us both.

March Break

So March Break is over for another year. Well almost, Choo Choo has to go back to her school but Nugley has another week. We had a pretty good time once they got used to be around me all day long. Routine changes are hard on them and they like to test their limits. Fun for me! So I tried to keep them busy for the most part.

Monday we went to a library for story time and songs then to another library in the afternoon for a puppet show (the three little pigs).

Tuesday we went to the Sugar Bush/Log Farm. We saw lots of animals chickens, sheep, a donkey, a horse and a humongous pig. Then we took a very bumpy wagon ride out into the sugar bush. We were told how the sap gets out of the maple trees and what to do when it's time to make it into syrup. Before taking the bumpy ride back we were allowed to taste some taffy on the snow. The kids loved it, however I don't have much of a sweet tooth so I passed on the offer.

Wednesday was a very raining day so we couldn't really do anything outside. I heard that the local Mall was providing child friendly activities all week so I decided that this was the perfect day for that. There were gluing crafts, candy crafts, and face painting. The candy crafts were a neat idea, they used little candies and wrapped in saran wrap with twist ties to separate them for bodies, Choo Choo made a caterpillar and Nugley made a ladybug. The face painting was amazing done by a clown company Choo Choo asked for a butterfly over her full face they painted a lot of details into it and also added some glitter. Nugley chose a dalmatian very cute also, they even added a dog tongue hanging out of the mouth. Dad took pictures when he got home I'll have to see if I can get some from him.

Thursday was a cold day and we were invited to 2 different play dates. The kids had a good time and everyone played nicely with each other which gave me a nice quiet day with my coffee.

Friday we stayed home all morning so I could do all the kids laundry and vacuum around a bit then I took them to McDonald's for lunch and I registered them for a day camp at a Build a Bear kind of place. They were there for over 3 hours and were able to make an animal dress it and do some crafts. They had a great time. Nugley chose a pink unicorn with a pink bathrobe and slippers (I know he's a boy but he seemed to want it) and Choo Choo also chose a pink unicorn with a soccer outfit.

Now I have a week left to entertain Nugley before he goes back to school. I am planning to do some more mature things with him while Choo Choo is at school. We are starting off by making a volcano that really erupts. We borrowed some books from the library that talks about volcanoes. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Starts Monday

Laila Ali and partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy

Ali, an undefeated world champion female boxer and youngest daughter of sports legend Muhammad Ali, takes her footwork to the ballroom dance floor on Dancing with the Stars. Outside the ring, Ali has graced countless international magazine covers such as Glamour and Italian Vogue, and authored the inspiring autobiography Reach!

Billy Ray Cyrus and partner Karina Smirnoff

Singer/songwriter/actor and star of Disney Channel's hit series Hannah Montana, Cyrus will partner with Season Three's finalist, Karina Smirnoff, who returns for her second season. Cyrus first entered the public spotlight with his hit song Achy Breaky Heart. His other acting credits include the feature film Mulholland Drive and the starring role in the series Doc.



Clyde Drexler and partner Elena Grinenko

Named One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, "Clyde the Glide" was a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Dream Team. He began his career in 1983 with the Portland Trailblazers and retired in 1998 with the Houston Rockets, a team he led to the 1995 NBA Championship.

Joey Fatone and partner Kym Johnson

The musician/actor/star of Broadway was a member of one of the most popular singing groups of all time, *NSYNC, which holds the records for the most albums sold in a single day and week. He has since starred in the movies My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Cooler, and in the Broadway musicals Rent and Little Shop of Horrors.

Shandi Finnessey and partner Brian Fortuna

During the most watched Miss USA® competition in six years, Shandi Finnessey was crowned Miss USA in 2004. She is the host of two game shows on the Game Show Network - Lingo with Chuck Woolery and Playmania. Newcomer Brian Fortuna will be her professional dance partner.

Leeza Gibbons and partner Tony Dovolani

Former host of Entertainment Tonight, Extra and her self-titled daytime talk-show, Leeza, the TV/radio personality currently hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, Hollywood Confidential. Leeza is also the founder of the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation, a nonprofit organization offering empowerment and education to caregivers and their loved ones diagnosed with any memory disorder.

Heather Mills and partner Jonathan Roberts

United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, activist for Adopt-a-Minefield and advocate for animal rights, Heather Mills will be the first contestant to compete with an artificial limb.

Apolo Anton Ohno and partner Julianne Hough

Two-time Olympic gold medal winner Apolo Anton Ohno sets his sights on another trophy to add to his collection, the Dancing with the Stars Mirror Ball. As a short-track speed skater, Ohno has a total of five Olympic medals, tying him with Eric Heiden for the most medals of any U.S. Male Winter Olympian.

Paulina Porizkova and partner Alec Mazo

As the former face of Estee Lauder, Porizkova was once the highest paid supermodel in the world of fashion. She was featured on the cover of several magazines, including the Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Issue for two consecutive years. This spring Porizkova releases her first work of fiction, A Model Summer.

John Ratzenberger and partner Edyta Sliwinska

Ratzenberger's most prominent recent work has been as host and producer of John Ratzenberger's Made in America, and as author of the new book, We've Got It Made in America: A Common Man's Salute to An Uncommon Country. The beloved actor starred in the classic television series Cheers and in ABC's 8 Simple Rules. He is also the only actor to have voiced a role in all of Pixar's feature films, including Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and the upcoming Ratatouille.

Ian Ziering and partner Cheryl Burke

One of the stars of the hit TV series Beverly Hills 90210, actor Ian Ziering also played a supporting role in the movie Domino, and wrote, produced, directed and starred in the short film Man vs. Monday.