The Idiot Box indeed!

Heard on Breakfast Television this morning:

"Now, you have to be careful because fire can cause flame."

My question - What exactly were we expecting fire to cause?

Heard during a commercial for Fashion Television:

"Stilettos are like the new post-terrorism shoe."

?!?

Home Sweet Home

Hey everyone!

We're back from our trip down home, and we had a wonderful time :) I'll be posting some pictures and will tell you all about it soon, but I'm playing catch up right now. It's amazing how much work can pile up in a week!

Welcome to the Dark Side...

I'm going to let you all in on a secret - I have a rather well-developed passive agressive streak which likes to manifest itself whenever complete strangers do something that annoys me. Like this morning on my way to work. The first part of my commute takes place on a bus, and today it was full enough that I was standing in the back corner, hanging onto a pole and reading the highly amusing fine print at the bottom of a car advertisement. If you've ever ridden public transit, you've probably seen those people who, when the bus draws near to its destination, feel compelled to move toward the door at least 5 minutes before so that they're the first ones off. Normally this doesn't bother me, though I do laugh to myself at their pointless hurry (do those extra 10 seconds really matter?).

Well today I did not laugh as the man who was sitting in the back corner decided he needed to be one of those people. The problem was that the bus was rather crowded, so in standing up he had to step on my feet and shove me ahead of him, but there was nowhere to go after that because of all the people. So he stood there, basically on top of me, chomping at the bit to get ahead of everyone and out the door (all of this is taking place, of course, before we had even come to a stop). And I probably wouldn't have gotten annoyed if he had just mumbled an apology, but that didn't happen, so up reared the passive agressive streak.

As we pulled up to the last stop for the bus, I reached out and hung onto the poles on both sides of the bus under the guise of keeping my balance and then stood in such a way that I managed to effectively block Mr. Get-out-of-my-way-I'm-in-a-hurry in behind me. I then politely allowed everyone standing or sitting in front of me to precede me out of the bus, making him the last person to exit.

Does that make me evil?

Scarily accurate...

What Your Fridge Says About You

You like to be surrounded by things you love. You aren't exactly greedy, but you can be materialistic at times. You tend to be a fairly thrifty person. You splurge occasionally, but you're mostly a saver. You don't tend to be a very adventurous person, but you do surprise everyone now and then. You have a bit of a wild side. You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it. You are likely to be married - and very busy.

What Do the Contents of Your Refrigerator Say About You?

Movie vs. Book?

As you may have noticed, my new Book du Jour is the Maltese Falcon, and can I just say that I'm thoroughly enjoying it? I love the description of the main character, private eye Sam Spade, who "looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan." I guess the casting execs decided that a "blond satan" wouldn't sell very well as a hero in the movie version, which starred Humphrey Bogart.

Which made me think of all the other book/movie combinations and the differences that exist between the two mediums. How many of the changes that are made when the books are turned into movies are actually necessary? Would the Wizard of Oz have been less successful if Dorothy's slippers had been made of silver instead of ruby? Or the Lord of the Rings if Frodo had been 40-ish?

But then, some movies have actually improved on the books they were based on, such as the Princess Bride (My apologies to any fans of the book, but having all the characters die or be captured at the end is just plain wrong!). Others, of course, have done the opposite and ruined the story (i.e. the Golden Compass - fabulous book, horrible movie!).

I recognize some changes are necessary, since there is indeed a significant difference in what can be done with a 2-hour movie and a 350-page book, but I'm always a little leery of going to see a movie if I've already read the book. There have been far more failures than successes as far as I'm concerned.

Happy Canada Day!

Or rather, happy belated Canada Day! I hope you all had a wonderful one (at least those of you who live in Canada). Ours was pretty ideal. We had some friends over for brunch and then went out in the beautiful sunshine to practice some volleyball. TC has joined a rec league, so he and another player wanted to brush up on their skills. I ended up participating and managed to give myself six bruises and a sunburn - good fun! Then we spent the rest of the day napping, relaxing and reading. It really doesn't get much better than that!

The view from my parents' house

Now that Canada Day has come and gone, I've given myself permission to start thinking about our trip home, which is now a mere 3 sleeps away. I can hardly wait! Even TC is excited, and he generally doesn't let himself get excited about things :) I'm so looking forward to visiting everybody, and finally being able to see my parents' new house. Seriously, it messes with my head that I can't picture where my parents live. When I talk to my mom or dad on the phone, I can picture them sitting in a particular chair but that chair is always surrounded by empty black space. But not for much longer!

Another thing I'm really looking forward to? Open green spaces, with nothing surrounding me but grass, trees and wildflowers. And the ocean, with its salty spray and the smell of seaweed. Being enveloped in the quietness of nature that is better than silence.

3 more sleeps.

Wonder Deoderant!

I have finally found it! A natural deoderant, free from the nasty (or at the very least the questionable) chemicals that regular deoderant is full of that actually works! I've tried in the past to switch over to natural deoderants, but had to give up and switch back for the sake of all those within a 10-foot radius.

Then I read about a product over at Crunchy Chicken's blog that she raved about and made a mental note to look for it next time I was out and about, and on Saturday I found it at Shoppers. Both the TC and I have been using it for a couple of days now, during some pretty intense heat, and we're fresh as daisies! Or in TC's case, a very manly daisy :)

It's called Crystal Body Deoderant, and here's what the site says about it, all of which I have found to be true:

Crystal Body Deodorant is made of 100% natural mineral salts, which are hypoallergenic, fragrance-free, paraben free, non-sticky, non-staining, dries instantly and leaves no white residue ... [the mineral salts] form a topical layer on the skin, creating an environment impossible for bacteria to thrive. They eliminate the odor-causing bacteria and therefore prevent body odor.

Isn't that fantastic? It costs $7 for the crystal, which seems pretty steep until you realize that it lasts up to a year. I really can't recommend this highly enough. If you're looking for a natural alternative to your regular deoderant, this is it folks!