Thursday, March 29, 2007

day 8 of the cleanse

well, i've managed not to bore you with the details of my every meal on here for the last 8 days but if you've spent any facetime with me, you'll know that it's all i want to talk about. haha. it's actually going great considering i used to think of myself as lacking any amount of self-control in the area of food. i no longer have that excuse - i DO have self-control. last night at some friends' house, i sat beside a plate of cookies all night and ate only one. what what? it's true. i've probably never eaten this many vegetables in my life so that's feeling good. i used to hate celery but now i'll eat it for a snack. i don't leave home without being armed with a waterbottle, scads of lipton iced tea 0cal. powder packets, a baggie of cheerios, and usually a container of yogurt or cantaloupe. i've found that i get the most snacky feeling at night so i usually save my one 100cal. treat for evenings. i've been measuring things more - a half cup is not as much as you thought and it's more than you thought. it depends on what's in the half cup. haha. something that's been getting me through the afternoon cravings is my tall sugar free cinnamon dolce non-fat lattes but that's adding up. :)

there has not been ANY diet coke in 8 days. it's not a record yet. once in my first year university, raquel said that if i could give up diet coke for 2 weeks, she'd write me a letter a week over summer break. i got a lot of letters that summer. so 2 weeks is the record we're aiming to break. and no one is even promising me letters. haha.

so that's the update.

who doesn't like clean cotton?


i was once in a car of a friends from san jose who had thi air freshener. i loved it. i figured you could only get them in the states. then more recently, i saw this air freshener hanging from the mirror of a car next to me in a parking lot. i thought to myself, "self, you must investigate where you could find these." i went to the most knowledgable source i have. no, not the internet search. rachel synchyshyn. i said, "rachel? there's this air freshener that i love. clean cotton. yankee candle." with no hesitation, she said, "you can get them at linen's n things or hallmark."
i bought three.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

spring break is ending...but not for me...

this post is in honor of kara and james who go back to school today since their spring break is over...aww...but look how tanned they are from being in arizona all week. they just love when i break out the camera in the middle of a game of euchre because they know these pics will end up on the blog. haha.

Korea!

notice the editing above, kara...?
my fingers look strangley long here...
happy back to school days bisschops. hope you had a good first day!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

visit to edmonton

the pictures are here! i had some difficulty uploading them when i finally did find the cord and i thought i was in trouble but it's all good. you can now catch a glimpse of my trip.

these are the nikkel cousins - can you see the resemblance?
from left to right: dan, rachel, me, joel.

this is my second cousin (rachel's son) Nevin! Hi Nevin! what a great baby to meet in person. he was very happy and personable. jamie and i loved meeting him.
my dad, his sister bonnie and nevin.
after numerous hours of good conversation, we went for the trivial pursuit on evening #2 which was great. why don't people play more trivial pursuit? i think it's because we think we don't know the answers but as it turns out, age does bring some knowledge and we were suprised at some of the answers we did know! playing in teams, joel and i won -- i obviously wasn't going to let that go by unmentioned!
Throughout my trip, i was also hanging out with these girls which was lots of fun. alyssa, we didn't exactly take as many pics as we had planned, hey? i have 4...2 of them are crappy. oh well...the memories will have to suffice. haha. here's alyssa, jenny, and rachel as we waited for our name to be called at spaghetti factory and then another of us 4 with our spumoni. thanks for the good times ladies. now, i spent some time at rachel and dallas' house however i failed to take any photos of dallas at all which i realized when i got home. dallas, i just want you to know that it wasn't on purpose. :) hope you're continuing to recover well and enjoying your flowers. haha.














the pics are finally downloaded!

mr. clean is slipping...

now if you know me, you know that i am easily sucked into consumerism - i want all the "as seen on tv" products. as a child i was enthralled with the super slicer. i don't know where i inherited this gene from because it was definitely not from my parents. they're always amazed at the products that i want to buy after seeing only a couple minutes of an infomercial. man, i love infomercials.

so it's safe to say that all "easy-to-use" cleaning products suck me in. the latest is the mr. clean magic reach. you've seen it -- clean hard to reach places in the bathroom like the tile walls of your shower or behind the toilet without working hard. i bought in this week. i am now the owner of the mr. clean magic reach. and mr. clean will be recieving an unhappy email from me monday morning.

it's not all it's cracked up to be. it works so well in the commercials! you're really just strapping a wet paper towel onto a smartly-shaped blue thing on the end of a broomstick. you push it around and gunks of wet dust are left in it's wake. after pushing it around unsuccessfully for awhile, i went and got the roll of paper towel and had to clean up after it on my hands and knees. it actually made more work for me. but that didn't stop me. i thought maybe it was just because it was my first attempt. i ripped open another $2 pad and moved onto the next bathroom. equally as frustrating. again i had to clean up after it. my advice? don't buy.


now i'm not always totally disappointed with these cleaning products that i buy. i do own a scotch-brite toilet scrubber which i like. the disposable brushes are worth every penny because who wants a dirty toilet brush or cloth sitting around in your bathroom? not me.
so that's all for consumer tips with rebecca.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

22 day cleanse - day one

i'm back from edmonton. i have pics to upload but i can't find my camera cord at the moment so those will be a little delayed. i had a great time connecting with my extended family as well as alyssa, rach, and dallas. my four days went off without any problems...i ate out a lot, a spent some money, and drank my body weight in tea.

now in regards to the "i ate out a lot", today begins a 22 day no desserts/bad snacks/diet coke cleanse. it takes 22 times of doing something to create a habit SO if i go with health foods and no DC for 22 days, hopefully i can ease back into having some treats here and there after 22 days but not go crazy. i've really gotten into some bad habits this month of always needing sweets after meals and snacking all the time. my new years resolutions were trickling away so this is my spring break resolution. get back on track. i went out this morning and did some grocery shopping. bought lots of veggies and chopped them all up for easy access.

get ready for the countdown...it's going to be too many posts about what i'm eating. haha.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

edmonton, here i come

last year at this time, i was also in edmonton. it snowed and alyssa forced me to shovel the driveway and the sidewalk. i didn't even bring a winter coat. this year, i'm hoping for better weather. ha.

this year, my plans are three-fold. to do alyssa's chores. to visit nevin, his parents and his extended family. to bring dallas flowers after his surgery (oh and see his wife). the next 4 days are going to be packed. i can't wait to see you guys.

as for you other blog readers...this year i have my own camera...get ready for photo montage when i return. i know you can barely contain your excitement. :)

hi dad! see you on the plane.



Thursday, March 15, 2007

from a teacher's point of view

so i think the longer that you are a teacher, the more intensely you feel about your students' learning. like when a student misses more than a day, i'm very concerned as to what they're missing. i agonized for hours over my report card comments to try and balance positive comments with getting the message of how this kid is really doing. when a student who is struggling or is behind misses school, i think "this is going to affect their learning". meanwhile, in the grand scheme of things, if you missed a week of school in grade 3 and now you're 25, i don't think it really matters, right? it's tough to know. when i was in grade 4 and my brother was in kindergarten, we were out of school for the month of september. it was great. i remember it being the greatest trip ever. however, now as a teacher, i cannot imagine one of my students leaving for a month. i'd be shocked and concerned that they would fall behind. i'd be stressed about getting them the right amount of homework. when really...did that month of grade four scar my learning? no. (maybe it scarred matt's...haha) i need to relax a little here. i think it's time for spring break. all i'm saying is to parents out there - if the teacher of your child seems a little stressed that you want to take your child out of school for something, don't take personal offense. we can't help it. that's why we're teachers. :)

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Monday, March 12, 2007

reader statistics

so i thought to myself, i should start using that counter at the bottom of my blog and see how many people are really checking this page.

count on Monday Mar. 5 @ 8:30pm: 10, 742

count on Monday Mar. 12 @ 8:00pm: 11, 012

and no, they're not all me. when you check from one computer and keep going "back" to this page, the counter doesn't go up.

WOAH!

so even though there's not this many comments, it's nice to know you're reading. :) and a sincere thanks to rachels., alyssa, and ang for not letting me ever have 0 comments. you guys are the best.

oh facebook...

so i've been sucked into facebook. hey, i have myspace, xanga, blogspot, and now facebook. but i'm suprised at how addicting facebook is AND how easy it is to find people from long ago. so if you have facebook, look me up.

i'm into report card mode today and tomorrow. they're due wednesday. i probably won't be posting...but maybe it'll get my creativity (procrastination) flowing... ha.

Friday, March 09, 2007

a few reviews


review #1 - arrested development season 1.


now i know that rachelj. has spoken of this cancelled tv series before and recommended it but i had just never gone out and rented it. THEN i watched the pilot at a friend's house and was hooked. the humour is so random. and the characters are so different then anything you've ever seen before. watch a few episodes.


review #2 - arcade fire's new cd: neon bible.


being such huge fans of "funeral", tim and i had high hopes for af's next cd. plus it was super-leaked all over and we already had a couple songs downloaded which are fantastic. AND i read some reviews this week that were very positive. we went out and bought the cd tonight and while we've only listened to the cd once through...i was a little disappointed. there are a couple songs that are tedious to listen to. there ARE some great ones but it's one of those cds that you put in but have to have a remote to skip the ones you never listen to. SO FAR...i need to listen a little more. the first cd took me a little while too...

review #3 - music and lyrics.


though i had high expectations for "neon bible", i had absolutely no expectations for music and lyrics which tim and i went and saw tonight. maybe that helped because i really liked it. as domi puts it, "it was cute." domi -- you're so good with words -- i have to totally agree. it wasn't bad. drew wasn't totally annoying. hugh was funny. the songs that you hear numerous times are pretty catchy. overall, a good light-hearted romantic comedy. there are some nights that you just want some light-heatedness, right?

so there you go. my opinions on a few things. that's why you read this blog right? haha.
sharelle was totally correct in "america" by simon and garfunkel -- if you're a true "almost famous" fan, you'd know it. tune in next week for another "where's that from?" wednesday. ha.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

"where's that from?" wednesdays

here are some lyrics - now name this song. if no one gets it, there will be a clue tomorrow. answer to be posted on friday.

She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

Monday, March 05, 2007

6 weird things about me

this is one of those "tag" survey type things that people do. no, i have not been tagged however, i am doing this anyways. you know me...

6 weird things about me:

1) i love love love a sandwich with leftover turkey, dill pickle, cheddar, and ketchup. i can't wait for thanksgivings and christmases just for this sandwich. (umm...i guess i could cook myself a turkey not on these days but hey -- makes it special)

2) i'm a homebody. i'd say most often, if i've made plans to go out, when the day actually comes, everything in me just wants to not go. it doesn't matter if it's my bestfriends and i know i'll have a fantastic time...my first reaction is that i'd rather not go. thankfully, i can most often get myself out the door and if not, i have a husband who gives me a nudge and the "you'll have a great time once you get there" speech. and thankfully i have friends who understand if i cancel once in awhile. :)

3) you know books that have been made into movies? i refuse to buy books whose covers have the movie actors on the front. i hate that.

4) i love "people's court" with judge marilyn milian. if i had tivo, this is what i'd be taping. they're not all white trash.

5) whenever i see those ads on tv for diet pills -- like "hydroxy cut" -- i'm super tempted to buy them. i know i shouldn't want them but i do.

6) i play online yahtzee sometimes. haha.

now if you're here reading this and you don't usually comment, maybe you could comment today with something that is weird about you. or not weird. just let me know that there is someone out there reading my blog.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

ANTM inspired


alyssa in town for the premiere. nice claw alyssa
how could i not include this crazy cat pic? he was also inspired.