More fun with Christmas commercials

Has anyone seen the new World Vision Canada Christmas ad? They now have a catalogue of items that you can purchase on behalf of your gift receiver. So you give this stuff to people in Africa in the name of someone here, in your family, etc. It's a really great idea, but I'm so not into how they advertise it. I've searched YouTube and can't find it on there, which was very disappointing.

It starts with a bunch of kids singing a version of the 12 Days of Christmas, talking about getting three hens for Christmas, two milking goats, and 1 dairy cow. Then the pretty blonde lady talks for a few seconds about giving the gift that keeps on giving, allowing families to thrive, etc, etc. She says something like "how thrilled will grandma be to see you gave a chicken in her name?"

I think they have taken a bit of a light-hearted approach to famine and drought this time, a take off from their "So This is Christmas" ad which makes me cry everytime I see it, almost as much as those WSPA commercials about the dancing bears do. I'm not sure they're tugging at enough heart-strings to get much out of it, which is sad, because like I said, I think it's actually a really great idea.

But, it has left me with a new holiday motto. I swear to you I am not making this up, it is actually in the commercial, but it is officially the response I will give to anyone who asks my advice about buying gifts for people. I will say:

"Why not give a goat?"

T-minus unknown, but I'm gonna do it

I've decided I am definitely cutting my hair off. I just need to find time for an appointment, which I think I might be able to swing this friday.

Anyway, for posterity, here is a photo of me from a few weeks ago:
Please ignore my big giant fat arm.

Anway, my hair was a little wavy (it was actually curly when I left the house at 1pm - this photo was probably taken around 8), so looks a little shorter than it is, but it can give you an idea.

Now, I'm thinking of getting a cut something like this:
With maybe longer bangs.
Or, I also really like this:
I actually think I really like the second one, but I'm a little scared.

Anyway, I'm going to bring my camera with me so I can have some photos taken before, and then when they lop my ponytail off. I hope the stylists will help me get some great shots.

I will never understand the canine digestive system

This morning I fed my dog a frozen strawberry. She was totally into it, because she loves fruit, and she also loves to crunch on ice, so this was like heaven for her. She crunched away for about 3.7 seconds.

Then she walked into the hallway and barfed all over the place. Not just frozen strawberry, but also last night's Greenie.

This she pukes up, but horse shit she has no problem keeping down.

My UGGS arrived today!!!!

I love them! They are so soft, so comfous, so warm, so soft...I'm really really tempted to wear them barefoot, as suggested, but I'm scared I will stink them up and ruin them forever. But they are just so soft, I'm fighting my inner demon trying to resist.

I LOVE THEM!@!@!@!@!@!@!!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@!@

(I realize how annoying excessive punctuation for effect is, but you just need to understand how much I love them).

I'm so happy, I'm going to wear them to the grocery store. And I haven't even treated the suede yet! Dangerous, but I just need to put them on my feet.

14 inches, flaccid

A few months ago, Sexy Boyfriend's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She's been doing great with her treatments, and so far so good, but it's only the second time I've ever known anyone with cancer. The first time was when I was in elementary school, and my neighbor who was a few years older than me had leukemia. I think I have been incredibly lucky, since it seems like this disease is everywhere, affecting everyone.

So, I've been thinking about things we can do - we've donated money to a friend doing a breast cancer walk, but that seems a bit...I don't know, like our little donation is going to make a big huge difference - it's just so obtuse or something. Then I thought about Locks of Love. And I'm thinking about doing it. I've been growing my hair for over a year, I guess, who knows really. I've lost hair direction since becoming a dog-walker - I never style it anymore, just put it in a ponytail - and since I have no ideas about what to do with it, I've just let it grow. And grow. And grow. Now it is quite long - my ponytail measures 14" and most places only require your donation to be 10" long. Hair is just hair, and it will grow back, but I've never cut my hair that short. That part of it is kinda scary, but it is winter and I will most likely be wearing a hat for the next few months.

Has anyone ever done this? What did you think about the whole experience?

For the Record

I just saw the new Hallmark Holiday Item commercial, and I just have a few thoughts about it.

First of all, I hate all of their Holiday Items - the Valentine kiss-kiss bears, some weird thing they had last Christmas, all of them. They are just a scam to get you to buy more cards and waste more paper. Not that I'm a super environmentalist, maybe I'm just a grinch, or scrooge, or whatever.

This year, the item appears to be a little snow scene, I think it was penguins skating, and it's soft and plush and when you squeeze some part of it, it plays a song. How is this kind of item useful? Not at all, that's how. Unless you have a three year old. Or dogs who like to rip the stuffing out of things.

Anyway, in the commercial, they are sitting in an airport, I think it's supposed to be Christmas Eve, and all the flights are delayed. Everyone is upset, depressed, etc (surprisingly no one is rushing the boarding gates demanding the attendants turn off the snow, like on the show Airline). Then Thoughtful Mommy pulls out the Hallmark Holiday Item and gives it to little Timmy, who squeezes it and it starts playing its joyful holiday song. Everyone gathers 'round and they all begin to feel warm and fuzzy, and they sing carols and rejoice. So much rejoicing is going on that they don't even hear that their flights are ready to board.

Baloney, I say. For the record, if I was ever in an airport, even if my flight was on time - hell, let's just say if I was in any public place ever - and someone started playing that tinny Christmas carol music that comes out of those toys, over and over again, I would take it. I would take it away and burn it. If I happened to be in the airport, where lighters and matches are prohibited, I would find some other way of destroying it. And then I would hit Thoughtful Mommy on the head, tell her to smarten up, and tell Timmy his mom is an idiot. And then the people would rejoice.

YOU WIN - but not really - but YOU WIN

eBay is the devil! THE DEVIL, I say!

First of all, you can find anything and everything on eBay. Cordless phone to replace toilet water-logged one? Hundreds of them. Lululemon yoga gear? All sizes and colors. Dog leashes? Yup. Hockey tickets? For every game. You get the picture.

Second of all, the prices are generally pretty cheap. Some of them are just comparable to stores, but overall pretty great. And once you get used to taking the shipping into account along with the price, then you really start to see the good bargains.

Third, it's so easy to place a bid. Just click, and confirm, and you're in.

Fourth, you can WIN things. But only after you WIN, you realize you didn't really WIN, like yay, free stuff, but you WIN the right to pay for the item.

Fifth, eBay is just the devil.

So, this weekend I decided I might want to buy a pair of UGGs. I had bought my sister a pair (on eBay The Devil), and she absolutely loves them and wears them every day, and I did a little research and found some really cute ones with ties and laces and I loved them. So, I found a pair on eBay that I thought I might like, and placed a bid three days ago. I was winning the auction for three days, then started to second guess myself, that maybe I didn't want to buy those boots right now. But then yesterday, about an hour before the auction ended, eBay The Devil sent me a nice email that said that someone had outbid me. Outbid? Me? I couldn't let them win my item without a fight. So I bid again. Now, don't get me wrong, I love these boots, and actually do want them a lot, but right before Christmas, with a bunch of parking tickets to pay, maybe not such a good time to buy boots. But I couldn't let this new bidder, who was just showing up at the last minute trying to cherry-pick MY bargain WIN!!!!

So, I won the boots.

Now I have to figure out how to explain it to SB. I'm afraid he might cut off my internet usage. Or just block eBay The Devil.

It's official

So, I'm officially an idiot. Or I have extremely bad luck.

The other day our living room smelled like cat shit. We keep the cat pooper in the living room, behind a chair, where the dogs can't get to it (I know, gross, but they like to have a tasty snack sometimes), so sometimes right after Simon goes I smell poo for a few minutes. But this smell I had been smelling for a few days, and always from my spot on the sofa, about ten feet from the pooper area.

I had a momentary burst of cleaning energy, and I swept the whole living room floor, pulled out the sofa and swept there, then changed the pooper, then wanted to wash all the sofa accoutrement; the pillowshams, the duvet I cuddle with, etc. So, I started the wash, dumped a bunch of stuff in, and grabbed the duvet and was stuffing it in, when I heard "plop".

My cordless phone was in the folds of the duvet, and even though I had avoided stuffing it through the wash, it flew out of the duvet and into the toilet. I fried my cordless phone by dropping it in the toilet. Wow.

Multi-tasking - perhaps not my forte

Well, now I've done it. I've come down with a cold. I think. I woke up very stuffy and throat very scratchy, then had to run around all day in the rain like a crazy dog-walker...

One of my employees has been off the past three days for a family emergency. I'm hoping she'll be back tomorrow, because, frankly, I'm exhausted. It's one thing to be a walker, which is fun, and sometimes crazy, but the days go by really fast. It's another thing to do that and mind the phone in case someone has an emergency (thank heavens none of the cars broke down this week!) , answering messages, and trying to keep on top of the emails that are coming in.

So, now I'm getting sick. I came home tonight and took a bath, which was actually just so-so since the water didn't seem hot enough, and the tub is never full enough. Then I had some chicken noodle soup (Lipton packet, with the THIN NOODLES - only the thin noodles work.) Now I'm vegging out in front of the TV with a giant headache and an achy back (but with warm feet, Gabby just came and cuddle up on them). I've tried to convince Sexy Boyfriend to bring home Frosties from Wendy's, so hopefully in about ten minutes I'll be cuddled in bed on the heating pad with him eating yummy cold chocolate treat making my throat feel numb.

Another reason against us pro-creating: We're not that observant

This morning was the first day in a a little while that we got to have a nice sleep-in Saturday. Sexy Boyfriend had hockey last night, so he got home pretty late, and by the time he had eaten something, showered, etc, it was about one o'clock before we went to sleep.

So, a nice, cool, Saturday morning sleep-in, we woke up and watched a little TV in bed, then I had to get up because I thought I might pee my pants, and I wanted to say good morning to Simon. Usually he will come in the room when he hears the TV, but not this morning. So I took peek in each room, but didn't see him. Then I called out, and all I heard was the tiniest little "meow". Not even a whole "meow" just a "me..." I moved towards the little cry, but he was quiet, so I called out again and got another "me..." - then I found him.

Sexy Boyfriend locked Simon in the closet OVERNIGHT!!!!

My poor baby kitty! He was so happy when I let him out of there, and followed me into the bedroom, purring so loudly I think our neighbors could hear him.

In other, non-real-life related things, I friggin' hate Jessica on Laguna Beach. She is the biggest loser, and I hate her. First of all, she lets every guy walk all over her, and second of all, I thought she already graduated, but she is still totally on the show all the time, like she just hangs out in Laguna and does nothing. Ugh, I hate her.

Back to Bikram

Yesterday I took my first Bikram yoga class in about three weeks. I haven't had the cash to re-up my membership, so I haven't been able to go.

It was really hard!

I could only do about half of the standing poses (I did each one for one set, since you hold each posture twice) - I felt like I was ready to pass out at some points, but fought through it as best as I could. Ugh. Even though I drank tons of water yesterday, which usually helps me get through the tough bits, I was still trying to put as much effort into the postures as I did when I was at the end of a month of yoga. But my body is so not where it was a month ago! My muscles are tight and resistant, and my joint are all creaky. So, the class was tough, and today I hurt hurt hurt. But, I know that it only gets better, and I still felt really great last night after class. It gives me lots of great energy, and totally clears my mind of stress and things that make me grrrrrr.

On the weekend we weren't able to go to a Halloween party in the country because of some work schedule issues, so I decided to get SB his birthday gift. Long story, but I had bought him a weekend rental for a motorbike (his birthday is in June), but we never had time to use it, so we ended up getting a refund, and he never got a gift. So, Thursday I spent the whole afternoon bidding on eBay and came out of it with some FABULOUS tickets for the hockey game on Saturday night against Toronto. We had such a fantastic time, had a few beers, and the seats were really fabulous. The game went into overtime, then penalty shots, and the Canadiens ended up losing (so sad), but it was very exciting and we couldn't have asked for a better game to see.