Top 3 Purchases of 2007

3. Humidifier


After realizing that the humidity in Hawaii tamed my allergies, Lowell and I decided to pump up the humidity in our 20% humid condo. We had a gift certificate for Linen's 'n Things, and Lowell did his usual "so this is on sale today?" bit which got us an extra 20% off so we got a killer humidifier. It keeps my allergies down, our skin glowing (probably because we stick our faces in the steam and get wet), and it entertains children (and adults) to boot.

2. GPS

We don't leave home without it anymore. We purchased it because I do several home visits a month and was not familiar with random residential pockets of the city. I'm sure it's saved me TONS of gas, time, tears, loneliness, and intelligence. "Jill" knows absolutely everything. I sort of half shut off my brain when I'm driving with her because she just tells me exactly what to do (which may or may not be a good thing).

1. Our wedding bands

Picture courtesy of kev & Duane of course!

This was the best investment of the year... and of our lives!

Here's to some great (and inexpensive!) purchases in 2008...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Oh Chute!

One night as Lowell and I were in bed, I krinkled my nose and said with disgust, "What's that smell?"

"I don't know" replied Lowell, "It's probably the result of your flatulence stuck in the sheets."

Although this suggestion sounds ridiculous (and slightly disturbing), it wasn't all that far-fetched :), so I took a good solid whiff under the sheets to see if they were indeed the culprit. NOPE. No smell there. I began really getting in touch with my sense of smell and thought out loud, "It smells like...like...dirty socks!"

pause (thinking/processing time)...

"Wait a second" I said as I looked to the overflowing laundry hamper in the corner, "It IS dirty socks!!"

We keep a laundry hamper in our room. We also do laundry as little as possible because it costs money. Apparently these two things aren't the greatest combo.


Now that we're home (well, at Mom & Dad's home), I'm lapping up the luxury of a laundry chute. Those things are genius. If ever Lowell and I build a house, I think we'll design the whole thing around a laundry chute. Or perhaps multiple chutes...

Skisons Greetings

Merry Christmas to you and yours from me and mine (Lowell)!!

Yep, this is our backyard!

Go ahead: Be jealous!

This is an extremely natural stance of Lowell's. Not posed at all...

Lowell had a couple spills at the end. Don't worry, they were due to a long, steep, treacherous, icy, should-be-black-diamond hill (*cough* not really *cough*).

Multicultural Jammies

Lowell and my pajama pants represent a variety of cultures. Allow me to give you a little tour of our pajama drawers...

PHILLIPINO
(Courtesy of Carlynne)

KENYAN
(also courtesy of Carlynne)

INDIAN

PERUSIAN
(well, actually homemade Canadian with a llama on them)

AMERICAN
(courtesy of John Tesh!)

And of course...

TRUE BLUE CANADIAN
(homemade of course:)

Settlers

Ever since people started raving about Settlers of Catan, I've avoided it at all costs. "um, no thank you; I'm not feeling well; I think I need a nap; oh unfortunately I was just on my way out." The game terrified me.

This weekend Lowell's cousins (Stephen, Tricia, and baby Jubilee) spent the weekend with us, and I got shanghai'd into playing it.

I loved it.

Now I want it for Christmas. With the expansion of course (hint hint Santa- I know you read this blog!!).

Pigeon Brigade

Recently there was a sign put up in our elevators. Here, why don't you just read it for yourselves:

Meant to be serious, but humorous nonetheless, non?

Shortly after the debut of that sign, the following sign was displayed in one of the elevators:

Others actually signed up before it was taken down. Whether or not they were real names I'll never know...

Shortly after that, there was a recipe for pigeon soup posted in the other elevator.

Apparently Lowell and I aren't the only little jokesters in the building (which is kind of surprising because I'm pretty sure that the average age of tenants here is 60). Lowell and my innocent fun consisted of moving the vase of flowers on our floor from side to side (on the table) every couple of days. Just to see if anyone even noticed (and maybe to play with their minds a little bit). Oooo we thought we were soooo clever.

How low can you go?

*edited to add: Sara just sent me these pictures. Documentation complete!! Thanx Sara. You're a real doll :)





My family has enviable limbo skills. I don't know what it is, but we're all really good at it. Especially me. (kidding- kind of).

The most recent occasion that my limbo skills were put to the test was at Carlynne and Dan's engagement party. At this party, Dan proved that he truly belonged in our family as he and I were the final 2. (In Carlynne's defense, she likely would've been up there too, but she had the unfair disadvantage of joining us late in the game).

Sorry Daniel. Carlynne looks none too impressed! :)

Dan and my success inspired the birth of a scientific study in which Dan represents all men in the world, and I represent all women in the world. (Doesn't lack validity at all!)

Each year, Dan and I plan to have a limbo contest. We will use our relative successes to measure loss of flexibility with age, as well as which gender loses flexibility at a quicker rate.

So, as a benchmark measure, it should be noted that I beat Dan. I'll keep you posted on the years to come.

Convocation Fantastication

So, I can now say that I am fully, completely, and officially a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Let's review the checklist for a moment, shall we?
Graduate from classes: Check.
Complete practicums (is plural practici?) : Check.
Complete giant final project (like a mini thesis) : Check.
Write and PASS the National Certification exam: Check.
Convocate and hold the degree in my hand: CHECK (as of November 22)!!!!

Here's a little summary of November 22 Convocation:

9am plan: meeting 4 good friends for brekky.
9am: Ann-Marie and I arrive promptly for our 9:00 date.
9:35am: still just Ann-Marie and I there.
Approx 9:36am : phone Lyndsay. Her plane got delayed so she won't make it.
Approx 9:37 : phone Christie. Her car ran out of gas. She'll be late.
We had no cell number for Kendra.

Finally Christie showed up and we had a small (yet pleasant!) gathering. Immediately following brekky, the three of us headed to the University book store to pick up our convocation packages. Christie couldn't join us later on in the day for the actual convo, so we made sure to get photos pronto. Christie and I have a picture at our graduation from the University of Lethbridge together (with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) and we needed to complete our series of convocation photos (otherwise one picture makes a pretty lame-o series).

U or L convocation (2005) :


U 0f A convocation (2007) :

We piled on the cheese for this classic shot.

3pm: Convocation

L to R: Lynds, Nancy, Ann-Marie, JT, Kendra.

My biggest fans:


I was surprised to see that my cousin was also convocating! U of A is big, okay. And we were in totally different departments. Ben graduated with a Masters of Art in History:

Uncle Tom & Aunt Janet were with Ben, so chock up three extra hugs for Julie!

THEN we saw the Laarman's (good friends from Lethy) b/c Eva was convocating too (who knew??), and the Friggstad's (b/c Zac was convocating too!). MY WORD, I got WAY more hugs than I expected. I love hugs. I'm a huggy kind of a girl.

Then we went home to whip up a yummy little sup sup.


The NEXT day was also extremely fun-filled. In the morning my parents and I went for a lovely run through the River Valley, then Kendra and her parents came over for coffee:


What a genuinely great family the Kramer clan is!

After doing some serious material shopping for Clynie's wedding, Carlynne, Dan, Mom, Dad, Lowell and I went to Joey Tomatos for din din. After being told on the phone that we'd have a 25-45 minute wait, we arrived only to face a 1.5 to 2 hour wait. Yeesh. Oh well, we went down the street to the Second Cup, had yummy bevies, strolled back to Joey's, sat and waited...and waited...and waited...

At The Second Cup.

Notice how we are saving seats for other valued customers at Joey's. We are only using HALF the amount of chairs we could potentially be using!

And finally ate:


Then the 'rents and Lowell and I walked through the "Bright Lights" display at Hawrelack Park in Edmonton. Such a festive stroll through the park!


Next Lowell and I are off to Carstairs for Steve & Alison's wedding. (Alison is Lowell's cousin, and Steve was the young man who sang as a surprise for Lowell at our wedding).

What a keeee-razily splendid long (for us) weekend!!

Shaka Shaka... et VOILA!

This afternoon, Lowell and I took a few steps back in time and made our own butter.

1. Pour the cream into the jar.


2. Display said cream in said jar.


3. Shaka shaka la cream.


4. Et voila: BUTTER!


5. Transfer new butter to old butter container.


6. Spread on bread.


7. And ENJOY!!! MMmmmmm... yummm.....


Tomorrow I intend to make butter with my preschool kiddies (while incorporating language goals of course). We're on the farm unit, you know. Butter's made from cream, cream comes from cows, and cows live on farms. Brilliant.