5 Things About Me

1-I need to look at the street sign every time I drive home or I will miss my turn off.

And when I write every time, I mean every time.  Except for a small bump in the road, my turn off is pretty nondescript.  I've never had this kind of navigational trouble.  Ever.  I have driven to Orlando to Miami without even consulting a map.  I found my way home from Illinois by just driving in the general direction I wanted to go.  The other day, I passed by my friendly neighbor, who waved at me.  I smiled, waved back, and drove past my street.

2 - My friday song is: Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six.

I found myself dancing around the lab, and ejecting pipette tips with flair last Friday.  I think I was really looking forward to the weekend.

My favorite lyrics are:

Fire in the Disco
Fire in the Taco Bell
Fire in the Disco
Fire in the Gates of Hell

I especially love how they say Taco Bell.

3- I make my bed every morning.  

It is one of the first things I do when I get up.  My wonderful friends pointed out in the car this weekend that I was the only one who did that - everyday.  Apparently this makes me odd.  I just like a nicely made bed.

4-Sometimes I laugh out loud when I'm dreaming and wake myself up.

To anyone who knows me, this shouldn't really come as a surprise.  I used to be pretty self conscious about my laughing, that people would think I'm insecure, but I really don't care anymore.  It's just who I am.

5- I still haven't taken down my Christmas Tree.

I'm trying to tell myself it's okay that I haven't.  I was even going to make perogies the other day to "celebrate" Ukrainian Christmas, just as an excuse for having the tree up.  When my son was little, he used to come home with dirty clothes, sand filling his shoes, and ripped clothes.  But I never got mad, because to me it just meant he was having a really fun time.  And so that is how I see the tree - I guess I've just been having a really fun time since Christmas.

~b~

My Favorite Day

Sunday has got to be my favorite day of the week.  It's my friends and family day, and it's all about hanging out.

After after plowing through the streets of Saskatoon in my Subaru, (which I have to admit, was pretty fun), I spent part of the afternoon in the passenger seat of a monstrous SUV.

Here are some pictures I took of snowy Saskatoon:

Some good Samaritans blocking the road.

Poor lonely abandoned car on Circle.

I've always wanted to have my own little John Deer with snow plow or snow blower attachment.  And maybe my own driveway to go with it.

A bobcat might be fun too.  I'd need a pretty big driveway though.



Poor Stonebridge.  This road was a mess.

I ended up at a great concert.  I spent the whole night enjoying some great music, practicing my yeehaw and inserting my name into any song that would work:  Instead of Betty's Buns, it was Becky's Buns and I turned She's Gone Country into He's gone Becky.  It's my fantasy to have a song written about me.  But not a break up song.  Maybe something like My Rebecca (like My Maria- Brooks and Dunn) or any song from Kings of Leon would be pretty cool.  My other fantasy is to play the steel guitar.

~b~

Nap-Bake-Read

My window this morning told me to bake and nap and read (in no particular order) and then repeat, as often as necessary.  So I did.

Nap

What can I say.  I love to nap.  Short 15 minute naps.  Long 2 hour naps.  Those naps you take shortly after waking up.  Naps are a key ingredient to a great day at home.


Bake

I was asked to bring some baking next Sunday morning.  I have no idea what to bring so I thought I'd try some new recipes out.

This is what I made:

Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Very boring name, I'll have to come up with a better title.  They are easy and quick to make.  I forgot to add the salt and yet they are pretty tasty, my son ate one, then exclaimed:  These muffins are amazing.


Read

I am re-reading Black Berry, Sweet Juice.  It was recommended to me by a friend and I recently recommended it to someone, so I thought I'd re-read the book before passing it along.  The whole title is: Black Berry, Sweet Juice.  On Being Black and White in Canada.  It's about racial self identity.  Several people are interviewed and they speak openly on their experiences growing up.


Bake

I enjoyed the muffins so much I decided to make another batch, this time I added the forgotten ingredient.  I figure that if my son found the saltless muffins amazing, I can't imagine what he'll say about the second batch.


~b~

Thoughtful Thursday

Yesterday I attended a retirement lunch for a coworker and it caused me to reflect on what defines a successful career.  Every thoughtful speech or well wish received reiterated a common quality.  That quality was trustworthiness.  Sitting at the table surrounded by co-workers friends I wondered what my retirement lunch would be like.  It made me realize just how much I value my relationships with the people I work with and it made me a little teary eyed.  Plus, there was a little red watery eye action going on across the table.  All my reflecting on success has reaffirmed my belief that when you are doing what you love to do and using your natural gifts and talents you will find success.

~b~

Random Sevens

One of the blogs I follow, called This is Reverb has posted a list of 7 random things.

Here are my random sevens:

Uno

Guatemala Antigua coffee from Starbucks.  It's described as having medium flavor with tastes of subtle cocoa and soft spice.  I bought it as an ode to a friend who just moved to Guatemala City.  She went to Antigua last weekend and called it "the best coffee in the world".  You can check out her blog HERE.

Dos

I watched Laces play hockey again.  He scored 2 goals and their team is going to the provincials.  I've enjoyed watching his games as he grows and improves.  Hockey is definitely his game.

Tres

I spent the better part of the weekend at an event called Envision.  It was put on by my church and was a time of reflecting, praying, preparing, and planning.  I came away with a renewed sense of the importance of intentionality.  I had set out 6 months goals last year and the deadline is approaching.  The process we went through at Envision will definitely help me when I set out to make new goals.


Cuatro



I couldn't let the beautiful weekend slip away before enjoying a little bit of Saskatoon.

Cinco

I think Max might be part frog.  What is going on with that tongue?


Seis

Looking at this picture makes me feel happy.


Siete

I thought I'd learn Spanish this year.  I'll start by counting to seven.

~b~

Christmas Disturbances

I stopped by the University this week and against all warnings in my head, I decided to stop by The Lab.

I guess I was curious.

When I was working there making fun organometallic compounds Chef Emeril style or just stopping by to say Hi with some freshly baked cookies, I was always dismayed at the lack of spirit.

Every Christmas or Halloween I would see all the other labs band together to carve pumpkins, or decorate their lab.  In this lab however, the sad lonely pumpkin would sit off in some dingy corner of the room.  And the Christmas decorations would be relegated to a top shelf and ignored.

I was always slightly disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm.


But when I walked up to the doors of The Lab this week,



. . . . .



I saw


 . . . . .


. . . . .


I saw


. . . . .


Okay, before I show you what I saw, I just want to say:  Thank you.


Thank you for not decorating.  Thank you for ignoring the pumpkin and ditching the decorations.


 . . . . .



. . . . .



Thank you for sparing me from sights like this:

All I have to say is: when I saw the door, I felt all wobbly.  I quickly snapped the picture, shuttered and left.  I don't think I will ever return.


. . . . .



On a side note, my mother likes to display all her Christmas cards and greetings, and I noticed this one the other day when I was visiting:

Looking at this takes the previous disturbing image out of my head.  I enjoy how the dog and Santa look like old pros at getting their picture taken.  How their heads are tilted in opposite directions.  They look so photogenic, so peaceful, so serene.  I like how Elaine and Tim are clutching their respective cats.  The cats do not look peaceful and they do not look serene.  They look like they are trying to bolt.  And Elaine and Tim look like they are clutching their cats as best they can, while still keeping a smile on, for the camera.  What I love most about this picture is how Swift the Horse has been photoshopped in.

~b~

Confessions of a Beckarazzi

Saturday is my grocery shopping day.  I hate wasting my time shopping and I especially hate wasting my time by standing in line.  Get in- get out.  That's my motto when it comes to grocery shopping.  To expedite my weekly trips I preplan my weekly menu, write out a list according to the layout of the store, and hit the stores early so I can be done and at home before it gets busy.

This past Saturday I decided to grocery shop with my mother.  We ended up going to the Co-op on 8th.  My fastidious approach to grocery shopping allowed me to finish well ahead of my mother.  That and I think I bought 50% less items.

So there I was finished my list and waiting for my mother to finish.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Getting bored.

I then began noticing the other shoppers in the store.   Most of them belonged to the older generation including one lady who I think was a little confused.  Sometimes she would have an armful of groceries (no basket) and sometimes she wouldn't.  There was also one notably grumpy man who walked by me muttering to himself: Some people just didn't know how to shop for groceries.  He made me smile.    

Have I mentioned I hate waiting?

Have I mention that I get bored so very easily and quickly?

After what seemed like an eternity, my mother finally made it to the produce section - the home stretch!  The end seemed so so near, but the minutes dragged on as my mother leisurely made her way through the produce section.  After hovering over her and ever so helpfully trying to speed her up.  I resigned to lurking in the near vicinity, hopeful that left to her own devices she would get finished sooner.

I started to pace around the produce department and occasionally looked around to see if my mother was anywhere close to being finished yet.  And that's when I made a stunning discovery:

A very large proportion of Co-op shoppers wear maroon 3/4 length winter coats.

To pass the monotony of waiting, I decided to get "proof" of these maroon 3/4 length coats.  I spent the rest of my time trying to find a maroon coated shopper, get my cart into position, and then wait until the unsuspecting maroon coated shopper was busy selecting their produce . . . to take their picture:

Look: 3. . . 3 Maroon Coated Shoppers.  Ah ah ah  (said in the voice of The Count)

With the muttering man, and the wandering lady I think I win hands down for weirdness.  And I don't think I will ever shop at the Co-op,

Ever Again.

The End.

~b~

What the what!?!!

My coworker took some time off work and I have to admit, I'm starting to miss her. There's no one to listen to my crazy schemes and ideas, or to encourage me to find the Badlands of Saskatchewan or Phenyl Butte, I mean Castle Butte.  

Mostly, I miss these kind of random exclamations:

~b~

Food For Thought

I rarely eat fast food and whenever I do, I usually end up regretting my choice.  After reading this article:  Safety of Beef Processing Method is Questioned in the New York Times last week, I think I now know why.

According to the article, the company, Beef Products Inc has found a use for the fatty trimmings that were "once relegated to pet food and cooking oil".  By processing the "beef" product (notice my quotation marks) with ammonia, they have turned these fatty trimmings into a more profitable product.  Following ammonia treatment, the fatty trimmings are packaged as "a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips".  This is then sold and used as a component in ground beef for hamburgers.  These hamburgers are sold to consumers in grocery stores and at fast food chains such as Burger King and McDonalds, as well as prisons and schools, through federal lunch programs.  The word ammonia is never listed, as "[f]ederal officials agreed to the company's request that the ammonia be classified as a 'processing agent' and not an ingredient that would be listed on labels".

Why ammonia?

The treatment of ammonia raises the pH of the "beef" product from a natural level of 6, up to a pH of 10.  At this high pH level the E. coli and samonella are killed.  However, the food is considered unpalatable and gives off the nice aroma of ammonia which has been described as "pungent".  The companies response has been to reduce the amount of ammonia used in treatment, which lowers the pH but then reduces the effectiveness of killing the nasty pathogens and making contamination of E. coli and samonella more likely.

While the trade off between palatability and food safety seems to be the main issue with the company, the food industry, and the federal departments that are supposed to regulate the industry.  I'm more concerned with the fact that we are eating "food" that was previously considered inedible and only good for oil or pet food.  I'm concerned with the lack of labeling that doesn't list ammonia, even if it is considered a processing agent.  This seems to be analogous to decaffeinated coffee in which the caffeine can be removed from coffee beans by with the Swiss Water Process, or with chemicals, such as methylene chloride, or ethyl acetate.  As a consumer I want to know whether the caffeine has been extracted by a solvent, like water, or with solvents like methylene chloride or ethyl acetate.  

It is rather unsettling to realize how much we are sacrificing our health for convenience and how much we as consumers are being sacrificed for the sake of profit for the companies who sell these products.  It bothers me to know that we have little awareness of the process in preparing any of the food we eat.  With decisions being made, such as the decision to not include ammonia on any labeling, it makes me wonder what else goes on.  After reading this article, its no wonder I feel more than a tad bit queasy after eating at any fast food joint.

~b~

Insomniac's Insights

Last night I had a rare case of insomnia.  It all started because I was seriously considering the possibility of making a major change.  It gave me that excited/nervous scared feeling, which I usually take as a sign to "go for it".  So, instead of falling quickly into a deep, dream-filled sleep, I lay there in bed feeling edgy and nervous and excited.  My mind raced in a million different directions trying desperately to absorb and sort out this major change that I was considering.

I think I slept about 2 hours.

The weird thing is.  I didn't feel the least bit tired today.  I didn't feel the least bit tired today, after downing 2 grande Bolds from Starbucks.  I think I went about completing my tasks on auto-pilot and before I knew it, work was done.  Sad really, how easily I can accomplish my day without really putting any thought into it.

When I got home, I tried to nap, but to no avail.  Again, weird.  By this time, I should be tired.  Really tired.  But no dice, I couldn't fall asleep and I didn't feel the least bit tired.

So I sat down and decided to set out a budget and make a plan on getting out of debt and actually have money set aside in my saving account.  How responsible.  How boring.  If anything will make me tired - looking at my finances should do the trick.

But the trick was on me.  After estimating my new pay for the new year and after determining my Fixed Expenses and my Variable Expenses.  I am left with, oh about $20.  What?!?  Ha.  Awful.  Thank goodness that my lack of sleep has made me devoid of emotion because I think I would have had a good cry.  I guess the one good thing about this discovery is that it has only strengthened my resolve to become free from the bondage of my debt, as soon as I can.  So, no travel for me this year, no motorcycle for me this year, and no Starbucks for me for the rest of the day.  It's funny how your dreams and plans can go in whole new direction in less than 24 hours.

~b~

Fabulousness

It was pretty quiet around work last week so we drove downtown to check out the The Cupcake Conspiracy.  I've been a fan on Facebook for a while, but never had a chance to check them out.  I was constantly getting updates on the flavor of the week: Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow, Gingerbread and Maple, Red Velvet Revolution, they even had Tiramisu one week.  With all these delicious names, it was inevitable I would be stopping by.

I just want to say, without even tasting the cupcakes, they had me at the front door.  I.  Simply.  Love the store.  There are beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and gorgeous dark brown floors.  On opposite walls is a mural of the Victoria bridge with cute little cupcakes dotting the road, and a cute area with some chairs (in an amazing fabric), a side table and a whole bunch of mismatches picture frames on the wall.  Loved the decor and loved the red wall at the back of the store.

And I loved all the imaginative names:  The Prohibitionist, The Grass Knoll, and Pink Champagne, just to name a few:

Don't they look deLish?

We decided 6 would be a nice number of cupcakes to buy.  The box was wrapped with their very own ribbon and sealed with a sticker.  So cute!  I just love packaging.

These cupcakes were absolutely fabulous.  If you are going to try anything new this year - stop by and try a cupcake from the Cupcake Conspiracy.

Wishing you the very best in 2010.  May you be surrounded by fabulous people and experiences.

With much love,

Becky