little bitty girl

This was my contribution to the second round of the compound word project. This was the mastermind of the delightful Shari. Essentially, what she does is assign various volunteer individual bloggers a word; and they take a picture that they believe best reflects their idea of that word and she creates these wonderful diptychs out of those pictures. Our challenge is to guess what the two words are. Go check it out.

It's a really fun collaborative project and it's always so interesting to see what people will shoot. After seeing everyone's pictures, it also makes me think,"Oh darn! I really should have shot this instead for my word." I think mine is a really easy. Can you guess it?

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Posted in Me-ness

I was browsing in one of my favorite Japanese convenience stores, trying to get inspired for dinner one night when I noticed a sign by the crockery section that said "Now that hot pot season is here, get some ingredients for shabu shabu!" I had no idea what it was, but I knew whatever it was, I wanted to eat it.

So, I called Marie my trusty fellow food connoisseur (who also happens to have an in house Japanese food expert i.e her baby daddy) and asked her to explain what this "shabu-shabu" was and can I eat it when I am out west.

Yes, you heard right. After a much longer than anticipated separation, I'll be reunited with my West Coast family this Friday. I am so excited! Even for the wintry weather they are unexpectedly having because we've had none. I should dig out my winter jacket as I don't think I've even seen the darn thing all winter.

I'm excited to reunite with friends, check out the great stores and restaurants but most importantly see little Ryo, who's already started laughing and making funny expressions. I can't wait to actually touch her tiny feet and toes. Can you believe once upon a time, our feet were really that tiny too?

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, Joy-Friends, Travel

I sometimes let Mindy play with this small ball of yarn that has been completely covered by her fur. It was from one of my Ryoko projects. She had discovered it and totally managed to create a huge giant booby trap for us in the apartment from her batting it all over the place. I couldn't use it after as it was completely covered with Mindy's hair.

I usually only allow her to play with it under supervision because you never know what shenanigans she'll be up to left on her own. This morning while I was checking my email, she had somehow managed to bite off about two feet of the yarn and proceeded to ingest it. I was first alerted to the situation by the sounds of her gagging. Which I naturally thought was a fur ball. I usually don't deal well with her throw ups so was yelling for Stefan to wake up.

Except then I noticed the string and tried to pull it from her. And then I started frantically shouting for Stef to wake up to help as she wouldn't let me get to her. He managed to pin her down and proceeded to pull the yarn out from her. I was terrified that she had actually swallowed the entire ball.

Needless to say, it gave us all a terrible scare. Stefan carried his baby to bed, cuddled her and quietly told her that she shouldn't put random things in her mouth. Then he proceeded to clear up all my random balls of yarn from various projects and put them away.

I feel like such a terrible cat mum.

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Posted in Mindy-Lou

I am a hat lady. I tend to wear hats a lot. I've always said that I wanted to go to the Royal Ascot, if only because it gives me reason to find and wear a really ridiculous hat.

Yesterday I wore one just because I couldn't be bothered to do anything with my hair. This is usually my most common reason for wearing a hat. I was wearing a pretty casual baseball hat since Stef and I were simply running around and doing errands. The only problem with wearing this type of hat in relation to my height, is that it really limits my line of vision.

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Posted in Stefan

but did you know that Christmas is just around the corner?

I woke up this morning and was literally pacing back and forth. I felt like a chicken with it's head cut off. Except I don't think they last all that long after they've been beheaded. I was pacing for at least 20 minutes. Picking up something, dropping it and deciding to do something else. I couldn't really decide what I needed to do the most.

Mail some of my Christmas postage?
Finish my knitting projects?
Tidy up the pig sty that is my apartment?
Figure out whether I had everyone's addresses for holiday cards?
Do some Christmas shopping?

Unfortunately, my body decided for me having been kept awake until the wee hours of the morning and I spent most of my day on the couch, watching the Food Network (Love you, Ina!) and subsequently fell asleep with Mindy on my chest.

Stefan's definitely rubbed off his "I put off what I can until the very last minute, especially when it comes to Christmas shopping because I revel in the stress" attitude on me. I am usually all done and organized by the first week of November.

I must get my Christmas groove on though or I am going to be very sorry for it.

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Posted in Me-ness

Last night as Stefan and I were settling into our current reads, we were disrupted by two loud bangs in the quiet night. The sound was actually quite strange, almost like a firecracker with a sharp clap at the end of it. I knew immediately that they were gunshots and so I leapt out of bed and flew to the window.

Sure enough, there was a young man lying on the street and people were streaming to help him. I asked Stefan whether I should call 911 but we could see everyone else's cellphones flash in the dark. It seemed to have been an incredibly long time before a police cruiser drove by. Since the street we live on is quite a busy one, it's not unusual for policemen to patrol the streets. What was unusual though, was when it did drive by, the car passed by the scene of the incident. For me, if there was an usual amount of people circling an unlikely spot (a parking lot), I would have been inclined to be curious. Luckily, a guy ran after the car and managed to get them to stop.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I promise to love you all the days of my life.

I promise to always treat you with honor and respect.

I promise to never abuse you, or in any way cause you harm or hurt.

I promise that as long as I live, you will not want for affection.

I promise that you will always be precious to me.

I promise to never again wear you to the gym or have you on board when I am using my hand as a human hammer.

The blinger is back with it's partner!! I thought it was appropriate to say make some vows to it.

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Posted in Me-ness

So. Seriously.

What is up with guys? This is the fifth day in the row where guys have tried some lame ass random pick up lines on me. I am sure when I am in my nineties, I will look back on this, touch my ass with one finger, make a hissing sound through my teeth and think," Oh yeah! I was pretty hot back then."

However, for now this type of stuff just really annoys me. This whole part of guy behavior just really bewilders me. I left a footy function early tonight and decided to get pizza (my regular ritual need for food after some drinking) and literally in a span of half a block, was given some lame ass pick up line by three groups of guys. The lines used were - Hey baby! Where you going?, Hey sugar...lookin' good in those boots and What's up, toots. Toots? What the heck is a toot?

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

My cousin Jo-Ann and I would often say this to one another. Right after I squeezed her as hard as I could.

Jo-Ann is my cousin closest to me in age, and we spent almost all of our holidays together until my family left for Canada. We had to promise not to fight with each other because our parents would make us. We inevitably ended up fighting during our weeks of vacation. What attributed to the fighting probably had much to do with the fact that since we didn't see each other for months, we would spend at least the first four days completely glued to each other. We were bound to get on each other's nerves eventually. But we always made up and I would always cry copiously as her father pulled the car out of our driveway.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans

Oh God!

Stefan and I have turned into people I hate - couples who dress alike.

Stefan and I both bought jackets made from the same fabric and same colour. In fairness, I saw my jacket before he did, even though he bought his before I did. Regardless. I really didn't think that we would ever be in a situation where we would actually be wearing the jackets at the same time!

Because believe or not, we barely really see each other. Let me rephrase that. We see each other every day but there's been very rare occasions as of late, when we've been seen with each other in public. We tend to work different hours and be doing different things after. And when we are seen in public together, we definitely make sure we're wearing different jackets.

Except for today.

He met me at the subway and the first thing out of my mouth when I saw him was,"Ohmigad! I am SO embarrassed!" I kept trying to sit in a different spot on the train, so that it would seem like we were not together but the git kept trying to make out with me.

Rest assured, this won't be happening again anytime soon. I am going to re-look at my eight other winter jackets.

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Posted in Fashion Smashion, Stefan

kitty!

I am so very jealous of Lisa's Matilda. I really think that very spoiled Mindy would benefit from having a little baby brother or sister, but Stefan is convinced that Mindy is a one cat type of cat.

Since we(I) adopted Mindy when she was about six years old, I have never been exposed to kittens. Now that Mindy is twelve years old, I constantly worry about how my heart will take it when it's her time to go. Many cat loving friends always say that it's a little easier to take when there is another one to love. I worry that the reason why Mindy is so lazy and overweight is because she's so very bored. Plus, I definitely have it in my heart to love another kitty.

I showed Stefan the following kitty pictures in hopes of changing his mind about adopting another cat -

First Steps
Baby Blue
My Little Kitten
Baby Chihiro

and he still says,"No!"

He's convinced that if we get another, he'll just be a permanent slave as Mindy already treats him like her personal butler. That, and he doesn't want to slip any further on my totem pole of "loves". At this point in time, Mindy is at the very top. I think he's ranked fifth. The god-daughter bumped him down a notch.

I cannot believe that he could look at these pictures and feel nothing.

The man has a heart of stone, I tell you.

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Posted in Mindy-Lou, Stefan

I love rap and hip hop.

What can I say? I love all types of music actually but I definitely have a special place in my heart for this in particular. My teenage years were spent around aspiring hip hop and rap artists, many of whom are now the genre's superstars. At least in Canada.

For most people who aren't into it, it all sounds the same to them. But for those who are in the know, there are definitely unique styles and flavors that particular artists have. For those of you who share my same love, check out this link. It's of comedian Aries Spiers imitating some hip hop's hottest stars. It's pretty sick.

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Posted in Me-ness

Good morning, sports fans!

I bring to you, after a very short blogging silence more ickness from Stefan's hand. Can't you tell that I am just absolutely fascinated by the gross-ness of medical things? I always watch documentaries of surgeries with an appalled fascination. My brain always wants to look but my stomach doesn't really want to.

So, this is Stefan's hand after the stitches were taken out this morning.

"Err...do you think they took it out too soon? There are some gaping holes...."

"Well, supposedly the inside part is healed and the wound is supposed to open up like a book. And then it heals up and whatever is left over falls off."

"What's the black shit?"

"Marker and probably some dried blood scab."

"Coooool. Can I cut the floppy pieces off?"

"NO! Go away!"

Darn.

Happy Friday!

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Posted in Stefan

I hate people who take advantage of handicapped parking.

I've decided that recently.

For the past six months, there have been two such culprits outside my building. Everyday, Mr. Range Rover and Mr. Hummer get out of their gasoline sucking cars, lean into their glove boxes and put on their handicapped parking labels on their dashboard and merrily skip to work.

OK, I exaggerate.

They do not skip, but it is blatantly clear that they do not have any physical disabilities that I can see of. Both actually own businesses nearby, as I have seen them at their places at work.

I think it's really terrible when people take advantage of this. Is it just me who is offended by this? It just reminds me of the time when Kristen Dunst was caught doing the same thing. And maybe, I should give these two men the benefit of the doubt but to be honest, maybe the world has made me too cynical to do so. I have often heard of people who have gotten relatives who are doctors to write them a letter so they can get this label.

"Why pay for parking when you don't need to?" is often the reply I get when I've posed this question. "Because if you own a car that is more than some people's salaries a year, you can bloody afford it," is the reply they often get.

Where is karma when you need it? I really hope the karma angel gets Mr. Hummer or Mr. Range Rover soon because if I keep seeing them, I am just going to develop a permanent eye tick.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

I love this picture of us. I think this picture really portrays many aspects of our relationship together. Although he is older, he was always more my partner in crime in all sorts of shenanigans. If there was some prank to pull, a misdeed to be done, he was always there with me. It also helps that he has such an utter baby face. Even now when he's done something bad, he can just look at you with the most innocent expression,"Who, me?" and you just forgive him.

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Posted in Family Shenanigans

So, I called today about the status of my ring.

It's taking a little longer because they needed to match the same quality diamonds with the others. They also needed to test the ring to make sure that no additional damage had been done. Somehow, even though I lost the one, it looks like my roughness with it has broken five additional diamonds that also needed to be replaced.

Stefan, bless his heart, did his big sigh and told me he still loved me when I told him the news.

I, on the other hand am not loving myself as much. Oh, the guilt!

A girlfriend told me that she actually has a fake set that she wears when she goes on vacations or goes to the gym. At the time, I thought it was a little silly. Now I'm thinking that it's not such a bad idea and am going to look for one.

After I dunk my head in the toilet.

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Posted in What's Buggin' Me

As everyone knows, Mama Kang just lurves her beloved son in law. This most recent incident of him having the surgery has brought out her mama-in-law love in full force. Our fridge is simply crammed with all sorts of cakes and tasty meals all marked with "Stef" on white labels.

Oh right. To be fair I did receive a quarter of a layer cake. God only knows, the best way for Stefan to heal is to have cake.

So because she had restocked our fridge on the weekend, she was a little perplexed as to why I was at the supermarket yesterday. But didn't she know? Stefan needs his cold cuts for lunch. Veal bologna to be specific. And of course, with that comes the dreaded baguette. Stef loves bread. He can eat a loaf of bread in two days, I kid you not. But he especially loves baguette for sandwiches. Oh, how I hate the baguette!

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Posted in Homage to Hunger, What's Buggin' Me