Tweeting with Kelly Gruber

A few weeks ago I had a fun experience on Twitter with 1992 World Series Champion and Blue Jays alumnus Kelly Gruber.

The Official Blue Jays Twitter feed participated in something they called #ChirpChairs. Basically, selected people (some former players and broadcasters) took over the Blue Jays twitter feed for about 20 minutes each, answering fans tweeted questions. I didn't pay too much attention to the other guest tweeters, as all my excitement was focused on tweeting with Kelly Gruber.

Kelly Gruber was my favourite Blue Jay as a kid. I had two different Kelly Gruber posters (not including the 1992 World Series team poster). He was on a t-shirt I wore frequently, and he was my favourite player to watch when I watched Blue Jays baseball with my Dad. He was so much my favourite, that when I played little league, my Dad always announced my trips to the plate with an enthusiastic: "Kelly....Gruuuuuber!" So I was super excited to send him a tweet to say hello and I really hoped he would see it.

Kelly Gruber doesn't actually have his own Twitter account, so this may have been his first time tweeting, which could explain how our interaction went.

Here is a picture of Kelly Gruber tweeting. Spoiler Alert: he is tweeting at me!

Thanks to @BlueJays alumnus Kelly Gruber for taking part in tonight's #ChirpChairs! pic.twitter.com/tsmlpzVm3u
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) June 25, 2014

When it was Gruber's turn to tweet, Blue Jays Official announced he was there and I sent him a welcome/you are the best tweet:

@BlueJays Welcome Kelly Gruber! You were my favourite player when I was a kid. Had two posters on my wall! All the best! #chirpchairs
— Jen B (@myadorableblog) June 25, 2014

To my complete joy and surprise he tweeted back to me. Ten year old me was over the moon that I got a response.

@myadorableblog thats cool, thank you
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) June 25, 2014

But then I got another tweet from him - and I knew instantly that it wasn't meant for me.

@myadorableblog he definantly is right now. too old right now. lol
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) June 25, 2014

And then another one came. Again, not for me. Twitter is tricky and it was his first time, so instead of replying to the fans who asked the questions, he kept replying to my twitter handle. I didn't mind.

@myadorableblog i have and made him admit it. hes a great sport
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) June 25, 2014

It was a lot of fun, actually, and a reminder of how magic Twitter can be. But I felt bad that the other fans weren't getting their responses so I tried to let him know what was up.

@BlueJays I love getting all these tweets from Kelly Gruber, but I think these replies are for other people. Just so you know. :)
— Jen B (@myadorableblog) June 25, 2014

But I got one more tweet, which is actually my favourite one from him, and it seems to go with my original tweet, so me (and ten year old me) think this was the tweet that was actually meant for me.

@myadorableblog thank you sweetie. im honored. go jays!
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) June 25, 2014

Isn't that the best?

I summed up my Kelly Gruber encounter that night with the following tweet, which is still how I feel about the whole experience:

Kelly Gruber tweeted me on purpose and then maybe by accident a few times and it was the BEST. THING. EVER! @BlueJays #LoveThisTeam
— Jen B (@myadorableblog) June 25, 2014

On My Own Time Line

It is the last weekend in January and I still have my Christmas decorations up.  It is not because I am lazy (or tacky), it is just that I really like the glow of Christmas Tree lights.  Plus the cat has a pretty cool hideout under the tree.

I'm taking everything down today, but thought I'd ask what your tradition is.  Do you decorate for the holidays? How long before you take everything down? Are you judging me for keeping mine up for all of January? When I was growing up, there were some decorations that stayed up for years, so an extra month is an improvement on what I was taught. We are a funny bunch!

I Must Have The Look

It is Elmvale Fair weekend in these parts, and though I wasn't attending the fair, I was in Elmvale yesterday to pick up some Library goodies.

As I exited my car, I had the following exchange with a young father, who was with his 3-year-old-ish son.

"Hey Kidless!" He jokingly called to me.  "You want a kid? Maybe you could take him to the fair?"

"Uh...I'm okay" I said politely. "Thanks anyways!" 

And we both laughed.

It Was a Pretty Popular Movie

I am always in the market for new notebooks, as I am quite obsessed with them and often have ten or more on the go. When purchasing notebooks, I flip through them to see and feel what the pages are like.  That is how I found this awesome leave behind by another shopper at Dollarama the other night:

Neat looking notebook:

Awesome leave behind:

 

People in Midland are funny!

Froggy in the Window

This little dude spent some time on the window after some rain.  I think he ate some bugs too!

Snag it, Bag it, and Tag it - Part I

Tag! I'm it.  Skwishee over at Just a Mum? tagged me in a random questions/random facts game.  I have been bad at answering the call of being tagged (I completely missed Awards Season this year!), so I am jumping on this opportunity before too much time goes by.  TashaB over at Awesomesauce & Other Experiments already responded with her answers and facts and now it's my turn! 

Ten Questions from Skwishee at Just a Mum?

1. Name a book that somehow changed you. How?

I guess it would be Lightning by Dean Koontz because it was the first adult book I remember reading. It had time travel, a female lead, and a character who met Paul McCartney.  It had everything my tween heart would love and it got me interested in reading books. 

2. If someone were to cook you the perfect meal, what would it be?

It would be the Ultimate Feast from Red Lobster, so I would need a chef from Red Lobster to come to my house please! 

3. Who do you want to be when you grow up?

This girl *points at self*, but older.
 

4. You find a wallet containing $20,000 on the ground, containing no identification. What do you do?

I would have to do as TashaB described and turn it in to the police.  If it was $20, however, I would be eating take out for dinner.

5. Name one completely irrational fear that you've got.

Just one? But I experience at least ten a day! I'll go with Monsters murdering me in the night.

6. Give me three songs that you're embarrassed to admit you like.

Banjo - Rascal Flatts
Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
I'd Really Love To See You Tonight - England Dan and John Ford Coley 

7. What is one thing you absolutely love about yourself?

I love that I don't give a shit what I wear around the house/in the backyard.  The teen boys that live next store are getting a real life glimpse about what thirty-something girls are like! The colours never match, there are socks AND sandals, and of course oodles of track pants.  I told John yesterday that I am glad I am not a celebrity, because every week I would appear on the "Trash Your Stylist" list!

8. If you could be doing ANYTHING right now, what would it be?

Except for writing on my blog at the moment, I would love to be catching up on episodes of the BBC's Sherlock.  I think Martin Freeman is dreamy and funny.

9. What's the best thing that happened to you this week?

I went on an 11km bike ride today and it was amazing!

10. If you could perfect one skill overnight, what would it be?

I would really love to play guitar.  I have tried to learn a few times but I have gotten frustrated because I can't move my fingers fast enough to make chords.  I even suck at Rock Band guitar.  If I could learn overnight, that would be great! 

11. Tea or coffee?

I have to go with Coffee because I will always have a strong love for a Timmy's double double. I gave up drinking coffee in January and switched to Green tea, which I also love, but I could never forget my first love.  Coffee is now a treat, and incidentally a treat I have been indulging in all week!


Part two of the game is listing 11 random facts about myself, but I can't get it together to do that at the moment.  I will save the list for another day!  Stay tuned! :)

Hot as Sun/Glasses

It turns out I have been collecting sunglasses over the past while.  These are the five pairs I have in the current rotation. One for most every occasion.  The pair in the upper left of the photo are my dominant pair, however the sunglasses I can find the quickest are usually the pair I wear most often.

How many pairs do you own?  Do you have a dominant pair? Are you enjoying the sunshine?

This Week in Random/Awesome/Educational

Random: John came and met me for lunch on Friday.  There was free pizza at my office, so we scored some slices and drove to the parking lot behind the mall for a romantic meal together.  We we talking and out the window we saw the most adorable little dog, happily running towards our parked car.  I rolled down my window, greeted him with a proper "hey buddy!" and asked where his person was.  He didn't respond, he just continued on his parking lot run, blissfully unaware of the potential danger the parking lot could offer.  To be fair, the lot behind the mall does have a lot of space where there are no cars, but it is still a parking lot with cars driving through it, and I judge it as not the safest place to be running around.  The dog didn't care about my concern, ran blissfully, pissed on some light stands, and eventually ran over to what must have been his person's car and got a ride home.

Awesome: I spoke with my nephew Earl on the phone last week and he was playing pretend with his little sister.
  Earl: "Liz is the Princess and I'm the Knight.  But I don't have any armor right now, so I'm wearing my
  pajamas.  My pajamas are actually pretty good armor, so it's okay."
I agree with Earl, my pajamas are some of the best armor I own; defending my right to naps and lazy Sundays!

Educational: My Mom baby-sat my niece and nephew all last week and throughout each phone conversation we had, there was a repeated message that I read loud and clear from the background noise: "don't have kids!"

Turn This Clock Around

I'm just about to enter into my third day back at the office after my extended break.  Flipping my bedtime from 3:00am to Midnight and my wake up time from noon to 7am was challenging, but I succeeded like a champ on Wednesday and Thursday.  Today, however, all I wanted to do was turn my alarm off and sleep for an adequate amount of time.  Good news is, it is only about 10 hours until nap time, and more importantly, the weekend.  Happy Friday everyone!!

On A Lego Kick

I just bought my fourth Lego based video game (thanks Amazon.ca!).  In 5-7 business days I will be the proud owner of Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4.  The second game in the series is being released in November, so I was able to score the old one for $19.99.  Seriously, I will buy almost any video game if it is under $20, but especially if it is Lego themed.   

I bought my Nintendo Wii in August and almost immediately got addicted to the Lego games.  It stated with Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (I'm about 25% finished), then I got thoroughly obsessed with Lego Batman (and still am - I'm over 90% finished and have over 3 billion studs!).  I haven't really gotten into Lego Indiana Jones yet (I need more vacation time!), and I just saw the deal Lego Harry Potter today, so I will be getting obsessed with that in the near future.  It is also already decided that whenever Lego Pirates of the Caribbean falls to the $19.99 mark, it will be added to the collection as well.

And because I am so into Lego right now, I google searched for this awesome website that lets you create your own Lego character.  So this is me if I was in a Lego game - my accessories are a lightsaber and a coffee!! Not sure what my ability would be, but I'm sure I'm super fun!

Adjusting to a New Schedule

I started my new job last Wednesday and basically as my body adjusts to my new schedule, all I do is work and sleep.  I've gotten most of the work attire I need for now (I'll post pictures when I am not working or sleeping!), so this upcoming long weekend (3 whole days!) I can focus on my on-going life and craft projects.  I have a list of blog post ideas that I just haven't had the chance to write about, but I am hoping at some point soon I can stay up later than 9:00pm and work on them! :)

And how is your week going so far?

Early Morning Sunshine

I had to be in town super early this morning for an appointment, so when it was over I rewarded myself with a large Double Double coffee (obviously).  The sweetheart on the other end of the drive through speaker took my order, and presented my coffee with a little bonus...

She drew happy face on my coffee cup lid!  Isn't that just the cutest?  

One For Three

It's Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim To Win time, and I rolled up the rim today and actually won!

After two requests to please play again, I was quite happy to see "Win Donut" on my cup this afternoon!  It isn't exactly the car or the BBQ I would have preferred, but I'll take a doughnut! :)

I've also been playing Roll Up Roulette online, and so far I have only been winning "fun facts".  The grand prize for the online game is "coffee for a year" which is awarded as $600 worth of Tim Hortons gift cards.  Some friends and I worked it out and that could buy over 1400 doughnuts!    Mmmm...Doughnuts.

Not Kidding Around

I normally use store brand laundry detergent, but I recently got a super-coupon deal on Tide so I started using it this evening.  The jug said to "fill cap to line 2" for large loads.  I thought I had a pretty large load (roughly all the towels we own), so I filled the "2X Concentrate Tide" up to line 2.

And this is the sight I saw during the second rinse cycle!  Tide isn't fooling around! 

I put the towels through the second rinse cycle again to (hopefully) get all the soap out of them.

So... Tide works.  And almost too well!  From now on I'm filling the cap to Line 1 only.

Some Sunshine in February

Inspired by Just A Mum...?, the following is a list of 25 things that make me happy (in no particular
order and definitely not exhaustive).  As we have a few weeks left of this too-much-snow winter, it is nice to be reminded of happy things.


1. The smell and taste of the first sip of fresh brewed coffee.

2. The sound Gary makes when she knows she is about to get treats.

3. Food - especially tacos and all types of snackies.

4. Good Talks.

5. Deals, coupons, grocery flyers...purchasing anything for less than regular price.

6. Getting obsessed with a song and realizing I've already heard it 40 times on repeat.

7. Sending and receiving mail; choosing or creating an amazing greeting card. 

8. Clementines and pomegranates.

9. Waking up to find a cat somewhere on the bed.

10. Finishing a project (knitted, scrapbooked, etc.) and obsessively looking at it over and over.

11. Helping older people at the grocery store retrieve things from the top shelf (I'm at a height advantage).

12. A walk on a sunny day with the iPod.

13. Sleepovers at the family apartment complex.

14. Relaxing after cleaning the whole house (including all the laundry!)

15. Photos.  I love photos, albums, frames, scrapbooks - the whole package.

16. When John surprises me with warm jammies from the dryer.

17. Home alone dance party.

18.  Marathoning TV on DVD.

19. Spending the whole day in comfy clothes.

20. Compliments from strangers about the sweater my Grandma made.

21. Sleeping like a rock in clean sheets.

22. When the due date for library books lines up perfectly with a requested book coming off hold.

23. The smell of spring.

24. The internet.  I have a healthy addiction to that shit!

25. Getting re-obsessed with a band I haven't listened to in years.

To Enjoy The Whole Year Through

I reluctantly took down my Christmas cards yesterday.  I know, it is the middle of February, but I love greeting cards and love having the "cheer" hanging around.

Look how festive and happy these are!

As I was taking them down, I got the bright idea to leave the string up and display whatever random greeting cards I'll receive throughout the year.  Previously, greeting cards would sit on my desk, but due to limited space they were easily knocked over and didn't get the attention they properly deserved.  Now with them hanging up, I will be cheered the whole year through!

Look how festive and happy these are too!!

What do you do with your greeting cards?  I have a giant box of them from over the years. Every time I move, I look through my giant pile and clear out any that I'm not attached to anymore.  I also have a plan to make a scrapbook that showcases the greeting cards that I'm really sentimental about...but that will be a BIG project, so it hasn't moved past the planning stages.  So what do you do with your greeting cards?  Do you display them, store them, or toss them?

Happy Birthday Betty!

Betty White is 89 today!  It is amazing how active, beautiful, and funny she continues to be, all while showing no signs of stopping!  Way to keep rocking, Betty!

Also, this post is a major shout out to my brother-in-law; thanks for reading! xoxoxo

Do You Sleep Anymore?

I have a tumultuous relationship with sleep.  I need very specific conditions in order to fall asleep, and even if all those conditions are met, sometimes it just doesn't happen.  It seems pretty counter-productive evolutionarily speaking; I doubt I'll be taking the next leap with the rest of mankind.  August was particularly sleep deprived, with the best night of sleep resulting from three consecutive sleepless nights.  Passing out from exhaustion isn't really a reliable or relaxing sleep aid - it is actually incredibly stressful.  I prefer to get my sleep on a regular basis instead of it all being crammed into just one night.  Is that so much to hope for?

Gary sleeps anytime, anywhere, and for 16 hours a day.
Sounds like a beautiful dream.

I spent the past week trying to recharge. I actually forced myself to do nothing.  Doing nothing isn't something I accomplish easily - as my "nothing" days soon become errand running days, clean up days, or organizing stuff days.  This past week I actually managed to avoid the busywork I usually turn to and did nothing.  The most strenuous things I did this week were re-watching seasons three and four of The West Wing and playing video games.  Near the end of the week I did tidy the house, but I did it while watching The West Wing and it was surprisingly relaxing.

And the result?  I caught up on a lot of sleep and I actually feel alive-alert-awake-enthusiastic today. Which is such relief.  Being tired all the time is super frustrating and everything is made more stressful with a perspective that is skewed by lack of sleep.  Now, I just have to maintain this relaxed/able to sleep attitude so I can continue to enjoy regular rest.  This will probably involve finding the correct balance of all things in life: work/play, diet/exercise, anxiety/calm.  That should be easy enough to do, right?

Ring My Bell

I enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  The smell of fresh ground coffee.  Reading in the sunshine.  Getting a 500g cheese bar for only $3.97.  There are thousands of examples, all simple stuff, that can instantly boost my level on the happy-o-meter.

Today it was my bike bell.

I got a number of accessories for my bike last month, one of which was a cute little bell.   I love the sound it makes; there is just something about the "bring bring" that gets me smiling.  There is not much traffic up here, so I have only used it three times so far.  The first time, I alerted a neighbour that I was passing by so we could have a wave.  The other two times I've been able to use it were this morning.

Riding on the trail, I came up behind about twenty eight-year-old summer campers with their two teenage counsellors.  I rang the bell once (*glee*), and the back half of the campers moved aside so I could get past.  I had to ring the bell again for the front half of the campers (*super-glee*), and they too moved aside.  The bell not only sounds amazing ("bring bring") but it makes people move at my command!  Nice.

Now of course, if it was anyone else ringing the bell - like a small child who didn't respond to the phrase "stop it!" - I would probably have an opposite reaction to the ringing.  As it is, though, I get a little bit of joy from using my cute little bike bell.  :)

Spring Cleaning By The Numbers

We did a thorough cleaning of the house this week and though it is pretty tedious to pull out and vacuum behind every shelf, desk, piece of furniture, etc., the results are totally worth the effort.  A little less dust is a good thing. :)

By The Numbers:

Number of pens found under the couch: 3

Number of lip chaps found under the couch: 2

Number of glue sticks found under the couch: 1

Number of USB thumb drives sucked up by the vacuum: 1 (later rescued!)

Number of hair ties/cat toys previously hidden by the cat, that were recovered: 8