On the Road

I'm at my parent's place for a few days - involving myself in family events that will conclude with buffet lunch at Mandarin on Wednesday.  I am having a glorious relationship with food lately, where my cup has been continuously running over since about Halloween and I am indulging in every minute of it.  I might take a break from feasting after lunch on Wednesday - as I will have to resume this lifestyle at Christmas and I don't know if I can keep up the pace until then!

This multi-day visit to my Mom's is the first one where I didn't need to get someone to drop me off and pick me up.  I just drove my car over here and parked it.  When I am ready to leave, I will just drive it home.  It is a simple thing to be happy about, but I am still celebrating having a car of my own.

Which leads me to my "Going to Mom's Car Mix".  These are the tracks that will be taking me to and from my parents place.

Going to Mom's Car Mix

 1. F*ck You - Cee Lo Green
 2. Telephone - Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce
 3. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) - Pet Shop Boys
 4. Crash - Dave Mathews Band**
 5. Rudie Can't Fail - The Clash
 6. Murder of One - Counting Crows
 7. Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) - Pet Shop Boys
 8. Under Pressure - Queen and David Bowie
 9. In Your Eyes (live) - Peter Gabriel
10. Home and Dry - Pet Shop Boys
11. You Can Close Your Eyes - James Taylor and Carole King
12. Sail Away - David Gray
13. Alejandro - Lady Gaga
14. September - Earth, Wind, & Fire
15. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
16. Pendulums - Sarah Harmer

**While listening to the mix in the car, I realized it was a little unnerving to sing along to the lyrics "crash into me."  Version 2.0 of this mix would replace 'Crash' with '#41' (also by Dave Matthews Band). 

My Dad and Turning Thirty

I turned thirty last week and so far it has been great.  I made myself a giant turkey dinner and basically feasted for days.  Just my style.

There is a lot of hoopla around birthdays ending in zero - and the suggestion that you need to do something big.  So I talked to my dad about it to see if he wanted to help me do something 'big'.

Me: Hey Dad - your only baby daughter is turning thirty!  How about sending me to Cuba for my birthday?
Dad: You know what?  I have a gift card for Swiss Chalet that I got for Christmas.  I thought we should have that for your birthday.

He wouldn't be my dad if had replied anything different than that.  We had birthday Swiss Chalet take-out last Wednesday with my bros and it was absolutely delicious.  It was 'big' enough for me.

My turning thirty is a big deal for my parents - I'm the baby of the family and the baby is now thirty!  Yesterday I was chatting with dad on the phone and all of a sudden he said:

Dad: I realize you are now over thirty so I am not going to call you my baby anymore.  Because you are not a baby.  ...  So what should I call you?
Me: You should call me... Power of Attorney.

And we laughed and laughed.  Sometimes dad sets them up and I knock them down.  Plus I really could do some good if I was in charge of his finances... like a trip to Cuba! :)

 

Backyard Explorer: Forest/Marsh Behind the House Edition

It was a beautiful sunny day out there today so we went exploring in the forest behind the house.  It is wonderful being outside at this time of year; the air is so fresh and the bugs are minimal.  The woods are wonderful too - I find bushwhacking to be really fun exercise!  Plus there are many neat and interesting places to explore in the woods.  Sounds like an adventure!

Sunny day on the marsh #1

Sunny day on the marsh #2

More marsh.

Look what a beaver did!

Good job beaver!

Here's another beaver take down!  And this is a big one!

Nice marsh reflection #1

Nice marsh reflection #2

100th Blog Post!!!

Today is my 100th post on the blog!

In honour of the 100th post, I finally wrote an ‘About Me’ page.  Feel free to check it out!

Over the past seven months I've blogged on many different topics, and I still find it neat that people land on my blog after Googling something they are looking for.  The following are a few of the posts that people land on most frequently by Googling!

Chocolate Bars Take the Cake - People often click on this post after googling “chocolate bar birthday cakes”, "chocolate bar pieces in cake," or “how to make Kit Kat cake”.

Beans: Dry vs. Canned - People have landed on the blog by searching: "canned chick peas vs dry benefits", "chick peas dried vs. tinned", and "dry vs. canned kidney beans".  Some people actually stay and read it too! 

Also, around the time of Oro Fair this year, my Oro World's Fair First Place Ribbon Banana Bread post got popular.  I also frequently return to this post myself, as this is one of my favourite recipes.  This banana bread rocks!

A Big Giant Thank You to everyone who reads this blog! Thanks also for all the wonderful comments - weather on the blog or in person.  I really appreciate all of your feedback!  You rock!

For Better or Worse: Vote!

Monday is municipal election day in Ontario and I hope you get out there and vote!

I live in Tiny Township, and this year voting was done through Vote By Mail ballots.  I found that out on Friday.  I have never voted in a municipal election in Tiny, so I was not on the voter list and did not receive a Voter Information Package.  I called the Tiny Township office on Friday to ask where the polls were going to be held on Monday and I was simply told that it was Vote By Mail this year.  I said that it was obviously too late for me to vote by mail (because there is a reason they call it snail mail), so I asked what to do instead.  I was told that on election day (Monday), I can get a ballot at the Tiny Township office and put it in their ballot box.  So the Tiny Township office is the one and only polling station then?  That doesn't sound good.

Maybe it is because I am used to casting my vote in Toronto, but it seems like a really bad idea to only have one venue for voting.  Tiny Township has over 18,000 residents who are eligible to vote.  Is there enough space for everyone who will be coming to vote?  Does the township office have a room to vote in?  Is there enough staff to assist people?  I imagine they are assuming that most people mailed in their ballots and that people casting their vote at the office will just be those who aren't on the voters list.  Unfortunately, if the people I know are an example of Tiny voters, I think there are going to be plenty of confused people at the township office on Monday.

Two people I know who are on the voter list and got a Voting Information Package in the mail, didn't even open the envelope.  They both assumed they didn't have to care about it until election day.  That seems fair to me.  People are really apathetic about voting in general (voter turnout is less than 50%), so I don't think it is too much of a stretch to think that people wouldn't give a shit about their Voting Information Package until the day they thought they had to (election day!).  I didn't even care about asking where to vote until the Friday before the Monday election, and I think voting is really important!  Who knows how many people just left their ballots in a pile of mail on their kitchen table, only to open them sometime this weekend and not understand what to do?

Another person I know received their voting package and opened it, but thought the information about voting by mail was just that - information.  They assumed they could take their ballot to the polling station on election day.  I looked over the package.  It does have instructions on how to vote by mail, but it never tells you why you should.  Nowhere does it say: "Hey Look! There is NO POLLING STATION in your area! We want you to vote by mail this year! Please mail this back to vote!!"  A lot of people just expect to do what they did last time (go to a polling station) so unless it is specifically spelled out, I imagine some people just ignored the vote by mail option and assumed there was a polling station somewhere.  I know I thought there was.  Isn't there always a polling station somewhere?

Oh yeah, there is...  The Tiny Township office.  I wonder how full and crazy it is going to be when I get there on Monday?

Even if there are long lines, make sure you get out there and vote!  It is worth it to make sure your voice is heard.

UPDATE:  The township office wasn't all that busy when I went to vote.  There was a steady flow of people dropping off their ballots in person, as well as a few I overheard saying "I just opened it this morning..."  The woman I was behind in line said her parents opened theirs that morning, and if they had known, they would have mailed it last month.  I asked the election clerk how many ballots they got back through the mail and she said it was over 6000.  About 9000 people vote, so that left about a third of voters dropping off their ballots/having to vote at the office.