But it's getting oh so hard to spend these days without my heart!

Congratulations, Samboni and Creepsack! You win bonus points! And you are both to be featured in this post!

Here are a couple more people I miss! (One of them I do not miss too much, because it has only been 3 hours since I last saw her.)

(Bride: Cassy; Bottom (L-R): Me, Jen, Sam)

Those three up there are also GREAT. Cassy's the greatest because she was my friend when I was 12 and she introduced me to the other two. Jen's the greatest because she tells me to do stupid things and often does them with me. And Sam's the greatest because she puts up with me all the time. What I'm saying is that they are all the greatest.

Sam and Jen and I were in Cassy's wedding last summer. Sam and Cassy and I were in Jen's wedding last summer. Sam and I have not had weddings, so that is where that particular string of events ends.

...then my home is where you are

(L-R: Gen, Erin, Talison, Ashley;
Bottom: Smalison)

That's the old intramural crew team. By the looks of our sweet t-shirts, we were pretty frawesome (frickin' awesome). Sometimes I wish we still all lived in Seattle. Waking up at 5 to go rowing. Sitting in the HUB for an hour before class. Wandering the Ave. Now we're all over the place. London... NYC... Chicago... Idaho... and here I am in Calgary.

Actually, now that I think about it, waking up at 5 really sucked. But I still miss those four girls.

(Bonus points? Anyone? Anyone?)

If home is where the heart is...

That's Glorya on the left and Hene on the right and I just love them. Glorya's in Thailand and Hene lives in Ghana and man do I wish they could both come live... right here. Maybe right here in my pocket.

Anyways, I just got to talk to Hene on the phone and it made my day. You know how some people are just so great that your entire day gets better just by talking with them for a few minutes?

(P.S. bonus points if you can name the song.)

Mouse

He's gone. Steve (the dad) caught him. With the help of a 4-year-old girl, oddly enough. Well, the trap actually caught him, but Steve and Madeline disposed of him.

Blogger? I hardly know 'er!

So I didn't really do any of that stuff I said I was gonna do.

But the weekend was still fun. I basically did the same thing I did last weekend, but with different people. Those are the people in those pictures down there... as I said, they're "different".

(tongue out = me, not looking = Sam, trying not to smile = Kaila)


We wandered around at Elbow Falls. Don't worry, we left without losing the ability to bend our arms.


Sam and I played Caveman Bowling when we got bored at our campsite. I got a strike!


We traversed a river. Sam got a bit cold when I splashed her legs with water, but later on when we were sitting in the hot hot sun she wished that we could be in that water again.


Not a good place to play Sam No Bones.

But yes, it was fun. It's always nice to get out of the city and camping's a pretty cheap way to do it... stay tuned, I just might do it again next weekend!

As for mighty mouse, no sign of him since the pantry incident.

Spoke to soon...

Seriously. Not 10 minutes after I wrote that last post, I go upstairs to get some toilet paper for my bathroom and... MOUSE! Now, I am not one to freak out at the sight of a mouse (thanks in part to the desensitization caused by one night in Ping, Ghana), but this mouse is crazy! I had no idea those little rodents were so freaking agile.

My first sighting is of the mouse leaping from one corner of the pantry to the other. LEAPING. I did not know that mice leap. Scurry, yes. But leap? My first reaction is something along the lines of 'how in the heck did a frog get in the pantry?' But it's furry, unlike a frog. It's a mouse for sure.

Anyways, I shut the pantry door and kind of stand in front of the pantry for a minute until Shana (the mom) walks out of her room.

"Ummm... I think there's a mouse in there," I say.
"Oh no." (The dad is in Italy, and dealing with mice is his job.)

So, we slowly open the door and peek in. Nothing happens for maybe 10 seconds, then all of a sudden this mouse-on-steroids leaps from the second shelf of the pantry onto the floor and lands in a half-full box of beer bottles.

We're both saying, "ew ew ew ew" as I shut the pantry door once again. We ready the trap. Shana accidentally snaps her fingers in it. Twice. Ouch. Shana re-opens the pantry door and I slide the trap into the middle of the pantry floor.

Now we wait.

I'm a bit skeptical, though. Is this mouse really going to go for the cheese on the trap when there's a whole pantry full of food right there?

Ummmm

I don't really have anything interesting to report. But this weekend we're most likely going to be tenting in Sam's backyard and and also going to see the dinosaurs, I think it should be a good time. Nothing says summer like tenting in the backyard. And as for the dinosaurs, well, they are just so cool. Welcome to my 10-year-old boy alter ego, haha.

(Hey Erin, 'member when we'd pretend to be dinosaurs while we brushed our teeth?)

Kananaskis Camping

It was the last Grade 10 girls small group event this weekend, so we went camping. Everyone was freaking out because they thought we were gonna get poured on, but we got sweet weather! No rain. Those are the girls I was with. The funniest part is that, out of the 5 of us, only 2 were actually Grade 10 girls.

But yeah... fun.

Don't Call

Sam called today around lunch time to tell me that she was going to sleep and that I should therefore not try calling her. After I got off the phone, the kids asked what Sam wanted, so I told them.

Madeline's response was,
"Oh....Hey Ashley?
Is Sam nocturnal?"

A Buck or Two

Accumulating a bunch of change is one of my pet peeves. Being in Canada, land of 1 and 2 dollar coins, does not help. Sam and I always fight over who has to take the change if we pay for something together. I just put it all in a jar and call it my RUTRTW fund. From September to February I accumulated $70 in change and used it all to buy food and drinks at Tim's.

But yesterday when I was making a deposit into the jar, I got to thinking about what a jerk I am for being annoyed by having too much change.

You probably already know this, but nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day. About 1 billion of those people live on less than $1 a day.

My pet peeve could be someone else's livelihood. That's why the RUTRTW Fund is now the Chicken Fund. I know, I know. It's not like I'll never stop at Tim Horton's to get a sandwich and a cup of tea, but setting aside a bunch of money for doing so, even if it's only my spare change, is dumb. There are better things to set money aside for.

But seriously, isn't that crazy? That when I get a toonie for change, I'm getting the same amount that a lot of people in different parts of the world get for a day of work? It takes me 10 minutes of work to make those $2. That's crazy. The bad kind of crazy. I am certain that a strong majority of those 3 billion work WAY harder than I do.

It's like pennies. People say they're worthless, but if you collected 100 of them, you'd have the daily cost of living for 1/6 of the world. Sheesh.

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(Did you notice that I am trying to make this blog slightly more reflective of things that are actually somewhat important?)

Sick Day and The House

Last weekend Sam gave me the gift that keeps on giving: her nasty cold. And since this past week hasn't exactly been conducive to getting better (see previous post), today I am going to be a bum, drink some lemon-honey water, eat some cough drops, and maybe meander out to Good Earth for a cup of herbal tea at some point.

Sunday and Monday night I couldn't sleep because I couldn't swallow. Since then it has been the phlegmy cough keeping me awake at night. Lovely.

Anyways, I really want to feel better for my first day volunteering at The House on Tuesday, so today I rest.

Speaking of which, I am REALLY excited about volunteering at The House on Tuesday. I'm gonna be a barista on Tuesday nights, which means I get to learn the art of making specialty coffee! It's gonna be so sweet. If you are confused by the concept of a volunteer barista, check out the link. I think the whole thing is a great idea.

I guess I can update for you...

Well it has been a different week, which is why I haven't had time to tell you what I've been up to.

I was busy watching the kids on Monday and Tuesday, then Sam drove me to the airport on Wednesday morning. I flew to Abbotsford and Cassy drove me to the border, from which I walked to Sumas City Hall and waited for my Mommy to be done working. Then we drove three hours to Auburn, WA to spend the night with my Uncle Chris, Aunt Nikki, and cousin Dylan. Then two more hours of diving to Wenatchee on Thursday morning for my Gram's funeral. On Friday Mom and the sibs went back to Maple Falls/Bellingham and I went back to Auburn with Chris, Nikki, and Dylan. This morning Chris drove me to the SeaTac airport at SIX FORTY FIVE AM (yuck) and I flew back to Calgary, where Sam's mom picked me up and drove me home.

Now I think I may take a nap.

My Friend Jeff

Yesterday I had supper at Sam's house with a conglomeration of her relatives. We were waiting for her dad to get home.

To cover everyone relationship to Sam's dad, Sam's mom announced that we were waiting for, "my husband, your dad, your son, your uncle, and your... friend."

So Jeff is my friend (although he has not agreed to this yet). My friend Jeff fixed my windshield wipers today. What a pal.