After I made a little blender breakfast, I headed right into my craft room to get some sewing done. I didn’t dare turn on the TV or computer for fear that I would lose precious sewing time. I also had plans to watch the SuperBowl in the afternoon, even though I don’t really like or understand the rules of football. I watch it just about every year and mostly just to see guys getting tackled. I like contact sports, I guess.

Anyway, I got a few more 10 X 10 squares done. At this rate, I will be filling the walls with all my squares. I just need to pick up some more flannel. I’m getting great at sewing straight lines, over and over on paper. If it’s true that you need 10,000 hours to become an “expert” at something, I’m well on my way. I’ll be a master at straight line sewing in about 6 or 7 more years.

Also on my To Do List are to send these back to their rightful owners:

I took these little Polaroids at the dinner I went to a couple of weeks ago, and I want to turn them into nice little tags, similar to these ones I have hanging on my decorative branches. I’ll get cracking on them this week.

Any time I’m in my sewing room, Oscar is right there with me.

In between the times he’s biting at the thread on the sewing machine or sitting on the fabric I’m trying to sew, he looks out the window, and then will start to meow at me as it gets closer to 5:00 – his dinner time.

Donner comes in for a visit every once in awhile, but if Mike’s home, you can always find Donner hanging out in Mike’s office. He hangs out on his desk when he’s playing games. Mike put a little bed right on his desk so Donner can just sleep and every once in a while, will try to put his paw on Mike’s snacks. Sneaky kitty.

The sun is shining bright today and these sunbeams got the kitties out of the bedroom (their usual daytime hangout) into the kitchen to absorb every ray. I guess they must get really warm, they are black after all. They must absorb every bit of heat there is.

The guys hung out on the dishwasher for some time this morning. Donner did that chattering thing at the mean old crows that sometimes fly by, and sometimes just sit on the balcony railing when they notice the cats by the windows.

Oscar disapproves. Of everything.

But I do like his bokeh toes.

Speaking of Oscar, when I got up this morning to make some porridge for breakfast, I found Oscar staring intently at the washing machine. Cool, right? We have our washing machine in our kitchen, just like they do it in England! Anyway, something was up because he kept walking over to it, then looking beside it, then stepping back, sitting down and never moving his eyes away from the floor right beside the washing machine. Then I heard what sounded like scratching in the wall.

Oh no. Not again. One time we found a bird, dead, on the kitchen floor. He had somehow gotten in through the dryer vent because all the windows were closed. This was before we got Oscar or Donner. Mike helped me move the washing machine and the scratching stopped. I hope it was because the bird found his way out and didn’t get squished somewhere in the tubing that’s attached to the dryer. We’ll know for sure if there’s a strange smell in a couple of days.

Oscar didn’t break his gaze on the spot on the floor the whole time we moved the big machine. I can only imagine the chaos that would break out if a bird DID find it’s way into our place. YIKES. If Oscar didn’t get the bird, Donner surely would. Bird feathers everywhere. Let’s not think about it.

Donner gave me the look he gives me when he’s sick of me taking his photo. This was just before he turned his face away from me. Photo taking time is finished.

Around 2:30 this afternoon, the fog lifted and I started feeling perkier. Hooray! The dark, cold cloud had passed and I’m back to work tomorrow morning. With my new-found energy, I put together a Valentine themed photoshoot for February’s desktop calendar. I picked this photo off the cutting room floor and put a frame on it. If I’ve learned nothing from those wedding photo books, I will always remember the, “Put a frame on the photo and call it art.” advice. It totally works.

I thought the main focus for this photo would be those chalky candy hearts with the messages on them. I had two boxes from last year I unearthed from somewhere in my craft room. It wasn’t until I dumped them out on the top of the dishwasher that I became pretty sure I got the reject hearts. Hardly any of them had messages that were readable and some of them didn’t have a message. Outrageous! See if I EVER buy candy hearts from the Dollar Store ever again! Hrumph!

Also in my energy spurt I crocheted these Mr. Spock ears for a trekkie at my office. Now, I can’t promise you’ll see them on his ears or anything, because I didn’t want to treat the ears like a conditional gift – I’ll give you these if you let me take your photo with them on. It didn’t seem fair. And Mike Browne flat out said NO before I could even ask if I could take his photo with the ears on, so I’m not feeling like we’ll see them in action. Also, they’re not very exciting on their own.

If I don’t get out of the house, I’m afraid I’ll be staring in my own show on the TLC channel called, “My Strange Addiction to the TLC”. I watched so much Toddlers and Tiaras, Next Great Baker, and Hoarders that I started seeing repeats of the same shows. Of course I want to see the next season of “My Strange Addiction” they’ve been advertising so I can see the lady that eats more cat treats than people food and the guy that makes out with his car.

I need to know these things. I think should just rename that channel, “You’re a Nosy Neighbour for watching this stuff”. It’s a stretch to call that channel “The Learning Channel” at this stage of the game anyway.

I love it when the dancing girls bust out the fans and the shiny costumes for the parade.

I love the look of concentration on their faces as they remember their steps…

And even if they’re a little blurry and not in focus, they’re as pretty as ever.

Even when the parade is over and they are walking with their mom and sister to join in the festivities with their pals, they’ll still smile nicely for the camera.

These dancing girls are better than the Toddler and Tiara girls any time.

Here are all my photos from the Chinese New Year parade here! Now with more dragons.

Not only is the Year of the Dragon zodiac sign, but it’s the year of the Water Dragon. According to this website, this means the water will calm the dragon down, so that it’s not quite as tough as he usually is. Hooray! A friendly dragon? I’m in! I loved How To Train Your Dragon.

Despite the off-and-on rain, there were plenty of people out watching the parade. I think last year’s parade was more rainy than this one. There was actually some dry periods today.

Woohoo! See the two sisters wearing the matching jackets? They’re the Chinese version of my cousins, Andrea and Melissa. Aunt Sharon used to dress them up matchy-matchy when they were little. Adorable.

I was pleased to see the parade master today. HOWEVER, I don’t think this is the same guy as the one who has led the parade the last few times I’ve been! I wonder what happened?

I’m usually edgy until I get the photo of the parade leader. After that, I can relax and take photos of the people around me.

I loved this little granny photo. She was waiting patiently for the dragon.

You would think this guy would be happier about the news above his head. One day off from taxes? YESSSSS! Thank you, Water Dragon!

Everybody loves the Water Dragon.

Wait, was there a parade? Yes there was. I’ll post those photos later. And I went to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens as well. I’ll post those ones later, too. I pushed my way through all sorts of places in Chinatown and enjoyed every minute of it. So far, I’m liking this Chinese Zodiac sign.

I celebrated the first day of Chinese New Year by purchasing red thread for my heart wall hanging I’m making. Best purchase under $2 I can remember buying.

Unfortunately, I washed my hair today. On the first day of Chinese New Year, you’re not supposed to do that – it symbolizes washing away your good luck. But on the plus side, I didn’t vacuum or sweep anything, so I didn’t sweep any good luck away. Hooray! I’m breaking even! Phew! Back on track!

Meanwhile, down the street from my office, I noticed this sign at the entrance of a parking garage.

At first glance, I read it as “Watch for exciting vehicles”. Wow! Exciting vehicles! Like that K Car driving into that person. The only thing is, this looks like the person’s having fun – Woohoo! I’m riding the front of a K Car like a bucking bronco! WEWT! I think this sign isn’t warning me about anything dangerous. It’s more of an ad for bumper riding.

I’ll steer clear of the bumper riding and will pay attention to the signs and the cars around the signs. And I’ll stick to sewing.

I found the car decorated with a heart tonight after a lovely dinner with my buddy, Iris. I didn’t do this! Someone left this in the snow for us. I left it on the hood of the car as I took the car to go meet Mike. I wouldn’t dream of brushing that off. Who did this? No idea! Mystery! Kinda like that time someone left us big watermelons in the pumpkin patch. Those watermelons were delicious.

I hope you all enjoy hearing all about cold weather and snow. My blog is not usually a weather blog, but it has been these last two days. For the first time I can remember, we experienced very cold weather. Now, I’m from Calgary, and they get extremely cold weather – like 30 or 40 below zero. It’s so cold you can feel the hair in your nose freeze when you take that first breath outside. Today was not that cold, but it was minus 7 degrees Celsius. That’s cold for these parts. Sadly, no full-blown snow day, but we did get teensy little snowflakes off and on all day.

I’m pretty sure this is a West Coast thing because we never took umbrellas with us in the snow in Calgary – and it snowed a lot. But in Vancouver, you take an umbrella with you and use it in the snow, but only in the city. It could be out of habit, you just take one with you in the winter. It does seem a little funny to me. Wimps. Heh.

Also in the snow today? Seagulls. Many of them visited the balcony this afternoon after Ada gave one some old bread from the freezer.

Those dirty old seagulls gathered round for free grub in moments.

They didn’t even care how close I got to them while the squawked at each other for crappy old dry bread.

The prediction for tomorrow? Sounds like more of the same. More very chilly weather, teensy snowflakes and no chance of getting snowed out of downtown. DARN. Oh well. We’ll always have the heart on the hood. That’s almost as good as a snow day.

We all waited with baited breath for the gigantic dump of snow scheduled to appear. It never arrived. However, at least one person’s boss thought there was a snow storm in Coquitlam today. There wasn’t one, but my co-worker overheard someone on the train this morning calling in late to work, “due to all the snow in Coquitlam.” Heh. The things you overhear on public transit. That list is LLLLOOONNNNGGGGG…

While the skies didn’t open up with the white stuff, I went for a quick trip to the library on my lunch hour. It’s a good walk and it saves me from buying a bunch of books that may or may not get re-read. If I really love the book, then I’ll buy it. I’m getting a little more clever these days. But not that clever. I was ecstatic when I thought I spotted the legendary City Owl in Vancouver. When I checked my camera bag for my long lens, it was not here. DRAT! I left it at home. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I used my stock lens, and it slowly dawned on me…I don’t think that’s a real bird. It’s not moving at all.

Upon closer inspection, I believe it’s one of those crappy plastic owls.

Lunchbag letdown. I should check tomorrow just to make sure, though. With my long lens. I’d better always have that with me from now on.

The snow came back for a short time in the city today. However, out in Mission, they are ROLLING in it. It’s crazy out in that way. We got some snow for a few hours, but it was gone by the time the work day was over.

We got some snow out on the work balcony. Close up, it didn’t even look real. It looked more like white cotton candy.

This scene reminded me of Calgary in the spring. I don’t think they’re getting any blooms out there quite yet, but I definitely remember seeing scenes like this in late April/early May in Cowtown.

I’m not sure why, but Ada wanted me to take her photo by the snowy bushes. She was really excited about it and asked me a couple of times. I wasn’t sure that I heard her right the first time. Really? You want me to take a photo of you in the bush? Okay. Who am I to judge?

I don’t mean to sound like the snow blog, but it is scheduled to snow off and on all week long. Sadly, it also looks like it’s going to be raining this weekend, which is a huge bummer because now that I’ve seen John Biehler’s photos of the snowy owls in Delta, I’m dying to go out there and take photos along with all these people. It may not happen for me this year. I should give it a try, though. It’s kind of an anomaly. And they do look amazing.

I got invited to a crafty weekend by another internet friend! My twitter pal and snowshoe friend, Moniera, invited me to make make cards and use her fancy stamps and paper punches. I made two more friends at the card making party, drank tea and ate snowflake cookies – a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
This crafty meeting gave me the opportunity to break out a box of papers I haven’t opened in YEARS. I didn’t realize just how many stashes of things I have in my craft room. Mike keeps telling me I should just make a project out of all this stuff I’ve collected with the purpose of making things out of them. Sometimes I wonder if my hobby is making stuff, or just collecting stuff to make stuff with.

I didn’t make cards. Instead, I made some labels, or maybe they’re bookmarks? Or maybe they’re decorations for my Skully Jr. tree? I do like making them. They’re a good size for a quick project.

I also found my old stamp collection in that box of stuff and used this Romanian stamp I found in the collection. I also found stamps from 1986. Did you know it cost 17 cents to mail a stamp within Canada in 1986?

In other news, we’ve been having our share of pink and blue sunrises and sunsets. It must be all the chilly weather we’ve been having.

We had snow off and on all weekend. That’s plenty for us. Man, if it snows during the work week, people really panic around here. No one wants to leave their houses or even attempt to drive in the snow. That’s probably better, because a lot of the time the people who want to drive are sliding around and smashing into stuff. It’s just better to take the bus.

Let’s just hope the light flurries predicted for tomorrow don’t even happen.