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lap cat
2007-11-18 20:00:00
Bailey has a way of telling me it's time to stop working.


why I hate hardwood floors
2007-11-23 12:08:00
One word: tumbleweeds. I am referring to dust bunnies blowing around in the wind caused by the fans in our electric fireplaces. You can try to sweep them up, but you'll just blow them around. I swear, the tumbleweeds are running away from me and laughing. No matter how much I sweep, the place always looks dusty. Problem number 2: hardwood floors are are cold. Great if you live in the tropics, bad if you don't. Even worse if you have to step from hardwood floors onto cold tile, as we do. The kitchen, dining room and both bathrooms have tile floors that ARE NOT HEATED. I swear, they are several degrees cooler than any other surface in the house. For someone like me who has cold feet most of the time anyway, this is torture. Our house was renovated by the previous owner 2 years ago, and I guess he thought that cold floor surfaces were a good thing. I say, if you're going to the expense of renovating an entire house and putting new tile over one third of it, why not spend a little extra


in praise of older men
2007-12-01 13:49:00
I had a fabulous evening of tango recently, much to my surprise, and thanks to the supply of good dance partners -- most of whom were over 60.I haven't been dancing regularly for the past year, mostly due to a shoulder injury, but also because we didn't have good experiences at tango whenever we went. Either the music was boring, the social scene was snoozy, and/or the dancing was mediocre.This past Friday night, Rajeev and I headed out to a swing dance, only to discover that it was canceled and another party was taking place (to which we weren't invited and for which were sorely under dressed). All psyched up for dancing, we headed off to tango instead. It was a really nice atmosphere at Cafe Casablanca that night. The music was great, thanks to Brent's DJing, and there was a good mix of men and women in the room, ensuring that everyone danced a lot. Lo and behold I actually got asked to dance too. So much so that my unseasoned feet were struggling to keep me upright in high heels
Read more: older

a place in the sun
2007-12-01 13:34:00
It may be winter, but Bailey seeks out the sun whenever she can. She's a chip off the old block, that's for sure.


Women in Film
2007-12-06 15:52:00
I have just discovered this guy's videos and I think they're brilliant. I don't know what kind of software he's using, but I want it. Take a look:
Read more: Women

recipe: boozy rum balls
2007-12-17 11:34:00
This year we decided to make our Christmas food gift a little easier than the big production last year (boozy fruit cake).Not having much time for baking (or maturing, in the case of fruit cake), we needed to find something that could be done in an afternoon.Still wanting to combine the seasonal favourites of sugar, chocolate and alcohol, we tried a few recipes for Rum Balls until we finally found one in which the balls are as moist and boozy as they claim: Chocolate Walnut Rum Balls on Epicurious.com.Here's the recipe, with our modifications:Ingredients:1 cup semisweet chocolate chipshalf cup sugar3 tablespoons light corn syrup1/2 cup dark rum2 1/2 cups Graham Wafer crumbs1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecansFor garnish:sugaricing sugarcocoacoconutPreparation:Stir chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted.Remove from over water.Whisk in sugar and corn syrup, then the rum.Mix graham wafer crumbs and nuts in medium bowl to blend.Add chocolate mixture and


spot the (sleepy) cat
2007-12-14 13:17:00



new teak furniture, Indonesian-style
2007-12-12 14:45:00
We just got some new furniture!After 10 years, my beloved green couch has finally been retired. A tiny hole in the fabric grew to a huge rip almost a year ago. A blanket covered up the rip in the sun-faded fabric, but wasn't exactly the nicest thing to look at.Now that we're in our new house, the ripped up green couch sticks out like a sore thumb. Time to knuckle down and get something new. Enter: two gorgeous new teak sofas from Javanerra.I already have lots of Danish modern teak pieces, but we didn't want to fill up the house with one style. Plus, a lot of the art work I've collected over the years is from Indonesia and Malaysia; some of my favourites are wall hangings from Bali and Borneo. These new sofas fit in perfectly and give our little house a tropical feel.Another good thing about Javanerra's furniture is that it's made from recycled teak. The company sources timber from neglected traditional houses made of ancient teak. Read more about it here. This is very important
Read more: Indonesian

Basic black dress for sale
2007-12-11 14:11:00
I bought a very tango-worthy dress online recently, but it doesn't fit. The tags are still on. Never worn. Size is M but it's more accurately a 9/10.I'm asking $60 as that's what I paid for it, not including shipping.Anyone interested? Contact be via email (angelahemming at gmail dot com) or see my posting on Craigslist here.
Read more: Basic

kissaversary
2007-12-10 13:01:00
Rajeev and I had a nice dinner at Brasserie L'Ecole the other night, in celebration of the two year anniversary from our first date.Now, there's some disagreement about which date was actually first. On Dec. 6, 2005, we actually had our third date here. Rajeev claims it was our first date because we finally kissed at the end of the evening and thus began our more-than-friends relationship.But the first date was, technically, at Tim Horton's donut shop after an evening of salsa dancing. The second was Thai food, followed by salsa dancing. Since those "dates" all ended platonically, apparently they don't count. The French-food-tango-dancing-kissing date is one we celebrate. And let's face it, I'll take a few hours of wonderful French food over donuts any day.Now that we're getting married, we'll have a much bigger anniversary to celebrate each year. So December 6th is relegated to Kissaversary. But even though it won't be the BIG ONE anniversary-wise, we'll probably use the Ki


mele kalikimaka to all
2007-12-24 21:44:00
... and to all a double Mai Tai.Here are the front and inside images from our Christmas card this year:


facebook for geezers
2007-12-21 00:15:00
If you're on Facebook, you'll get a kick out of the image below, created by www.straightfrommybrain.com. Just click the image to enlarge it:


the feline is IN
2008-03-07 13:23:00



guess who's back?
2008-03-05 13:35:48
We haven't seen him much all winter, but now that the weather is warmer we've been paid a visit by Kevin, the Don Corleone of the cat neighbourhood. Still affectionate, cranky, and possessive of our property as ever.


so we just installed a peep-hole in the front door ....
2008-02-26 13:55:33
... and got a bit goofy trying it out.


a new blog for the collection
2008-02-12 14:00:03
I've been busy finalizing the details for our wedding lately, including creating invitations and getting them mailed out. It's a time-consuming task, organizing a wedding, but manageable. I've run conferences, trade shows and film shoots, so just call me Logistics R Us.I created the invitations in Photoshop, then had them printed on 4x6 cards at OvernightPrints.com. It's a website that allows you to either design your own materials, or use their clip art, or a combination of both. They print and ship the items to your door, and the quality is fantastic.Since I couldn't fit all the wedding info onto a 4x6 card, I decided to create a website for wedding guests where they could find more information such as links to hotels in Victoria. I created the site on Blogger, which gives me the most fl
Read more: collection

too sick to blog. (cough)
2008-01-30 00:09:42
I haven't been blogging lately because a) I've been sick as a dog and b) work has suddenly got frantic after 18 months of dead air, meaning I can't afford to take time off.It appears that I have The Never Ending Cold that is going around. The usual remedies (sleep, NeoCitran, sleep, hot orange juice with honey and ginger, sleep) aren't working. Nothing kills this bug.I had a voice-over gig this month, but fortunately my throat cooperated that day. In fact, the germs might have helped. Usually when I'm nervous my voice raises in pitch, and I have to work hard in front of the mic to relax. This time, my sickly huskiness lowered the pitch to a relaxed tone in spite of my nerves.I'm really putting the *ahem* into Ahem Productions lately.


American Geography Lesson
2008-01-20 14:35:55
comic from www.wulfmorgenthaler.comIn Hawaii in December, we got a lesson in just how ignorant American s are. At the Polynesian Cultural Center's luau, I had the following conversation with the 13 year-old girl seated next to me:Me: Where are you from?Her: Georgia. Where are you from?I had to think before I answered. I knew that if I said Victoria, she wouldn't have a clue where that was. Vancouver would have been pushing it. I decided to go with:Me: The west coast of Canada.[silence]Her: I've never heard of that. Where is that?I considered that perhaps she didn't hear me correctly, for clearly "Canada" is a large country and "the west coast" describes a huge chuck of it pretty accurately. I repeated myself.Me: The WEST COAST of CANADA.Her, shaking her head: No, I've never heard of that.Oh
Read more: Geography

scratching post
2008-01-16 20:23:36
We just had to get a video of this. Rajeev indulges Bailey in her favourite daily pastime: a good scratching.


if it's Tuesday, we must still be in Hawaii, right?
2008-01-08 14:29:16
Somehow, we lost a whole day in Hawaii and missed our flight home! We got back 8 hours later than planned, and spent New Year's Day recovering from jet lag and marvelling at our stupidity.Here's how it happened. I think part of why we lost a day was due to the long delays at the beginning of the trip. We were originally scheduled to leave at 5 a.m. Christmas Day, but were informed by Air Canada that the flight was changed to 3 p.m. In the end, the plane didn't leave till 8 p.m.We sat in the plane in Vancouver for 3 hours. At first, the Captain said that we were waiting for our bags to be loaded onto the plane, and that since it was Dec. 25 the airport was understaffed. About an hour later, he said "OK, now that the technical problem in the cockpit is all fixed, we can push off." Huh? What
Read more: Tuesday

revenge of the dental hygienists
2008-03-19 13:32:34
I just got an email from one of THEM:I don't know how I came across your page, but I somehow ended up there. Lucky me. I am a dental hygienist. I am VERY POLITE, but not a talker. Sadly, most hygienists can take a hint that you are one of "those" patients. They DO teach us that in school. I guess your RDH may be a little clueless. Try putting yourself in our shoes. Seriously. We know most people HATE going to the dentist, but it's a necessary evil. I should write a blog on how people NEVER floss and then when their gums are tender it is OUR fault, even though we see our patients for 2 hours out of the whole year. Healthy gums are not tender. Healthy gums don't bleed. I am not trying to be rude. In fact, I found your blog to be quite funny. Just wanted to say give your hygienist a break, sh


a new leaf
2008-04-01 16:58:53
I haven't blogged in ages.I could complain that work has been very busy, which is true. I'm producing a series of internet videos and while it's fun working with actors again, I've had a lot of logistics to organize. Plus I'm doing the odd voice-over job, and recently got a gig through voice123.com that involved several retakes for a client in Toronto. It turns out that my home recording set-up sounds almost as good as in a professional studio, so that will save me some bucks for future jobs.Rajeev and I are still checking things off our wedding planning list, but the most difficult one to get done is choosing rings. I take a long time to make decisions at the best of times (I'm a Libra, after all), but I had no idea how hard it would be to choose rings. Just when we had our rings all ch


Stefany finally exhibits in Victoria
2008-04-03 16:03:11
My sister, the artist, has paintings exhibiting in galleries in the US and Canada, and now at last her work will appear in our home town, Victoria. Stefany's work is showing after April 19 at View Art Gallery, 860 View Street.


The sari saga
2008-04-17 16:37:49
I tried on my wedding sari last night ... or attempted it. It's gorgeous fabric, and I'm sure it will look nice when Rajeev's mum helps me put it on for the wedding.But I still can't figure out how Indian women actually manage to look good with that much fabric draped around. I felt like I was swimming in thick silk.It hides a multitude of evils (no need to worry about losing weight for the wedding, which is good) but I feel like it hides ME too. I certainly didn't look like this chick on the left.I looked more like the lady in this video:


Bailey surveys her new jungle
2008-04-17 14:19:20
The patio area is more of a concrete jungle, but at least it's not the parking lot we had on Dallas Road. Go on, Bailey . Up those steps and to the left is a Nice Pile of Dirt. Here's hoping she will discover the joys of the Great Litterbox of the Outdoors this summer. And Leica too, of course, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.
Read more: surveys

gardening 101
2008-04-16 13:05:31
Having lived in apartments most of our lives, Rajeev and I don't know much about gardening . I couldn't identify a handful of flowers if my life depended on it.When we moved into our house at the end of last summer, we decided to wait a year before making any changes to the garden. We wanted to see what would come out of the ground first.Now that it's spring, we're getting all sorts of nice surprises. For example, just today I noticed this pussy-willow-type twiggy tree in the back yard that is blooming pink flowers. Does this mean we have a Magnolia?? Cool.


This guy is too much
2008-04-21 12:54:33
Kevin, the neighbourhood thug, not only makes himself at home on our property but happily takes over my lap too. Although, he's so geezerly that he couldn't jump up without help.


peephole view: spring
2008-05-10 23:05:14



Our ANT problem
2008-05-12 23:10:00
Here's a shot of our unwelcome tenants: the ants. This is a close-up of the baseboard in our bedroom. The liquid is ant poison that I got at the hardware store; they lap it up, but it doesn't prevent them from multiplying. To have this many insects crawling around in the bedroom (or anywhere in the house for that matter) creeps me out. Now some of them are coming out with wings, leading me to beli


a visit to Courtenay
2008-05-11 23:05:00
I went to Courtenay last weekend to visit Charlene and her parents. We hit the consignment shops, garage sales, and a great local pie shop. The highlight for me was trying their far infrared sauna. I definitely want one of those some day.Here are a few pics of us at Nymph Falls:


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