85. Ride in a limousine

116. Eat at the revolving restaurant in the Calgary Tower

The limo he rented was white, very modern, and gorgeous inside. It was really unexpected, and so wonderful. We got to the tower and went up to the observation deck, where we walked around looking at all of the city lights. I’ve never been up there at night before (and it’s been around two decades since the last time I was up there even in the daytime) so it was very special.

The revolving restaurant was recently re-done and is now very upscale. We got a romantic spot, right beside the windows. It was a bit of a weird feeling to be turning like that, and at first I was afraid I was going to feel ill, but you get used to it quickly.

We had a bottle of wine, and a cured meat platter for an appetizer. The food was spectacular! The platter included venison salami, duck, maple salmon, tuna, scallops, pork pate, and some accompaniments. It was delicious.

For dinner I had a pulled chicken risotto, which was delicious. Likely the best risotto I’ve ever had. Jack had the steak with potatoes and asparagus. It was also very yummy.

While we ate, we enjoyed the amazing panoramic view of the city, and talked a lot about the past and about everything that has happened over the decade we have been together. It was nice to reminisce and remember all of the special times we have had.

Dessert consisted of sticky toffee pudding for me, and maple cheesecake for Jack. Our waitress, who was wonderful, brought them out with candles for us, as she knew we were celebrating our anniversary. It was incredibly sweet.

After we had finished our wine and dinner, we went back down to the lobby, and out to where our limo was waiting.  The ride home was relaxed.  Jack had brought another bottle of wine for us, but we were both so full, we didn’t drink it.

Once we were home, we crawled into bed for cuddling and other more lascivious activities

It was a very special and wonderful anniversary.  I was really touched that Jack had chosen to do some of my list items as part of the celebration, and the whole evening is one that I will never forget.

Jack got me a wonderful dehydrator for Christmas, which made it easy to make our own beef jerky!

325. Make beef jerky from scratch

We picked up some suitable beef, and I sliced it into pieces, marinated it, and then popped it into the dehydrator for five hours.  When it was finished, we had delicious jerky for a fraction of the cost of buying it.

I was really happy with how it turned out, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with other recipes and flavors.

The other item I am currently working on is a gift for Aiden’s Granny, and for his mum and dad.

382. Make a scrapbook for someone as a gift

I should be crossing that one off within the next week or two, as Granny’s scrapbook is almost complete.

The first time kind of sucked. The second time hardly phased me. My confidence is improving, as it my technique.

If you want to take a peek at the photos, you have to click through (I finally learned how to put cuts on posts, LOL)

These practice sessions were done with 25g 1.5 inch needles. I haven’t worked myself up enough to attempt the 22g sharps

Mine was productive, and yet relaxing.  Here, let me tell you about it.

Thursday night (yes, I am starting on Thursday) was the evening Jack and I set aside to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement (which was technically on Friday, see below for why we had it on Thursday instead).  We dressed up nice and went for a really delicious dinner at The Keg.  We shared a bottle of wine, reminisced about the old times, and had a very wonderful evening together.  Then we went home, had a celebratory roll in the hay as it were, and fell asleep all cuddled up with each other.

On Friday night Jack and the kids left to spend the weekend in Edmonton participating in Grey Cup festivities.  I was unable to join them due to the fact that pole dancing classes fall smack-dab in the middle of Saturday evening.  After seeing them off, Aiden and decided to run a couple of errands.  We wanted to get started on our Christmas shopping, and we also had to make a trip to the pharmacy for play piercing supplies.

Yes, you read that right, hee hee.

Aiden bought me 50 22g hypodermic needles, a sharps disposal container, some nitrile gloves, and alcohol prep pads.  Oh are we ever going to have some fun!

We also scouted out some great gifts for the kids at the funky store next to the pharmacy.  Then we went for a bite to eat before heading home to watch some TV and play StarCraft II.

Saturday morning found us braving the mall, where we picked up some Christmas gifts, and also a new game for the PS3 (Lost Planet 2).  The malls are already totally crazy, so I was happy to get the hell out of there after a couple of hours of shopping.

After we got home, Aiden decided to have a nap, and I decided to get out my needles and do a little practice run on a raw chicken.

Yes, you read that right too.

Raw chickens have a similar feel to human skin, although when you practice on chickens you end up piercing through the muscle meat, just due to the fact that the skin itself and the fat layer beneath are far thinner than that of human being, and so the main purpose of practicing on them is to get your spacing and technique correct.

Before I continue, let me assure everyone that while I am NOT a trained professional, I have some practical knowledge of play piercing by way of workshops, observing other piercers in action, extensive reading on the internet, and have re-read Play Piercing by Deborah Addington at least three times.  Does this make me qualified for play piercing?  Probably not, which is why I shall practice at length on chickens and myself before I put a needle to the skin of anyone else.

Even though I was only piercing a dead bird, I went through the motions of cleaning (or pretending to, as I was planning on feeding this bird to my dogs afterwards) and re-gloving, just as I would if I was piercing a human. It’s good to go through the motions, even on “dry runs” so that you get used to the routine involved.  Believe it or not, I did learn some things while piercing Mrs. Cluck here.  Mainly about handling sharps without poking yourself, how important it is to work from top to bottom and not the other way around, and that initially marking your entry and exit points is more effective and safer than trying to eye-ball it.

After cleaning up and putting away my gear, I left for pole dancing class, which was awesome.  I really improved my fireman spin and we learned some sexy transition moves.  It was good fun!

Once class was over I visited with V briefly before heading for home.  Aiden and I played a little Lost Planet 2 before getting ready for the play party.  He wasn’t feeling very good, and we debated about going, but decided to make an appearance anyway, even if we didn’t stay long.  We grabbed some supper on the way, and got there about half an hour after things had started.

It was a much smaller event than we are used to.  Maybe because it’s a relatively new event (this was only their second one) but the smaller size made it very comfortable.  We got to talk to almost everyone there, and made some new friends.  The dungeon they have set up is very nice, and on a different floor than the social area, which is awesome!  No distractions of people talking about work or kids while you are trying to focus on your scene.

We didn’t end up playing because we lost track of time and ended up visiting until after 1am!  Aiden wasn’t feeling so hot anyway, so I didn’t expect that we would play (my butt was still a little sore from a belting I got earlier in the week anyway, heh) and it was lovely just to be social.

I was happy to crawl into bed around 2am and get some sleep!

Sunday was pretty laid back.  We played video games and tidied up the house a bit.  Jack and the kids made it home around 4pm and then it was time to watch the game!  There were lots of snacks and we all watched the Grey Cup.  None of the teams I really care about were in it, so I sort of split my attention between the game and my computer, but it was fun anyway.

Once the game was over we put the kids to bed and Aiden and I played some StarCraft II in the living room while watching TV with Jack.  Aiden really likes The Walking Dead series, and I watch it with him, even though it gives me nightmares pretty much every time.  Last night I dreamed that the zombie apocalypse was just beginning and we were gathering supplies from the house before leaving town and heading north (for some reason I believe that going to where it is very cold is the best idea in the event of zombies.  I mean, they would freeze solid, and then you could just knock their heads off where they stood.  Sounds like a plan to me).  It wasn’t as scary as a dream I had the last time I watched it that involved trying to make a pipe bomb out of a metal water bottle while tossing undead off the roof of the building we were trapped on.

Why yes, I DO have an over-active imagination, why do you ask?

Anyway, after that Jack headed to bed and Aiden and I followed shortly after.

This morning Aiden helped me with cleaning up the house in preparation for his mother, who is arriving here on Saturday night.

All in all it was a really great weekend, some low points aside.  I am hoping to do my first actual play piercing on Aiden this coming weekend, so I shall endeavour to post some photos of that, and probably some more shots of my practice sessions in the mean time.

That reminds me, I should take some meat out of the freezer for supper tonight…

Sunday morning was blessedly warmer than Saturday morning had been, and when we hauled ourselves out of our sleeping bags at 7:30 am there wasn’t any frost on the ground, in spite of the somewhat heavy rains that had gone on through the night. We’d had the good sense to keep our boots inside the tent on a garbage bag overnight, and so they were dry and not frozen.

As quickly as we could, we packed up our bags, our mats, and eventually the tent. Our new friends were already up for the day as well, and likewise had begun packing away their gear.

With our backpacks mostly loaded (aside from the food bags which were on the bear cables) we trudged over to the cooking area to make a coffee and eat some breakfast. The clouds were quite low, and the mist on the lake looked spectacular.

We boiled some water and drank our instant coffee (those little packets that Taster’s Choice makes are the cat’s ass in the woods) and ate logan bread with jam and peanut butter. Neither of us wanted to leave very badly.

Once we had bid our new friends goodbye, we hiked off, hitting the trail at about 9:15 am.

Let me tell you, going down that wretched hill was absolutely aces. It took us no time at all to get back to the main trail and start our way down towards the warden’s cabin.

We made excellent time. When we reached the warden’s cabin we had already shaved an hour off of the time it took us to make the same distance on day one. No real surprise there of course.

After resting briefly we carried on, making it to Larry’s Camp around lunch time. We made it almost 10 km in a period of three hours. That same 10 km took us six hours when we were going the other direction.

We at couscous and beef jerky for lunch, changed our socks, and then struck out for the ink pots. Our friends from camp passed by us while we were stopped, but we caught up to them again when we stopped to take photos.

The ink pots, as it were, are a series of six small, clear pools. They remain a constant temperature of 4°C all year round (they don’t freeze in the winter, oddly enough) and the bottoms consist of quicksand. Although the source of the water that fills them is unknown, you can see it bubbling up through the sand in many places along the bottom (we tried to capture it in the second photo below, but you really need a video camera to get the full effect).

Then it was time for one last climb, to get out of the meadow, and we would be back on the paved trail and catwalks. Being a weekend there were tons of people wandering in both directions along the way. Several of them stopped to remark on our massive backpacks and ask us where we had come from.

My feet were rather badly blistered (seven in total, and at least two of them were larger around than a quarter) and the last couple of km were slow, but we made it to the parking lot around 4 pm. It took us 6.5 hours to hike out, with 1.5 hours worth of breaks, so five hours of actual hiking (as compared to the seven we did to get up there). Not bad if you ask me.

We were sore and tired, but it felt amazing to have accomplished it. After throwing our packs in the back of the van, we headed for home, chatting all the way back about what an incredible experience we’d had and planning for next time (we hope to go back next summer for a couple of days and do some fishing). We also discussed our favorite parts of the trip (we both agreed that sitting in the sunshine by the edge of the lake on Saturday afternoon, and being together was the main highlight) and how sad we were that hiking season is over for this year.

After we got home we headed directly to the shower, leaving everything in the van. The hot water was lovely, and as much as I love being out in the woods, it was nice to be clean and warm. After we got dressed, we went out for dinner with Jack, and told him all about our trip. I’m so sad that he wasn’t able to come with us, it really wasn’t the same without him, but we already have plans for a week-long hiking trip next summer (and probably at least one long-weekend trip as well). Hopefully some of our friends (such as V, M, and X) will come along with us for the adventure!

I’m so glad we managed to get in one really great trip before summer slipped away. Now we have all winter to buy more equipment before next season starts!

I’m one lucky girl

On Saturday morning around 6 am I reluctantly extracted myself from the warm cocoon of my mummy sleeping bag, in order to, um, answer the call of nature as it were. The first indication that it was going to be a rough start to our second day was the fact that the ground was covered in half an inch of frost, and ice crystals (the result of frozen condensation) fell on my head as I unzipped the fly of our tent.

Fantastic.

As our boots (and really most of the clothing we’d worn the day before) had been soaked, we had left them outside of the tent. That was something of an unfortunate mistake, as the temperature had dipped to around -8°C overnight and my boots were now frozen solid. Literally. I couldn’t have gotten my feet into them if I’d wanted to (which I didn’t really want to, seeing as they had become blocks of ice).

So, that meant sprinting bare-foot for about 50 feet (mostly uphill) on the frosty ground in order to use the privy. At least the view from the toilet was excellent:

Click on any of the following to view full-size

By the time I dove back into the tent, I could no longer feel my toes.

“Maybe I’ll wait a bit longer to get up” Aiden remarked, while he watched me scramble to get socks on and wriggle back into my sleeping bag.

“You know who comes up to the mountains this late in the season?” I said, rubbing my feet in an effort to jump-start the circulation again “CRAZY PEOPLE! That’s who.”

The view from our tent somehow justified all of the cold and craziness:

We fell back asleep until somewhere around 9 am, Aiden could hold it no longer and had to go outside.

“GAH! The ground is still frozen!”

Indeed. Apparently I had failed to mention that it doesn’t really get decently warm up there until nearly noon. Meaning it would be a while longer before the ground or our boots were bearable.

We didn’t leave the tent again until around 11 am or so. By that time the sun had managed to rise over the eastern side of the ridge and melt the ice from our tent, and from the ground and foliage that it touched. We elected to stay in our pajamas, since they were as warm as anything else we had, and changing out of them meant exposing our skin to the chilly air, which was not the most appealing prospect.

Fortunately we were in good humor, and the day looked to be mostly sunny. Aiden packed our boots off and put them in a sunny spot, and we draped everything else in the most well-lit areas we could find and hoped that things would dry before the weather changed.

The lake was even more magnificent in the sunshine than it had been the night before.

The first order of business was coffee, and then a breakfast of logan bread and jam. The cooking area and fire pit are located a good distance from the tenting sites, in order to (hopefully) prevent bears from eating campers while they sleep, heh.

It was kind of wonderful and strange being the only two people out there, and knowing that civilization was so far away. I didn’t have cell phone service (although my phone does allow for emergency calls out there) and there were no other campers for at least 9 km in any direction. It was totally and completely peaceful.

After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon basking in the sunshine and wandering across the logs in the lake. We even saw a couple of fish swimming along slowly in the shallows. That was really amazing (unfortunately no photos).

Having dealt with wet wood the night before while trying to start a fire, Aiden thought it would be a good idea to collect now-dry deadfall for burning that evening. The clouds overhead warned that there might be more precipitation, so while we still had sunshine, we trekked off along the lakeshore to forage.

We gathered as much as we could carry, and then stacked the wood in the driest spot we could find and then collected a little more until we were satisfied that we had enough for that night (and a little extra, because Aiden thought it would be polite to leave some for the next people who came).

Then we re-filled our Platypus bags and walked along the waters edge for a while, just when it began to hail. We ducked under some trees to watch for a while. It’s difficult to really capture it in photos, but the apparent “haze” in the following pictures is actually hail.

Fortunately it didn’t last long, and shortly after it quit, I heard someone shout in the distance.

The woman who had issued us our wilderness passes on Thursday had mentioned that another party was booked to arrive at our site that day, and sure enough, it was them. Two older men, an older woman, and a boy who was around 20. The men and then woman were all siblings and the boy was the son of one of the men. They were a jovial group, and had come up to the lake to do a little fishing.

Shortly after they arrived and began to set up camp, it started to rain, and so Aiden and I retreated to our tent and snacked on chocolate-covered coffee beans, beef jerky, and trail mix while we waited for the clouds to blow over.

When the sky cleared up a little the men went off to fish, just as Aiden and I were crawling out of our tent. We chatted with them briefly, and told them to let us know if they caught any fish that they didn’t want. I was wishing that I’d brought tinfoil or some other means of cooking said fish because they caught three of them that evening, but I couldn’t be bothered to muck around with cleaning and somehow cooking the damned things, so they went back into the lake.

We all ate dinner, and sat around the fire talking and laughing. They were thrilled that we had gone to the trouble of collecting firewood, and it was rather nice to be warm and dry before bed for a change. It was a great time. They are all avid hikers and regaled us with stories of The West Coast Trail (I think we might try it ourselves next summer) and visiting Lake Luellen in their youth. We learned a lot of useful things by listening to them.

Somewhere around 10 pm we reluctantly headed to bed, as we wanted to get an early start in the morning. We had 18 km to hike out the next day and although it was going to be mostly downhill, we wanted to allow ourselves plenty of time to make it out.

So the long-awaited and much-anticipated hiking trip went off with only minor glitches.  Namely, Jack became too ill to join us, and so it was just Aiden and I, and 36 km of heavily wooded trail.  Oh, and a grizzly bear.

We pulled into the trailhead parking lot after purchasing out wilderness passes in Banff.  Basically you pay a very reasonable fee to use the backcountry camping sites (it’s about $10/night/person) so that the trails and sites can remain maintained.  We decided to sleep in the back of the van, rather than unpacking all of our carefully organized gear at a campsite.  It was cramped, and sort of chilly, and I am pretty sure I only slept in sporadic spurts, adding up to no more than four hours in total.

Friday morning came very early.  We boiled some water for oatmeal in a bag (I’d packed instant oatmeal, pecan bits, and dried cranberries in heavy duty ziplock bags, which you then add boiling water to, stir, seal, and let sit for five minutes) and instant coffee.  A local construction worker drove past us, poked his head out of his truck window, and with a chuckle shouted “I like your kitchen”.

I’m sure we looked pretty funny with our tiny backpackers stove in the middle of the parking spot next to us, decked out in our rain gear and toques.  It was already drizzling and the forecast was abysmal, and Jack didn’t feel up to hoisting on his 50 lb backpack, so he reluctantly bowed out of the expedition.  So with somewhat reserved optimism, Aiden and I set out on the first leg of the hike, which was a 2.7 km stretch of catwalks and paved trail that led past a series of waterfalls.  We hit the trail at 8:30 am.

Click on any of the following to view full-size

After the paved portion of the trail came to an end, the uphill climbing became considerable.  The next goal was the ink pots, which were another 3.2 km in, and during most of that distance we were gaining elevation.  It was somewhere around 10:30 am when we arrived at the ink pots, and we were making good time (around 6 km in two hours).  Unfortunately it began raining quite hard, and we had to pause at the far end of the meadow to put on our rain gear.

As you can see, the clouds were pretty low, and we were getting progressively closer to the snow line.  At that point we were at 1645 m of elevation (or 5,397 feet) which means that we had gained around 700ft of elevation.  For every 1000ft of elevation gained, the air temperature drops approximately 6.5°C and it certainly felt like it.

After making our way through the valley, we continued upwards, although it wasn’t as steep.  We planned to break for lunch at the first set of backcountry camping spots, commonly known as “Larry’s Camp” which was roughly the half-way point of the hike (around 8.5 km in from the trailhead).  We made it there around 11:30 am, which was right on schedule.

We selected a spot and settled in for a rather chilly lunch.  We boiled water and ate freeze-dried hiking rations, followed by hot chocolate and changing our socks, which had been soaked through for some time.  It was cold and we were both tired and damp, but Aiden was determined to make it to Lake Luellen and who was I to argue?  We broke camp around 1 pm and hit the trail.

The next 4 km were relatively easy to navigate, and only took us an hour and a half to complete.  The climbing was gradual, and we were in better spirits, having warmed up due to moving around again.  A warden’s cabin indicated that we were just about 3/4 of the way through our journey, and we stopped for a bathroom break and to soak up a bit of the sun, which was shining intermittently.  The scenery we encountered was breathtaking.  Photos really do not do it justice.

Shortly after we left the warden’s cabin, somewhere around 2:45 pm, Aiden shouted from in front of me “What the fuck is that?!?!  I almost stepped on it!!!” and when I peeked around his gigantic backpack, on the trail in front of us was a mother grouse with several chicks.  Apparently he’d nearly squashed the poor thing while she had been foraging on the trail, because they didn’t seem the least bit bothered by our presence, nor in any particular hurry to get out of the way.

Grouse are delicious, by the way, but these ones were safe, as hunting is not permitted in the park.

Not long after we passed the grouse, I heard something to the left of the trail, making quite the racket.  After a moment of searching the forest, which was not particularly dense, I spotted something climbing a tree.  Initially I thought it might be a porcupine, but it was rather large.  A longer look resulted in the discovery that it was, in fact, a grizzly bear.  We must have startled it, because it shimmied up the tree, decided that it still didn’t feel particularly safe, scooted down the tree, and ran for it’s life.  It was still a cub, likely born sometime in March, and still under the care of it’s mother, so we didn’t bother to linger very long.  Neither of has opted to carry bear spray, and I didn’t fancy having an encounter with his parental unit.

The trail began to climb more steeply, and the hail began to fall on the already-muddy maze of rocks and tree roots we were navigating.  The next 2.5 hours were some of the longest of my life.  We pushed on, at times I was certain I couldn’t move another step, but Aiden encouraged me, and we took quite a few breaks along the way.  It was incredibly challenging, and there were moments when I wanted to just lay down and die, but we eventually made it to the junction where the trail breaks off to the lake, or continues on to Badger Pass and then some.

There was only 1 km left to go, but it turned out to be almost completely uphill, and very, very steep.  Aiden and I looked at each other and sighed.  We were both exhausted, but we dug deep and trudged up the trail, slowly, but steadily.  I can’t begin to describe to you how difficult and discouraging it all was.  We were both ready to cry when finally the trail turned a bend, and over the crest of the hill, we saw the blue-green depths of Lake Luellen.  That last km took us 45 minutes.  From beginning to end we’d gained a total of 2,200 ft of elevation.  The air was thinner, and the temperature was significantly lower, but we were happy to be there none the less.

The hike in took us 9.5 hours in all, which includes the 2.5 hours worth of breaks we took, so 7 hours of actual hiking.

We were soaked and cold and more exhausted than we’d ever been before in our lives, but we pitched our tent, and got a rather small fire going.  The lake was a smooth as glass, save for a pair of loons, which were gliding over the surface.  They came close to the shore to check us out, before resuming their business of diving for food.

I cooked poached eggs for supper, which we ate with logan bread by the fire.  The lake is not very far below the snow line, which means it gets bloody cold in the evening.  We didn’t linger long outdoors when it began to get dark, especially when dry clothes and our sleeping bags were waiting.

Stay tuned for tales from our second day in the mountains…

We are taking 10 meals worth of freeze-dried fare, in addition to dried fruit, trail mix, couscous, beef jerky, oatmeal, fresh eggs, and Logan’s bread.

Logan bread (named for Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada) is a dense, calorie-packed bread that lasts for up to a week in your backpack.  It was developed by climbers before the age of power bars and pre-packed hiking food.  There are plenty of variations to the recipe (I myself modified ours to taste) but the end result is always a durable and highly nutritious bread that will sustain you during long treks.

I loved that this recipe is all made in one-bowl, and is extremely easy to throw together the night before you depart on your adventure.  Baking does take two hours, and be certain to allow time for the loaves to cool completely.

Logan Bread

(Recipe courtesy of The Canadian Hiker’s & Backpacker’s Handbook, by Ben Gadd)
*Adaptations I’ve made are added in [ ]

3½ cups whole wheat flour [or 3 cups whole wheat flour and ½ cup wheat germ]
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup dried milk powder
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sunflower seeds [or 1/3 cup flax seeds]
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1 cup (more or less, depending on consistency) water

Grease two standard loaf pans [or one cookie sheet, if you wish to form you own loaves] and preheat oven to 300° F.

Mix everything together in order listed. Knead by hand until it is thoroughly mixed (and holds together).

Divide into loaf pans [or divide equally into four portions and roll into slightly flattened, round loaves] and bake for at least one hour (or until it feels firm when you push on the top with a finger). Then lower the heat to 200° F and dry loaf for an additional hour [or 45 minutes if you made smaller loaves].

Allow to cool completely before wrapping tightly in two layers of plastic wrap, and a ziplock bag. Freeze any loaves you won’t be taking with you.

Keeps for at least one week.

They turned out really well, and are tastier than I anticipated. I doubled the recipe so that we would have eight loaves, six for the trip and two to taste-test. They are a bit on the heavy side, but well worth the weight in the pack I think.

Dropping the kids off with my mum this afternoon, and so I’d better get a move on.  Keep an eye on my Twitter and TwitPic accounts if you are curious about how our backpacking adventure is progressing.

445. Walk on the beach under the moonlight with someone I love

We hiked every day, completing around 12 kms (or 7.5 miles) worth of trails by the end of our trip.  The hiking grill and firebowl I bought some months back worked out extremely well.  We found remote rocks, right on the water, where we could cook our meal and enjoy a beer, without another soul in sight.  I wish I had known about Killbear months ago, as I am certain that Jack and the kids would have had a ball there with us.  It would have been lovely to have all gone together.

Over the course of the weekend we took over 400 photos, and on Monday I compiled the 200 best ones into a DVD slide-show set to music that we listed to during the trip.  Out of those 200, I’ve selected some of my favorites to include in this post, enjoy!

Sometimes I forget I took them, or they get tucked into a folder, never to be seen or heard from again.

For instance, my good friends Anakin and padme sent me this excellent mug some time ago, from their store Darkside Digital Arts.  I love this mug, for obvious reasons, and I’ve been meaning to put it up here for ages, as one of my Favorite Things.

I think that this next photo speaks for itself.  And I mean, really, who DOESN’T love cuties?

It wouldn’t be a proper Thursday without a little skin, so I’ll just slip this in here if you don’t mind.

Very recently I received a lovely surprise when Aiden brought me flowers for no reason at all. Or maybe they were to thank me for doing his laundry. Who really knows.

Finally, this morning I woke up in a bad mood, and do you know what cures crankiness? Tedious tasks preformed with pliers. This charm bracelet took me about 20 minutes to make, and now all it needs are charms.

I actually did feel a little better by the time it was finished. The coffee probably helped too.

On Friday night Aiden went and picked up our friend, Dex, and the three of us went to see How To Train Your Dragon.  It was a SUPER cute movie, and we all really enjoyed it.  Jack and P took the kids to see it during her visit last month, and they kept telling us how fantastic it was, even for adults.

Saturday was comprised of cleaning out the garage and packing up boxes.  Not the most fun job ever, but Aiden and Dex pitched in while Jack occupied the children and worked on things in the house.  It was nice to make some progress anyway.  After cleaning up Jack wanted to take Dex out for dinner to celebrate his recent birthday, and so the six of us went for sushi at our favorite Japanese restaurant.  The food, as always, was delicious.

After dinner Aiden took Dex home while Jack and I watched part of a movie on TV and then went to bed early.

Sunday was Luke’s first communion, after which Aiden and I took the kids to meet his family for the first time.  I was anxious over the entire affair, but the kiddos were exceptionally well-behaved, and didn’t say anything awkward.  Aiden’s mother seemed thrilled to have them, and they got to meet his siblings and grandparents as well.  Everyone complimented me on how cute and well-behaved they were.  It went better than I expected, and I’ve had to promise that I would bring them back again.

The rugrats fell asleep in the back seat on the way home while Aiden and I talked about the impending move and how poorly I have been dealing with the stress of it all.  Jack remarked recently that he has been concerned about how sad I’ve seemed lately, and the only explanation I can come up with is anxiety over everything we need to get done before July gets here.  I haven’t been sleeping enough either, which negatively impacts my ability to deal with anything.  It’s getting pretty bad.  I feel like if I am not fighting with one of the guys, I am fighting with the other.  The kids grind my nerves much easier than usual.  I’ve been feeling completely overwhelmed.  The first day I began packing, I literally stood there with an empty box and was at a loss for where to begin.  Just looking around made me tired.

I am glad that after pacing around a little, I just opened a drawer and began purging and sorting.  It seems as though it got the ball rolling, and I feel like I have more direction and a better game plan now.  Working on the garage helped, because we made a VISIBLE dent, which adds to the good feelings of accomplishment.  It’s difficult to get really excited about having done something when you can’t even tell that there was a lot of hard work poured into it.

I feel badly that the guys have been suffering through the brunt of my crazies.  I know I haven’t been easy to live with.  I am going to work on keeping my emotions in check, and taking better care of myself, because both of those things have been seriously lacking.  We only have 65 more days until the new house is ours, and I would rather have 65 days of hard work and pulling together as a family than 65 days of ripping peoples heads off at the slightest provocation.  I don’t like myself when I get like this, which only adds to the aggravation and frustration I feel.

Hopefully I can make it up to them, and remain extra-conscious of my emotional state over the next two months.  For now I am off to fill some more boxes.  Every time I tape one shut and add it to the growing stack, I feel a little bit better about everything

Friday was sort of chaotic, due to the fact that last week was kind of rough and I completely neglected my normal routine of packing and preparing everything WELL in advance.  Aiden and I were both finishing up costuming on Friday morning, and then there was a mad dash to load everything and get out of here on time.

My costume is comprised of a really big brown cloak, which I made myself, brown or black draw-string pants, and whatever combination of tank top/t-shirt/long-sleeved sweater I can arrange.  Aiden and I are now both playing the same race (Darklings) which requires any visible skin to be painted black, and then yellow or gold veins are to be painted on top of the black.

Here is a photo of us from the event we just attended (I would be the shorter one with the shield):

The strange protrusion on the one side of my cloak is my sword.

At one point over the weekend Aiden and I went into a local Wal-Mart, in full costume, because I needed drier footwear.  You should have seem the looks we got, particularly from little kids, who seemed to be either afraid or in total awe.  It was funny.  Oddly enough, people don’t often seem to stop us to ask questions about why we are dressed up.

It was really fantastic getting away for a weekend and totally escaping from real life.  I didn’t have to answer any phone calls, check any e-mail, and I even turned Twitter off on my cell phone, so that I wouldn’t have to plow though dozens of updates the two times I day I bothered to check it.  I still carried it with me, in case Jack had an emergency, but I forgot it was even with me most of the time.

Friday night was a lot of fun.  We went adventuring with out friend Dex, and built a fire, and met some new people.  Aiden and I are playing a married couple in game now.  A very unhappily married couple I might add, so there was a lot of fun role play fighting and cursing at each other.

We turned in at around 4am and it was damned cold.  Fortunately it warmed up in the morning, and we were up by 10am to start the day.  Darklings are damaged by the sun, so there was a lot of wandering around with our hoods up.  We ended up adventuring a lot of the day with Aiden’s ex-girlfriend, which was unexpected, but actually a lot of fun.  I am glad that she and Aiden seem to have buried the hatchet as it were, because she LARPs with us and now it won’t be awkward.  We joked and laughed a lot, and I think were we not moving, she and I would likely become good friends eventually.

On Saturday night there was a major battle, after which Aiden and I happily went to bed.  It wasn’t as cold the second night, and I woke up feeling really well rested, even though I was stiff and sore from the night before.  When you are at LARP there generally isn’t a lot of time for cooking, and so we lived on bottled water, cold hot dogs, and granola bars pretty much the whole weekend (oh, and quite a few coffees) but next time I will be better prepared with sandwiches and whatever else I can make up ahead of time that we can eat without a lot of fuss.

I also learned that taking the time to stretch after battle is probably in ones best interest.  As is packing adequate blankets, and clean socks.  OMG you have no idea how many pairs of socks Aiden and I went through in just two days.  I would say that bringing five or more pairs for each person is about right.  No fewer than five, that’s for sure.

On Sunday there was one more battle, and then it was time to pack up and go home.  It’s kind of a rude shock going back to normal life after spending the weekend in a fantasy world.  I was really excited to have a shower though.

Aiden and I hadn’t really been intimate all weekend, for one because we were both beat tired whenever we were in bed, and for another because my period was just ending.  There’s also the matter of being covered in mud and black make-up, it just doesn’t inspire a lot of sexiness.

Fortunately once we were back home, and in the shower and mostly cleaned off, we were able to make up a bit for lost time, and had some fun under the hot water, and then later in bed together.

I can’t wait for the next event, in four more weeks.  I am planning to make another cloak in the mean time, because my brown one is lovely for the night time, being a super heavy wool blend, it kept me warm and cut the wind, but it was hot in the day time.  Particularly with having to keep the hood up all the time in the sun, it got a little warm.  I would like to make something a little lighter weight, maybe in dark grey or forest green, for day wear.  Plus one can never have too many cloaks in my opinion.

Anyway, it’s time to stop procrastinating and turn my attention to the remaining smelly laundry that needs washing and the camping gear that needs to be put away.  I’m hoping that Aiden and I can make it out to the local kink munch this evening, but it may be awkward if I don’t have any clean pants to wear.

If I had a nickle for every time that Jack and I have exchanged such messages in the last few days, well I’d have at least a dollar.

Then it breaks down to the numbers.  Percentages to be exact.

“I think I’m 95/5 at the moment.  You?”

“60/40 maybe”

“Really?  Not 80/20?”

“Ok, maybe 75/25″

These are the obscure methods we use to express how we feel about moving back to Alberta.

We need more details before we can make an informed and solid decision, but the fact that Jack and I spent over an hour last night looking at houses in our old neighborhood perhaps gives some indication of which way we would like to go.

Likewise Aiden and I are already mulling over plans to start up a LARP in the Calgary area, since to my knowledge there are no existing games that we can join.

As much as I like Ontario, I miss home.  I miss V, and the mountains, and my friends.  There are things I will miss very much about Ontario, but the lure of the place where I grew up is stronger than anything holding me here.

I’m doing my best to keep my excitement in check until we find out what exactly the offer is.  Jack is going to discuss the specifics with the higher-ups on Monday.  In the mean time, our weekend will likely be spent making the first moves towards preparing the house for sale.  The garage needs organizing, Aiden still has some boxes of possessions that need sorting, things of that nature.

V and I have a phone date planned for this evening.  We spoke for a short while last night, so that I could fill her in a bit on what is going on, but we didn’t have time to talk about everything.  She has already offered to do whatever she can to help with the move, including making a trip out here to help me pack or get organised or anything else we might need.

Hopefully by early in the week this will all be a done deal.  I hate the not knowing.

Ugh, I hate how my period makes me moody and extra sensitive.

Perhaps the pinky-purple daisies (in the photo above) that Aiden brought me on Tuesday were a preventative measure.  You know, so that I wouldn’t rip his face off at the most minuscule of provocations.

I loathe women who use their cycle as an excuse to act like total nutbars, but I can’t deny that it does have some effect on my ability to deal with my emotions.  I take everything extra personally, I am more easily agitated, and I feel like bursting into tears every five minutes.

*Sigh* Stupid hormones.

Thanks to my IUD my periods are nearly non-existent.  The last one was light enough that a pantyliner was sufficient to do the trick (and I was a “super-plus mondo pad” kind of girl prior to the IUD).  Yesterday I had a tiny bit of spotting, and so far today, nothing.  I wouldn’t even know it was that time of the month if I didn’t keep track on my calendar, or feel like disemboweling one of the guys every time they ruffle my feathers.

I wish that the changes in my mood had stopped along with the monthly bleed, but if I have to take one or the other, give me the cranky-pants any day.  At least I can quell my inner dragon with exercise and eating right, but there is nothing to be done about blood gushing from your vagina except wait it out.

Speaking of eating right and exercising, with the recent development of nicer weather I dug my bike out of the garage this morning.  After pumping the tires back up and locating my helmet, I took it out for a 30-minute spin around the neighborhood.  It’s a gorgeous day, warm enough for bike shorts but still cool enough to prevent getting excessively hot and sweaty.  Now I just need to practice plenty and then nag… I mean, ENCOURAGE one of the boys to get a bike, so that I don’t have to ride alone all the time.

As it turns out, this weekend Aiden’s mum is out of town, and so instead of going to visit his parents for dinner, we are planning to take a hike together, weather permitting.  I should also start working on a cloak for LARP, and perhaps finish up the long sword I started.  I know, I know, I subject you to suck geekery these days.  Speaking of which…

The paper is just there as a size reference. The shield and the short sword I built myself, and the longbow was my Valentine’s gift from the guys.  The short sword is rather massive and heavy, but I love it.  Eventually I will save up for some fancy Calimacil weapons, but for now these will do.  I still have to build a long sword and two daggers (my characters is a fighter/warrior, so I need lots of things to hit people with).  More pictures to come, I am sure.  I know you guys are dying to see photos of my costume once it’s done

Hmmm, from photos of blow jobs and fucking, to duct tape weapons and LARP gear.  Could it be that my blog is going downhill?  Perish the thought *Cheeky Grin*

Last night after we got the kids to bed she sat and chatted with me while I worked on Aiden’s chainmail (the green and black, shown below) and has offered her assistance in weaving it.  I was pleased that she appreciated my project, although I did tell her that I was getting paid to make it, and if there is anything that my mom can understand, it’s money.  Regardless, her enthusiasm and compliments on how beautiful it is were a welcome surprise.  I showed her the anklet I made for myself as well (the orange and silver piece) which she totally loved.

I wonder if she is setting out to kill me with kindness, because not only does she like the chainmail, she also supports my LARPing.  She asked plenty of questions about it and seemed genuinely interested.

“You know, you could have just taken up quilting if you needed a hobby.  I would have an easier time explaining it when I get home” she said, and we both laughed.  In fact we laughed a lot during our time together last night.  She kept me company while I built a LARP shield as well (oh the joys of putting together my first set of gear).  Her and Jack commentated on my skills with foam and duct tape, while we joked and had a good evening together.  She cleaned my kitchen, and I had the good sense not to object, and then offered to help with the shield too.  Could it be that she’s a little cooler than I give her credit for?

When it comes to the cleaning, as much as it bothers me to watch her do it, I have come to realize that it’s her way of showing me that she loves me.  When I make a big deal of keeping her from helping out, she takes it as rejection, and that causes strain.  As much as her way of doing some things offends my OCD, I am exercising my ability to gracefully accept that my mum needs to be able to DO things for me, so that she feels needed, and to express her affection.

When my shield was finished she even went so far as to call it awesome.  This morning when I was showing it to Aiden she teased him about having “shield-envy” because I made a better one than he did.  The three of us sat at the counter and had coffee together and talked, and I think that she likes Aiden enough, considering he’s a total stranger that she’s only just met.  I don’t think she suspects anything out of the ordinary at this point either, which is how I am hoping it will stay.

I’m sure it seems minimal to most of you, but she so rarely takes much of an interest in the things that I do, that I’m practically elated to have her be supportive of this.  Particularly because LARPing seems to carry kind of a negative stigma.

She still doesn’t care for my dogs, but at least she tolerates them well enough.  She hasn’t used that tone even once so far, and today I took her out shopping and she seemed pleased as punch to be spending some one on one time with me.  We had a good outing, and suddenly it doesn’t seem as though this week will stretch on for eternity.

I do miss Aiden a little bit.  By that I mean I miss being able to be affectionate with him.  We managed to sneak a few kisses today while mum was in the shower, but there was no cuddling, and I feel somewhat on guard when he is around, in case I slip up, or look at him too lovingly, or Gods know what else.  It’s kind of unfortunate, but hopefully we can remain inconspicuous for another six days.  On Saturday he and I are going to pick up as many of his remaining possessions as we can, so we will have a bit of alone time.  I’m looking forward to that, if only because I think taking small breaks from her will make it easier to keep things rolling smoothly.  Right now, for example, she is watching a movie with the kids, which is giving me some alone time for blogging.

As much as I was dreading her arrival, when she is acting so awesome, I can’t help but enjoy her company.  I am certain that the week will fly by, and as much as I love her, I will be just as happy to see her go so that we can get back to our own version of normalcy around here

I also remember $2 bills, Atari, and rotary telephones.

That really has nothing to do with this post, except to point out that gaming systems have come along way since the early 80′s.

In 1982 we did not have cell phones, or the Internet, and we walked 3 miles to school each day, uphill, both ways.

What we DID have were coin sets, and Jack just so happened to receive one that year, which I discovered and confiscated from him on the grounds that what is his, is mine.

371. Collect a set of coins that were minted in the year I was born

• Metal shoehorns will leave bruises with hardly any effort at all

• People get kind of excited when you serve Cornish hens and leave them whole.  Like “We get a WHOLE bird?  Each?”

• Kolach, while the most beautiful of breads, is less like bread and more like a giant pretzel

• Even candles that are 100% paraffin wax are sometimes still too hot for wax play

• You have to start really early in the morning to watch all six Star Wars movies in one day

• If you push hard enough on a Wartenberg wheel, it will totally draw blood

• My kids know that babies come out of the vagina, but have no idea what butter is

As you can see, we had no shortage of fun around here.

Our Ukrainian Christmas celebration on Friday night was a wonderful success.  Nia and Muse were able to join us for dinner, and the five of us enjoyed the meal at a leisurely pace.  The kutia, although kind of strange looking, was really tasty.

Making traditional Ukrainian Christmas bread was probably my favorite part of all the preparation, and it allowed me to cross something off of my list.

109. Bake homemade bread

It turned out beautifully, and although it does take a bit of time, making bread from scratch without any assistance is really satisfying.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get around to making fudge over the weekend, but there is always this coming weekend.  We were short on both time and snow, but it’s not the end of the world.

On Saturday morning I got up and left Jack to sleep in.  After feeding the kids and the dogs, I made coffee for Aiden and myself and took it down to his room to wake him.  He’s generally not much for mornings, so I crawled into bed beside him for a cuddle, and tried my best to suppress my obnoxious “IT’S MORNING!!! THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF DAY EVAR!” attitude.

We snuggled, and then we started kissing.  We hadn’t seen each other all week, and due to having company and dinner the night before, we hadn’t really spent any time alone together.  Aiden normally doesn’t wake up “in the mood” so I was kind of surprised, in the best sort of way, when kissing led to him pulling my pajamas off while I stroked his cock under the covers.

I took him in my mouth for a few moments while his fingers were between my thighs.  His cock was incredibly hard, and I was aching for it, so I begged him to fuck me.

When he slid into my pussy my breath caught in my throat.  I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him closer, so that his pubic bone was rubbing against my clit with each thrust.

It felt like we hadn’t been together in ages.  Everything but our panting, and the feel of his skin on mine just sort of faded into the background.

I bit down on his shoulder to keep from whimpering too loudly while he fucked me, until he groaned into my ear and I felt his cock twitch in my pussy while he came.

We cuddled a while longer, and drank our coffee, and then got up and put some clothes on before heading upstairs.  Jack got up too and I made breakfast, and we all ate together before Aiden and I headed out to run some errands.

While we were out we got Aiden’s passport photos done and then we stopped at this weird little store in search of a curved barbell for his PA piercing, which we found.  We also found a set of metal thumbcuffs there, which Aiden decided he should have, LOL.  We haven’t had a chance to try them yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

In the afternoon we all settled in to watch the Star Wars movies.  Unfortunately we started way too late in the day to watch all six of them.  The kids were up for the first two, and then they went to bed.  Aiden and I watched the third one with Jack and then we begged off to play a little before bed.

There was flogging and then a little strapping and then a lovely massage followed by a bit of wax play that unfortunately had to end quite prematurely as these are really not suitable for such applications.

After he had scraped off the worst of the wax with a knife, I had a quick shower and then returned to his room for snuggling and a bit of fooling around that ended with him coming on my face.  As tempted as I was to shower for a THIRD time that day, I was tired, and so excused myself to wash my face and then we cuddled up in bed and went to sleep.

Sunday morning came far too early.  I got up before either Jack or Aiden, fed children and hounds, and then made coffee and went back downstairs.  Aiden and I cuddled a little and then drank our coffee and got up for the day.

Breakfast was made once Jack was up, and then we watched Mantracker (such a good show!) before Aiden and I planned to leave for his place.

When we got into town we went to his place, and I tried to coax Tank to eat one of the mice that is currently living with him.  Stubborn little shit wouldn’t eat though, even as I herded the mice towards him and they crawled over his head.  I really do need to remember to take my camera one of these days to get some pictures of him.  Apparently at some point yesterday he killed one of the mice but didn’t even eat it.  He’s kind of a strange snake.

Aiden called his mom and she invited us over for dinner, and since we hadn’t really made any firm plans yet, we went over and had chili (it was delicious) and visited for almost three hours.

Then we picked up some groceries, and went back to his house to hang out until I had to leave.  I changed his PA jewelry for him, and this barbell isn’t really the answer, but it will do until something more suitable can be found.  Then we crawled into bed and cuddled, which somehow led to him fucking me with something like this until I thought I might make a terrible mess all over his bed.  Unfortunately being too concerned about the mess prevented that from happening, but I did have such an intense orgasm that my abdominal muscles were sore the next day.  After I had recovered, I sucked his cock until he came in my mouth, and then we cuddled for a few more minutes until I had to go.

All in all it was a really good weekend.  I’m looking forward to this coming weekend as well, since Aiden and I are going to a play party, and I have plans with friends, and Jack and I are going out on Sunday to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary.

It’s difficult to believe that January is already almost half over!

I still very clearly remember the day that K bought it for me.  We were at the Calgary Stampede, and while browsing a lot of gorgeous amber jewelry, he told me to pick something out and that he would get it for me.  Our relationship was already on the downhill slide, but we’d had a wonderful day together, and I had really hoped that things were going to be ok. I decided on this ring, which originally had three stones, because it suited me and because I am kind of a sucker for lame symbolism (three stones and the whole poly thing, yes, I know, it’s stupid, leave me alone, LOL).  I wore it everyday, even through the fights and the grand finale, right up until last April, when it broke.  Oddly enough it broke almost exactly a year after I’d told K that I was finished, for the last time.  We hadn’t spoken in a year, and yet, instead of tossing it out, I just looked at it for a while and then dropped it into a drawer.

Call me sentimental, or maybe just mental, but I felt like maybe I should hang onto it.

When I found it again yesterday, I indulged in a few moments of remembering the really good things about K, because regardless of how it ended, he did have a few redeeming qualities.  It sometimes makes me sad that my dominant memories are generally not of the great times we had, but of the times he acted like a douche.  I’m not sorry that I walked away, and I don’t miss him anymore, and I’m glad we were both able to move on and find more fulfilling relationships than the mess we were in together.

I turned it over in my hand a few times and remembered that day at the Stampede, and I smiled.  Then I snapped a photo of it, and tossed it in the garbage.

I don’t feel like I need to keep it any more.