O Tannenbaum, O tannenbaum

We finally got our Christmas tree out of the house on Wednesday night. Thank goodness because it was really starting to feel cramped in our little living room....and because I think the thing was a fire hazard. When Dave took it out front, he said it weighed about 4lbs...and it was a 6' tree. Real dry. Anyway, I had heard on the news that in the month of January, you could put your tree out with your regular garbage and the city would pick it up. So we put it out Wednesday night so it would disappear with our garbage on Thursday morning.

Well lo and behold, we walk our of our house on Thursday morning to find an empty garbage can and our dried out Christmas tree, looking as trashy as ever in front of our house. I don't know why they didn't pick it up. Very annoying. So we figured we would have to harass Dave's dad to come by and pick it up in his pick-up (appropriately named) and take it to whereever you take dead Christmas trees (the dump?). BUT lo and behold, we walked out of our house today and the tree was gone! Yay! But where did it go, you ask? Well as I mentioned in the post below it is super windy today and was all night. But up and down the street I looked and no Christmas tree was to be seen. Oh well.

As we were driving out of our neighborhood, we spotted it, in the front yard our our neighbors about 6 houses down. Is it terrible that I laughed and left it there?

July

Well since I can't seem to find the video that I was trying to post with the last post (the upload didn't work for some reason..grr) and I was looking through memory cards from my camera, I figured I'd post about July, which I never did. Hey, I'm only 6 months late. Plus, on this cold dark wintry day with blowing snow and a expected windchill tonight of -29C, I can dream of warmer days...not that it was all too warm for most of the month.

So this was while Dave was in Haiti and I was 5 months pregnant. Jon, Meghan, and I went for a 'hike' in Nosehill park one Saturday when it was nice out. This park is right in the 'city' but you'd never know it from the photo above. Here's another one with me in my most athletic maternity gear...jeans and a tshirt! Can you tell I wasn't one for working out while pregnant...
Also notable in July was the Stampede - 'the greatest rodeo show on earth' or something like that. Too bad I didn't go to the rodeo or the show (it was 12C and blowing rain, so they cancelled the show we had tickets for - which I was very happy about actually because the thought of sitting outside in the cold rain for 3 hours in a coat that wouldn't do up over my belly was enough to make me cry.

However, Jon and Meghan and I went to the Stampede on another day (that day was about 14C and raining...). I had my first (and last) corn dog.
It was disgusting. We both threw them out shortly after this photo was taken. Why do people like those things?
Jon played a shooting game, but didn't win - though he got close. Meghan said he looked like a serial killer.
And I got my picture taken with a real RCMP - with my citizenship card! I'm a real Canadian now!
What a month!

Thomas says Merry Christmas

...or something like that

What an educatory day. And I don't care if that's not a word.

Life lessons learned today:
Never go to Safeway on the way home from work.
Always use the self check-out line.
Never expect people to give you a break (like letting you skip them in line with your 4 items) just because you look like you're about to pop out a baby tomorrow and your back is killing you.
Don't stay late at work. It's not worth it.
Do everything you can to live in a city where you don't have to drive. Anywhere. Ever.

Living Room

Although it's definitely still a work in progress, here is our living room...we're getting there. In this first photo, you can see the house across the street (since we still don't have any blinds or curtains...) which is what our house looks like. Dave's dad and I are in the process of building a bench in this bay window. I think I've finally found the fabric to cover it in! :D


Our lovely Ikea 'book'shelf...still pretty empty.



Our free couch - not bad! Plus our avocado-green lamps.
We're in the process of refinishing this buffet - it's out in our garage for now.

Once upon a time...

There are many things I love about Canada - stupid people are much less outspoken than in the states, we have $1 and $2 coins, I don't have to worry about doctor's bills, and it's not a bad thing to be a socialist. But one thing I really hate is the weather. Well, I shouldn't make such a sweeping statement...Canada is, after all, the second largest country by land mass in the world (although a lot of that is in the arctic circle and I don't think any of you would like the weather there anyway). But to be more specific, I hate the weather in Calgary. Summer didn't happen this year. We had one day that was 29 and another that was 31 (celsius, not farenburger as dad would say...you'll have to look up the conversion yourself because I am too lazy). Those were the 2 'hot' days of the summer and they happened in August. I thought perhaps that summer would come in September, but alas, it is supposed to snow on Thursday. No summer here. On top of having no summer, which is pretty depressing, what's even worse about the weather here is that it is completely unpredictable. It could be 75 degrees in January or it could snow in July. Or the opposite. No weather is outside the realm of possibilities. Montreal's winters were much colder and much much snowier, but you could count on those things. Winter = cold + snow. Summer = Hot + humid. Predictable. Once upon a time, I lived in a place where you could count on summer.

Maybe I'm just not adventurous...

Mormons and Muslims

By now, I’m sure everyone has heard about the so-called ‘mosque at ground zero’. I first heard about this a couple of weeks ago when a Muslim fb friend of mine posted an article about it (at the very start of the controversy). I was surprised and annoyed by all the fuss then and have only gotten more annoyed and increasingly shocked/disappointed in the general public’s reaction to the proposed project since. I can’t understand why people can’t distinguish between Muslims and terrorists. The men who took down the WTC were terrorists. All the experience I have with muslims (through school and work) tells me that those men were not true muslims.

I recently read a blog post on Mormonism-unveiled which compared the building of the mosque on Park Place to our church building a temple on the site of the mountain meadows massacre. I still trying to decide if the writer is not from NY or if they just don’t have a brain. The site of the MMM is the middle of nowhere. If we were to build something there, it would be because of the massacre. That is a far cry from building a mosque on Park Place. If I began to list how many other things are within a 2 block radius of the WTC site, you’d be reading this blog for several hours. The people behind building this mosque are not building it there because of 9/11. They are likely building it there because they already own the property and there’s a need for a community center and prayer space due to the number of muslims working and/or living in the area. Anyone who believes that they are building it there because of its proximity to the WTC site is simply a paranoid conspiracy-obsessed individual. Or just straight up ignorant I guess.

Anyway, aside from the general public’s opposition to the project, which I find ridiculous considering people’s obsession with second amendment rights while seeming to ignore first amendment rights…or just relegating them to certain individuals, I’m more disturbed by members’ opposition to the project. And it’s not just because I expect more from members of the church (although I am constantly disappointed and should probably flush that expectation down the toilet). First, there is the 11th article of faith: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. I don’t think it gets more straightforward than that…and I don’t know how you can justify opposing the project and claiming to believe this. Integrity, anyone?

But more than that, it’s the failure of members to see the similarities between Mormons and Muslims that really makes me sad. We have seen lots of opposition when trying to build temples (the Plainview temple which was announced but never built due to opposition from the community is a local example of that – thank goodness since that led to the building of the Manhattan temple – saweeet!). The entire church is routinely blamed for the stupidity of either a few members or for the actions of people who are not even members of our church , but of a church which others confuse with ours (ya’ll know what I’m talking about). Additionally, I often feel I have more in common with Muslims than with other Christians. Muslims I know believe in the importance of the family. They don’t drink, they don’t swear, they dress modestly, they live modestly, and their beliefs seem to really impact the way they live their lives. In a world where most people think you’re backwards for having any traditional values (like believing in the importance of virtue for example), I believe Muslims (especially Muslims in America) are Mormons’ greatest ally on that front. Anyway, there’s a lot more I could say, but if I wrote everything that was on my mind, I would never post this…it’s already been brewing for over a week…