The crabby curler.

This is turning out to be a crab monster week.

The positives: I got to curl Tuesday and Wednesday. Worked on my balance.
Balance is a work in progress. My knee is very purple right now.

The negatives: Gravity made a mess on the carpet right before the insurance adjustor came over. Or maybe she made it before I got home. Regardless, I was attempting to clean it when the door bell rang. And then I spent an hour and a half trying to navigate Verizon's phone system. Called 5 times, transfered to different places, dropped. Never did get to talk to the billing team.

Probably more Verizon water torture scheduled for today.

Black Friday and other projects.

Woke up at 4:30 am today. Didn't mean to get up until 5:15 am, but of course, I had nightmares that I overslept.

My mother-in-law and I were busy bees. We started off at Joanne's. But since they weren't open, we dropped by Old Navy, where I bought a sweater I will probably return now. Then we went to Joann's, which was crazy, followed by a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

We drove by Circuit City, which still had a line outside of it, and went to Kohl's in Redmond. They had some of the best deals. 40% off a good portion of stuff in their store, and no coupon needed. The line was enormous, wrapping 3/4 of the way around inside the building. But they were incredibly fast. They had everything down. They had somebody to direct the line, somebody to check prices, somebody cashiering, and somebody bagging. It was like the opposite of a Wal-Mart or K-Mart shopping experience. Kudos to them for having it together.

We then stopped by Cost Plus, and then finally at Macy's. The Macy's experience was the exact opposite of Kohl's. My mother-in-law waited a half an hour to purchase one pair of pants, and there was only ONE person in front of her. How horrible was that? I did get a major score there. I got a jacket that was normally $185.00 for 40% off, an additional 20% off, and then had a $10 coupon. So, the jacket was $85.00 and some change. The deal of the day.

After all of that, we went home, ate lunch. Found out that Jeremy and Jeff had driven to West Seattle for tacos and stopped by the Elliot Bay Brewery.

I worked on my project: Wrist Warmers made out of fleece. And thanks to my mother-in-law, I have 2 decent pairs, and then my first ok pair. A total of 3 pairs of wrist warmers.

Happy Turkey Day!!

Full, warm, and sleepy. That's what the Gravity says. She is sooo tired. There were no naps for her. Grandma and cousin Jeff were here for Thanksgiving. She was too afraid she'd miss a treat. Now she's pooped out on the couch.

There was roast, mashed potatotes, homemade rosemary bread with sage butter, stuffing, roasted vegetables, and cranberry sauce. The boys are currently napping...er, watching football. Pumpkin pie will be on the way.

Here's a photo of Jeremy making pumpkin pie, chasing his mom away from helping.
Also included are photos of the dinner sans turkey, and of Jeff passed out, but still clutching his glass of wine.

Turkey Shot!

Yesterday, I got to test out my new shoes. Idiscovered that they were really fast, partially caused by the fact I have a thicker teflon slider than I need. Drills to gain my balance and strengthen my legs and knees up in the near future. So lots of fun in the upcoming weeks.

We won our novice game match! We started out behind, but made a big comeback in the 4th end with 6 points. Near the end, Jeremy was invited to join the 6:00 pm draw as a sub until Ian got there.

Because we stayed to watch that match, we were invited to participate in the Turkey Shot, where instead of a rock, we threw a frozen turkey across the ice. Prizes : Frozen turkey, Wild Turkey, and a stick of butter shaped like a turkey. Gobble, gobble. I got edged out to 4th or 5th place. Jeremy took 3rd and the Wild Turkey. $4.00 for a bottle of Wild Turkey? Not a bad deal.

Additionally, Jeremy had a spectacular fall sweeping a turkey, which I think will be on the news. Here's to his 15 seconds of fame.

Richmond, Canada

My friend Maya accompanied me on my drive to Canada, where I purchased my first pair of curling shoes!! *snoopy dance*

The Richmond facility is HUGE and fancy.

After the shoe purchase, we drove to a large version of the 99 Ranch Mall, or a more mall like version of Uwajimaya. There, we came across a local Chinese American Idol of sorts. 10 teenagers singing in Chinese, you vote for the winner.

Apparently I look like I speak Chinese (I sure wish I did), because a volunteer came up and handed me a piece of paper (the voting scrap paper, also in Chinese), and rambled at me in Mandarin for 2 minutes. I looked at her and said that I don't speak Chinese, and she reiterated everything in English. Like I could figure out who was who on the paper anyways.

There was good company, congee with century old egg and chinese donuts, and off key music in Chinese in the background. A good day trip.

The delivery.

1.5 more days before Friday night league. I've been thinking about my delivery, dreaming about my delivery, reading up on it on Curling Tech.

And of course, it will all go to crap after I get my new shoes (Yah!) on Saturday. I'll have to learn all over again. But I'm still very super excited.
After work I'm going to take the Passat to have its emissions tested.

Then, more laundry. I managed to get to loads of laundry done yesterday. I also need to clean the house before next week. So much cleaning to do.

Obsessed.

So obsessed with curling right now. Its lunch time, and I'm thinking about curling shoes. While Jeremy is out at his wood turning class on Saturday, I am going to try and obtain a pair of Balance Plus 200.

I called the Vancouver Curling Club, who is not selling shoes this year, the On the Rocks store, which only has size 7.5s, AND the Richmond Curling Club, who has both a 7 and a 7.5. Wahoo.

Hoping that my friend Maya will come with, or Jeremy's cousin, Jeff. If not, I can drive the 3 hours by myself.

I'm excited to buy my shoes. I'm excited to wear my new shoes. I'm a little scared about wearing them for the first time. I hope not to be too terribly unbalanced. There was a gal that we played against last Sunday by the name of Sue, and she hugged the wall after her deliver. Not sure how she would have done if we hadn't been on sheet one. Here's to hoping I look better than that.

Sorry I can't answer my phone, I'm busy curling.

I went to Tuesday's league to be a sub, but too many people bailed. 2 subs, and a sub for a sub showed up. Jeremy got to play, I practiced with Chris, and the guy who was a sub for a sub.

My balance is better, but still crappy. I hope to drive up to Canada, and try on some curling shoes on Saturday. I'm told, that you start back from scratch when you get shoes, because its so different.

After practice, we watched the juniors play for awhile. A good way to spend the evening.

Mrs. Cranky Pants

Mood. Cranky.

Listening to: Tool and System of a Down.

Any other cranky music recommendations are welcome.

Mark & Lisa's Party

Mark & Lisa's party on Saturday night was a blast. James made a surprise visit, and Mark tried to snort Southern Comfort. There was also some drunken-fu fighting and a trip to JR's (er... BJ's?) for some jello shots, and to our surprise, some fairly good music by a band called Kickstart.

Another family birthday

Went to Jeremy's cousin's birthday last weekend in Bellingham. Had a good time. Lots of nature flocking around their house.

Present for my cousin

I finished this sock dog a few weeks ago, but couldn't post it. It was commissioned by my friend Jason for my cousin Lawrence's birthday. If by some small chance you read this, Happy Birthday.