5 On Friday: December 12, 2008

1. Like a lot of people, we were snowed in on Sunday, during the big snow storm here in Calgary. We had plans to drive up to Canmore for the night (for Warren's office Christmas Party), and I had booked Monday off so we wouldn't have to rush back. But the weather had other ideas. Our moms were stuck at our house for a couple hours, after some early morning shopping at Chinook. So my mother in law had a nap in the spare room, my mom relaxed on the couch and watched Scrooged, and Warren & I put up our tree and decorations and ate the Janice Beaton cheese we were going to take to Canmore. Then, we went to Mercato for dinner to replace the trip to the mountains. All in all, it was a pretty good 'snow day'. PS - I spent my Monday off getting all my xmas shopping done! I think I'm going to make that a tradition...booking a day off to hit the shops while they're relatively sane.

2. On the bus home the other night, I saw a local pub sign that read 'Book your frugal Christmas party now! Wings - 9 cents'. Gotta love a business that can turn the recession into a marketing ploy.

3. Erin still hasn't commented on last week's 5 On Friday. She's generally a pretty consistent commenter, and Warren noticed her absence. He is convinced this means she is mad at him for **jokingly!** mocking the conversation she had with her son about the word 'chair'. He'd like to call a truce Erin! He loves you AND Anderson AND your conversations! He is very sensitive! If you accept his truce, please leave a comment on last week's post.

4. I have never made a habit of buying 'holiday chocolates' in the past. I always avoided it because I knew I'd just eat them all within the first few days. But this year I succumb to the tempting displays in Zellers and bought Ferraro Roches, Toffiffees, Turtles, Chocolate covered Maraschino Cherries and two tins of butter cookies. I begged Warren to pace himself, because he's the kind of guy who just grabs handfuls as he walks by, then pops them in his mouth without thinking, in front of the computer or TV or whatever. I begged him to 'savour' the chocolates, and be mindful of how many he ate at a time. 'I want them to last until Christmas!' I pleaded. This morning I woke up to notice the Ferraro Roches had dwindled significantly. 'Um, Warren. The Ferraro Roches are looking a little slim'. Warren replied ' Haha! Wait until you see the Turtles!'. I opened the box of Turtles, of which I'd had TWO, and the box was EMPTY, save for one lone Turtle that he obviously had left as a joke. Men, hmph. Oh - and does he ever gain a pound? Nope. MEN! He promised to buy me another box, but what's the point?

5. If you don't have enough blogs to obsess over these days, I recommend Attack of the Redneck Mommy. She is about to embark (well, she's been embarking for a while now, but things are finally starting to HAPPEN) on a journey that will make for some excellent, heartwarming blog posts. She has 3 kids, but her youngest 'Shale Bug' died suddenly when he was 5. He was born severely disabled. She's written a lot about him, and even wrote a separate blog for a while dedicated to talking about him. Anyways - that's all for you to discover on your own if it interests you - but what's really incredible is that her family's experience of losing a disabled son/brother made them all want to adopt a special needs child. And not any old special needs - they wanted the neediest of the needy. And so her new chapter begins. Go check it out and read back starting at 'The Journey Begins, The Journey Part Two, and The Journey Part Three'. It sounds like the angel they've been wishing for has finally found them. Plus, she's funny and brutally honest - 2 key ingredients to an addictive blog. She posts about other things too...mainly her and her husband's sex life, and her amazing boobs. Did I mention she's funny?