Half and Half

Today I realized sometime rather interesting. I was in the kitchen doing my regular morning duties. Stocking the coffee machines, (how glamorous… sometimes I wonder why I volunteered to help out with that) when I realized something. The bag that was full of espresso beans for the latte machine was almost empty and the bag that had regular coffee beans was very full. This was strange because just last week, I stocked all the beans and filled the regular coffee machine with beans ready to be ground and used. Then… It all came back to me, the little complaints of how the coffee was a bit bitter, the remarks on how people have been more energetic in the morning (blamed on the sunshine) and most importantly, “man, this coffee is strong, I think I should put some brown sugar in it” remarks. Yes, That is correct. I put espresso beans in every pot of coffee that people have been making for the past 3 weeks! Ooooyyyy Vey… People have been drinking pots of espresso, not just shots, like in say… a latte.. POTS! I have tried to scoop out all of the beans from the machine, but it’s a bit of a lost cause. The beans have wormed themselves down all the tunnels and chutes of the machine. So technically now people are drinking half and half. Some people like that in their coffee, right? So what if it’s not half and half cream… I guess anything is better than full strength espresso coffee…

I want to be a Loser!

Biggest Loser Work Out

Today I feel encouraged. I have been having this ongoing struggle with my weight since I have been… I don’t know like 10 it feels like. I don’t know if that is because I was actually over weight or if it was because I just focused on it so much? Anyways I don’t have a problem with my body per say, however I would like it to be a little less… whats the word… well… Lets just stay a bit more toned. I have had to kick myself into high gear because I am going to a wedding in Mexico and the entire wedding party is like size 6 and under so its made me evaluate the bikini. So I thought about it and said, “you know what Stephanie Leakey, You like bikini’s and you want a great tan, so you are not going for the one piece!” (although I am going to buy this really retro red poka dotted number… super cute) So I have decided that I am dedicated to going for the two piece, I must feel my best. So I have decided to do a biggest loser workout video.

Yesterday was day two of doing the video and Oh my goodness, the sweat was pouring! I couldn’t believe how hard it worked me. My skin was actually wet. Its basically a six week video so it’s nice that it has a goal. It also has 3 different levels of intensity 1 2 and 3 and I have not even attempted 3 yet because man oh man, level two was tough! The best part of this is that if I keep it up, I’m confident that I will lose weight.

The reason I am blogging about this you ask?

I need to hold my self accountable because lets face it. JC cant do that for me… He more so is the type to bring home chocolate mini eggs and candy.

I feel that if I blog about it I will keep it up!

FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING THAT IS GOOD.....

If you go to the washroom and poop. DO NOT leave smudges on the seat for other innocent people, (like myself) to sit on.

It is nasty and discusting, I almost vomited.

PLEASE WIPE PROPERLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only Pot I use, Is under the Kitchen Sink!

This past weekend I took a splendid trip to Calgary. When I was in Calgary I saw my Step Mom, Karen, who had just recently come back from a two week trip to Africa. While she was there she picked up some tea for my brother and myself. It was supposed to be some of the best tea in the world, so I was very excited to get it home and try some. The loose leaf tea was packaged in a clear package about the size of a large zip lock bag, and as I was leaving My Mom and Dad’s house I made a joke about how the package look like a bag of weed and “I hope they don’t catch me…” joke joke lol.

Do I ever regret that statement.

I brought my luggage to the airport, checked my bag and boarded my plane. (This only had 12 people in total on it; Talk about people not wanting to spend money in an economic crisis. No wonder I got my flights for 52 dollars) When I arrived in Vancouver I walked over to the luggage carousel and saw about 10 bags come out. I waited, and waited, and waited, and then, the carousel stopped. I then thinking my baggage was lost (with all my new clothes I bought) sadly sauntered over to the “lost baggage counter.” When I asked the lady about my luggage she could not find it in the system, she said in a very concerned voice “I’m sorry Miss Leakey, It looks like the bag never even made it onto the plane. Could you please wait a moment, I am going to contact security.” Then she proceeded to call security, and inform them that passenger Leakey was at the baggage counter. Another West Jet person came to the counter and said in a stern don’t mess with me voice, “I’m sorry that this has been an inconvience Miss Leakey, but your baggage has be detained under the circumstance of suspicious content.”

GOODNESS GRACIOUS… was my first reaction, followed by a long sigh in preparation for the explanation of the tea in my bag. I knew immediately that the tea must have been the culprit in getting me in trouble. I told the West Jet representative in a calm manner, well as calm as I can be, that “I have some loose leave tea in my bag and you want to get some hot water, I would be happy to sit down and have a cup with her.” She did not appreciate that very much, and told me that my bag will be detained for up to 30 day until the content has been examined.

Just my luck, I am busted for pot, and have never even smoked the stuff. This whole situation makes me know that I do not believe in karma. I would totally get it if I were some sort of stoner in the past; this sort of stuff would just be bound to happen. But Moi? Really? Apparently so.

Have no fear however, I got a phone call about 1 hour after I left the airport telling me that my luggage was going to be sent on my next flight and for the inconvience, I get a $100.00 West Jet flight Credit, A very happy ending to a crappy / comical situation.

Barbie

This Blog is dedicated in memory of Stacy, Long Hair, Melissa, Sparkle Eye, Brown, JTT( The only “Ken” I owned), Jasmine, Aladdin, Olive, bathtub foam dress and Princess Barbie. They lived full and happy life, playing everyday, coming alive at night, and being the best friends anyone could ever ask for. Unfortunately one cold wintry night last year they were murdered. The weapon of choice was a plastic bag. The bodies were disposed of in the back Alley. The culprit was tried but never went to jail claiming, “I’m the mom” whatever that means. Justice has never been served.

In memory of loved and lost ones… I write this blog…


The Genius’s at Mattel have decided a new marketing strategy, their new strategy of marketing is sector specializing. They have made created a series of babies for each community in large cities.. or for a place like Vancouver… They included the lower main land… Below are the actual Mattel descriptions along with the Barbie… They use the same Barbie for different communities. It works well. I am profiling Vancouver Lower Mainland Barbie & Calgary Barbie.

Actual Descriptions…(note these are NOT official descriptions by Mattel.)

‘Yaletown Barbie’ / Mount Royal
This princess Barbie is sold only at the Yaletown Choices Market.
She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a designer kitchen.

‘ Coquitlam Barbie’ / Makenzie Lake
The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Wind star Minivan and matching gym outfit.
She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation.
Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

‘East Van Barbie ‘ / Apple Wood Barbie
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit.
…unless you are a cop, then we don’t know what you are talking about.

‘West Van Barbie’ / Eagle Ridge
This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2.
Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership.
Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper.
You won’t be able to afford any of them.

‘Chilliwack Barbie’
This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder.
She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set.
She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken’s butt when she is drunk.
Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

‘Loft Barbie’
This collagen injected, rhino plastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends.
Percocet prescription available as well as warehouse conversion condo.

‘Maple Ridge Barbie’ / Forest Lawn
This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Butler Barbie’s house.
Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top.
Also available with a mobile home.

‘Kitsilano Barbie’ / Sunny Side Barbie
This doll is made of actual tofu.
She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks.
She prefers that you call her Willow.
She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Point Breeze Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.

‘Surrey Barbie’ Marbrough
This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll.
Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass.
Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

‘Whistler Barbie’
She’s perfect in every way.
We don’t know where Ken is.
Ken is always out a-’huntin’.

‘West End Barbie/Ken’
This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on body parts


And to answer you question that I know you are all thinking…..

No I was NOT surfing the web looking for pretty barbies...........

A Scary Story From the perspective of Sarah Miller

This Happened Last Saturday. I thought it interesting to from Sarah's Perspective!

At about 8:30 I was just finishing up cleaning my kitchen and getting ready to go watch the end of the Phoenix/Calgary game when I hear this knocking outside on my balcony. I froze, not totally sure of what I had heard at first, but it happened again…and then again. I peaked out of my curtains (they were shut) to see a guy standing on the balcony next to mine waving at me. Uh, creepy.
So of course, I called my Dad who stayed on the phone with me while I poked my head out to see what the guy wanted. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “Hi?”Drunkface Neighbor: “Heeeeeeeyyyyyyy! Are you guys partying in there?”Me: “…um, no.”Drunkface Neighbor: “Oh…You wanna go for a swim?”Me: “NO!”…(slams door in face)
I figured that would be the end of it, but my Dad stayed with me on the phone to calm me down. It is scary to be bugged by some random old drunk guy when you are a girl by yourself! He could be totally harmless, but how do I know? I’ve never seen him before!
All was quiet on the Western front for about five minutes. And then the banging started. The guy banged on my balcony railing for a good twenty minutes, each time increasing my freakout. My poor dad who was still on the phone listening to my rising hysteria told me to go out and tell him to stop the banging and leave me alone. Which I did…only to notice that this gross disgusting old drunk man was totally and completely nekkid!!
My natural reaction was to run away, so I slammed my patio door and retreated into my bathroom, which is the furthest point in my apartment from the balcony. For a few minutes after I told him to stop banging he did, but then it started up again. At this point, my Dad suggested that I might want to think about calling someone to come over, just so I wouldn’t have to be by myself anymore. I called my cousin-in-law JC first, but it turns out that he was in Victoria. I think the panic in my voice alarmed him though because he called Stephanie right away and told her what was going on. As I was in the middle of dialing my other cousin’s number, Stephanie phoned me back and announced that she was coming over, despite being down at Granville Island having dinner with her friend from out of town. Naturally, I started bawling for not only my ruined Saturday night but hers. This whole time the guy was still banging on my balcony railing.
Steph and her friend told me that I needed to call the cops. I was really reluctant to because my limited experiences with the RCMP in Burnaby have not been good, and I wasn’t really sure if it was a call-the-cops type situation. Really, he hadn’t done too much wrong other than to scare the crap out of me and stand outside on his balcony naked. So I called the non-emergency line and asked the lady who answered what to do and she put me through to 911.
The next 20 minutes were agonizing as I sat on my couch and waited for Stephanie and the cops to arrive. I alternated between pacing around my apartment and drinking about 18 glasses of water and then the cops and Stephanie arrived at the same time and from that point on it was ok. They talked to him, all three cops were very understanding and nice about it: told me I had done the right thing by calling them, etc. Stephanie and Laura stayed for awhile, partly to calm me down but partly I think because Stephanie wanted to kick some ass if the guy started banging again (she wanted to go down to her car and put on her high heels, but Laura stopped her).

By the time Stephanie and Laura left I was totally and completely exhausted from crying and pacing around my apartment, but I didn’t sleep very well. I talked to the landlady the next day and she went over and talked to him too, and I haven’t seen him since. The whole thing, although it’s kind of a funny story now was very traumatizing and scary at the time! But at least it made for a good blog entry.

If anyone has ever watched Friends... This gives a whole new meaning to the "Ugly Naked Guy."

The Tree’s are Alive… With the Sound of Music…

Have you ever just sat alone outside and listened? That is the beauty of my balcony. Yesterday I sat outside and just listened. I listened to the trees, the birds, the sounds of the muttering passersby’s. I could hear the distant scampering of animals and even faintly I could hear the river which I a km or two away. It was beautiful. Once you start to really listen all the sounds seem to flow together. It sounded like a fine tuned orchestra. Oh the beauty just listening. It’s truly a renewing experience. I started thinking about it once I got back inside I decided that hearing must be a sense in which sound is perceived. I think this because I chose to listen. I made a conscious decision to hear what I wanted, like the finely tuned violin made out of tree leaves or bongo drums made out of rain drops. (I imagine this has something do with my selective hearing that I conveniently use when necessary. IE : Annoying people)

So this is a challenge to all of my readers. Take 10 minutes out of you day, with no distractions and just listen. Turn your brain off, even if you have another thought push it away and just listen.

P.S. The picures are not outside my balcony... I thought they would be inspirational for listening...

P.P.S Jeff is surfing on a natural Bridge