And also...

... in addition to the recent redirect to my dot com blog, I have now changed comments here to only allow those with a blogger ID.

It's getting tiresome to have to continuously delete so many 'comments', that are really only links to other sites - the number one offender being lavabeat.

So to all those who wish to comment and are unable (other than those with a Blogger ID), I apologize, but seeing 10+ fake comments in my inbox every morning is getting old.

Detour ahead....

I've decided that since I actually bought and pay a monthly hosting fee for TheBuzzQueen.com, that I should probably concentrate on it instead of this blog.

So until further notice, you can find me over at the dot com.
The (other) Buzz Queen!

See you there!

Best Damn Birthday Present

Mikayla turns 14 this week, (gasp!) and for her present/party, I bought four tickets to Avril Lavigne's 'Best Damn Tour' concert in Victoria. The Mountie doesn't have much interest in going with us (go figure?), so Mikayla is bringing her best friend - along with me and her sister, of course.

Neither of them knew anything about it until this afternoon - where I handed them each their tickets, and told them not too look at it until I had my camera ready.

Here they are first reading it:


And this is Mikayla doing a little dance - 'Oh yeah, it's my birthday, gonna party like it's my birthday.'


And here's the smile when I tell her that her BFF is coming too:


We leave this Wednesday and come back Thursday. The BFF is sleeping over tonight and they are already planning what to bring and what to wear! My wardrobe plans include a pair of jeans and comfy shoes - I'll leave the cute outfits and the sexy boots to Avril!

Dear Deer... Elk?

It's been a long winter around here, and the deer and elk must really be feeling it. Not a trip out of town goes by without seeing the large herd of elk down on the flats by the highway. I'm guessing there's not much left to eat higher up. You sure have to keep your wits about you when driving around here, and if you don't have good car insurance, you'd better get busy and find some auto insurance quotes.

This bottom picture was taken in Banff National Park in Alberta. It's a major highway, so to protect the elk (and other animals too, I assume) there are large fences on either side of the highway, and walkways across just for them!

These next set of pictures were taken by one of my girlfriends who lives in the East Kootenays near my hometown. She was over at a friend's house, and apparently this guy had been hanging around for quite some time.

Don't ask me which idiot decided to hand feed him - although their Canadian citizenship is not in doubt as evidenced by the bare feet in winter!

Spring Skiing

We went skiing last week with Kristanna's class. The Mountie and I both went and we were able to bring Mikayla along as well. We had a fabulous day! I love Spring skiing for the gorgeous weather, although it's a trade off for the crappy snow. We drove to the hill turn off, and then hopped on the school bus for the trip up the mountain. It is quite the road - definitely not the road for the class of car that might have a fancy billet grille on it!

Anyway - I skied with Mikayla most of the day. This was her third time snowboarding and she was amazing!

Mikayla and I have the same size feet so we sat down in the middle of a quiet run and switched my skis for her snowboard. Mikayla did pretty good on my skis, but I was a disaster on her snowboard! It is so hard ya'll! (Said in my best Britney Spears voice.) You barely get moving and you fall flat on your face. And then you can't get back up! It was exhausting, and I barely made it ten feet down the hill!

I sure give anyone just learning to snowboard credit for sticking with it - I'll take my skis any day!! :-)

Miracles DO happen!

Our Christmas trip to Mexico didn't require us to have passports. This meant that we were the only stupids entering the country without them. Everyone else went through lickity split, but it took much longer for us.

We're heading to Jamaica this coming May, and need to have our passports. I got my application filled out when I was at my Mum's, and sent it in on the 5th of February. We've all heard horror stories about passport applications taking two months or more, so I was actually a bit worried about even receiving mine in time. I was amazed to find my cute little passport book (which sadly contains the most horrific picture ever) in the mail this past Friday - February the 22nd. That's a mere 17 days from me dropping it in the mail! Now I can safely head to Jamaica and can also fly into the US! I could even make Las Vegas hotel reservations, and fly to Vegas for a weekend.

Now we just have to wait for the Mountie's passport to get here!

Me, a business owner?

You betcha!

My business name has been approved, and the registration came through the other day. I am officially (according to the tax man) the sole proprietor of my very own home based business. (Yay me!)

It's really nothing fancy - I don't think I'll be buying promotional pens just yet - but it's a good way for me to have to keep track of my income and expenses. Plus I figure I can write off part of my internet connection! Bonus!

The Dog Toilet

Who knew there even was such a thing? I was checking out a site on green products this afternoon, and clicked on an article on what to do about dog poop. (When you live with a Great Dane, this is actually a big issue.) Long story short, I clicked through to the Doggie Dooley toilet system, and after a quick read, I ran for my credit card and ordered it right away!

It's not a toilet exactly, but more like a miniature septic system. You install it partly in the ground, add poop, and sprinkle it with the included enzymes. It reduces the poop to a ground absorbing liquid. Cool huh?

Is it wrong for me to be so excited about this? :-)

Welcome Home Dinner

I was asked to do a review on two new Grey Poupon mustard flavors. As luck would have it, my wonderful husband made a fantastic welcome home dinner for me this past Sunday night. Roast beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, and even Yorkshire pudding! (He is the King of Yorkshire's!)

The perfect opportunity to taste test the new mustards!

We all loved the hearty spicy brown - the flavor of onion and garlic offset the strong horseradish taste. Hubby is well into this jar already, as he's been using it on every sandwich he makes!

At first glance, the harvest coarse ground looks like it will be the stronger of the two, but that's not the case.
I put a dab on my roast beef, expecting to be overwhelmed by a bold mustard taste. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find it almost sweet! Even Mikayla, who's not much of a mustard fan at all, agreed that the harvest coarse ground was pretty darn tasty!

And that, my friends, is HIGH praise indeed!

Family Day, eh?

It's Presidents Day in the US today, but here in Canada, (well in SOME provinces), it's the stat holiday of Family Day. I had thought it was only Alberta that proclaimed the third Monday in February to be Family Day, but now apparently Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have joined in as well.

Three out of the four Western Provinces have Family Day! And of course, we live in BC - the only Western Province not to have joined in. Huh.

It would sure be nice if us BC'ers had a paid holiday to focus on family - to go skiing, bowling, swimming - whatever. Heck, if ya wanted, you could even go to the library and learn about cerebral palsy symptoms!

Well, I probably wouldn't partake in that last one, but a day of skiing would be fantastic!

Finally home...

Mum's surgery went very well, and her recovery even better. It seemed like we had to wait forever to get the results on her lymph nodes, but we finally got the good news that they were negative. :-)

After being away for just over 3 weeks, I arrived home Valentine's night. Of course I woke up the next morning with a wicked cold! (Figures)

And I can certainly say without a doubt that I am the glue that holds this family together!! But everyone (even the four-legged kids) was alive and well, so I guess that's all that matters. :-)

Underwater fun!

I finally got the underwater cameras developed from our trip to Cozumel. I thought they turned out pretty good, and they're sure a nice souvenir to have!

They really don't do the colour of the water justice however - you could see forever and the colours were really amazing and vibrant! I don't know what type of fish those are in the first picture, but they were by far the most aggressive. I made the mistake of keeping my finger attached to a piece of bread for too long, and one actually bit me! It surprised me more than it hurt, but still a good thing that we purchased travel health insurance before we went on our trip!

Daytime TV

I'm not much of a TV watcher - In fact, I'd readily give up my TV over my internet anyday. But since Mum came home from the hospital last weekend, my days have been full of cooking, shoveling snow and daytime TV.

Mum has her shows all lined up from about 8am until 9pm. I've found a couple of shows that I actually don't mind - like Ellen. (Which we watch at noon) I don't think I ever need to watch Regis & Kelly again, or The View - they all talk and argue at once and I can hardly figure out what's going on! In the afternoon, Mum watches a lot of HGTV, which makes me want to go out and start a house flipping business!

I've been trying to talk Mum into getting a new TV, since the one she has now she got when I moved out of the house, some (ahem) 19 years ago. The TV stand is even older - we got it when I was in about Gr 10. I'm trying to convince her to get a snazzy new plasma which she could hang on the wall like a picture with a tv wall mount.

I have a feeling my pleas are being ignored! :-)

Home from surgery...

We came home from the hospital yesterday - well, my Mum's home anyway :-)

She came through the surgery very well. She had a few groggy and nauseous days, but really perked up on Day #3, so the Dr sent her home on the 4th day. I'm surprised at how well she's doing actually - I didn't think she'd even be able to move her right arm, much less use it!

She has an appointment with her surgeon this coming Tuesday, so hopefully we'll find out what the results are on the lymph nodes they took during the mastectomy. Other than that, we are just taking it easy and trying to keep any infection bugs away!

I sure miss home, even though I've only been gone for 11 days. (not that I'm counting or anything.) The girls are good so far, and have been busy with exams and hockey tournaments. My dear sweet Mattie stopped eating properly the day I left however, so I think he misses his Mama!

As long as the results on the lymph nodes are clear, I should be home in a week or so. I don't even want to think what happens next if that news is bad :-(

Are we in trouble or what?

This is really the only time in the girls' lives that I have ever been away for more than a day or two. I've pretty much been a stay-at-home Mom for most of their lives, so I think it was hard for us to say goodbye to each other - especially since I really don't know how long I'll be away. I figure a minimum of three weeks for sure, if not longer. It'll all depend on how my Mum's surgery and recovery goes.

So the girls and I decided we'd keep in touch via FaceBook, and talk on the phone whenever we can. They are away at a hockey tournament this weekend, so I can't call them, but just checked their FB's and saw that they had each posted new profile pictures:

I commented on both pictures asking WHERE THE HELL my two babies with their soothers and blankies have gone!!??

Time has just gone so fast! In a few short months, Kristanna will officially be a teenager as well, and before I know it, they will both be off to University!

We try to keep them as busy as possible with hockey, snowboarding and Lacrosse (which they both want to join in the Spring), so we're hoping that keeps them too busy (and tired) to even THINK about boys! My plan will work... right? Right??? Lots of sports means I'll probably need to take advantage of Dick's Sporting Goods coupons, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

Maybe we should push them into careers as Nun's?

What I want to know is - what friggen camera are they using while I'm gone? I have my camera - and the web cam is hidden (nasty thing that is), so they must have found the usb cord to the old camera!

I'm no good at this being away thing. At least I was thinking and brought wine to help me through it. (hiccup)