Robin's Blog Blather
The New Car
As many of you know, I totalled our 2000 Camry enroute to Louisville last May. ...<< MORE >>
I have to have one of these
My 7 year old is not a morning person. Not by a long shot. But I think this unique gift may save the day. In fact I may just got order one as soon as I'm done yapping about it.
The boy doesn't hear his alarm clock. It just doesnt register. Or on the odd occasion that he does hear it he already knows, at age 7, how to hit the snooze button. Today I found an Flying Alarm Clock. How cute is that? He loves planes so this will appeal to him on that level but it will also get his lazy butt out of bed to turn it off. How many of us need something like this to really motivate us?
Here's a video of what it does:
How cool is that? The only way you can get it to shut off is to put the propeller back onto the base. And that noise on the video is the actual sound this thing makes. I can think of nothing more annoying.
These people are geniuses. And masochists. I can't decide whether to send Flying Alarm Clocks to friends and family or to my worst enemies!
It's only about $25 so maybe I'll send them to everyone *grin* We'll see who is still speaking to me afterwards!
Seriously though, this website is a great resource for unusual gifts . My sister would love the pink tool kit they offer. And for her husband a beer glass that holds five cans of beer! There's no end to the fun and interesting stuff they have there. They also have a wide selection of informational dvd's--lots of "how to" stuff. They take all major credit cards, you can order via an 800 number and talk to real live people when you do. They ship worldwide and send out the order within 24 hours of recieving it.
It's only February, but I think I'll start my Christmas shopping at vat19 !
*thanks to all the sponsors of Robin's Blog Blather!
The boy doesn't hear his alarm clock. It just doesnt register. Or on the odd occasion that he does hear it he already knows, at age 7, how to hit the snooze button. Today I found an Flying Alarm Clock. How cute is that? He loves planes so this will appeal to him on that level but it will also get his lazy butt out of bed to turn it off. How many of us need something like this to really motivate us?
Here's a video of what it does:
How cool is that? The only way you can get it to shut off is to put the propeller back onto the base. And that noise on the video is the actual sound this thing makes. I can think of nothing more annoying.
These people are geniuses. And masochists. I can't decide whether to send Flying Alarm Clocks to friends and family or to my worst enemies!
Seriously though, this website is a great resource for unusual gifts . My sister would love the pink tool kit they offer. And for her husband a beer glass that holds five cans of beer! There's no end to the fun and interesting stuff they have there. They also have a wide selection of informational dvd's--lots of "how to" stuff. They take all major credit cards, you can order via an 800 number and talk to real live people when you do. They ship worldwide and send out the order within 24 hours of recieving it.
It's only February, but I think I'll start my Christmas shopping at vat19 !
*thanks to all the sponsors of Robin's Blog Blather!
Snow
Ok I didnt sign up for this.
When I married and moved to Canada I was prepared for SOME snow and SOME cold. To be honest, the cold hasn't really been such a big issue. We have an underground garage and I don't really go anywhere where Im walking in the cold for very long. Plus my daughter Rachel crocheted me an extra long and extra wide scarf--in my favorite color--and I can wrap it in such a way that I don't need a hat. I detest hats. So the cold, while I complain some about it, isnt really an issue.
But the SNOW~ holy cow. Last year we got nearly nothing, and I was perfectly ok with that. Now we've got more snow than we did in the 1990's when the mayor called out the army to help. Ive seen some decent snow storms. There was a blizzard in Parkersburg, WV in....81? 82? and my engine froze solid and we had some good snow. I was stuck in a radio station with one other person because nobody else could get in to run things. So he and I took turns sleeping on the floor and eating from the vending machine. But by Monday morning things were navigable again and although my engine still hadn't thawed I could walk the couple of miles home.
The other major snowstorm I remember was in Havelock, NC of all places. Was really a freak storm as they NEVER get snow down there. It's only 20 minutes from the ocean! It snowed maybe 6 or 8 inches, completely covering parked cars and thigh deep to my toddlers. They have no snow removal capabilities in eastern NC so it took awhile to get over that one. Plus it was just a couple of days before Christmas so "santa" was really going to have to be creative for stocking stuffers...
Once it snowed waist deep to my youngster in West Virginia. She jumped off the porch into the snow and couldnt move. That was entertaining.
But this snow in Toronto...oh my...how to describe it. First of all, it comes and comes and comes this year. Two or three good storms a week--minimum two inches. It's a good day when we "only" get two inches. A couple of weeks ago when this started, the plows were keeping up. Eventually, though, the piles of snow alongside the road and sidewalks got to be 5 feet high. Dangerous driving because you couldnt see oncoming traffic if you were turning. Additionally, Toronto is very urban--there's simply no place to shovel snow to. So they removed it to dump trucks and found several fields around the city to dump the snow into. One of those spots is vacant land along side the railroad tracks across the street from my apartment building.
The first night they started piling snow there I didnt know what was going on. I kept being awakened by BANG and beep beep beep and diesel engine noise. Finally the third or fourth time I got up I managed to locate the sounds outside my office window. Sleep was ok after that because I knew what the sounds were. Plus it stopped after a day or two. For about a week.
Now it's back again because the snow continues to fall. We've had so much Ive lost count. In one day (Feb 7, just two weeks ago) we had 40 cm in one day. And there have been at least three MAJOR snow events since then. And it's snowing today as well. Only a couple of centimenters so far (it's about 10am now) so they arent even bothering to plow yet. They don't start that til 5cm have fallen (about two inches) Add to that temperatures that are either -14C (about 6 F) or 2 (about 33 F) so it thaws and freezes--sometimes in a matter of a couple of hours. As of last week, Toronto had recieved 130 cm of snow in 2008--that's about 52 inches or 4 feet--through Feb 12. We've had at least three MAJOR snowfalls (10 cm or more) since then. Standing, undisturbed snow in a field is about 5 feet deep--and that is after some thawing and rain last week.
But my gripe is really about this ski hill they are building across the street. They have formed a circle in the field with the heavy equipment in the middle and only one entrance/exit. The snow hills are at least 4 stories high. In many places you can no longer see the trees. And they are working 24 hours, seven days a well. BANG, beep beep beep beep BANG, rev rev...on and on and on.
I wanna go home. Im going snow crazy!
When I married and moved to Canada I was prepared for SOME snow and SOME cold. To be honest, the cold hasn't really been such a big issue. We have an underground garage and I don't really go anywhere where Im walking in the cold for very long. Plus my daughter Rachel crocheted me an extra long and extra wide scarf--in my favorite color--and I can wrap it in such a way that I don't need a hat. I detest hats. So the cold, while I complain some about it, isnt really an issue.
But the SNOW~ holy cow. Last year we got nearly nothing, and I was perfectly ok with that. Now we've got more snow than we did in the 1990's when the mayor called out the army to help. Ive seen some decent snow storms. There was a blizzard in Parkersburg, WV in....81? 82? and my engine froze solid and we had some good snow. I was stuck in a radio station with one other person because nobody else could get in to run things. So he and I took turns sleeping on the floor and eating from the vending machine. But by Monday morning things were navigable again and although my engine still hadn't thawed I could walk the couple of miles home.
The other major snowstorm I remember was in Havelock, NC of all places. Was really a freak storm as they NEVER get snow down there. It's only 20 minutes from the ocean! It snowed maybe 6 or 8 inches, completely covering parked cars and thigh deep to my toddlers. They have no snow removal capabilities in eastern NC so it took awhile to get over that one. Plus it was just a couple of days before Christmas so "santa" was really going to have to be creative for stocking stuffers...
Once it snowed waist deep to my youngster in West Virginia. She jumped off the porch into the snow and couldnt move. That was entertaining.
But this snow in Toronto...oh my...how to describe it. First of all, it comes and comes and comes this year. Two or three good storms a week--minimum two inches. It's a good day when we "only" get two inches. A couple of weeks ago when this started, the plows were keeping up. Eventually, though, the piles of snow alongside the road and sidewalks got to be 5 feet high. Dangerous driving because you couldnt see oncoming traffic if you were turning. Additionally, Toronto is very urban--there's simply no place to shovel snow to. So they removed it to dump trucks and found several fields around the city to dump the snow into. One of those spots is vacant land along side the railroad tracks across the street from my apartment building.
The first night they started piling snow there I didnt know what was going on. I kept being awakened by BANG and beep beep beep and diesel engine noise. Finally the third or fourth time I got up I managed to locate the sounds outside my office window. Sleep was ok after that because I knew what the sounds were. Plus it stopped after a day or two. For about a week.
Now it's back again because the snow continues to fall. We've had so much Ive lost count. In one day (Feb 7, just two weeks ago) we had 40 cm in one day. And there have been at least three MAJOR snow events since then. And it's snowing today as well. Only a couple of centimenters so far (it's about 10am now) so they arent even bothering to plow yet. They don't start that til 5cm have fallen (about two inches) Add to that temperatures that are either -14C (about 6 F) or 2 (about 33 F) so it thaws and freezes--sometimes in a matter of a couple of hours. As of last week, Toronto had recieved 130 cm of snow in 2008--that's about 52 inches or 4 feet--through Feb 12. We've had at least three MAJOR snowfalls (10 cm or more) since then. Standing, undisturbed snow in a field is about 5 feet deep--and that is after some thawing and rain last week.
But my gripe is really about this ski hill they are building across the street. They have formed a circle in the field with the heavy equipment in the middle and only one entrance/exit. The snow hills are at least 4 stories high. In many places you can no longer see the trees. And they are working 24 hours, seven days a well. BANG, beep beep beep beep BANG, rev rev...on and on and on.
I wanna go home. Im going snow crazy!
Ok it's been way too long
Way too long since I blogged. You see, Ive been suffering from a bit of ...
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Canadians are not known for tipping well. Especially my husband.
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