Can't Find the Butter Man

My pictures are a wee bit blurry... sorry in advance...

This morning I decided (well, actually two weeks ago I decided and just got around to it this morning) that I was going to make my own butter!

Recipe:

500 mL carton of 35% (whipping) cream - or heavier, but it's not necessary, just adds more fat to your butter.
a pinch or two of salt (optional)
dried rosemary or basil if you want to be fancy (but I didn't)

Equipment:

Hand beater with whisk attachment
Large bowl (to stop splattering)

Skills:

Can you turn on and hold a beater?  Do you have the patience to hold this beater for about 15 minutes?  Do you get giddy about little things such as the changing states of cream?  Then you can make butter.

Time:

15 min or so with an electric beater.  Want to use a churn & dash like great-grandma?  All day.

Yield: 

I was able to get over a cup of butter from the 500 mL carton, plus about 2/3 cup of buttermilk.

Worth it? :

When you buy butter at the supermarket, it usually costs about 2.99-3.49 a pound (or about two cups.  And you don't have to do anything.  It's already butter.  I got two 500 mL cartons of cream on sale for 2 for $5, and it made just over a pound of butter, so really... just buy the butter.  But this is super fun to try and you feel really accomplished when you do it.  If you don't have a beater already.. don't bother.


Directions:

Pour the cream into the bowl.  Add your salt to taste.  I found I used a bit more because Dave and I both like salted butter.  Turn on your beater to a low speed to start (or turn it on high and spray yourself and your kitchen as I did).

Ignore the residue on the sides of my bowl... I'd already done a batch so that's butter flecks.

Once you have blended for a few seconds and whipped up a good froth ;)... your cream will get a little stiffer and you can turn up the speed on your blender.  You won't have whipped for two minutes before you can see the beginnings of whipped cream!



Voila!  Whipped cream!  You can increase your beater's speed now to max, if you haven't done so already.  Just stop every once in a while to scrape the sides of your bowl down to minimize wasteage.  It will take another few minutes beyond the whipped cream state for you to realize that anything further is happening.  The cream will begin to take on a slight yellowish tinge and begin looking more and more like whipped potatoes.

The cream will start getting more and more grainy looking...

Soon your cream will take on a little bit of a glisten and, if you can hear it over your beater, it will sound a little squelchy.  At this point, I slow my beater down to about half of full speed.  It may remind you a bit of runny-ish scrambled eggs.

With your beater at the medium settng, continue to slowly swirl around the bowl (make sure you are still scraping your sides to get everything) until it starts to stick together.

At this point, you will start to see liquid forming in the bottom of the bowl... that's buttermilk!  Slow your beater down to the minimum speed to stop it from spraying.  Just like bread dough in a mixer (if you've ever made that) the butter will start to come together on its own.  Just keep mixing.

Your butter will get to a point that your beater won't swirl through it anymore.  Let your beater dance the lump of butter around to let it attract other small stray lumps to it until you've got your one big lump of butter sitting in the buttermilk.

OMG butter!  I just made butter!  Cool!  (And no, I'm not making fun of you... that's exactly what I said).  Take your lump of butter in your hand and just sort of dab at your strays to pick them up (just like you would with cookie dough, say).  Give your lump of butter a squeeze to get the extra buttermilk out, then take the lump over to the sink and run it under some cool water.  As your washing it, roll it between your hands to make it into a smooth sphere.  Or, if you're fancy like the mom in Little House in the Big Woods, put it into a cute mold to make shapes.  I don't have one.  But it'll happen.  Now you've got butter and buttermilk!  Enjoy it!!







No spices were harmed during the creation of the Sprinkle Rack

I was too excited about my new Cake Decorating adventures that I had to share my little creation:

The sprinkle rack!

Woo hoo I'm very excited about this!  Note all of the sprinkles in rainbow order.  On the other side I also have various rainbow combinations such as stars and non-pareils and a few Christmas concoctions as well as Black and White sugars.  I have two empty jars, what else should I put?

I've been, like, baking!

Over the last month and a half that I've been living at my mom's in Kingston and working only 4 hour shifts 4 days a week, I've been finding myself with a lot of extra time on my hands, so I've decided to take up a new hobby, A.K.A., cooking and baking!  This way I can be creative and everyone can enjoy the outcome (or not, based on how well I do :p)

I've happened to discover recipes that I think might be good and modify them to meet my own likes and dislikes.  I have a Campbell's recipe, for example, for Country Scalloped Potatoes, where I swapped the Cream of Celery Soup for Cheddar Cheese Soup.  Yummmm!  Best scalloped potatoes I've ever had.  I also swap out Cream of Mushroom soup (yuck!) for cream of chicken or other kinds that suit the recipe best.  I've discovered a pan-fried breaded chicken that's awesome and many other things.

I've always loved baking & while I'm no Bakerella in the decorating department (yet) I do know that it always tastes yummy.  Here are a few pictures of a couple of the things that I've attempted:

FILLED CHOCOLATES!

Because they are so impossible to find (good ones, anyway), I decided to try making Strawberry Filled Chocolates.  I love the strawberry cremes from the Pot of Gold (which they don't make anymore).  I looked up some recipes online for a strawberry filling and found one I thought was ok, but it was more of a strawberry topping than a filling.  The real recipe involved real strawberries with sugar and water (A.K.A simple syrup) and then thickened with corn starch.  I swapped the real strawberries for strawberry ice cream topping because I was lazy, but because the strawberry taste turned out so weak and the texture the same as the ice cream topping, I may as well have squeezed the topping itself into the chocolates and it probably would have turned out better.  Next time I'll try to find one more creamy like the kinds you get in boxes of chocolates.

Here are the finished candies.  I used a mold, of course: you paint the inside with melted candy wafers (lots of different colours available).  Just use a small regular paint brush... the kind you get in the little kids' watercolour packages.  I did find that the wafers gooped up the brush after a few molds, so I had to keep running it under hot water to loosen up the bristles.  It is also best to hold your molds up to the light to see where they are thin so that you can apply more chocolate before you fill them.  I still had a few bubbles in the top where mine was a little thin, even though I checked a lot!  You are then meant to let them set in the fridge for about 5 minutes until you see a bit of white frost forming on the insides.  Fill them up not quite to the top with your filling, and then pour melted chocolate over the top of the filling to make the bottoms.  I was a little messy with mine, as you can see.  They were incredibly sweet and not very strawberry, but still good and they were gone from the kitchen counter within a few days :)

FRUIT TARTS

 These were lots of fun and too cute!  I just bought store-made tenderflake mini-tarts from the frozen aisle at the grocery store even though I had a recipe for dough from scratch.  I was just far too lazy and because these were made for an event (my grandparents' 50th anniversary) I wanted them to look nice and store-made tart shells are more pretty and uniform.  The cream filling is just basically a thick vanilla pudding.  Slice your desired fruit (I used strawberry, kiwi and peach) and place on top of the filling, and then melt an apricot glaze in the microwave for about 20 seconds or so (I used apricot jam because the grocery store didn't have glaze, but it's the same).  You can leave the glaze off, but it's just meant to make the tarts look nice and shiny and add a bit of zing to the taste.  You can probably use any kind of jam or jelly you want, but apricot was suggested in the recipe because it is more clear than most other kinds of jams.

CHOCOLATE CREAM TARTS

I also made these for the 50th anniversary.  I already had them wrapped up ready for the fridge but you can see them well enough to get the point.  The filling is basically a creamier version of chocolate pudding (the taste is much the same but the texture is richer) again in store-bought tart shells.  I've made this chocolate cream in a pie crust as well (which is what the recipe actually calls for).  It's always been a pretty well-liked item.  The recipe calls for whipped cream on the tops, but because these are travelling all the way to Ottawa, I thought it best to leave it off so that I could wrap them up nice and tight so that I don't have the disaster that I did transporting my cupcakes to the cottage (many flipped over and smeared everywhere).

I've tried a few other things as well: pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cheesecake, and various kinds of cookies.  I've always liked baking, but over the last few years I haven't done much of it because Dave is not really a sweets kind of person so it's not worth making 2 dozen cookies or a big dessert just for me!  It's nice to be back somewhere where the fruits of my labour are enjoyed!  So there will definitely be more to come!

Leaving Niagara

What I'll Miss...

1. Dave (until New Year's).
2. The puppies (same).
3. Kristin.
4. *Most* of the people at work.  You know who you are!
5. Everything that you can possibly need is less than a five minute drive from your house & you don't have to drive all the way across town.
6. There's always something to do here.
7. This house.  Where else can you get 4 beds, 2 bath for under $100 grand?
8. Walking along the canal.
9. 99.9 Virgin Radio Toronto.  I spend almost an hour listening to it every day driving to and from work. It's like losing your best friend lol.  Seriously, I'm like, really upset about not having this station.
10. My wine knowledge actually means something here.
11. Toronto is actually close if you ever want to go and do things (like concerts!).
12. Going to concerts lol.
13. Having the opportunity to meet really cool people like Prince Charles and Prime Ministers of other countries.
14. My job.  It was pretty cool.  Most of the time it was fun.  People there were awesome.  Even the customers.  They rocked.
15. The fact that you can put cardboard and cans out on the same week.
16. The number of places that are 24 hours so that you can shop late at night without having to deal with people.
17. Blue Ghost Tunnel.
18. Roast beef with cheese and gravy from London Arms. (Even though I don't eat red meat anymore, I will still miss the option of getting it hahah).
19. The bigger variety of stores/shopping.
20. Huge gratuity cheques!  No matter where I work from now on, I'll never get those biggies again.
21. All the employees at Kelsey's and Boston Pizza know us.

What I won't...

1. Everyone west of the Toronto area are just the worst kind of drivers.  Seriously.  WORST. EVER.
2. Tourists.  I know they have tourists in Kingston, but they don't hold a candle to the tourists we get down here.
3. Not being able to shop in stores that I used to work at because I hated it so much there that I never want to go back in again.  Yay I can shop at Garage again!
4. The feeling of being all alone.  All the time.
5. The 25 minute drive to work.  As much as I liked my job, I hated that drive.
6. Having to worry about crossing the canal.  Lift bridges suck when they take ten minutes to go up, stay up for twenty minutes and then take ten minutes to come back down lol.
7. The Casinos!
8. The Pen Centre and all of it's renovations and business, and the traffic at the lights out front of it, because there's only one way in and out apparently.  (There isn't, but people seem to only go that way).
9. Living in Welland.  People call it the armpit of Niagara, but it's totally the stinky, dirty, smelly, crab and herpes infected crotch of Niagara.
10. People saying "Oh, you're from Kingston?  That's where the prison is, right?"
11. The lake is on the wrong side here.  That's gay, but it still messes me up all the time.
12. Dave knowing someone everywhere we walk into, and then we have to stop and talk to them forever.  Although he knows people in Kingston, too.  Dammit.
13. Being far away from my family and not being able to visit often, and reading statuses on facebook all the time about people having BBQs and going to the cottage and not being able to go.
14. Having no money, ever.

Looking forward to...

1. My mom cooking for me again.  Don't even say anything.  You know you're going to even if I didn't want you to.
2. Being closer to everyone.
3. Starting a new job, wherever it may be.  And working full time (hopefully).
4. Making money on this house and having some extra for a change!
5. Kingston's not as lame as it was when I left.  Now there's more shopping and restaurants and stuff to do.
6. Not relocating my entire life with absolutely nothing, like I did when I came here.
7. *Slightly* better drivers.  You know, people who go the speed limit and don't cut you off and almost kill you just so that they can get home ten seconds faster or caught by the red light ten meters ahead.
8. On the subject of driving, I'll be getting my G in Kingston which is waaaaaay easier to do on the 401 than it is on the QEW.
9. Even though this really has nothing to do with me moving to Kingston, Cuba in October!!!
10. Jen!

Not so much...

1. There's NOWHERE to buy good designer purses there.  And I mean new ones, not ones that came out last year and Kingston is finally getting them.
2. Songs come out on Fly FM like 2 months after they have already existed on other stations.  And Fly FM still plays Michael Buble and James Blunt and that stupid Lady Antebellum song and Lights.  And they really seem to shy away from the funkier stuff.  But the Border sucks now, so really there's no radio station there at all!
3. Everything seems to be different than when I left, and it will be hard to get used to again.
4. Dave has no friends there and he is upset about that.
5. Wow.  I can't even think of 5 things.

Blog-a-versary

So, like, you probably know that my first anniversary of being married to Dave was this past Sunday the 24th of July.  And you probably know that we went to Toronto for two days, one night, and stayed at the Fairmont Royal York downtown and maybe even some of the things that we did there.

Well, too bad.  I'm blogging about it anyways.  With pictures!  But don't worry.  No sexy pictures.

Aww.

We drove my teeny little car to Appleby Line in Burlington and took the 10:00 (ish) Go Train to Union Station.  We arrived at the hotel hoping that we could get away with an early check-in so that we wouldn't have to drag our backpack all over downtown.  The front desk agent did say that she had a room available, but when she found out that it was our anniversary, she upgraded us to a Superior Suite, however one was not available yet.  Luckily she directed us to the bell desk and we were able to check our bag for the afternoon.

Look how happy Dave is to be on the Go Train!

Since we had a couple of hours to kill before going to the Theatre, we decided to walk up to the Eaton Centre, about a ten minute walk or so from the hotel.  We just grabbed lunch at McDonald's quickly and then looked around a few stores.  There was nothing really exciting, since the Eaton Centre has all of the exact same stores that you can find at the Pen Centre or anywhere else in Niagara, but it killed enough time before we had to go to the theatre.

We saw the Blue Man Group at the Princess of Wales Theatre on King Street at 2:00.  Because it was a messy show (the first four rows in front of the stage had to wear ponchos), we were actually allowed to bring food and drinks into the theatre, and they were selling blue slushies.  Dave and I had box seats, which you might think sounds really special, but they were actually cheaper than regular seats & kind of had an awkward view of  the stage... I had to lean over sideways to see everything.

I wasn't able to get  any pictures of the show because they were really weird about that.  But I did manage to steal this picture from Google:

This was the "encore" act.  They did a lot of really cool stuff, but the show was actually mostly comedic in nature and not so much about the "cool stuff".  A lot of it is hard to describe, but it's basically a series of comedy sketches that involve a lot of neat lighting and technology.  They involve the audience for about 75% of the show. (At the end, they threw big giant balloons that were flashing different colours out at the audience to bounce around, and then proceeded to fire toilet paper and silly string at us in very gargantuan amounts... as in, I'm pretty sure if I'd been the maintenance person working  at the Princess of Wales, I would have quit then and there.)  It was a great show and I definitely recommend it.

After the show, we went straight back to the hotel and our room was ready.  I definitely was not expecting a room quite like this.  I do know that the Royal York underwent some renovations in the past few years or so, but the last time I stayed there it was bright red and gold carpets and gaudy stuffy rooms.  This was what we found:

Living Room with internet and TV (and a huge "minibar" that you can't see)

Swanky bedroom with TV

A soaker tub that, if filled all the way up, could actually drown you without you making an effort.
"mmmmmm..... drooowwwwnnnnn"

This was Dave's favourite part:

"Don't ever call me from that phone"...

Until I showed him this:

Yea, a TV in the bathroom mirror.  You know, in case you can't bear to miss your favourite show while in the tub.

I've got more pictures in my album on Facebook, which I know you're dying to see.

Anyways, we went out for dinner after to a place down the street called Oliver & Bonacini.  I was a little bit miffed at first.  It was a bit muggy out, and because the inside looked nice and I wanted our anniversary dinner to be special, we decided to eat inside.  The dining room was almost completely empty, but we still got jammed into a table right beside an older couple.  And by jammed in, I mean the man beside me was about 30 inches from me.  Like it seemed like we were sitting at the same table.  And Dave and I couldn't hear what the other was saying because all we could hear was them talking to each other.  And our vase with the candle on it had a huge chunk broken out of it.  After a few minutes of being frustrated, I asked our waitress if we could move to the patio.  I told her I was cold.

We moved outside to a wobbly table that I had to reach underneath and fix myself.  After that, everything was quite nice.  The waiter suggested a Watermelon Gazpacho (she said "gaspachio" and I snickered).  I tried it, and while it tasted a little more like red pepper than watermelon, I still liked it.  Then I had the pizza margherita, which I loved, but I was too full to finish (and then I left it at the hotel).

After dinner, we decided to go back to the hotel lobby bar and have some drinks.  It was very fancy and I kind of felt out of place, but the waiter was nice and didn't even call Dave a homo when he ordered a Manhattan.  By the time we were done it was almost 10:00 so we went upstairs.

Monday morning we woke up and went back down to the same place (it's called Epic Restaurant) for their breakfast buffet (since I paid extra to have the "bed and breakfast" deal).  I felt fancy until I went up to the buffet to get a piece of cold ham and dropped it *SPLAT* onto the floor in front of a whole bunch of people.  And then, because I was flustered, I decided the best thing to do was to pick it up and carry it back to my table because I didn't just want to leave it there.  I put it on Dave's plate when he was finished eating (almost).

We checked out the underground shopping malls for a while and ended up all the way back at the Eaton Centre... yea.  You can go all the way from Union Station to the Eaton Centre underground without ever seeing daylight.  We were caught up in the rush of people getting off the go trains and subways and heading to work, but it was still ok.  I ended up getting a pair of running shoes because my ankle started throbbing and swelling up.  Don't wear flip flops when you are planning to do a lot of walking around Downtown Toronto.

We walked back to the hotel above ground this time, and checked out.  Then we were able to leave our bag again while we walked down to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  I'd been there in the last 5 years, so I wasn't as interested this time around, but Dave hadn't been there for a while so I decided to indulge him.  I didn't take very many pictures of it, but I got this one of Guy Lafleur for my grandpa:

Look, though.  Look at it.  This guy's expression never changes.  And it's not even the same picture.  See?  The collars of his shirts are different.   And check out the third one in the bottom left.  SAME EXPRESSION.  What a Frenchie.

After the HHOF, we checked out the gift shop which had very little Anahiem stuff and absolutely NO Tampa Bay stuff, so we left and walked down to Queen's Quay and took the ferry to Toronto Island.  We checked out Centreville, the little kids amusement park which is pretty much like Lake Ontario Park for you people in Kingston... only updated with rides that aren't rusty and don't squeak.  Then we walked over to Far Away Farm (which was actually quite close) to see the barnyard animals.   They had horses, cows, sheep, goats, emus and chickens.  There was a donkey I think as well, but it was hard to tell because he was far away and he was in a pavilion that said "horses may bite".

I named this goat Baaaaaarb.  I know, you're in stitches.

Are you even still reading this?  If you are, *applause*

We had lunch at a restaurant called Carousel Cafe, which made my tummy a little upset, and then walked around and checked out some of the stuff on the island.  We walked out to the pier, checked out the beach, and the Franklin Children's Garden, as well as the Gibraltar Lighthouse, which apparently is said to be haunted.  I put pictures of this stuff on my facebook.  Then we grabbed some overpriced ice cream, grabbed the ferry back to downtown, and got our bag and took the 5:15 Go Train (jammed full of people leaving work) back to Appleby and came home, where I had two freshly groomed puppies waiting for me. :)

And that was our first anniversary!

Don't you wish you were me?

Oh, and since the first anniversary gift is "paper", we got each other plane tickets to Cuba.  But I think pretty much everyone already knows that.

Dear Mom:

Just because I know you're wondering, this took me approximately an hour and a half to write.

Basking in the Awesomeness (Part 3)

Since I'm sitting up in my room taking refuge from the heat in the rest of my house, the first item on my list this week is:

Air Conditioning

And I'm sure that I do not need to elaborate.

Unless people feel the desire to learn about refrigerator coils and stuff.  They can google it.

Cuba

I've started shopping for my honeymoon/family trip to Cuba while the summer deals are on, so this one makes the list this week.  Cuba is the only place (besides the U.S.) that I've ever been outside of Canada, & I have very little desire to see much else in the world except for Greece.  I've been to Cuba twice already and we love it there.  The people are very friendly and you never have to worry about going off the resort and exploring other areas of the country.  There's definitely no shortage of things to do while on vacation there both on and off the resorts.  I've gone swimming with dolphins and visited a local (a friend of my aunts' and uncles') at his house and met his family and ate with them.  You can sit in the pool or on the beach all day long, or take a train in to the village and go to the market.  There are plenty other excursions you can take, too, but I've never done them because I just preferred to relax and spend as little money as possible.

Going to Weddings

I cry at every wedding I go to, even if I don't really know the bride or groom.  I prefer to be an observer at most weddings.  I usually only dance if I know other guests, so most of the time I like to sit at the table and watch (and make fun of) other people.  I like to see dresses and flowers and first dances and wedding cakes.  I try to take pictures but I spend so much time looking and experiencing that I forget about the camera.  I'm also not really known for my exceptional photography skills.

I've only gotten to participate in two weddings besides my own since I don't have a ton of friends, but I loved doing it & hope that there are more on the way soon (GOT THAT, LADIES??)

I actually went back to school with becoming a wedding planner in mind, because I like to see it all unfold, but I like the job I'm at right now so I'm just going to give it a while before I explore any further options.

Greek Mythology

This is something I've had an interest in ever since Grade 9 English when we did a unit on it (rather, the unit was on ancient poetry and plays, but it's all the same, really).  I have a few books with different stories from Greek mythology, and although I haven't read them all the way through from cover to cover, I do look up different stories now and then if I'm thinking about them.  My particular interests are in the actual Greek Gods, and in Atlantis (which I still think was made-up even though they're pretty close to finding it).  I know most of the Gods and what they represent, and I'm pretty well versed in the story of Troy.  And not the Brad Pitt/Orlando Bloom/Eric Bana version... although I did enjoy that for obvious reasons :)

P.S.  I've never actually found anything anywhere to suggest that Artemis ever used the moon as her bow.  Actually, while the moon is one of her symbols, she isn't actually considered to be the goddess of the moon.  The moon is her symbol because one of her domains is childbirth and the "womanly cycle", once thought to coincide with the lunar cycle.

U2

U2 Rules all.  Unlike most rockbands, none of their songs sound exactly like the other ones.  And they put on a freakin good show.  That is all.

The Awesome Things, Continued...

Build-A-Bear

How cool is the Build a Bear workshop?  I have made four bears so far, and Dave has made one, and I still have so much more to explore there! 

My Bears are: (from L-R)
Tim "Divah" Robinson.  Tim is from Las Vegas (hence the pink shirt) and works in Real Estate.  He is a cross dresser, but he's not gay.  And yes, those are leopard tights and gold sparkly high heels.

Levi James (L.J.) Bennett - From downtown Niagara Falls.  He's a home boy, rockin out his bandanna, gold chain, jeans that are too big, a white wife-beater, and, of course, Chuck Taylor's.  Word.

Groom Bear and Bride Bear - Groom Bear was created by Dave the day that he "proposed" to me.  I created Bride Bear earlier that summer after we were unofficially engaged and I started planning my wedding.  She came with a veil, bouquet, little satin slippers (like mine!) and a blue garter.

Kira Bennett - The first bear I ever made, so she had to be run of the mill.  She used to have a little pink bow on one ear that matched her dress, but Charlie had a feast when he was a puppy...

I still have to create a TML bear and definitely a Jedi bear, however every time I go in there, there are too many options and too many "limited time" bears and clothes to choose from.  Plus, when I'm spending at least 35 bucks a pop on a teddy, I don't tend to go too often.  Still, it's the only place to go for a quality bear.  And come, on, you get to stuff it yourself and put it's little heart inside.  Cute!!


Books

For without books, we should have nothing to read!

I like all kinds of genres, but the book has to be interesting enough to hold my attention, and not too wordy.  I find books by some authors like Stephen King to be more boring than they are scary, and I've only ever bought, read, and enjoyed a couple of them: such as Pet Semetary and, of course, The Shining.  I also tend to steer clear of more popular books like Shopaholic and stuff like that.  I have given in to some popular titles, like the Twilight Series and Harry Potter, and did enjoy them (mostly) but I prefer to explore books that aren't always on the Best Seller table at Chapters.

The Government

Ok, so this could go on for a while, and probably a whole lot of people just went "WTF!!"

Certainly I disagree with some aspects of our government's choices, both at the Provincial and Federal levels.

BUT

Consider other places in the world.  Google them.  I even have an example for you: http://www.hrw.org/free-burmas-prisoners/prisoners How lucky are we to be a democracy?  How lucky are we to not have to deal with political unrest and rebellion and civil war?  Some would say, actually, that we do deal with these sorts of things every day.  But really, I'm talking about HERE, in our own country, not overseas.

Some people have lost their jobs, gas prices are ridiculous.  But to me, if these are the only things that have affected my day to day life... I mean, as opposed to, you know, warfare and hunger and poverty, I consider myself thankful to have such a well established government taking care of me.  Universal health care takes care of our medical emergencies and we never have to worry about paying barely a cent (except for ambulances, for some reason)... the States doesn't even have that... they pay thousands of dollars for medical insurance which doesn't even cover half the crap that comes up in life.  I'll pay a little more in taxes out of my income for these things (and no, I don't always like where that money goes - A.K.A. WELFARE) and I am happy to do it because I am lucky to live in Canada.  The greatest country on Earth.

So can people please stop their bitching now?  Especially people who don't bother to vote!


Justin Timberlake

Seriously, do I even need to say anything more here??  This guy's a dream.  And pretty much amazing at everything.

Lady Gaga

Since I'm in to artists....

Lady Gaga is beyond amazing.  The best thing about her is that there are no words to describe her.  Except weird.  And awesome.  Every song she makes is fantastic, and she gives 100,000% in every one of her performances.  I always admire artists that care about their fans so much that they never want to disappoint them.

She is not the "next Madonna".  She's Lady Gaga.


Hmmmm... one more for this week?  Sure!  Let's go with...

Old Kid's Shows, and the fact that you can still watch some of them.

Teletoon Retro is where it's at.  They play The Smoggies, Thundercats, Bugs Bunny & Tweety, Inspector Gadget, and the ORIGINAL Power Rangers (although I've only seen that come on Sundays at 6:30 a.m.).
Here are some of my old favourites, some that are still available, and some that SHOULD BE!

Care Bear STARE!!!

Captain Planet - Come on, this guy ruled... and with all the green trend going on now, this show should be back on the air!

The Original Power Rangers.  HI YA!

The Incredible Spider Man!

Stop those Smoggies!  They're polluting the Earth!

Thundercats are on the loose.  Ok I actually have to stop and talk about this show for a bit.  This show was actually a little bit before my time, but it's Dave's favourite and now we watch it every single night at midnight when it comes on.  I HATE the names of the characters!  Ok, come ON, Lion-O?  DUMB!  His name could have been Lionel, a REAL name and much more clever.  And Panthro and Tigra?  Was there any effort at all?  At least Cheetarah had a little bit of creativity involved, because they couldn't just call her Cheetah.  And Wiley Kit and Wiley Kat make no sense to me... Kit is a boy's name and Kat is a girl's name, yet they have reversed them on this show so that the little girl is Wiley Kit and the little boy is Wiley Kat.  And I really don't understand why Lion-o has to shout "Ho!" all the time.  That's just rude, man.  And there's a ghost guy called Jaga (a jaguar, obviously).  Why couldn't they have called him Jag?  That's a totally cool name!  And Mumm-Ra?  Sigh.  He has a dog.  Called Ma-Mutt.  And that's only the beginning.

The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog!  This show only lasted one season, but I thought it was pretty cool.  And there's no need to mention that I was actually fourteen when I watched this every day after school...

Today's Special.

The mouse was called Muffy.  That is all.

I was also actually a little older when I watched this.  But look at the guys in it!

You can't go wrong with a little bit of Ryan Gosling.

and last but certainly not least:

Know what this is?  Do ya?  Do ya?  Student Bodies!  That's what!

Great show!