An unexpected e-mail

Today, Jenn got an e-mail from a wedding planning website telling us we have been married for 180 days. We are therefore going to celebrate our 6monthaversary on the Lunar New Year, which is also when we got engaged. Kind of groovy.

For those of you wondering what you should get us as a 6monthaversary present, I would suggest the following. Since Koda is fast on his way from kitten to cat, we have decided that he needs to stay small and cute. You can send us supplies from here so that we can keep him small and cute.

See you all at new year's, Kung hei fat choi!

Sick in the Salt Mines

Is how you might describe us. Sorry about not updating for a few weeks here, but there has not been much to report on our end of things. Jenn has been sick with a persistent little bug for about a week, and I am settling into my writing groove again, hopefully getting closer to finished every day.

Just a few updates are in order, Our kitties are both healthy and happy, and Koda is getting less destructive and more cuddly every day, which is a blessing. We can now let the cats sleep in our room again without being attacked at two hour intervals by Koda.

I am registered in the LESA Mediation of Divorce and Separation seminar in February, which I am looking forward to. I have been looking at taking this course for the last couple of years, but now the timing just works great, and I have had a recommendation from a friend regarding the course itself. More updates on that as they are available.

Our next big event will be the Chinese New Year's dinner for 12 we will be serving on the 28th (early, we know). Here's the tentative menu:

Spring Rolls
Ginger Beef
Pineapple Chicken
Hoisin Pork Shreds
Broccoli and Snow Peas with Black Bean Sauce
Green Onion Cakes
Fried Rice
BBQ Pork Buns

I know that many of you will be disappointed that you don't get any, but in order to ensure fairness, we will be selling tickets for the next one.

And finally, To our Friend Suz, pppppppbbbbbbbbbbttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

There. We updated the blog!

Back to Normal, Whatever That Means

Well, the holidays have officially come to a close for us now, which I guess is alright. Our holidays were filled with much activity and excitement. Our holiday in Mexico was wonderful, there are pictures below. We also spent a week in Calgary with Owen's family, which was very busy.

School officially started again yesterday and I am already feeling like there is much to do. My course load is much lighter than it ever has been, but there still seems to be a lot of work to get through. After this semester I have two semesters of practicum and then I graduate! Yeah! Finally!

The first week of April I will be having a flute recital and all are welcomed to attend.

We're Back!

Well, we have returned from Puerto Vallarta and are now home for a few days. We got back around 7:30 Tuesday and we will be leaving for Calgary on the 26th. We had a fabulous time as our trip was wonderful.

And the last day of classes was had by all

Well, my last day of classes is officially done and finished. I wrote my first exam today and handed in my internet assignments. My Jury is on Friday morning and Monday is my last exam, I also have five papers due at that time as well. I am slowly ticking things off the list but by this time next week I will be laying on a beach drinking margaritas in the hot sun. For anyone that may be interested, my web-page is located at: http://www.ualberta.ca/~jmt/BenefitsOfMusicEducation.htm . Please keep in mind this is my first attempt at a web-page. Hopefully I will have time someday to actually make a nice web-page along the same topic line.

Counting Down The Days!

Well, Today was Officially My Last Friday Class of the Semester, Yay! I am Very Glad for That, But I Still Have Three More Days of Classes Next Week. But Here is My Count Down:

-2 More music history classes (Monday and Wednesday)
-2 More Education Secondary classes (Monday and Wednesday)
-1 French Spoken Exam (Tuesday)
-1 French Written Exam (Wednesday)
-1 Web-Page to Finish and Post (Wednesday)
-1 Web-page to Edit and Send back to the Prof. (ASAP)
-5 Papers to Edit/Revise and Hand in (No later than the 12th)
AND Last but not least...
-My Jury (Flute Playing Exam for Those of You Unfamiliar With the Term) Which is on Friday.
-Oh yeah, and my Music History Final Which is on Dec.12.

Exhausted Yet?...

I Can't Wait Until the 13th Though, That's When We Get On The Plane For Mexico!...

Going Crazy...

Well, the end of my semester is fast approaching. There are 10 days of class left for me. I have a whole bunch of papers to do, a web-page to make and post, exams to write and a jury to play. It's going to be a pretty busy next two weeks for me, so please don't take it personally if I don't have time to talk or do anything with anyone for the next little while.

Last night I learned how to post web-pages, thanks to Drew for helping me out a bit. Unfortunately the web-page I had to post is extremely boring, unless you are taking EDIT 435. So, I won't bore you with the details, or even leave you the URL for that matter. I will soon make my own web-page and it will be much more exciting.

Well, back to the books.

We're Going To Winnipeg

We are very excited, for Christmas this year we are going to...Puerto Vallarta Mexico!, ok so not Winnipeg, hopefully... Not that there is any thing wrong with Winnipeg, don't get me wrong. So we are getting crazy excited about that. We have already started packing, as it seems we no longer need our summer clothes here in Edmonton... :( Anyhow, my last exam is on December 12, I have a ton of assignments due that day as well and on December 13 we board the plane and fly to paradise! I plan to spend most of our week away on the beach and playing with the pretty tropical warm water fishies. Ok, I am pretty excited.

Auntie Carrie will be looking after the kitties while we are gone, thanks Auntie Carrie :)

We are totally looking forward to lying on the beach drinking various Mexican cocktails.

In other news, I got a wicked awsome mark on my music history mid-term, I got and A, Woot woot, go me! ;)

Our Christmas Wish List

Well, we have decided the easiest way for us to let everyone who wants to know what we want or need for christmas, would be to put our wish list here. So here it goes.

Jenn and Owen's Christmas Wish List:
-Cookie Sheets (We have NONE!)(Costco has some really nice ones)
-Cookie Cutters
-Gourmet Cooking Things, ie. fancy salts or spices or cooking things that are a little more precious than ordinary. (Please not organic fresh vegetables though...)
-Gift Certificates, some ideas are HBC, Linens'n'Things, Home Sense, Chapters, Campers Village, Canadian Tire, Suzy Sheir, Blue Notes/Thrifty's, Various Restaurants, Spa's or Salons, Costco (if they do gift certificates?).
-We both have Amazon.ca Wishlists as well. Look Jenn up with her previous last name though if you are going to do that. (We would really love to have the season 3 set of that 70's show.)

*Our Wedding Registries are all still available and have things left on them that we still need or would like.
The Bay and Home Outfitters
Canadian Tire
Use Owen's name to look us up, it's much easier than looking up Jenn.

Mmmmm... Curry

I recently completed my 4 book set of cookbooks with this one And boy, was the Channa Masala tasty. I'm on a bit of a curry kick right now, and have been accumulating various ingredients. It helps that I already had a pretty full spice cupboard, and that Indian cooking isn't really all that expensive to start with. I already had a couple of other cookbooks, which I recommend.

Jenn can't quite manage the spice level yet due to her stomach trouble, but I enjoyed a supper of Channa Massala, Raita, Roti (homemade) and some mixed pickles that I got at the little grocery by H&W Produce. Today on the way home from dropping Jenn off at school, I stopped and picked up a few more items I wanted, like small packages of different lentils, and some small packages of spices and some pickles. I rather like the small Indian groceries, because the little Indian ladies are always eager to help a big ignorant Caucasian galoot like me with my selection of spices, pickles, vegetables, and whatnot.

Tonight's special may well include Bhindi Bahji and Saag Paneer (homemade paneer, too, which is easier than making your own yoghurt)

And His Name Shall Be...

Well our new baby now has a name. We have named him Koda. His full name is Koda Bear, but Koda will do fine. He is very needy and seems to miss his litter mates so I now must go and keep him company. He is very affectionate and never stops purring. We quite like him.

A New Addition to Our Little Family

After finding out Mandy is healthy we decided it was time to bring her home a new playmate as she has been a bit lonely since her brother died. Our new little guy still doesn't have a name as of right now but he is quite a little charmer with his diesel engine purr.

Oh, Yeah, this too.

As a special bonus, I have been awarded the Alberta Law Foundation Scholarship in Constitutional Law. This takes the sting out of student loans somewhat, and gives me something to put on my CV under "Major Awards" which is nice.

Feline Leukemia...

...is not infecting Mandolin the Cat. She can expect to live as long as it takes her to choke to death on whatever it is that she finally tries to eat and fails.

Jenn's Birthday Party

Yesterday, we had Jenn's birthday party. It was pretty cool, as far as it went. Even my brother came up from Calgary for the event and shaved his head as part of a Lex Luthor costume. I, of course, was Superman, until everyone had had enough of seeing my bits hanging out of a spandex costume made for someone six inches shorter than me. I then switched to Superman's Friday-casual look for more comfort and less visibility for the bits.

We had quite the potluck of food and whatnot, and the cake and brownies seem to have been a hit, although we were short a couple of people (you know who you are). Most unfortunately, Jenn had to go to bed around 10:00 with a monstrous headache, since she is now advised to not take any anti-inflammatories for a while until her stomach heals after the episode of gastritis which hospitalized her on Friday. This means, of course, no pain killers for her massive back, neck, and head pain, just pepto-bismo for her crippling stomach pain. Have we mentioned how in Alberta, her injuries from the accident are considered "minor" under the statute because no bones were broken? Have we mentioned how we are anxiously looking forward to the court of appeal striking down that legislation because it discriminates based on physical disability contrary to the good old Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? Well, it will take years for a settlement anyway.

Hopefully Jenn is feeling more closely human for her family joint birthday with her cousin. It would be a shame if that accident ruined her wedding, honeymoon, and two birthday parties. In the meantime, the other major stress in Jenn's life regarding school isn't likely to be any closer to a resolution until next Wednesday, so that will be hanging over our heads too, along with Mandy's FeLv test on Tuesday. Apparently Banjo's bio-mom tested negative, so the Vegas line is now putting Mandy's chances of not having the virus and therefore expecting to live past 3 years at about 100:1 against.

Anyway, sorry our update wasn't more uplifting, but we aren't very uplifting people
right now.

Some Pictures

Well, we have now gotten a new camera. It is suspected our wonderful cat Mandy threw away our last one by accident. The importance of this being that we are now able to share some of our pictures from our last couple months, starting with our Honeymoon...

Some More Pictures...