Kitty!

A Sears repairman came today with the correct part to fix my dishwasher. Hermione was startled to hear a different voice in the kitchen. She stood by, wide-eyed and nervous. Then she retreated to the top of the stiars to make sure he was really leaving, after fixing the appliance. He waved. "Goodbye kitty...

Read More

Hug!

Hug!, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.Via Flickr:My team lead was told to hug me for a job well done. So he d...

Read More

Cuddling up on a cold night

Cuddling up on a cold night, a photo by angelamermaid on Flic...

Read More

Training walk

I'm going to do a Mermaid Marathon in San Diego next year. Mermaid Marathons are women only. I'm doing it because I work out better when I have a goal like this, I'll get to meet many online friends in person in San Diego, and it will be a nice break from winter in Calgary. I went for my first training walk today. I go to work in the dark, and I come home in the dark. This much sun hurt my eyes. But it was a good wa...

Read More

Advent Meme - Music

My friend Shanna suggested, "How about on December 13, you write about the role that music has played in your life? :-)? And I forgot yesterday. Sorry! So. Music. I love music, actually. I'm one of those people who can be captivated by a song and listen to it over and over. Here is a screencap of my Top 25 Most Played in iTunes: A few notes: It's not just that "More Than A Feeling" is a classic rock song. It's got that killer glory note in...

Read More

What I did tonight

I meant to draw. I got out my Wacom tablet and started futzing around in Photoshop, and then I started to Google tutorials. This is not a drawing. This is a Photoshopped picture from a photograph I took this summer. This isn't what I intended to create, but it was what I was meant to create. I love i...

Read More

The Wonder Woman Garden Gnome

On my LiveJournal, I asked people to pick a day in December and topic for me to post about. So far: Dec 10 - "What do you paint, and do you have favorite painters?" Dec 13 - "The role that music has played in your life." My choice of dates - "Canada" Feel free to suggest more! ---- So. Painting. Well, the sad thing is that I don't paint much anymore. In another life, I painted Barbie dolls. Most of my 2013 creativity has gone into rediscovering...

Read More

Calgary is freaking cold

-40 wind chill advisory. If you value our friendship, you will be kind if you share the current temperature in your area. ;-) I haven't driven my car since last Saturday and with the -40 advisory, I knew I had to plug in the block heater tonight. I speak from experience that if you don't plug in a car in -50 wind chill, the compressor can freeze and it will take a mechanic to get your car to start again. First, I started Lily to make sure that...

Read More

The best of friends

The best of friends, a photo by angelamermaid on Flic...

Read More

I'm not sure what's funnier - God having a Twitter account or Him following @JustinBieber. Check out My new selfie! pic.twitter.com/ll2Ou9tzOF— God (@TheTweetOfGod) March 17, 20...

Read More

Paleo Breakfast cookies

Paleo Breakfast cookies, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr. The recipe came from Gluten-Free On A Shoestring. Gluten-free and dairy-free! Out of necessity, I made some substitutions. The weather was cold and the roads a bit icy yesterday, so I chose to go to local supermarkets rather than a health food store. I couldn't find coconut palm sugar so used regular sugar. I couldn't find pumpkin seeds so I substituted unsalted sunflower seeds. I forgot...

Read More

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr. Via Flickr: A picture of a picture I found in my files. I was looking for pictures of my father in uniform and found this. I think this would be 1971 or 19...

Read More

Post-op life. With silly gifs.

... I've been thinking I need to start cutting out sugar again. I did it once, years ago, but it crept back in. Because sugar is magical and sparkly. Now, in my post-op life without ovaries ... I'm starting to see a correlation between eating too much chocolate and getting a migraine. ...

Read More

A true story told with silly gifs

Tonight a very perky young lady rang my doorbell. She said something about making sure I got my green benefit on my energy bill, I seem to have been skipped? I was right in the middle of playing a game on my iPad and I was cooking supper. So I made her repeat herself and she kept speaking really quickly and throwing out words like "green" and "discount" and saying things "Have you heard about _____?" My hackles raised because she was talking...

Read More

Model shoot - October 20

Yesterday I went to a photography meetup - it was a bit of a mess. And I underestimated how much walking there would be and how much it would affect me almost 7 weeks post-op. I was exhausted yesterday and today. But it was a good learning experience for trying different locations and about photographing people. We were split into different groups of photographers and rotated models....

Read More

Moon photography

From a park in the neighbourhood. From my backyard, with a telephoto lens and croppe...

Read More

House plans

I love crown moulding but realize that may be out of my DIY league and frankly, more work than I want to put into it. So I was thinking it would be nice to find a white or pale wallpaper border to put up instead - turns out that there are wallpaper borders made to look like crown moulding. Hmmm. I also need to figure out a way to cover up the exposed wall behind my new thermostat - don't be shy, suggest something. :-) I really like the thermostat....

Read More

Six weeks post-op

And I'm feeling groovy! Okay, I was tired after work today. But I'm getting stronger. So far, no issues. I have my post-op appointment with Dr Perky next week. TMI after the cut .....

Read More

Can't/Can

I had a long post composed in my head ... but it's late, I'm sweaty and need time for a Lush-full shower before bed. "You can't park there!" Today was my first day back at work, post-surgery. I drove to a little side street, where I can legally park all day and is relatively close to the train station. As I parked and got my bag out of my car, I saw a man in a nearby driveway looking at me with a hard face. He was helping his kids into his SUV but...

Read More

Three weeks, two days post-op

I'm slowly getting stronger, but tonight I'm feeling like I have so much more to go. It could be that seasonal allergies are bringing me down, and all of the antihistamines aren't helping me feel energetic. I have one incision that is still sore and not healed. Hopefully that will heal over soon. The doctor's office hasn't called with a pathology report, which I take as a positive sign. This week, I started working from home. I really appreciate that I can do it, because I know I don't have the stamina to deal with my commute. I could only do...

Read More

I finished a knitting project!

Finally, I can show you a knitting project that is finished - because the recipient is me! So I won't be spoiling myself by posting the photos. ;-) This is Megan Goodacre's Montgomery Scarf pattern. A good one for beginners - it has a variety of textures without being complicated. The yarn is Bernat Roving. This project on Ravel...

Read More

The kitty intruder returns

Charlie growled at the back door again tonight. I turned on the backyard light - the intruder was back, standing by the door and looking very friendly. She has a very sweet face, very clean and fluffy fur, and a collar. She's also smaller than Hermione and I just wanted to pick her up and snuggle her. BUT. That's not how things work when you already have three cats. Especially one that is doing his duty as Alpha Cat and telling the intruder to buzz off. So I opened the door a bit and she ran to the back of the yard. I opened the door some more,...

Read More

Keep your religion out of my business

Don't order from @BTTFcom as they stick "Do You Know Jesus?" cards in shipping boxes. Keep your religion out of my business please.— Angela B (@angelamermaid42) September 17, 2013 When I open an eagerly anticipated package, the first thing I want to see is not: So I'm posting about this and have left a note on their Facebook page that I won't be ordering from them in the future. I ordered a Lego set, not a Bib...

Read More

Backyard intruder

I've suspected for a while that animals have been visiting the backyard. There was that one night where Charlie got growly at the back door, and I found flattened grass between a trellis and the fence the next morning. The water in my fairy garden pond keeps disappearing, even after a good rainfall. My pepper plants look nibbled on. There are no peppers. Tonight I was in the backyard playing with the Google Star Maps app on my phone. I felt something soft brush against my left ankle, like a breeze. I continued with the app a little bit, then looked...

Read More

Home again

I spent one night in the hospital and came home last night. I'm sore but okay. Today I re...

Read More

Quick update

Surgery went well. I'm resting...

Read More

Steps for future health

Tomorrow (Sept 3), I'm having laparoscopic surgery. This isn't urgent or life-threatening, it's something that needs to be done sooner than later. Warning - this post is about women's health, what's going on with my health, and discussion of lady parts. I won't get explicitly detailed unless necessary. In the last few years, there has been an alarming increase in cancer amongst the women on my mother's side of the family. In 1986, my mother's identical twin passed away from breast cancer. A few years ago, another of my mother's sisters...

Read More

Folklorama 2013 - Celtic Ireland Pavilion

Continuing on with my Winnipeg pictures - after the Ukrainian pavilion, we went to the Spirit of Ireland pavilion. This one was hosted by an Irish dancing school - all of the students perform at Folklorama as part of their course. The production standards were quite high, and very pleasing to the eye. And the dancing was supreme. ...

Read More

Moon

Moon, a photo by angelamermaid on Flickr.Via Flickr:When I was younger, I asked my parents for a telescope. I envisioned a really cool telescope that I could closely examine the moon with, maybe spot a few planets. They got me a foldable telescope that you might see on a sailing ship.So in 2013, it boggles my mind a bit that I can see the moon like this, with the telephoto lens on my came...

Read More

Ukrainian pavillion - Folklorama 2013

Sir Paul McCartney was the reason I decided to go to Winnipeg. But he was far from being the only entertainer. Every year, Winnipeg hosts Folklorama. Different pavillions are staged throughout the city for two weeks, highlighting some of the different cultures of the residents. Basically, there's food, entertainment and information. I happened to arrive right in the middle. My brother and sister-in-law go every year, and it was really fun and rewarding. The...

Read More

Paul McCartney Concert

When it came to purchase a seat, I decided to go with ergonomics. I chose a seat directly facing the stage, on the other side of the stadium. I figured there would be huge video screens and I was right. So it didn't matter that Paul was actually two inches tall. The video and audio were superb. By the way, I had no idea that the concert would be in an outdoors stadium until a couple of days before. I'm not from Winnipeg, I flew in for the concert....

Read More