Merry Christmas and all that...

So the big day has come and gone once again.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday with their family and that Santa was good to all the nice boys and girls out there! I made out pretty well again this year - my loving father and mother made a nice dent in my spending for my trip by purchasing some New Zealand funds for me to take with me, as did my bro. In addition, I received a few travel supplies thanks to my Aunt Grace, Dave, Mom and Dad, etc. I received a lovely pearl pendant necklace from Aaron who seems to have survived his first Fick family Christmas relatively unharmed :)

Some other fun things I found under the tree:
New Zealand wine (Sally Cat)
Steinlager beer (also from NZ)
Gift cards from the LCBO (I'm sensing a theme...)
shot glasses (what are you people trying to say about me?)
DVD sets of "Home Movies" season 3, and "Fraggle Rock" season 1
Scene It DVD game
Timmies gift set
clothes
money
kitchen and house supplies
and I'm sure there are other items that I have missed but that I love just as much as the above mentioned items.

Madagascar (the dvd) was a popular gift this year in the Fick household - my dad received 2 copies, and my mother 1.

The food was great, the company was lovely - a fun time was had by all!

I hope everyone enjoyed their festivities as I did.

Only 43 more days until New Zealand! and 3 days until New Years!

Keep in touch homies and I'll keep posting.
Fick-out!

How cute and nice is my mom?

Monday started off as a not so great day...

The temperature was some ungodly negative value that I'm trying hard to forget, I forgot my badge for the first time since I started working here (over 2 years..almost 2.5), and my pantyhose was driving me bonkers even before I left the house!

So work ended up not being that bad afterall, I left at a reasonable 5:13pm. As I make my way home, I started organizing my cds in my car while creeping along in traffic - I don't recommend doing that to anyone! And I still can't find my Guns & Roses CD! Grrrrr....

So I get home, pull into the driveway and notice the light is on in my basement. I knew my mom was stopping by earlier in the day, so I wasn't terribly concerned or upset. I get in the house and find my copious amounts of TP that I had my mom pick up for me at Costco (only have to buy it once or twice a year if you buy it by the skid you know...), I turn to look down the hall and I notice that my laundry basket is empty (it was overflowing when I left in the morning). So I turn on the light in my bedroom and all of my laundry was washed, dried and folded neatly on my bed.

Thinking the laundry fairy was fantastic, I called home to thank my mom for her hard work. Little did I know at that point that she had also vacuumed, washed my dishes and cleaned my stove! I'm sure like myself, you are now all thinking that I must buy TP more than once or twice a year so I may have the cleaning fairy visit more often :)

Thanks Mom!!! You really turned my day around and saved a tiny bit of the sanity that remains with me!

Keep it real!
Wishing that you all have mommy-fairies as sweet as mine!
C.R.

p.s. I also baked some sugar cookies last night...don't all look the greatest, but they taste fantastic!
p.p.s. No you can't have my mom and no, my parents aren't looking to adopt.

Fick out.

The number of the day is 2...

The number 2...

Brought to you by New Zealand and Christmas and the month of December!

So I've just noticed that today, the 12th of December (notice the 2?) marks that I am now officially less than 2 months away from my trip (that's right...59 days!), less than 2 weeks away from Christmas AND now looking at the clock - 2 hours away from leaving the office! Weird eh?

The past weekend was productive, not as productive as I would have liked, but any reasonable person would tell you that my goals were not realistic. Good thing I'm not a reasonable person! I DID manage to accomplish the following:
Baking:
Gingersnaps - they are in my parents' freezer...I'll make sure you get at least 1 or 2 Jill!
Egg Nog cookies - not bad for a new recipe
Fudge - Chocolate and Chocolate/Baileys (that's right - Irish cream...mmmmm)
Refrigerator cookies
Gingerbread dough - will be transformed into men and women this evening
Sugar Cookie dough - will be transformed into trees and stars this evening

Laundry - 2 loads done, 2 to go

Dishes - mostly done...just a few cookie trays

Christmas cards - stamped, addressed and signed...forgot them on the kitchen counter along with my security pass this morning, so they will be put in the post this evening or tomorrow at the latest (I hope they make it on time - I'm so late this year).

Scrapbook - hasn't moved in over a week! If there are enough hours in the evening I'll get a few more pictures put into it tonight - less than 6 possible days to complete this project - EEK!

My life is so thrilling isn't it? Just working on some plans for new years again...didn't we just do that about 12 months ago?

Keep it real my peeps! Catch y'all on the flip-side!
C.R.

90 minutes to drive 16km? You have GOT to be kidding me!

Nope...no kidding here! That's right folks, I averaged 10.66km/hr on my drive into work this morning. Knowing that I had no chance of being on time for work and that everyone else would be delayed if they even attempted to make their way through the Toronto-Snowstorm-Traffic, I didn't get stressed out. Honestly, the road conditions weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. 10-15 cm and all hell breaks loose. Yes my friends, winter is here!

Last evening we had our work holiday party. Too much planning, and too much food, but I think it went off without any problems. And if you hear otherwise, please don't tell me. I enjoy the bubble in which I live!

I'm going to try and get out for some swimming tonight (I haven't been all week :( ), and then some well deserved sleeping in tomorrow morning. Who am I kidding? You all know just as well as I do that I get up earlier on Weekends than I do on Weekdays and that I'll be more productive by 10am on Saturday than I am all week at work.

The goals for the weekend are:
Laundry - I'm down to the uncomfortable but clean undies right now
Clean the house - bathroom, kitchen, livingroom, vacuuming, washing of floors, etc.
Complete Nanny's scrapbook - insert pictures and determine what captions are required so I can print them at work on Monday
Baking - 2 weeks to Christmas and I'm busy next weekend...have I lost my mind? I won't have time to complete my mass baking! But I must - my people expect no less from me. Goal - at least 6 different types of baked goods by Sunday...can she do it? Check back on Monday to find out!

So I think that's about all for now. With any luck there will be no more snow and I will get home at a reasonable hour - Note to self: buy toilet paper!

Take care y'all - Stay sweet!
C.R.

It has been a while...

Can't believe it has been so long since my last message! It has been so busy at work lately and I don't seem to use the computer at home anymore. I guess I'm tired of looking at a screen all day and wish for different types of interaction with the world around me.

For those of you who are counting the days until New Zealand with me, there are only 66 days to go! Seems like it was just 4 months ago when I started planning this vacation (and it was :) )...I believe my initial countdown started at 189 days or something ridiculous like that. 9 weeks this Thursday and I'll be off on my journey and my goodness do I wish it was tomorrow I leave instead! I really need a break and am hoping that the few days I get off at Christmas will help to revive my body and spirit. This past weekend was nice. Aaron and I went to K-W, St. Jacobs and Cambridge to check out the old stomping ground and do a bit of shopping. We stopped in Cambridge for lunch with David at the Golden Kiwi Pub - I enjoyed the "kiwi fav" and yam fries and apparently was the only one who liked the yam fries (strange because I don't really care for yams - so don't tell my mom or she'll make me eat them at Christmas dinner!).

On a side note, for those of you who care: The Golden Hawks won the Vanier Cup at the last minute with a tight final score of 24-23 - Sorry Huskies!

Less than 3 weeks until Christmas and I have the tree up, the lights outside, the fruit cake getting all rummed up in the fridge and most of the presents purchased and under the tree. I have very little time left ahead of me to complete my grandmother's scrapbook and to start and finish all of my holiday baking. Please let me know if you have any requests this season as I still don't have my baking plan outlined as of yet. I think this weekend will be a rather busy one!

Tonight I'll be out swimming again...and tomorrow and Friday if I really am disciplined (or if Aaron kicks my ass into gear). Thursday is the work holiday party - don't even know if I want to go this year, but I will since I'm one of the ones planning it. This is why I need a vacation! (I think next week may be a bit more relaxing, but shhhh...don't tell anyone!).

I think that's about all for now. If I think of anything thrilling, I'll be back to let you know. In the meantime, feel free to read about what Correne & Paul are up to in Thailand - the link is on my site here.

Love y'all!
C.R.