One Word: WOW!

What in the world is going on?! First the Canadian Jr's lose to the Americans and now the Canadian Olympic team can't do any better? C'mon guys!! Marty.... what are you doing playing baseball in a hockey game?? Stay in your crease and play HOCKEY! Better be on your A game for the next game... but I think Luongo will get the next start.

I think Canadian athletes are under too much pressure. I know they want to make Canada proud cause the Olympics is in Canadian soil but how are they suppose to perform at their highest when all they can think about is not letting THE ENTIRE nation down? We only have a week left and our medal count is pretty low compared to other Winter Olympics. Let's pick it up and finish strong. I know we can get to more podiums... doesn't have to be Gold... I'll be happy with Silver or Bronze... just make the podiums, please!

Oh that note... I had an awesome dinner today! I know it's a totally different topic but I'm full and very satisfied. I had the same last night but I over cooked my steaks in the oven so it wasn't as awesome. I marinated my small steaks in my random concoction of extra virgin olive oil, mustard, onions, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and pepper. I know they sound pretty random but that's because they are random. That was my meat and for veggies I leftover roasted potatoes and carrots from last night. Mmm it was good. I just wish I had a piece of cake or something as dessert... that would have been super!

I need to find a gym that is close to my house... but I'm not having any luck. I feel like I'm gaining weight cause I don't do much when I come home from work cause I'm too tired to go back out... but I think once the snow and ice start melting and it's not slippery, I'll go jogging. At least that will keep me in some shape. But in the mean time... I walk a lot during the weekends and on my feet a lot at work but that's still not enough... need to get in shape for myself. I think I know what girls feel when they say they feel fat.... cause I feel fat. If I keep making meals like the one I had tonight... I'm in big trouble but a man's a gotta eat, right? Haha

I have one recipe that's been recommended and it sounds GOOD! I'll try that one soon. If anyone has anymore recipe ideas for me to try, leave me a comment. Don't be a stranger!

Learning How To Two-Step

Work is getting better but at the same time it is picking up it's pace. My transition period is coming to end soon and I'm officially taking over two units beginning of March. So my workload is starting to get bigger and bigger. It's not a walk in the park as I thought it would be. Just wish I was working in mental health so I could have a little bit more passion, not saying I'm not giving it 110%, just would make my days more enjoyable cause I'd be doing something my mind and heart are into.

Saying that, I love my workplace. I love the people I work with, they are all helpful and easy to talk to, joke around just as much I do and they make the work atmosphere so relaxing. Although it is hard to keep up with them cause they have been working here for so long, it's a little intimidating, especially when I'm taking over two units that have been running so well with the two recreation therapists running the units. I have some big shoes to fill!

Cooking for myself is pretty fun. Wish I had more ingredients to cook a meal with though. Gotta hit the grocery store this weekend... in the mean time, I should pick of a menu and look up some recipes. What to make... any suggestions? I'll cook it and post pictures of it... so let me know some dishes I could cook. I look forward to hearing about them.

So don't be a stranger and leave a comment with your dish idea.

Happy Family Day

Today is Family Day and I didn't know Alberta had Family Day too. It's too bad I don't have any family here but it's ok cause I got to sleep in and just rest. I love long weekends!

I didn't do much today. Like I said I slept in, ate breakfast at 12 and just bummed around. Watched Murderball and now I'm making dinner. I had bought some jarred pasta sauce and thought I'd jazz it up with some fresh veggies that I had leftover from before. So if my new Santoku knife, I chopped carrots, broccoli, onions and garlic to my sauce. The sauce looked before but now it looks even better with chucks of fresh vegetables. Can't wait for dinner! Write about it making my mouth water but I had a turkey sandwich (turkey, cheese and mayo) an hour ago.

Gonna go watch some Olympics and stir my sauce. I'll catch ya'll later!

MmMmMmmm

Just thought I'd share my dinner for tonight. Enjoy!

Here we have: Mini steak, mixed veggies (carrots, onions, and broccoli) and rice

So that was before and now...

 

 Here we have: Empty plate!

So that was my dinner... I'm pretty full right now but wish I had dessert. I could go for some ice cream!

I finally changed my number to an Alberta number... after almost a month of holding back I finally did it and it didn't take a long time. I thought it'd be a long process but nope. I called Virgin, gave them my new location, they gave me a number (sucks I couldn't pick my own number but its a good number and easy to memorize), changed some phone settings and I was done. My new number is on my msn name and is on facebook so if you're my friend and have me on msn or facebook or both you'll have access to my new number.

I went grocery shopping today for the first time since I've been here. I went last week to buy chicken for my super bowl chicken wings but that was just for that. Today I went all out... kinda. Bought milk, OJ, bread, sandwich meat, mayo, cheese, fruits, veggies, cereal... it was quite the shopping trip. The only thing was I had to carry everything back home cause I don't have a car here. The walk is a good 20 minute walk and walking to the store is a breeze, it's actually a nice walk except for the fact you're walking next to a pretty busy street. The walk back home with all my groceries is another story. I put the heavy stuff in my backpack and carried the rest in one of those reusable bags you buy for 99 cents. 2/3th home I start sweating bullets... man it's a great exercise but it sure is tiring. Maybe it's cause I don't anything after when I come home from work. I have to find a gym to join and get some exercise in during the week.

So now I'm waiting for my mini steaks to kind of marinate with some Club House steak pepper seasoning I got. That will be my dinner tonight with onions, carrots and broccoli.... and a side of rice I cooked last night. That actually sounds like a pretty damn good dinner! I have two mini steaks... anyone want free dinner? If not I'll just have it for tomorrow's dinner, I don't mind.

I'm gonna make a PB&J sandwich and watch some Olympics. Don't be a stranger and leave a comment!

GO CANADA!

Holy Income Tax

I'm getting paid! I'm rich, bitch! Haha But what is up with this 10% income tax business? I checked my pay stub and looked at what I made and what I'm getting paid. What a difference! I don't like union dues and income tax... so damn high! I can I do... I'm making good money here and living here is umm good. Haven't decided yet cause I haven't been out much cause I have had no money to do so.

Paying bills stinks but it has to be done. Hopefully I'll have some money leftover to have some fun, go out to a pub and enjoy a good pub fare and cold pint of beer. Yum! I can't wait!

I'm lost for words tonight. I can't seem to gather my thoughts so I'll end it short tonight. Sorry folks!

But that doesn't mean you should come by again and again and again. So don't be a stranger, come back and leave a comment.

Can't Sleep

I was lying in bed and now I'm here blogging... Can't seem to fall asleep tonight. Don't know why. I'm not stressing about anything or have much to think about these days. Today was just like any other weekend I've had since I've been here, except I made my own chicken wings for my one person Super Bowl party. They turned out pretty well.

Prepping those damn chicken wings is a pain. Gotta wash them, cut the tips off and cut the wing from the drumstick looking piece (what is that piece called?) and pat them dry. And I was constantly worried about wiping and cleaning surfaces that my hand and/or chicken touched. Don't want to contaminate anything and get sick. After prepping the wings, I coated them in a simple dry mixture of APF (all purpose flour), salt and pepper. After coating them I gave them a bath in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), only oil I have, hot sauce and garlic. To cook them I preheated the oven to 350-400 and popped the chicken wings in for 45 minutes, turning them after 20 minutes. I basically pulled this recipe from thin air and it turned out pretty well. I love "dry" wings cause I can dip them into any sauce I want. I happened to have Jalapeno Ranch dressing and hot sauce to chose from and they both tasted pretty good with my wings. The wings tasted good without anything on them too. I have to learn how to make my own honey garlic and hot and honey sauce. My favourites!

I just wish I had friends to share my food with. A Super Bowl party for one just isn't the same and fun as having a bunch of your friends enjoying great food and great sports.

It's getting late and I should probably turn myself in to bed. I am starting to yawn a bit so that is always a good sign. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Miss you guys a lot!

Good night folks! Don't be a stranger and leave a comment.

Gotta Love Life Sporting Events

After work yesterday I went to see the local college basketball team in action. The girls played first and they guys played second. Well I'd love to say the college teams are good but... that just isn't the case. Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves got crushed by the Concordia College Thunder. I can't remember the score but who would want to when they a beat down. They lost by at least double their score... it was truly ugly. But nonetheless it was good to go see a live game. It made me miss playing Saturday mornings at church. Gotta find a way to get back into sports here.

So that was my Friday evening. It was a pretty fun night, although the home team lost, twice. I wish I was more involved with sports at an earlier age. I started my short soccer career pretty late and don't know how I made the high school team but I did. Basketball I picked up pretty late too. I wonder if my parents pushed me to do more sports than musical instruments, if I would have played on more high school teams and maybe carried that over to college/university. I was wonder about that. I guess being pushed to do a lot of different musical instruments made me more aware of music and its different genres. Maybe that's why I enjoy music so much... although if I enjoyed it and practiced a lot I could have been pretty good at few instruments but I'm not good at any in particular. Ah well, maybe I'll pass by my instruments to my kids... although I wouldn't want to force them to play them... or would I? Haha

Woohoo! Leafs leading 3-0 after the first against Ottawa but I noticed the Leafs can't seem to keep a lead so maybe I shouldn't be so happy just yet. Fingers crossed that they can keep the lead and the shutout!

I promised more pictures but... I forgot so I'll end this post with some more pictures.

My apartment! 

  

Street view of one of the streets near my apartment

Far view of the hospital (my workplace) 

 

Street view of the main "downtown" area 

 

Beautiful, eh? 

Hope you enjoyed! Don't be a stranger and leave a comment.

Grande Prairie Pictures

So I found some pictures I took when I was here a week before I started work to look for an apartment and such. The pictures are much to look at but it'll give you a sense of what Grande Prairie looks like. I promise to update with better pictures when I get a camera. Most are just random pictures I took while I was walking to a from my hotel to the hospital, hospital to bank, bank to apartment, and apartment to hotel. Mind you I was on the run for most of my trip but I manage to stop and take some quick snaps.

Enjoy!

 I swear I clicked on more pictures on Picasa... I don't know what happened. Well you have some here so I'll try to figure out what happened and post more pictures tomorrow.

Blessed

Today and yesterday was tiring. A lot of working around. Yesterday we took residents to the mall to do some shopping and I was very (un)fortunate to be with one resident who had to buy underwear... luckily there was a Recreation Assistant and another Recreation Therapist (who happen to be both female) so I just walked around Zellers while the ladies did their thing. Didn't feel so comfortable helping an older lady find underwear... yeah no thanks.

Today was a pretty fun day. In the morning we got few new Wii games for the residents so I had the pleasure to test them out. So for a good hour or more I sat in front of our nice big screen and tested out the games. If only my job was like this ALL the time... that'd be great! I would be getting paid to play Wii. Awesome! Haha

So this morning I was sitting and one of my coworkers who sits next to me in the office says to me "I have a lasagna in my car for you and a loft of bread." I can't remember but I think she said she made a lot of food for some special occasion that I can't think of right now but it was really nice of her. I'm truly blessed to be in a town and work with people who are helpful.

For dinner tonight I had lasagna and bread... I had seconds cause it was pretty good. Better than the things I've been eating for dinner for the past week, that's for sure! I was thinking about taking a nap at 7:30 cause I was SO tired.... too much food! Haha

I'm just lazing around now... I should start reading my book again. Haven't opened that since I moved here and I don't think I've read much before I moved here. I was on a good roll but I don't know what happened. But I will finish it, that is my goal for the month or two. So ask me in a month... lets make that in two months if I finished my book, please.

Don't be a stranger, leave a comment.