Adventures with Roz and Toni

Guys, we've been facebook crazy! I make up for it with a year of haiku.

2007-05-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Toni and I feel a little bit sorry about not blogging in awhile.
We don't feel THAT sorry, because so few people read our blog.
LOTS of people read our facebook pages, though. So there.

Anyways, I keep a little notebook for silly haiku I think up while I should be using brainpower to solve world hunger and global warming problems. I thought, since a whole year has passed, I'd share them with you. To be true to the pages, I have decided to include them exactly as written down in the book. This may mean that some of them make absolutely no sense. Because my brain works in mysterious ways. Or stupid ones. Also true.

Enjoy my last year in haiku...

For fun, for profit?
For neurons unlike lemmings
I could watch TV

First heartbeat now breathe
Baby's eyes open to see
One and one is three

Blue ripple white cap
Dark and deep but light and green
Flow river flow spring

Beaker test tube flask
All the glassware in the world
Break walls smash theories

Fish, liver, rat bits
It all grinds up just the same
Maybe not the taste

Angry so angry
Burning white hot blazing rage
Peanut butter toast

Feel like it's easy
Prance through meadow watch you toil
Someone deflate me

Sneaking up on toads
Are you receiving answers?
We wear tinfoil hats

All the trees are gone
So dark the soil they bleed out
Exsanguination

Rain drops on the path
Gritty sand and barefoot rocks
Her way is not clear

Parched desert camel
Sticky eyes and sandy tongue
Shake your hula hips

Sunshine electrons
Nanotech smells like cedar
Don't be negative

Twirling tango toes
Dance to success drink to luck
Eureka ballroom

Heavy eyes slow brain
Open wide for magic sand
Feel the burden lift

Herd snap dragons
I am a mighty spring knight
They breathe fragrant fire

Pictures hung on walls
Great tree roots tight in the dirt
Home, home on the strange

Uneasy tummy
Feeling guilty telling lies
Luckily it's gas

Speak sweet listen now
They think we're up to something
But I will bite them

Complicates mazes
Go too deep too wrong and lost
There's got to be light

Tiny twinkling star
Fierce fusion flame fantastic
Where Adams come from

Rested waiting fly
No time for things sensible
The lemurs are coming

Gloomy skyless day
Gray clouds gray trees gray world gray
Find some sunshine

Penetrating light
Flicker twitch and glowing blue
It hums and it hums

I will not be mauled
I will chase and pounce and kill
I will be lion

Forever seconds
Waiting tick waiting tick wait
Eternity now

Philosopher's stone
Microbiologist too
Turn bread into mold

Summer haze blue smoke
White light red flames forest fire
Go fourth of July

Sand in toes up shorts
See the hit dive down return
Gritty nerve tastes sweet

Fearing combustion
Regret and indecision
Lighter fluid guilt

Black plaque festering
Does it grow beneath my skin?
Someone feed my cat

Brave little cream puff
Stand up be strong cry all night
We all get eaten

I scoff at the box
Irresponsibly silly
Walrus dance party

Restless heart feels caught
I dreamt I was not running
Now I'm so tired

They build big buildings
They destroy dwarfing forests
They go extinct too

Cloudy chariots
Beating hooves of rain descend
Thunderous this track

Write sing paint create
All these great ideas lost
The curse of the muse

It's the hollow eyes
Honesty of innocence
No more tears to eat

Polluter's false truth
Geological time grail
Dinosaurs go first

Just stop yelling please
Let's have silence all alone
I like quiet fun

Et tu Brute stabbed
It stings in the face my friend
But worse in the back

Friday night freedom
Too soon Sunday shackles tight
With dead weight I'll drown

Surf the internet
Water water everywhere
Too much thought to think

Snowflake number one
This one is easy to count
Now it's time to nap

Run walk play sports swim
Fitness healthy exercise
Mmm potatoe chips

Oh man oh man eeeeee
It's almost time for pumpkins
Paint my face ready

I have the sickness
Sharp pains abdomen implodes
Savage snack attack

Stay busy silly
Boredom's one claw waits sneaky
Raptors ate my brain

Spend so long doing
Thinking going forgetting
I dreamt the world real

Amateurish boob
Everybody likes cleavage
Art is natural

Sell the one true God
Advertise commercialize
Indescent from cross

I smell cheap plastic
I smell synthetic spices
I smell Christmas cheer

Beautiful blanket
Brilliant white snow snuggles Earth
Covers all the poop

I spy with my eye
Some perfluorokerosene
My job rocks your socks

Abuse your others
Say nothing when you're abused
Fragile harmony

Barf barf barfy barf
Barf barf barf barfarama
Barfy barf barf barf

Delicately perched
Dainty wings flutter unsure
Magpie eats squirrel

Don't breathe in hold out
Flee with downy arms held up
It's so freakin' cold

Relax and slow down
Give up on the world get peace
As real as you want

Late Friday sunshine
You travel on the dark don't
Let me down again

Productive people
Busy bees make more honey
Hornets bother Brad

Only when it's night
In the moonlight zombies might
Eat your left and right

Melted trickling
Sunbeams on glassy surface
My eyes are frozen

Still waiting for it
Warm breezes blow through nothing
Bring on some new buds

Blink once from darkness
Feel warmth finally breathe
I migrated too

Pose occupancy
Ponder putting things in place
When they don't belong

From the universe
Permission to be honest
Even to yourself

The truth is muddy
Coating eyes and turning tongues
We see shapes spit lies

Sometimes branches break
Falling from trees long standing
And they still reach out

I want to make noise
Entropic good vibrations
Drums disorder me

Communication
Wave your opposable thumbs
And grunt more it helps

It snows in movies
Dramatic slow motion fakes
Just like the kisses

Test me so I pass
Ambiguous life moment
Fail me it's freedom

I am not sorry
You can't make me like you
Pottery you suck

Thank you pottery
There are worse things than clay pots
They are all the same

Body a la morgue
The cause of death was sameness
You change or you pie

Bitten never born
Moonlight reflects off a horn
Rare wereunicorn

Convoluted speech
Strain to make sense of circles
Say less sound louder

Swallowed a hamster
Never ending snot river
Definately sick

Vacancy upstairs
Open concept cranium
No smoking allowed

Gladiator crouch
Circle the GC-MS
Hand to can combat

Canadian spring
Cold clouds some snow freezing rain
Go to Mexico

Relax in the sun
Worry less about cancer
Warm up to chill out

Lose a piece of you
But souls are totipotent
Grow back a fresh start

Impossible fluff
Get all pretty if you want
We lick our own butts

We will save the world
Extra ordinary us
One day at a time

Oh man oh man oh man

2007-03-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have figured out something we can do, Toni.
You are going to say no.
You are going to hate me.

http://www.destinationgrandcanyon.com/skywalk.html

We have to do this.

2007-03-20T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Roz, I have a great idea. Let's walk for 7 hours for approx 42.1 km. On cobblestone. :)

One year ago....

Extreme curling?

2007-03-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

People of the world who read our blog!

(Actually - there's been a lot less readership these days. Toni, we need to decide what our next crazy thing is so that people come back to the blog and shower us with comments again...)

I promise to soon (or Toni will) post pictures from our curling adventures once I get permission from our buddies. We had an excellent time dressing up in our Vegas costumes, hanging out with our husbands, and drinking a little hops and barley juice. Oh, and curling. We did curl a little bit. I think you can still call it curling, there were rocks on the ice and we slid them around.

I also thought we'd try the story game suggested previously. So, I will give you all a starter sentence, and the next person comments with the second line of the story. YOU CAN ONLY ADD ONE SENTENCE at a time, although after someone else comments, feel free to add another line. Please, restrain yourselves from taking the fast bus to gutter land.

A blog story by Roz, Toni and the friendship team:

It's hard to describe how it feels when these sorts of things happen.

Lessons in humility!

2007-02-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

There are lots of things I'm not innately good at.
Today the list is longer.

I went to my first pottery class last night, and I do not understand yet how to make things go. I'm so sorry to Tara for having to sit next to me while I shot death rays at my lump of clay. All in all, I'm sure I could have fun making ash trays and pencil holders, but I do not promise anything spectacular.

So, you are all getting stubby cylinders for Christmas! They can be useful in many ways. They could hold cat treats. Or juice. Or pipe cleaners. Or uranium. They can be as full of imagination as you are!

But wait, there's more!
With this limited time offer of a poorly molded, fat little tub of clay, you could also get complimentary noise! I will come over to your place and using an elaborate set up of your most precious pots and pans, practise drumming for you - free of charge!

Sometimes I'm suprised I have so many friends.
Roz

The Ballad of Simon and Meetoo

2007-02-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

You wouldn’t guess
from their contentedness
that this tale could ever be true.
But I have a story
of sadness and glory
the Ballad of Simon and Meetoo.

In an ancient land
an uncivilized band
of raiders held captive the East.
From the mountains they came
full of hunger and blame
desperate to triumph and feast.

The people below
lived peaceful and slow
led by a lovely young Queen.
She kissed her guard’s head
when he hit the ground dead
felled by a raider unseen.

The Lord of the horde
bellowed and roared
when the Lady refused to be his.
She sat down and cried
for the people who died
and he wondered if hate’s all there is.

The Lord made a vow
a promise for now
that peace would come to this place.
But it came with a price
her hand would suffice
so the veil hid the tears on her face.

When their love was still young
their praises were sung
for the winter was suddenly mild.
People ate well
and rumours would tell
that the Lady was blessed with a child.

Very few knew
she gave birth to two
sons of a powerful man.
One of them thrived
one barely survived
and to save him she secretly ran.

She had rescued the one
gentle young son
unfit for the making of war.
He would always be small
loving to all
and knew that he wanted no more.

The Lord’s strong son
training begun
perfected the art of attack.
Sent to destroy
he would always enjoy
the journey to battle and back.

On a cool summer’s day
quiet and grey
the raiders tore families apart.
The gentle son’s town
was burned to the ground
which melted his brother’s steel heart.

The warrior boy
knowing no joy
in destruction and violence and hate,
Turned to his brother
and forgotten young mother
hoping it wasn’t too late.

From out of the mist
a Sorcerer hissed
I bring a blessing and curse to these men.
Brothers together
now and forever
to die and be reborn again.

When the brothers awoke
a distant voice spoke
any soul can choose to be free.
Transformed into birds
by the Sorcerer’s words
they wondered what else they would be.

They’ve travelled the seas
as dolphins and bees
born each time in a form that is new.
Now kittens, behold!
The legend is told
the Ballad of Simon and Meetoo.

The Long Weekend Approaches

2007-02-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Friday.

The snow is falling, and melting, and will probably freeze again for maximum unsafeness.

What are you guys up to for the long weekend?

I need to get my hands on some interesting crafting supplies to complete Toni's birthday present. Most pressing - a large sheet of paper. Maybe 3 feet long? Anybody?

Also, I believe we might see a movie tonight. For only the cost of one kidney and some bone marrow, I might also swing for popcorn. Who knows?

Have a great Friday everybody!
Roz

Premature Epostulation

2007-02-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

So, I came online planning to make an awesome post, because I expected that something would come to me, but uh, I got nothing.

If I could wax pathetic for a moment, where is all the fun?
I feel so tired lately and I'm not sleeping. You might think that it's just a cold, but I think I have a virus in my sunshine gland.

Also, if you guys could help me out, I need something that rhymes with "cats" for my birthday present for Toni. It can't be lame, so "hats, mats and gnats" are all out. Can I use another word that also means felines, but doesn't sound cheezy?

R

next line please ...

2007-02-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm going to post a line from a song. Without cheating (googling it), you are to list the next line of the song. Then, please list a line from a different song and we will attempt to guess the next line.... and so on.

Here' goes...

This Romeo is bleeding...

T

Tee Hee

2007-01-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=df66cf09-f7f8-4c0b-b09f-a9bf7867e7a5&k=52143

A top ten - by Roz

2007-01-22T10:18:00.001-08:00

The top 10 days of this year:

10. January 1st. Everybody had fun. I'm sure you can think back to what you did and agree that 2007 started off pretty fantastic. If it didn't, I appologize on behalf of the universe and will petition to declare next Wednesday January 1st and we'll go to a movie or something. My treat.

9. March 3rd? I forget which day the curling tournament is. That's not a good sign, because I'm supposed to sign my team up. This event is one you get to dress up for, so automatically it makes the list as one of the best days of the year.

8. The day I leave for vacation with Nelson. I don't know when this is. I hope it exists. I'm not going to list "the day I get a present from my husband", because even I am not that foolish.

7. Toni's birthday. If she feels comfortable disclosing the mysterious day this is, I'll let her fill you in. (It's next month - shhh!) I'm going to suprise her with a fantastic present I started making last week. Don't tell her though.

6. Christmas. Even though it's stressful and crazy, I think Christmas 2007 is going to be a gooder. I'm guessing, because it could suck. But, if global warming keeps up, I'll be planting banana trees and having pineapple for breakfast December 25th this year. Yay!

5. The day in August when we go camping. Finally.

4. Next month, Toni and I will decide to do something crazy. That day will be awesome. The next day will be scary, because I'll realize what I just agreed to. Again. Curse you Toni!

3. My birthday! (Toni can put her birthday in this spot and move mine to a less coveted location in the top ten list.)

2. Halloween. I've written haiku's about how much I love pumpkin day. If Canada didn't have Halloween, I'd leave. If all of the people on the planet collectively decided to get rid of the month of October, and with it, Halloween, I would move to Mars and start my own planet. Where every day would be Halloween.

1. Today. Can you feel it? The day has potential written all over it. I think today could be THE day. For something. Somewhere on the planet. I'm ready.

more on cats

2007-01-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51603/print/

Simon, as we speak, has allotted me 5 minutes to post on our blog. Now i must go make money so that I can afford to buy him the good kibble.

2007-01-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light , not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
...Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Author: Marianne Williamson

cold!

2007-01-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

Roz, you would cease to exist at our house ... since Saturday. OUR FURNACE IS/WAS broken! Imagine waking up to the sound of metal on metal ... wait! back track.. let me start at the beginning.

Last Saturday, Brad says to me that he has some bad news. *insert the face of devastation. There was mouse poop in our basement. Simon, you're fired! No, he's not. We deduced that there was a mouse having a poop party in our house over Christmas while we and the felines were away. So, Brad tells me this knowing of my fear of the rodent.

OK, Sunday morning, bright and early we wake up to the sound of metal on metal and scraping! Instantly I think there are mice having another fiesta in our furnace vents! After this initial fear lapses, I begin to realize exactly how cold I am! It is freezing! ..... Yes, the furnace is (or is in the process of) crapping out.

SO, it has now taken 4 full working days to get the furnace in working order. I'll believe it when I feel it. You know, having a home that's 12 C for nearly a week--- while that might seem warm compared to the current temp outside... its freakin cold for a home! And especially for persons such as me who enjoy a home that is 22 C. Persons like Roz and Nelson that live in an inferno all year round would cease to exist in my home right now. How inhospitable is that! Anyway, Brad said 'its fixed'. Here's hoping I don't have to wear mittens in my home anymore.
T

2007-01-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

The following true story is not for the purposes of garnering sympathy or pity. Because I don't really like either. It's just one of those character building/crushing stories.

In grade 8 I joined the girls' volleyball Team. We were the Trojans. I was terrible. Absolutely terrible. I had no friends on the team. In fact, we used to do partner stretching, where you would pair up and help your partner stretch out her grade 8 hamstrings, lats, etc. My teammates would go in groups of three just so they wouldn't have to go with me. I would stretch my hamstrings by myself in the locker room, pretending it was taking me a really long time to get changed just to avoid the humiliation. No one would sit beside me on the bench. I would start off sitting in the middle of the bench, and eventually I would be on the end of the bench by myself. You see, back then I had no verbal skills whatsoever, and was completely unable to defend myself, be assertive... nothing. And it would eat away at me, like a psychological game. I would realize I was a terrible player with no hand-eye coordination and therefore no skills, which would mean that I played even worse. I showed up to every game and every practice, and there was no skill development at all. And I knew that I wasn't liked. I knew that my teammates thought of me as the girl who lost the games. And don't give me that, one player can't lose an entire game, crap, cuz, yes, I in fact lost entire games for us. And I knew that all the other girls thought that, psychologically, I knew. Until this one day where I actually found out that, yes, the entire team thought I sucked and that I lost our games for us. We were at our school for a tournament and we had a bye. I had nothing to do, so I was reading a book in the locker room, and I decided to run to my locker to grab a snack. I walked down the school hallway towards my locker and I saw my entire team sitting in a circle eating their lunches. My locker was located very close to where they were sitting. So, I walked to my locker, opened it and proceeded to rifle through my belongings to find my apple and granola bar. While doing so, I overheard one teammate say, "toni sucks so bad. How can we all work together to get her kicked off the team? Or at least make her quit". In her defense, she had her back turned to me and couldn't see me at the time. I did and said nothing but continued to silently rifle around in my locker, at this time completely forgetting what I was after in the first place. I swallowed the lump that was welling up as best I could. I was and always will be a crier. You see, now I just mask it with anger. Anyway, I digress. Another of the girls sitting in such a position in the circle that she could see me completely, stated loudly, "toni's right there behind you!'. At this point the entire circle began laughing hysterically. All of them. The girl who owned the original remark attempted to stifle her laughter with her arms and hid her head in her lap - which I remember seeing out of the corner of my eye. Let me tell you, it is by some miracle that I was able to close my locker, and proceed to walk down the hallway (walk, not run) all the while hiding the tears that are now streaming down my face. I made my way to the girls washroom and locked myself in the stall for nearly 30 minutes. When I was able to control myself, I found a way to sneak outside I and located a small corner on the outside of the building where I could sit, catch my breath, and breathe in some fresh air. My house was a 2 minute walk away, and I contemplated just going home. I have absolutely no idea why I didn't . But I stuck around and proceeded to 'lose' another game for us. There were no apologies, there were no attempts to check to make sure I was ok. We had a team of 11 girls. All of them laughed at me, and none of them seemed to show any regard for my feelings. You'd think that there would be some sort of lesson learned for me... some sort of life altering moment I could attribute this to. But instead from then on, and even now, whenever something happens wehre I feel like I'm in junior high again... you know, where you feel like people are scoffing at a mistake you made, or smirking behind your back, or secretly plotting against you... whenever that happens I think back at this moment, like it was yesterday, and I'm overcome with tremendous sadness. Powerlessness. A loss of self. Like every ounce of confidence that I ever had is drained from my body in one fell swoop.

Anyway, this blog is for sharing, so I just shared.
Toni

Am I a horrible person?

2007-01-12T16:58:00.001-08:00

Ok, can someone else please tell me that you forget about the fresh veggies in the back of the fridge and that you, too, have to toss them?? I'm overcome with guilt.

T

A haiku

2007-01-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a blog on the haiku for sometime.
(hehe)
Here's one for Toni:

Superhero she
Defending cute and fuzzy
Cheesy kryptonite

Caution, Spoiler Alert!

2007-01-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blizzard!
Wow, I am simply amazed by the number of people who made guesses on the post below (Nelson's drawings). We are so loved by all of our friends and family.
I am posting the answers, with less hysterical commentary because there are no guesses anyway, in the comment section for this post.
Read on, if anybody even comes to this blog! You know, Becca's blog gets heated discussions. We get tumbleweed blowing, paint drying, grass growing silence. Inside, I think my heart is taking it's last dramatic breath before jumping off a rib to end it all...
R

We Love Our Pets Part Deux

2007-01-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, Blogger appearsto be acting a bit goofy... but here are Meetoo, Simon and Kitkat. I think KitKat wins for cuteness for sure :) But Simon's stuck in a box, and Meetoo is being harassed but he doesn't care just so long as he gets loved :).

This morning, argh!!

2007-01-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

So, I will not walk to work again unless the snow (and mud and sand and oil) is good and frozen or good and gone.
There I was minding my own business, tra lala la la, walking down into the river valley while the sun rises... And across the bridge where the snow was all melty and difficult to walk on, and then the city bus goes by and showers me with sandy mud!!! ARGH!!! And all over my glasses and face and coat... ARGH!!!

R

Nelson draws, sort of.

2006-12-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

So, after Christmas while we sat around fattening up, we played games with Toni and Brad. Now, I love games (read as: crazy game playing psycho), but I had never tried Win, Lose or Draw. Basically, it's pictionary, but you draw movie titles, books, phrases, foods, or TV shows. Here are some of Nelson's for your guessing pleasure. I have posted them in the order of mildly funny to dangerously hysterical. If you pull something laughing at these, we are not responsible for your plastic surgery.

Ok, so guess, and we'll post the answers later!

This one is supposed to be a three word movie title:

This is Nelson's three word book title:

Ignore the stars on this one, it's supposed to be a three word TV show:

Nelson claims he ran out of time to really perfect this one, it's a three word movie title:

Okay, this one is a two word movie title (wait for the answer, we rolled on the floor laughing):

we really are awesome!

2006-12-30T23:11:00.000-08:00

So, our volleyball team played in a tournament in November... and we won! yay us :) We have pics to prove it! And yes, Roz is looking decidedly... not blonde :). That's cuz Sherms played while Roz spent time with Nelson, choosing to pass on the fun and games. On many occassions, we, as a team, channelled 'Roz' - which meant playing with a crazy amount of intensity when needed. Except for the time the ball hit me in the face, and the time that the ball slid between Shermin's outreaching arms when she attempted to bump it... and except for the time that Allan did a perfect back set to no one, and also except for the time that Derrick looked like he wanted to kill the entire other team. Those were not moments when we channelled Roz. The moments when we played awesome - all Roz. :)

some animals are not domesticated people at all

2006-12-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

You know the felines who I claim to adore so tremendously? Ya, the fat striped one pooed all over my new suitcase in the vehicle on the way home today. Feel the love.

T

Animals are People Too

2006-12-29T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, consider yourself forwarned. I have a significant amount of 'stuff' just roaming around my mind and this blog is about to become my choice sharing mechanism, our loyal blog readers. Read with caution and an open mind :).

Today, my mind has been wandering...aimlessly...(cuz that's what it does when I don't have imminent and time consuming work to occupy the grey matter)... and thinking about significant animals in my life, and how these animals have impacted who I am as a person. Not to mention... the people who associate themselves with these animals and the impact they have on me too!

So allow me to introduce a few of these animals to you, so that you can become acquainted with them too!:)

First, let me tell you about Garfield (cat). Garfield was born on my grandparents' farm near Lenore, Manitoba, when I was about 7 years old. She was a barn cat, and was quite wild. She kinda looked a bit like a grey tabby, but had an orange tip on her tail, so OF COURSE the name garfield was more than appropriate. Let me also introduce to you all my cousin, Brent, who was (is) one of my closest friends growing up. Brent and I would spend hours chasing down the very tiny kitten, Garfield, through the wooded areas on our grandparents' farm. Once caught, we would shower her with affection and withstand her scratching and biting for as long as possible, before we would succumb to the pain, and set her free again. [*remember that Saturday cartoon with the crazy little girl who would grab the terrified cat and love it and squeeze it and pet it and hug it.... ya, that was us*]. The poor kitten would take off to the forrest again, most likely praying to the little kitten gods to stop the crazy children from assaulting her. I remember sending Brent into the REALLY forrested areas alone (I was bossy back then. Of course I've gotten over that now! shut up.) to retrieve Garfield and he would come out with skinned knees and twigs stuck everywhere, but with the kitten everytime! And eventually, this scared little kitten became one of the best cat friends/pets there ever was :). She lived a very long and happy life with Brent, and his parents, and would, on serveral occassions, affectionately bring mice up to their front door and would expect praise and admiration for her brave efforts to bring food to her family. **tearing up. :) Brent, you should share more stories about Garr.

And now the story of Princess (cat). As I'm sure you all know, Becca and I basically grew up together, and during our childhood, she had many pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc), but the Princess (selfishly) was the most special to me because I was there the day she arrived to their home! And I remember the tears streaming down Becca's face as she held the rather small pure white fluffball tightly! Esme (Becca's mom, my 2nd mom) brought Princess home from Edmonton, and the people from the shelter/store told her that Princess was actually quite mean and aggressive! In fact, the opposite was true. This kind (and a bit, um... how can I put this delicately, dumb), beautiful cat watched Becca, and me on several occassions, as we grew up! I remember that Princess used to yell to figure out where we were in the house when she wanted some love. And I also remember, when I used to live with Becca and Trent, that although I had a no cat rule in my room, on many occassions I would bring her into my room to sleep with me at night...inspite of the small drool problem:)... Becca should share more Princess stories :).

Marlowe. Ah, Marlowe. This Jack Russell Terrier is a bundle of incredible energy! Marlowe lives with Becca and Trent, and is too smart for her own good! Brad, to her, is Rope-boy. When Brad visits, Marlowe knows that he will play rope with her, which consists of a game of keep-away as brad bravely attempts to keep the rope away from the bundle of energy dog who will never give up on her quest to 'get the rope'. never gives up. ever. And so finally, Marlowe gets the rope! yay! and then the game converts into a tug of war. Fun and growling, and laugther ensues. I love the little Marlowe dog because she's the most loyal, dedicated animal friend ever! Even when she injured her paw leaving blood on the snow (imagine the stark contrast: bright red blood, with white fresh snow... looked like a scary scene), she was just so happy to have her people there to love her and play with her that she didn't feel the pain! And read Becca's blog http://www.beccainhalifax.blogspot.com for more Marlowe stories.

And now for some Max time. Roz and Nelson's cat is certainly one of a kind. He and I have many deep and meaningful conversations (aka, he bellows, and I bellow back, and he, seemingly shocked that some has taken the time to talk back, continues with the discourse). Max is the fluffiest cat in the history of fluffy cats. In fact, once Chris came over and asked if Roz had just washed him or something. Nope. just that fluffy! Max likes to relax (like many of us do), and clean his mane (also a fond past time for many of us, I'm sure); however, he often gets lost in the moutainous thickness of mane around his neck (hey, I don't judge, hairy manes could also be a problem for some of us...). Ask Roz, and she will mimick her beloved kitty and his attempts at cleaning himself, which involves some interesting tongue action and neck rotating on her part. Because he is so fluffy, he also has very fluppy paws! And consequently, lino is sheer terror. I'm sure we'd understand if we had nothing but fur oozing out from between our toes, thereby causing us to have no traction when we run on the blasted linoleum, when chasing after the feather! Yes, and also, I love Max very much, but not very smrt :)

Enkido and Ozzie poo! Ozzy (ozzie??) was the kitten rescued by Trent ... when he was ramming his head into the wall. The kitten, not the Trent. Well, maybe Trent too. And ever since then I've been very fearful of Oz! Like the rocker, his namesake, he's a very scary soul! I'm sure he's just misunderstood.. .but still! Mr Oz has introduced me to the stereotypical cat who thinks of us, mere humans, as his staff and are we are basically in the way most of the time unless we are feeding them. Nevertheless, his personality is definite! And then!... I saw pics of a very shameful Oz when he had to have his fur shaved! Not so high and mighty now! :) And then there's Enkido, who is lovey dovey and is the only one who truly understands Ozzie. Trent once wanted to trim Enkido's whiskers because they were tickling him when he tries to sleep at night! How cruel would that be! suddenly Enkido would run in to everything.... Mean, Trent. Maybe you should be ramming your head into the wall to empathasize :)

Matt and Kim's dog children are Jade and Logan. These dogs have very similar personalities to our cats! (more on them later.) Jade is a very tall, skinny dog who would be happiest with a bone, and person (or several) to love her endlessly. Logan would like to be told that he's a very handsome purebread huskey and then would like a snowbank to play in. :) Jade, on several occassions, has been told to "go lie down" when in reality Brad and I really don't mind her placing her long skinny face on our laps for love, while we play cards at the kitchen table. It's also amusing how both dogs would love some attention from Daorcey, who is quite allergic and would rather not bestowe love on the obviously starved for attention dogs. haha! Kim should share some goofy dog children stories :)

Mongo. Oh, my Mongo. Those who are familiar with my childhood and living in Cold Lake know that my parents and I pretty much shared everything (homes, yards, everything!) with our neighbors, Mel, Ron and the boys (Kyle, Reese, and Brett). When Ron and Mel moved in next door to us, they had this adorable puppy with this black face and fuzzy grey body, named Mongo! I fell in love with him instantly. He was my mongo! He grew to be a large dog, with a big face, a menacing woof, a large body, but rather stumpy legs. I used to spend hours, (in fact the wee hours of the morning as I was babysitting the boys, who'd be fast asleep), talking to mongo, petting him, and showering him with affection. He had very very thick fur and actually preferred to be outside, but selfishly I used to make him stay inside and cuddle with me until he would wimper while relentlessly panting. Also, when I would bring him inside during the winter, he would have to lie on the carpet by the door until he was dry. And he knew this rule, but he would very often crawl on his belly, covertly of course, to come closer for some love. And if he was desperate enough, he would walk over to me, and place his large dark face directly in front of mine so that I couldn't possibly ignore him. He was so awesome!!! I miss Mongo everyday.

Monty! Ange and Matt's adorable doggie has taken away any hidden fear of large dogs! He is the most adorable dog ever! And he's the largest dog I've ever met (An American bulldog, I think). He's super awesome; even his drooling problem is cute. Also cute, is his attempt to roll over! oh-my-gosh! I've witnessed him as he HEAVES his very large dog body over... takes quite the effort! He lies on Ange's feet, often, and her blood circulation is affected... so big, but so CUTE!

Simon. Simon is our Tabby cat. We rescued him from the SPCA when he was about 5 weeks old. Before he came home with us, he had to be force fed! Wow, what a stark contrast to the Simon we know now! ~~more on that later. From day one, he was full of piss and vinegar. He could fit into the palms of our hands, so little, yet such a large personality. As a kitten, he very rarely slept. All he would do was play! For the first few weeks, Simon had a kitty cold, which meant that he had sneezes very similar to the Roz sneeze (grab a kleenex, stat.) I remember we would wake up (sorry, folks this is a bit gross!) in the morning and our duvet would be covered with Simon snot! The lady from the SPCA told us that he would probably want to be left in a room by himself for the first little bit so that he wasn't overwhelmed by such a large new surrounding. haha!. no. Simon, to this day, suffers from seperation anxiety when a door is closed and there is someone on the otherside. So, basically, from day 2, he had full run of our house. Anyway, back to Simon and his playing. He would play all day and all night.... a problem for me when I had to go to sleep early for school the next day. Simon, at about midnight would bring all of his toys to bed with us, and would pounce all over the bed. All night. So, being the mean and nasty person I am, I used to make Brad get up and play vigorously with him to try and tire him out, so that I could get some sleep! Moreover, Simon loves food. In fact, in his opinion, there is never enough food for the Simon. He's a 17 pound very large, but very beautiful tabby cat. We discovered that Simon is most likely a bengal, which is a few generations off an Asian snow lepard. That explains his size and his crazy personality. Simon knows "supper time", "off the counter", "treat", "out of the kitchen" ~~~~ you will notice that all of these phrases can be linked to food, directly or indirectly. We are fully trained to the ways of the Simon cat, who routinely wakes brad up around 6 am for his breakfast. Thanks to Roz, and her affection, Simon will now withstand some love and cuddles for approximately 1 min and 12 seconds. After that, you've been warned . He is honestly the funniest cat....

MEETOO!.... Meetoo is a baby kitten, even now at over 1 year old. We rescued him, unexpectedly from 4 Paws Rescue when he was about 6 weeks old. We went to Pet Smart to pick up some kitty litter and I went in to see the kittens..and There ws the black and white little guy stretching his paw out in my direction as far as he could! Instant love. During the drive home with him, however, I had a sudden burst of fear... They placed him in a box, did the box up, and handed the box to us to go home. Ya, 3.5 seconds later, he was attempting to break out of said box. So on the drive home, I had brad pull over as we had this little deamon cat attempting to rip right through the cardboard! (I secretly do I have a fear of kittens, and this didn't help much). Brad opened the box, and let him out.... Meetoo found his way to my lap, began purring, and such has been our relationship ever since. :) Meetoo has a certain love quota that needs to be filled everyday. He could do without play... he would rather have a warm lap and some cuddles to make him the happiest kitten ever. He's quite small... especially in comparison to our horse, I mean cat, Simon, who loves and hates his brother. See, Simon loves to play, and gets rather insulted by Meetoos lack of interest. Makes for some pretty one-sided wrestling matches. I love these guys so much!... while they can both be pains, I know that Brad agrees... our lives wouldn't be the same without them... more stories on them to come, I'm sure.

In my concurrent thoughts on all these animals...and their impact on me... I guess I've come to realize how humbling it is to have an animal give you this kind of devotion ... It's nice to have these memories bring a smile to my face... kind of put things in perspective. It's nice to not be judged... and to easily avoid criticism, yet to have these loyal friends touch our lives.

Ok, this is my mushy post. I'd love to hear some of your animal friend stories!

T

The blog is back!!

2006-12-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

Wow, who knew we would wait so long to get this thing back up and running...
Hi everybody!
We've decided we are much too exciting, even when we aren't training for a marathon, not to make regular posts for our devoted friends and family. Right guys, aren't you dying to know what we do everyday?
I ate jellybeans for breakfast. Mmmmm.
And uh, we went to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera.
We played a lot of floor hockey, volleyball, and dodgeball.
I promise, in the New Year, it will sound much more exciting. We'll bring pictures of assorted sports balls hitting us in various limbs while we curse.

Anyways, I'm still trying to figure out how this new blogger thing works. How come when you maximize the screen, some blog templates don't get bigger? I need a 5 year old to come help me out with this new fandangled technology.

R

and then we did a marathon

2006-04-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't done a decent post on this thing in a while. My apologies to our loyal readers - all 2 of you. But you're worthy, so here I go....

The marathon was, in a word, AWESOME! Here's some of my random memories:
1) Pausing very briefly at about 29 km to lube up Roz's armpit. Chaffing sucks. .... Boy, what kind of image does this evoke? No, Roz's armpits were not hairy at all actually.
2) Passing the scantly clad Italian lady with the hot body at about 30 km or so. See! Being all hot and chisled doesn't mean you can finish a marathon! I felt quite proud the instant my butt jiggled right past her!
3) looking at my shadow at approximately 20 km and realizing that I was in a slight pike position (picture an exaggerated lean forward - that was me!). I tried to straighten up at that point, but realized that that would be much too painful, and reverted back to the original stance. I blame the lack of a trainer!
4) watching the self-described "rude American" man in front of us while we were downtwon - he was throwing people out of his way as we meandered through downtown Rome as quickly as possible.
5) the pleasant burst of flavour of Skittles. An excellent snack choice, if I do say so myself! Roz and I munched on Skittles during the marathon. Forget the $20 pack of goo. Skittles and Mars bars are the way to go.
6) The ice bath after the marathon. You know, I bet that doesn't do anything! Sandy was probably laughing at us! She said it would help with the lactic acid in our legs - whatever.
7) me crying the instant we saw the colliseum. Of course. And then the paparazzi right in our faces the instant we finished! What was that about?
8) being wrapped in tinfoil as soon as we finished. It stuck to my body. Picture that.
9) Passing the soccer field filled with loud men. Bet they were hot.
10) seeing our adoring fans downtown right when it was starting to get tough! Awesome to have them there!

So it's been nearly a month since our marathon, and it still feels like yesterday (I still have proof on my feet).

Now I need another goal/adventure! Any ideas?
T

And then we went to Florence...

2006-04-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

After the marathon, we trained to Firenze (Florence to us non-Italians).

When we left the hotel, we had to clown-car it to the train station, and poor Brad got folded into the trunk with the luggage. The train was very exciting, busy and confusing. But, once we boarded, the scenery was lovely. When we got to Florence, we walked to our little hotel down the street. Florence is beautiful! Our hotel was very cute and had a great view of the piazza, a park where locals walked their dogs.
We toured around and sampled the fair in Florence. On one outing, we walked all the way to the bronze replica of the David in Piazza Michelangelo. You can see an amazing view of the city from there. Then, we attempted to blend in and took the bus back to our hotel. We didn't even know how to buy bus tickets, and were quickly found out for tourists.
We also rode the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus around the city to see some of the sites and the countryside. We visited the Duomo, a huge and beautiful cathedral, which is one of the tallest churches in Europe. Spectacular and mind boggling. We also stood in line on a tiny street, that looked like any other street in Florence, for a chance to see Michelangelo's David. The museum isn't particularly amazing, but the David is overwhelming. Fascinating. There are also some musical instruments in the museum, and even an extremely old natural horn! French horn players eat your heart out.
More on Florence later!
R

We are the champions!

2006-04-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, I'm home from Rome!
So, obviously this is Roz. I have returned to Canada, leaving Toni and Brad to continue on with their adventures in Italy. I'll start posting memories and pictures as soon as I can. (PS guys, don't forget to actually pick your bags up in Toronto and switch them to your next flight when you go through customs there, hehe... We barely made our plane back to Edmonton and some of our luggage had to go on the next flight. Oops!)

First, we would like to thank everybody again for all of the support, with training and fundraising. Because of your hands on our shoulders, we crossed the finish line with everything we had. And we had the strength because you gave it to us.

This is a picture of our crazy marathon start! There were 12,308 entrants in the Rome marathon, and 10,034 finished. To read more about the statistics and finishes, check out:
http://www.maratonadiroma.it/eng/home_en.asp
Our official finish time - 06:59:44

The Rome Team Diabetes Canada group fundraised $687,000. Good job everybody!

Okay, now on to the good stuff!
Day 1 - Arrival
So, Italy is far. And Toni had some adventures with the people who check your luggage for bombs and your person for weapons. Luckily, everyone arrived safely in Rome. Where it was warm, muggy, and the traffic was terrifying. Our first hotel was fancy pants, and close to some beautiful parks. The outdoor pool was closed, and they had to tell the Canadians there were harmful chemicals in the water to keep them out. We met lots of other runners and walkers, with varying levels of marathon experience. Everybody was a little bit nervous.

Day 2 - Saturday we did a warm up walk in the parks across the street. The scenery was amazing, the warm up was hot! So, we learned we'd be walking in 20 degree weather in the Roman afternoon. We adjusted our outfit plans, took a trip to the Trevi fountain, and had a dinner the night before with the marathon trainers giving words of encouragement and warning. It was very exciting, and we got pretty nervous. Luckily, I slept great the night before, although many people were up wandering the streets of Rome into the wee hours.

Day 3 - Race morning was pretty scary. Mostly because of the toilets at the starting line. I will never recover, it's probably best not to ask about that part. We held it for the rest of the race. Toni and I pushed ourselved up into the pack of runners who planned to finish in under 4 hours, so we had to jog a bit at the start as they ploughed around us. We actually saw our cheer team, my mom, Uncle Ron, and Brad, standing up above the start line. It was awesome! And then, when the race started, all the men around us suddenly bolted over the barricades to pee on the ancient ruins. There were only 1912 women in the marathon, and 1546 finished. Some of them peed on the ruins too.

The first 15 km of our walk went fast. We saw beautiful downtown Rome, all along the river. Then we walked about 10 km in alternating heat and shade towards the outside of the city, some guys in cars hooted, I'm thinking we looked hot. And sweaty.

About half way we were feeling good and ran into some other members of Team Diabetes Canada, and unfortunately one of our team had to quit. Luckily, Sandy (one of the trainers) was around to run to the next station for help. We continued on, and met an Italian woman running low on water. The water stations started running out and they cleaned up lots of the sponge stations outside of downtown.

When we got about 30 km in, pedestrians started taking over the course. We followed an older Italian man who had the smart idea to bring a horn. He honked us most of the way through the busy, beautiful Roman streets around the Trevi fountain.

Then, when you get to about 35 km, you can almost see the finish line. But you have to loop out and come back! Brutal! We walked to 37 km, and turned the corner to the homestretch. Some Italian police waved us on and cheered. At 41 km we started to run, and managed to jog all the way the finish line. A young Italian guy ran with us close to the descent into the finish area around the Colosseum. I will never forget the feeling of finishing the marathon, and the excitement of seeing our family.

They wrapped us up in gold foil capes and put our medals around our necks. It was amazing. Then we slowly walked to our bus and got a ride back to the hotel. The trainers had recommended an ice bath to help recover. We went for dinner that night with our team, the feeling of accomplishment and success was all around us. The meal was fabulous. Just like our first marathon.

MARATHON!!!

2006-03-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

We fINISHED!

approx 7 hours, 2 min....

will post more soon :)

T

And We're Off

2006-03-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is it. Thank you to absolutely everyone for all of your support and encouragement.

Why did Roz let me talk her into this??? I dawned on me that, really, if I can talk Roz into this, I can talk her into pretty much anything...... muhahahaha (*insert evil laugh*)

Looking forward to updating you all with our stories of fun and excitement, over some drinks perferrably.

Toni

Blow your Mind

2006-03-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

There are now only three sleeps to departure.
I just about hyperventilated a little bit when I typed that.
Yesterday I started two piles: things to wear in Rome and clothes that suck to wear here in Edmonton for the few days before we leave.
Excitement!
R

Alarmity!

2006-03-08T08:45:00.000-08:00

The countdown is in full swing, and we are almost two weeks from departure!
Some things to think about, considering we are about to walk 42 km around one of the most beautiful cities in the world...

One side of the Great Pyramid of Giza is 229 m long, so we could walk around the 2560 BC monument 46 times, and that would be the equivalent of our marathon in Rome.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, if they truly existed as described by Greek poets and historians, would be approximately a marathon's distance away from Baghdad, Iraq. Just walk south to the East bank of the River Euphrates until your legs give out (about 50 km).

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia honoured the god and the Olympic games. When the first modern Olympic marathon was held, Spiridon Louis ran the 40 km distance in 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds to win. In 1924, the marathon was standardized to an official distance of 42 km.

The ancient Temple of Artemis could also be reached by travelling a marathon distance. Leave from Izmir, Turkey and travel 50 km south to the ancient city of Ephesus, near the modern town of Selcuk.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was built as a spectacular tomb for a king who's life was certainly less exciting than his death. The rectangular base of the mausoleum is 40 m by 30 m. So, while we walked around it 300 times, we could admire all of the life-sized statues of people, lions, horses and maybe Simons.

The Colossus, a giant statue of the sun god Helios, probably never spanned the harbor entrance to Rhodes like so often pictured. However, it was 33 m tall when constructed. Almost a millenium after it was toppled by an earthquake, the ruins of the Colussus were sold to a man who had the fragments brought to Syria. Apparently, 900 camels were used. Thank goodness we don't have to carry much for our marathon! And hopefully we get more water.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built on the ancient island of Pharos. It had a mysterious mirror that fascinated scientists, and the reflection could be seen for more than a marathon distance, almost 50 km off-shore. Today, only the pyramid remains, but the lighthouse was the last of the fallen wonders of the world to disappear.

See you in Rome!
R

Fallen Four

2006-03-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

Lest We Forget.

T.

Countdown!

2006-02-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

There are now 29 more sleeps before we leave Canada. We will fly to Rome on March 23rd and the marathon is a short 2 sleeps later in Rome.
Fantastico!
R

Kung-Fu Mermal

2006-02-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

Heehee, I drew this in 1997 for my sister.

It reads... "From another time, for some greater purpose... Kung-Fu Mermal was created. By some bizarre accident (it just always is, isn't it?) the great mermal has come to be of this world - Earth 1997. Here he fights awesomely, using his advanced Kung-Fu techniques to defeat evil."

Good times...

2006-02-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! Remember some good times,
camping, field trips, parties... These pictures were all taken before we were married, old farts. Now, we mix a scoop of real coffee in with the decaf for a wild night. Heehee.
I miss the Bradley pad. We should decorate your house like the BradPad for your bday...
R

Darn stinking cold...

2006-02-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

So, if you are not in Edmonton, it's cold here.
I kinda like it, reminds me of home...
Roz's tips for the -30somethings:
1. Just because it's cold out, you don't have a licence to drink all the hot chocolate you want. Try some nice herbal teas, add some honey for comfort. Save the hot chocolate for a treat, and it will taste that much better with peanut butter crackers... Mmmm...
2. Scarf. Wear it. People need to take care of their necks, or you'll end up looking like a 30something with an 80something nape. In fact, just make sure you bundle up appropriately all round.
3. Get out the lotion. You are probably going to have hot baths and showers when you get in from the stinking cold. Make sure to apply lots of body lotion after, or you'll dry right out. Again, Demi Moore looks great, everywhere but her neck. Don't miss that spot.
4. Keep a positive attitude. Sure it's cold out, sure your nostrils have frozen together, sure the tips of your ears have mild frostbite and you're going to lose most of your eyelashes the next time you blink, but at least, umm, well, I'm sure there's something good about it.
5. Fuzzy socks. Nothing says warm like a pair of Maxwell's on your feet.

If you have some good tips, bring 'em on!
R

Happy Valematines!

2006-02-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,
Welcome to the day of commercial love. Show someone you care by purchasing them something they don't need. Unless you are planning to get your lady "The Notebook", and then in that case, she will love you forever.
We have been suffering in unsilence after our dodgeball tournament last Saturday. Did you know that running around for 5 hours chasing bouncy, red balls, and then fleeing from those same projectiles of pain, is an enormous amount of work. Because I didn't. Not even a little bit. A picnic, that's what I thought. With little cucumber sandwiches that have no crust. And lemonade.

So, what's new everybody? What did you do for Valematines day?
R

On distance

2006-02-09T10:39:00.000-08:00

So, I've discovered some things about walking long distances.
We have walked almost 30 km in one day now, and the marathon will be 42 km.
Here's my breakdown of travelling long distances on foot, broken into 5 parts (or for our current distance walking, about 6 km chunks):
Leg 1 - The beginning
In the first part of your journey, you realize a bit of your left sock is bunched up funny by your third toe. You're a bit nervous that you might get a blister there later, but hey, things feel good and you keep going. You feel like you can accomplish any distance. Anything that hurt a bit at the start is stretched out by now. This is awesome!
Leg 2 - Less awesome
You still feel good, nothing hurts yet really. Maybe you're getting a bit thirsty. You've gotten over the initial excitement, but you feel okay so the groove sets in. This leg seems to go really fast.
Leg 3 - Half way
This leg is both exciting, because you are half way, and terrifying, because you are only half way. You have dawning comprehension of how far there is left to go. Something might be hurting just a little bit, and you are thirsty and hungry. You push on, after all, you're half way! Yay!
Leg 4 - Hopefully this is as bad as it gets
Sometimes this one is the easiest, because you are more than half way and your brain really pushes you. You have the initial pain of what's going to hurt really bad later, but you think this might be the worst it will feel like. And it's not that bad, so you can keep going. You feel like you might be doing this forever.
Leg 5.1 - Forever
I'm splitting this last one up because they are completely different races. This first bit is like the homestretch feeling, you know that you're close. You have dull pain but it feels better to keep moving. Getting to the next step seems to take millions of years.
Leg 5.2 - This is the end
This last part is the worst, and the best. Coming out of 5.1 you are hurting, cranky, tired, hungry, thirsty and would stop if you could. You don't feel like you are getting any closer to the end no matter how many steps you take. Infinity feels closer. And then, all of a sudden, you can see it. The end, and you want to laugh and cry. It is really hard to get there, you are numb from the pain. But when you finish, oh man, you want to do this again next week.

We are crazy! I can't believe we are so close to Rome,
R

Haiku #3.14159

2006-02-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

We like to eat pie
We also like to eat cake
Walking is good too

Intelligence quotient

2006-02-01T19:35:00.000-08:00

Hey roz!

Let's chat on our blog. That's always fun. Never liked the phone anyway.

We got our flight itinerary today! Did you? It always amazes me (** like I have so much traveling experience and expertise that I could ever get away with starting a sentence about traveling with 'it always amazes me'. Anyway, continuing on...**) how the longest layover is in Canada. 14 hours of flying with a 3.5 hour layover in Toronto both ways. We're stopping in Munich/Frankfurt and apparently they're much more efficient than $!*!&#%& Air Canada since the layover Germany is a measly 40 min!

Here's to crossing an ocean.

BTW! everyone should come over and drink beer and noname pop. We have a bit left over. Just a bit. Well, a living room full.

Hey, you know what I miss? Nerds. No, not that kind - I already have a tall elbowy one of those. The candy nerds. You know, you'd eat the large chunks and get that blast of nerdy flavour. But, the small pieces were just small enough that they would fit in your teeth crevices in such a way that you're tongue couldn't jar it out. So then you'd taste nerdy goodness off and on throughout the day.... he he.

Simon is so large, he can't quite clean his bum. Poor guy. Must be tough.

I'm worried that my intelligence quotient is slipping lower and lower everyday....

T

Say what?

2006-02-01T16:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everybody who came out and supported our Italian dinner and dance. You rock our socks!

I would like to rant a little bit, if I may, about people who suck. These people are smokers who toss their lit, unfinished cigarettes out their car windows. You know, if you don't want to have smelly butts in your car sticking up your air, the rest of us might not like it either. I dislike litterers, but I detest the smoke flingers. The other week I spotted a drunken tart cast aside her beer can, and thought loudly to Nelson about how she's a terrible person and should get the plague. But, luckily, her man friend must have received my brainwave and doubled back to pick up her refuse. I say thank you to skinny boy with tartish girlfriend, you will be well rewarded when I rule the Earth.
However! All smokers who throw butts out of windows to smolder away, fuming about the indignation of it all, will not be rewarded at all. Karma police buddy. Karma police.
R

Vote for fun!

2006-01-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

Maybe you voted in the election, maybe you didn't. Maybe your party won, probably they didn't. Now it's time to kick up your heels and party!
This Saturday night come out and be social, or socialist. Come for confabulation, or wax conservative.
It's our Italian dinner and dance for diabetes!
Contact us for more details, there will be fun, prizes, and everbody who comes has to walk 20 km. No, wait, that's us on Sunday...
R

We walked forever, and then some!

2006-01-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hi peeps!
Guess what? We walked almost 26 km for our long walk on Sunday. That's right we're awesome.
For those of you who have any idea what our city is like, that means we walked from Toni's house to Kingsway Mall and back, and not a direct path but a nice big circle with the mall at the bottom. We laughed, we cried, we saw people with machine guns, and some lady tried to race us (punk!).
You know, when we went to the Running Room to get our route, the girl there was all, "Good luck," and made a face like it was going to suck and she was glad it was us and not her. Luckily, we accomplished our goal so we can show our faces in there next week.
Props to Brad for making us dinner that night. Or umm, what do the young people say these days, we'd like to make a "shout out" to Brad. And umm, Toni think he's really hot and if he'd like to, you know, take her out sometime, she'd probably think that was ok.
We need more pictures on our blog, I'm on it this weekend. What would everyone like to see? Pictures of us? Our cats?
R

2006-01-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
Back to blogging after a great Christmas break.
This week we start planning to leave for Rome!!
Last night I had a dream about being in Rome, but it's really embarrasing so I don't feel like sharing too much.
Okay, maybe another fill in the blank... I ran into _____________ in Rome and was rescued by Toni after I __________ and he __________. And then I mistook Brad for ____________ and got very confused. Luckily, after I lost my ___________, I was yet again saved by Toni when she helped ________________. You will not believe this. What is wrong with my sleeping self?

So, anyways, we plan to walk tonight and hash out travel plans and party details.
R

The seam on my pants felt a bit off when I left for my walk.....

2005-12-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

I went for a long walk today. I got blisters on my feet. Not to worry. I have worse problems.

....Chaffing.....Oh chaffing......

T

Feasting and Festivus Cheer

2005-12-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Please mark off January 28, 2006 on your calendars! - our Italian Feast Fundraiser! Let us stuff you full of great Italian cuisine, and then help you to burn off all those calories as we dance the night away! Tickets are $30 at the door. HOWEVER, since you are so special, we will sell you tickets in advance for $20. :) Looking forward to dining and dancing in support of a great cause!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best in the New Year!!!

Toni and Roz

Marathon Haiku #67

2005-12-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

when we go to rome
we will walk and walk and walk
they will pinch our bums

Welcome to the blog!

2005-12-02T07:46:00.000-08:00

My water bath needs to heat up ten more degrees before I can put my samples in, so here' s some new stuff for the blog.
Hello people visiting our website!
We've been having some tough times with fundraising lately, but you wouldn't believe our optimism (see blog top 10 below, nothing will stop us).
We like a challenge, and walking in the snow when it's -25C.
We eat hills for breakfast and we're going to use all of our skills to fundraise like animals (ring tailed lemurs are particularly good at raising money, and they don't even use intimidation like rhinos).
Let's make a list of our skills, I'll start:
- Toni speaks very nearly four languages: english, french, legalese and tabby
- I can draw Sailor Moon, with my eyes close, in 52.5 seconds
- ...
What else?
R

Late November Beautiful Days

2005-11-22T11:28:00.000-08:00

The weather has been awesome, seriously awesome.
On Sunday we walked 90 blocks, and I was actually a bit warm.
Today is also lovely, although it might snow by Saturday.
So, wish us well for warm weather walkin'!
R

All better and freshly motivated!

2005-11-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

Those who know and love her, know that Roz is motivated strongly through competition. I'm not a competing kinda gal, but I'll give it my best shot.

I'm publicly admitting to our less than stellar training attempts as of late. Yes, sickness and less than supportive husbands have stood in our way; however,..... excuses, excuses!

Now it's on. I plan to train to my max potential 6 days a week starting yesterday. I dare you, Roz, to keep up with me.

Bring it.

Toni
PS - I think I'm going to enjoy this dirty talkin', power walkin me.

Chicken soup for the Toni

2005-11-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

So guys, Toni has the plague. We might have to bleed her soon if it gets much more serious.
In order to cheer her up, I propose a joke competition on the blog site. Post your best jokes here and Toni will let us know which one made her snort so hard her knees blew out.
I'll start:

How do you get down from an elephant?
You don't, you get down from a duck.

R

Walking machines

2005-11-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

We are walking machines. That's right. Yesterday we walked 41 blocks. Guess how long it took us? We are amazing.
Our kitties also met yesterday. Quite an adventure.
R

Does anybody read our blog anymore?

2005-10-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

This blog needs some love. We post, we comment, but where are the people? I don't think my husband reads our blog at all. Come on everybody, teamwork, there's no I in blog. Or "eye" come to think of it.
Here's my dream fill in the blank:
Last night I dreamt that I was trying to teach __________ to play _________.
Go for it!
R

Ramping up for the Waterpark

2005-10-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Waterpark tomorrow everybody! Who wouldn't want to support a great fundraiser and get to splash around for a couple of hours?
I'm most excited about the tube rides and the wave pool.
Next is Halloween, and that should be lots of fun too.
This week we almost ran all of Toni's block, and we only got scared once by thunder and lightning.
HUB was a bit of a bust for fundraising, but you've got to give them credit for being a team.
See you guys on the waterslides!
R

Marathon Haiku # 7,864,329

2005-10-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

Two lines on one path
We go to go and go fast
Cake at the finish

Bananas!

2005-10-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we met our Team. Team Diabetes Canada from Northern Alberta, or at least our peeps who chose to show up. We have official t-shirts now and everything!
I wonder where Cheez Whiz got its start?
It was nice to meet other people interested in fundraising and training for the marathon.
We will crush our competition like they are old, smelly bananas. And then we will bake them into banana bread (with chocolate chips) and eat them.
MMMmmm, it tastes like victory.

See y'all at the garage sale!
R

goldfish

2005-10-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fabulous turkey weekend!

Things have been going swell, I say. We're into our..... 6th week of training! holy cow! That's incredible! Yay us.

And now here's a joke that kept me giggling all day:

Two goldfish are in their tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns. I'll Drive."

hehe.....HAHAHAHA.....

T

Top 10 Reasons to go Home

2005-10-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

We went walking on Sunday, and it got darn cold, darn fast. We cut the Dr. Zhivago walk a bit short and went home. So I begin, the first top ten on this blog: Roz's Top 10 Reasons to go Home
10. Creepy men. It's why we leave bars, it's why we avoid eye contact at bus stops, and it's a darn good reason to cut a walk short.
9. Bad underwear. I mean when you get up thinking today is a good day for sexy panties and forget to bring an extra pair for your walk. If a rash develops in any place you can't see without a mirror and advanced yoga, it's time to go home.
8. Armageddon. If you still have a home.
7. Chocolate. Sometimes, it's not home that distracts you but an unfortunately located confectionary establishment on your walking route. Damn that ice cream place!
6. TV. We have already encountered this one. You will walk much faster if you are in danger of missing your programs. If only we could go faster than the speed of light, we could get home before we left...
5. Boys with toys. We would go home if we saw Nelson and Brad drive by with cable, speakers, electrical equipment etc. No one needs their bedroom ceiling converted into a movie theatre.
4. Zombies. Realistically, the best place to be is home, that just makes sense.
3. Brad Pitt. If Brad Pitt showed up at Toni's house, I don't think I could stop her.
2. Anakin Skywalker. If Anakin showed up at my house, I don't think Toni could stop me.
1. The freaking cold!!! We were so unprepared for October! First, you get chilly, then you lose feeling in your fingers, then your hands and finally your spleen. And if you make it home without frostbite, your butt is so numb your heart almost stops. It was bad people. I'm still cold. Jean, we need hats, stat! Tomorrow, we will be much better prepared.
(PS Nothing else will stop us. Nothing.)
R

@#$@#$@(@#$@#(@&!&@# hill

2005-09-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

So, now we need some assistance with creating the most incredible reward ever on this earth..... You see, we are quickly approaching the one month mark of training (CAN U BELIEVE iT!!!), and we need a sizable reward to serve 2 important purposes:

1) To make us feel proud of our accomplishments thus far;
2) To encourage us to keeeeeep goinggggggg (Not that we have much choice in the matter).

What brilliant ideas do you have?

Next, it's about time we let you know of a few of our upcoming funraising ideas/activities:
1) the oh so elusive jar of _________. Guess how much/many and if you guess right, YOU WINNNN! The catch: the guesses are gonna cost ya.

2) WATERPARK, baby! Oct 22 from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm - snack and trampoline jumping included...... email us or post on this blog for more info

3) Halloween activities that aren't quite planned yet..... Roz, let's do this tonight. In the mean time, should you be interested in some form of pubcrawling on this costume occassion, let us know.

4) Good ol' fashioned garage sale in good ol' Cold Lake. Oct 15. Have any goods to donate to this worthy cause? we'd be glad to take em off your hands.

Tonight - up and down the @#$@#$@(@#*$@#(@&!&@#* hill!
T

Jog Blog

2005-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that the way to kill an interesting blog comment conversation is to leave a quantum physics comment. The jar poll has died, and I am so sorry that I ran it over with the geekmobile.
Nelson thinks I'm cool.
Anyways, yesterday we jogged for half of our walk. It felt great, until I stood up after dinner and realized I left my legs behind.
If you want, you can leave ideas for Toni and I for Halloween. What should we dress up as?
R

Yesterday

2005-09-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we walked 5.5 (with an error of 0.3) miles. I swallowed a bug. Toni can tell you all about it. She had to stop to laugh at me. We should have a camera with us for these Kodak moments. Bugs don't taste like very much, especially when they hit the back of your throat before you can do much about it. But they do stick there a bit, especially if you're parched and forgot to bring your water bottle. Toni, didn't I pull a bug out of your eye last time? I wonder what the bugs are like in Rome.
R

Pictures!

2005-09-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Us out and about.

More us.

How to pledge us online - in detail. Bikini proposal!

2005-09-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

I thought that perhaps a detailed description of how to pledge us online might be helpful.
Also, if we get over half of our fundraising completed online - we will do the marathon in bikinis. That's not to entice you to give us money, that's a threat. Hee hee.

Okay, you go to: http://www.diabetes.ca/Section_donations/teamdiabetesindex.asp
Now, the site is pretty busy, so don't be too distracted. I know, you will want to start reading about Team Diabetes, and you'll be all like "Who's this guy in the sunglasses?", but press on! Nay, do not tarry at the BMI calculator (I tried it and it's not as much fun as you might guess) or be frightened like Brad might be by the bumblebee colours.
You are looking for the button "Pledge a participant."

You're in! Fill in some information about yourself so that you can get your tax receipt. On the left side of the page, choose pledge a participant. We're going to Rome, March 26, 2006. Enter our name(s). Great! There we are, you can make your donation.

Now, you might be planning to support us in other ways, by coming to events or baking us cake. We appreciate everybody's support and enthusiasm, in all the little ways (like giving us blog comments to read when our bums hurt). Thanks so much friends and family! Get on it strangers, you are seriously lagging behind.

R

period. punctuation.

2005-09-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the past 20 minutes trying to figure out how to use this blog - post pics, post charts of our progress, filter out strange spam comments - and I got nowhere. crap.

After my minor meltdown yesterday (OMG How are we EVER going to FUNDRAISE ENOUGH!!!???), I'm better now. I'm calm. Serene. Focused

We need to walk..... and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk.

Continuing on with my random thought process - we forgot to tell you about Sam the Student! So, almost a week ago we decided to walk up and down Groat Road (you know, the road that winds and is on a gradual slope so that it BURNS and BURNS and BURNS when you are walking North and you can't quit because where are you going to go? and it Burns and Burns....) and we see a young gentleman with a bookbag (hence the appropriate nickname Sam the Student) - and to extend this runon sentence even further I will keep going and tell you the rest of this oh so exciting story without using even one period - Sam was quite a distance ahead of us on the opposite side of the road heading north on Groat and we get this silly idea that we will PASS HIM oh yesss, so we forge on one burning step at a time and he didn't stand a chance too bad he didn't know we were racing him but that's not the point the point my friend(s) is that it burnned and burnned and burnnnned and our inner buttocks we crying out in pain the entire time but we didn't quit (regardless of the fact that, as previously mentioned, even if we wanted to quit we had no place to go!) and that is then end of my story. period.

T. period.

Marathon Haiku 4

2005-09-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

roz walks toni walks
we walk around all the blocks
we want cake and naps

Jar Poll

2005-09-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Imagine:
You are walking around with some money burning a hole in your pocket. If I was in charge of the world you'd have dabloons in your money purse, but we will have to wait for that.
You see a jar. A large jar. It's enormous. The mammoth of the jar world. And, could it be? Oh man, it is. It is filled with, no, you are too exicted to speak. Take a moment to catch your breath.
They are offering you guesses, $2 a guess, and if you tell them how many are in that jar, you win them all. You pee yourself, just a little bit.

Now, what is in that jar? Chocolates? Spiders? Transistors? Bacteria? Teeth?
Let us know what you think!

2005-09-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Where our journey begins and ends in Rome!

Picture courtesy of www.aviewoncities.com

Today my bum, tomorrow the world!

2005-09-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who don't already know, this weekend I helped a friend move, and I am still stiff. In the region of the back of my thighs, only higher. I would like to add that yesterday we walked in the rain, and that the cold weather is certainly not helping me recover. So, today I say to Mother Nature, enough already! My parking lot is becoming the gray Nile and the darkness is altogether disconcerting. Some of us have things to do that involve being outside, and big plans for October that would come off much better if the weather would give us a break. Seriously, wasn't summer bad enough? I had to go to Mexico to see sunshine, and as it was, I just missed the hurricane there.

I thought I had a brilliant fundraising idea, but it was in my dream and I don't remember what all the excitement was about. I am convinced that my sleeping self is much smarter than my waking self. So, if I am ever knocked out cold, please be aware that I might try to take over the world in my snoozy stupor.

I would like to add a haiku composed by my mom,
Pink with ears up straight
Together never alone
Maybe winter white

R

pretty it up!

2005-09-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Roz, you should make this blog prettier. It needs some of your creative energy.

T

folk

2005-09-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

So we need some fundraising ideas, folks. Or is it just folk? how many people read this anyway? hmmm... maybe we can just use it as a personal journal. We can talk about our crushes, and who's flirting with whom. Oh wait. We're married. Well, we can talk about our cats. Today, meetoo climbed up my leg and made me yelp like this "YELLLPPP!!!" But then he was so cute and cuddly that I kissed him like this "mmmmmuuuuuaahhhhhhh".

Back to marathoning. We need fundraising idea, folk(s). If we can fundraise, we can get inspired to keep on a trainin'. Things are going awesome though! There's some weight losses in there too. But I still want cake.
T

The Long Walk

2005-09-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Yay! We have finished our first week of training. Yesterday we walked about 11 km. We have begun to get a little bit concerned about the weather, it was pretty cold for the last 30 min of our walk. I have to get my sister to knit us hysterical hats. I think they should be like those cute hats we all wore as little girls, that cover your neck and the back of your head with little cat ears sticking up on top. Maybe, maybe. On the plus side, the hats might scare away the crazies...

R

Marathon Haiku 3

2005-09-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

walk chilly night air
push on past sunset grows dark
winter is coming

saying yes to anything

2005-09-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

So. We walked a difficult and challenging 5 k that including a whole lotta sweating, some swearing, and resulted in some cake eating. Good times.

Oh, ya. And a crazy man asked us if we were preparing to go fight in Iraq. Out of fear and surprise (mostly fear) I said yes. What does that say about me?

What does it mean to "do your daily dozen"? Crazy lady crossing the street asked, and again (out of surprise and fear) I said yes.

What did we learn today, folks? Out of fear and surprise I may just say yes to anything.

Good night!
T

Marathon Haiku 2

2005-09-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

speedy shoes swift steps
sayonara sluggishness
soon success so sweet

Marathon Haiku 1

2005-09-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

swing arms wiggle hips
kick dirt trod grass crunch leaves go
walk walk walk walk walk

oh cramp

2005-09-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Another 4 km done. We were laughed at. But it's fine. We're fine. yes.

I look forward to plenty of posts filled with Haikus and Rozisms. I will simply add my usual sarcasm and snide remarks. In a supportive tone of course.

At this point I wish I knew a little more about Blogs so that I could add pics and charts that show our progress .... until we figure it out you're stuck reading our blabber.

Here is some info about Team Diabetes Canada:

http://www.diabetes.ca/section_donations/TeamDiabetesIndex.asp

Here is some info on our MARATHON:

http://www.maratonadiroma.it/

OK Roz, let's go make it official tomorrow.

T.

The first day - why do we look so silly?

2005-09-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

Have you seen these people walk by? Bobbing along with water bottles on their bottoms, through rain, snow, hail, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, attack by Vogons... That's us now! No longer can I shake my head at frosted walkers and runners on my way home to hot chocolate and TV. Now I will smile and wave at them as Toni and I walk by, bobbing along with water bottles on our bottoms.
The first 5 km have been walked.
In the words of Bilbo Baggins, "It is a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to."

just the beginning....

2005-09-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to figure out how this works... give me a minute.....