via Trinity again

List the top 100 songs from your grad year. Bold the ones you actually like. Pick a favourite and underline it. And strikethrough the ones you loathe. Italicize the ones that were guilty pleasures.

1. Candle In The Wind 1997, Elton John
2. Foolish Games / You Were Meant For Me, Jewel
3. I'll Be Missing You, Puff Daddy and Faith Evans (the beginning of the 'who needs to write new music?' phenomenon, I think)
4. Un-Break My Heart, Toni Braxton
5. Can't Nobody Hold Me Down, Puff Daddy
6. I Believe I Can Fly, R. Kelly (in his pre-molester days)
7. Don't Let Go (Love), En Vogue
8. Return Of The Mack, Mark Morrison
9. How Do I Live, LeAnn Rimes
10. Wannabe, Spice Girls
11. Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Backstreet Boys
12. MMMBop, Hanson
13. For You I Will, Monica
14. You Make Me Wanna..., Usher
15. Bitch, Meredith Brooks
16. Nobody Keith Sweat
17. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
18. Barely Breathing, Duncan Sheik
19. Hard To Say I'm Sorry, Az Yet Featuring Peter Cetera
20. Mo Money Mo Problems, Notorious B.I.G.
21. The Freshmen, Verve Pipe
22. I Want You, Savage Garden
23. No Diggity, BLACKstreet Featuring Dr. Dre
24. I Belong To You (Every Time I See Your Face), Rome
25. Hypnotize, Notorious B.I.G.
26. Every Time I Close My Eyes, Babyface
27. In My Bed, Dru Hill
28. Say You'll Be There, Spice Girls
29. Do You Know (What It Takes), Robyn
30. 4 Seasons Of Loneliness, Boyz II Men
31. G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T., Changing Faces
32. Honey, Mariah Carey
33. I Believe In You And Me, Whitney Houston
34. Da' Dip, Freaknasty
35. 2 Become 1, Spice Girls
36. All For You, Sister Hazel
37. Cupid, 112
38. Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?, Paula Cole
39. Sunny Came Home, Shawn Colvin
40. It's Your Love, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
41. Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit, Gina G
42. Mouth, Merril Bainbridge
43. All Cried Out, Allure Featuring 112
44. I'm Still In Love With You, New Edition
45. Invisible Man, 98 Degrees
46. Not Tonight, Lil' Kim
47. Look Into My Eyes, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
48. Get It Together, 702
49. All By Myself, Celine Dion
50. It's All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion (seriously, how many songs does one woman need on the countdown?
51. My Love Is The Shhh!, Somethin' For The People
52. Where Do You Go, No Mercy
53. I Finally Found Someone, Barbra Streisand and Bryan Adams
54. I'll Be, Foxy Brown Featuring Jay-Z
55. If It Makes You Happy , Sheryl Crow
56. Never Make A Promise, Dru Hill
57. When You Love A Woman, Journey
58. Up Jumps Da Boogie, Magoo And Timbaland (can't say as I know that one...)
59. I Don't Want To / I Love Me Some Him, Toni Braxton
60. Everyday Is A Winding Road, Sheryl Crow
61. Cold Rock A Party, Mc Lyte
62. Pony, Ginuwine
63. Building A Mystery, Sarah McLachlan
64. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
65. Your Woman, White Town
66. C U When U Get There, Coolio
67. Change The World, Eric Clapton
68. My Baby Daddy, B-Rock and The Bizz (seriously, what are these songs?)
69. Tubthumping, Chumbawamba
70. Gotham City, R. Kelly
71. Last Night, Az Yet
72. ESPN Presents The Jock Jam, Various Artists
73. Big Daddy, Heavy D
74. What About Us, Total
75. Smile, Scarface
76. What's On Tonight, Montell Jordan
77. Secret Garden, Bruce Springsteen
78. The One I Gave My Heart, w Aaliyah
79. Fly Like An Eagle, Seal
80. No Time, Lil' Kim
81. Naked Eye, Luscious Jackson
82. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio
83. On and On, Erykah Badu
84. Don't Wanna Be A Player, Joe
85. I Shot The Sheriff, Warren G
86. You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time), Brian McKnight Featuring Mase
87. Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Madonna
88. Someone, SWV
89. Go The Distance, Michael Bolton (oh, my, barf)
90. One More Time, Real McCoy
91. Butta Love, Next
92. Coco Jamboo, Mr. President
93. Twisted, Keith Sweat
94. Barbie Girl, Aqua (so catchy, evil, evil!)
95. When You're Gone / Free To Decide, Cranberries
96. Let Me Clear My Throat, DJ Kool
97. I Like It, Blackout Allstars
98. You're Makin' Me High / Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
99. You Must Love Me, Madonna
100. Let It Go, Ray J

go find your songs, and do up your list. Scroll down a bit to find the top songs.

via Trinity

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying, 'Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed.'

'OH NO!' the president exclaims. 'That's terrible!'

His staff is stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands. Finally, the president looks up and asks, 'How many is a brazillion?'

ha ha ha!

minesweeper queen

on this computer anyway. I've beaten all my dear fiancé's best times. He's pretty excited. Minesweeper is funny. If you know how to play it, it's ... not easy to beat, necessarily, but easy to know how to beat. Like pool. But if you don't know how to play, it's really hard to understand.

My sweet boy and I went for a walk today, it's absolutely gorgeous out. We saw a butterfly and a bluejay. I did anyway, he goes into sort of a trance and usually falls asleep on walks. Oh, I saw a tiny, tiny snake too. I thought it was an earthworm who had been in the sun too long, but then it moved, very un-wormlike. Sort of neat. I've got to remember to bring my camera on walks, being out of the city, I actually see nature worth taking pictures of. The fiancé is just getting over a nasty cold, which I and our dear boy managed to avoid, until yesterday. Poor baby is all stuffy and coughing, although he seems more just stuffy and whiny today. And tired, he was up lots last night. Good times. I just am stuffy and have a sore throat. I've started him back on cereal, we tried it last week but he got so gassy, he was having farts that would rival any grown man's. It didn't seem very fun, so I gave him a couple of days off, and we're having just like, a teaspoon of cereal a day for now, until he gets used to it.

That's about it. I'm tired, but am going to try to work on this family-type website I keep talking about. I promise though, and if I go back on my word you all have the right to verbally berate me, that I won't have a baby blog, where I type entries pretending to be my son and tell you all about the exciting things "I" did today. I promise. You can even slap me around a bit if I do that.

jallapenno out.

not really all that exciting, I'm afraid

It's raining, I have to take my car in to get the bushings fixed, or replaced, or something. What is a bushing? I don't really know, but when they're broken, it's apparently bad news. Luckily it's under warantee for another like, 4000kms, so I'm not having to pay for this. The fiancé is home sick, and my dear boy is sleeping, after being a whiney jerk for a good part of the morning and yesterday. Maybe jerk is too strong, but definitely whiney. It's fun, I guess, to be learning what kind of noises you can make. Just unfortunate that they're mostly really loud. heh.

anyway, I'm going to shower, I just paid my mastercard bill and now feel like crying because I officially have NO money again, after having my line of credit almost paid off. such is life, I suppose. I do have some cake though, that my mom made for me, so that should help. I also actually have some cake that my mom made for my sister. We've been having the same birthday cakes (each of us has our favourite, I get chocolate with boiled icing, my sister gets angel cake) since we were old enough to have opinions. Some things are just always good. There was only one year, I think, where I didn't get my chocolate cake with boiled icing. It was a rough one, I'll tell ya.

Hope you're all enjoying my birthday as much as I am!

effing effer monitor

or computer, I'm not sure which. Twice now, the computer has gone to sleep, taking with it the monitor, and the computer will wake up when prompted with a keystroke or pushing of buttons, but the monitor will not. Both times it eventually has, after much restarting and just waiting, but I fear someday it will not. What to do?

Because I could not play online (not that I do much anyway, these days), I painted the bathroom. I primed and did most edges yesterday, so finished up with the main painting and a re-do of the edges. Looks pretty good, I think. It's a yellow that's a bit darker than I would have liked originally, but it goes perfectly with the wood, tile floor, and the wall tiles that we've picked out, so it's great. We also got our first mail in the mailbox today, very exciting. 2 bills and a Marks Work Wearhouse flyer. Weehoo.

I'm really tired, so I'm going to go nap until my honey gets home to cook me supper. Hehe. I had a productive day of painting and dish-doing, so I get supper cooked for me. Not a bad deal.

it's that time of year again!

that's right, time for you to buy me presents. No, sillies, it's not Christmas. In case you're blind, or just really, really unobservant, it's my birthday! Soon, anyway. It's also what is apparently called my champagne birthday, although I can't find any info about that on Google. Disappointing, I must say. Anyway, I'll be 26 on the 26th, which is pretty fun.

I'm on my own for a bit longer than usual today, the fiancé is going to see a scary movie, and thus I am not. I just don't really enjoy being scared. Call me crazy. I like movies with some suspense, but not jumpy or gory movies.

My sweet baby and I are going to put up our mailbox today, which could be a bit of an adventure. We put up the post to sit said mailbox on already, so I should be able to manage screwing the box on top. I'm pretty handy. I also had to put the mailbox together a bit, with no instructions, and it seems to be working, so I've gained confidence in my mailbox abilities.

Back to my birthday. I've been asked to post a wishlist, so I'm going to revive the buy me stuff page. I've actually got some ideas, but not many. I have a hard time. There are lots of things we need for the house, but since, with the baby, I have a feeling that all other gift-related holidays will no longer revolve around me, I feel like I have a right to just ask for me things on my birthday. It's not so much about the presents, (although who doesn't like getting stuff?) and it may change as I get older, but I really like the recognition, people knowing it's my birthday and wishing me well. You don't get that on a regular basis, and I enjoy it. Pay attention to ME! Thanks. You guys are great.

I really am going to make a page for the baby, I just have to think of a name and like, create it. It'll likely be something like meandthefiance.ca with a subpage for our dear boy. I don't like ads and hassle, and I want to be able to split it into pages for each month, so I'll just spend the $20 and get a new full site. That way I can have all the family going there too. I know some of my family reads this site, but I also know they do that with the understanding that I may rant and roar every now and then. I don't necessarily want my WHOLE family, and the fiance's, to be reading about all my little adventures and annoyances.

Alright, off to update the gift page.

5 months

wow. Happy 5 month...birthday? Anniversary? Who knows. My little man is that old today. I can't believe it. His hobbies to date include chewing on stuff, making b-b-b-b-b-b and farty noises, as well as weird grunting sounds that make him cough after a while, waking up screaming in the night(why? I have no idea.), smiling at everyone he lays his beautiful blue-ish eyes on. He does have hair, but it's super light, so doesn't show up too well in pictures. One more month til we start on the food thing, I won't say solids, because they're really not. Good times.

I posted some more photos in his folder, go take a look. Here's a sampling.


(yes, I do put him to sleep on his back, but he flips over almost immediately.)


(I'm not actually sure what he was so surprised about here)





On a completely unrelated note, but sort of related, because it shows why I am worried about the kind of world my sweet boy will be growing up in...:

"What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them." –Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5, 2005

yeah, that's the family alright.

wow, dialup

soooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooow.

We're in, as of last Monday night, so it's been a week. In that time we've had lots of visitors, which is nice. I was on a mad rampage Tuesday and Wednesday, trying to get everything put away before the in-laws came to visit. I think I did really well, but apparently everything wasn't perfect. Whatev. Have to measure the bedroom furniture to see if there is any other way to organise it, our room is full of windows and a patio door, which is lovely, but doesn't leave much wall space for a variety of arrangements. We've also failed so far at the hanging of the pot rack, because the beams on the ceiling make it hang too low. May have an idea to fix that though.

I'll tell ya though, moving with a 4-month old, not a good idea. FYI. Next time, there'll be a babysitter or something involved. I underestimated how long it would take to load things, the packing wasn't so bad. When we rented the cargo van to bring the big stuff like the baby's furniture and our bed, it was not a good time. We learned as we were trying to load the crib that it had, of course, been assembled in his room, and was too wide to fit out the door. We then had to disassemble it, having no idea what we were doing, and no allan key to do it with. Good times. My poor sweet boy is teething also, and so wasn't really in the mood to be set down for any amount of time without screaming.

All's well that ends well though, I suppose. We have a lovely home, with lovely new appliances and bedroom furniture, and new to us livingroom furniture (it's giant, and red, but comfy). We still have a lot of work to do; I think there may be a landscaping party in the works. Wooh! You're all invited. I'm sure there will be beer involved, if that helps.

I'm going to go shower while my dear boy is napping. He has his 2 bottom teeth through, which was pretty traumatic for me, I have to say. It's early for that stuff, 6 months is average. Since this occurance there's been even more of the 'well *now* you'll stop breastfeeding?'. Um, no. I don't know how you guys drink, but there's not usually a lot of teeth involved. I know it happens, but we'll deal with that if/when it does. I figure my doctor knows more about what's best for my baby than most of the people who are suggesting that I stop breastfeeding, so I'll go with her counsel to not introduce anything else until 6 months. Then we get rice cereal, wohoo! Should be fun. He's doing well other than that too, he's a beast at about 18lbs, and I'm still not sure what colour his eyes will be, other than that they won't be blue.

The cats like the new place, they can sit on the stairs and peer through the railings to keep an eye on things, and there are lots of windows to paw at. Also no carpet to barf on, which is a bonus. They spent the first few days growling and hissing at eachother every time they came around a corner, but have gotten over that. Sure was fun.

Anyway, this is probably going to take an hour to publish, so I'd better stop. If anyone knows how to speed up dialup, I'm open to suggestions. I've heard of browseblast, but it costs money, so is a no go. I'm off to shower while my dear boy finishes his nap.