wow, where does the time go? it seems like i just posted yesterday, but it's actually been a week! christmas has come and gone....i still can't believe it.


chris and i had a fairly low-key christmas. we spent christmas eve with my family....ham dinner followed by opening our presents. it was a little bit chaotic because my dog keah and my pads dog fraser would be in close proximity to each other. my mom created a makeshift barrier to keep them away from each other. we never socialized keah very well, so she's not familiar with her own kind, hence she's very territorial.


on christmas day, we headed over to chris' parents house for lunch with the family - 10 in total. we enjoyed a huge non-traditional christmas meal of teriyaki chicken wings (made by yours truly!), lamb shank curry on rice, spaghetti, baked potatoes (with tons of goodies inside!), chocolate covered pineapples and sugar cookies (made by yours truly!).



christmas dinner was at my aunt's house - turkey, ham, stuffing, the works! my mom was responsible for dessert, so she made a fruit salad, frozen lemon mousse with ladyfingers and a pavlova. 3 desserts for our family of 12....lucky us!


this year was a first for me and chris.....the first time in 9 years that we haven't gone boxing day shopping. he's been sick for the past week, and needed some rest after being out for 2 days. we did manage to go to brentwood mall because i had some stuff to buy at london drugs. pretty exciting! we dragged fraser along, and it seems as though he's suffering from post-holiday festivities, cuz he slept for a LONG time after our 1-hour trip to the mall.


the one day i look forward to every year is my birthday - december 28. the best day of the year :-) i decided to take a 1/2 day off work yesterday, so i could run some errands and try out my new ice cream maker (i'll blog my results later). then i had an afternoon nap with fraser. he always seems ready for a nap :P then i had one of my favourite meals for dinner....we went to cactus club and i enjoyed my 7 oz. blackened creole cajuned steak w/spicy creole butter with french fries and garlic mayo dip. yum! on saturday my parents are taking us out for my birthday dinner, and i chose saltlik so i could have another steak w/their skinny fries - double yum!

i love my birthday! next year is the big 3-0! bring it on, baby :-)

merry christmas!

thanks to the associates in my office, it was a very merry christmas for one family in vancouver. every year we "Adopt A Family" through the Salvation Army and help them out at christmas-time. our family this year was a single mom with 3 young children. employees bought and donated several toys for the girls, a basketball for the boy, and some books. mom also was given some gifts. and then with the cash we collected, renee and i hit superstore to get the most bang for our buck. they are now all hooked up for their turkey dinner, much-needed clothes for the kids, and some gift cards for future use. i like to think that we've helped brighten up their holiday season and it's very nice to see ppl appreciate the large delivery we make.

on that note, i ended my work day and headed home. i wish i could say it was my last work-day of 2006, but i'm going back for more on wednesday and friday. sucks :P

and now it's 2 days before christmas (our family opens presents on christmas eve), and i'm going out shopping now. just a few more things to buy, and then i'll be done. hopefully i can sit back and relax on saturday and sunday.....gotta rest up for all the christmas day eating we'll be doing. and then it'll be time for boxing day shopping. so much to do!

to all my friends out there reading my blog, i thank you for listening to my rants and raves over the past 10 months. i hope you all have a great christmas!

seasons greetings :-)

tracey, chris, and our holiday-puppy fraser

unexpected "vacation" day

last night i picked up fraser from his previous puppy-sitter, and we hit starbucks with leanne. fraser is such a good boy, it's almost ridiculous how good he is. he obeys on command without any reinforcements or without a reward every time. i love him :-)

we got home and he amused himself with the one rubber toy i have (chilka demolished the rope toy), and then played w/chris for a while. then we went to bed and i dreamt the night away.

6 a.m. - time to get up. usually the first thing i do is take out the puppy for its business. but since fraser wasn't fussing in the living room i decided to shower first.

6:30 - i leave the bedroom...hmmm, something doesn't smell very nice. it's coming from the kennel. oh for the love of pete! fraser had a big accident in his kennel overnight, and instead of fussing over it and whining (as most puppies would do), he just slept in it.

i spent the next 2 hours cleaning the kennel, the floor where fraser had walked, AND my nice blanket i had let him sleep on in his kennel (the blanket is now permanently a "doggie" blanket). unfortunately i hadn't managed to clean fraser, so the smell lingered. well, i thought going outside in the rain would help, but it wasn't raining, so we came back inside. i called into work and told them i wouldn't be coming in for a shile. petcetera grooming only opens at 9 a.m., and i wasn't going to last much longer with the smell. fortunately there's a doggie daycare down the street from us, and they do dog grooming as well. phew! at 8:30 we made a mad dash so fraser could get cleaned up. then i came back home and continued on the cleaning journey.

40 minutes later fraser was ready to be picked up. it took 3 baths to clean him all up, but he was shiny and new again. whoo-hoo! there was still a slight smell to him, which the groomer thought could be due to vommit. ugh! so his overnight mess came from both ends! what the hell happened to fraser? it certainly wasn't anything i did, because he got no food from me last night!

so i called PADS and gave them an update. they recommended that fraser not have any doggie food for the day, just to see how his stomach was. then if he was ok, he could have rice for dinner. well, poor puppy was obviously not quite right.....he slept for most of the day, i think he's been awake for all of 1 hour today. now he's had his rice dinner, and i he's settled back down to sleep. i'm a little worried what our 2nd night together is going to bring :(

instead of spending the day at the office, fraser slept, and i made my christmas day cookies. at least i managed to get something done today. hopefully tomorrow will be a good day....i'm supposed to deliver a food/gift hamper to our Adopt-A-Family through the Salvation Army. plus i still have some last minute christmas shopping to do. yup, i'm such a procrastinator!

what's a robot?

tonight we met up with anthony for dinner. he was visiting canada (from south africa) in the hopes of finding a job (on a working visa). who's anthony, you ask? well, i'm not sure if i've even got it straight but here goes.....

anthony is dating janine, and her mother is lynette, and lynette is my mom-in-law's first cousin. (this was the only connection we knew of, prior to actually meeting anthony.) then we found out that anthony just so happens to be the son of my dad-in-law's best friend from south africa in the '60s. anthony's dad has a brother, terrence, who happens to have immigrated to vancouver a long time ago, like chris' family. (terrence and my dad-in-law are good friends.) terrence's son, wayne, would obviously be anthony's first cousin, and it just so happens that wayne works at the same company as me :-) so i thought vancouver was small, but it turns out that every chinese south african knows each other or is in some way shape or form related to each other. weird!


i have to admit it, i'm a sucker for ppl with accents. i'm particularly fond of british accents (depending where they're from), south african accents and australian accents. i can't explain it. so tonight i was just hanging onto anthony's every word, loving the way it all sounded :-) whenever he said anything "south african" i would giggle like a schoolgirl! it was like hearing a foreign language, and i needed a translator. the funniest was when he talked about getting a ticket for a robot (or something to that effect). turns out a robot is a traffic light....i thought it was an automated traffic ticketing system :P

i also found out that basic cable in south africa consists of only 4 channels. hmmmm, i don't think i could survive on 4 channels of tv. sometimes i get bored with my 100+ channels :P i learned that crime in johannesburg is getting worse all the time. apparently criminals now hang out at the airport, and then follow the locals back home and then rob them either en route, or as soon as they get home. i had heard of other bad stories from chris' family, as they have experienced some of it first-hand. how terrible!

anthony came bearing a gift from south africa for chris. a biltong chunker. now what's biltong, you ask? well, it's basically the south african version of beef jerky. i like to eat it when it's fairly dry, but still has some moistness to it, and i like it sliced very thin (kind of like deli meat). chris prefers his biltong dry and in chunks. so now instead of using a butcher knife to cut his biltong into pieces, he can now use his biltong chunker (a.k.a. the guillotine) :-)

1 week till christmas!?!?

where does the time go?

i'm not sure how christmas is only a week away! i've managed to buy a few presents for family, but i still need to hit the mall again cuz i'm barely 1/2-way done :P it's pretty scary just trying to find parking anywhere! even harder still when you're dragging a 5 month old puppy-in-training! eeks! i've been puppy-sitting chilka, whose raiser had to go out-of-town for the weekend. it's been an experience w/this young one.....she's not very obedient, kind of like a teenager, and she really likes my nine west work shoes :P her raiser had forewarned me that chilka's a bit rebellious and has started jumping onto furniture.....sure enough, i found her on the couch at one point. argh!

i have a lot to get done this week. i need to make a double-batch of christmas sugar cookies....i'm planning on taking one batch to chris' family 'do on christmas afternoon, and then another batch to my family's christmas dinner. but amid all the baking and shopping i need to do, we have a family dinner on monday night with a relative from south africa, plus tuesday nights are dinner w/my family. then on wednesday night i'm picking up fraser for the holidays. 2 full weeks with puppy! good lord! i'm hoping fraser will still be the good boy he was when i last had him :-) otherwise, it's going to be a VERY long holiday.

{sigh} so much to do, so little time :P

p.s. bad news on the PADS end of things....friday's windstorm caused some damage at their training centre. a tree fell down onto a wire and has cut electricity to the area and hydro has said it would be another day or two before they could fix it - that means the electric heaters keeping the dogs warm at night won't be working! PADS is pretty much in a forested area, and there's been damage to the advanced dogs kennel, and the actual training environment. so now ALL the dogs have to be sent home with volunteers! crazy!

i saw dead people!

on sunday, chris & i hit the yaletown milestone's with sandra & mike and pris & dave for brunch/lunch. sandra & i shared the spin dip, and we were surprised to see new dishes. the spin dip came out in a "fancy" shaped bowl, as opposed to the regular "pot" dish it used to come on. also, the dip and the chips came out on a longer rectangular plate, as opposed do the large square dish it used to come on. perhaps the new dishes caught us off guard, so we thought everything was different, but the spin dip seemed to be creamier than usual. in hindsight, it might have been creamier because it was hot out of the oven, because by the time we got to the middle of it, i think it tasted like it's usual self.

for my entree, i chose the eggs benedict. again, in hindsight i probably should've ordered something different, since i make a yummy eggs benny w/prosciutto. but i can never resist runny eggs! plus, i figured it would be a bit lighter than having pasta for lunch. nevertheless, it was an enjoyable meal :-)

after lunch, we had a brisk walk over to science world to see body worlds 3. chris & i opted for the audio tour (an extra $5), and the other 4 did regular admission. more hindsight.....i should've by-passed the audio portion....the amount of information i retained amounted to a big fat nothing. it was a lot of medical terminology about how this connects to that, and impacts the next thing. blah, blah, blah. i was never a fan of biology, which is why i took earth science! go figure :P

anyways, back to science world....as soon as we entered the exhibit, i was moody....it was super crowded when we first started, and everyone kind of hovered around each display box. i was getting so frustrated because i had to line up to see stuff, and then i couldn't follow along with the audio commentary - i was so confused, and we had JUST started!

in the distance i could see some of the bodies....the highlight of the exhibit! after all the hype about this "show", and how controversial it was, i have to say that i didn't really think anything at all. perhaps it's because i married a butcher, and i used to see slabs of meat hanging in the cooler. perhaps it's because i kept forgetting these bodies were once real people. perhaps it's because Dr. Gunther von Hagens had the bodies and their parts positioned in weird angles. perhaps it's because i just never liked science, and deep down in my subconcience it didn't actually interest me at all. bottom line, i was neither impressed nor un-impressed.

however, there was one moment that freaked me out a bit.....there was a body with it's back to everyone, but a mirror had been placed underneath it, so when you looked at the mirror, it was looking back at you! at the end of the exhibit was the prenatal display. seeing the fetus' didn't really bother me....it was just like what you would see on tlc or similar shows. but seeing the embryo before it becomes a fetus (is that right?) was a little weird. it was just this small white blob (like an egg yolk)....with eyes! hmmm, great, now i might never look at an egg the same way again.

i was disappointed with the "hands-on" portion. the pamphlet they hand out as you wait to enter said get "hands-on" with some of the displays. but all you can touch is a small portion of an arm bone. i'm not sure what i expected....perhaps csi? it just felt like plastic. i thought it would at least feel life-like, but what's life-like at a cadaver exhibit? also, i guess i'll never know what a real arm bone actually feels like, so how can i judge?

after seeing the black lungs, i'm definitely glad i'm a non-smoker. but nothing else really impacted me. the 300-lb obese person display didn't impact me at all....you could see the layers of fat on it, and that the internal organs didn't look completely healthy either. perhaps i should care more about my weight? or perhaps i should just enjoy life as it is and take whatever comes my way? hmm, maybe i did get more out of body worlds 3 than i initially thought.....whatever.

life is short, i might as well enjoy every minute of it, whatever way, shape or form it comes in. after all, you never know what could happen tomorrow.

cookie monster!

last weekend sandra hosted a cookie exchange, and i came home with a LOT of very yummy cookies! last night while i was watching tv, i was craving something sweet, so i opened up the freezer and pulled out a couple cookies.

check'em out!


i made the lemon frost cookies in the middle (recipe from the joy of baking).

Cookies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 large lemon
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Confectioners Frosting:
2 cups confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk or light cream
Assorted food colors (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

For Cookies: Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture and beat until combined.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and, with a floured rolling pan, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch (1.25 cm). Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes. Save the scraps and reroll. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them a few inches apart.
Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes (baking time will vary depending on the size and shape of cookies) or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cookies have completely cooled, frost with icing.

For Frosting: In an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. Tint the frosting with desired food color.

Makes about 18 - 2 1/2 inch (6 cm) cookies.

i'm back!

i know, it's been a full week since my last post! i've actually had a lot to blog about but no time to actually do it :P

last weekend, chris and i welcomed silky into our home. she's a 5 month old yellow lab puppy, and she was as cute as a button! but don't let her sad eyes and innocent nature fool you.....was she a pile of trouble! she cried when i put her to bed at 2 a.m. each night, she cried at 6 a.m. on saturday AND sunday mornings, and she really liked to sleep on my wet snow-drenched shoes :P when i was baking cookies on saturday, she was craving warmth, so she thought sleeping in front of the oven was a good idea, and went so far as to stick her nose inside when i opened the door! she also enjoyed sleeping between my feet while i was cutting cookie shapes. she's also a jumper, and decided that when either of us was on the couch, she belonged there too......on our laps! pure trouble, that one!

and then on monday at work, i was prepared for a monster. she didn't seem like the type of dog to chill-out and sleep at the office. but i was wrong. she was the first puppy i've had that actually seeked out shelter under my desk, curled up in a little ball, and fell asleep. i kept insisting that this was a high maintenance dog, but she had all my co-workers fooled!

spending the weekend.....baking?!

yikes! i'm baking up a storm! i'm attending sandra's cookie exchange on sunday afternoon, and we have to make 66 cookies. i've quadrupled my recipe, but i think due to the small size of my cookie cutters, i get a lot more cookies than the recipe calls for. i'll probably end up sharing more cookies, since i've already got 30+ "good" cookies, and about 40+ "bad" cookies. and that's only 1/2 the recipe! tomorrow i'll get up again and make the second batch of dough.

so far the cookies look the same as when i tried it the first time. my only problem is inconsistent shapes. i don't know what i'm doing wrong. i've been very good about rolling the dough to a consistent flatness, but each cookies comes out somewhat skewed....or lopsided :P perhaps the icing will cover up the bad shapes. but i'm trying an icing i've never done before, so i'm really hoping it turns out. i better frost my cookies tomorrow evening, so i can package them up nicely on sunday morning.