Christmas come-and-gone

I really can't believe how fast Christmas comes and goes. It seems there's always a mad-dash to get things done (shopping, baking, cleaning, cards), that I'm exhausted by the time Christmas Day hits.

This year we seemed to do things in record time. Our mountain of gifts were unwrapped by morning coffee (10ish), and we devoured Christmas dinner by 1:30. And before you know it, it's back to work I go. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining. It was fun spending time with family, playing games, eating (because a lot of our traditions seem to be related to food, my favourite being the birthday cake for Jesus - a seven layer white cake with delicious chocolate icing!). I just wish time didn't pass so fast!

I also wish the lead-up to Christmas wasn't so frenetic.

Every year I make a resolution to not wait until the last minute to do my Christmas shopping, and most years this resolution goes out the window as I realise I have most of my shoppings to do a week before Christmas! But here it goes again, since it's nearly New Year's, I will make a resolution to have all my gifts ready/purchased before Advent 2008! That's before the first week of December. And since I'm making resolutions, I'm also going to resolve to make more gifts next year. I think I'm up for it, and my wallet could really use the reprieve.

Shop 'til you drop

'Tis the season, afterall.

This is what I like the least about Christmas. Not the shopping as such, but the mad dash, the line-ups, the impulse buys, the over-the-top Christmas displays (aisles and aisles of Christmas decorations etc.), and all the stuff to buy buy buy.

I actaully enjoy shopping for gifts. It takes a little prodding (maybe a little begging) to find out what people want + a little careful consideration, but in the end, I think I usually hit the mark.

What I don't like are gift certificates for Christmas. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE gift certificates, and there is a right time/place for them and I'm more than happy to give them when their asked for. But Christmas is about the act of gift-giving - it's a celebration of the greatest gift of all! ... And the last thing I want to do AFTER Christmas is to go back to the stores, face the crowds again, and spend more money. What I find about gift certificates is that you never just spend the value of the gift certificate; you almost always put it towards something more expensive and put down your own money for the balance. So -- just like the stores want you to -- you spend even more money after Christmas.

I would be lying if I said I didn't want gifts at Christmas. I do. But only because of the fun of watching people open their gifts, their reactions, and the madness of paper + dogs + people that usually ensues. Not to mention the family time. Someone inevitably will get a movie that'll we'll all watch as a family, or get a game that we'll play, or get a puzzle that'll will become a project to work on, and in the quiet times, we'll all find our own corner and read our new books or play with our new trinkets. You don't often find people sitting in a quiet corner relaxing after a chaotic day with their new giftcard.

So gifts are an important part of our Christmas traditions (in my family anyway), and I think it'd be unrealistic to expect anything different.

Christmas baking!

Cranberry-Orange scones - delicious! But they won't last until Christmas so they can't really count as Christmas baking.


Chocolate-Mint sugar cookies - not so delicious. These look better than they taste. I'm actually disappointed with them, they're too cakey and not very flavourful. And for the amount of effort that goes into them, not really worth it.

Let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful
...thank goodness for Michelin tires to get me home!

But the fire is so delightful
...as is my beautifully decorated mini-tree.

And since I've no place to go!
...because French class has been cancelled.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
...Bring it on!

Buy Nothing Day

I have something to confess. Today is Buy Nothing Day and I'm not ashamed to admit that I went shopping - market shopping with my Mom. And we had fun.

We bought lots of great (and delicious) things!

Do not call/mail!

I don't know about you, but I get A LOT! of phone calls from telemarketers. They're calling to offer me products and services of all kinds, to notify me that I've been selected for a free trip/gift, to take 5 minutes (usually closer to 20) of my time for a survey.

And since I moved home to Nova Scotia it's become much much worse! I've had calls at all times of the day - at 8am on a Saturday, as late as 10pm on a weekday, and of course the bulk of them come between 5pm-8pm on weeknights. It's ridiculous!

So I've done something about it! I put myself on the Canadian Marketing Association's do not call/do not mail list. Ironically I had to provide my contact information to do so, but hopefully this will greatly reduce the volume of calls I receive. If you want to do the same, go here.

I've also been told that you can contact credit bureaus to ask them to take you off their lists. My first attempt to do this didn't work because the contact numbers I was given were American, and it's actually the Canadian Credit Bureaus I needed to contact. I'm assuming this would stop credit card companies from trying to get me to sign up for their cards.

Now if only I can find out a way to stop receiving "customer satisfaction" calls from service providers!

And if you're interested, here are the rules for telemarketing. Take note of the times allowed for telemarking calls.

If you have any do not call/do not mail strategies, let me know.

FOLLOW-UP

I've decided to keep track of the telemarketers that call, and report back on the process to remove your name from their list. Feel free to add any tips
Note: this is where it would be useful if you could create unique pages within blogger to use to post on-going notes, but as far as I can tell, you can't.

November 22, 2007, 7:45pm: MBNA Canada Bank called
Here's the process I followed to get my name of their list and find out more information:

• The telemarketer from the Indian Call Centre told me that if I wanted to remove my name from their list, I had to call 1-888-876-6262. He told me that once I was on the list it would take approximately 60 days to be removed from all other marketing campaigns. (Meaning I can expect more calls for another 60 days).
  
• I insisted on speaking with the manager, however I was first forwarded to the floor supervisor who told me the same thing, the forwarded to the manager who told me the same thing again. The manager then took my name (the first initial of my first name, and my last name which is all they had) and my phone number and removed it from their auto-dialer. "Thanks so much for your time. You have a great day Ma'am" he said, and then hung up.
  
• So then I called the 1-888 number. It's really deceiving because the automated voice asks you for your account number, which obviously you won't have if you don't have a card. After you enter 1 for English, you have to wait through dead air, the automated voice will prompt you again for for your acct #, wait, and then you'll be put through to canned musak until one of the call centre people picks up. It was only a couple of minutes of waiting.
  
• The Call Centre person was able to remove me from the list altogether, but before he did so he needed my full first and last name and my phone number. Apparently I'd be removed from their list for 3 years, and again it would take 60 days for my phone number to be removed from all marketing campaigns.
  
• Again, I asked to speak to the manager. I wanted to know what these other "marketing campaigns" were. The manager told me that they do not sell personal information, but purchased my information from another source. The "marketing campaigns" refer to any campaigns that company that sold my information had running. So here's the question fo the day - who was selling my info? Stay tuned! The manager will be mailing me a full disclosure of the sources that provided MBNA Canada Bank with my information. I should receive this report in the mail in 10 business days. If not I have the full name (J.O.) and direct phone number (613-907-####) so I can follow up.
• So who's selling my info? The manager listed off a few possibilities: clubs (The Legion), magazine subscriptions (I have none), to name a couple. Here's my prediction : AirMiles. I'll let you know if I'm right.
  

For interest sake, here is MBNA Canada Bank's privacy policy, and here is a letter from the Privacy Commissioner in response to a complaint filed against MBNA.

Monday's errands

On Monday I made a trip to the Valley to visit with friends and family. I left early enough to allow time for two errands : a stop at Applewicks and drop of some bottles for recycling.

Applewicks
This store is difficult for me to get to, simply because it's only open Monday-Friday 9-4:30. I used to go occasionally when I lived in the valley, but haven't been back since. So, on Monday, I took advantage of the opportunity and went in. I really like the purpose of this business - " to provide meaningful work opportunities for people with disabilities". And I especially like their products and service!
I bought several items which were very carefully wrapped in tissue by one of the workers, and put in a hand-coloured bag.
The candles are wonderful and the pumpkin pie candle smells delicious and, in my opinion, was a steal at $3 ea.
But I found this particular table runner particularly irresistable. Again, another steal at only $8, and the colours were really pretty. My only criticism is that it's a bit smaller than I would've liked, but I was told that I could put in an order for a custom-made runner.

The next errand was to drop of my recyling at the Valley Recyling Enviro-Depot in Greenwich. This isn't particularly note-worthy except that I noticed, while waiting for my recyclables to be sorted and counted, a sign for the Horton Poor House cemetery. One of the sorters told me that it's just a nice hike back behind the recycling building, so now I'm itching to hunt it out.

Another weekend, another storm

Halifax got it's first snow of the season yesterday. It started around 2pm with flurries, and by 6 pm the snow was coming down fairly heavy and blowing. We even had a short thunder & lightning show. I'm not sure exactly how much snow fell, but it was enough to cover my car and make the parking lot slushy.

It was a perfect night to stay in and knit. And so I did. I've been working on knitting squares for a baby blanket for someone in my family. The idea being that I would knit a bunch of squares, stitch them together and crochet the edges for a finished look. If I don't have enough yarn with the 6 balls of blue and pink Bernat denim, I'll pick up a ball of white and knit one large square for the centre which I could also embroider if there was time. All this without a pattern (because I hate following instructions). I've since realised the folly of my ways. This blanket is far more time-consuming and labour-intensive than it needed to be. I could've just knit a baby blanket on circular needles in a stockinette stitch and been done with it by now. Ah well. Live and learn. I'm about halfway done my squares so there's no point in turning back now.

It's also worthy to mention that this is post #100. Who would've thought I'd be so dedicated to keep this blog going for longer than a year.

"We value your opinion"

I just filled out the most ridiculous survey! A Gallup survey for HomeOutfitters.
I was asked to rate the following questions by how much I agree/disagree:

• I feel proud to be a Home Outfitters customer. Proud?? Of what?
  
• Home Outfitters is the perfect store for people like me. Perfect for what?
  
• I can’t imagine a world without Home Outfitters. Isn't that a bit extreme? I've only just started shopping at Home Outfitters, so my answer is strongly disagree! I can imagine a world without H.O. because for the last 28.5 years I've lived in that world. And lived happily.
  
• Associates throughout the store made me feel like someone important. Do I NEED Associates to make me feel important? I'm pretty sure not!
  
• The merchandise displays showed me how to put an entire stylish package together. Why? Because I can't have my own style? I need the store to tell me what's stylish?
  
• The cashier made me feel like a guest. Well, they didn't serve me tea and cookies, if that's what you mean?
  
• My purchase was handled by the sales associate in a caring manner as if it were their own purchase. So you mean they should really care about the tea infuser I bought?

These are very strange questions in my opinion!

Riders on the storm

Post-tropical storm Noel has come and gone, and none of us here in my little corner of the world seem any the worse for wear. Millie and I hunkered down last night for a quiet evening in (taking a pass on a family birthday party) to listen to the storm.



In the video you'll see the start of the storm - heavy rain, the blowing bushes and trees, and the wind blowing the water on the pavement (it's being blown up the slope of the parking lot). It was quite spectacular. And that was only the very start at around 5pm. The worst of the storm hit around midnight, but I was sound asleep and missed it all.

About 3am, the wind took out the power. According to CBC about 150,000 households in NS were without power; 60,000 of those in Metro Halifax. So I made the best of a dark and stormy morning with lots of candles, my solar powered radio, and a good book.


I'm half-way through Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck, and quite enjoying it! It was a struggle reading this morning - all cozy under the quilt in candle-light. I kept falling asleep! Read 1 page, sleep for 20 mins, wake up to feed the cat, read 20 pages, doze for awhile. What a great way to spend a morning!

And while I was relaxing, Millie was keeping watch and guarding our apartment from any rogue leaves blowing by the patio door. This kept her occupied for hours, and was quite funny to watch.

Now it's back to normal. The storm has cleared, and the sun was out this afternoon. Our power came on at 4:30. I'm glad to have hot water again.

Ethiopia Restaurant

Hooray! There's an Ethiopian Restaurant in Halifax...and it serves delicious food! This was a welcome treat. I haven't had Ethiopian food since I left Toronto and I quite missed it.
Two colleagues and I sampled several dishes (Sorry! No pictures this time) and I can report back that they were basically the same dishes I used to have back in Toronto.

We started with appetizers: pastries called, very similar to samosas. Mine was lentil-filled and delicious, served with a spicy green chili sauce. For our meal we ordered a vegetarian platter (for 2) of 3 dishes: a chickpea curry, a vegetable and cabbage stew called Atakilt, and Shuro Wat made with spicy split green peas. For a meat dish we ordered Doro Tibs, a chicken stirfry-like dish. All served on (and with) injera bread. As always there was far too much food. I always over-order.

And the atmosphere was decent too. Not quite as cozy as Ethiopia House, but nicely decorated with the colours of the Ethiopian flag, wall art, and Ethiopian music playing in the background. It was good to see that we weren't the only ones there. In fact, they were quite busy. At least a couple take-out orders, several tables full of people. And when we were leaving several people who looked like they may have been Ethiopian came in and sat down. That's always a good sign.

The verdict: Highly recommended. Will definitely take visitors, family and friends, there for a meal!

Ethiopia Restaurant
Open: Mon. to Fri. 5pm - 9pm
Menu: No menu available online, by fax or by email, but take-out menus available in restaurant.
Contact: 902-444-3030
Address: 6239 Quinpool Rd., not far from Monastery Ln., Halifax (see map below)

View Larger Map

Happy Hallowe'en!

I don't typically spend much time or effort on Hallowe'en. I'm not the type who enjoys dressing up in costume, and I don't see the point in going crazy with decorations for a single evening. I do, however, enjoy seeing the young ones dressed up in their costumes, especially those kids who really aren't in it for the candy so much as they are in it to show off their costumes.

On the other hand, my apartment is conveniently located beside the one entrance of our building where trick-or-treaters go for candy. So, in the spirit of the evening, I carved a pumpkin. A real pumpkin, not like the gourd I carved last year (though I'm still quite pleased at myself for that one!).
My pumpkin is a jolly fellow. He's not at all scary or haunting. So, as per my own tradition, instead of scaring little children, I do my best to scare myself. I rented a scary movie. I should've known better to wait until Hallowe'en night to rent a scary movie, most of the ones I had on my list to rent had already been rented. It was slim pickens! So instead, I had to go with the recommendation of the teenage Blockbuster 'associate' (or whatever they call themselves).

But rather than tell you directly what I rented, I'm going to give you another obscure hint (yes, I've already given another hint) and see if you can guess :There! I've given you two hints. Can you guess what scary movie I rented and watched this evening?

A visit with good friends

...That's how I spent yesterday. As always it's wonderful to spend time with friends - these particular friends I've know for over 17 years. I still find that hard to grasp. How has 17 years passed by so quickly?

Of course no visit is complete without food. We enjoyed a delicious 4 course meal together. The meal could best be explained as "fusion" cooking. Sampling good foods without worrying about what goes with what.

Starter
Creamy pumpkin soup
garnished with freshly ground nutmeg
and a sprinkling of chocolate

Main
Thai red curry with chicken and peppers
served on a bed of rice noodles, steamed swiss chard
and crispy papadum

Tea
Fragrant blooming green tea with jasmine

Dessert
Chocolate-mint icebox cakeRecipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.

There's no other way to enjoy good food than with friends!

And though I tease this particular friend about the abundance of gourds inside and out of their home, it's beautiful decorated for the autumnal season. I can't wait to see the house at Christmas-time!

Being entertained by cats

Watch this!



Millie likes the new quilt, but definitely not the camera flash!

Reflections on Church Shopping

One thing I've learned after my move, was that the summer is a really lousy time to start looking for a church. Programs end for the summer, staff/leadership usually take summer holidays and laypeople or guest speakers are called in to speak, and attendence is irregular (students are gone, families and children aren't around, etc.), thus making it very difficult to find out what a church is really like.

I tried 3 Baptist churches over the summer months with the hope that one of them might be a good fit. My hope was to stay within the convention simply because I grew up in Convention Baptist churches, I'm aligned with their doctrine (for the most part), and, I'll be honest, it's what I'm used to. The church I left behind in Toronto was a Convention Baptist. But of the 3 churches I tried, none of them seemed a good fit. Here are my thoughts on each:

The first I attended was closest (in proximity) to where I was living in May-June. It was a little church with a very w.a.s.p.'y congregation. The worship was uber-traditional - hymns and an organ, and "contemporary worship" meant songs I used to sing at camp in the 80s (As the deer, There is a Redeemer, etc.), traditional structure of service, and the women dressed in skirts and blouses and the men in suits. I found the latter, most of all, off-putting. I don't mind dressing up for church, but I don't like feeling like I have to dress up. I'm looking for a church where I can be myself...in jeans (if I so choose). One church crossed off the list.

The second church I attended a couple of times. It's about a 10 min car ride away from me. Again, another w.a.s.p'y congregation, which I really don't get! Yes, I know Halifax is not as ethnically diverse as Toronto, and yes, the subdivisions (where these churches are) do tend to be fairly homogeneous, but surely there are more than white-anglo-saxons interested in worshipping God in these neighbourhoods!? My mother calls me a "reverse racist" which is a little extreme, but she's kind of right. After worshipping with my church in Toronto, one thing I've learned to value is the diversity of opinion, interpretation and spiritual experience. That's not to say that all w.a.s.p's share the same spiritual experience, because I know we don't. Each one of us brings something different to the table (the Lord's Table). Still, if you're living in communities with other cultures, I think you're missing the mark if the church is not opening up to these cultures, in one way or another. There's just something wrong when you go to a grocery store and see a wide variety of cultures in the produce section, and go to a church in the same community and can't find one person that isn't a w.a.s.p.
Another strike against this church was summed up nicely by a visiting speaker - a single woman who has been a missionary in Korea for the last 20 years - who spoke on the topic of "Can I be single, and happy too?". Her sermon was really quite good, and put singleness in a whole new perspective for me (but that would be another blog discussion), but at the end, she said what I had been thinking after my 2+ visits to that church - "are you a church that is friendly and welcominging to singles?" The answer, in my experience, was no. This was a church for seniors and for families. Not for singles. None of the ministries looked like they could accommodate a single woman without making said woman feel like the odd woman out. That's not to say I didn't feel welcome, because if one thing could be said for this church - they are welcoming! During the dreaded "shake hands with the people around you time" I had so many people come up to me, introduce themselves, barrage me with questions about myself that it would be unfair for me to accuse them of not being welcoming. But as a single, well, that's a different matter. I was definitely on my own there, and an obvious target for the confirmed socialite bachelor (because we all know every church has one) to swoop in "to welcome" me. (You laugh because you know its true!)

The third church, (and now I'm starting to feel like John talking to the seven churches of Revelation) was an inner-city church. I had high-hopes for this one. It has a long history, and though not "downtown" it's close enough to the heart of the city. This church, unlike the other two, did have good representation from a wide demographic - young and old, mixed cultures, student/academics, etc. Seems like a good mix really. I tried this church several times, always seeming to miss the Senior Pastor and landing there to hear a guest speaker...which is fine too. But after each service, I left with a nagging feeling that there's an unrest at that church. I've heard through the grape-vine that there's been leadership problems in recent years which would certainly feed that problem, but the unrest seems to run even deeper than leadership. It reminds me a lot of Walmer in some ways - lots of ministry potential, but in desperate need for help to coordinate the ministries. And I would expect it's running across the same problems - where to find people to help in a transient congregation. For this reason, I'm not going to go to this church. Though I loved Walmer deeply and built amazing relationships out of my involvement there, I think I need a rest right now. I need to find a church where I can serve whole-heartedly but without feeling like I'm the only one who's willing to do the job. It's that simple.

So, I'm a little disappointed with the Halifax area Baptist churches to say the least. But I'm not giving up. I attended a pseudo-Bretheren church today with strong IVCF roots and came away from the service with a good feeling. And I'd like to try a local non-Convention Baptist church.
The former could be quite promising. I recognized a few people in the congregation from a previous church I attended about 10 years ago, and from my camp days 15 years ago. The worship was lively and the congregation seemed anything but bland and homogeneous (when you looked around - the people didn't all look the same). At one point the worship leader asked the congregation if they were glad to be there, and there were loud cheers all 'round. The teaching was sound (albeit once again it was a guest speaker!). And I have to tell you about the worship band if only because it made me chuckle silently in my seat. At first glance the worship band was comprised of most 20/30 somethings with guitars etc., except for one white-haired middle-aged woman wearing a pink top with an embroidered white cardigan who played - get this! - the drums. It was almost comical to see her playing with her black headset contrasting so clearly against her white hair. You'd be more likely to find the same sort of woman at the church organ in any of the other churches I've been to thus far. Interesting.

And that's what I think about my church-shopping experience to this point.

A little bit of silliness

Apparently I have too much time on my hands because I've just spent well over an hour watching YouTube videos. But then again, what else do you do on a stormy Saturday morning.

Here's what I've been watching:

Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager, episodes 1 to 8
John Dunham & Company (Walter, Achmed the dead terrorist, Peanuts & Jose Jalepeno*)

*some of the humour is in bad taste, but the rest is hilarious!

Running Around the Valley

Another weekend in the Valley. Only this time I could take my time getting there. Dinner was planned for 5:30ish to celebrate my grandparent's anniversary and my grandmother's birthday, so I had all day to get there.

First stop: JustUs! outside of Wolfville.
As far as I can tell, this is the closest place where I can find Ten Thousand Villages products (there's no store in the city!). I went in the hopes of finding something specific, but alas, I didn't find it. I'll have to order it online, I guess.

Second stop: Wolfville Farmer's Market.
I love Farmer's Markets, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. I left with 4 maple sausauges, a package of lamb chunks, delicious veggie samosas with a spicy cilantro chutney, a sampling of several apple varieties I hadn't heard of (I bought four Prima apples). And while I was there I had my lunch - a $3 hamburger made from fresh beef, and an apple turnover.

Third stop: Corner of Commercial & Valley View Dr. in New Minas.
Girl Guides were there flagging down cars to sell boxes of GG cookies - the mint chocolate cookies. One of the Girl Guides made eye contact with me and sold 2 boxes without so much as a word. Hey! It's for a good cause...

Fourth stop: a quick visit with the grandparents, a great aunt and uncle who were in town for a short while, and pick up my aunt for a trip to...

Fifth stop: Gaspereau Valley Fibres
I've been looking for a good wool shop, and the stores I've found in the city just aren't cutting it as I've mentioned before. The thing is, most of the good wool shops seem to be off the beaten path. Like Gaspereau Valley Fibres. This store is in a converted barn, pictured below, on a farm in an entirely rural area. It's highly unlikely you'd find it if you weren't looking for it.

They even have their own resident woolmakers....
And here's what I bought:

2 skeins of Casbah Sock wool
(80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10%Nylon)
hand-dyed in Canada
red and veregated blue
Project: Chevron Scarf

1 skein of Dzined wool
(55% wool, 45% hemp)
hand-dyed
Project : a hat on circular needles?

I'm quite excited about my new wool and my new knitting project. I think the Chevron Scarf is the perfect next project. The last year or so I've been knitting mainly simple scarves in a simple garter stitch, sometimes trying the moss stitch or a cable. The Chevron will be good practice for increasing and decreasing, and for using two balls of yarn in the same project.

Sixth stop: Home.
By this point it was dinnertime and all 14 of us settled in to a wonderful smorgasborg of Nova Scotia delights: scallops, shelled lobster (20 lbs of lobsters!), baked beans, smoked fish, salads and quiche (okay the last one isn't NS'ian, but it went well with the dinner).