Food Hangovers

Can someone tell me if "food hangover" is an official term? Because if not, it needs to be. That is totally what I experienced this morning. Now, let me be clear--I've never had an actual hangover, being pure as the driven snow like I am. Ahem. But from what I've seen on sitcoms (a wealth of sociological study there) my symptoms were similar. That general, overall gross feeling, headache, aversion to food...no light sensitivity, though.

Let me paint you a picture of my wild and crazy night. We had another rehearsal for Children of Eden. The show is finally starting to come together in bits and pieces. A bunch of us went out for wings after rehearsal, to celebrate my birthday. I'm not sure if it was the wings that did it, or the fries, or the chocolate cake they made me order, so they could sing to me. We closed the place down, and stuffed, we stumbled to our cars.

That leads us back to this morning, and my food hangover. Of course, it was all worth it. Teriyaki wings and chocolate cake are always worth any next morning queasiness.

Guilty Pleasures

We all have 'em. I probably have more than my share, but meh. Then I thought, hey...if you tell everyone your guilty pleasures, they're not so guilty anymore. Confession is good for the soul. I started thinking about this the other day when Hubba Hubba noticed I was watching Reba. I used to watch it because when you don't have cable, it's Reba or Oprah at 4 pm. I pick Reba. But the more I watch it, the more hilarious it is. In fact, even Hubba Hubba laughed out loud at some of those crazy Hart family antics.

Napping during the day is another fabulous thing to do when Wiggle Man lets me. Ditto for reading. Alright, anything that isn't housework is great to do in the afternoon! Watching several episodes of Friends in a row may seem like a waste of time, but it's an indulgent waste of time. Actually, it comes in quite handy when you're playing Scene It! Friends edition.

Chocolate is a whole category of guilty pleasure. My current favourite is dark chocolate covered peanuts. In fact, there's a bag on the computer desk right now. They constituted "lunch" when I added some cherries. With a big glass of water for my health.

I could go on and on, but I'm going to go be productive, and practice my stuff for Children of Eden, our family's current obsession. (Wiggle Man and Hubba Hubba will both be in the show, so it really is a family affair.) If you're local, talk to me about tickets!

Things are Different

I have TWO fans! Who knew? :) Camilla, my fellow foreigner on our Mommy boards, was also waiting through my two week blog drought. So, in honour of Mommy diversity, here are some things that are different in the U.S, that you Americans may or may not be aware of.

1) Spelling. I'm not spelling things like "favour" and "honour" wrong. :)

2) Corn Pops. I have no idea why, but U.S. Corn Pops are different than our Canadian ones. I don't like yours. :(

3) Candy. Why can't we all have the same candy and chocolate bars? Why can't I get a Crunchie or Smarties down here? (Canadian Smarties are chocolate. What Americans call Smarties we call Rockets, and we usually only eat them around Hallowe'en.

4) Euchre rules. I don't know why Americans think they can order their partner up, and not go alone. I will never understand that one. :)

5) Words. I had never heard the terms "spigot" or "hopper" until I moved to the States. Why can't we all say "tap" and "restroom"?

I'm sure there are lots more differences that we can share and come to blows over. Feel free to share your favourites.

For Rhonda (Grab a Shoe--Preferrably Someone Else's)

This is for Rhonda, who just scolded me for not having posted in a while. I didn't actually think anyone was paying that much attention, so now I feel special. :) Thanks, Rhonda! I will blame "Habitat" for my lack of posts, since I've either been on the Habitat trip, or recovering from it. It was hot, muggy, and I'm pretty sure I gained some weight thanks to those southern ladies and their yummies, but I loved every minute of it!

I've been mulling around post ideas in the back of my mind. I noticed many of my fellow bloggers have regular features--days with pictures, etc. You'd think I'd try something normal like that, but no. I've always been a little warped, so I want to do a recurring feature on insects. Specifically, the weird ones. And so, here it is--the inaugural "Grab a Shoe--Preferrably Someone Else's" post on weird, gross, oversized bugs. I should add the title is in honour of my college roommate. Once upon a time, there was a hugely large disgusting spider in our dorm room. For reasons I cannot explain, but largely related to the intense fear I felt at that moment, I decided my best course of action was to grab my roommate's shoe, and use that to kill the hugely large disgusting spider. She has never forgiven me.

I have a few bugs up for the honour of this inaugural post, including some sentimental favourites, but since I already have the link ready for this one, I give you...*drum roll*...The Sphingidae! I can hear your collective gasp of wonder as I type this. The sphingidae, or 'sphinx moth' as my sister-in-law explained it, is a moth that is often mistaken for a hummingbird. I thought it was a funky species of bee. The little critter was flying around our car Thursday afternoon, and The Hubby and I couldn't agree on what it was.

Thanks to D?T at Flickr for the picture. Stay tuned for more weird, gross, oversized bugs. If you have any pictures of your own nominees for the "Grab a Shoe--Preferrably Someone Else's" posts, by all means, submit them!

Cheerios and Diet Pepsi

Some of you may know we're down in Tennessee working with Habitat for Humanity on a house this week. My job, since we have our sweet baby with us, is to help a local youth group run a VBS with the neighbourhood kids while the others work on the house. It's really exciting to see a neighbourhood come together like that. Hubba Hubba came down last summer while I was el preggo to work on a house, and the woman that now lives in that house was helping them work today on her neighbour's house! It's things like that that make me smile.

I came back to our rooms after the VBS to put Wiggle Man down, and realised I had nothing to eat for lunch! (The Babe was cranky, so I left before lunch arrived at the work site.) I've been sitting here munching on Cheerios and Diet Pepsi, which is all I had in the room. Thankfully, Hubba Hubba just called to tell me someone would bring me lunch! Yum.

I'm loving the southern hospitality down here. And the accents! I love hearing "y'all" and "shoot"--it's so cool. I'm afraid I'll have picked it up by the time we leave....and there's nothing stranger than a Canadian saying "y'all come back, eh?"

During my Cheerio feast, I got caught up on reading some of my blogs, and Amanda is doing a giveaway to celebrate her 50th post! Congrats, Amanda! Click here to check out her blog, and get entered in her giveaway.

Happy Canada Day!

Today is Canada Day! Yes, for my American friends and family, it's pretty much just like July 4th, only 3 days earlier and minus the blue in the decorations. Family barbeques ("grilling" for the Yanks) and fireworks, and of course, beer. I'm always reminded of fireworks at Uncle Bob's when we were kids, fighting over whose school the "Burning Schoolhouse" would be that year.

Being a stranger in a strange land, I like to remind everyone I'm an alien. So I do my toes:

And, I also dress up my toys:

When Wiggle Man wakes up from his nap, I'll likely dress him up, too. He has a collection of Roots t-shirts with beavers on them, courtesy of his loving aunties.