A fraudulent scheme and a rat to redeem....

Last night Steven and I scoured the internet searching for pets that wouldn't require as much responsibility as a dog. I have been really wanting a dog since we got here, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense with all the travelling that we need and want to do. A cat would be the perfect fit considering their independance and their need for attention being much less than a dog. Except that my whole entire family is allergic to cats and to have them over to our house would require them to be on allergy medication....making them not feel good or like themselves.

The pets we looked at (and laughed at) were birds and rodents.....we first looked at parrots, and then doves, a canary, and even a pigeon! (coo coo coo!) Then we were looking at guinea pigs, hamsters, and ..........RATS???? What???? Here in the states you can own rats as pets??!!! Oh yes you can! And they are extremely intelligent! Apparently, according to Wikipedia and other information on-line, you can train a rat to come when it is called, do tricks, and be litter trained! Apparently it is common to have pet rats that do not bite you and so you can sit and cuddle with them! (lol) So, Steven looks at me with this totally interested face...and I was a little shocked because I know what he is thinking! He wants a rat!

Apparently they are sanitary because they are domesticated and looked after. They are bred in clean sanitary conditions and are not picked up off the street or anything. The wild rats are different than these pet rats (according to Wikipedia) So they get their shots just like dogs and cats do! You still keep them in a cage and bring them out to run in their ball and hold them just like you would treat a hamster....except that they come when they are called! (how cool is that??!!) I am thinking I would like to have a canary.....I'm not totally sold on the rat idea, not totally against it either. But we would have to sneak that rat into Alberta! We would have an illegal pet! Sounds kind of on the dangerous side......

Your thoughts on this matter would be appreciated!

News from Kansas City

So Steven left for Kansas City on Sunday to return on friday. This is what Steven has written me on his first impressions of Kansas City in a facebook message:

hey i'm here. the trees arn't that massive and the city is quite nice. it appears to be a lot like edmonton, but i havent seen much of it yet. the people are nice and the work setup is pretty cool. today they had chicken and salad and buns for lunch. there are some people that barely have accents but really it's not noticable. today we ate at a seafood resturrant where they fly all the fish in fresh and reprint the menu everyday with the fresh fish. i ate fresh rainbow trout from idaho and it was delicious. well i will tlak to yuou later, love you and wish you were here!

Just in case anyone is wondering how he is doing, now you know!

Nothin but Net

So Steve and I were at the swimming pool having some fun playing basketball on one of those basketball nets that hang above the water. Steve loves it because he is taller than me and he can always "slam dunk" it over my head. Why I let him do this, I don't know, probably because he loves it.... Anyway, we started playing 21 and I could not get the ball in the net for the life of me. It was soooo brutal! So the ball goes really far away and I swim to go and get it. I yell to Steve: "If I get this in, you buy me diamond earings for christmas!!! I was soooo far away, I took my shot and ...sure enough nothin but net! We both just turned and looked at eachother with this "NO WAY!" expression! I guess I know what I'm getting for christmas...

Found: A hall!

I found a hall! It is exciting! It's a newer building and yet still small, just the right size! So thank goodness that is over with! We also have a location to take pictures indoors (which is a big deal in Edmonton because it is simply too cold to take all the pictures outside in the winter!) And not only that, it will be for free, which makes a huge difference. I need a photographer that will take pictures for less than 1.5 grand ... This is going to be difficult. Hopefully I can get a good one in time!

Another couple in my group of friends are engaged! As of right now there are 4 couples in the engaged stage! That is alot of engaged people. Matt and Liz are getting married this weekend, and then Steve and I will be next in March. Two more weddings will follow in the summer. Crazy. We are so old!

Just a picture of Steve and I:

new phone!

This is what my new phone looks like, except mine is in white. I have never owned a cell phone surprisingly enough. I have done fine until I moved out, and my new house phone is only in the basment and no one in our house cares about it because everyone else has cell phones. My bedroom is upstairs and I miss calls a lot, especially because we don't have voice mail. The last straw was when I went to rundle park and I couldn't find anyone because I didn't have a cell last friday. Steve and I got the couples plan from Rogers. We chose Rogers because it is the only company that gets reception in Steve's basement. I have the white one, and he took the black. Oh yes, we are that cool. I had to get the white one! It matches my car perfectly! It is kinda cool because it is a 3 mp camera as well as a walkman. It comes with earphones and is a mp3 player too. wowzers. Interestingly enough, all of the phone companies have the exact same couples plan for the exact same prices. They varie in apsolutly no way what-so-ever. We think that they're in cahoots.

hurray!

I bought a car! it's pretty! it's white! it 1994! grand am! v6! 4 door! ahhhhhhhhh. I feel a lot better now. This weekend I am moving out. Excitement. I got the loan from the bank, although it required a lot of hasseling. I used up my gift certificates to Ikea and Sears from Christmas for a duvet cover, 500 thread count sheets! (oh, they are so nice!) and a rug type accessorie for my room! It will match my bright green walls, and I do mean bright green!

July long went awesome, went to Steven's parents cabin and did a hike, and a 4 hour quad ride! (literally 4 hours!) and it was no mediocre quad ride, very exciting. At night there was fireworks for Canada Day. It was a great weekend.

Steven did one of the cruelest things a boyfriend can do to a girlfriend. Oh yes, it may be hot outside, but does that justify shaving your head? It looked so different I couldn't even look at him for the first 15 minutes of him surprising me with it. I am more used to it now. Pictures to come of the horror! Oh how I miss his curly hair.....

Sunday's Hike

So on sunday I proposed to some friends that we go on a hike. We discussed places that are close to edmonton to hike rather than the mountains. Although the mountains would be ideal for hiking considering the majestic beauty of it all, I just wanted somewhere that didn't require any gas. So we went to Elk Island Park for a 10k hike. It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes! We were pretty tired by the end of it, and I just laughed so much because Steven was considering going hiking on the long weekend, as in hike with your backpack to the place you want to sleep and the only stuff you have is the stuff you carry on your back. It would involve hiking all three days of the long weekend and hiking for most of the day. He was considering this and I told him that he should. I have never heard him complain so much as on this hike, holy moley. He kept saying "well I definitly made up my mind about the long weeknd!" He HATED it, and it was only 10k. I seriously do hope that I can at least once go hiking in the mountains this summer some time, maybe with Steve if he can handle it!

Update on a busy life...

Wow, I didn't realize how much time had passed since writing the last blog! Anyway, thank you laura for the reminder! I have my job, and it requires me to work most evenings. I know that this is pretty sucky, but it is a little bit ok considering a lot of evening stuff requires very little paperwork and just includes making supper and taking the kids out to fun events like swimming, bowling, fort edmonton, playgrounds, and other fun things. I have had my first 12 hour shift already and it really wasn't that bad either, even though it was quite long. This saturday I have another 12 hour shift from 10-10. blah. Oh well. Hopefully I can put in my time and can hope for better hours in the future. The kids that I have worked with primarily are pretty great kids. I have worked at three different group homes so far and they have all been so diverse. I think that is what I like the most out of this job. Although one day I did come home angry and upset at the night that had happened. It involved some grade sixer's ganging up on me! ha ha, it was pretty horrible, but I have some new skills on how to handle it....I don't know if it's going to work but it is what the boss said to use! So I am going to be busting out the new Jess with skills never seen before. Don't you wish you could just watch me in action? ...at 10pm at night? Moving on. I almost have a car. yah, almost. As in another person who needs to help me has a emergency leave of absense! AUGH! Even though it has only happened twice, once from my new job and once for getting money from the bank to buy my car, it seems like it has happened way too many times! So hopefully I actually get my answer tomorrow like they said and buy the car tomorrow, otherwise.....man oh man. Moving on again. I am moving out this weekend.....if the bank will let me. If the car will promise not to break down (It's a 94 grand am) Every time I think about writing a blog about my life I feel so burdened knowing there is so much to write about! Anyway, now that it is done, I should finish up with some other big news: Steven graduated last week from Computing Science from the UofA with Distinction! My boyfriend is the smartest. Anyway, I should probably stop writing now.

Steven's teeth

This picture is totally ridiculous! ha ha. thanks tab. I'm just doing more homework. I didn't go to class today. It was the greatest. And I got a lot done. Steven is getting all four wisdom teeth out today so I'm making him jello. I'm making pink jello and then putting whipping cream in the shape of a big tooth. Or maybe a big mouth iwth teeth and draw a tongue. Anyway, I thought I would put those 7-11 candies on top, those candies that are teeth and gums.....pretty funny. But he won't be able to eat the candies... Poor Steve.

Winter Retreat memories

Today it is exactly two years ago that me and Steve met.

I went on a college age winter retreat with a whole bunch of people I didn't know, hmmm, nope, I really didn't know any of them at all. The reason Steven and I started talking was because we were asked to draw the journey of our lives, ya it could have been really deep but most people just drew a picture of their house, their elementary school, stuff like that. So Steven drew this picture of his highschool, drew a stick-figure girl inside the school with a "X" over her. So I asked him if he liked girls. He got so red..... and tried to explain his girl problems from highschool. Steven was SOOOOO easy to tease....now he knows me too well and doesn't fall prey to my schemes. He says he liked me because I was crazy, and I never really understood that. I mean, there were some seriously crazy girls who were on that winter retreat. Anyway, when I looked at the date a while ago I remembered the significance.....Steven is going to read this and comment for sure about what I wrote and either tell me I was wrong or I really was crazy. So if he hasn't commented on this blog yet, he will and I will probably be in trouble.

Peace Out Pepsi!!!!

Tab came over yesterday and took some pictures and it was so much fun! Steven was really apprehensive about the photo shoot saying it was lame and stupid going in, I think he thought it was going to be a lot like walmart where I would sit in a chair and he would put one hand on my shoulder, and I would fold my hands in my lap and we would fake smile for a while.....but it turns out that Tab just let us have some fun while she took some pictures! She is going away to Switzerland for a year and since she has always offered me and Steve a photo shoot, we finally took advantage of it and it was really awesome! So, a picture of me and Steve rockin out and pepsi simpson.....a.k.a......hottest dawg on the planet. Peace out!

p.s. there are more pictures hopefully to come.

Steven you are adorable! Thanks for helping me with all the homework.
Several
Tigers
Eat
Very Edible
Nightingales
--"Don't commit fraud or grand theft identity."--
This picture was taken last year before thanksgiving dinner at the Oorts. (7!!!!)

The best day ever!

Today was an incredibly special day for me! I went to church and then Steve and I decided that we would go to west ed to check out the sea lions! I have been wanting to see the sea lions for so long, and finally we went! It was cool because I didn't expect to actually watch it in the stands because you can almost as good as when outside in the mall, but as we were waiting, a guy working there took the rest of the people in the line and said that we could take a seat! It was WAY better to be closer! You could almost touch them! It was such a good show I would recommend it to everyone. Afterward me and steve had a big discussion on whether or not the actors who did the show were also the trainers and whether or not one of them was a girl or a guy, pretty funny stuff. Anyway, we were arguing our points back and forth until we decided to go back and just ask them straight up all our questions. I was right about them both being women, although steve still thinks that one trainer was totally a dude. Steve was right about them being both trainer and actor.
This is also neat: we were walking and all of a sudden there was this bride and she was arm in arm with an older man. So me and Steve went upstairs and watched a small wedding take place on the Santa Maria! Much to steve's dismay we waited until they kissed after they finished saying their vows and a lot of the mall clapped and cheered!
The rest of the day was full of other fun things, but it has definitly been an amazing day! Thanks steven!