Watch The Shining

Watch The Shining 
June 22, 2013

As we all know, the Shining is a classic.  Like many classic movies, I hadn't seen it yet.  Of course, I knew the story and had seen many of the iconic scenes (and the excellent Simpsons/the Shining episode), but that's not the same. 

I'm not a superstitious person, but there's something about our townhouse that really creeps me out.  The idea of watching a movie about a house that haunts a family had me a bit on edge.  But, I decided to suck it up and make it happen.

Luckily, Shaw had it available for me to watch on Video on Demand (I miss Blockbuster), so I downloaded and watched it by myself. We do this amazing thing called 'floor bed' where we use all of the couch cushions, lots of blankets and pillows, and make a bed on the floor.  Naturally that was part of this process.
 
So, I sat and knit and watched the Shining.  And when it was over I felt satisfied.  I don't know that I really enjoyed it so much as I'm happy to have seen it.  Like I said, it's a classic!

As for the creepy feeling in my house, I did a mini-smudging ceremony and am feeling a lot better about the whole thing.

I also haven't seen Back to the Future or some of the Star Wars movies either (I don't know which ones.  It would be none, but hubby disapproves).

Try Shrimp Again

7. Try shrimp again 
June 13, 2013

When I was a kid I remember enjoying shrimp, especially popcorn shrimp.  But I eventually stopped eating them and I don't really know why.  Sometimes I eat canned tuna, but that's it for seafood.  In general, it kind of freaks me out.  People try to get me to eat fish or lobster, but I just can't do it.  My husband, Chris, is allergic to seafood, so this really helps.  

Since I used to enjoy shrimp, I figured it was worth a shot to see if I was just being stubborn.  My mom loves the baked garlic shrimp at the Keg, so I decided I'd try that.

On my dad's birthday, Chris and I surprised my dad while he and my mom were getting appys at the Keg.  It was a great surprise that he didn't suspect.  

After we got there, I went to the washroom.  When I returned, Chris told me that he had ordered the shrimp for me because he didn't want me to chicken out!  That helped.  I might have.

When it arrived, it smelled great.  It's basically 6 (or maybe 7) pieces of shrimp, covered in cheese and garlicy goodness, with bread on the side.  The cheese was amazing.  The shrimp?  Not so much.  The texture (I really mean the popping crunch) freaked me out and I found the meat itself to be bland.  

I tried a few to make sure that it wasn't just a weird reaction and I just couldn't get into it.  

Oh well, I tried.

Ride a bike from one end of Fish Creek to the other

6. Ride a bike from one end of Fish Creek to the other (within yyc city limits)
AKA, is riding a bike really just like riding a bike?
June 8, 2013

 
My family moved to Calgary when I was 15 and the home that we bought is pretty close to Fish Creek, in the south west.  One of the first things that I learned about Fish Creek was that if you had some time, you could walk or ride a bike from our house all the way to the Zoo.   I've thought about this many times and figured this was a good opportunity to do it!

My dad is one of the best people I know.  Well, there's more to it than that.  He's one of the best people in the world!  When I made this list, I knew he'd want to do this one with me.  He jumped at it and I'm so glad he did.  It was so much fun spending the day with my favorite old guy!  :)

 I hadn't been on a bike in about 15 years, so I was a little nervous.  I kept thinking, "Is riding a bike really just like riding a bike, or is that just something people say?".  For the first km or so, I was a bit shaky, but I got the hang of it right away. 

So, my mom dropped us off at the Zoo and, after a few bike adjustments, we got started. We rode behind some of the animal pens and got to see a few of them.  My dad made noises at them and a few squawked back.  

Neither of us knew the route very well and it was so bright that we could barely see the parks app on my phone, so there was a bit of improvising, especially in the beginning.

 About an hour in, we decided to stop for lunch on the side of the river.  My beautiful moma had made us sandwiches, and we sat for a little bit and had a nice chat.  From where we were, we could see the Deerfoot (major highway) easily, but it still felt very secluded. 

Carrying on, I quickly discovered that hills are not my friend, unless we were traveling down them, which wasn't usually the case.  We went through a community called Riverview and found a beautiful private wetlands area.  There were lots of people around and we stopped to ask about the lake.  We met a young couple and their toddler, who made us laugh.

We kept traveling south, crossing the Deerfoot by going below it, which was really cool.  We saw some deer, who didn't seem bothered by us at all, and a lot of people on the route. 

When researching this, I discovered that Fish Creek ends around the Deerfoot, so the park north of this area has a different name (or names).  This made things difficult when talking to the city, Fish Creek, etc.  So, if you ever plan on doing something like this, keep that in mind!

The weather was beautiful and it rained a little near the end, which was welcome, as we were so warm.  The trip took about 4 hours, all in, and was so much fun!

If you'd like to see the route we took, I've plotted it out here:  http://goo.gl/Hg15h

So, in short, riding a bike really is just like riding a bike!

Another note about this.  We rode these paths a little less than two weeks prior to the floods that covered downtown Calgary and many areas of the city.  The zoo was underwater as was most of our route.  Not having been on the paths since the floods have subsided, I don't know what kind of shape they're in now, but I'm sure glad that we did this when we did!  I doubt that a lot of these paths will be ride-able for the rest of the summer. 

Also, Calgary was an inspiring place to be at the end of June and early July.  Many people had to be evacuated from their homes during this disaster and the rest of the city was there to help.  The need for evacuation centers was low, because so many people opened their homes to family, friends and even strangers.  I am so proud of my city and the people who live here!

Preparation for the Alzheimer's Walk

I've often considered taking part in the Alzheimer's Marathon in the past.  The trouble is that I really don't like running.  Like really a lot!

However, they have a 5km walk option, so this was an easy item to add to my list.

A couple of days ago, I signed up for the walk and started a team with my two friends, Kristi & Jenn.  Both girls have participated in the past and I'm really looking forward to the day with them.

I am very lucky to have the grandparents that I do!  They've all passed, but I have amazing memories of all of them, who were very active in my life.
My grandpa was an incredible man.  I had a lot of cousins on that side and he always made every one of us feel special.
Sadly, he was affected by Alzheimer's and eventually died of complications to it.  I was young and missed out on so many great years that we could have had together, if it weren't for this awful disease. It continued to affect our family in so many ways after his passing.


Alzheimer's is often passed down through genetics and I'm worried about the future.

Luckily, scientists have made some great discoveries about Alzheimer's in the past few years.  They're not there yet, but it's possible that a cure could be found in our lifetimes.  This is so exciting!

So, the long and the short of it is this: please help me by supporting to this cause. 

http://thanksgivingmemorywalkrun.kintera.org/alzheimercalgary/lindsaysmallwood

Thanks!

Donate Blood 2 of 5

29.B. Donate blood 5 more times
Donation number 2 of 5
May 22, 2013

My blood is always pretty slow.  Last time I was there they had a new system, which slowed down the donation time even more.  I think it was about 17 minutes.

They told me that if I double my water intake, that will help.  So, I did.  I drink a lot of water to begin with, so this was kind of overdoing it.  I drink roughly one 500ml glass of water per hour.  I doubled this for the 2 days before my donation.  I almost floated away!

My new time was still pretty long at about 12 minutes, but cutting it by 5 minutes seems pretty good to me.

I guess we'll see what happens next time. 

Go to the National Music Centre

5. Go to the National Music Centre
Done!
May 15, 2013

So, this is a bit odd.  I had never been to the National Music Centre before (such a shame) and I figured that I really needed to go on one of their tours.  While on their website, I saw that they were looking for volunteers.  So, I decided to do that instead!

On May 15th, I went the NMC for a volunteer orientation and got to check out the gallery area of their building as well.

I'll be helping run events, which should be pretty fun.  I am trained on a sound board and I work with musicians, so I'll fit in there, but I will likely be doing things like ticket taking, etc.  Very cool to be a part of this!

If you haven't been to the NMC, do it.  Go on their website at www.nmc.ca and book a tour.  There are incredible instruments there.  They have pianos from the 1500's with murals painted on the backs!

I'm serious, book that tour.  Maybe I'll see you there. 

Walk With Wolfdogs

4. Walk with Wolfdogs at Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary
Done!
May 11, 2013


It's been a while since I last posted.  April started out with such hope and excitement for this list, but it just didn't go very far.  I'm trying to do a few extra in May, but that's been a little slow as well...

In any case: 

On May 11, 2013 my beautiful friend, Kristi, and I went to visit wolfdogs at The Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.  I had the idea in my mind that we would be going on a walk with the dogs at our sides.  We would snuggle and pet them and it would be lovely.  It was lovely, but that's not what happened. 

A few weeks in advance, I contacted the sanctuary and was told that it would be more of an information session, which is still really cool.  I picked up Kristi in the morning (our appointment was at 12:00pm) and after a couple of wrong turns, we were on our way.  The sanctuary was approximately 40 minutes from Calgary, just at the turn off to Exshaw along the Number 1 highway.

Our malamute friend

When we got there we were immediately greeted by Georgina, the young woman who lives in the home at the sanctuary.  We introduced ourselves and she lead us around the house to the caged in area, which was huge.  The dogs heard us coming and were all howling like wolves in the night.  It was entrancing!

As we approached the pen, they calmed down right away.  We went through the gates and sat down in some lawn chairs.  A couple of the dogs came over to sniff at us, but only one got within arms reach.  He is a malamute/wolf mix and was a real snuggler!  He was more dog than wolf.  Looking at him vs the others, it's obvious.

The dogs walked around a bit, but quickly found a place to sit in the shade.  It was pretty warm that afternoon, so they were very lazy.

Georgina told us all about the pack, which dogs are the leaders and what their days are like.  She explained about the traits of wolfdogs vs. regular dogs and other characteristics.  Contrary to popular belief, full wolves are a lot less confrontational than expected.  She told us that in the past 100 years there have only been two human deaths by wolf!

Wolfdogs care about humans and human reward a lot less than normal dogs.  Georgina explained about how they don't really care if a human disciplines them for something that they want to do; they'll keep doing it anyways.  She lives onsite and told us about a time that she forgot to lock the back gate properly.  When she got home, most of her bedding was out in the yard and there was a lot of destruction in the house.  She explained that if one of the dogs comes into the house when she's eating, it will jump on the table or counters.  Not just the front legs, but the full dog.  Can you imagine a full sized dog on your kitchen table?!

They had a 9 week old wolf-pup at the sanctuary.  She was so sweet!  Near the end of our talk, Georgina brought her over and put her in our laps, which was really cool.  First she sat in my lap and Kristi took photos of me.  Then she sat in Kristi's lap and I took photos of her.  She was pretty warm, so she scrambled back to the shade quickly.

After the visit, Kristi and I both discovered that our photos of that part were missing.  It was so weird!  We used two very different kinds of cameras (hers was a cell and mine was a handheld) and we had all of the other photos that we had taken.  Maybe there's a little magic to that pup and she didn't want her picture taken!

The visit was about 30 minutes long and very informative.  The dogs are incredible and a lot of them looked just like full wolves.  I couldn't believe how long some of their legs are!

It was nice to leave the city for a couple of hours and to experience something that I wouldn't have otherwise known about.  Thanks to my friends, Dan & Marianne, for suggesting this!  And thanks to Kristi for coming along!  It was great to spend the day with you.

Afterwards we went for an excellent mani-pedi.  Because that's the natural thing to do after visiting with wolves.