Salsa Dancing

Just another Spain picture.

Well, with a new year comes a renewed sense of courage and energy for dating. I am currently trying online dating at Plenty of Fish and speed dating. Let’s start with the speed dating. I went to the zoo – cool!!! I have been informed the best time to go to the zoo is Saturday morning in the winter because the animals are sometimes out wandering the halls. Oh the perks of a small zoo. I haven’t been back yet, but I think it could be a good date. I’m not sure it is for everyone though; I heard one lady loudly complain about the urine smell… hee hee… it wasn’t me. =)

I had a wonderful time, but didn’t really meet anyone of interest. I did check yes to some names just to be… you know… a good sport. But now that I have to go on a date with these men, it’s a bit of a chore. =( My friend Wendy wisely advised me not to waste my time if I wasn’t interested. She’s right, I know she’s right. But I was trying to be, like I said, a good sport. Not to worry, I’ll spring back.

Now to online dating. WOW! I often have a good time there. There are three people I’m interested in and currently writing to. But one of them suggested meeting and I have to admit, my heart sank… why? I think perhaps because I have an image of this person and the reality may be different.

So my 10 dating goals in no particular order include:
1. Conversing with people I’m interested in.
2. Remembering to ask about their spiritual beliefs as I am pretty sure God is important to me and my lifestyle.
3. Finding cool (and cheap) events to do around Edmonton.
4. Praying that they bike and x-country ski or do something I really like.
5. Getting out to actually date in real life and not sitting in front of the computer.
6. Brush my hair and wear make up.
7. Judge people by their ability to spell.
8. Wear nice shoes, people look at shoes I am told.
9. Sacrifice sleep for dating, occasionally.
10. Be nice.
… well I just started this list two nights ago, I guess it needs some tweaking. =)

Square Dancing

I found a place to stay. I ended up staying with the chief another night. =) We had a great night!! We drove around for a poker rally and WOW!!! What a great time! I didn't win anything but it was entertaining to go from house to house. At one stop, a tent, we ate white fish right off the fire... some of it was raw, which was different for me. I liked the cooked stuff better. We ate just about a whole fish!!! And bannock, I love coming north to make bannock even though I can make it at home.

After we went back to the band hall for a dance and talent show. I square danced!!! I had such a wonderful time. Then these young girls decided that I was the coolest thing and wouldn't let go of me for the rest of the night. Weird. Still they were entertaining. For talent we heard from Johnny Cash, a Mexican, and Tina Turner. =) WOW! Everyone got right into the event. We were even voluntold to jig - it was a competition. I had no idea how to jig, but I hear I did okay. Today a number of people thanked me for participating in the dance and said I did good... looking around I can see why I was a bit of a spectacle, I was one of two non-native-out-of-towners in attendance. If I lived up here I think I would want to get involved in the entertainment. There's another dance tonight, but I'll be on a flight home. Would have been on one already, but I missed it. Oops.

Now to convince the client that our next meeting needs to be up here during carnival!! =)

Ice Roads

I'm sitting here at the school in Wollaston, SK and the blowing snow has subsided enough that I can see the sun setting. I guess that would be west. =) It is beautiful here. I can also see people digging their trucks out after the flurry we had all day. I went outside twice and it was cold!!! I didn't wear my boots one time, but my slippers cause I was in a rush and forgot... whoops. It is a bit chilly here - I suppose it is close to the arctic! I went outside in my slippers accidentally... . I won't do that again. I wasn't wearing gloves either. Sigh. I obviously wasn't thinking straight. It is dropping to -30C tonight...

What a comedy of errors here. My travel was surprisingly calm. I made every flight, no bad weather. But when I arrived the hotel was closed. Thankfully I found a place to stay for the afternoon. I had a meeting, but only 2% of the people showed up - it was cancelled. Then in the evening there weren't enough rooms at the hotel so I was roomless!! Thankfully the chief invited me to stay at her house. I watched TV with her daughter. Now to find a place tonight... =)

Food is great. I am eating caribou... though today for lunch I had turkey, it was a like a Christmas in January meal. I love bannock with butter, jam and cheese. And even cooler! I road on my first ice road in my living memory today! I'll admit I had to squelch some nerves at the thought of driving over a deep dark lake!!! Yeah, I know the ice is probably tested and legally has to be yay thick... =) It was cool! And what a short cut! Mile to drive around a bay cut to half a mile across the bay.

Tonight there is a talent show in town and it is rumoured to be phenominal!

The Shocking Truth

I really love doing elecrical work. However, I still have a ways to go. I'm stumbling with a tricky 3-way switch, but I have a couple of friends who are anxious to mediate the situation before the confict escalates. I am very blessed. =)

On the bright side, this past weekend I wired the last room in the basement, the current pantry/future bathroom; my first GFI!! =) But as usual, altough I tried to be so careful with the breaker panel... I hit the test button on the bedroom plugs and didn't notice until getting ready for bed... flipping it back on was a tad tricky... my brute force gene just didn't kick in.

But no worries, that is minor compared to what I did next. I was careful to turn off the breakers and I know not to touch the back of the panel... I didn't turn the panel off... and what should happen??? Right I touched the back of the panel, but it took me a while to register the bite of the electrical current... actually it feels sort of cool. =) The picture is how I image I would look after shocking myself.

And now I am learning to drywall and I don't really like it. I like the end product of drywalling, but I don't like the fine dust that is hard to clean... I prefer sawdust. But I'm only drywalling the laundry room to start so I'll give it a fair chance. On Thursday I am hoping to start taping and mudding. I hear a very thin coat of mud will mean very little sanding. And in hindsight I watched the drywaller patch up my garage and I think I can do it, it wasn't really very much dust. But that might be a result of the small size of the patch... hmm...

So you can guess my holiday plan =) I'll be starting every day for the first week with the laundry room. But of course, I have a socializing to do. I have plans to make bulk meals for the freezer, baking, a couple of parties, cross-country skiing... so I think I'll be pretty busy. =) I'm spending the Christmas week with my family and then a week of nothing at all if I can help it. =) I know, I know, you're placing bets. I will probably work on small projects, but I think the laundry room may be enough of a big project for one holiday.

Oh and by the way, I am single again. I am maturing in my dating though, and am looking forward to my next chase =) Oh wait... by chase I mean mutually interested relationship.

See you soon - and no I haven't writen my Christmas letter... umm... so it may be a New Year's letter. =)

Northern Saskatchewan

A cold hello from snowy Stony Rapids. I'm here at the Water Front Lodge, beautiful, lake front lodge. Unfortunately, the weather forcast called for decent weather, no snow and thus I have no winter boots. I did go on Cabellas last week and ordered some insulated hunting boots. I think I'll wear them next time. I hope they fit! Sorels are wonderful, but a bit heavy, though I bet I'll be wearing them next time I fly. Too big to pack. I fit right in with the crew men they have working up here =D

I'm about to go for a taxi ride - one of those airborne vans that only touch the lops. Maybe I should go eat now... wait! Is that my blood pressure rising??? The road is snowy though so the sailing may be clear.

Martin and I are still seeing each other. I think I'm still happy. So I guess that's good. He's really nice still. I think he's frustrated with my travelling though, and that has put a bit of a damper on things this week. As well, I'm stressed/overwelmed at work right now so it's easy to want to turn into myself for strength and want to hermit a bit, too. I haven't been hermitting mind you, but I think I might this weekend a bit. I set up this dresser to finish stripping and restain, and I'm very eager to get back to it. I've let it sit for weeks now.

Shall I tell you more about my travels?? Flying north at this time of the year is risky. We flew no problem from Edmonton to Saskatoon to Prince Albert. Then at Prince Albert we heard rumors of bad weather in the north... if the weather's out no on flies. What does that mean when the weather is out? Either there is a storm or the air and water are similar temperature and the fog is too thick. But on we went, a little late. Landed in La Ronge... and waited... and waited... and then waited some more for a window in the weather. Then one flight was cancelled!! Thankfuly, it wasn't mine. Then we heard our flight was going!! Thank goodness.

We made it safely, changed our exit ticket to give us time for our meeting. And though we were two hours late, our meeting went ahead, successfully! Unfortunately some members couldn't come because they were stranded in other communities or had to drive the grader to clear the runway. =D Such is life.

So we arrived at the airport after our meeting and just missed the early flight, which actually left an hour early, so we were in time for the "early" late flight, which 20 minutes later was cancelled... my dinner was waiting in Stony Rapids... my bed was waiting in Stony Rapids... I wanted to be in Stony Rapids. Instead we improvised, we found accommodation, one lady complained to the right person and early this morning we received a call to hop on a freight flight =) And here I sit, curled up on my bay window seat looking over the Fond du Lac River leading to the Athabasca thinking I should go eat lunch. Too bad I left my camera cable in the car, I could show you the view out my window. I think it would be peaceful to live up here.

Broken Pride

Surprise! Surprise! Another dating blog!

But first this breaking news! A HUGE thank you to everyone who sponsored me in the MS bike tour this year. I raised $1,500 and our team raised over $16,000!! THANKS!!! The MS Society also sends out a big thanks! It was fairly cold biking, but we had a fabulous time. The second day of the tour was mostly downhill and gorgeous. They have these erosion dykes across the trail and all their words of caution for the day centred on not taking the dykes at high speeds. I can see why – they have terrific launching capabilities! An amazing quality until you land on the following dyke and wipe out. =)

So Martin bought a bike last Thursday se we could go biking together. Out we headed on Sunday. We biked for about an hour and he bikes at about the same level as our MS team “A Few Spokes Short”. We’re bombing along some single track and it starts downhill. Now I thought I was doing an okay clip, not dangerously fast. But then I spotted a bit of a dip I the trail and it looked a bit dark. Well in my distraction I hit a large root, put myself a bit off course, hit the “dark spot” aka mud hole and my front tire stopped dead. Well you can imagine with my momentum what happened to the rest of my bike and my body. So next thing I know I’m laying there and all I can think is “Don’t cry! Don’t cry!” Don’t’ cry!” Well I didn’t cry and Martin was a true gentleman. I wish I had it on video, but he assured me he would go buy a helmet-cam for our next ride. =) What a sweety.

And I should mention we are enriching our cultural side, too. Friday he took me to The Comic Strip at WEM and they were so funny! Now we use the jokes on each other - keeps me on my toes. Sunday (yes, after biking) we dressed up and went to live theatre Noises Off at the Citadel. God it was hilarious!! Martin enoyed it, but missed some of the puns and plays on words. I think I may look for a french play next, but his english is loads better than my french. This Friday will be "date" 6 and I'm looking forward to it. =)

A New Outlook on Dating

First, yes I made it back to Canada with my laundered passport. It is now invalid and I received many raised eyebrows and head shakes on my voyage through customs. =)

But on to more exciting news. I have not posted any dating news of late, mainly because I didn't have anything to say. I at times have a bad attitude, find my dates mediocre, pout, avoid dates, and in general fulfill the my princess nickname. I am after all looking for my knight in shining armour or I'd settle for a prince too.

I've tried Lifemates, Lavalife and Plenty of Fish. I don't think I really like Lifemates. Lavalife was fun; I met two people there but neither lead to anything. Plenty of Fish... well my neighbours were on POF so I was hesitant to join. For those of you new to the list, my neighbours are at varying stages of "player" and have all read "The Game". But, putting aside my fear I signed on and my god it was overwelming. I was on for 12 hours and received 20 emails; needless to say I still have unopened email. I chatted with a few people, told more to nicely take a hike and have met one person.

WOW!!! This person blew me away! His name is Martin, he's french, cute, confident, and christian. He added me to his favourites list on POF, so I sent him a note, with encouragement (Thanks Lesley), telling him he was cute. Our first date we were supposed to bring our mugs and meet up for drinks to take on our walk - I of course forgot my mug, even though it was my idea.

I had a great time!! Got home and was swinging on the counters telling Jen about the date. I was excited to go on a second date! And I had a great time again!! We played pool very poorly! Ate cinnamon buns at Southgate and then played Carcazone at my house - we spent over 7 hours together and we still wanted to see each other again!! It's like a miracle. We're about to go on date 3, but I'm not sure what we're doing. Even more impressive is that it will be 3 dates within a week... never have I gone on date with the same person twice in one week!! What's happening to me!?!?!

My flatmate and her man laugh at or with me quite a bit. I suppose it is quite a change, I blow-dried my hair, put on makeup, dressed in nice clothes (as opposed to going directly on a date after doing electrical work not so long ago - In all fairness I did brush off the drywall dust), tripped out the door, had to come back for a coat, ... and on it goes. I did remember to brush my teeth thankfully because I laughed alot. =) LOL. I feel very giddy and foolish. It's actually a good feeling - very interuptive at work, but good. I can't stop giggling either! Good gracious, you would all laugh to see me.

One date at a time. And he like x-country skiing and biking!! But I haven't told him about hunting yet...