I watched Charlie Brown's Christmas special last night. It had been many years since I had seen that. I noticed that Charlie Brown was called stupid and a "blockhead" a couple times throughout the show. You would never see that in today's cartoons. I love old cartoons. Kids are too sheltered this days. If you're an idiot, you should be called as such. None of this "I don't want to hurt his feelings and send him on a murderous rampage" horseshit. Not long ago, I even remember hearing something that school sports teams are no longer allowed to cut anybody from the team. What the hell is that all about? Jimmy's sucks but he's still allowed to play. Good to hear parents these days are supporting their kids being half-assed at everything instead of trying to get them to improve. Anyway, that's enough of a rant today. Short update again but at least it's a little more common now instead of wordy monthly updates. Also, check out my new links on the right-hand sidebar.

So last night we went and picked up a Christmas tree. We got a 6' Balsam for $20. After tying it to the roof of my wagon, we went through the drive-thru at McDonald's. I noticed that a lot of people seemed to not follow very close with the tree on top. I don't know if they couldn't see the twine holding it on or if they were just generally scared that it might fly off. Anyway, after getting it up the stairs and put into the stand, we found that the stand we already had wouldn't hold a tree with a smaller trunk diameter (the bolts bent and let the tree sway greatly front and back and side to side). We went to K-mart and found ourselves an old-style Martha Stewart metal stand for $10 that works very well (I recommend it if you need one. It's got red legs and top ring with a stamped galvanized steel bottom). While there, I spied some Hershey's Kisses on sale. I had already tried the cherry kind (kind of like a cherry-filled chocolate without the actual cherry inside) but I bought some more again because I liked them. I also saw they had the Candy Cane kind. I had wanted to try them for awhile and got them as well. They're very tasty with their minty candy cane flavour as well as little bits of crunched up candy cane bits in them.

Just a little FYI today. Chocolate cupcake hurts when it gets lodged in your sinuses. I was eating one the other day and my brain decided to shut down for a second and I breathed in and choked on it a bit. I tried to clear my throat to remove the blockage and it worked but ended up sending it up into my nose. A little bit shot out but most was stuck in there and it had to blow it out. I had brown boogers for about a day afterwards. Enjoy your breakfast/lunch/supper!

Well, I survived "Black Friday". We were up at 3:30 yesterday morning. By the time we were ready and on the road, it was 5 instead of the planned 4 AM departure time. We got to Appleton, WI at around 7:30 and stopped at Home Depot first. They had a Rigid wet/dry vac on for $26, regularly over $60. I wanted to get one but we don't have anywhere to put it here. There was also a 4-pack of LED Husky flashlights for $20. There was a 5-pack of LED Husky flashlights in varying sizes (largest being the same size as a double-AA Maglite) for $7. There were also some good deals on 4 and 5-piece cordless tool sets from Milwaukee, Makita, etc. for ~$250 off their normal price. Next we went to Menards to pick up a foam alphabet mat for Teresa's niece. After that, we went to Toys 'R Us. THAT place was crazy. We went inside and looked around and saw that the line-up for checkout was halfway around the inside of the building. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything there. We walked from there over to the large mall that Appleton has. We walked around for way too long in there and bought nothing. The biggest reason was that nobody had any real great deals there. Once we left the mall, we went to Hooters for an appetizer and to rest from all the walking. Teresa got her nephew a t-shirt that says "Hooters wrecking crew" and a calendar for her boss that all the girls that work there signed. Hobby Lobby was next on our trip. Teresa bought a mosaic-style candle holder for her sister and a picture frame for her cousin. From there, we went to TJ Maxx, which is a store with major brand name items at a good discount. Teresa got some underwear for 75% of their retail price and I bought a pair of Union Bay cargo pants for $15 (retail price was $46). Our last stop of the day was Fleet Farm. Teresa got one nephew (the one with the Hooters shirt) a playmat so that he can use his Hot Wheels on it. She got her other nephew a Fisher Price car. Finally after being all done with that and driving, we got home around 9 or 9:30. I didn't have enough money to buy what I really wanted but the 2 things I really wanted to get were a Canon Rebel XT digital camera for $600 (regularly over $800) and a Nintendo Wii for $250.

Today is the day we're celebrating Thanksgiving with Teresa's family since her mom had to work on Thursday. The hospital that she works at was having free lunch so we went there and had some turkey, potatoes, vegetables and stuffing. I'm not sure what's on the menu today.

So that's my update. Until next time...

Last weekend was a bit busy again. Friday Teresa and I went over to her sister's place and watched "Over The Hedge" which was quite entertaining and I recommend it to anyone whether they have kids or not. We also watched "Cars" again. On Saturday, Teresa and I decided to go to Appleton, WI (about 20 minutes south of Green Bay). We did a little shopping and went to TGI Friday's to try out their Jack Daniel's Grill. It was very tasty. I had the pulled pork sandwich and Teresa had a pan-fried steak. Not bad for $20 all together. We went to a few stores but didn't really buy anything except for a pair of short overalls for Teresa's nephew at TJ Maxx ($7 there, retail tag said $22). Sunday was a bit of a lazy day and in the evening, we went with Teresa's sister and her friend to see "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". It's one of those movies that you'll really like or you'll hate it. I really found it to be hilarious but everybody else didn't like it at all. I found out later while I was reading about it on the Internet Movie Database that "Borat" is the french driver in "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". He seems to like his parts with an accent besides his own (English).

Anyway, in other news, I got my Michigan driver's license the other day. I have to wait for the actual license with my picture on it to come in the mail. In the meantime, I have a paper temporary thing that's about as big as my hand so it doesn't really fit into my wallet unless I fold it up. Teresa also thinks that my photo makes me look like a killer. We'll see how it turns out on the license. Today I'm going to try and get insurance on my car since the Saskatchewan insurance ran out on Monday. Gotta love the ass-backwards system here. Before you can get your car registered, you need to have insurance on it. I'd like to get this plate but it doesn't go on sale until Jan. 1 of '07:











Until then, I'm stuck with the normal blue plate or the other optional plate that's available:






















So tomorrow is the US Thanksgiving. Teresa's family is celebrating it on Saturday since her mom has to work all day tomorrow so we'll probably just sit around tomorrow. Friday is the day for big sales here. It's like the Canadian Boxing Day. We're going back to Appleton to try and find some sales for Christmas gifts. See here for some of the CRAZY prices.

Busy weekend again. Saturday was spent finishing up the cabin we were taking down the weekend before. Took a couple trailers of garbage to dump and ripped up the rest of the flooring while the other guys (2 more helpers this time) loaded all the logs onto 2 seperate trailers. Finished up and headed over to the barn where they were going to be stored and unloaded all the logs. After we finished up, I was offered a job working for a log trucking company when I can legally work and then we parted ways. My friend Stretch and I went back to return the truck we borrowed ('06 Diesel 6-speed Ford) and hung out at the farm where it was from for a little bit. That was a pretty big operation with 100 cattle and corn harvesting to feed the cows. We went out and retrieved a couple farm trucks (it had been probably 15 years or more since I last rode in one) loaded with corn. Stretch then returned me home and Teresa and I went out for pizza at Pizza Hut. I think the 2 pizzas we had were Chicken Club and Chicken Supreme. Both were delicious even though I had had the Chicken Supreme before.

I lied about a busy weekend. Mostly just a busy Saturday. Sunday was basically a lazy day, just doing laundry in the evening at the laundromat down the street.

I think that's about all for now.

So being the day after Halloween and having the sweet tooth that I do, I had to go out and get some cheap candy. 400 piece bag of Tootsie Rolls for $2.25, a bag of round sugar candies that I refuse to call Smarties for $1, stuff like that. I even found Bottle Caps which I haven't had in probably 10 years or more.

Other news? Not much. It's cold (26°F, feels like 17°F/-3°C, feels like -8°C) and it's trying to snow but it keeps melting during the day. Gas is $2.19/gallon ($0.66/L). My driver's license expired on Tuesday so now I'm left with my legs to carry me places until I try and get a license here.