Hottest 25 Urban Legends

1. E-mail claims you must sign up with the national Do Not Call list to prevent telemarketers from calling your cell phone.
2. E-mail warns about a disease known as Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC).
3. E-mail warns about scammers' paging you from the 809 area code.
4. E-mail claims Bill Gates, Microsoft and AOL are giving away cash and merchandise to those who forward an e-mail message.
5. E-mail claims Target stores do not support veterans.
6. E-mail disclaims anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's relationship with her son.
7. E-mail warns about Invitation (or Olympic Torch) computer virus.
8. Amy Bruce, a terminally ill young girl, writes "Slow Dance" poem.
9. E-mail warns about the dangers of outdated pancake mix.
10. Controversy over a new Pepsi can design and the Pledge of Allegiance.
11. E-mail describes woman who evades a rapist posing as a policeman by calling #77 (or *677) on her cell phone.
12. E-mailed computer virus claims Osama bin Laden has been captured or hanged.
13. E-mail claims the Swiffer WetJet poses a general danger to dogs and other pets.
14. Missing child alert: Ashley Flores.
15. Photographs show a female tiger raising a group of piglets.
16. E-mail says Sears pays the difference in salaries and maintains benefits for their called-up military reservist employees.
17. Merck is offering to donate $1 to cancer research for every pair of free "Make the Connection" bracelet kits ordered from them
18. Video clip shows a magician pulling a woman apart at the waist.
19. E-mail warns of parking lot thieves who render their victims unconscious with ether-laced perfume.
20. Warning about scammers running up long-distance charges on your bill by asking you to press #-9-0 on your telephone.
21. E-mail warns about jury duty phone scam perpetrated by identity thieves.
22. E-mail offers transcript of 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney's explaining his political views.
23. E-mailed warning cautions that prepackaged salads could contain E. coli.
24. Actor/writer Ben Stein's commentary on the observance of Christmas.
25. E-mail protests the release of two British teens who killed Jamie Bulger.

I seem to be getting an awful lot of warning emails which apparently are urban legends. I swear I've gotten the $79 speeding ticket solution at least 6 or 7 times. It's kind of funny actually, so I've done a little investigating of my own and came up with a list of urban legends.

I found 2 new home decor stores!

Jacquie and I headed out tonight for a little power shopping, it's Bunco night on Friday and she's hostess so we were shopping for 1 $40 gift and 4 $20 gifts. We headed up to the NE and went to Home Sense which is a branch of Winners, it's all home decor stuff. We picked up a vase, ice cream dish set and a margarita set for the hostess prize (even though I won't be there I could still win the hostess draw and my fingers are crossed!) Then we headed down the road to Designer Depot where you get 'designer stuff for depot prices'. They also had some good stuff, we picked up another ice cream dish set as well as a black square 4 compartment serving dish thingy. Hard to describe but very cool! I think this is where I'll be doing my wedding/bridal shower/house warming shopping from now on!

If anyone has been looking for MC Hammer I found him...

Yeah right, like anyone has actually been looking for him...but I found him on a Much Music show called Dance Fever and he's one of the judges. Time has not been kind to him, he looks really old! I think I was in Grade 7 when U Can't Touch This came out and I desperately wanted Mom to make me hammer pants. Thank you Mom for not making me hammer pants. That would haunt me for the rest of my life for sure!
I went to another Norwex party tonight and picked up some dryer balls to eliminate bounce sheets and hopefully Alex's skin bumps will completely go away, they've started to clear up after just about three years, I switched to the Norwex laundry detergent without fillers/perfumes and they're going away. The doctor just thought it was the way his skin was and not a reaction to laundry soap, so I of course thought the same thing.
The boys went with Aaron to Uncle Phil's house where they played soccer (thanks Nannie and Papa for portable soccer nets) and then Joseph somehow ended up swimming with the fishes in their pond! That's my boy!
I also learned today how to put my Digital Video onto VHS tapes, it's so easy I feel really stupid for not knowing how before today. Sorry Monica, I could have sent you a VHS tape instead of the wee tape. I know for next time!

Where do these kids get their energy?

I feel like Wonder Woman today - I took the boys to the cottage by myself yesterday and I survived without any incidents (or Bacardi coolers to dull the loudness of my two angels). We arrived unexpected by the Beck's around 11 and the boys had their own private missions - Joseph had to go feed the chickens and Alex had to help Grandpa cut the grass on the ride on mower. We had a pretty casual day and took a lot of walks to see the chickens and we set up the boys little pool for them to splash around in. Late afternoon we headed into town to buy a few things for dinner and the boys both slept for the hour long trip....that was the beginning of the end just about! Because of their power naps, my two boys did not go to bed until midnight last night, and it wasn't from lack of trying! So in the end I just put the boys little TV upstairs and let them watch movies while Deb, Auntie Arlene and I played Rumoli. All in all it was a great visit, I just wish Joseph would have slept in past 7:30 this morning!

And we're off to the cottage!

I managed to get most of my housekeeping done late last night and thought I'd reward myself and the boys with a trip to the cottage. Aaron has to work late tonight and is working tomorrow so it'll just be the three of us anyways. The rain has also finally stopped!We've been having massive thunderstorms in the evening for the past two weeks and last night was the first rain free day/night. It's supposed to be sunshine all week, thank goodness, the boys love their playcenter and it just breaks their heart to not be able to climb and play when it's pouring rain out. I thought about buying them rainsuits this year but haven't been successful in finding any...just our luck!

Only 6 weeks until our holiday! YAHOO!

The Beck's are biking once again!

We finally got our act together and got the bike trailer and bikes good to go. Last night Aaron went for a ride in the rain -he actually thought he could outrun the storm...haha Aaron! Tonight we all went riding to the big pond in Inverness, it's about a 30 minute ride, long enough for the kids and short enough to not hurt my butt too much.
We visited with Kathryn, Jeff, Liz and Billy last night. Kathryn (bride-to-be) has chosen her invites so now it's just a matter of getting the stuff and finding time to do it. I think if we gather the supplies over the summer we can do them in September and cross them off the list early. I'm starting to plan her shower/stagette and am open to any and all suggestions!
I've got no problems planning wedding stuff but I've come to a big party planning block when it comes to little Alex's 3rd birthday. Mom and Dad won't be here so we were going to celebrate early but then thought we'll see them 2 days after his birthday so maybe we'll do birthday cake on our holidays for him to celebrate with them. So, then we were thinking of going to the cottage the weekend of his birthday (Sunday is his bday) and then invite his cousins to come up for a bbq...but then that leaves out his friends...plus we haven't even asked Aaron's parents if they'd mind us having our party at their cottage. What to do, what to do?!? I guess I've got a month to decide and better get on it incase we're having another backyard bbq here, we thought about a poker run or scavenger hunt in the neighbourhood but I think I need my parents planning and help to pull that off!
There's another limb to the Beck family tree. Aaron's cousin Jeff and wife Megan had a baby boy on Wednesday, they've named him Makhi Daniel Terrance. Poor Megan went 2 weeks overdue before they'd induce her, poor girl! They're both doing fine, and I seen pictures of little Makhi who has nice brown curls already. Congratulations!

Only how many days until Friday?

Now that the weather's starting to get nice again the week days seem to get longer and longer. I think I'm having spring fever! Tonight was the dayhome meeting which went pretty much the same as always, we had quite a few new faces and it was nice to be able to help out the newbies by answering some questions. I think that's what makes it worthwhile to actually go to the meetings, when I first started there wasn't anyone willing to point me in the right direction so I had to take a longer route to get to the same place as everyone else. But I got here!
The boys are really excited to visit with Auntie Kathryn and Uncle Jeff tomorrow night and show off Joseph's superhero video. I'm surprised we haven't worn out the tape yet.

And here's April..whom I still have to email-oops!

This was taken at my wedding which was the last time I've seen April -who was my MOH.

And here's April as I knew her from high school -smile- We had some pretty great times together!  First boyfriends, many boyfriends...her obsession with Serge...my obsession with Sean Lloyd.  Aagh! What were we thinking?!? So of course since seeing your name pop up I had to go digging through my yearbooks, nice blazer by the way April...almost as good as my hairband!...and of course the memories just came flooding back.  It'll be nice to catch up with her and see what's been happening in Kingston and who she's kept in contact with. Can't wait!

Look who's getting married!

Someday this will become the 2nd most dressed up I've ever seen these two. Can't wait for that big day!

And yet another wedding to plan...

Well Steve finally did it and proposed to Tina! Three years later...well I suppose three years of dating is kind of average before taking the plunge, but honestly it just seems to have always been "Tina and Steve" - actually "Tina, Steve and the girls". LOL!
So...my girlfriend April popped up out of the blue on my blog. How cool was that?!? Since starting this blog I've connected with my auntie Jen whom I've yet to meet, as well as a lot of cousins that I don't know well but am getting there and have also met a neighbour. I suppose it was just a matter of time before I reconnected with a friend.
Now I'll tell everyone all about April once I dig out the old yearbooks! Eek!

Dad's Birthday Extravagana!

Yep! It started out with a black thong and some nice boy drawers from LaSenza...

That was obviously a gag gift...until Dad tried it on for us....You can kind of see his chain that we bought for his actual birthday present.

Around the tattoo is ink, I think it looks like dirt so I thought I'd clear any misconceptions up right now.

So, this is it, I got the boys birthstones put in the middle and it's shaded versus solid black...it only took 75 minutes but boy did it hurt like a mean sumbitch!

And then we took Dad to Japanese Village where somehow I ended up having to dress up with him for his birthday celebration. Definitely not a nice surprise!

So, we ate lots, the boys drank lots and we partied like the fools that we are! By the time we left I think everyone wanted to be at our table!

Joseph's Superhero Debut

The kids choreographed their own routine and came up with the idea to save the princesses.  It was very cute! The quality of video isn't that great, Alex wasn't very cooperative so he was stuck to Aaron like glue and I videotaped with the digital video and then had to take a video clip off of the TV in playback mode to upload for you all to see.  Enjoy!

Superhero show rocked!

Here's Alex's little video from this afternoon

Here's Joseph (Batman) rescuing one of the princesses.

The show was short and sweet! I had another video clip but am having a hard time uploading it.  Joseph was excited to perform for everyone but a little unsure of what to do when it was all over.  Can't wait for everyone to see it!

The cards would probably look more impressive if I'd taken the time to scan them separately but these are the new techniques I learned last night. It was my month to be hostess so for the cost of making a few snacks I reaped the rewards! $100 in free stamp stuff, 2 stamp sets and Mom got a free stamp set for ordering a starter kit. Not too shabby! The girls that I take the class with have decided to start having stamping nights every month or so where we actually just do cards and use all of our stuff. I use my stuff regularly and have only bought 1 card in the past 2 years...it was a funny one for Aaron's friends birthday. But apparently the girls don't use their stuff as often as they like. I even ordered my Christmas stamp set for this year - it's never too early is it? LOL!

Stay tuned for Joseph's Superhero Show video and/or pictures!

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY DAD!

In no particular order whatsoever is the little stroll down Memory Lane...I must say how my friends always envied Heather and I for having the 'cool' parents.  We were always welcome to have our friends come over to hang out and our friends always felt welcome.  I think it's partly because Mom and Dad were fairly young when they had us and let's face it -they're both very young at heart.  You guys have got it made, to be 50, retired (well Dad's still working but I think it's because he'd annoy Mom too much if they were both home together) , both kids moved out and starting their own families and still have half your life ahead of you to enjoy together....that's the life.  You've definitely been a great role model, both of you have been.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!  And if I can sum up your upcoming birthday dinner at Japanese Village in one catch phrase : IT'S A THONG! Ha Ha! Don't forget the wax Mom!

Papa and Joseph

Papa and Joseph - tee hee

Dad as Warrant Officer

Sailing fishing in 1988 I think

Dad on  HMCS Terra Nova

Which one's Dad?

This guy has to do it all - Army and then Navy...couldn't lower his standards to the AirForce though -ha ha!

After graduating boot camp

Alright Cowboy- where are your boots? This was in Calgary - 1995-ish.

Biker Dad

At Aaron's graduation from Funeral Directing/Embalming School -ewwww...

Dad with the little curl in the front, he tried to keep the curl up for about 40 years and from there on it was the bald look

A recent picture from Mom's 50th and Heather's 30th

(Oops, I forgot to crop this one) Mom and Dad's only professional picture, only took  27 years of marriage to get one done or was it 28?

Dad on one of his first bikes -this dates back to the early/mid80s when we lived in Ralston...don't think I have one of Mom and Dad both on their bikes....yep, I had the cool parents growing up...

What a weekend!

Here are the boys playing Candyland DVD...

Well, the weekend started off with the disappointment of not getting my tattoo done Friday night.  Wallace lost track of time and before he could phone to cancel we were already there.  It's understandable though, everyone has a different pain tolerance. So, some tattoos will take longer than others.  Aaron's a prime example, he had his leg done in 6 1/2 hours which was the longest sitting Wallace had done in three years. But we're going to try again tomorrow.

Saturday Aaron and I took the boys shopping for Papa's birthday present which went surprisingly well, they're usually running around and we end up looking like idiots chasing after them.  But they took the task at hand very seriously and picked a winner for Papa! Unfortunately for us they also picked the most expensive - but you're definitely worth it Dad!  Afterwards we headed down to Fish Creek Park and walked around with the boys and played at the playground, the boys literally spend 1/2 an hour chasing gophers. It was hilarious, by the time the boys caught up the the gopher, it'd be in the hole already and we'd point to another one at the end of the field and the boys just kept running back and forth trying to catch this "one" gopher.

Saturday night was date night! Aaron and I went to Hy's Steakhouse for dinner, it was awesome! And then we went to see MI3 - when did the late shows go from starting at 9-ish to 10:20?!? Apparently it's been that long since we've gone to a late show! The movie was good too. I wanted to see the BreakUp but that just wasn't going to happen.

Our poor babysitter Michelle had one heck of a time with our two boys. Alex didn't have much of an appetite for dinner last night but apparently he loaded up on enough juice, chips and gummy bears to give himself a wicked tummyache - until he threw up that is, and then he just went to bed.  Joseph was pretty good and went to bed okay but woke up at 10:30 a little out of sorts and then just waited up for us to come home at 12:45.  Then he was totally wide awake and didn't go to bed until almost 2.  He had a bit of a cough, runny nose today so I'm thinking that he just wasn't quite feeling himself last night.  

Today Aaron and I got to meet Capri Jo! She's so tiny and very precious! We didn't see her big sister Emma so I think we'll have to pop over soon to visit.  The boys still are a bit sick so they didn't get to meet their new cousin either.

Hope y' all had a great weekend!

Well it's Saturday and still no tattoo

Everything was going a little too perfect yesterday, the boys were in a great mood, all the dayhome kids were picked up early, Heather was available to watch the boys for us and we showed up right on time to discover Wallace still working on one of his customers. :( So, we've re-booked for Monday night and hopefully things will be just as smooth.
Aaron just got a call from the bank that his bank card has been skimmed again...so here we go again...at least it's not a long weekend and they haven't de-activitated both bank cards like the last time!
Hope you're all having a great weekend! It's movie night for Aaron and I, we're going to see MI3, I wanted DaVinci Code but Aaron doesn't think he could sit still for that long.

You can never have too many Joe's in one family!

We found out today that Aaron's cousin Leanne just had her second baby girl on Wednesday. Capri Joe is her name, I haven't heard any details except they were due to come home from the hospital yesterday so I'm assuming everything is a-okay. Congratulations Emma for becoming a big sister!

Today's the day!

I'm getting more excited about my tattoo-ing tonight. I've forewarned the parents that I have a 6 o'clock appt downtown so of all days please don't be late today. I hardly ever have any late pickups but with Murphy's Law it would happen today!
So Aaron posed a good question : For a lower back tattoo, what kind of panties will I wear? Grannies for most coverage or thong to make me look hot? The tattoo will be right above the butt crack so I know the panties may be an issue. I even went out and bought new yoga pants for the special occasion, Aaron thought I could just undo my jeans and slide them down a bit but I'll be the one laying there on a lump of denim for an hour or two so I may as well be comfortable.
Stay tuned for pictures of the latest artwork...

A miscellaneous post

Here's Joseph singing "What's the Weather?" song  and totally acting up

Alex being Alex

Me and the boys in the fort

In the fort still...

Here's my first tattoo from ten years ago, it looks like it may almost need a bit more colour.

When the cat's away, the mice will play...

Isn't that the saying?
So, Aaron's gone out with some of his buddies from work so I've managed to feed, bath, and get my kids to bed singlehanded by 7 o'clock. I did volunteer to mow tonight (somedays I could just kick myself!) so I think I'll get the yard stuff done and then sit back and relax.
I picked out my tattoo design last night and was very impressed with the whole tattoo shop and Wallace the tattoo-ist. He's a down-homer from Bathhurst, small world isn't it! I decided to go for lower back so it can be easily concealed...belly shirts are totally out of the question since carrying my 2 boys around for 18 months in utero...although Aaron thinks it may be motivation for me to try and 'tone up' my jellybelly. I wasn't opposed to liposuction at all until he explained to me that even though they can suck out the fat you still need to tone or else you'll just have one big skin fold hanging out over my jeans. Not a pretty picture, I know!
Tomorrow night is Kalyna's spa party, I've been using the same skin regime for a few years now and I think I'm ready for a break. Usana is the name of the stuff we'll be sampling tomorrow night. Has anyone ever used the stuff before? Is it any good?
Friday night is my big tattoo night, well, not big like Aaron's (6 1/2 hours), but big like it's a big deal. Wallace figures it'll take maybe an hour to do it. While we were there he was starting to work on a girl (boy she was a flower, Mom!) and he did a few outlines and she needed a glass of water, bathroom break and then he took a cigarette break. If you can't handle the pain you really should think about getting something really small done instead of this big artsy flowery design she was going for. Not well planned out on her part! There's no pain like it though. Wallace also let it slip that he's designing a part two for Aaron. He's drawing up another dragon negative space design type tattoo for the rest of Aaron's lower leg. I secretly think Aaron's going to keep shaving his tattoo area when it's healed to show it off better. LOL!

I'll stop complaining about the playcentre now

Aaron's dragon is healing nicely!

The view of the boys playcentre from my bedroom (Please don't laugh at the grass! I feel like I need to post a picture of the front yard which is thick and looks great)

The playcenter from the ground view.

After giving up on the playcenter, we decided to get the gravel to put on the side of our house where we've been totally unsuccessful in getting grass to come in thick.  So we'd already loaded up the truck and trailer with the gravel when we get the call from the store manager saying he's tracked down a playcenter and would personally deliver it within the hour.  Oh my gawd! I didn't plan on doing that much physical labour in one weekend! But we did it.  Mom and Dad had gone to the Hat Saturday so when they came back Saturday night we had some dinner and then got started on it.  We worked until 10:15 last night and then it took us from about 8:30 to 3:30 today (with a 1/2 hour lunch break).  What a long day that was! Lucky for me it was Joseph's last swim class so I got an hour break.  I'm sure Aaron is wishing he could soak his body in a nice hot tub tonight...only what 2 weeks to go before he can do that? Tomorrow night we're heading down to the shop to see if I can decide on what/wear I want something done.  I'm pretty wishy washy still so I wouldn't be surprised if I come away empty handed. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Like father like son...

Papa

Joseph's Madagascar tattoo

Aaron's 'little' dragon tattoo

Joseph and Daddy's tattoo

Tattooing went well for Aaron 6 1/2 hours later....which left me to deal with Can Tire about the playcentre. Still no playcentre and apparently it's not even on the truck like I was told Wednesday. It' s a conspiracy I tell ya! After speaking to the manager today he said it'll be 1 to 2 weeks at the latest, so I've given him until 4PM tomorrow to give me his best offer so I'll keep it or else we'll be looking elsewhere. Conveniently our $1199 playcentre has just been listed in the flyer as 20% off so I'll be shooting for that plus a little extra off...after all it's me that has to keep explaining to Joseph where his swingpark is.

Still no play center...

The sega continues...
I phoned to confirm that the swingset did indeed arrive on the truck today as promised and it didn't. We ordered it May 1st so it's officially been 1 month and is now 2 weeks overdue so I spoke to the outdoor manager and he apologized profusely and said he'd try and locate one 1 in Calgary at a different location and have it transferred for us to the closeby location. When I suggested that last week it wasn't an option but apparently now it is. The store manager told the outdoor manager that he'll call me in the morning to confirm that he's found one for us. I'm hoping he will because Joseph's still carrying around his Home Depot brochure and telling everyone that Daddy's building him a swingpark (his word, not mine).
Auntie Kathryn and soon to be Uncle Jeff are headed over to Scotland on Tuesday for a few weeks so they're going to stop in to visit before they fly out. I'm sure the boys will be excited to see her...hopefully they don't try and soak her with their new water guns she bought them...although it would be a taste of her own medicine! LOL! Don't worry Kathryn, we wouldn't let you fly for 12 hours in wet clothes. It seems that we'll be seeing more and more of Kathryn now that there's a wedding to plan, dresses to buy, etc it'll be nice when they move to Cochrane!

Our playcenter should be here today...in theory...

After a long 1 month wait as opposed to the 7 to 10 day wait we were told, our play center should arrive. Thank goodness! Joseph has been talking non-stop about his swingpark that Daddy's building him and we've had to keep postponing it again and again. He's been carrying around the Home Depot create it yourself booklet of swing sets/forts for the last month and a bit. Every day he's picking out a new feature he'd like on his swing set...first it was a steering wheel, then it was a periscope, now it's a telescope. I'm sure we'll just keep adding to it every now and then. So, with a little bit of luck we'll have it mostly all assembled on Saturday and then have a BBQ with Mom and Dad. They'll be down on Friday night and they're headed off to the Hat to have a birthday lunch with Papa on Saturday. Tommorrow's tattoo day for Aaron, apparently the tattoo-ist thought Aaron wanted his entire leg done and had massively blown up his picture he'd brought in, so thankfully they caught the miscommunication before anything was permanent! LOL!
Even though we're not celebrating until JJ's home - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEYE! I'll wait for your birthday party to send out your card though.