stew and doughboys, stirfries, shrimp and catching you all up on our last weekend's crazy activity!

is there anything in the world more delicous than stew, doughboys and pickled beets? i know - dumb question right?

this is what has been keeping the maniac occupied....

while i cook and make sure he is fed and watered regularly - bahahahah!

we are having some nice, cool autumn days and we are enjoying them!

here's a chicken stirfry with rice and kimchi and pickled beets - yummeh!

and some korean japchae with shrimp and kimchi - deelish!

sometimes tho kids it's just about the shrimp and dip. we get some delicious and big shrimp here.

and how about homemade, breaded sweet and sour pork?

we actually ate that for supper 2 nights in a row it was so good! we also did up a bunch of homemade, breaded pork balls and put them in the freezer for late night snacks.

so on to last weekend's craziness: our sister village of fourchu is holding their every-5-year-reunion next summer so they are holding a bunch of different functions to raise money. last saturday night was the male fashion show - a fashion show with a twist, mind you and jambaloney was asked to dj. we met up with the reunion committee and came up with a list of 28 songs to be played during the show.

now here's the twist. the men dressed as women - bahahahah! and they all looked perfectly horrific!!! there were 8 models and they did one show of being a "something" like a cheerleader or a nurse, then they came back out in their lingerie or bathing suits, and for their last number they did their fancy dress. it was hysterical! our friend b was the emcee and she was awesome - her and jambaloney were completely in synchronicity with when to start and stop a song. they guys really hammed it up...for example, our cheerleader came out dancing to "Hey Mickey" and our nurse came out to "Doctor Doctor". i had the list of songs and downloaded them all and the music that we as a group chose was all upbeat and very feminine. we played Shania Twain's "Man, I feel like a woman", some Abba songs, and a bunch of other really fun songs.

our friend v won the competition. each model had an agent go through the crowd with a cup and while the model was dancing and making their way to the stage, the agent would collect money. whoever collected the most money won and that was our friend v. i was so proud of him!

after the show was over we had a bit of a dance. well, me and my besty and her favourite cousin b had a bit of a dance. lots of people left and then others just kind of hung out together yakking. me and c and b didn't care - if there is music playing then we are dancing! we love having the whole dance floor to ourselves - bahahahah!

the next morning i told jambaloney that my bum was hurting and i couldn't understand why??? he said that me and my besty c, who were acting as runners to let people know when to come on and let the emcee know if someone wasn't ready or whatnot - well, jambaloney told me that we spent the whole 3 hours standing by the door where the models were changing and doing our little point our fingers in the air and bouncing from leg to leg. that totally made sense! i could barely walk on sunday! plus the fact that we had the whole dance floor to ourselves for another 3 hours so no wonder my butt was hurting!!!

the reunion committee ended up making $1,400 from the fashion show!!! who knows what the bar made as when jam and i arrived at 7pm half of the hall was already full. of people drinking! and the music and the models had everyone so enjoying themselves that many a drink was sold - bahahahah!

tomorrow i'll tell you about the fourchu ghost who stole not one, but TWO bottles of my wine!!! nobody here drinks wine but after getting a glass from one bottle and going back an hour later for my next glass - the bottle was empty!!!! and that happened with the second bottle too!

oh we had such a great time! it was a really fun event! almost all of the models went over and either kissed poor jambaloney on the mouth or rubbed their balloon boobs on him - he was so embarrassed! but everyone loved the music and he cued every song perfectly. i think the only person who could have dj'ed the fashion show better is my buddy LL Cool Joe. and Joey, we're still waiting for you to come and dj at one of our events.

sending much love to you all!

happy 50th birthday to my beautiful man!!!

it's a beautiful day to celebrate my manz 50th birthday!

when i was "sneak" emailing and chatting with jambaloney's mom telling her about the surprise birthday party i was having for jambaloney while they were visiting in september, she asked if there was anything that he would like for his birthday, i told her that he would really love an album of older family pics. and of course some of his step-dad's famous maple syrup (but that was for me, too - teehee!).

well, she outdid herself! she must have spent hours putting this album together, climbed in attics and dug through boxes, climbed in basements and dug through boxes and goodness knows what else! here are some of the pages of the album. jambaloney loves this gift and we have spent many an evening looking through it with him telling me all the stories that go with each item. i hope that you enjoy this!




"Some Memories on your 50th"

"Never a dull moment Jame xx Mum"

his family tree

pics of little jambaloney - he was such a cute kid and teenager!

"Family Gatherings"

this pic is one of our favourite family gathering - we had tons of fun at this xmas party at jam's parents house. that's me in the red sweater and jam sitting beside me. jam's sister is sitting on the other side of me.

jam in the news wearing shorts during a heatwave in ottawa in december.

in grade 11 his school did a "hat and tie day". yes, jam was the only one who wore 6 hats.

gardening has always been in his blood. this is him in his grandmother's garden.

this is him doing various sports. he's been mountain biking since 1989 - he loved it and even did mountain biking competitions in the snow! he also did track and field in high school.

besides Framboise Manor, his grandparents' (now his mother's) fishing camp at Heart Lake is his favourite place in the world. he spent a lot of time with his grandparents.

at Heart Lake one year, he took his sister fishing. as jam is the fisher extraordinnaire, you can understand his sister's big smile as she caught the bigger fish! they had a really good time that day!

jam took out his step-dad fishing another time and his step-dad didn't only catch a bigger fish - he caught 2 - bahahaha! look at that big grin!

but the biggest grin of all is on his mom's face. she went out fishing and caught four beauties!

here's a young jam catching 2 beauties!

this next part of the album is very thoughtful...but man is it funny, too! at the top she wrote "MY SON THE..."and then put a pic of him with his math group and wrote "Mathematician". the second pic is from a few years ago when jam sliced off the tip of his finger and crazy-glued the tip back on. she wrote "Crazy Glue Doctor. and the third pic is jam pulling the lawnmower up hill with his step-dad driving. she wrote "Human Tractor"

this one is "Rat Catcher" and is a letter from the "Canada Department of Agriculture, Health of Animals Branch" written by the Chief of Epidemiology, Special Health Services Branch, Ontario Department of Health and was sent jambaloney after he had caught a rat and thought it might be rabid.

she called this one "the Politician" as he ran for president at Carleton University.

this is a contract that jam wrote with his mother as his grades had been dipping (in grade 13) and his mother made him promise to study 3 hours a night and achieve and 85% or else he would not be allowed to play on the soccer team. he picked up his pants and was able to play. she called this one "the Negotiator"

during the summer break after his first year at Mount Allison University in Nova Scotia, he went out to Prince George, British Columbia to plant trees. his mother called this letter he sent "Tree Planter. he hated planting trees and only lasted 3 weeks.

for 9 months at the Hilton in Ottawa, he worked as the Assistant Restaurants Manager and then resigned. there were a ton of reasons for doing so and he was hating the way the staff were being treated due to budget cuts.

she called that letter "Restaurant Manager".

during the heyday of jambaloney's mountain biking days, he published a mountain biking magazine called "Punk Monkey" for the Capital Off-Road Bicycle Association.  in the third section you will see a sign off from "jammer" which was his nickname with the mountain bikers. the "Ginoo" at the top right is a made up creature from Gatineau Park that all the mountain bikers told stories about but no one ever saw the Ginoo.

jam's mom labelled this one "Journalist"

this is a list of monies in and out, one of jam's first budgets. his mom called this one "Financier"

jam wrestled for the Mount Allison Mounties for a year when at University.  on top is a newspaper article in which jambaloney won his match. the letter below is a letter he sent home telling about several other matches he had one. his mom labelled this page "Wrestler"

when jambaloney was 12 he started to make his own lures...something he does to this day. this is a letter from his father saying that he will send jam stuff for making more lures. jam's mom labelled this "Fly Maker".

this one is self-explanatory - "Cartoonist".

he did 3 years of a biology degree at Mount Allison University before switching over to Philosophy (he is going back and finishing his 4th year and getting his biology degree if i have to kill him! he knows everything about flora and fauna! and he draws beautiful entymology diagrams!) here is one of his drawings of tarantula fangs. his mom labelled it "Biologist".

this section of the album is labelled "And now...some very sweet little kid stuff". he is 5 in the pic and  is fishing at Brown's Inlet in Ottawa.

here is a little poem that he wrote when he was visiting his father's family in cape breton when he was 10. it reads:

"Dear Mom i want to tell you that i am catching lots of crabs and Buch will take me mackeral fishing. i hope you are having a great time and i will see you soon. well i'm keeping in touch. give my love to everyone."

this is a paper about dinosaurs that he wrote when he was 8. his teacher marked it "Escellent"

a note to his Mom when he was probably 8 or 9.

listing out all of the provinces and territories of canada with a little picture to describe each one. most of the pics we can't for the life figure out - but for nova scotia he drew a bagpipe player and even though the northwest territories looks like a guy fishing with a bunch of different rods, it's actually a sled and sled dogs. one of the dogs on the right-hand side obviously made a break for it and ran away - bahahahahah!

i hope that you enjoyed seeing the beautiful album that his mother put together for him, something to cherish forever and maybe pass on to one of his grand-nephews one day. i want to thank his mother for putting so much effort into this album as it means the world to him.

now on to my 2 favourite pictures of my beautiful man (who am i kidding - i love every picture of him!):

unstrapping his brand new bob special canoe:

look at that smile! he loves that canoe!

and then my second favourite pic of him:

he will kill me when he sees this! let me tell you kids, we had my ottawa besty over for what was supposed to be a nice evening of hanging out and having a few drinks. somehow - it went way downhill from there! i would love to say that i had to put ruphies in their drinks in order for them to let me draw cat noses and whiskers on them - but alas, they were both quite agreeable to the idea. and let me do it. and then let me take pics.

but man - did we ever have a fun night that night! (i also think they both have a deep desire to star in the musical "Cats"!)

i know this post is a long one. but it's not for you, it's not for me. it's for his mom. and it's for him.

he is the best partner that anyone could ever have. and he knows how much i love him. i tell him every day - several times a day. and i am more proud of him every single day. he's a hard worker, a good and reliable friend to many, will help anyone with anything anytime, loves and respects nature, is loving and kind to all....and the thing i love most about him - he's MINE!

i love you jambaloney!

for his birthday treat we are going picking cranberries! we found the perfect place! and nothing says "happy 50th birthday" than picking cranberries!!!!!

some funnies on a rainy, grey day! enjoy!

just a couple of canadian memes to hopefully give you a chuckle!