Speaking of watching TV reality drama...I love Big Brother. Maybe because it is on in the summer when everything else is in reruns. Maybe because all they have to do is be catty. Maybe because their challenges are so crazy and fun. Survivor type shows I get mad at because people aren't working or building or hunting etc. With Big Brother there is no responsibility, it is full on people watching.

I would like to start a Big Brother Pool this go around. They don't have any of the players on the site yet, but I figure each person could put in $5 and be assigned a player. If they post the people before it starts it will be a random draw. If they don't put them up until after the premiere I was thinking that each person could pick their top two or three choices and see if we can work it out like that.

Let me know if you are interested.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight

I watch the show all the time. I started watching it during the first season. I love watching those little kids. They are so cute.

This is not a post on their divorce or about what I think about their divorce. This is a post about the crap you can read about them.

In the Calgary Herald you can read that the Mistress will be joining the show "because she is apart of Jon's life". But if you read another article it says that she will not be on the show. Further, they are suggesting that they aren't even together anymore. They say that he is now with the 23 year-old daughter of the plastic surgeon that did Kate's tummy tuck.

Another Headline says that Kate "used to give him only $5 to spend a day". If she is the one doing the paperwork and bills for the house, and they have 8 kids to raise with his IT job, perhaps $5 a day is reasonable. Why do magazines report this crap. He was lucky to have $5 a day.

"Production of future episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8 ceased yesterday after producers stated they didn't have enough good footage to air the remaining episodes on order. The show will continue to be filmed and will supposedly return in August." Not enough good footage. That is terrible. Are they yelling at each other? Is it as tense and awkward as all of the episodes on this new season? I can't imagine that these episodes could get any worse. I love the show but these last five shows have been different/awkward.

I do have to agree with most of these articles. That the rating are all over the place because fans of the show (like me) are not interested in the new style of show (cross over city: Ace of Cakes, Emril, American Chopper) but that people are tuning in to watch the drama.

I feel bad for those little ones. I watched because the kids did funny things - and there were six of them running around (I think the twins are annoying). I am not watching them for the lies, cheating and drama. I watch Big Brother for that.

My garden (I am so proud)

I harvested my first crop: Spinach. The little Tupperware in front of the rocks we will eat tonight. I picked about double that but most of it was severely damaged from the hail.

My garden is growing like crazy.

The strawberries have flowers on them.

The spinach and lettuce are going like crazy.

The beans seem to grow everyday. The peas are falling behind but are going too.

Even the cucumbers, that I was certain were killed by the snow, are sprouting new leaves.

My flower pots in the backyard are growing like crazy. The geraniums have many buds, the Allysum have spreads and almost cover all exposed dirt. The petunias almost always have four or more flowers blooming at any given time.

In other news. While the Kotlar's were here visiting they bought us an anniversary present. A Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machine. We did not register for a coffee maker as we did not drink coffee when we got married. Logan has started drinking it since working long shifts through the night. I really don't drink coffee. So a couple of Christmases ago I bought Logan a very small coffee maker - a two cup pot. But we seem to have outgrown it. We found this coffee maker at the top of the escalator of The Bay. We were won over by it. It makes one cup at a time with little capsules. This machine is similar to other capsule coffee makers out there, except this one makes specialty coffee (Latte Machiatto, Mocha, Cappachino, Cafe Lungo, Chocochino, Iced Cappachino, Espresso) and being Nescafe the capsules will be available in the grocery store. Until Saturday I have probably had three cups of coffee in as many years. I now have had three cups of coffee in four days.

(Pictured Logan is making a Cappachino and my Latte Machiatto is in the clear "bonus" glass in the foreground).

While my parents were here we were out shopping and found something I have been looking at for a long time. Stef and Raveigh and Jen will attest to standing in the Corall at Stampede watching the demonstration on the Mandolin slicer. But I couldn't justify the cost. We found a slicer at Stokes so they bought it for us as an anniversary present. It has proven to be the greatest gadget in the kitchen. We used it like crazy when making all of the food for the graduation party. I slice potatoes for the BBQ on it nearly everyday.

Some great kitchen tools for our anniversary. Thanks.

Our Parents Visit

My parents were here for the weekend of Stef's Grad.
Logan's parents were here this weekend for a visit.
It is always nice to visit.

With mom and dad we went out to Joey's for an Anniversary dinner. Then back to our house for some dessert and drinks.

The day after receiving the croquet set at the party we tried it out.
Some of us did better than others. Here you see the losers celebrating that they have finished.

We were also able to give Dad his birthday present, solar lights to replace some of the broken ones they currently have in the yard.

The weekend between the parents visits we hosted a BBQ for Matt and Kim from Edmonton. This party featured Berry Mojitos with mint from the garden.This weekend Lorne and Janet visited. We shopped, had an interesting take-out experience, awesome steak at our place, and an Iron Chef style cook off between Lindsay and Dan at their place. We also played some croquet.

It is weekends like these that make you ask why we are living away from our family.

June 1st Graduation Party

Logan and I volunteered our house to Stef and Raveigh for their graduation party.
We had more people in our house than ever before. There was plenty of food and plenty to drink. And many of us finished off the night with a fire in the backyard.
An example of the great food, cupcakes in the shape of grad caps.

First to the Grad Ceremony. There were limited tickets per person, so Grandma and Grandpa went in our place.

Then back to our house. The girls graciously thanked Logan and I for hosting (and all of the stuff through the years they were in school) with a croquet set and a great photo frame of many pictures. You see the frame here.
Mom and dad got Raveigh a cupcake taker. Her great cupcakes are seen above and on a number of other post on this blog.Logan and I went in with Meagan to purchase tickets to "Evil Dead: The Musical" that I posted about a week ago.

Dad got Stef a Shot Glass Roulette Game.Many people made the trek to our house for the celebration.
Raveigh's family from Ontario:

Some of the Beatty family from across the city. (Rob, Lu, Kylie)
(Kylie, Grandma, Grandpa, Kari and Mom)Stef's friend Sarah and her mom from Regina.

And many other great friends and family that have been a big part of both Stef's live and Logan and my life in Calgary.

Evil Dead: The Musical

Last night Meagan and I took Stef and Raveigh to a show for their grad present. The show that has been talked about for most of the season has been "Evil Dead". As a person that works in the theatre community I had heard about the show, but mostly about the amount of blood involved. I had also heard that it has a bit of a cult following, ala "Rocky Horror Picture Show". I see a lot of theatre (anything I am comped to). I usually know what to expect when going to a show. This took me by surprise. That may be an understatement - Shock!

We waited in the lobby with hundreds of freaks. FREAKS. Dreadlocks, weird suits, weirder hats, crazy 80s dresses, fat girls in fish nets, a butcher outfit, weird coloured hair and make-up. It is a bit hard to describe. I don't usually feel out of place in the theatre, this is my home, my people. Not last night.

The show was great. A comedy musical horror. It is a basic story. 5 college kids head out into the woods for spring break. To a cabin in the woods, off the beaten path and no one knows they are there, "what could go wrong?" The tag along kid sister gets possessed by demons after being attached by the trees. Slowly the others are killed and/or possessed. The hero has to cut off his hand as it has been possessed. Now he has to fight off evil with his stump and one good hand. What is the solution, a chainsaw that conveniently will fit on his stump as though an extension of his hand. Just before the intermission the 5 kids (now down to 2, our hero and the possessed sister) are caught in the cabin by the daughter of the cabin owner, her fiance and a woodsmen that lead the way. Ultimately at the end of the show the new heroine has to read a verse to send the demons back to hell, but she is attached and "killed" before she can finish the verse. Now the hero has to kill all of the demons off himself. So he, his shot gun and chainsaw stump start the bloodbath. As each person dies they use their blood packs to create mess, blood explosions from canons on the stage as well as a sprinkler like spray from the ceiling over the first 4 or 5 rows. It was hilarious. Watching the crazies in the first couple rows getting covered. To add to the excitement as the people were dying they would roll off the stage into the audience and use their blood packs directly on the people. Wild.

This is a photo from the paper of the people in the Splatter Zone.

Following the show I wanted to visit the people that I knew working on the show. Usually you make the request at front of house and they will let them know or let you back. I was told to just head backstage from the theatre. This is out of the ordinary, and I felt awkward just heading back. I soon realized that I wasn't the only person taking this route. All of the people that were covered in blood were required to stay off the carpet. To get them out of the theatre they had to walk through backstage, through the shop and then into the lobby. I was standing there talking to Ruby as they started walking through. These crazies were so excited to be backstage they wanted to touch everything. I couldn't help myself "you are touching the curtains!" (The back cover of the program had a whole list of rules for the splatter zone, including; once you are seated you must not leave the zone until you are lead from the theatre.)

It was a crazy fun night. I am glad that we went.

Snow...in June

Over the past few days it has snowed. Not just light flurries that melt when they hit the ground, but there was a bit of accumulation. Logan had to brush the car off on the way to work. My poor garden. I covered the tomato plant and mint plant with buckets. But because they were calling for snow I thought that if I put a blanket over them it would just squish them. We will see how they survive.

Last weekend we hosted a big party for Stef and Raveigh's graduation. We had a great time. I would say it was the most people we have ever had in our house. The day was a bit cold. We had planned on being outside. There was a handful of brave souls that did sit outside.
Great food and great friends. We had a good time.

Logan was in a car accident recently. Nothing serious. While waiting at a light a chick started slowing down, thought the light changed and then accelerated right into Logan and Cris. She was driving a VW Golf and hit the bumper and then wedged herself under the car. She was going with enough force to push the car forward 6 feet. You can see the circle from the VW logo on the bumper. Insurance has let us know that she is fully responsible, no questions asked. We just need to get it fixed.

That was a bit disjointed. Ah well.