You know, I never should have complained about the lack of snow. The weather's gone absolutely frickin' cold - not the happy, magical let's-build-a-snowman-and-have-hot-cocoa cold; it's a blizzardy, icy-cold, huddle-under-a-ton-of-blankets-and-pray-for-spring cold.

Anyways, enough of my bitching. Have meme.

I got Olympic tickets, I'm so happy!!!

It took watching the Vancouver2010 site like a hawk all day long but I managed to score two seats for women's playoff hockey and two seats for curling. It's mostly the hockey tickets we're interested in, we may sell the curling tickets since as of now all the Olympic tickets are sold and can only be acquired through resellers. Having the Winter Olympics so close-by is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so happy that Colin and I can take part in the experience. I've got relatives we can stay with in Vancouver so we'll save the cost of (what would probably a very expensive) hotel room.

*does a happy-dance* :DDDD

This afternoon my mother and I met up to go to the annual Ten Thousand Villages craft fair. For those of you who don't know, Ten Thousand Villages is a non-profit organization that sells fair-trade artisan products from over 40 third-world countries. The things they sell are all handcrafted and there some absolutely gorgeous and unique things for sale - plus it all goes to a good cause, the money going directly to the artisans and helping to improve their lives. Here's a link to their website: http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

At the fair they sell everything from handwoven fabrics, to beautifully decorated tableware, to jewelry, to food items, books, music, toys, stationary, sculptures, the list goes on. I bought a beautifully woven bread basket, a tea mug painted with blue dragonflies, some chai tea (yeah, yeah, I can hear you all groaning from here), some X-mas decorations, a container of cinnamon, a jar of fruit chutney, and a bar of 70% dark chocolate. Prices were generally very reasonable and I came away very satisfied and happy with the items that I'd purchased.

This evening I decided to finally do something with the bag of (cleaned and dried) pumpkin seeds that's been sitting on the counter since Halloween.  My one good-sized pumpkin generated a surprisingly small amount of seeds - only between 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup.  The recipe I used was really simple.

Preheat the oven to 300F
For every one cup of pumpkin seeds you're supposed to add:

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (I used olive oil) 
• 1 teaspoon of salt (I did half table and half seasoning salt)

For supper I had a go at cooking squash, which is probably the most common vegetable in the stores right now.  I picked up a piece of hubbard squash at the last Farmers' Market of the year (Oct 30) without really having any idea what to do with it; so today I decided to look to Google for some inspiration.  Not being a terribly experienced cook I opted for one of the simplest, basic recipes I could find.  

• 2 lbs. squash
• Lemon juice
• Brown sugar
• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper

This used to be my favorite holiday so it's a shame I've grown past the age where it's acceptable to go trick-or-treating.  It's still loads of fun getting into the spirit of things; last night Colin and I went to a friend's Halloween party and ended up watching Army of Darkness on the friend's big screen ("This is my BOOMSTICK!" Yeah!) and having a blast.  However I solemnly swear I will never, ever let Scott mix my drinks again as the cocktails he was passing out were three quarters hard liquor. 

We got a pumpkin today, and I swear Colin picked the dirtiest one he could find, it was so covered in mud.  I just finished scooping out the pumpkin guts and carving it, though I made sure to save the seeds for roasting.  Mmmmm.  I should also stop eating the candy or there won't be any left for any kids that come by.  I'd sell my soul for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.... *drools*  XD