THE STANLEY CUP!!!

For the first time in 17 years the Vancouver Canucks are in the final round for the Stanley Cup! Hockey mania is at work in our city, the excitment is palpable, the final round of the playoffs starts Wednesday at 5 pm Pacific daylight savings time and it is safe to say that most of the residents of our city will be in front of their TV's for it. Tickets to the event are a horrific price if you can even find some. The Canucks will face off against the Boston Bruins. My little Bleuette Madeline is dressed in her team jersey and is anxiously awaiting the big game and hopes that the Canucks will bring Lord Stanley's cup home to Canada. Go Canucks Go!!

Here is a little story that appeared on Yahoo News:

Just over a year ago, Vancouver erupted in celebration when Canada beat the United States for the gold medal in the men's ice hockey competition at the Winter Olympics.

It was great source of pride for British Columbia to play host to the victory for the hockey-mad country, but now the city of Vancouver has the chance to celebrate winning its own coveted prize.

The Vancouver Canucks face off on Wednesday against the Boston Bruins in the opening game for the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup championship.

The Canucks have never won the Stanley Cup in their 40 years in the NHL, and have only made it to the final round twice before. The last time was 17 years ago.

But the Canucks have emerged as a real contender in recent years, slowly adding players to fill lineup gaps. They finished the regular season with the NHL's best record and the Olympics could be an omen.

On the two previous occassions Canada hosted an Olympics, the host city won the Stanley Cup the next year.

In 1976, the Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, and in 1977 the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. In 1988, the Winter Olympics were held in Calgary. Sure enough, in 1989, the Calggary Flames with the Stanley Cup.

"It's been a long time coming," coach Alain Vignault said after Vancouver beat San Jose to win the Western Conference title.

COUPON SHOPPING

Inspired by the awesome couponers and tips provided by very savy shoppers on the Canadian website "Smart Canucks" I headed out today to see how I could do. I have been collecting these coupons for a few weeks via Procter and Gamble, Websavers and newspaper inserts. Not everything in the pictures had a coupon for it but it was on sale. First I headed to London Drugs who allows coupon stacking and I managed to find two 3.00 coupons for the Pantene if I bought two of them and as it was on sale for 3.99 that meant each was .99. I had a buy 2 get 2 free Ceaser dog food, also on sale for .79 so I bought 4 tins for 1.58. I had 2 - 50 cent coupons for Herbal Essence shampoo so at the sale price I paid .99.

Next I headed to Walmart to try out their new coupon policy...not all there are aware but never fear, I had it printed out in my purse and produced it for the supervisor. The Dempster baguettes retailed at 3.87, I had a coupon so they were free, the Glade Sense and Spray was on sale for 6.00 but I had a coupon and it was free also, the Ziplock bags were 1.48 each but I had coupons for 4.00 off of each 2 purchases so the over amount was applied to my total (new policy) making the bags free and change left over, the ice cream was 5.67 but I had a cereal coupon for 5.00 so that was .67, The Pringles chips are on special if you buy 2, they are 3.00 but I had coupons for .50 for each tin making them 1.00 each, the Olay wipes are 2.00 but I had a coupon for 5.00 so the over amount was applied to the cart. I price matched the Herbal Essence at Walmart as London Drugs didn't have the kind I am very fond of and again I used .50 cent coupons so it was 1.50. The cereal is on sale for 2.97 but wait, there is a coupon on it to get free Activia yoghurt....the Teryaki marinade had a 3.00 off coupon if I bought 2 zip locks so the total on that was .57. The total for everything you see in the picture is 27.00 and that includes the 12% sales tax that applied to the precoupon prices of everything. I am very happy with my morning!

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

This month we celebrated two special birthdays, my Mom turned 85 and my little niece Ana who was born 83 years after Mom celebrated her second birthday on the same day. Mom had a great birthday, Ana's family took her out to her very favorite restaurant to celebrate the dual birthdays and we took Mom out to her other favorite restaurant to celebrate her big day. Happy Birthday Mom and Ana!

DO DOGS GET SAD????

 Do dogs get SAD (seasonal affective disorder)? Our Molly is now 11 years old and has always been very lean. She really never cared about food before. She would eat a bit and walk off and didn't care if one of the other dogs ate it or not. For the last few months she has been eating her way through her food, then cleaning up anything any of the other dogs left. She stands in the kitchen and cries for food and now instead of being our lean girl, she is our "plus sized" model. I was reading about SAD the other day and found one of the symptoms of it is constant eating and wanting to eat....so now I am wondering if dogs get it as well as humans. Someone told me today that they keep track of our rainfall and most years we hit 20 inches (no metric figures for us older ones raised with inches and feet) around the end of our local fair called the PNE in August. This year apparently and according to this person I spoke with, we hit 18 inches the day before yesterday....prior to the torrential rain storm that moved through last night and the snow that fell today (yes, snow in April...sheesh). I guess we must just about be at the 20 inches that we normally have at the end of August. It is no wonder that so many of us, dogs maybe included are suffering from SAD this year. We only had 3 days in March where no rain fell. I hope this stretch of many months with no sunshine ends soon.....meanwhile Molly has gained so much that she no longer fits her collar...I have never heard of a full grown dog outgrowing their collar.....

THE DISNEY STORE REOPENS!!!!!!!

In January of 2010 our beloved Disney store closed it's doors and moved out of our province. It was quite distressing to self professed Disney addicts like myself. The Disney store is the highlight of my trips to Metrotown Center in Burnaby. With great sadness I bid them farewell.

A couple of months ago I noticed the signs go up and store fronts boarded up and pictures of Mickey Mouse appeared...oh my, excitement, our beloved store was returning!! And in a great new location almost right underneath the food court so very central!

A couple of nights ago my friend Loretta emailed me and asked if I wanted to meet at the mall at 7 am today for the opening, She also is a Disney addict. Anyhow, I couldn't quite see standing in a line up for 3 hours waiting for the store to open and I told her I would probably go up about 8:30 as that seemed like a better time to me....she replied that she would come about 9:15 and would look for me in line. I really wasn't expecting a crowd...boy was I wrong....when I arrived there were people everywhere. My first hint was why were so many parking places in the massive parking lot already full when the mall doesn't open until 10 am?? I should have figured that one out. Oh my gosh, it was like opening time in Disneyland Park, crowds everywhere!

There were cameras and news stations filming the opening, and they had some sort of opening ceremonies but I missed quite a bit of it BECAUSE....the store opened EARLY!!!! Now why on earth didn't their banners all over the mall say early opening?? We asked a cast member who advised us that a new store was also opening in Ontario today and they wanted to open both stores at the same time and do news feeds of both openings at the same time on the big screens TV's they had all over the place. So they compromised and Ontario opened late and our store opened early.

I got into line and was amazed when the line started moving and they were letting us into the store and it wasn't even 9 am. I hadn't yet met up with Loretta and had to continue with the flow of people, the line up extended into the parking lot of the mall.They were giving everyone in line Mickey Ears to wear.

 When I got into the store, I noticed a number of people being handed very fancy special shopping bags.... I used to be very independent and try and figure everything out for myself however as I age in this fast moving technical world I have discovered if you snooze you lose so I asked a cast member...she told me she thought they were media packages, I pointed out the people who had them looked like Mom's and Dad's and not media types and I asked her to check. She went and got her supervisor Melissa...who turned out to be all of what Disney should be...wonderful. Melissa told me that the members of a place called Four Square were sent this offer and if they signed up and made it to the store fast, they would get the promo offer. She kindly explained what Four Square is (sort of) and we managed to download the app onto my phone, fill out the forms needed and find the offer and thanks to her kindness and help, I received one of the 25 promo bags they were offering! I was number 19 of 25 according to the Four Square site. I was so excited...but wait, it gets better....I thought I was just receiving the bag and I was very happy to receive it.... I finally connected with my friend Loretta who had come after I was in the store and couldn't face the line up. She had gone upstairs to sit down so I joined her upstairs and while I was sitting there I discovered my bag wasn't just a bag....it had goodies in it!!! The first thing I unpacked was a stuffed Mickey Mouse, then I unpacked Mickey ears, I had received some in the store as well....I kept looking and there was a lovely Mickey Mouse hard cover journal, next out of the wonderful bag was a lovely little book about the Disney store and then I noticed I had a piece of paper in my hand as well and when I turned it over I discovered they had given me a 25.00 gift certificate to the Disney store...oh my what a wonderful bag full of goodies!!! Pictures of the goodie bag and contents are in the photos below.

This is one of the murals/facings on the outside of the store.

Here they are at the media center filming all the excitement.

The man and woman with the blonde hair were the "host and hostess" of this event.

More of the camera folks.

Once in the store I saw this lovely display of Ariel things. There are tons of interactive things for kids to do in this new store. The little ones all seemed to be having a great time coloring and getting stickers and looking into magic mirrors and crawling under displays that are actually set up for them to crawl through!

It doesn't show up in the photo but on the branches and leaves of the trees there are some kind of screen with Disney favorites princess's on them like TV screens...kind of like Fantasmic does in Disneyland. I am not technical so have no idea what it is or how it works but it was pretty cool to look at!

This is the line up a couple of hours after they has opened, it extends out the doors behind all those people and into the parking lot.

Just like at the Disney Parks, they had a "designated" stroller area for parents to park their strollers, it was just way too crowded inside for a lot of strollers.

Loretta and Mickey outside the store.

Me and Mickey and I'm even wearing my Mickey ears...once a kid always a kid...lol

The Goodie bag....awesome!! Thanks Four Square and thanks Disney Store, this was way more than I had even imagined it would be!

The next events scheduled are Minnie Masquerade Friday April 8 at 4:30 and 6:00, Saturday April 9 at 11:00 am and 12:30 Pm and these will be in advance of a special TV show being broadcast on April 11 on the Disney Channel.

The official grand opening is April 16 and will feature Mickey and Minnie and a free gift will be given to the first 500 guests to arrive. It starts at 10 am (and they tell us this time will NOT change...) and then 12 - 4 there will be a meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie.

The Disney Store is opening with a big bang! I Love it and I am so happy to have them back!

THE STORY OF THE "SUPER SIZED" PERIGEE MOON

LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – While tonight’s Perigee Moon for March 19, 2011 is called a “Supermoon”, NASA tells news that the “super” in the word Supermoon refers to the rare beauty and illusion that the Moon will create this evening. At first glance, tonight’s full Moon may not have a proportional difference than any other night. But as NASA explains to news, when tonight’s full Moon is observed behind foreground objects like trees and foliage, it will appear “supersized” and brighter.

How big will tonight’s Moon appear? NASA predicts that this evening the full Moon may appear as much as fourteen percent larger than on average. And while the Moon may appear substantial supersized tonight, NASA explains it’s all an illusion. Tonight’s illusion is the result of the Moon’s orbit passing closer to the Earth.
But here rests the irony.
As NASA explains to news, tonight’s full Moon may appear fourteen percent larger but it is not that much closer to the Earth than on average. As NASA adds, “the moon may seem bigger although the difference in its distance from Earth is only a few percent at such times.”
There is more to be excited about tonight’s Moon besides it enlarged appearance. It will appear also thirty percent brighter that a normal full Moon. The last time this happened was March 1993. And yet, tonight’s Moon tonight is only fifty thousand kilometers closer to the Earth to create this spectacle.

But you should be alarmed about the Moon’s closer proximity to the Earth tonight? No, says NASA. They explain the Earth already has enough “internal energy.” “The Earth has stored a tremendous amount of internal energy within its thin outer shell or crust” explains NASA to news, adding “the small differences in the tidal forces exerted by the moon (and sun) are not enough to fundamentally overcome the much larger forces within the planet due to convection (and other aspects of the internal energy balance that drives plate tectonics).”

If full Moons are not to your liking, meteor showers are just around the corner. Lyrids arrives on the evening of April 21, peaking after midnight. Eta Aquarids will light up the sky with an impressive meteor show on May 5 in the early evening. Perseids drops in a full moon the evening of August 13. A partial lunar eclipse lit up the sky on June 26. Another partial can be seen in just days from now on June 4, 2011.

So while tonight’s “perigee moon” may appear as the biggest and brightest full moon in almost 20 years, there is always something exciting to capture in the sky.

(photo is mine however the article is from Lalate)

BLOG WINNER

Hubby drew the names for the blog contest a few minutes ago, Marlene was the winner!!! Marlene can choose if she would like the cards or the mascot change purse and let me know and I will get her prize out to her this week. Thanks to everyone who left a comment and read my blog post! Jeannie came in second so which ever prize is not chosen I will send on to Jeannie.