Monday, February 24, 2025

 Law & Order: LA - a review

This show is absolutely amazing! I found it quite by accident through an email, I don't even remember hearing about it in 2011. I suppose I was distracted by our planning of our wedding & Robert's move to Canada. I'm so glad I was able to buy it, most production companies don't release shows on DVD until they've been renewed for a 2nd season. I was a big fan of the original Law & Order & Special Victim's unit, but never really liked Criminal Intent.

I honestly cannot fathom why this show was cancelled, it's wonderful. The stories are hard hitting & very well written. And there were quite a few wonderful cameos, John de Lancie as a judge, & Kloe Kardasian in episode 12, as herself. And on the last episode, Alyssa Diaz from the Rookie.

Re-watching it today I also caught Alana De La Garza, from FBI! And for Blacklist fans, you get the bonus of seeing Megan Boone as an assistant DA & in 1 episode Harry Lennie as an FBI agent! I cannot recommend this series highly enough!

Saturday, November 16, 2024

I went to the farmer's market today. It was the Christmas market, the last one of the year.

Apparently someone has some difficulty getting The Grinch & Max properly inflated. 

After breakfast, Robert & I went to Cabela's in Abbotsford to get our annual picture with Santa. It's fun & free, for a 4x6 (they will try & sell you a package, of course). Here's the link, if you want to make an appointment: https://www.cabelas.ca/pages/santa

I'm looking at my calendar, it's really starting to fill up with holiday stuff. I'll post links here now, add more as I find more cool holiday stuff. And of course I'll post more pictures & probably videos, too.

November 21, 2024 The Coca Cola Christmas truck will be coming to the Castle Fun Park, in East Abbotsford:  https://www.abbynews.com/local-news/coca-cola-holiday-caravan-stopping-in-abbotsford-7647612

If you don't remember the old Coca Cola commercial, enjoy: 

The Candy Shack on 1st Avenue in Mission, will be doing photos with Santa again this year, on November 21st, from 4-8pm: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1184168746620471&set=a.606300667740618

November 21st is also downtown Mission's customer appreciation night, to be followed by Mission's tree lighting!  https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1185714639799215&set=a.606300667740618

I'm planning on going to Coquitlam's Lafarge lights display, I've been trying to get to see this for last 2 Christmases. Opening night is November 22nd. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/lights-at-lafarge-coquitlam-2024?utm_source=DH-Vancouver-Buzz&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ZOOMER241107002_20241108&oly_enc_id=1127H6650090H0P

I finally made it to Lafarge Lake, although I have to admit I was not able to walk the whole way round. Got some nice video. 

White Rock's Bright Walk opens on December 07th, from 4 - 8, with the tree lighting @ 5pm. https://www.peacearchnews.com/home/white-rock-set-to-sparkle-with-return-of-bright-walk-for-holiday-season-7644425

Surrey's tree lighting festival is November 23 & 24th, with the tree lighting taking place @ 6:30pm on November 23rd.  https://surreytreelighting.ca/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAouG5BhDBARIsAOc08RQcoSJuGMF4S_eH9eVq8Ll-PbBa1SnCOYTZwCxDCpG1UoJmqditamIaAmvXEALw_wcB

St. Paul's Christmas lights of hope, will be turned on November 27th @ 6pm. For more details, go here: https://www.vancouverchristmasguide.com/st-paul-s-hospital-lights-of-hope

The Vancouver Christmas tree, in front of the Vancouver art gallery, will lit on November 29th, @ 6pm. https://vancouver.christmas/vancouver-christmas-tree-lighting-celebration/

I just got the date verified (finally!), the West Coast express Santa train in going to be on Saturday December 14th!! For the price of one new unwrapped toy donation for the Christmas bureau, you get a round trip ticket to Vancouver, plus the ticket becomes a transit day pass. Leaves Mission at 10am, return trip leaves Vancouver's Waterfront station at 4pm. Santa will be at Waterfront station for pictures, at 2:45.

The CP Christmas train will be coming through the Fraser Valley on December. It stops in Agassiz, but it does not stop in Mission. I try & film it when it's going by. https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/entertainment/cpkc-holiday-train-stops-in-agassiz-maple-ridge-pitt-meadows-7654773?utm_source=langley%20advance%20times&utm_campaign=langley%20advance%20times%3A%20o

I really enjoy making personalized Christmas cards, like the ones above^ If you prefer to send e-cards, you can find a really lovely selection for all occasions, at the link on the bottom of the front page, of my Christmas site: http://www.michaelannschristmaswebsite.20megsfree.com/

November 19, 2024

I just found yesterday, information on Abbotsford's Winter Jubilee & Jingle All the way: 

November 20, 2024

London Drugs in Mission's Junction Mall has some pretty holiday scenery that you can use to take pictures: 

Friday, November 01, 2024

 

I bought some new decorations for my studio apartment at Dollarama & decided that I would do my post Thanksgiving Christmas show post today, since it is past Thanksgiving in Canada. For all my followers & friends who have internet, but not cable.

An old favourite of mine, Muppet family Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi9qSKZuvC4

Christmas Eve on Sesame street:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4XRQwzls8&t=4s

I still have this on VHS, copied to my computer. I remember watching Santa & the 3 bears with my kids more than 30 years ago!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXyceT_j7M

Christopher the Christmas tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51ne_Pis-I

The pink panther in "a very pink Christmas"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrAKCf6_Sg

The Snowman (with David Bowie intro!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmOiccZFJM

The sequel, The snowman & the snow dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypY03WjDsOA

An awesome Christmas show, with music by Valdy: BlueToes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKHp1g4qXSQ

the Smurf's Christmas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDYXVPVvcFY&t=17s

Father Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-FI2zGsAs

Frosty the snowman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oES_SytsaY

A Garfield Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbL-uxd4ZVw

Thomas saves Santa's sleigh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkV4L6yfd_g

Santa Claus is coming to town (1969):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEUeJcAI4uM

And while this isn't exactly holiday themed, I still think it fits here as being somewhat winter-y. Do you remember watching the Woody Woodpecker show & there was cute 5 minute short in between Woody's episodes, called "Chilly Willy", a little penguin? Well, you can check them out again, here: https://www.chillywillyfan.com/video.php

I have found that some companies make some pretty amazing holiday commercials, so I decided to post some of these as well. John Lewis has a number of delightful ones, starting here in 2013, the bear & the hare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmvz8rDYVU

John Lewis's 2018 advert, starring Elton John:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShEAPKV0EU

And the 2019 ad with John Lewis & Waitrose featuring Edgar the Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xGW_M0O4xI

John Lewis's 2021 Christmas ad, the unexpected guest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTttgc0DPA4

M & S (2016) Christmas with love from Mrs. Claus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QPXhStb5I

M & S Christmas  2017 (with Paddington Bear!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfaSxIkLslE

And who can ever forget Sainsbury's 2015 Christmas ad, Mog's Christmas calamity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU&t=13s

A new one from Posten, the Norwegian postal service "When Santa met Harry"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLumk_rQQw&t=1s

Amazon Christmas ad (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYXfgfKfHig

One of my personal favourites, Lily & the snowman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC9vB5AUU2M

It just occurred to me that I should also post here, how to watch TV without cable.

Speaking of saving money, have you ever considered giving up cable? I did & it ain't that bad. If you are in Canada, CBC, CTV, & Global all have shows online that you can watch for free the day after they come out on TV. Links are here:

https://www.globaltv.com/shows/

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/all-shows#/

CTV also has a list of older shows available free online, as well as movies: 

https://www.ctv.ca/throwback

 https://www.ctv.ca/Movies

For CBC, go here: https://gem.cbc.ca/  & create a login account. They will of course, try to sell you a premium membership, you can just ignore it. You'll need to do some digging after that, but they have some interesting shows, including Coroner & Endlings. 

In the US, CBS, & NBC also do this. ABC has something similar, but you have to wait a week after the broadcast date. Fox gives you a free hour, I think. Netflix is still under $10 a month I think, & in the US, Hulu is $7.99 a month & it also has a free trial & optional add-ons for HBO, Showtime & Cinemax (at an extra cost, of course). You can also watch Crackle free online, but it is no longer available in Canada, sorry. 

A really wonderful free streaming site, is PlutoTV:  https://pluto.tv/

Another free online streaming site, is TubiTV:  https://tubitv.com/home

Both PlutoTV & Tubi are wonderful. But alas, the selection of shows is much more limited on Tubi in Canada, just like Netflix is.

Another interesting free site, lots of nature shows & documentaries: www.waterbear.com

The NFB (the Canadian National Film Board) has over 4,000 free films online, here:  https://www.nfb.ca/films/

Plus there's a lot of interesting content available on YouTube.  I even have a channel there: https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelannDahlman/videos 

I am planning on doing a lot more videos there, including book reviews & other vlogs.

I've also got a special Christmas website, there's even a link at the bottom of the front page to send e-cards:  http://www.michaelannschristmaswebsite.20megsfree.com/

And here's a helpful article, lots of streaming services are offering steep discounts &/or free trials: https://www.tvguide.com/news/streaming-services-for-free-discounts-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR0fEld_iePx8_6gJwleVySUWWHZDhgHio8wGnaswM0bngSBb0GbJrEecqA

(This article is over 1 year old, some links may no longer work& some offers may be expired).

Thursday, September 19, 2024.

I still have plenty of dye left over from my tie-dye experiment last month, so I picked up some more white shirts & tank tops at the Dollar Tree at 5 corners in Abbotsford. They were $2 each, so with both taxes I got 7 t-shirts & tank tops for a total of $15.68 

The 3 bottles of Rit clothing dye I got at Michael's was around $18 (I went online & snagged a coupon for one of them. And after both experiments, I still have about 1/2 of the dye left. 

I posted a video on YouTube, which I will share here. I edited 2 videos together along with several photos, using Movie Maker. Enjoy!

I've also designed some new blog banners using piZap. Let me know what you think of them.

 

Saturday, August 24, 2024

 I bought a fair quantity of tomatoes at the farmer's market today. so I'll be cleaning & re-organizing my kitchen space & then in the morning I'll do some canning.

I went down to check out MissionFest, which is a bit of a rainy mess. I made a video & posted in on YouTube & I'll share it here.

Wednesday, August 07, 2024

My husband & I had a wonderful day today, went to a little park across the street from Haggens on Woburn street in Bellingham. I took some pictures &  a video, editing them together using Microsoft's Movie Maker. I made 2 slightly different videos, but I couldn't decide which I preferred, so I posted them both to YouTube.  

Enjoy!!

Michaelann's tie dye experiment

Monday, August 05, 2024

This video is of my attempt to learn to make tie dye shirts & tank tops.