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.

Monday, July 15, 2024

I've been researching & trying out various new social media sites, as I have found Facebook to be much quieter than usual. I haven't had a lot of luck yet, many of these sites are difficult to use. 

Happiness.com has been interesting, check it out if you want. Let me know what you think.

                                                               www.happiness.com

I would caution the use of MeWe, it's fairly unmoderated. www.mewe.com

I tried out BlueSky, on the suggestion of a friend. I'm still trying to figure it out. Why are so many of these new sites, so difficult to figure out?

https://bsky.app/profile/michaelannd.bsky.social

Monday, July 08, 2024

I made this video with all the photographs that I took yesterday at Bellingham's Pride parade, with an audio file of my own design.

Sunday, July 07, 2024 

I attended my very 1st Pride parade today, while visiting my husband in Bellingham. I had some technical issues with my I-pad mini, the video recorder kept crashing. So I used a video editing program to join the 5 videos into a single video.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Let's talk about politics. 

I've been planning this post for a couple of months now, and I am finally ready with part 1. I'm starting with US  politics, I'll be making a post on BC & Canadian politics in a few weeks. You may wonder why I am concerned about & interested in American politics, me being Canadian. Well, the US is our closest neighbour & one of our biggest trading partners. Also, my paternal grandfather was born in Minnesota, immigrating to Canada when he was a young man. So I do have family in the US & my husband is American. 

And can anyone tell me why these brilliant guys didn't do a song for Trump? If they did, I haven't been able to find it yet. 

UPDATE: Due to some recent health issues, I did not do a political post before the BC election. But we got lucky & the NDP won, although as one journalist called it, it was spandex-tight.

Here's a few news articles, on the upcoming US election:

Bill Maher spoke directly to undecided voters, or as he calls them, “the Christmas Eve shoppers of politics,” on the latest episode of Real Time.

 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bill-maher-message-undecided-voters-2024-election-1236052169/#recipient_hashed=b9bf0fcf3338ef00b44f48cd7d72dbc91ba48dc66c7efa2a335a20b499defcea&recipient_salt=596f52ee968de155d7d04ff58dbd08cb17e66c6a40420b15623286bd129195fb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News&utm_content=563321_11-01-2024&utm_term=12079944

Jimmy KImmel: “Most elections are about policy. This one is not. This is about sanity and security and democracy.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/jimmy-kimmel-makes-plea-republicans-election-trump-1236048674/#recipient_hashed=b9bf0fcf3338ef00b44f48cd7d72dbc91ba48dc66c7efa2a335a20b499defcea&recipient_salt=596f52ee968de155d7d04ff58dbd08cb17e66c6a40420b15623286bd129195fb&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News&utm_content=562352_10-29-2024&utm_term=12079944

Cher speaks out in support of Kamala Harris.  https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/10/cher-posts-rousing-endorsement-for-kamala-harris-she-is-fighting-for-all-of-us/

Jennifer Lopez speaks about Trump's racist comments about Puerto Rico  https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/politics/jennifer-lopez-kamala-harris-latino-voters/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

Friday, May 31st, 2024

Wow, it's been a busy news day.

Serial killer Robert Picton has died, after being attacked in a Quebec prison: https://globalnews.ca/news/10537744/serial-killer-robert-pickton-dead/

Chad Daybell has been found guilty of killing his 1st wife & his 2 step children: https://globalnews.ca/news/10535105/chad-daybell-guilty-murder-lori-vallow-daybell/

2 Ontario cases solved by modern genetic DNA testing: https://globalnews.ca/news/10333474/sentencing-sutherland-toronto-women-killed-1983/

https://globalnews.ca/news/10502821/murder-ontario-woman-solved-25-years-dna-advancements-police/

And a surprise plea change in the murder case of Naomi Onotera:  https://globalnews.ca/news/10537322/bc-man-pleads-guilty-death-dismemberment-wife-naomi-onotera-langley-bc/

And the BC Government is expanding the program to help low income people get free air conditioners: https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/news/bc-expands-program-to-provide-air-conditioners-with-additional-20m-7368543  https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/news/bc-expands-program-to-provide-air-conditioners-with-additional-20m-7368543

Thursday, May 02, 2024

I've been working on some new ideas to expand my online presence. But I realize now that I could use some public input. So I am asking my YouTube subscribers, my blog subscribers & my Facebook friends (along with several other social media sites) to help me out with suggestions.

Friday, February 23,2024

 It's been a crazy busy week. Had a doctor's appointment to get some preliminary memory testing done. He's referring me to the senior's clinic, they have lots of specialists. I have to imagine the wait list is going to be ridiculous, after all this is British Columbia.

My husband is here for a week's visit. We finally scattered my mother's & my step-Dad's ashes (she passed on February 14, 2022, he passed I don't remember exactly, maybe 10 years ago) yesterday. We had a nice lunch with my sister, her boyfriend, 1 of my nephews & my brother.

I made some PepperJack Velveeta earlier in the week & some Pillsbury apple turnovers. I think they've changed something in the recipe, they do not taste as yummy as I remember. And I finally made the Ding Dong cake that I have been wanting to make since my birthday in December. It turned out wonderfully! I have to admit that I was a little surprised when I opened the package of what I thought was a Bundt pan, but actually turned out to be an angel food pan. Still worked out well.

They're having an amazing sale at Big Box outlet (formerly MTF), jeans are only $8.95 a pair! I got 4 pairs today, with both taxes only $40! I even got a pair of lined ones that will be great next winter. I had no idea they still made these, I haven't seen a pair in over 4 decades. My ex-stepfather called them hunter's pants.

I'm going to be getting my new knee supports next week, I am so excited. It means replacing some of my wardrobe, they're a bit bigger, thicker & bulkier than my old ones.

Oh yeah, a computer/vlogging update. I got a really cool new keyboard.

It's kind of ironic that I started out refusing to use our 1st computer. Our deal (my ex & I) was that I would write things on paper & he was to do all the "techie" stuff. But he got me hooked on screensavers & the rest, as they say, is history. I practically live on the damn thing now.

And I have to say, this keyboard lifts my mood, makes using the computer quite delightful. When I first saw it I was skeptical, how good could a $5 keyboard be? But then I did my due diligence, checked out reviews & decided to get it. I went back to my local Dollarama here in Mission & they were all out! 

I checked several here & then broadened my search to Abbotsford. After 3 tries I finally found one. I also got another one today for Robert's computer. All in all, an interesting week.

 February 15, 2023

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's day. I made steak for dinner & we watched a romantic movie together. 

After breakfast Robert was looking out the bedroom window & saw that it was snowing. I am still working the learning curve of this new camera. I deliberately made the decision to leave my old Sony at home, to push me into reading the instruction book (which is missing a lot of useful information) & learning to use the new camera that my wonderful husband bought me for my birthday in December.

This video was taken outside of Robert's new apartment in Bellingham. I edited 2 videos & several photographs together, using Movie Maker, which is a free download from Microsoft's store.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

To start off, Happy New Year, everyone! I've been meaning to post something sooner, but it's been a crazy busy month for me.

I've been dealing with health related issues, & moving stuff so my heater could get fixed. And my husband has just gotten into low cost housing in Bellingham,  so I helped a bit with packing & now unpacking, organizing, etc.

I remember reading an article in Summer 2022, on how they were anticipating an uptick in cancer diagnoses because of COVID. I actually missed my 2022 mammogram, because of my TBI (traumatic brain injury) related memory issues. And since I've been lucky enough to have a  regular doctor for the last 3 years, it hadn't really occurred to me how people who don't have one might not be getting all the tests & checkups that they might need. I used to write all that stuff on my calendar, in case I moved or switched doctors. And I guess I also assumed that the doctors at the drop in clinics would routinely ask if they needed them. Well, here's an article that offers a solution:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/virtual-cancer-screening-programs-bc-1.7087693