skating with nieces

Thanks SO much to Bob Guest, who forwarded the following news item to me:

LONDON (AP) - Scientists already have suggested eating chocolate may
make you happy. Now they say men who indulge in chocolates may live
longer. A study of 7,841 Harvard male graduates found chocolate and
candy eaters - regardless of how voracious their appetite for goodies
- live almost a year longer than those who abstain. The researchers
said they don't know why this is. They speculate that antioxidants
present in chocolate may have a health benefit. The scientists stress
their findings are preliminary, and other experts caution the
research does not prove the results can be attributed to the
antioxidants. See

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2557657290-e5d

Augh, forgot to bring my dusty mini Christmas tree up from our locker yesterday. But will for sure today. Really, I will!

Went to City Hall with Ruth and my nieces yesterday. The rink was packed with kids (with busloads more unloading every passing minute). I had planned to keep my boots on and walk beside Sara (who is very wobbly on the ice). BUT! Policy has changed since last year, and everyone on the ice HAS to have skates on. Since I haven't skated in over 20 years, I figured it was best to let Ruth be Sara's ice-guide instead. I am determined to learn to skate this winter so I can skate with my nieces next year. I might look into buying second-hand skates somewhere...rentals at City Hall are fairly expensive ($7.50 for adult rentals).

Anyway, Sara was disappointed and I felt like a scummy aunt as I took Annie (who was shrieking because she wanted to stay with Ruth, but she was too small for skates) into City Hall. As soon as we got out of sight of Ruth, however, Annie immediately stopped crying and cheered up again. The library wasn't open yet, so after I peeled the zillion layers of winter clothing off Annie (dreading the moment when I would have to re-layer her) we played in the hallway and looked at the displays. Every few minutes Annie would hug my legs and murmur, "Beebee!", obviously pleased at having all my attention for once. So I guess in the end it wasn't so bad that I couldn't skate with Sara, but I'm still determined to learn to skate. I bought Annie a small toy train in the gift shop. She was delighted, and kept saying, "Tain! Tain! Bawa tain!" which I interpreted as meaning, "Look, I have a train! I'm so pleased. I can't wait to tell Sara about my new train." So I felt compelled to buy Sara a small toy so she wouldn't be jealous.

Looks like I might be mentioned in an Entrepreneur Magazine article, which is cool.

Going to check out a new movie complex in Oakville with Craig tonight (Jeff's in Calgary on a business trip this weekend, hopefully the last out-of-town business trip for a while!).