Oh no you di-in't!

Watching this directly after lunch is not a good thing if your tummy is full - it may or may not have brought McPhizzle to the point of almost vomiting from laughing so hard. Luckily, the flying monkies showed her the logo of the Edmonton OilKings to bring her back down.

This video is entitled "Message for Bob"



I'm not sure, but I think it might have something to do with the cutest Edmonton OilKing in the VERLD. The little gnome is onto something ;o)

O'CANADA!!!

(x-posted to Maple Leaf Mafia)

This Lactose-free Canada Day is brought to you in honour of Matty Swaby.

July 1st... The day Canada celebrates their Independance! YAY!

Headed to M.F. for a day of celebrating the Homeland. Hammer had maple cookies ready and a maple leaf flag banner up. We started the afternoon with a rousing game of NHLopoly. I would've won if I hadn't have let Hammer cheat and stay in jail in order to avoid the "ticket prices" in Ottawa with the arena built. She won. Lame. Now I know not to be so congenial.

We tagged my car with red car-chalk. Violette (my vehicle) is still proudly rockin' "CANADA DAY '07" on her back windshield.

The roster ended up beign rather full - The whole female contingent of the Maple Leaf Mafia was there (Hammer, VonHammer, Laces and McPhizzle) along with 3 of Hammer's friends and 1 little nugget named Michael - the little 18-mo.-old cutie that totally stole the show.

We all wore "Canadian leis" (aka red mardi-gras beads that left our necks pink - Mike thought I had gotten sunburned when I got home), and most of us were wearing some combination of red, black and white (we let VonHammer slide with the HNIC shirt). We also put temporary tattoos on our faces. When Laces came in she asked, "Can't I put it on my guns?" Your guns?! No, now you HAVE to put it on your face for asking that way.

Before we ate dinner, the Canadian Anthem was sung reverantly at the picnic table.

the Alberta Beef Tenderloin with Gingered Saskatoon Berry Compote was AMAZING!! As was the potato salad (in honour of PEI's 65 varieties of potaoes, of course... Who knew they had that many?! "Is there enough land to grow that many there?" "Maybe a row of each?" "We found a new variety of potato, eh!" "Well, go plant it next to the other 64, eh!").

After dinner, the fun and games began. We took a Canadian History test... We should've studied. lol. Question #15 was "Which part of the US space shuttle was designed by Canadians?" VonHammer was QUITE excited that she knew the answer and when Hammer was reading the correct answers aloud, she shouted at the top of her lungs, "ROBOTIC ARM!!!!!" which we affectionately re-named the CanadArm.

Somehow the topic of Lester B Pearson (14th Prime Minister of Canada) and how he got the nickname "Mike." Apparently "Lester" didn't sound tough enough, so they picked a new name for him. Odd little tidbit there. Apparently Mike is a tough name.

After the quiz, we started playing the "Great Canadian Adventure" board game that Hammer uses as a Friday treat in the Canadian History course she teaches.

• One of the questions Hammer gave to Laces was, "Who is the Canadian Hockey player who they call The Great One...." we all groaned and rolled our eyes at the easiness, especially since questions to the rest of us were freakin hard...
• When someone landed on a "Heroes" space, VonHammer shouted, "TERRY FOX!!!!" before her sister could even begin to read the question aloud. Hammer's response? "Great, now I have to choose a new one."
• To make up for the ease of Laces' queston, the next question posed to me was "WHo was the first Aboriginal head coach in the NHL... I matched VonHammer's intesity yelling, "TED NOLAN!!!!" (and as always, I added, "he's on LonGisland!")
• Our little nugget got to roll the large, neon pink dice for his mom and dad. He beaned Laces with it once. (a Picture Essay will follow once they are transfered onto my computer from VonHammer's camera)
• Hammer and I started fighting about how the only reason she won the NHLopoly game was b/c I let her cheat... when our voices had raised to their limit and I ran out of little sister things to say, to end the argument I said, "IT'S A GLITCH!" the laughter and thought of Brad and Vinny stopped the arguing at once.
• As the questions got harder, Hammer gave us hints... She's a master of disguising names in hints.... here are a couple examples, "It rhymes with Schmick Schmanson" (Rick Hanson), "It rhymes with Meline Sleon" (Celine Dion) and my personal favourite, "It rhymes with Muffalo." (Buffalo)

When we'd been sufficently munched on by the mosquitos, we went inside for a little chatting and so Laces and The Nugget could play a little pick-up game of carpet hockey with the pink hockey sticks I picked up at Target in the Holiest of places, the Dollar Spot. Laces' comment about her opponent, "We're about the same height, so it's ok."

While the game was going on, the father of the Nugget gave us his opinion of hockey, "They serve beer and get in fights. Its a good game."

When he finished telling us about a game he'd been to in Seattle where there were something like 8 fights and 6 were the same guy on Seattle, my comment was, "I bet his name started with a 'Z' and ended with 'ack FitGerald'."

During the conversation about that particular T-Bird, the puck went under the little breakfast nook and behind a scrapbook organizer and it turned into a scrum along the boards at my feet, so i blew the fake whistle, bent down and dropped the puck back on the playing surface. VonHammer's comment, "The Ice Girls got that one."

When it was time for the Nugget to head home, he was QUITE sad to leave the Canadian and hockey goodness. We gave him his first taste of hockey and he's hungry for more!! :) Corrupting young minds. That's what the Maple Leaf Mafia is all about.

DOUBLE DAMNIT!

Ams Trade Mike Kaye to Saskatoon


Mike (left) and Colten wont be able to lean on eachother to keep their heads out of the mud this season.


Ok, TraderBob. I'm for real here. Can't you let the wound of MattyGate at least scab over before you go and trade Mike Kaye?! So he was kind of a band-aid, whatever... he was a playmaker! "Kaye to Yellowhorn and SCORE!" we like that combo. A lot. Especially with that result.

So Overage situation is all but solved, Matty wont get caught in the Overage Gap and end up playing back in the home province like Cole did last year and Mike will be able to live at home with Mom, Dad and his sisters. But what about US?!

I'm declaring right now that TraderBob can make no more moves this week. Also, that the Ottawa Senators HAVE to all play like (my husband) Mike Fisher tonight. That's all there is to it.

In the immortal words of Celine Dion, "Nothing's broken but my heart."

McPhizzle has spoken.

Getting misty over here.

Riding his trusty steed all the way to Edmonton
How could you NOT love this guy?


From the paper today:

"Matt Swaby had a feeling for some time that he would be one of the players the Tri-City Americans put up for grabs for Tuesday's Edmonton Oil Kings expansion draft.

The veteran defenseman just hoped the Oil Kings would not take him.

Swaby was one of several players chosen throughout the WHL by the Oil Kings to create a roster for the upcoming season.

"It was in the back of my mind," said Swaby, who played his entire WHL career with the Americans. "It was a surprise. I had a lot of messages on my phone and I didn't know what was going on. I wanted to come back, but things change.

"I'd like to thank the team for the opportunity they gave me and the fans for standing behind me. I'm going to miss them." ... "

Oh! Little Matty! We'll miss you, too.

They also took our little Archie from the Wiggity Wack. I just hope they come down here this season... We had the big Eastern Swing last year, so you'd think so, right? Right? :o(

More coverage of MattyGate (and pictorial tributes) located at the Maple Leaf Mafia blog.

I'm moving to Edmonton.

Edmonton, AB has been given a franchise in the WHL, the Oil Kings. They will start their inagural season this upcoming September.

The expansion draft was held today. Teams who had not made a previous deal with Edmonton had two options: a team can protect 15 players aged 16-19 and one 20 year old, or protect 13 players aged 16-19 and three 20-year-olds. Edmonton was not able to take any player who was part of the 2007 WHL bantam draft.

One player. One. Out of our roster AND prospects, not including the protected list. Who knows what ever goes on in TraderBob's bald noggin, but he failed to protect our most veteran Dman and who undoubtedly would've been the heart and soul of the team next year. Matt Swaby is now an Oil King.

I am devistated. Matty's been here since before he was a rookie. He was at Training Camp the year Broseph got into his minor traffic infraction and shoved that cocky kid (name is escapting me....) against the wall of Rink B. Always ready with a big hug and an even bigger smile. More than willing to hang out with the tots at the skates and the fans at events. Heck, anyone who calls my mother "the sweetest woman in the world" and lets me call him Matty in front of everyone is a good kid in my book. And who is going to wear the full blue-jays uniform at the softball game/bbq this year?!

Bye, bye, Matty. We'll miss your flowing curls and heart-warming smile. Don't worry, there will be a large bus bag for you when you come to visit. :o(



Mattycakes and McPhizzle