All right everyone. Here she is. I know you are all simply overcome with envy at the sight of my new car. And I know you don't have to ask, since you all have posters of this, your dream car, hanging up on your bedroom walls, but she is a 1997 Ford Escort Wagon LX. LX! Can you believe it? And to think I was lucky enough to get the only one ever manufactured in this colour!

I dedicate this snapshot to all of my American friends: Leslie, James, Rosanne, Mary, Ross, Heather... come on guys, be honest with yourselves. Is there anywhere in the U.S. that you can imagine seeing a sign like this, regardless of spelling?

If you have ever wondered what Regina is like in the middle of January ... wonder no more. It's cold. Not the gee-it's-chilly-I-should-put-a-sweater-on cold. More like an oh-my-god-it's-minus-forty-five-I-think-my-face-just-fell-
off-what-do-you-mean-you-don't-have-an-available-hotel-room-who-the-hell-
is-staying-in-this-barren-ice-land-in-the-middle-of-January-did-the-news-just-
warn-me-not-to-turn-off-my-car-because-it-will-never-start-again? kind of cold.

My husband is never again allowed to complain about the relics of my childhood. Any lingering embarrassment regarding some of the things I have held onto throughout the years completely faded this week as I went through the box of things my husband has kept quietly hidden from me in his parents’ basement.

I present to you “Jason: Revealed.”

This is Dan. He’s from Australia. We let him come visit us at Christmas, mostly because he is married to my sister.

For Christmas this year he gave my husband a remote control Porsche. As such, he may not be invited back for future Christmases.

Unless he brings me one.