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Friday, December 25, 2009

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

Believe it or not, we actually do leave home on occasion. Tonight we went down to the legislature building grounds to check out the lights and music. It was freakin' cold but we bundled up and had coffee and cocoa to keep us warm.

Julie with lights in the background:


Me with lights in the background:


Julie with the ice scuptures in the background (no chance of those melting and losing their shape anytime soon!):


A picture of the two of us that would have been great if it hadn't turned out blurry (we really need a new camera!):


Julie suggested that I pose for a picture with a stand-in for our future child, y'know, since everyone else was taking pictures with their kids:


Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Holiday ADD (me rambling in other words..)

You know what is pretty fun? Going to stores this week and watching people absolutely freaking out trying to find suitable gifts for family and friends.

Even more fun? Watching Julie sample sweets from a gift basket we received from her ex-wife, ex-girlfriend and her ex-girlfriend's ex-girlfriend (did you follow that?) and seeing her face contort when she tries something she thought she'd like but actually doesn't at all. Heh.

Here's a pic of us with the basket:


Speaking of pictures, here's a pic of Julie's beloved couch now in our little office:


A rare sight - me sitting on said couch:



So now that all of the stuff in the office is crammed to one wall (Julie actually took two book cases out and has them sitting in our bedroom while the fate of the couch is in limbo) and she's made it all cosy, her co-worker has now shown serious interest in taking the couch. I have no idea how that couch is going to be physically removed from that room now...

Watching Better Off Ted right now... I think it gets better every week. I definitely have a crush on Portia now...

I'm really looking forward to my 3.5 day weekend starting tomorrow at noon but I'm not really looking forward to Friday. I enjoy the Christmas season but I'm not a huge fan of Christmas Day. I have this ridiculous anxiety about holidays spent with family... I think this year the key to it passing painlessly will be arriving to the family gathering later in the morning, going to a movie in the middle of the day and then leaving earlier in the evening. My sister has made Julie and I promise to go with her to see the Sherlock Holmes movie that opens on Friday. I'd rather go see It's Complicated but there was really no getting my way on this one. My sister has a huge crush on both Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law so that definitely trumps my need for a Meryl Streep fix! Anyway, I think I'll enjoy these kind of holidays once we have a child to subject them to.

I think there was a bunch of other things I was going to write about but this week has been pretty brutal work-wise and my brain is fried. I'll end with a pic of our kitchen which I don't think I've shown on here yet. It was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to move into this place - soooooooo much bigger than our last kitchen!!



Friday, December 18, 2009

Ginger Abuse

This is pretty amusing but only because my ginger girlfriend brought it to my attention and she herself found it highly amusing...

Tesco apologises for 'ginger joke' card

I honestly did not know red/ginger-haired human beings are ridiculed so badly in England until I met Julie and she told me about her childhood and even adulthood before she moved to Canada. It is absolutely horrible, the nasty things people yell at people in the street just because of the colour of their hair. And if you're a child in school? Yeah, good luck holding your own on the playground. The things Julie told me that she was called on a regular basis I cannot even put on here without squirming with embarrassment. No wonder she doesn't like visiting back home...

Her and I do joke about her 'ginger-ness' though and she has reassured me many times that she does not take any offense to it although that's probably because she was the one who taught me how to tease a ginger, she makes fun of it herself and because, quite frankly, her and I are damn funny...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Lesbians, lollypops and LED lights

Couch is now in the office... barely. Pictures to come once Julie finishes cramming everything in there.

The flu I had morphed into a cold so for the past three days I've had a wicked sore throat and chest congestion. Because of the annoying congestion, I also have a cough from attempting to clear my throat a thousand times a day. There's nothing like feeling like you're choking to death constantly...

I am so sick of sucking on Halls and the other usual suspects. I decided to pick up a pack of strawberry flavoured Rockhoppers Goodypops to try in an attempt to soothe my throat without gagging on the taste. It turns out they are awesome - they work really well (for this sore throat I have anyway) and they have a much milder flavour. The only issue is that I'm a grown-up looking like I'm eating a lollypop. They are also a bit expensive (8 for $2.99) but they don't dissolve very fast so I'm not going through a lot of them in a short period of time like Halls or the other kind I was using.

I'm watching the Nikon commercial with Avril Lavigne in it. I think she's rather pretty (I have to look at her a lot at work... my closest co-worker has his wallpaper, calendar and a couple of pictures of Avril) but only if she doesn't smile. Once she smiles, I have to turn away and shudder. I don't understand how some one's smile can be so scary (to me anyway)...

I am in love with our PVR and becoming so spoiled by being able to record things I want to watch and then watching them at my leisure. It's good for catching shows that I cannot remember when they actually air. A good example is Better Off Ted. I have no idea what day of the week it's actually on or even what station... it just shows up once a week in the queue and we watch it. Portia de Rossi is quite clever in it, I have to say... the rest of the cast is not bad either. The show never fails to make us laugh... so either we're lame or the show is half decent.

CSI just started... just validated my lesbian membership a moment ago when the opening credits came on and a new shot of Marg Helgenberger looking mighty fine flashed by. Actually both Julie and I exclaimed involuntarily at the same time so I don't feel guilty or anything. Marg is a good example of a woman who just seems to get better looking with age.

I finally managed to bring home a string of LED lights. This after two previously failed attempts. I thought our new Christmas tree had LED lights on it but I misread the box. Then I purchased a string of indoor/outdoor lights having thought they were LED... I even remember standing there staring at the boxes making absolute sure I was buying LEDs... but nope, I must have hallucinated the description on the box. THIS time, I very nearly had a fellow shopper look over the box for me (because clearly I cannot read) but then decided to trust my choice one more time. Julie has strung them up on our bookcases and they look really cool. Add to that the fibre optic angel I received at our work holiday party today and our place is looking pretty festive.

Julie also received a little gift at work today - a $50 gift certificate for East Side Marios. That would be fantastic because the nearest location is less than five minutes away... however, just yesterday we drove by and were shocked to see that all the signage was taken down and it was closed down. WTF?! It's been open for at least five or six years... why the hell would it be closing in such a prime location? What a bummer...

Anyway, I'm off to take some medicine and hopefully sleep longer than three hours tonight.


Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Couch Closure? Not yet...

On Sunday, Julie put an ad on Kijiji offering the couch to a loving home for free as long as they came to pick it up. Within an hour she had about six people e-mailing about it. The person she chose was going to come pick it up the next evening (Monday).

Cue the mourning...

Julie insisted that she spend the night on the couch one last time. She fell asleep pretty early and I was still watching TV and surfing the 'net. Suddenly I see movement on the couch and hear a weird noise so I look over and she's laying there clapping her hands. I burst out laughing and she turned towards me and smiled. I asked what she was doing and she said "I'm clapping for Lady Gaga... she's performing right over there." she said, rolling over to point near the television. I'm like, "Um.. okay. Well, enjoy the concert." She thanked me and closed her eyes. Yeeeeeeeeah.... she was asleep the entire time. When I mentioned it 15 minutes later when she woke up for real, she had no idea that we had had that brief exchange. Heh. She ended up climbing into bed with me and abandoned the couch... too many crazy dreams, I guess.

Anyway, she was all sad yesterday while we waited for the woman to come pick up the couch. 6 pm went by, 7 pm... by 8 pm Julie was really cranky. "I'm emotionally ready to part with the couch and here we're not even sure she's going to show up!" Yeah, by 9:30 pm, I called an end to the wait and Julie flopped down on the couch in frustration and defeat. People suck sometimes... she didn't even call or e-mail to say she couldn't come by or didn't want it on second thought.

Either another person will be picked from Kijiji or one of Julie's co-workers might take it. I told Julie that if it meant that much to her, she could put it in the little office room but I think she decided against doing that. It might have something to do with the fact that we were watching Hoarders last night...

I finally, *finally* mailed out Christmas cards this evening. Not bad... it's only December 15th, haha...

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Pictures

I got Julie to take some pictures this weekend...

Julie's beloved couch (not sure how long it took her to fluff it up like this - note how the arms aren't really shown so you can't see the cat claw shredding either):


Julie napping on her beloved couch last weekend (obviously taken on the sly by me):


Our new Christmas tree (looks better in person) that we've had up for three weeks now. You can see the arm of the chair I use in this one:


The gingerbread house we put together and decorated last weekend (ignore the pharmacy in the corner...):


This is what we have to look forward to when we go outside:


Saturday, December 12, 2009

Christmas Gift Shopping 101: How It All Snowballs

Okay, so yesterday morning whilst driving Miss Julie to work, we acknowledged that our gift giving ban was probably not going to stick:

"Alright, I picked my mom this year and you picked Chantel (my sister)... we need to get them gifts this weekend."

"Yeah, but nobody else. That's the whole point of this 'picking one person in the family' thing that your family does."

"Oh, I know. Definitely only my mom and Chantel. Good thing you and I aren't exchanging gifts, eh?"

"Yeah... That's not actually going to happen though, is it?"

"Nope. I guess this is where I can tell you that I've already got you a couple of gifts, eh?"

*******************************

So last night, when I went to pick up Julie from work (I had stayed home sick again yesterday - damn energy-sucking flu thing) I had just enough energy to make a trip to the grocery store for the absolute essentials (milk, bread and ginger ale for my nausea) so I asked Julie if she minded making the stop. I have to ask her because I find that she HATES shopping for food and I can't even get her to stay with me and the cart and/or basket for more than two seconds before she's off searching for books or something to distract her from the fact that she's in a grocery store. So, with me being sick, I'm walking down aisles looking for anything that looks appetizing. I figured that with the weather being so freakin' cold and my not feeling well, we'd be locking down for the weekend. $75 worth of junk later (and the milk and bread and case of Canada Dry), we were on our way home. That's when Julie declares that we should definitely go check out the crafts store for Chantel's gift. Next to Michaels (the crafts store) is Staples and Home Sense and she decided we had to look in those as well.

Here's where the snowballing really begins...

The first store we went into was Staples. In there Julie stumbled across Rock Band for the Xbox. Chantel has a Xbox 360 and has borrowed Rock Band 2 from one of her friends a few times. I know she likes it a lot but she'd never get it for herself. Because of all of the new Rock Band variations that have come out lately, the first Rock Band has been greatly reduced. The entire package (drums, guitar, mic, game) that used to cost over $200 was on sale for $29.99. Score! I'm 99% sure she'll be absolutely thrilled with it, even though it's the first one and not one of the new ones. As Julie said on our way to the car, "I think I'll be in the running for sister-in-law of the year with this gift."

One down, one to go...

Now that Julie had found a gift for Chantel, I was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be getting some art supplies. The original plan was to get her a couple of canvases and some new brushes because she loves to paint but has trouble funding her hobby. We went into Michaels anyway to look at stuff and what do I find but this awesome wooden case with a top that opens up into a table top easel. Inside are a ton of oil, acrylic and water paints with medium sized canvases, brushes as well as oil pastels, etc. Perfect for my sister because she usually uses the coffee table which now has more than one paint streak on it. So... $73 later, Julie asks me what we're going to get my other sister, Samantha, now that we've bought Chantel two gifts.

One down, two to go...

After sighing heavily, we were off to Home Sense next door to find some inspiration. There we found a really nice Sagittarius candle and a voodoo doll to use on her boss (Sam just started a new job and she HATES her boss...). She likes a certain kind of chocolate that they sell a ton of at Christmas (I'm too lazy to look up the name of the chocolates) so we made a mental note to go to Wal-mart at some point and buy a box.

Two down, one to go...

I had got my mom a Galaga Hallmark ornament about a month ago (she loves that game and used to play it arcade style with her best friend back in the day) but aside from that, I was drawing blank for ideas. There's some pressure when it comes to buying gifts for your mom, I think. It's like you don't want to disappoint her. Anyway, our next stop was the liquor store where I picked up a bottle of Bailey's. She loves Bailey's so I know that's a good gift. Of course while we were there, we also picked up two bottles of wine, some beer and some amaretto for us, so $$$$$ later, we were back in the car. We decided we best go home because the groceries were freezing in the trunk and the backseat was now filled with gifts but made it as far as across the parking lot to the Swiss Chalet (gotta have the Festive Special at least once during the holiday season!). By the time we got home and made multiple trips from the parking garage to our apartment, I was beyond exhausted. Julie apparently was too because she passed out on the couch not long after we got home. I sucked up my exhaustion and wrapped everything except the Rock Band box because I ran out of wrapping paper.

Two down, 1/2 of a person to go...

We were super lazy today, lounging around reading and napping. Partly because I am still regaining my energy and partly because it's -30 outside. Around 6:30 this evening (looking at the clock, I realize it's now 12:30 am... so yesterday evening I suppose) we decided to go out to buy another roll of wrapping paper to wrap up the Rock Band box. I suggested that we also stop at Bath & Body Works to pick up Samantha this (Julie bought her refills for it for her birthday earlier this month and she informed us that she couldn't use them because her diffuser was broken so Julie promised to buy her a new one). Off we went and of course when we got to B&BW, we couldn't just get that one thing. We ended up getting some hand soap and body wash and spray and $50 later...

Two down, 1/2 of a person to go...

We arrived at Wal-mart and decided to split up to get the things we needed (Julie announced that she needed new trouser socks and of course the wrapping paper). Holy frakkin' hell... an hour and a half later... $260 damage done between the two of us.

Christmas-Guilt-Chain-Reaction-Thought-Process:

"I bought my sisters stuff and I didn't even pick their names. Now I feel bad that I'm not buying grandma & grandpa anything. Ooooh, I know. I'll get them some chocolates. They like getting boxes of chocolates. What kind should I get? I know they like After Eights. But look at how small the box is. I can't just give them this. Oooh, I know they like these chocolate covered cherry chocolates. But that doesn't seem like enough either. Oooh, here's this tube of Bailey's chocolates. They like those. Okay, three boxes of chocolate should do it."

Four down, 1/2 of a person to go...

A few aisles later...

"Damn... now that I have chocolates for grandma & grandpa, now I feel bad about not getting auntie anything (she lives in their basement). What the *hell* can I get her? Oooh, there's this neck massage thingy for $20. She'd definitely use it because she complains of neck/back pain quite often. Okay, that's good."

Five down, 1/2 of a person to go...

"What the hell am I going to get mom? Ooooh, look, outdoor Christmas lights. They have the blue LED lights that I've wanted."

A few aisles later...

"Finally, a barbeque cover!"

A few aisles later...

"I think I need this Adam Lambert CD..."

I'm sure you get the picture (if you haven't already fallen asleep or moved on to another blog). We did end up also getting the wrapping paper we originally left the house for, as well as socks for Julie, and three gifts for my mom.

Why do we even bother picking names for Christmas? Sigh...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Happy Holidays

This update is for Stacey, who finally got me to bookmark the site and post...

I'm home sick today. I went home sick from work on Tuesday and Wednesday, so seeing as how I feel the same today, I decided to just stay home and rest. I'm feverish and achy and am very nauseated. I've finally found that I can eat toast without wanting to hurl and sipping some ginger ale is helping as well. This is totally not the time to get sick - December is the busiest, craziest time at work so I'm a little stressed about not being there. I was talking to Julie about it last night - she thinks I need to learn to let go, that everyone gets sick and that the job will still be there when I get back. I know that... I guess I'm just a bit of a control freak.


It is kind of nice to not have to go outside today... it's snowing *again* which means the already slippery, snow covered roads will be even worse. After the blizzard last week that caused us to be stranded until the plows came by (first time in my whole life, btw) the temperature dropped a lot and the weather has been pretty bad.

We bought a new Christmas tree this year and put it up on November 23rd. I realize that is earlier than the norm but I don't care. If I'm going to go through the trouble of decorating it and moving furniture around, I want the damn thing to be up for longer than a couple of weeks! Our old Christmas tree was only two feet tall and one of the legs was lost last year (at our old apartment it leaned against the wall and was pretty pathetic although quite cute) so we threw it out when we moved. The one we have now is 6.5 feet which is a decent size but when we eventually buy a house, I want a bigger one like the one I grew up with.

We have two presents under the tree right now that are from Julie's parents in England and that will probably be it. Julie suggested that since we buy each other little things throughout the year, we don't need to buy each other Christmas gifts. The reason being that both of us would end up spending a ton of money on gifts we can't really afford to show our love for each other - when really, picking up a chocolate bar at the gas station has the same effect. I agreed with her because a) we're trying to pay stuff off and save up money for future stuff, and b) we ordered a new couch and chair that is being delivered on Dec 31st that we've decided is our Christmas present. However, I have strayed from this plan and I have purchased a few things for Julie. I wrapped them and have them hidden and will put them under the tree after she's gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Hey, if Santa brought them, it's okay, isn't it? They are things I know she wants but won't dare buy them for herself so I know she'll like them.

As for the couch and chair we purchased, there's a story to that (of course). The couch we have is sage green and looks like hell. Julie has had it for I don't know how long and the cats she used to have used the ends as scratch posts. The cushions are lumpy and do not hold shape anymore and it's very uncomfortable to sit on because it has no support in the seat or back. Julie LOVES the couch though - it is where she sits at night and where she sleeps half the time*. She clutches the back of the couch possessively whenever I mention that I hate it and I want to replace it. Needless to say, I rarely sit on the couch. We have a...um... what do you call an upholstered chair from the 70's that rocks and swivels but doesn't recline? Anyway, that's what I sit in because although it isn't the most comfortable, it has a lot more support than the damn couch. I have a foot stool in front of it and I push against it to rock the chair back a bit so I can have the laptop propped on my lap when I'm using it (otherwise I sit at the dinner table - our desk goes unused now that it's in a room away from television aka where Julie resides). This 'lounging' position strains my knees and gets uncomfortable after a while but I'm just not the type of person to sit upright in a chair with my feet on the ground. Even at work, my feet rest on the base of the chair (y'know, the leg things with the wheels) or on an ergo foot rest. Soooooooooooo... Julie decided one day that she wanted to buy me a new chair that reclined because she could see I was uncomfortable. I said no because I thought getting a new couch would be much more practical - if we got a couch we both liked, I could sit on the couch instead of the chair. She was adamant about it though so a couple of weeks back, we decided to go to a few places to take a look at reclining chairs. I had also wanted to stop at Sears because they had Christmas trees on sale. We decided to stop at Sears first to check out the trees and on the way to the seasonal section we passed the furniture section. For the hell of it, I tried out a few chairs but they were either too cushioned with no support (I want to sit in it, not be swallowed alive by it) or way too expensive. We decided to move on to the seasonal section at that point but then both of us saw this couch and chair set at the same time. I went and sat in the chair and she sat on the couch and we looked at each other and said "Nice!" at the same time. What are the odds that we'd find a couch and a chair that we BOTH liked that looked decent, had great support and would go with our other furniture/colour scheme - slim to none is the answer. I was praying to some unknown entity that the price wouldn't be ridiculously expensive and wouldn't you know it, they were both on sale. We were pretty disappointed that they are not being delivered until Dec 31st, but at least that gives us time to get rid of the couch and chair we have now. I can't wait - it'll be sooooooo nice to be able to relax in comfort!



(* Some may find it odd that Julie sleeps on the couch a lot but it is in no way a reflection of the state of our relationship. She goes through periods of talking in her sleep and twitching so on nights when I REALLY need to get a good night's sleep or if she's watching TV and I've already gone to bed, she'll just pass out on the couch. She likes to fall asleep to the television and I don't... so yeah, that's why she sleeps on the couch a lot :)

Since November, the relationship Julie and I have has gotten a lot stronger. I think the trip to Banff at the end of August had a lot to do with it. In early-mid September, I wasn't sure if we would still be together by the end of the year because we were at odds with some major issues (marriage, children, some other stuff...) and on some of them I felt I could not compromise on. The biggest one being children, followed closely by Julie wanting to move back to New Brunswick (where she first landed in Canada and lived for about five years - and where her ex wife, ex girlfriend and her/their two twin daughters live). I want a child and she changed her mind and said she didn't. She wanted to move and I did not (at least not in the near future). I thought about marriage and she did not want to get married again. Um... can you see why I didn't think we'd be together for much longer? Slowly though, things started to change... I can't explain how, it wasn't overly obvious... I guess it was just a feeling. We flew to New Brunswick to visit Julie's ex wife and ex girlfriend for the twins' 3rd birthday the week of Remembrance Day. During that week we both spent a lot of time with the twin girls and I think Julie changed her mind that week. She told me she was impressed by how good I was with the girls and how she could definitely see me as a mother. It was on the plane back home that she told me that she would like to have a child with me and eventually be married. I honestly think that since the trip to Banff, we've fallen in love with each other to a greater extent. It's hard to explain but what we have is much deeper now and it's awesome. :)

So... now there is a new, loose plan that involves a house first, then probably marriage and hopefully a child.

Alright, time for a nap... this update has worn me out.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Okay, so it was little longer than I thought.

I've slipped into this routine where I go to work, come home, make dinner, play on some Facebook applications whilst watching HLN (CNN's sister station) until some point where the channel changes or the activity changes to something equally as mindless before heading off to bed. Rinse, repeat...

I'm appalled by how lazy I/we have become. I just cannot be bothered to do much. It's not like it's a sinking pit of depression or anything... It's just plain laziness and perhaps something else I haven't been able to put my finger on.

The last weekend in August, we drove down to Banff to meet up with one of my first online friends from the U.S. and her roommate. Aside from an extremely rude B&B owner, the three days were wonderful. We walked, we took pictures, we *did stuff*. It was awesome. We came back refreshed as though we had re-discovered something we had forgotten about. Once upon a time we both used to DO stuff. Like, leave the house and socialize and exercise and all those neat things that come with living beyond your living room.

So, we decided that for the following weekend (Labour Day long weekend), we would do more things and it was going to be wonderful because hadn't we promised this to each other a while back anyway?

Yeah, so we left the house twice last weekend. Once to do a monthly shop at Wal-Mart and the other time to check out elliptical machines at Sears because they were having a sale. All and all not a complete failure of a weekend because we did purchase an elliptical machine but not exactly what we thought the weekend would end up like.

Of course we're waiting for the elliptical machine to arrive - such things apparently have to be ordered. They said the 12th but so far no luck. Hopefully early this week...

Why did we purchase an elliptical machine, you may wonder... Well, we have a gym in the building but wouldn't you know it... It seems whenever I have the urge to work out, I change into my workout clothes, put on my shoes, grab my keys, walk all the way down the hall and around the corner, only to find the gym full of other tenants. What a waste of the urge, I tell you!! I WANT to work out on the elliptical machine in there and I cannot when I feel like it. So... I will no longer have that problem once ours arrives and we put it together.

Yes, yes, I suppose I should start a betting pool as to how long before the elliptical machine turns into a glorified clothes rack, etc., but I'm stubbornly not going to yet. The thing is going to be facing the television for god sakes. I'm optimistic.

As for facing the outside world... gosh, I would love to travel. I have missed that soooooo much it hurts. Unfortunately, I'm in major budget crunch mode as my aggressive loan re-payment schedule + rent+ other stuff = nothing left over. Like, *nothing*. It sucks. Big time. But... no pain, no gain, I suppose. It's tough not having money for fun things and it is a huge contributing factor to our staying in most of the time. Three years really has to speed up... either that or I'll end up caving and re-doing my loan to drag it out longer.

Oh and lastly, Julie has decided she does not want a child. I still want to have a child at some point in the future. Um, yeah... I'm not sure what is going to happen there...

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

It's been a while...

Hm... it's been a while since I posted anything on here. After my computer crashed and Julie gave hers to her ex-wife in New Brunswick, we have been sharing a laptop. I guess I've just been too lazy to restore my bookmarks and have been more into Facebook than blogging...

Updates to come soon...

Monday, April 27, 2009

Finally... a date!

YAY!!!! I finally have the date for the surgery on my finger. After barely getting any sleep last night because of the sharp burning pain in my left index finger, I finally caved and called the surgeon's office to find out why the heck they haven't called me yet. The last time, it took about four weeks to get the surgery date, so I waited four weeks this time too, even though he said they'd be calling me the next day. Yeah, well they might have had the darn hospital actually transferred my file back to his office so his people could call me! When I called, they had no clue what I was talking about because the last thing they had on their side was my January surgery... not my March 30th follow-up appointment. They got back to me fairly quickly this morning with a date for the surgery - July 9th. They said it was the soonest they could get me in but that I'd be on the top of the cancellation list, so hopefully it'll be sooner. I already told my boss that I'll take the first available date, regardless of what's going on at work because I can't stand this anymore. I hate being pulled out of a deep sleep by sudden sharp pains that continue for hours. There is no sleeping through it. There's no over the counter medication that diminishes it in the slightest. It just sucks. And my goodness, it's only a finger causing this. I can't even imagine having a larger tumor elsewhere causing pain or worse (Cancer). People don't believe me when I say getting hit in the face with a frozen hockey puck hurt less than when I accidentally brush my finger against something. I can barely comprehend it myself. It's such a bizarre affliction that I've lived with for 18 years.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

First aid weekend with no cheating

An entire weekend gone and I feel like it went by in a blink of an eye. I took a two day standard first aid course this weekend to get re-certified. I was dreading this weekend for the past month because the previous two or three times I took the course it was soooooo boring. I mean, don't get me wrong, I take first aid seriously and I like the content of the course, but usually the instructor is bland and really does not inject any kind of personal insight or fun into their teachings. The instructor I had this weekend was great though... we all had a lot of fun, which in turn made learning (or refreshing) easier.

I realize that I need to add a few things to the first aid kit in the trunk of my car. A blanket, some disposable face shields, some extra triangular bandages, etc. I also need to replace the band aids and gloves I've used out of it. The last pair of gloves I actually used yesterday on my way HOME from the first aid course. A teenager was skateboarding with his friends on the road (bad idea in spring when there's still so much sand and rocks on the road from the winter) and he fell while attempting to do some cool trick to impress his friends. He banged his head and elbow on the road. I stopped and asked if he was alright. He was embarrassed of course but accepted my help when I offered it. I checked his head and his pupils and then cleaned up the scrape on his elbow. Hence the loss of my last pair of gloves and a couple of bandages. He said he was going to go home and his friends all offered to escort him home. I told them to make sure they told his parents that he hit his head in case he had any trouble later on and they swore they would. Anyway, I guess that's why I got re-certified and why I keep a first aid kit in my car. Sometimes you actually use it (on people other than yourself)!

Not much else to report other than the diet is still going well although I still haven't found the motivation to go use the gym. You'd think looking in a mirror or only having four pairs of pants that fit would be enough...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

no title

So, after a week of gorgeous, 10+ Celsius weather, my first day of vacation began with a blizzard. Julie woke me up to drive her to work because it was ridiculously cold and windy. When she opened the door to get out of the car at her work, the door was blown open so fast, we both thought it might just rip off. WTF?! What's with the weather? I want a refund on my vacation!

We've now been at the new place for two weeks and we love it. Well, I love it... Julie probably 90%. There is no easy bus access for her around here yet, so she was kind of stranded at home yesterday when she had the day off and I was at work. She also tells me that the living room area isn't 'cozy' because the television is about three metres away from the couch. I remind her that at the old place, we had the television too close to us (less than two metres away from the couch), but she misses that. I think if we had a larger television, it wouldn't be a problem for her - we currently have a 26 inch flat screen.

When we moved, we decided on 'Sherwood Park Rules', which meant that bad/junk food was not allowed in the house. We have since lost nearly 6 lbs apiece. We have been making really great salads that only take a couple of minutes to make. This is all they include:

1/2 bag of salad greens (w/ carrot, radish, cabbage, celery incl.) from the store
1 tomato
1/4 of a cucumber
1/4 cup of light cheese cubed really small
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

We usually either cut up a few slices of fat free turkey or ham or grill a couple of chicken breasts or fish. The salad has enough flavour to not need salad dressing. Yummy!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Sunday - Mothers Day in England...maybe in Ontario...??!

Jennifer as I type is driving back from a 12 hour roadtrip out West to see a relative who has months to live. Her entire family left on Friday afternoon and drove through the night, a stay in a hotel, family dysfunction and tension multiplied by no sleep and circumstance.....I imagine she will sleep well this evening. Lest I hope she does.

As we are moving next Saturday I took great advantage and packed up the entire place thus she will be able to find nothing for the next few weeks.

Mother's Day in England (how beautiful if Stacey, Angele and Riley welcome Jackson today ;) ) - so I was on Skype a while with the parents...my Mother weepy as I had sent her a powerpoint presentation full of poetry and memories and pictures. Said she cried all over her breakfast, bless her..."Short of you turning up on the doorstep that was the most beautiful thing I could have recieved today"...needless to say there is now pressure to turn up on the doorstep next year....

Poor Jenn.....this storm is sure to slow them down and she has to drop off the family in Sherwood Park first...

Me between packing I've had a blast watching the CNN of Canada - the CBC documentary....we are in a hellish state with allergies, the world is falling apart due to us not concerning the tsunami threat when the great San Fran quake and there's summat else that escapes me. I turned it off and put on a CSI boxset. I like my drama made up not amplified as a possibility and presented with fear...

Mmm. Not a lot else to declare - believed I should 'do my bit' and post as Jenn always urges me too.

jules

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hair

Reason #278 why cutting your girlfriend's hair with ordinary scissors is a baaaaaaaaaad idea: They don't cut hair so well, but holy $%^&@ do they cut skin. Owwwwwwww...

Now I'll be chasing her around the apartment for the next three days with said scissors fixing any obvious errors I made in 'styling'. Luckily I have an easy to please (most of the time) girlfriend. Besides, it's her idea to get me to cut her hair even though I don't know what I'm doing...

Sad Stuff

So sad about Miranda Richardson...

And I found out today that my grandmother (father's mother) has cancer of the everything (started in the colon, moved to lungs and now in her spine) and now has >3 months to live. :( I'm going to see about taking a trip to visit her next month when I have some vacation time. I was able to see her last year when she was here to visit her son/my uncle in the hospital when he was dying of lung cancer. Jesus... cancer sucks. :(

Friday, March 13, 2009

Busy, busy, busy...

Long time since an update... been busy planning the move and running around getting things like touch up paint for the walls in our current place and deciding what to throw and what to move.

I've also been quite absorbed in fanfic again. This time it's... wait for it... The Devil Wears Prada fandom. Miranda/Andrea fic. I normally check The Daily Femslash Newsletter Journal when I'm looking for fic to read because I can't be bothered to search the ends of the Internet world to find something I haven't read yet like I used to. Fantastic resource, I must say. Anyway, I was out of updates and new material on my favourite pairs in various fandoms and I couldn't help but notice the TON of Miranda/Andrea (or 'Mirandy' as they apparently call it) fic on the list. I was kind of repulsed at first thought but then of course curiosity got the better of me and next thing I know I'm reading one or two short M/A fics most evenings. THEN my friend Sandra made the huge mistake of sending me a link to a novel length M/A fic that was soooooo good, I could hardly force myself to go to bed at night and go to work in the morning. It took me seven days to read, it was so long. Julie was a fanfic widow during that time. I should probably be very embarrassed about all of this, but I'm not. I love reading and I love being able to relax after a hard day at work and be carried away by a great story once in a while. At the moment we don't have children and we don't have an otherwise demanding home life in the evening - I say, why not indulge.

With that said, I haven't read any fic in a couple of days and tonight Julie and I rented four movies. We've decided that tomorrow is going to be a movie day (that we've found out will be interrupted a few times for apartment viewings....grrrr...). We're both exhausted from the past week so we could definitely use the lazy day. We rented The Changeling, Tropic Thunder, The Secret Life Of Bees and Blindness. We wanted to get Milk but it they didn't have any copies available, it being Friday night and all.

This evening we had a family dinner at my grandparents' place for my 31st birthday. We also celebrated my grandmother's birthday (which is on the 21st of this month). I know I'm getting older when receiving housewares excites me a ridiculous amount. I received some other really nice things (including hopefully the winning 649 ticket for tomorrow) as well, but I think my favourite things were the tulips Julie gave me this morning (my favourite flower), the card she gave me and the card my parents gave me. I'm also at an age in my life where I get emotional and tear up over stuff I never would have, say, 5 years ago. My mom kept giving me wistful, proud looks which also made me emotional. Julie says it's because I'm her success story. I've moved out, I have a great partner, I have been successful at work and I don't need her help *too* often. I've also grown emotionally a hell of a lot in the past two years, which could be a big reason for it also. Really, she should be giving Julie the proud looks because she's been the biggest driver for that endeavour.

I suppose we'll start one of the movies soon... we had a bit of a delay in getting our night started when we discovered two ladybugs in the living room here. I can hardly type about this... I'm nearly starting to hyperventilate just re-telling it (Julie says I should - that it'd be cathartic). As soon as I saw one, I swore, my blood ran cold and I ran into the bedroom where I then stood scanning everything over and over looking for anything moving while I had a panic attack. Needless to say, I have a ladybug phobia. Outside, I can usually manage to not look like a fool when I see one, but when they're inside my living space, I can't handle it at all. Julie had to thoroughly inspect the entire apartment before I could step foot outside of the bedroom and even then, I still can't cross over to the side of the room that the ladybugs were found. *shudder* Enough about that before I need a paper bag to breathe in. Happy Birthday to me.... of all days to find them in the freakin' apartment.

Lastly, I want to punch the surgeon who operated on my finger. "You should feel immediate relief after the surgery" MY FUCKING ASS. God damn it!!!!! I'm in fucking pain. I hate him. I hate him so much. Compared to before, the pain IS down from excruciating to the point of wanting to die rather than endure it, but not by much. I still can't determine if the surgery was worth it. I really don't know. I've been doing exercises to stretch it out because it gets really tight and painful, but it's really sore and sensitive and it aches like a bitch several times a day. Like right now, it's aching under the nail. I just want to rip it off. I don't even want to see that asshole who did the surgery for the follow up in four months time... unless I take a hammer with me and smash his fucking finger to make myself feel better. Even then... I don't think it'd make mine feel better, so there's little point to it. Oh well, I guess I'll just see how it goes.

I guess that wasn't really lastly...

Three days ago it was -30 C and today it's 8 C. Probably the best birthday weather I've ever had. The snow is melting like crazy and tomorrow there's supposed to be freezing rain before it dips back down to around -7 C for the next week. Blah. I'm so ready for the snow to be gone and spring to show up.

Alright, I think that's enough rambling for one night... as fast as I've become typing without my left index finger, it does make my hand ache.

Timmy's Roll Up The Rim tally for the month:
Coffee's bought = 6
Times won = 2 coffees (one of them today, yay... I credit Stace for that one as she wished it upon me today, thanks!)

Saturday, February 28, 2009

The new des-les-res....a lady writes:

Ah, the desirable, lesbian residence...it's $400 extra a month missy!  And my what she negates to mention....the sauna, the theatre, the steam room, the on site guest rooms, the underground heated parking, the car wash, erm...the gym which is two doors down from us (therefore can not possibly be used unless we have to fold our laundry somewhere)....

It is then with great horror that I sat watching commercials last night (I was unemployed this week you see, it comes with the territory)...and lo and behold...

SCENE:  Two old ladies sitting in high backed chairs reading
NARRATOR:  Experience our theatre
SCENE:  A REALLY old chap stooped over being held up by a pool cue and the pool table
NARRATOR:  Enjoy our ample sized games rooms
SCENE:  Lots of even older people (some possibly dead?) gnashing on supper
NARRATOR: Indulge in the delights of....
SCENE:  Pans out....

ME:  Our EXPLETIVE condo?!?!?!

Yes people, it appears Sherwood Park hosts both young and old.  To be fair this is not our condo more over something similar for the older peeps done the road.  Still...

I shall look for the bath rails aside the bath next we are there.

It's all terribly exciting of course.  We will have a DOUBLE kitchen sink...the microwave comes with the place and all is sleek and black behind the breakfast bar...

Gone will be the days of slumming it student style (though gosh I am brilliant at it and I shall miss it ever so).

My new post and new abode are both so sleek it is though my life just transformed into 2023.  I kid not.  Slumming it in two years will be me not being able to tele-port home or something...the bar has been raised exponentially...


Friday, February 27, 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Home is where the computer is

Julie has found a job in Sherwood Park so seeing as how both of us are working out there now, we decided to go apartment hunting in that area. We found a lovely ground floor condo for rent that is near our both our jobs as well as a great fitness complex, retail, etc. It's $300 more per month but we have 100 more square feet, all new appliances, IN SUITE LAUNDRY, underground parking, way more storage space and a bunch of other cool things. I'm so excited about being able to do laundry whenever I want without having to find $4.50 in loonies and quarters. I'm also excited about having a working dishwasher and stove. Wow. And the bathroom is HUGE compared to the postage stamp sized one we have now. Oh, oh, and a bathtub that isn't rusty and uneven on the bottom. Awesome. :)

We move in on March 28.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Le Chateau... not just for the young folk

We were searching all over for a skirt suit for Julie on the weekend and had nearly lost hope when I decided to look in Le Chateau. Normally neither of us go into places like that (i.e. Bootlegger, Stitches, whatever those other places are called) because they are geared towards teenagers and mayyybe early to mid-20 women with a size 0-12 body. Julie fits the body size but has a much more elegant/professional style (basically it is startling to see her wear a t-shirt once or twice per month). Anyway, we went in LC and found skirt suits and pant suits that not only existed but were on sale! We got Julie one skirt suit and pants to match for only $120. Everywhere else we looked, the suit blazer alone was $130. Freakin' hell... how the hell do people afford to wear non-casual professional clothing at work??

Monday, February 16, 2009

They get younger and younger...

Well, at least they're going to stay in school. I need to tease Julie about this as it comes from the Motherland...

13 and 15 year old parents

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Julie News Network (JNN)

Ah, the trials and trib's of an English broad abroad.  Having walked away from my job at a mental health non-profit organization (due to the mental health issues it was giving me).  I found a great sense of freedom for the first few hours, staring at the wall, looking at the books I could read.   It has been a long week.  I have managed to pick up a two month assignment that pays terribly but will be a nice seg-way back into the 'normal pace' of the workforce.  

In other news, I am excited about New Brunswick.  Last night I was literally crawling out of my skin with itchy feet (terrible imagery and metaphors there - forgive me)...I am yearning to move again...5 years here is far too long...however, Jennifer is here.  So therein was my dilemma.  I realised with her calming words and her patience that it's all about the antsyness of what has happened and since my Russian mob gig ended, I have not really been myself.  I do ache to be watching the twins grow up I must confess but I think once I am back on my feet I know I will be back to my old self somewhat.   I do need a shift in something but I know that the only thing that must shift is my cognitive processing of everything.  As a great advocate of cognitive behavioral therapy I know I should be practicing what I preach.

So there you have it.  Not the most thrilling of posts by yours truly but a post nonetheless (done with a splitting headache which may have to do with the abundance of muffins I have been inhaling since Jenn embarked on some baking, bless her!).  It could also have to do with Jennifer and I highlighting my hair this evening . . . it was quite lovely - we were like 18th century ladies who sew, read ( and er stuff) in the drawing room of some manor (think Jane Austen with lesbians)...except we were doing my hair with a $15 frosting kit and watching old episodes of CSI..oh how times of being a lady have changed.

Until soon - J

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Jobs and such

Julie has spent the weekend applying for various jobs both in the city and in the suburb I work in. We've had several discussions lately about possibly moving out to that suburb and we're leaning towards doing so if Julie gets a job out there. I mean, obviously it wouldn't be practical for her to commute into the city every day. On the other hand, we both like living in the city... not like there is anything lacking where we'd want to move - everything is available and new, etc. And as we discussed last night, it's not like we go out and do a ton of stuff here in the city. We just like the area and like knowing that we could go out and it'd be right there. Yeah, that's kind of dumb...

Anyway, after discussing it with many people including Julie's parents, my mom, our friends, Julie feels she is making the right decision in resigning from her job. She's feeling a bit better about it now although I think what helps the most are the jobs she's applied for in the past three days, knowing there are some irons in the fire so to speak.

Last night I went to Blockbuster to pick up some movies to help Julie take her mind off of things - I picked up Muriel's Wedding, The Emerald Forrest, and The BTK Killer. Julie suggested the first one because of all the ABBA in it and it looked promising but gosh, it was pretty sad and not really as feel good and funny as I expected although it did have its moments. I rented the second one because I remembered watching it as a child but couldn't really remember what it was about. It was okay... a little long towards the end. The last one Julie said she couldn't even get two minutes in to. She fast-forwarded through the first bit to see if it would be watchable but said it was horrible. Oh well, that's the selection you have when you go to Blockbuster at 8:30 pm on a Saturday night.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Breaking News - Julie Wants To Quit Her Job!

No, really.

She's had enough of her Miranda Priestly type boss. The poor girl is putting in 40+ hrs per week (a lot of it work brought home as well) when she's only being paid for 28. Her boss tells her she can't work so much and yet will not stop piling more stuff on her already overfilled plate. I think she/we finally understand why no one in that position has lasted more than a few months and why other people in the company are up and quitting on a weekly basis (not even giving notice... just up and abandoning ship).

She has an appointment with a temp agency tomorrow morning. Hopefully they can find her something decent quick. As much as it will suck to be plunged into more debt (when we haven't even fully recovered from a few months ago), I fully support her decision on this. Her well being is way more important than the money. She is absolutely miserable about this - And this is a girl who is always upbeat (okay, maybe not those couple of days per month when hormones take over, but you know what I'm sayin'...) and loves a challenge and is a VERY hard worker. For her to be defeated like this... that woman must be one hell of a piece of work.

I've asked Julie to blog about it in the next week or so if she's up to it...

Sunday, February 1, 2009

ABBA

So, I guess I've missed out on some good music in my time - I don't think I really started listening to music until I was in Jr. High or somewhere around there. Julie, on the other hand, has listened to music her whole life and knows pretty much every song we hear. A great love of hers is ABBA. Me? I know only their most popular songs... and by know I mean I recognize them but do not know the lyrics beyond the chorus. I have been wanting to watch Mamma Mia for a while now but Julie has not wanted to see it. Being as wonderful as she is though, she picked up a copy from Blockbuster on Friday for me to watch. I loved it! I watched it last night and again this afternoon after which Julie put in her ABBA DVD and gave me a proper ABBA education as she called it. Their videos are HILARIOUS. Wow. I think it's the combination of the outfits and their overuse of close-up and side profile shots. Hee... quite amusing.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Weekend Update

A bit of an overdue update here... I've been avoiding typing like the plague and have only been doing it when absolutely necessary. Actually, I think this is only the second time I've turned my computer on all week (part of that is due to my no longer liking this laptop at ALL because it's now so slow and the fan constantly runs *sniff*)

So, last I mentioned, my finger was quite swollen on Sunday. Well, late Sunday night I couldn't take the pain of the stitch pulling against the swelling so I cut it. I experienced immediate relief but was worried about having cut the stitch five days too early. I basically had a sleepless night and ended up having to call in to work in the morning to say that I needed to get some sleep before I could come in. To put my mind at ease, I went to the medicentre to get my finger checked out. Wow. Don't ever go to a medicentre in Canada on a Monday if you can at all avoid it. Standing room only, y'all. Luckily, I was the only one there needing the suture room, so I got in within 10 min (when I got there, they were telling poor sick peeps that the waiting time was between 2 - 3 hours). Long story short, I had the cut stitch pulled out (OWWW) and had it cleaned and re-dressed. They said it looked good and that the swelling was normal, considering I had had the surgery less than a week before (phew!). All my anxiety was gone and I was very happy. Best of all, they answered all of my questions, something the surgeon should have done.

I am worried that the surgeon did not do a thorough job in removing the tumor though. Just a feeling. I know that I won't be able to tell if the area will be pain free until it all heals up, but I have this fear that once it is that I'll still have a little. This worry is derived from the fact that he told and showed me how he was going to do the surgery but then did it completely different. Oh well, I guess time will tell.

I have been keeping it bandaged well during the day to help protect it from bumps and whatnot - the swelling has mostly subsided and I can bend my finger a little (the joint closest to the knuckle bends now but the one closest to the tip is stiff and swollen still and unmoving). At home I air it out if I'm just sitting (I think this is why I haven't been on the computer for fear of accidentally hitting the keyboard with it) and then I bandage it for bed.

Anyway...

Today Julie and I watched the movie Alive and then walked a few blocks to some neat stores and had lunch at The Manor Cafe which was Julie's treat. The food was really good and in the end we were both pleasantly stuffed. We shared their spinach salad which was amazing. I had their cafe burger which had artichokes, red pepper, lettuce, tomato and some sort of tangy, slightly spicy sauce. It was too big for me to finish but it was delicious. It also came with a small cup of beef barley soup which was also really good. Julie had the manor pasta which was really good from what she said and from what I tasted. She also ended up leaving some because as she put it, "I am K.O.'ed by food." After lunch we stopped at Starbucks where I picked up a decaf latte and a piece of chocolate chip banana bread (which was AWFUL btw... I almost had to spit it out it was so bad. Baked stuff at Starbucks seems to be awful as the norm but since I discovered that their blueberry muffins are edible, I had renewed hope...which has now died once again) and then we went and found a daytimer for Julie to use at work. Thank goodness the daytimer was 50% off because it still cost her $20! It is only slightly larger than a deck of cards! Ah well, she's happy with it and it looks really cute.

We walked home (more like slid home as all sidewalks and streets are sheets of ice after two days of above freezing temperatures) and managed a good half hour of reading before succumbing to a three hour nap during which I dreamt that Nicole Kidman carried our child. I blame the bite of toxic banana bread...

Friday, January 30, 2009

Positive Spin

In an effort to show Julie that I can be a more positive person, I sent her this e-mail on Wednesday based on my day at that point:

Here is my positive spin on my lunch:

“Although this Michelina frozen meal did not even remotely resemble the picture on the outer carton and tasted mainly of salt and carrots, I am pleased that it has served to reinforce my usual choice of the slightly higher priced but significantly better presented and tasteful Smart Ones meals.”


Here is my positive spin on my knocking over my full mug of coffee all over my desk this morning:

“Although many important documents have been soiled and must be re-printed (or in some cases re-written and/or re-created), the wall behind my desk and the floor is now much cleaner. I now see that the cleaning company we use has been cutting corners and I shall make mention to the appropriate persons. I also located the notes from a meeting I thought had been lost. They are now very blurry and mostly incomprehensible, but it is better than no notes at all and relying on my memory.”


Sunday, January 25, 2009

Weekend Adventures (Mishaps)

Yesterday we had plans to pick up two dressers from my mother's cousin's house. My youngest sister has a truck, so I arranged for her to come meet us yesterday at noon. We would go out for lunch and then we would get the dressers. Well... we got as far as lunch and then my sister discovered that she had locked her keys in the truck. We sat in my car and I called my dad and asked him to bring the spare set to us. 40 min later my parents arrive and we are on our way (I took my mom along with us as an alibi for why we were so late). While we had been waiting, I was phoning all the relatives I knew who might have my mom's cousin's phone number - I thought I only had my great aunt's number. Well, after getting to the area she lives in, we discovered that the address didn't exist. After 15 min and about four arguments in the car, we discovered that I did actually have her phone number! I phoned and found out that I had written down the wrong avenue (yeah, still haven't lived that down...). So, we get there and my sister, Julie and my sister's friend load up the dressers. When we're leaving I felt something wet drip on my head. I thought that was strange considering it was about -22 C outside. Well, when we got back to our vehicles I knew what it was. The whole front of my sister's truck and the back of my car was covered in disgusting greenish-black bird poop. Yep, that was lovely trying to one-handedly get that out of my hair...

We got the dressers back to our apartment then packed up our laundry to take to my parents' place. We were spending the night there - my other sister bought an xbox on Boxing Day and wanted to show me the games she had bought but our schedules rarely match up. Anyway, on our way out out of the city, we decided to stop at Starbucks. Julie and my mom went in while I stayed in the car. I wanted to move Julie's bag to the back seat so she would have an easier time getting back into the car with the coffees. I heaved it over over the passenger seat and tried to fit it on the floor behind her seat. Unfortunately the bag hit a nearly full Tim Horton's coffee that either my sister or my sister's friend had left in the cup holder back there. Milky coffee spilled all over the mat behind the driver's seat and the carpet below it. I scrambled out of the car and opened the back door and tried to get the mat out without spilling the coffee on it but that was impossible, especially with a mostly gimpy hand. I poured the coffee off of the mat and waited a few seconds until the residual coffee froze on it. I tossed it in the trunk and tried to sop up the coffee on the carpet. I was trying very hard not to get upset but that didn't work out too well. My mom and Julie got back to the car and asked what happened and I burst out crying. Oh, I didn't mention that I was PMSing, did I... yeah, hormonal nightmare I was in this weekend. Julie told me she'd go and get some carpet cleaning stuff (she ended up buying out the section at Canadian Tire and nearly scrubbed the carpet right down to nothing... I think maybe I shouldn't get so upset next time) and then she showed me the cookie she bought me along with my coffee - I burst out crying again. Sigh... what a day.

My finger is still pretty painful, mostly because the whole finger is really swollen. The swelling is pulling my stitches and goddamn it hurts. I've been soaking it in cold water and I have been keeping my hand up above my heart since the surgery but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like this... probably not. I've been looking online for help but can't find much aside from post-plastic surgery swelling info. Oh well... maybe if it's still like this on Tuesday I'll go to a clinic.

Well, this took me almost an hour to type with one hand... I'm done in for the night!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

cold!!!!!!!!!!!

holy frickin' freezing weather! overnight it went from -5C to -20C with -32C windchill and blowing snow. it was really fun trying to brush my car off with one hand. i can't wear my heavy winter coat right now because i can't get my hand through the sleeve, so i wore my spring coat today with one glove and my scarf wound around my neck. basically i looked awesome, lol.

work wasn't too bad, aside from my accidentally stapling my sleeve to a booklet of papers at one point. luckily the person who unstapled me later locked herself out of her own office and needed my key to get back in so i think my mishap is safe with her. ;)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

lower case ramble

i could barely sleep last night because i could not find a good place for my hand to rest where my bandaged finger would not brush up against anything. i normally fall asleep on my side and then roll onto my back at some point once asleep. well, laying on either side was not going to happen, so i was lying there for what felt like a few eternities before the sleeping aid kicked in. about two hours later i woke up in absolute agony so i took more tylenol 1 and lay there for another eternity before i was able to fall back asleep. i repeated this until 9am when i called the surgeon's office and asked for a prescription for something stronger so i could actually sleep properly. it seemed like they could not believe i was in so much pain but said they would track down the doc to get a prescription. um... wtf? my finger was cut in half length-ways, pulled back, had a mass removed and then got stitched up and my nail reattached. excuse me for having a pain tolerance where a baby aspirin doesn't take all the pain away. that surgeon was such a dick yesterday, it doesn't surprise me that he doesn't offer his patients painkillers. hell, i had to stop him from starting the procedure yesterday because i could still feel everything at the tip of my finger.

me - "wait! i can feel that!"

doc - "really?! even here?" puts down scalpel

me - "yes, i can totally feel that."

doc - "hm... i guess i'll give you another shot."

when he was done, he said "ok, you're done. take the bandages off in four days and get stitches taken out in ten." then he turned and walked away. as he was walking away i said, "thank you. i've waited for this day for 17 years." he turned and muttered, "oh, yeah.." then kept on walking. ah well, despite that jerk we (jules and i) went out for a celebratory lunch afterward while i was still feeling no pain. then i came home and finished watching the first season of 30 rock and started watching the second season (thanks to borrowing them from our gay boy neighbour downstairs). that show is hilarious 95% of the time (tracy morgan gets really annoying sometimes).

i'm waiting for julie to get home... it's boring at home when there are limited things i can do.

i really should have taken more than yesterday and today off work... i'm not looking forward to driving or typing all day with one hand (this took forever to type). oh well, at least i wont be bored.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Of Lesbians and Surgeries

My angel is on the couch post surgery.

What a day. It has been coming for me since the day we met (and I researched it to bits on the 'net)...for Jenn it has been since she was 13. That finger....

A tumour has been causing her immense pain. And today a surgeon who would best be relegated to the, "need some customer service" skills division, removed it. She is in pain as I type...but I have medicated her with 30 Rock, Tylenol 1 and a lot of beer and hard spirits. I know it is ever so wrong but at the same time, the 'lovely' surgeon offered nothing. We shall be I am sure, at the Medicentre at some point in the next week.

Lentil and ham soup is stewing...I am back on the homemade soup business for my beautiful little gimp when she is off work on Wednesday and I have to be a slave to the economy (non profit or not...). Gosh I hope she is in less pain....she has a couple of Ty 3 but those are from 1983 and last measures only.....

In other news....my job is like The Devil Wears Prada but with no fashion... I may have mentioned it...still at four days a week and ten hours a day, I do have three wonderful days (sort of, when I am not being consumed by that not done) left to be me....I have been offered a pay rise so long as I work Fridays (pah! so demanding...hee).

I have booked my flight to Fredericton to see my wonderful ex wife and my wonderful ex girlfriend (who as we know now live in harmony with their GORGEOUS twin girls)...rather Jenn has...it IS true us lesbians from the East Coast are all the L Word. We got an amazing calander of the twins from them, just amazing..I think when I look at them my whole world aligns....I melt. Jennifer has been very amazing to come in to the lesbian family I had of former loves who I still love dearly and she truly meets me where I am at. You know you have a keeper when....smile. Janine and Rachel along with Anna and Catherine are my Canadian family aside from Dandyland (my Dandeneaults!)...that I am seeing them soon....I only wish that Jenn were able to come. I know I will miss her incredibly...

Some great Aunt of Jennifers is now on the line offering us what sounds like a bedroom set! Blimey! I think this means Jennifer is coming out to the family via donated furniture??? Ye Gads.

Until soon,

jules

Friday, January 16, 2009

Warm!

YAY!!!!!!!! Warm weather!!!! It was a gorgeous 5C outside today. The snow was melting like crazy making the streets pretty much soup. The ice melted on the floor mats in the car so I tried taking them out to pour the water out, but they're hard to get out because they're attached to the floor with two hook thingies that are hard to undo... I guess so the mat doesn't slide around and bunch up under the brake pedal or something. *shrug* Anyway, I nearly poured all the dirty water onto the floor of my car instead of outside on the pavement before I managed to unhook it. That would have sucked.

When I got home I nearly got stuck in the parking lot of the apartment building. The stupid couple who maintains the two buildings are so useless. The parking lot NEVER gets plowed, no matter how bad it gets. Last year the entire parking lot flooded really bad because the sewer drain ended up blocked with melting ice. The city had to come and fix it. Next to the sewer drain there were two HUGE pot holes as a result. What did they do to fix them? Filled them in with white landscaping rock. Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. I can't even imagine how bad they're going to be come March.

Last Friday, Julie and I came home around 11:30 pm and found a sign on the door that said the locks had been changed. WTF?! We had to buzz them to let us in - they had placed new keys under every one's door. No explanation given. Then, yesterday we came home to find a new door altogether. The door that was supposed to be replaced last winter because it's broken (it just flew open and shut unless you make sure to hold it as you were opening or closing it). This time we got a piece of paper under our door with a message that pretty much said, "As you may have noticed, we have a new door. Oh, btw, please give back your old key." Um.. okay.

Our lease was up last month... they still haven't brought us our new one. I guess we're living here without being under contract. Cool. I wonder how they plan on getting paid...

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Another week

Let's see... reason why I haven't blogged in the past week in no particular order:

  • Was sick Jan 5 - 8 with some mysterious stomach cramping thing
  • Started writing a SVU fic
  • Had a root canal
  • Slept 15 hours on Saturday
  • Have had doubled commute times due to really crappy weather
  • Super lazy

It's funny, I think of great things to blog about when I'm in the car or at work or just before I fall asleep at night. But not when I'm, y'know, sitting at the computer with the web browser open. I think of a lot of great things when I'm in the car. Maybe that's why some people install computers in their cars! Super dangerous web blogging while at a stop light. Sounds great...

I got a hair cut after work today. My hair was practically half-way down my back and my layers had grown out. I didn't think it looked too bad; I was just annoyed with how it seems to tangle more after and take twice as long to dry once it gets past a certain length. Apparently my co-workers thought differently because for the past two weeks I've had people come up to me asking when I'm getting my hair cut. I ask why and they shrug and mumble, "I don't know... just wondering. It's getting pretty long..." Um, yeah, so? Well, someone better comment tomorrow or else!

I'm watching CSI right now. It's apparently Grissom's last episode. I can't imagine the show without him on it, but the blow is significantly lessened by the addition of fellow Canadian Lauren Lee Smith (aka Lara from The L Word). I guess when Jorja Fox left the show, they needed to fill the gay-lovin' quota.

My mother turned 51 on Sunday. Man, time flies. The family gathered at my grandparents' place for dinner. When dinner was over, my mom, my aunt, my grandma, Julie and my sisters were sitting around the table talking about different things when my sister started telling my mom how she loves her more than me or my other sister. My other sister naturally countered with something else and then I joined in. It went something like this:

"Mom, I was the first one to wish you a 'happy birthday' this morning, so I love you the most."

"Mom, I bought you breakfast this morning so I'm the daughter who loves you the most."

"Okay, but I brushed the snow off of mom's car today, so clearly I love her more."

"Yeah, but I gave her a back massage yesterday."

"Well, I cleaned the kitchen!"

"You're supposed to clean up after yourself in the kitchen anyway, dumbass."

"Yeah, well shut up."

"I clearly love mom the most because I moved out."

"Mom loves ME more because she asked me to move back in!"

"Yeah, that's because you were in trouble and she wanted to keep an eye on you."

"I love mom the most because I got a job working for the same company that she does!"

"Yeah, well so did I. Until I got fired..."

On and on it went until we were nearly in tears from laughing. My mom was highly amused.


And lastly, only five more sleeps until my surgery. I can't wait!!!

Monday, January 5, 2009

Damn PC

My computer is frustrating the hell out of me. I had a friend of mine who used to work for Dell format my laptop yesterday. After it was done, the performance looked promising, but today I received another blue screen error and it's slower. :(

Today is the one year anniversary of Julie and I moving in together. :) Still as happy, if not happier now. I sure feel lucky...


Thursday, January 1, 2009

How it gets done in Britain

 . . . the reason the people stopped charging Jennifer's account was because the conversation Jennifer mentions, went like this:

JULIE:  Hello??Hello?
TELEPERSON:  Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllll howdy!  And how's your day going M'am...hope it's going suuuuuuuupppper.....
JULIE:  (Monotone)  Well seeing as though your company is charging my Visa for things I do not even use, I would say it is not going so bloody super......M'am.  
TELEPERSON:  Ooooooooooooh, so sorry to hear that Mam, please give me your Visa number and we will right that wrong in one wonderful second
JULIE:  (Monotone but now with a little sass and 'British' edge) If you think I am one of those people who will now tell you such information then clearly you are not aware that I know how your scams work, and yes, while I may have inadvertendly signed up for something, I think we both know who is in the wrong here so I would suggest you look me up by my last name and initial only and we shall go from there shall we....and then you are going to tell me exactly which site you obtained this information . . . do I make myself abundantly clear . . . 
TELEPERSON:  Absoooooooolutely M'Am....how's the weather doing where you are...let me just one second....oh my....yes indeeeeedy....okay M'Am....

I did not blame Teleperson who likely can find no other employment and loathes it as much as we do, but the marvellous way she spoke to me was priceless.  I love how these companies suggest they are a huge, incredible places that are wonderful to work for (as they are working for YOU afterall...aHem) and yet really it is just four people in a shipping container in Montreal nipping out for ciggie breaks every 10 minutes and drinking way too much coffee....

One of the charges Jenn had could not be reached due to their..."Abundance of services our operators now work in our many departments...which you can find on our website" (or some such, which can not be found on their professional looking site).  You see, I have a website under construction (not for naughty purposes) and I know how darn easy it is to make one person look like 50. 

So yes.  There you have it.  Lesbian in shining armour, coming to my tender-heart's rescue with a clipped English accent and a slight case of PMT....if you care to have your Visa charged monthly I could do the same for all of you know...should you ever need it, which you never will....


New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!

With the year all shiny and new, I've been thinking about what the next 12 months will hold. This month will involve a root canal and surgery for my finger (yay!). March includes my 31st birthday (nudged fully into my 30's now). The end of May and beginning of June has Julie flying to New Brunswick (her first Canadian home town) to see her ex-wife and ex-girlfriend and her 2 year old twin girls. This year hopefully has some sort of trip that both Julie and I take, whether close by or a plane trip away, we're determined to go some place together for once. Actually, she really wanted me to go to New Brunswick with her, but unfortunately she's going right at fiscal year end at my work and with everything that goes with that, there's pretty much no way I would get time off approved.

I've made a decision to stop drinking alcohol as much. Not that I was overdoing it by any means, perhaps a bottle of wine or a six pack of beer every two weeks. It's just really expensive and carb-filled and I really don't want it to become a habit where on the weekend I'm at the liquor store. It's no help for stress, even though it feels like it at the time, and it's not a substitute for a sleep aid or painkiller. Anyway, I want to cut back on that...

I'm not making a resolution to eat better or to lose weight (both of which I need to do) because I don't want to set myself up to fail that expectation of myself. Instead, I've made a resolution to use up all of the food that comes into the house - including leftovers, that bag of salad that ends up sitting on the bottom shelf, the bag of carrots that get forgotten, etc. This, in a way, forces us to eat a little better. We're already bringing good things home from the store, but sometimes those good things end up forgotten or seem too high maintenance on a weekday evening when all we want is something fast. We've been trialing this for the past week and it's been working. We've both been cooking more and been more creative in the process. It's been kind of fun, actually. :)

I'm also going to get out of the apartment more and inject myself in social settings. Whether it's walking down a trendy avenue with cool shops and coffee bars or just walking around looking at things. I drive 25 minutes to work in the morning and 35 minutes home in the evening and I do not see what's happening around me. I see the car next to me and the pedestrian about to cross in front of me and the gas station sign I glance at to see what the price per litre is this week... but I don't see anything. The Telus building downtown always has Christmas lights on it... four or five outlines of Christmas trees that blink on and off at different intervals... it's one of the things that marks the holiday season for me... but this year, I've barely been able to glance at it as I drive by it EVERY DAY. Why? I'm driving on a long, three lane icy bridge in rush hour traffic and cannot take my eyes off of my lane for more than two seconds to glance to the side and marvel at the sight. Finally, about a week ago, I was on the other side of the river, stopped at a light, and I could see it straight ahead of me on the other side of the river bank. For those 10-15 seconds, I stared at it and got to see all the light sequences. It made my whole day. Now, of course you ask, 'why the hell didn't you make a point of going out to see it before then?' Well... really, it wasn't a conscious thing until that moment at the stop light. So anyway, I want to become more pedestrian in 2009.

Today, Julie and I went to Best Buy and picked up season 3 of Criminal Minds. That show is such a guilty pleasure. I also picked up the 3rd volume of the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons. I loved Tom and Jerry when I was a little kid. I actually cannot believe my parents let me watch it but I suppose it was different time then (gosh, am I that old that I can call my childhood a 'different time'? Yeesh). The package actually has a warning that it's for the Adult Collector and not for children. And then on the discs themselves, there is a full screen, well-worded disclaimer about the content. Watching the first three shorts on the first disc, I can totally see why they needed it and why they updated Tom and Jerry to fight in a much less violent manner (and speak).

Off to bed... work in the morning. Blah... oh well, at least I have weekends back. :)