grown-up endeavours

Here comes the snow...

2011-11-12T22:55:00.001-07:00

I knew it had to come sooner or later but it still sucks to wake up to snow all over the ground. On Thursday and Friday it was drizzling on and off so I knew we were either going to wake up to a skating rink or snow. I think we ended up with a mixture because I almost wiped out in the parking lot at the bank this afternoon. Time to dig out the winter boots, I guess.

Today we went and found some storage place for our furniture, books, kitchen stuff, etc. for the next 9-12 months. We don't have a ton of stuff so the 10 x 15 space we got will be more than enough. I wanted enough space so things wouldn't be ridiculously crammed together in case we needed to access something in a box or something because it never fails, you pack something thinking you absolutely will not need it and then two weeks later you're climbing over chairs and tables looking for it.

While we were signing the paperwork for the storage unit, we were treated to Christmas music over the radio. I'm not sure which radio station is playing Christmas music already but come on... really? On the 12th of November? No wonder people are sick of the holiday season by mid-December. And now that I've thought back to this and typed it out, I have Last Christmas by Wham! in my head again. Ugh...

Update on the baby daddy donor saga - We are having potential donor and his partner over next Saturday evening for a face-to-face meeting. I'm not normally nervous about meeting people but I am definitely nervous about this. I think I'm mostly nervous about it because the donor is a minister and his partner is in the same field. That and they have about six or seven degrees between the two of them. I'm sure it'll be fine. If it isn't, we'll find someone else.

Next Steps

2011-11-08T07:18:00.002-07:00

We have decided to swallow our pride and make a move not everyone is fortunate to have available... move in with my parents for 9-12 months and save money like crazy.

We are currently saving for a down payment on a house of some sort but the saving progress is slow due to us already paying $1300 in rent a month plus utilities. If we want to expedite our goals a bit (especially the baby one) we have to move out of our adult-only condo and into some place that allows children but if we do that, we get no closer to our other goal, to own a place of our own. The solution for now - move in with mom and dad, pay less rent and as my mom put it 'sock away money!'.

Now of course this plan has its downside... Having to handle family on a daily basis in a crowded home with a dog and a cat and noise and further away from work. Not to mention less freedom and space. That will be a big adjustment. But the upside is huge - the chance to save a down payment, pay down some other debt while probably trying for a baby is too good to pass up.

I guess in this day in age, it's not completely shameful to move back in with mom and dad. At least I hope it's not. Sigh...

Now, regarding the whole baby donor thing...

We both feel that we want the (free) donor to be someone who wants to be known as the father but not be involved in the capacity of a parent. I want a child who knows she or he has a father named ____ and he lives ____ with ____ and the child can make father's day cards or get a call or visit on special occasions or the odd Sunday. We know children who have this type of 'donor' and it has worked out wonderfully. I know there is the odd horror story out there about arrangements like this turning ugly but sometimes you just have to have faith, I suppose.

There is a front runner right now that we are exchanging messages and pictures with and I think it might actually work out. We'll see how a face-to-face meeting goes... That'll probably happen in the next couple of weeks.

Fall

2011-11-06T19:03:00.001-07:00

To say I've been busy during the transition at work would be an understatement. My computer time has been greatly reduced and if not for my iPhone I would probably not have kept up on anything in the past five months.

Last month Jules and I took a six day vacation to Victoria to get away from long hours and and de-stress a bit. It was one of the most perfect vacations ever... like a honeymoon actually. Perhaps it was fitting then that we got engaged while we were there.

No, there isn't a great tale on how we got engaged. It was a moment typical of the two of us in the middle of a crowd in a nonchalant way that I will remember for the rest of my life.

So, the other week we were both at the doctor's office getting prescription refills and whatnot and we decided to go in together since we see the same doctor and our appointments were only 10 min apart. We mentioned at some point that we were looking at trying for a child in the next couple of years. The doctor was pretty blunt when she basically said, 'Well, you better figure that out soon because you'll be 34 next year and your fertility rate starts dropping at that point' etc., etc... Which kind of knocked us both out of our 'we'll figure it out one of these days' mentality. Jules signed us up on a website to find a local donor and we've been trading messages with some really nice guys. We'll see what happens... When it comes to family/life planning a person could probably plan for their entire life and never be entirely ready for everything. :)

Change

2011-05-29T10:34:00.003-06:00

So, last Monday I was enjoying a lazy Victoria Day with Jules, watching movies and relaxing when I got a phone call from my boss at work asking that I come in a bit early the following day. I asked why and she said everyone was coming in and that she couldn't really tell me why.

Um... Yeah, she might as well have just said 'the business has been sold and/or will be closed down' because that's all any of us were thinking for the rest of the day and all freakin' night.

Sold ended up being the right answer and boy will it be a change. Going from working for a very large company to a smaller, less structured company is quite an adjustment. I don't even know how huge that change is yet because all week was spent just trying to regain control on the various components that keep the plant running. Honestly, this past week has been the most stressful week of my entire life. There is nothing like fighting with the old company to regain control of seemingly simple tasks (like, say, ordering materials!!) while simultaneously being shadowed by the new company because they need to understand our processes. I like the new company and the people I've met and I understand why they need to be there right now but it was stress overload. To top it all off, it is the old company's fiscal year end this weekend so on Friday I was trying to reconcile items to close that off but didn't have access to all the tools/programs to do it AND something was all fucked up in the numbers. Oh, add to that the fact that I was supposed to be in two meetings at the same time that were both mandatory... I was so upset I nearly threw up and burst into tears at my desk. I could hardly eat my stomach hurt so much. Every night I came home and just sat on the couch and stared off into space or sat in a hot bath for a couple hours before going to bed ridiculously early.

Luckily, I live with an amazing woman who took on the cooking, cleaning and support this week and weekend. She does not enjoy cooking but this week she was checking out recipes and we went shopping for the ingredients yesterday and she made an incredible vegan dinner and dessert for us last night. I nearly tear up just thinking about all she's done for me this week while I've been a stressed out zombie.

So, a lot of unknowns right now in regards to work but hopefully in a few weeks/months this will all be just a... well, painful memory. It's hard to change companies when not by choice... Work is my 9 hr relationship Monday to Friday... to have to change allegiance so suddenly (after 10 years) and try to adjust on the fly, it's mentally exhausting. Hopefully next week is better...

Experimenting with a vegan diet

2011-05-20T21:40:00.005-06:00

Two weeks ago, I decided to switch to a vegan diet for a yet-to-be-determined period of time.

I've been asked several times in the past two weeks why I have 'gone vegan' and so abruptly. That is quickly followed with 'how are you going to get protein' and 'why are you wearing leather shoes then?' Yeah, I said vegan diet not straight up vegan. I'm honestly not doing this for the animals or the environment - I'm doing it because the skin on my face felt irritated constantly and frequently broke out with adult acne. I felt like garbage after eating yogurt, a dairy product I love to eat as a mid-day snack and cook East Indian dishes with. I was passing the meat section of the grocery store thinking, 'Well, I should pick up some kind of meat for this week' and then looking around and going 'ugh... we'll pass this week'.

Now, that's not to say I don't like meat on occasion. I really enjoy a good steak. Same with ham and bacon and lamb and eggs, dairy and shellfish. I just don't enjoy them as much as I used to. Skin irritation and indigestion aside, I don't feel the need to include most of these things in my daily meals. In the case of meat, I have a theory on why I've gradually become disenchanted with it. Up until two years ago (when I made a huge shift in the healthy direction food-wise) I would prepare or order meat in a meal at least once per day (always dinner, usually lunch and sometimes breakfast on the weekend). I learned from my family that a complete meal included meat. I also learned from my family how to season meat - heavily. Barbecue sauce, steak seasoning, chicken seasoning, fish seasoning, all containing a ton of salt and usually MSG. Two years ago I threw out all seasonings I had in the cupboard with MSG and salt. The result was less flavourful than it used to be but we got used to it and eventually became quite sensitive to food that had a lot of sodium in it. It was at this time that meat started dropping off the dinner menu one or two times a week. A year went by and meat started to be a two or three times a week fare. This year chicken and beef pretty much dropped off the radar (with the exception of a monthly steak). Pork stuck around but only because I had a whole package of pork chops from Costco in the freezer and let's face it, some days are really lazy cooking days. Less tasty seasoning = less tasty meat. Healthy eating has some casualties, I guess.

I'm going to stop rambling now (I'm slowly losing my train of thought because I'm watching Real Time with Bill Maher - he's interviewing Amy Chua, the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) and just say that within two days of switching to a vegan diet the skin on my face started looking awesome and my acne rescinded quite fast. For the first time in forever I have found it easier to fall asleep (usually I can't fall asleep unless I'm exhausted) and the quality of sleep at night has improved to the point that I can drag my sorry self out of bed after only hitting the snooze button once instead of the usual four or five times. I feel full longer during the day and I haven't been snacking in the evening. Despite eating more things like rice than I normally do, I've continued my weight loss. I'm still tracking through Weight Watchers and I find I'm using a few of my weekly flex points every day. Meanwhile I'm continuing to research recipes, medical studies and guides for this kind of diet because I don't want to miss out on any important nutrients. I honestly don't know how long I'll continue strictly with this diet (despite how much better I feel) because let's face it, some of my favourite things are made with dairy or egg product or honey, etc., but I think I'll be sticking with it for a while yet. It's like an experiment and hobby rolled into one right now. :)

More Cleaning (It is Spring time, after all...)

2011-05-01T08:57:00.007-06:00

I'm not sure how, but I've taken out six big black garbage bags full of stuff in the past week and yet our small apartment looks exactly the same. No wonder hoarders don't know where to start or give up several times!

Of course our apartment is kept fairly clean and organized so it's not like this stuff was lying around out in the open or anything. I re-organized and cleaned the kitchen cupboards. I donated non-perishables I no longer wanted (i.e. the box of microwave popcorn I shouldn't have around because I always tell myself I will only eat half the bag but I end up eating the entire thing because it's hard to have willpower when it comes to popcorn) to my mom and dad's kitchen pantry. I also got rid of some knives - for some reason we had accumulated a ridiculous amount of knives in all sorts of styles/varieties. I also got around to throwing out the nearly empty bags of cereal. You know when you're at the bottom of a box of cereal and there is almost enough for a bowl but there's also an inch of cereal dust so you keep it to use what's left when you open the new box... but you never go back to that little bit in the bag, you just keep using the new box. So, yeah, I had four of those nearly empty bags of various cereals thrown in the back of the cupboard. At least I have my bag clips back, I was wondering where they had gone.

I also tackled my side of the clothes closet. I'm in between sizes right now so some of my shirts look ridiculous on me while others are loose but still passable to wear. I pulled out all of the baggy stuff and some of my shorts that I know I'm never going to wear again. I got a little scared because it now looks like I have barely any clothes but when I think about it, the clothes I got rid of were just hanging there keeping the clothes I actually do wear company. I really should purchase some new articles of clothing at some point this year because I really am lacking but if I'm going to go down another clothing size or two this year, I don't want to waste the money. At least I'm lucky that I wear a lab coat all day at work so it isn't obvious that I wear the same stuff every week!

I went through my books to see if there was anything I could get rid of but I only picked out a few. We went through our books last fall and got rid of probably half a bookcase worth so there wasn't much to go through this time.

I rearranged our living room area back to how we had it last year. Julie may have a problem with that when she gets home tomorrow night but I'll fight her on it. She had the couch perpendicular to the television so nobody wanted to sit on it because of the angle. We'd end up sitting on a foot stool in front of the television or on the floor. So yeah, that was dumb even if it looked nice. Sometimes functionality has to beat style.

I think there are a few other things I can throw out or donate before Julie gets home. She's been texting me this week saying she's missing our nice clean and organized apartment and our quiet life (she's staying with people that have four year old twin girls). Oh, yeah, she's decided she doesn't want to go through with the child thing anymore and I'm sure her stay with these people has probably reinforced that decision. Her and I are at a crossroads now because of this and I'm not sure where it will be leaving us. Weeks of thinking on it has not helped me resolve anything in my mind so not sure what our next step will be.

Cleaning

2011-04-22T14:59:00.002-06:00

I was thinking this morning, 'hm... how do I motivate myself to give the apartment a really good clean?' - you know, those jobs that get put off until last - cleaning baseboards, cupboard doors, dusting picture frames and ceiling vents, etc. Stuff you don't really notice until you're sitting there and suddenly realize the thermostat has a carpet of dust on top.

I decided to go with the motivator that never fails - inviting people over for dinner. Now I can't seem to stop myself from cleaning. By the time they get here, I'm going to be ready for a nap.

Random thoughts and questions to myself from this evening

2011-04-21T21:12:00.004-06:00

If you're going to stand in the change room at the gym talking on your cell phone, you can at least do it without glancing around at all of the people around you changing with a distasteful look on your face. Yeah honey, you ain't that great looking either.

I quite enjoyed watching the men running by me on the track this evening. Where do I fall on the gay/straight spectrum?

Is Twitter really something I need to get into? I'm pretty sure I have enough distractions, despite being occasionally witty.

Should I pay $5.99 to watch The King's Speech on VOD even though I saw it in the theatre? Um, yes, I should. I loved that movie.

Making mini pizzas on pita bread always makes me think of Stacey. The thought never occurred to me until she introduced me to them 3+ years ago. Thank you, Stace - You make dinner easy for me several times a month. That's what I had this evening. :)

Speaking of Stacey... I miss my friends. :(

Julie told me to look after our babies (two shamrock plants) while she's away. One of the plants looks like it's almost dead and the other one, RIGHT beside it looks totally healthy. Clearly that plant loves Julie more than me.

I hate the week before my period. I want to eat EVERYTHING (or as I call it, 'eat the house'). Ugh... Weight Watchers doesn't have enough weekly points to cover that kind of disaster. It ends up being a 'vacation week'.

I love the vegetarian chili I make so much, I think I could eat it every day. Too bad my freezer can't handle more than a few containers at a time or I'd really go to town. 4 pts for a bowlful that totally fills me up. Mmmmm... And of course with soaking/rinsing the beans thoroughly, there are no, um, unpleasant side-effects. :)

Sometimes I wish I didn't work at a food processing plant. I miss being able to wear jewellery (especially earrings and necklaces) all the time and nail polish and have my hair look as good at the end of the day as it did at the beginning (darn hair nets and bump caps). Oh, not to mention sandals and capris. :(

My mom is such a nut. She went to Wal-Mart and freaked out when she couldn't find her favourite sugar free butterscotch candies. She went on and on about how they aren't sold in Canada anymore and I'm thinking, 'I swear I saw them at Rexall the other day when I was buying other sugar free candy for my diabetic friend for Easter...' and told her she's probably mistaken about that and that I was sure other stores still carried them. My mom flat out refused to believe that however and my sister tells me today that she ordered an entire case of them from the United States. I went to Rexall to pick up some waterproof band aids after work (wary of having my healing finger in the public swimming pool...ugh) and sure enough hanging by the cash register, an entire row of these sugar free butterscotch candies. And there is my proof that our mothers occasionally do not always know best. ;)

Home Alone

2011-04-20T22:04:00.002-06:00

Julie is in New Brunswick for two weeks so I'm on my own at the moment. It is very strange to be the only person at home; I almost forget how to be by myself! The television is not on if I don't want it to be on and nobody minds if I'm on the computer for a while. Nobody is waiting for dinner to be made and nobody cares if the dishwasher ran or the laundry is done...

Hm... Yeah, after two days of this, I'm over the thrill. :(

I bought her an iPhone last week (early b-day present) after her mp3 player broke. She's taken to the new technology like a house on fire... she's twittering, texting, watching netflix, skyping, reading books, playing scrabble and using the iPod all the damn time! I think my iPhone is jealous of all the attention hers is getting. The Facetime feature is AWESOME for keeping in touch - basically it's skype but without the constant 'You froze... Should we restart? No? Hello? Oh, there you are... Yep, still frozen but I can hear you...' We did the Facetime thing this evening and it was fantastic. The only downside to that is both people have to be hooked up to wifi at the time, it doesn't work over 3G. So between that and texting, I guess I'm not really that lonely after all. :)

This evening I watched a couple of episodes of Hoarders: Buried Alive on TLC. One thing I don't understand (and believe me, I understand everyone is different and I don't know how it feels to actually live in a house with a hoarder) is why do the other adults living in these houses not put up a fight and challenge the hoarder? Why are there always these grown up kids that yell at their mom for being a hoarder but they're sitting on their lazy ass in front of a computer? Trash all over the floor... rodents running around... holy hell... I would get out a trash bag!!! Mom? You don't like this? Tough!! I'm throwing out the 48 slurpee containers you have stacked beside the bathroom sink(?)!!

Of course the ones that have OCD, that's a whole other story and usually requires a much different approach. I'm talking about the ones that are just suddenly shocked one day that their house is packed full and they don't know where to begin. But again, it is easy to criticize having never been in something like that. I always think of the one episode where the young boy ended up moving himself out to the back shed to live in a sleeping bag because his parents had his room crammed with stuff. Or the guy who refused to at least clean up the staircase after his wife tripped over a stack of magazines and broke her leg on the way down. Sometimes it's heartbreaking. :(

On that note, I'm off to tidy up the kitchen.

Fingers, movies and freezers...

2011-04-03T19:19:00.008-06:00

Hm.... Earlier today I either did something, saw something, or thought something that made me think, 'Ooooh, I want to blog about that.' Do you think I can remember it now? Nope. However, I decided to update anyway. And my GOD, this time I'm bookmarking the site so I'll come back to it more often.

Where to begin... Apparently typing without using my left index finger is like riding a bike... Then again I've had to type that way for 6 - 7 months twice before so I suppose it is a talent that will stick around for a while. I had yet another surgery on my finger a week and a half ago (third time's a charm?) and I thought it would take me a while to get back to typing this way but thankfully that wasn't the case. Easing back into work has been much easier than the last two times. I worked a few hours on Wednesday, half a day on Thursday and most of the day on Friday. This week I expect to work my full 40 hrs without getting wiped out. It's crazy how surgery really saps a person's energy.

The surgeon was pretty happy with how it went this time, compared to last time when he basically said, 'Well, hopefully that helped some but don't expect much.' This time, right before the surgery I told him, 'Look, I don't care if I come out of this with a finger that looks hideous and deformed. Hell, I don't care if I wake up and my finger is gone. I'm aware that a career as a hand model is out of reach at this point... Do whatever you have to do to get me as close to pain-free as you can.' Apparently that was the pep talk he needed because I woke up with my finger looking like it belonged to Frankenstein. He was almost apologetic when I saw him for the follow-up visit last week as he explained that he ended up removing more bone and most of my nail bed to get out the damn tumor. Evidently I will have a pretty hideous finger once this is all healed up. As long as this is the last surgery for a long time, I couldn't care less. :)

Anyway, enough boring finger news...

(not like the rest of my life is that much more exciting...)

This weekend has been very low key and restful here. We've watched a lot of movies and most were pretty good, only one made us wish we could erase our minds and wish we could have that time back:

Deliverance - I had never seen this movie before though I knew it was some sort of back woods horror-type movie. AMC was playing it all evening on Friday so I decided to watch it. For a movie made in the early 70's, it still has the ability to disturb the de-sensitized people of today. When Burt Reynolds' character ends up with a broken leg, I actually got nervous thinking, 'Who is going to get them out of there now?? They are screwed!!!'. I don't think this is a movie I could watch for a while but I thought it was very well done.

Black Swan - Ugh... Disturbing, disgusting, uncomfortable, infuriating, boring... Deliverance was nothing compared to how gross and creepy this one was. We actually had an argument half way through the movie yesterday because Julie wanted it turned off and I wanted to get through it to see if it eventually became decent. It is not often that I hate a movie this much but this one is definitely in my top five worst of all time. Mila Kunis was very appealing though, that's the one highlight I enjoyed. Julie won't even talk about it, I think she's been scarred for life.

Daybreakers - I put this one on last night expecting it to just be a background noise while I played on Facebook but from the beginning I was hooked and when it ended, I was actually disappointed that it was over already. I really enjoyed it and I think I might watch it again before it is taken off of Movie Central. I think I might have a crush on Ethan Hawke... the man is beautiful. :)

Point Of Origin - This was a made-for-TV movie from about 10 years ago that Julie found somewhere on cable. It starred Ray Liotta and John Leguizamo and is about an arsonist that they are trying to find but ends up being a fireman. Not bad but a little predictable.

Love and Other Drugs - This one started out nice and cute but then got pretty heavy for a rom-com and kind of flat lined. I kind of wished I had waited for it to get on Movie Central instead of paying $4.99 for it.

Eat Pray Love - This one I watched earlier in the week. I did not expect to like it at all and only put it on because I was all drugged up and needed something to stare at one day but I ended up loving it. I watched it two days in a row. I think I would like to also read the book. I now understand why this was made into a movie.

I have also totally fallen in love with The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO. It is an animated show based on the record-breaking pod casts from a few years back. I love shows that make me actually laugh out loud. I ended up ordering the first season off of Amazon.ca so that I can watch it whenever. Absolutely hilarious and brilliant and just thinking about it makes me want to log off and watch an episode. :)

Now totally changing the topic... I wish we had enough space in our small condo apartment to have a small chest freezer. The fridge freezer is packed full right now and because of that things aren't freezing properly. :( I like to make batches of things like spaghetti sauce, chili and stew and so that takes up a lot of space and then I have some Weight Watcher Smart Ones for last minute lunches for work and then there are the bags of frozen fruit and vegetables. Totally packed. I hate it. I don't want to stop making batches of stuff because doing that is a godsend some nights (or this past week when I haven't been able to cook and Julie has been left in charge of preparing the food...) I can't wait until the day we can move into our own place... sigh...

Speaking of Weight Watchers, I've been doing that for the past two months. The online membership, not going to meetings. I think if I couldn't use the online tools, I wouldn't be as diligent in keeping track. There are also a lot of great resources online (member boards, recipes, articles, recipe builder, etc.) that make it easier. I'm currently at my lowest weight in about five years so I'm pretty happy with how it is going. My sister started in October and has lost 40 lbs so far. I don't remember the last time she was this slim. Absolutely amazing.

[Edited to put spaces between the paragraphs... what the heck? I never had to do that before! Very annoying...]

Playing with the phone

2010-12-23T21:37:00.002-07:00

I received my Christmas presents from Julie a week early this year. Ever since we visited Julie's parents in October, I've wanted a bread maker. Julie's mom makes great bread and it tastes way better than store bought (mainly because homemade has less sugar). On Friday we were at the mall to buy Julie's Christmas gift (she picked out these cool knee high leather boots) and we stumbled upon the Zellers blowout madness event literally when the doors opened. I couldn't believe the crowd that had been waiting to get in! Anyway, Julie Scored an awesome bread maker for 50% off and I picked up Christmas pjs for us.

As for the new phone, I've been complaining for a while now that I pay $55/mo for just a voice plan on a plain Jane phone. I rarely used it so I finally decided either I cancel it completely or get a fun phone that I can access the Internet on. Fun won out and Julie found me an iPhone 4. The plan I'm on now is $60/mo so For $5 more I get the Internet and now evenings start at 6 pm. Sweet. I'm enjoying the phone so far and my family is happy that I'm finally answering all the calls that come in. : )

A race to lose

2010-12-04T18:29:00.002-07:00

My mother and sister recently joined Weight Watchers. Since I'm tight on money and cannot afford the join-up and meeting fees, I follow along more or less with them using online websites that have the calculators and points lists. About a week after they started WW, I received my next surgery date (will be #3 for my stupid finger) in March 2011. As much as I'm glad I'm having the surgery, I'm terrified of being put under again because I was so sick after the last time. The very first time I ever had a surgery (for my smashed nose/sinuses) I had a meeting with the anesthesiologist and was told that it's harder to get the dosage of drugs accurate the heavier the patient is. This can cause side effects like severe nausea or even death. That surgery was a breeze though and I was not sick at all afterward. However, since then, I have not had good experiences. This got me thinking about what I can do to reduce the chance of getting really sick off of the anesthesia and I realized if this can't motivate me to lose some more weight, nothing will. Plus, this is a short term goal rather than a long term goal so it's easier to keep focus on it (in theory).

After I decided to set a goal of losing as much weight as I can before the end of January (I chose the end of January because I have to get a physical sometime in February before the surgery and they will take the weight on that paperwork as what I am at the time of the surgery) I decided that I could keep even more on track if I had others losing with me. Since my mother and sister started WW, I asked them if they wanted to have a competition as to who could lose the largest percentage of weight by the end of January. I wasn't sure if they would go for it, especially considering there is no prize except bragging rights, but they did. Every Saturday (after their WW meeting and weigh-in) we compare where we are in our journey. Having the competition is actually benefiting all three of us because I know my sister has started going to the gym for some work-outs because my mom is beating both of us and she wants to beat me to the 100's (right now I'm 205 lbs and she's 203 lbs). In four weeks the three of us have lost a combined 37 lbs. They've each lost 14 lbs and I've lost 9 lbs.

Last week and the week before I had been getting up early and using the Wii to do The Biggest Loser workouts but this week has kicked my ass at work so I've been sleeping in this week figuring it's probably better if I get some more sleep to combat the stress. Still lost 1 lb this week and I didn't eat any junk or drink alcohol so I think I did well. That hasn't stopped me from thinking about going to the liquor store every day after work though... but I know if I stop by once, I'll end up going back again later in the week and then again the following week, etc., etc. and I don't need the extra calories nor the headaches nor the false feeling that alcohol helps after a hard day. I think that's what I'm afraid of the most, so I want to keep it as a treat rather than a numbing agent during the busy season.

Julie put up our Christmas tree today and I decorated it. She decorated the bookshelves with random Christmas stuff we have (i.e. a book showing the Christmas story as illustrated with legos, a singing and dancing snowman, a St. Nicholas that lights up, our stockings, another book about Christmas, a Grinch snow globe, etc.). Later tonight or tomorrow we will watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation which is our tradition (this is our fourth Christmas together so I guess we can have bonafide traditions now).

I decided to make my family Christmas gifts this year rather than buy stuff because I just can't spend much this year. I have seven family members to make gifts for and after thinking about it for a few weeks I decided to do the same thing for everyone. I bought glass frosting and stencil stuff from Michaels and wine glasses from Ikea. I've been making personalized wine glasses for each family member for the past week. The ones I've done so far look so cool and I'm really happy with how they've turned out. I think my family will really like them considering they're all wine drinkers and whenever we get together there are always abandoned glasses of wine because nobody can remember who put down what glass where (possibly too much wine, ha ha..). Plus nobody has any kind of glasses that are personalized so this will be a new novelty for them all.

I am going to put each personalized glass in a gift bag and with it a bottle of wine (red or white, depending on preference - luckily we're all cheap wine drinkers!). I will also include some baking that I'm going to do that will be packaged up in cool Christmas baking bags I found somewhere. Everyone will also get a tree decoration that Julie and I are going to make (we haven't gotten to those yet) and Julie is painting each person a little picture. It's been pretty fun working on it so far so I'm hoping the gifts will be well received!

Julie has the television on TLC which is showing this special on people who take outdoor Christmas decorating to a whole other level. They make the Griswold house look like nothing... holy cow. Their power bills must be insane!!!

On that note I'm signing off... still fighting off the last of a bad cold. Time for some cough medicine!!

Update

2010-06-03T18:58:00.002-06:00

Alright, so I'm the worst at updating. Probably because my life is pretty boring...

In the past couple of months, Jules and I have started to address the issue of finding a donor in order to get this baby plan in motion. It's too expensive for us to buy sperm so we've been looking at our list of guy friends to see if any would be a) suitable and b) willing to be a donor. Finding someone who would be willing to father a child and be known as 'dad' to the child but not be super involved in our lives. Piece of cake, right? (This is another moment where I ask the homophobes out there, why the hell would anyone CHOOSE to be a homosexual and make their lives this hard...)

Anyway, there may be a potential person for this endeavour of ours. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll know for sure. :)

As for other things, we're still eating quite healthy and exercising. Jules is doing better than I am and has lost about two pants sizes. I was doing amazing until I had a business trip at the end of April and was forced off the wagon. Oh my god is it hard to get back to exercising (and eating 100% healthy). I'm still losing weight/inches but it's slower going because I have the occasional slip-up and haven't found the exercise groove I had before I went away for that week. Oh well, clearly the key is not giving up, which I haven't and that's why I'm still seeing some results. :)

Blah... birthday rant/complaining/feeling sorry for myself

2010-03-14T12:32:00.004-06:00

I suppose the danger to eating a certain way for a long period of time is that when you are forced to revert back to eating something you normally don't, it tastes horrible.

Last Saturday I woke up with a really sore neck and left shoulder. By Tuesday night, I could tell it was really 'out' so to speak. I had wanted to get a chiropractic adjustment on Monday but the chiropractor was sick until Wednesday. So on Wednesday I had no choice but to stay home (combination of not being able to sit for more than five minutes at a time and the fact that I slept for maybe an hour Tuesday night) and when I saw the chiropractor he adjusted the hell out of me and told me there was little chance that I'd be mobile enough to work the following day. True enough, I had to stay home on Thursday because I was still too sore and was practically bedridden. I was feeling the muscles loosen a bit by Thursday evening and so I medicated myself and went to work on Friday (thankfully a co-worker with a new, taller backed chair let me use his for the day - I swear that was a difference between me making it through the work day...). My birthday was yesterday and because Julie and I are eating healthier, I invited the family over to our place for dinner/cake. I had wanted to showcase my new cooking talents but with a really sore back and neck, there isn't a whole heck of a lot a person can really do. We ended up getting hamburger patties and buns and a fruit tray from Costco and I got veggie patties for Julie and I. I called my grandmother and asked if she would bring over some potato salad (she makes the BEST potato salad) and I was determined to make a batch of curried coleslaw (which I would have a picture for if I ever transfer pics off the camera to update my other blog...). Friday night, I medicated and had a beer so my back was as loose as I could get it (which wasn't much but I was determined) and I spent the evening (slowly) making a huge batch of the coleslaw. On Saturday morning, I made the birthday cake and icing and then Julie and I chopped and sliced the veg for the burger toppings. Between chips and crackers and nuts and dips and fruit, I think people filled up before the burgers were ready. I was going to get someone else to cook them on the barbeque but my family was driving me crazy so I went out there to do it. Yeah, cool spring-ish day + slight wind + hamburger patties = major smoke. I'm surprised some of my condo neighbours didn't call the condo Nazis on us... Anyway, people ate the burgers but there was some complaining about various things "Aren't you going to saute the onions with mushrooms? My burger isn't cooked enough... I think I can still see pink. How am I supposed to eat this? (Throw it in the fucking microwave!!)" That same person also made a point of telling both Julie and my sister that she didn't like my coleslaw. Who does that??! Who goes to some one's house for food and tells them that they don't like something they're eating?? Seriously... What kind of person with ANY sort of manners whatsoever would go out of their way to bring it up to two different people. I don't know about you, dear reader, but if I don't like something and I'm a guest in some one's home, I'll either eat it anyway (usually if you're unsure about something you take a small portion of it just in case), or I'll leave it and dispose of it in the trash later if it's something I'm unable to eat. The only way I would ever tell someone that I don't like what they've made is if they asked me directly. Even in that case, I would word it in a much nicer (?) way, like mentioning why I don't like it, (have never liked the texture of ___ or the spice used upsets my stomach or something) so that they know it is my issue and it's not the food. Chances are, if someone is making a dish for a party, they've made it before and they're making it because other people have said they like it, especially the people who live with them.

Anyway, the cake went over really well. It was a two layer vanilla cake with a whipped cream & cream cheese frosting. Between the two layers I also had strawberries with the frosting and then I spooned strawberries on top of each piece when it was served. They couldn't believe it was all organic (except for the Cadburry micro eggs I sprinkled on top) and although some grumbled about the size of the pieces (I cut them a bit too big, I admit) EVERYONE cleaned their plate.

Anyway... When everyone was leaving, my dad gave me a hug and he forgot my back was really sore and he squeezed too hard. All the chiropractic work and icing and resting that I did all week was undone in a second and I've spent ever since in absolute agony trying to find a comfortable position to rest in somehow. Julie is out shopping right now so when I woke up from my nap and was starving, I had limited options for food. I can't really lift anything and most of the dishes are dirty from yesterday (and I can't bend down to get any out of the dishwasher) so all I could reach/lift was a hamburger bun, a leftover patty and some of the veggies to dress the burger with. YUCK. I ate it an hour ago and I still feel gross. Processed meat and the processed cheese that was on it and the processed hamburger bun... I honestly didn't think it was going to taste bad. You know, seeing as how I lived over 30 years eating that kind of stuff... Oh well. I guess that's the downside to eating healthier... When you're crippled and have nobody to cook something for you, anyway.

Oww... back is spasming again. Time to go and lay flat on my back again. :(

New Blog

2010-02-04T22:16:00.002-07:00

I started a new blog dedicated to my diet change project where I can talk about food and what I'm cooking. It's more for my memory and for personal accountability than anything. It's kind of neat to go back and look at how something evolved...

My new food blog

More organic blah blah blah...

2010-01-29T20:27:00.002-07:00

Every day I log in here with the intention of posting something but then I get distracted by checking other blogs first... Next thing I know, it's an hour later and I'm reading stranger's blog that was linked from another blog from another blog... And then it's time for bed or something and I haven't posted.

I'm still really enjoying my organic/natural/whole foods project. Last weekend I donated a lot of food we had in the cupboard to family. In a way I felt bad giving them processed food but they aren't at a point of wanting to change anything right now, so they were happy to take it. It isn't like it was total crap either... Some of it I was kind of sad to see go but then again, I wasn't. It is amazing how different I view food now. Between watching Oprah on Wednesday (the entire episode was on what is really in foods, etc.) and reading books like Fast Food Nation and In Defense Of Food and watching documentaries like Food, Inc., it is very easy now to pass up a lot of fast food and highly processed food. It's funny though that I felt like this even before I started reading all this stuff. I started doing it to regulate hormones and my metabolism, period. Now with all this other information, I think it'll be even easier to stick with it. The fact that I've lost 15 lbs and some inches doesn't hurt either. ; )

With that said, Julie and I went to a restaurant last night because we had this irresistible 2 for 1 coupon. The food was alright but nothing spectacular. I managed to eat about half of my portion and Julie barely touched hers. She told me that she's spoiled on the cooking at home now. I think I agree with her. Anyway, soon after I started eating, my nose started to run. I didn't think anything of it because it's not uncommon for that to happen while eating hot food. It didn't stop once we finished though and all night I periodically had to blow my nose. This morning it was the same thing... It wasn't until I was sitting at my desk at work looking at my empty tissue box (that has been empty for three weeks now) that I realized how significant this was. I tried to think back to the last time I had to take an allergy pill mid-morning. It's been a month. For a whole month I haven't had the annoying nasal drip (not quite a runny nose, just annoying enough to have to sniff throughout the day) that causes me to take an antihistamine on the really bad days. The tissue box on my desk that has been empty for three weeks would normally have been replaced at least 2-3 times in a month. Wow. I don't even know what it is that caused me to have the chronic nasal drip because I've never been tested for allergies but I'm willing to bet it had something to do with what I ate last night. By the afternoon I was fine again so I'm guessing whatever it was has passed through my system. Everything I ate last night was generally something I would make at home... I'd just use organic or whole foods instead of whatever they used that wasn't. Crazy. I guess this is one of the reasons why I feel great since changing my eating habits!

I'm watching the movie Free Willy on the family channel right now. I used to like that movie when I was younger and I guess it's still pretty good. My little sisters used to watch it over and over and over again like they did with every new video they received. I think I've watched The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Santa Clause and various Carebears and Barbie movies each over fifty times. Oh, not to mention Dirty Dancing and Steel Magnolias. Both of my sisters LOVED to dance around to Dirty Dancing (I think they wore the ending out on that movie) and for some reason, one of my sisters loved to quote Steel Magnolias all the time. This four or five year old would go up to people and say, "There is no such thing as natural beauty." Why? Because Dolly Parton asks Darryl Hannah to repeat that line to her in the movie. Crazy kid...

Anyway, I'm knackered (as my brit girl would say) so I'm off to bed. I'm going to check out the Farmer's market tomorrow morning to see if I can score some more and/or cheaper organic food. I'm totally excited about it and looked up the vendors online and I see there are a lot of variety and the place is huge so I'm sure I'll find some good stuff. It's kind of nice to have an interest in something that doesn't involve the computer or the television. Cooking every night has really cut my sitting down and vegging time down a lot which I've found to be a relief. Okay, shutting up now...

Water torture...erm, exercise...

2010-01-19T22:55:00.004-07:00

Tonight Julie and I went to a drop-in water fitness class. Holy crap, the woman leading the class was scary - We spent half the time terrified that she'd wade over to where we were to check our form (which she did a few times) and the other half giggling because she would get out of the water and over exaggerate the moves. Overall it was fun and I think I'm going to sleep really good tonight!

Right now I'm watching Julia Child on some public tv station hack the hell out of a chicken. She's preparing the chicken for roasting but it looks so disgusting I think I need to change the channel. Then again, it is amusing when she loses her train of thought and looks around and says, "Now... what else do we have around here..."

Inspired

2010-01-16T12:14:00.002-07:00

Late last month, amid the Christmas chocolates and dinners and other wintry treats, I weighed myself for the first time in a couple of months and nearly fell off the scale. I had gradually creeped up 20 lbs in a matter of 6 months and although I kind of knew I had gained a bit inch-wise (tighter pants), I didn't really pay it the mind I should have. In fact, I had consciously approved the consumption of all sorts of crap in November and December when stress at work was high and my mood was low. It was a cycle feeding itself really, eating crap made me feel like hell so then I'd eat more crap. In the last couple of days in December, I decided to stop the consumption of garbage and go back to eating healthier. I didn't really have a plan aside from wanting to eat healthier and I think if I had just left it at that I would have probably fallen off the proverbial wagon already.

Two days into eating healthier, on January 1st, Julie and I were browsing at Chapters looking for left over Boxing Week deals (I've noticed that the sales are no longer one day now but rather a whole week long event) and I randomly picked up Jillian Michael's latest book, Master Your Metabolism from a table and flipped through it. I hate 'diet' books because they're just nonsense and I was thinking that I lost some respect for Jillian for doing a diet book (money grab) when her expertise is in physical fitness, but as I flipped through it I realized it wasn't really a diet book like others I had seen. It was more like an education on hormones and triggers and how, when and why your body reacts to processed foods and whole foods. For example, everyone knows vegetables are good for you and everyone knows refined carbs are bad choices, but I didn't know exactly why they are. When you don't know the why, why bother doing it? It's like science and math classes back in high school - If you don't understand the fundamentals behind the formulas you are using to solve problems, you're going to have a hell of a hard time remembering all of the formulas and which ones to apply on an exam. Anyway, I think the main reason why she put out the book was because she was all screwed up as a teenager (overweight, acne, etc.) and along her path to where she is now, she picked up a lot of information from endocrine specialists.

So, since I picked up that book, I've lost 11 lbs and some inches (I don't know how many because I can't find our tape measure) without much effort at all. I'm probably consuming between 1400 - 1800 calories a day and am only holding myself to a few rules:

As little processed food as possible
Nothing with high fructose corn syrup
Eat every four hours (three meals + snack per day) whether I'm hungry or not
Not eating after 9 pm
Try to get at least 7 hrs sleep per night

The restriction on the processed food sound like a tall order but it actually isn't much of an issue. Large chain grocery stores carry a lot of organic products now and the big food manufacturing companies seem to be finally realizing that people want to actually understand the ingredients they are reading on the label of their products. A lot of preservatives and miscellaneous ingredients that aren't critical to the composition of the product are being dropped from popular foods in order to shorten the ingredient list. More and more people are flipping over a package to check out the list of ingredients these days; Chances are, a person will choose a food with a short ingredient list over one that goes on and on with chemical names only the scientist developing it would understand.

This week alone, I've made nachos, pancakes, eaten ice cream (twice) and eaten cookies. The nachos were comprised of organic Hippy Chips, organic salsa, Kraft aged shredded cheddar (the least amount of processed ingredients), a ton of chopped green pepper, orange pepper, green onion and red onion. The pancakes were made with organic whole grain wheat, organic milk and eggs and were topped with apples and rhubarb I stewed with Agave Nectar and a bit of organic maple syrup (I am Canadian after all). Sooooooooo good. The ice cream I have in the freezer is pistachio and greet tea, both of the organic variety. I didn't realize that organic ice cream kicks processed ice cream's ass in taste. Wow. As for the cookies, they too are organic and I found them at Shopper's Drug mart of all places. Shopper's Drug mart has a fast-growing organic line - I also buy my oatmeal and a few other things from that store.

I could probably go on and on about other meals I've made but I'll spare you. I have realized though that the more I cook, the easier it gets and the more I like it. I've found that chopping vegetables up and putting them in containers in the fridge is a HUGE time saver. I usually employ Julie for most of the chopping. She tells me she usually grumbles about it but then remembers the pay off, so she doesn't mind it in the end. Having pre-cut items makes throwing together a meal a piece of cake. And the more I cook, the more inspired I get to try new things. In the process, I've come up with at least a handful of new dishes that both of us really enjoy. It seems silly to say, but I'm just really having a lot of fun in the kitchen and with food in general.

The biggest and best thing that has come from all of this, actually specifically Jillian's book, is the fact that I've re-trained my body to trust that it is going to get its next meal. This amazing feat almost makes me cry when I think about it. For as long as I can remember, I've always been afraid that I would go hungry. There were various reasons for that in my past that are too complicated to even get into, but even now as an adult, I still had that problem. Even though I know I can feed myself food pretty much whenever I want to, my body still acted like it was in starvation mode. This meant that any time I was around prepared food or offered food, I felt I had to eat it, whether I was hungry or not because 'maybe I wouldn't be able to eat again for a long time', even though I KNEW when I was next going to eat again. Crazy, huh? Keep in mind that this was how my body acted whether I was dieting or not. I remember discussing this with Julie last year when I was particularly annoyed with my eating habits. I was debating whether or not I should see a psychologist about it (thinking it must be psychological trauma from my youth, etc.) because I just could not see myself ever being like the people around me who could eat breakfast and then not eat again until lunch and the same with dinner, etc. I thought I was addicted to food and felt hopeless to change anything. Well, within a week of eating whole, natural foods, I am at last experiencing what I never thought I would. I can now pass over all sorts of food now, not with willpower, but by my body not setting off all the "I'm starving, feed me, feed me!!!" signals that I used to be instantly flooded with at the sight of food. It's like I look at it and my body evaluates and says, "Um... nope, still good here. Lunch is in an hour, we trust that you're going to actually eat at that time and we're fine until then." In Jillian's book, she mentions that after a while, a person may not feel hungry after four hours when it is time for the next meal. When I first started this, I thought 'Yeah right, I won't even make it to four hours.' but I do and there are times when I'm not hungry at the four hour mark, but I make myself eat anyway. Amazing.

I wasn't actually going to blog about this at all because I always feel so silly when mentioning a change in diet in case it doesn't work out, but the fact that I feel so damn good right now and am excited about cooking and food and how all of it has affected me made me change my mind. That and the fact that Julie will only listen to so much of my excitement before tuning me out in favour of Nancy Grace. I think our grocery bill has gone up a tiny bit but that is balanced by the fact that we aren't eating out much. As long as I can keep the grocery bill reasonable, I don't see why this can't be a permanent lifestyle change. The not being hungry or tempted by food between meals part as well as the feeling fantastic part makes it more than worth while.

Broken Couch

2010-01-13T22:09:00.001-07:00

Well, the couch is apparently broken. A piece of 2 x 4 underneath on the one side is broken and is causing the one side to look funny and the one reclining piece broke off because of the wood sticking out under the seat part. Obviously this was broken when we got it but it took a few days to break the reclining part and therefore cause us to look under the couch. Julie phoned Sears and apparently some guy is supposed to come look at it sometime this decade. I hate Sears.

Pictures

2010-01-04T20:18:00.003-07:00

Pictures of the new couch and chair and other various shots around the place from Saturday before my parents came home for the evening (hence the glasses and snacks set up on the table). Please excuse the blurriness... we really need a new camera. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring one...

View from the kitchen/dining room area:

View of the wall and door to bedroom:

View of the bookshelves and TV opposite the couch:

Time for wine and snacks (or nibbles as my British woman calls 'em):

The long shot from the patio window:

This is where I sit and probably look exactly the same right now (except in PJs):

Loooooooooooooove the new furniture!! It's so comfortable and looks really nice with the rest of our decor. :)

Another New Year

2010-01-01T09:49:00.004-07:00

Another year and decade in our lives has begun. It still feels like the early 2000's (I guess really, 2010 is still the 'early 2000's', but whatever...) and I'm still in my twenties. I really experienced a lot of new things in the last decade:

Finally figured out (read: stopped denying) I was gay (2000)
Started working for my current employer for the first time (2000)
Laid off by my current employer (2001)
Became deeply depressed due to lay off, requiring medication just to be able to get out of bed (that took five weeks) and find a new job (that took three months due to slow economy)
Got my license to drive at 23 yrs (2001)
Briefly moved to the Vancouver area (2001)
Had mono (2001)
Started working for my current employer for the second time (2001)
Began my first serious relationship with a woman (2002)
Heart broken (2004)
Heart broken again by same person (2005)
Neck nearly broken by rebound fling (2005)
Promoted at work (2005)
Began my second serious relationship with a woman (2006)
Heart broken (2007)
My great uncle died of cancer, only the second death in my family in 11 years
Met Julie and began my third serious relationship with a woman (2007)
Had my nose and sinus crushed by a deflected slapshot at a hockey game (2007)
Trip to Philadelphia/NYC (2007)
Moved in with Julie (2008)
Turned 30 (2008)
Met Julie's parents visiting from the UK (2008)
Another uncle died of the same cancer (2008)
First ever surgery (to repair nose) (2008)
Finally received a diagnosis for my finger ailment thanks to Julie (2008)
Purchased my first new car (2008)
Second surgery (first for finger to remove tumor) (2009)
Moved to current condo apartment with Julie (2009)
My grandmother died of cancer (2009)
Third surgery (second for finger to remove more tumor) (2009)
First time away with Julie (Banff) (2009)
Went to N.B. and met Julie's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend and their two children (2009)

I know I've probably missed a lot of highlights but this is as good as my memory is this morning.

Time to finish the laundry and ironing (ugh.. hate ironing) before making a batch of vegetable soup. I was looking at my Jan 1/09 entry and my resolution was to use up what we buy, food-wise. Still working on that one but am definitely getting better at it!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T23:05:00.003-07:00

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:

Holiday ADD (me rambling in other words..)

2009-12-23T20:16:00.006-07:00

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!!

Ginger Abuse

2009-12-18T22:42:00.002-07:00

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...

Lesbians, lollypops and LED lights

2009-12-17T21:45:00.004-07:00

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.

Couch Closure? Not yet...

2009-12-15T18:40:00.002-07:00

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...

Pictures

2009-12-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

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:

Christmas Gift Shopping 101: How It All Snowballs

2009-12-12T22:32:00.005-07:00

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...

Happy Holidays

2009-12-10T11:25:00.005-07:00

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.

2009-09-13T13:50:00.002-06:00

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...

It's been a while...

2009-07-22T19:55:00.003-06:00

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...

Finally... a date!

2009-04-27T20:55:00.002-06:00

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.

First aid weekend with no cheating

2009-04-26T22:16:00.002-06:00

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...

no title

2009-04-14T12:39:00.002-06:00

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

2009-03-22T19:51:00.002-06:00

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

Hair

2009-03-18T20:53:00.002-06:00

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

2009-03-18T18:21:00.002-06:00

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. :(

Busy, busy, busy...

2009-03-13T21:19:00.003-06:00

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!)

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

2009-02-28T13:20:00.003-07:00

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...

Does your mother know?

2009-02-27T23:53:00.001-07:00

I have this song in my head this evening... the Christine Baranski version

Home is where the computer is

2009-02-26T20:38:00.002-07:00

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.

Le Chateau... not just for the young folk

2009-02-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

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??

Oh, for goodness sake...

2009-02-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

The plot thickens...

13 year old Brit may not be the father after all

They get younger and younger...

2009-02-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

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

Julie News Network (JNN)

2009-02-15T22:52:00.002-07:00

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

Jobs and such

2009-02-08T10:59:00.002-07:00

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.

Breaking News - Julie Wants To Quit Her Job!

2009-02-05T19:45:00.002-07:00

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...

ABBA

2009-02-01T17:58:00.004-07:00

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.

Weekend Update

2009-01-31T19:59:00.002-07:00

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...

Positive Spin

2009-01-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

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.”

Weekend Adventures (Mishaps)

2009-01-25T20:38:00.002-07:00

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!

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

2009-01-22T20:09:00.002-07:00

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. ;)

lower case ramble

2009-01-21T15:34:00.004-07:00

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.

Of Lesbians and Surgeries

2009-01-20T20:54:00.004-07:00

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

Warm!

2009-01-16T20:16:00.003-07:00

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...

Another week

2009-01-15T21:06:00.003-07:00

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!!!

Damn PC

2009-01-05T15:39:00.003-07:00

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...

How it gets done in Britain

2009-01-01T22:39:00.003-07:00

. . . 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

2009-01-01T22:10:00.003-07:00

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. :)

Scams and crashes

2008-12-31T20:31:00.003-07:00

Here's a strange co-incidence for you... I made my last payment on my Dell laptop this week (yes, I was very stupid by paying for it over three years... I've learned many lessons in finance since then) and then suddenly the day before yesterday, I received one of those blue screens with a kernal error or whatever... I've seen the screen before a few times at work, but never on my laptop. I had one hell of a time re-starting after that. That night I forgot to shut it down because I wasn't feeling well and pretty much left everything on as it was. Then yesterday, the fan went into crazy overdrive and scared the hell out of Julie who was home during the day. She did not know that she could just hold the power button down until it turned off so she propped my laptop up on coasters to get more air flow under it. I came home to it sounding like it was going to lift off the desk and fly away. I had a hell of a time shutting it off - it had some sort of Microsoft error and I ended up having to hold the power button down to get it to shut down. I didn't touch it for the rest of the night.

This morning I turned on my laptop to check if I had been paid today. It took a million years to boot up and then was sooooo sluggish once I tried doing anything. I managed to finally open a web browser and check my bank account - what do I find? My credit card has three charges on it from the past week that I never made. I also had a charge from a company once a month since August that I somehow never picked up on. Needless to say, I was late for work this morning. Julie called the number of the company that was charging my credit card and they immediately apologized and said they would stop charging - they asked no questions about why or anything. The other charges, we looked up and saw they were scams. I called the credit card company from work and put in a fraud claim. They've put a hold on my card and will be issuing me a new one. Apparently the investigation takes about six weeks at which time I should see the money back on my account on the next statement.

I also logged onto my online banking at work and changed my password and security questions for good measure.

So... my computer is still a little sluggish but Norton 360 can't seem to find anything wrong. I'm not sure if my computer has just decided to show it's age on the week I've finally paid it off (the fan is on again, not as loud though), or if I've been hacked or have a virus or worm or something.

Happy freakin' New Year's Eve to me...

Blimey, pip pip, slice of cake, hello me ole teabag, 'ow ya doin'

2008-12-29T20:34:00.006-07:00

Jenn has asked me to write on the blog. I believe this may be because I am staring into space and just thinking random me, alone, by-meself thoughts. Funny how when someone asks what one was thinking, it can't really be answered. I had actually been thinking how relaxing I find the TV listings channel. And ironing...and then why I find those things relaxing...

This then lead to wondering why I can't actually dive into any one of the three books I'm reading (one re. the history of cleaning, a book about fast food/obesity and a novel, Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend...which is terribly funny and wrong on many levels). So after staring into real space I logged on to stare at cyber-space, surfed a bit, hummed an Earth (RIP) Kitt song . . . checked to see if I am missing something huge and important.

Nothing huge and important about Samantha Ronson being the 2008 worst dressed, or Ricki Martin as the 2008 worst closet case ever to have sashayed the lavender trail . . . nothing huge and revealing about Hollywood romantics make up and break ups of 2008. Not a fan of the lists....I want the now, the new, the current. I want tomorrow and I want it today. 2008....lovely, let's move on people, let's move on.

New Year was never really my thing...too much pressure of old and new when really it is all such a terribly over rated social construct that it can never live up to whatever it is supposed to. I'm not cynical I assure...when things truly change or there is a renewal and resurgence of hope and dreams, I am right up there with Oprah bayyybeeee...but the notion of it being collective and almost enforced...I understand it from a socio-psycho viewpoint (we would be in chaos without societal routines and so called shared traditions)...but it does get a little tiresome. And besides, no one wants to see their step-Uncle crying in his beer and trying to kiss ya Mam at the New Year party cos he has suddenly remembered who he forgot during the singing of Auld Lang wotsit...

Regarding New Year, I was given a week off which I do not even need...I know it is lovely that employers do this but I would rather the option. Thankfully I took some work home...all my good friends went away for Christmas because they are twenty somethings in university with these things called families. I've a few left here so I will do the rounds Tuesday me thinks. Drop in on people who are working, take them a coffee, chat, sigh a lot and think about the TV listings channel. In other news, I have also spent much time considering the fire place channel that is, until I realised it was not live (THAT is how much time I spent watching it see). I felt cheated after that, clearly highlighting some narcissistic tendencies in that I thought they were setting the tele alight just for me year after year.

Jenn is playing some sort of poker on the Wii. I think I shall go and read about the collapse of America under too much food. It's very good so far. Maybe I will cook me a pizza, some pasta and round it off with several scoops of ice cream. Aha. I've bought over twenty books in the last couple of weeks so I should be reading rather than writing me thinks.

Carry on.

Finally

2008-12-23T22:28:00.002-07:00

Finally, the busy season at work is over. I'm now off for five days in a row... I can't believe it. It feels strange to have actual time to relax - hopefully I remember how. Obviously it hasn't hit me yet because I've spent the evening doing laundry and cleaning around the apartment. Hopefully getting it out of the way now will allow total relaxation tomorrow (well, for most of the day anyway...)

Tomorrow I'll be picking Jules up at work and heading out to my parents' place. We're going to go to the Christmas Eve service at the church my sister goes to and then we'll spend the night at my parents' place so we don't have to drive there Christmas morning.

Well, before I drain all of my energy for the day, I think I'm going to make a trip to Wal-mart tonight. How bad can it be, right? ;-)

Craziness and shopping... possibly the same thing

2008-12-16T08:55:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted in a while because I've been feeling kind of blah again. Well, "blah" isn't really the best descriptive for it, something like "all over the houses" or however that expression Julie sometimes uses goes. I've been sad, then angry, then out-right depressed, then cranky and basically hard to live with. Change of weather? Missed a couple doses of happy pills? Cabin fever? Stress at work? Lack of days off? Poor diet? Probably a measure of all of them. Thankfully, there are four more days left in my 'busy season' at work at which time I feel the need for that gavel they have on Wall Street - I'd like the bang the hell out of some counter or desk and declare 2008 dunzo.

On the weekend, I got up early on my one day off (that being Saturday) and drove to West Edmonton Mall. You can clearly tell at this point that I am out of my freakin' mind. Going to the, what is it now, second largest mall in the world? Third? How many have the Oil Tycoons in India and/or Japan built now, I've lost track. Anyway, going there on a Saturday in December. The second last Saturday before Christmas. AND, I went to the busiest store in the whole freaking mall - Bath & Bodyworks. Holy hell, now this location is the only one in Alberta, mind you, so it's packed at 9 am on a Tuesday no matter what time of year, but on a Saturday at 10 am, it's absolutely sick. Three lines to the cashiers started at the front of the store. Like, the FRONT of the store where those blue bags are hung for poor saps to pick up and hurl random lotions and soaps in while they wistfully look around hoping there'll miraculously be one Cucumber Melon body wash left but seeing they're at the mid to back of the store realizing they need to suddenly draw up a plan with their friend/partner/husband/child like a high school football coach would in the fourth quarter of a state high school championship game.

I'm not making this up... I actually heard this...

"Okay, you stand in line, I'm going to try to reach the hand soaps."
"Alright, but I wouldn't go that way... maybe cut through line two, go down past those candles and then zip back through line one over by that woman over there."
"Hm... yeah, that seems like that'll work. Okay, I promise I'll be back by the time you reach the front of the line. If I'm not, just grab what you can as you pass it and we'll make do."

I end up grabbing some body wash (the cucumber melon shelf was bare, dammit...), one hand soap, a lotion my sister really likes (Julie and I picked her name for Christmas presents this year) and a little tube of a really nice hand 'treatment' for a friend of mine. I wanted to pick up some of the candles like the one Jen and Wendi bought me for Christmas last year but they didn't have any. I was very disappointed because I LOVED that candle. :(

After escaping Bath & Bodyworks, I stopped at HMV to pick up my sister's other present, the first season of Flight Of The Conchords or something... all I know is it was freakin' expensive because they had it packaged up with a cd as well. I looked wistfully at season five of Law & Order SVU which I want sooooooooooo bad but seeing how the cheapest I've seen it is $60, that just isn't going to happen for the next five or six months while I work on fully recovering from our two month financial crisis. Unfortunately, re-building a savings account for emergency funds and re-paying off my credit card is more important than my crush on Casey Novak and Olivia Benson... darn it.

Later that day, Julie and I went to London Drugs (hm... the Canadian equivalent to Sav-On in the States, I guess) and picked up my parents and sisters and the gay boys downstairs a little gift. We were initially not buying anyone but my sister a gift, not even each other, but to cheer me up, Julie suggested we buy for my family & the boys. She called it my gift from her, to which I'm thrilled with and very grateful. They've all helped us out quite a bit this year and it's nice to be able to give them a small token of thanks. Of course Julie's parents have helped us out too and it would be nice to send them a little something, but I have to ask Julie about that to see what she'd like to do. Now that it's already the middle of December, there's no chance anything will even get there before January, but it's still worth asking.

Anyway, this post is getting too rambly for my liking... sheesh. Last night, Julie and I went to see the movie, 'Valkyrie' on a free pass she picked up at a bookstore the other day. It's that movie about Hitler's Germany and an almost but obviously not quite successful attempt to kill Hitler and take over Berlin by some of Hitler's Generals, etc. It was better than I expected and it actually builds suspense to where you get to thinking they might actually pull it off until you suddenly bring yourself back to reality to remember that, no, obviously this doesn't work. I think it was well done, though I'm not sure why they feel Christmas Day is a good opening day for such a movie. On Thursday, we're going to see some Adam Sandler movie that's also opening on Christmas Day. Yay free movie passes! :)

Well, I should get off the computer and get ready to head to work. It's technically my day off but I've had to work at least half the day for probably two months now so that didn't really work out in the end. Oh well, last week! I'm dropping my car off at the dealership this morning as well - the engine light is on for no reason at all. When I called about it yesterday they told me it's happening a lot due to the cold weather - the cars have so many sensors nowadays and one of them probably got frost bite (that's my terminology, not the experts). This weekend we sat at -27 C for three days so I guess that'll do it!

Would the parents of the sons commanding Oh Canada please teach them a bit of discipline??

2008-12-04T23:27:00.010-07:00

I voted for the first time this year.

So blame me. What political rucus there be - blame me. What a load of fuss and nonsense it all is.

I had a very brief thought of terror concerning there being a Canadian civil war. I know this to be unfounded by the way people have since reacted when I've mentioned, "A Canadian civil war". People (Canadians) give me this half shaky head and frown combination and put their hands out as if to say, "It's not Bosnia ya loopy Limey". That, or just state emphatically as if one sentence of conviction will do it, "This is Canada". Or, my favourite, the sarcastically seasoned...."Er...this is Canada?". It's quite comforting to know that when the CBC say sweeping overstatements such as, "The nation is DIVIDED"...it's completely untrue. It would be better to say (again with the same conviction), "Parliament is crumbling. And the nation don't care. Now, over Claire with the weather . . .".

I don't think I personally set the nonsense in motion with parliament but what a year to get ones voting rights. You realise in the States this would be made "historic" (already) by the likes of CNN et al. It would be a national disaster in the U.S. (much like their current one) . . . it would be a, "Where were YOU when McCain and Obama became King and Queen of America"...in Canada, the only time this sort of news matters is when they interupt one of the many fabulous formulaic crime-drama shows the fabulously panic'd States feed us nightly, to bring the so called 'news' to us. Who cares???? I was just learning about how the fibre-optic molecule of a dense shagpile carpet fibre from 1984 might just save this man from the death sentence....neeeeext....

In other news (real, important news), I now have a fantastic job working with a wonderful mental health organization - back in non-profit and working long, long days because I have a huge office with my name already on the door, a great big desk and a view of the city to die for. Think non-profit Melanie Griffith in Working Girl if you will. For I DO see hope in the morning light people.

My former work is declaring bankruptcy...this is no wonder...they would expense lap dances,sex trade workers, snort coke at their desks, buy me very expensive underwear....this is the filthy rich you see....they are utterly filthy. I am on a lot less money but working twice as hard and loving it 100% more. I've no disgusting men to deal with or women who are so gender divided it belies belief - now it's just the loveliest of men and women who have beliefs, hope and an agenda that is not based soley around themselves...

Well, that's all for now.....over to Claire for the weather.

2008-11-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm watching the tv listings channel right now, trying to find out when Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (or as I like to call it, Law and Order: Super Hot Mariska Hargitay) is on tonight and this diet pill ad keeps playing at the top of the screen... apparently you take a dose before bed and you lose a ridiculous amount of weight in weeks. I think that's hilarious. I wonder how many people have run out to Wal-mart to buy it and then were disappointed when they didn't lose 10 lbs in a week.

Julie is out with one of the gay boys downstairs at a charity event for children. She's his straight date for the evening. :) I saw a bit of the event on the evening news and it looked pretty fun so she is probably having a really good time. I'm really glad for that, she deserves to have a nice night out.

I had dinner at my parents' place this evening and while I was there, my mom showed me these really cool balls that she got online for the dog. They're really hard rubber and if you press really hard in a certain spot, they light up really bright. Now when they take Maxwell for a walk in the evening, they can still take a ball for him to run after and fetch. What a neat idea... totally great for this time of year when it's dark at 5 pm. :)

Time for SVU... I see Clea DuVall is on it. I've never seen her look this good. :)

Because I'm bored...

2008-11-24T21:09:00.002-07:00

Well, since I have time to waste before bed, I thought I'd copy over the Christmas Meme that Stacey had on her blog...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I used to be all about the wrapping paper, but now I mostly use gift bags. When Christmas is over, my family collects all the gift bags and stores them until the next year when we can use them again. We do that with the boxes for clothes. We're still using some that have 'Eatons' and 'Woodward's' printed on 'em. ;)

2. Real tree or Artificial? My family always had an artificial tree but for the past two years, they've gotten a real one. As for the tree Julie and I have, it's a two ft high artificial tree with little white lights that I bought from Canadian Tire last year for $5.00.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally sometime in early to mid December, but this year, I decided I wanted the tree out about a week ago. We marked the night by watching a Christmas movie (that Chevy Chase one... um... Christmas Vacation or something...)

4. When do you take the tree down? Around the first week of January.

5. Do you like eggnog? No, I've never understood why people enjoy it so much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Lego.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My grandfather.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Either one of my sisters.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I don't but my parents used to. I think it was lost in a move one year though...

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail of course!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The first thing that comes to mind is the electric shaver my great-grandmother gave me when I was six years old. I didn't even know what it was. My mom took it away from me and hid it in my parents' bathroom. My mom told me a few years later that my great-grandmother was kind of... um... not all there sometimes. The other gift that comes to mind is a long sleeved denim shirt with little barn yard animals embroidered around the metal snap buttons down the front and a bard yard fence embroidered around the collar. I think I was about 12 years old when I received that from an aunt. That shirt never left my closet until the day it made it's way into a bag of clothes sent to Goodwill.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? That Chevy Chase one we watched and A Christmas Story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I find something perfect for someone. This year, I brought home a bottle of mackintosh and maple wine from Ontario for my grandparents. It's really sweet and is good for sipping or for drizzling over desserts. They love sipping brandy and liquors around Christmas so I think they'll really like it.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I hadn't until the year before last. My co-worker gave me a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream which I absolutely cannot stand. I wrapped it up and gave it to my grandmother. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Aside from Christmas dinner... the little oranges that are easy to peel that only seem to come out around this time of year.

16. Lights on the tree? Oh yes. I love having all the other lights off and just sitting with the Christmas tree lights softly lighting the room.

17. Favorite Christmas song? All I Want For Christmas Is You sung by Mariah Carey (love that album)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. I've loved the Christmases spent away from home (three of them with Jen and Wendi and one with Sandra and her family waaaaaaaay back in '98.)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yep.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I looked over at our tree to see what's on top and... I can't believe I didn't notice this before now, but Julie has attached a little cow to the top of the tree. LOL...

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowded stores. It's frustrating to go in for something non-Christmasy and have to wait five hours in line.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like all sorts of mis-matched ornaments. Right now all we have are cute little tiny Pillsbury dough boys holding random things (obviously a gift from work... can't get away from the freakin' dough boy) so we're hoping to find some other little ornaments at the dollar store this week.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? My grandmother's cabbage rolls.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Four lovely days off and time to spend with my wonderful girlfriend and our family. Although this is technically our second Christmas together, this will be the first one we'll be spending in the same country. :)

First day on the job for Jules

2008-11-24T20:21:00.003-07:00

According to Julie, her first day at her new job went well. She says she's super busy and there is a lot to remember but she likes it. She has her own office with a nice view of city centre and really nice co-workers who checked up on her and made sure she was settling in okay on her first day. :)

The weather today was pretty mild, which seems very strange for the 24th of November. It's snowed once or twice in the past couple of weeks but nothing that lasted more than a day. I'm really enjoying the fact that we haven't had enough snow to have the downtown snow plows out. In this city, the snow is only plowed from the busiest streets and most bus routes. Living downtown, that means every damn street near us gets plowed between 1 and 5 am whenever there is any kind of remotely substantial snowfall. It never fails to wake us up - if it's not the building-rattling scraping of the road, it's the frickin' back-up warning alarm that they have... "Beeeeeeep....beeeeeeeeeep.....beeeeeeeep....beeeeeeeep....beeeeeeep...." FUCK OFF!!!!! THERE IS NO ONE OUTSIDE TO GET RUN OVER!!!! They are all trying to SLEEP for the love of God!!! And because we live on a super busy through way through downtown, it gets plowed simultaneously by three plows, so it feels like there's an earthquake happening and then they start to back up to get the tiny bit of snow they missed the first 40 times they went by and... well, you get the picture. I'm totally glad that hasn't started yet. :)

Keifer Sutherland looks pretty good these days... and other ramblings

2008-11-23T20:41:00.004-07:00

I'm currently watching some show about really special children. Right now they're telling the story of this 13 year old blind teenager who is autistic and a musical genius. He can hear a song played once or sung once and parrot it back perfectly. Amazing...

Anyway, I wanted to post about how wonderful my girlfriend is. I worked from 6 - 4 today (I haven't had two days off in a row in three months...sigh...) and when I walked in the door this evening, Julie had a candlelight dinner waiting for me. Steak and baby potatoes, steamed broccoli and grilled mushrooms. Mmmmm.... I'll have to tell my mom that we did well by her groceries. :) Very romantic and sweet and totally unexpected.

This damn rash or hives or whatever from that damn cream is still the same... annoying as hell. I sure hope it goes away soon because eventually I do want to wear normal clothes (i.e. my Victoria Secret bras, collared shirts) again.

Julie is chillin' on the couch watching the tv listings channel. In fact, she just announced, "Y'know... sometimes I just like to watch this channel." Okay... whatever makes her happy, I guess. :) I think I'll leave her to watch the tv listings... oh wait, she's decided on 24 now (hence the title of this entry... he really is looking better than he did back in the early 90's)... and I'm going to head to bed. I can't wait until I can enjoy an actual weekend to rest. Unfortunately, that won't be until around Dec 21st. Damn busy season...

I need to catch up on all the blogs I haunt. I miss all the cute kid stories and such. :)

Generosity of others

2008-11-21T21:32:00.003-07:00

Sorry there haven't been any updates in the past couple of weeks. Both of us have been depressed and stressed out. Julie never received pay for the last four weeks she worked at her job. She's in the process of filing an official complaint with the Employment Standards of Alberta because of that.

In better news, she has been hired as an executive assistant to the Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association. She'll be super busy but I think she'll do awesome at it. It doesn't pay as much as her old job (about a $9,000 pay cut) because it's non-profit, but she'll be in a lower tax bracket, so she could possibly end up bringing home close to what she used to!

To help us cover December's rent, Julie's parents surprised us with an incredible gift of $450. We are so grateful - that plus all the overtime I've been working to make up the rest will get us squeaking by with just enough for the time being. My mother also surprised the hell out of us by showing up the other night with three bags of groceries and a pack of paper towels and a pack of toilet paper (the big ones from Costco). We had tears in our eyes, we were so happy. All Julie could manage was to stand in the middle of the kitchen and just stare in awe as I unpacked the groceries.

"Look Julie... cheese!"
"Oh my god... we haven't had cheese in..."
"Yeah, I can't remember the last time either."

"Look Julie... chicken breasts!"
"Oh my god..."

"Look Julie... vegetables! Holy cow, I don't remember the last time we had fresh vegetables!"
"..."

And the same dialogue happened for the oranges, the bread, the tuna, the juice, the crackers...

Needless to say, we've been living off of Kraft Dinner (Safeway had a 'buy one case, get one free' sale a few weeks back) and soup for the past... oh, I don't know, two months? And now we have a cupboard and fridge full of healthy stuff that we haven't had the luxury of buying. I have to say, for being poor at the moment, I don't think I've ever felt so rich.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the gay boys downstairs slipped a card with a $50 Swiss Chalet gift card under the door. Wow... the generosity of friends and family while in a crisis so amazing. I get teary-eyed just thinking about this past week and the help we've received. It's definitely pulled us out of our depression, that's for sure. We can and will survive this speed bump in our lives. December will be ridiculously tight and nobody is getting any Christmas presents from us, but we'll get by. : ) It's so powerful to go through something so hard and come out okay on the other side. I shouldn't say that quite yet because goodness knows something horrible could happen, but I'll chance it anyway. ; )

In other news, I'm finally getting used to wearing contact lenses. I do miss wearing glasses though... too bad mine got stepped on by accident (they fell from the coffee table...) and the frame bent too much. I looked for a few months to see if I could find some frames that would sit okay on my crooked nose (by the way, yesterday marked a year since I was hit in the face by the puck at a hockey game! *shudder*) but I was unsuccessful. Perhaps one month/year I'll find a good pair... in the meantime, I can wear the contacts and avoid red, strained eyes and monster headaches. : )

And lastly, I'm almost afraid to mention this as it seems that all I do is talk about what ails me, but for some reason all of sudden the anti-inflammatory cream the doctor prescribed me to put on my shoulder has caused me to break out in a rash. I've been using the cream for nearly a month now and have had no issues until today. Now, right where it was rubbed on, I have all these small red bumps that are itchy and annoying. I put some aloe vera on it and took an allergy pill and hopefully that will reduce it and/or make it go away. I guess I won't be using that cream anymore!!

That's it for tonight... oh wait, I'll mention that I made Julie pull out our little Christmas tree and watch Christmas Vacation the other night. Heh... I just felt in the mood for Christmas... who cares if it's over a month away. : )

Another Update

2008-11-03T19:21:00.002-07:00

Julie has had a few interviews in the past couple of weeks and two really good ones coming up this week. One is for a position at the provincial museum and the other is a position at the Canadian mental health board (or something like that). She's been preparing for days - I read her notes and points she made and after the first page I was ready to hire her for something.

My shoulder pain has lessened somewhat - it still hurts like hell to sit at the computer and type but it's not unbearable. I am sleeping better at night although I still cannot sleep on either side. It's hard falling asleep on my back but I'm getting used to it. My doctor gave me some topical anti-inflammatory cream to put on it which helps a little although it's really freakin' messy and impossible to not get all over my shirt because it doesn't really rub in. Oh well... some relief is worth doing more laundry, I suppose.

I had an appointment with a plastic surgeon this afternoon about this pain in my left index finger that I've had for the past 17 years. It was originally thought to be nerve damage because whenever something brushes against the nail bed and surrounding area I have unbelievably acute pain that usually causes my entire hand to go numb for a few minutes. I've been to a neurologist, several doctors and now finally a plastic surgeon has diagnosed a glomus tumor as the cause. I was so damn happy, I nearly cried. FINALLY I know what's causing it and more importantly, I know it can be fixed. I'll go in for surgery and they'll remove the tumor and hopefully get it all (sometimes they can't get it all and in 10-15 years the pain comes back). The surgeon said that it will be instant relief and that my nail will grow in normally. I honestly cannot even imagine the relief at this point - to be able to actually use my finger for simple things again. As it is, I hold my index finger away when I tie my shoes or button up clothing or open anything or grab anything. My second finger has taken over the job of my index finger so it'll be very strange to be able to use it after nearly twenty years. Wow.

Julie needed a hair cut and since we're living very frugally right now, I cut it. She asked me to do it and although I told her I've never cut hair before, she insisted. Well, I tried doing what I've seen my hairdresser do to me and it seems to have turned out semi-alright. With utility scissors no less. She hasn't really 'done' her hair yet so I can't tell if it's a disaster or not. She just let it dry naturally and it looks okay. She's happy with it, so I guess that's all that matters. :)

I am soooooo obsessed with Law and Order SVU these days. Well... more specifically Detective Olivia Benson and Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak. I've spent many an evening propped up with pillows on the couch with my laptop on my lap reading fic about them. There's not a whole hell of a lot considering people seem to like the Olivia/Alex pairing more (the ADA before Casey), but it's enough to feed the addiction. I was crushed when the actress who played Casey left the show after last season... the new ADA is alright but not nearly as amusing as Casey was. :(

Okay, enough typing for one day...

Today I'm grateful for:

* A diagnosis FINALLY!!!!
* My girlfriend... *cough* excuse me, common-law partner (she keeps reminding me of that)
* My family
* My job
* Fan Fiction - God bless the Internet

Update

2008-10-07T13:48:00.003-06:00

Well, let's see... I have screwed up my shoulder so bad a few weeks ago, I can barely function normally. I'm in agony 24/7 and can barely sleep. I'm waiting for my doctor appointment on the 15th...

Oh yes, and Julie lost her job yesterday.

Fun times.

My day off

2008-09-23T15:44:00.002-06:00

Finally, a day off....

My day off has so far consisted of waking up at 7 am without the aid of an alarm clock (figures... can't sleep in even when I want to), witnessing Julie's morning routine, drinking three cups of coffee while I debate getting dressed... getting dressed and then going to The Mall (as in the one all the tourists go to) because there's only one Sketchers store in the city and unfortunately it's there. Luckily, it's located right across from the brand new Bath & Bodyworks that opened last Monday, so I checked that out as well. I didn't buy anything from there though because even on a Tuesday morning, the line up was practically to the door. I didn't buy anything at the Sketchers store either because this year, apparently the fashion is to wear a ballerina slipper for shoes. Every damn pair looks minimalist in some way and takes after a ugly ballerina slipper. WTF?! Where the hell are the normal shoes?! They're on the guys side of the store. Hell, I would have taken a fancier shoe if it looked normal... I LOVE Sketchers shoes, but not this year. This year all of their women's shoe styles SUCK. I wandered around the mall for another half hour, saw some awesome looking (but outrageously expensive) shirts and blouses in Eddie Bauer that I wish I had hundreds of dollars to afford, flipped through pregnancy books at Chapters and then looked at my watch to see what time it was and saw my battery had died. Amazingly enough (well, not really, considering where I was) there was a watch store directly across from the Chapters entrance when I was leaving. I handed over my watch to get a new battery and tried on some sunglasses while I waited. I've gone about two months without sunglasses because I left my old ones on my dash on a boiling hot day in August and they warped and peeled. I can't just get any kind of sunglasses because of my crooked and still-tender nose so it takes a while to find a plastic pair (can't have nose pieces, they hurt too much) that are light enough and wide enough in the nose area to not hurt or look crooked. Luckily I found such a pair today at the watch place.

My next stop was the Rogers Wireless store because I want to lower my 'wireless essentials' package to a cheaper one. When I was dating my ex-girlfriend, we text messaged daily so I had to bump up my package to include 2500 text messages a month. Since we broke up last year, I maybe text message 10 times a month, so the bottom level essentials package would more than cover my needs. Anyway, I went into the store and asked to lower it. They told me they are not allowed to lower packages in-store, only up them. WTF?! So, I have to call them to get it done. What a frickin' scam. They're hoping I forget to call or am too lazy (which lets face it, I probably am).

After that I left the mall, went to three shoe stores in vain and then gave up and went to London drugs where I picked up my prescription and bought some gel insoles for my shoes. If I can't replace them, I guess new insoles are going to have to do. Now I'm at home back in my pyjamas, sipping decaf coffee and waiting for my girl to come home from work.

We have a new evening routine these days, or I should say a new television watching schedule. I'm not one for watching television regularly but somehow we've gotten into the habit of watching FANatical and then Law & Order SVU each night. We also watch Criminal Minds and Flashpoint which are both really good. I can never remember which night they're on but Julie mans the TV Guide so she keeps track. Last night we watched the two hour season premiere of Heroes last night. A co-worker of mine gave me season one and two to watch about a month ago and we blew through season one in a weekend but season two we've only managed one episode because we've been busy doing other things. We were able to follow along well enough last night but I'll definitely be watching season two to catch up.

Just another day

2008-09-19T17:11:00.004-06:00

I'm tired. I'm feeling the strain of working too much this month. I'm working 20 hrs this weekend but am definitely going to take Tuesday off. And then the Saturday as well. I can't wait to get some extra sleep. I've had a hard time sleeping lately because my left shoulder is buggered up somehow causing shooting pain down my arm when I move it a certain way. It's feeling a little better this week with chiropractor and massage therapy and some icing and heat. I'm getting about five hours of quality sleep this week but am still tired because of the lack of it last weekend.

Work is really dragging me down lately. I've resorted to reading dozens of Dilbert cartoons daily as I now find they parallel my day-to-day office experiences. Some of them make me laugh out loud - those I share with a few select co-workers so they can laugh too. Julie has been sending strips via e-mail as well to cheer me up and today I signed up at the website for daily e-mail featuring either a daily comic or a 'favourite'. The other night we went to a used book store to trade in some of Julie's books and she bought me a Dilbert book which I've already read through. I think I'll keep my eye out for another used book. It's amazing how a comic making fun of an office setting can act as therapy... good therapy at that!

Today I'm grateful for:

* My wonderful girlfriend
* Our four year plan
* My car
* Therapy in all it's forms
* My friends
* My grandmother's homemade pickles
* "Badness" as Julie calls our junk food binges
* Finding new shows to get into
* Some co-workers finally getting it, so to speak

Oh my goodness...

2008-09-18T21:11:00.000-06:00

So, yesterday, we're at a used book store and suddenly Julie comes up to me in a hushed panic:

"Jen!"

"What?"

"Look down! Look down!"

"Wha-?"

"At my feet!"

"HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Julie had one dark coloured flat shoe on and one light coloured much higher heeled shoe on. BAHAHAHAHAHA...... when asked how walking out of the apartment in shoes of two different heights (never mind colours) could have possibly happened, she said, "Well, I thought that it was just something wrong with my leg." BAHAHAHAHA.... god, I love this woman.

What Would Larua Ingalls Wilder Do?

2008-09-12T21:35:00.006-06:00

I can not believe my bff (best FOE forever???) and gf would post such a terrible picture of me (see below), but then, her true love as we now all know, is her Toyota. I could have a beard in that picture and Missy Car-Owner wouldn't notice ;). We shall forgive her. I am wearing no make up and look as though I have swallowed a small calf. Heaven knows how this got passed the censor....

My forgiveness decreed, Missy Car-Owner has not forgiven me, for negating the posting of Poor Person's Soup on the blog. I did, in my defence, send it to Stacey who asked for it...however, I shall whip through it here for no one at all, to be good with with the Goddess of New Cars:

Cup or three of lentils, cup or three of water
Big can of diced tomatoes
Big can of chick peas
Big can of mushrooms (less poor use REAL mushrooms....IMAGINE THAT?!?)
Big can of erm...oh yes, baked beans (or just any ole beans)
Onions (I cut em and freeze em and then throw in a handful)
Garlic (powdered for poor, the real deal if cah-chinging)
Herbs (Italian bits like basil and stuff)

errrr.....oh maybe tomato paste....and then loads of frozen veg (or the real 'just grew it meself' varieties for those with gardens or nice relatives that always send them away with summat fresh)

Potatoes all diced nicely and thrown in for good measure . . .

...throw it all together - stir it for the rest of your life (the lentils stick to the bottom and burn if not)...add water when it gets dead thick....keep stirring but keep it thick - cos it's nice...

blah blah blah. Poor Person's Soup. The End. Freeze it and it keeps forever. Costs next to nothing and lasts for over a week. Now it is THE END. The soup makes you say things like, "Oooh a lovely winter soup"...whereby you have that image of yourself at the Little House on the Prairie table with the wood burner flaming away in the background, looking at your siblings whom you share a bed with (all 15 of them)...it's a warm, hearty family feeling with a storm beating down outside and Michael Landon just being Bonanza and fatherly and protecting....the reality? The reality is you, by yourself in a fluorescent lighted kitchen, having not made it to the dining table you bought for way too much but have NEVER used, eating out of your chipped Ikea bowl while you opening bills and absent minded ya half watching a dog being rescued on the local news, all the while mentally prepping a Safeway shopping list...(because, Jeeeeeus, who the feck used all the milk???) . . . Ms. Ingalls Wilder in the Millennium -it ain't what it used to be Miss Laura, it ain't what it used to be.

Hopefully I am now all squared up with the person upstairs (and on the lap top next to me)....posting afore listed soup was my act of contrition...hopefully she will now remove that gawd awful picture....my publicist usually censors such things but was clearly drunk that day. I will give them a pink slip in the morning.

Lady of the Car thinks I should post summat enlightening about the differences between England and Canada. I shall.

To be continued . . .

X-Files and lesbian stuff

2008-09-12T21:35:00.004-06:00

Julie and I started watching season 9 of The X-Files and now I'm hopelessly addicted once again to X-Files fic online. This time around though it isn't Mulder/Scully fic that I'm reading... it's Scully/Reyes. I heart Special Agent Monica Reyes.

Today I worked my 12th day in a row and was glad when 4 pm rolled around. I drove home and picked up Julie and we went to Ikea for dinner and then to pick up two bookcases. It took us forever to get there and I told Julie that we are NEVER going shopping during rush hour ever again.

After Ikea, we went to Old Navy where I picked up a few pairs of pants because 99% of my pants are tight due to weight gain... or rather inch gain. My damn middle section is now gaining inches. :( We went to another couple of stores and picked up a few shirts - I got one and Julie got four. There's our spending for the rest of the month!

Now we've settled in and we're watching the series finale of The X-Files. God, Chris Carter really screwed this show up royally. If only he could write a story arc like Joss Whedon...

Everybody's working for the weekend...

2008-09-05T18:01:00.002-06:00

Well, I am anyway...

I'm on day 5/12 days straight... next weekend I have off so I can attend the Elton John concert on the 13th. The busy season at work has now gotten underway so stress is sky high in my department. The other departments haven't felt it yet, but they will soon.

I finally registered my new car today as well as changed the address on my driver's license (from two moves ago). I feel very accomplished. The first loan payment came out today also, so the fact that it's really mine has also sunk in now. ;)

I stopped off at the liquor store on my way home from work and picked up a 1/2 case of beer. After the week I've already had, I feel like I just want to chill tonight and relax in that drowsy way alcohol allows. Julie is making dinner of broiled fish and potatoes and salad...mmmmm... I love my girlfriend.

Tonight we're going to watch some British comedy show that one of our lovely gay boys downstairs bought Julie as a thank you gift for finding him a summer job. It's called Sensitive Skin and all I know is that it has Anthony Stewart Head in it (Giles from Buffy).

Mozilla Firefox

2008-09-01T20:31:00.002-06:00

I've had it with Internet Explorer lately. Just when I'm in the middle of something it decides it has an error needs to shut down. Grrrr... The hell with it, I'm not using it anymore. I downloaded the Mozilla Firefox browser and so far I really like it. Let's hope I keep liking it...

Pics

2008-08-31T20:27:00.008-06:00

I tried taking some decent pics of the car this afternoon but the light was so damn bright it was hard not to get a lot of glare (surprising considering the car is covered in dust and dirt from all the construction in the city). Here are two shots of the car:

Julie modeling:

I have to say, it looks much more awesome in person.

Cars, music and food

2008-08-31T11:13:00.002-06:00

So, of course the second I buy a car with air conditioning in it, the hot weather disappears and rain and cool overcast weather replaces it. Still, I have still found the odd moment where I've needed the air conditioning and it's been blissful. No more open windows and hair whipping around my head while I perspire my way home each day.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to take any pictures of the car yet - I appear to have misplaced my camera. The darn thing is always around when I don't have anything to take a picture of but the moment I actually want to use it - gone. I actually blame Julie for this... she likes to re-arrange all the drawers constantly so I'm forever asking her where something is. She'll deny this upon reading but it's true...

Last night, we went for the car's first highway trip (the car hadn't been over 80 km/h yet) and tried out the iPod hook-up and sound system. I think Julie was in heaven once the likes of Madonna, Kylie, and The Pussycat Dolls pounded out of the speakers. In her younger years, Julie was quite the clubber... dancing the nights away in London and then in Fredericton when she came over to Canada. To this day, when she hears a good beat she starts dancing around - it's cute as hell. Definitely a departure from all of my other girlfriends in the past - none of them liked to dance at all.

In other news, I've managed to lose 7 lbs some how. I stepped on the scale this morning and did a double take. Not sure how that happened but I'll take it! Usually when you don't weigh yourself for a while, when you finally do step on it's an increase. At least that's what usually happens to me anyway.

Julie has started selling dvds and books that she doesn't want anymore on amazon.ca. She's sold about six dvds so far but no books. I went through my dvds and gave her a bunch to put on there to sell as well - might as well try to get rid of some of the ones I know I'm never going to watch again. The profit isn't much after shipping them but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Today we're off to find our friend Ryan a zombie-themed birthday present. He's a huge zombie fan and there is a store mid-town that has some zombie-type things. I think Julie's also going to go spend the $25 La Senza gift card I gave her earlier this week. She's been muttering for weeks about how she needs to be fitted for a new bra so hopefully we'll get that done today as well. After that I think Julie's going to make another batch of her lentil soup. I've asked her to blog her recipe for it as well.

New Car Smell

2008-08-27T21:27:00.002-06:00

I have a new car!!!!!!

I drove home my 2009 Toyota Corolla Sport this evening. It's gorgeous... I told Julie I'm in love with it almost as much as I am with her. I've wanted this car since I was in high school... finally I have it.

Pictures to follow when it's not pitch dark outside. :)

The House Bunny & 21

2008-08-26T21:01:00.000-06:00

We went and saw The House Bunny the other day. It was sort of like Sydney White meets Legally Blonde, I think. It had a rough start, writing-wise... some of the lines are cringe-worthy but then it picks up and was quite enjoyable. We went to see it as a pick-me-up, so it did it's job in the end.

We also rented 21 which was a movie we had wanted to see for quite a while now. Julie enjoyed it a lot but I was disappointed. The movie was fine and all but I get annoyed by those kinds of stories where people win or have lots of money and then do stupid things with it. I guess that's because I have none and would love to do smart things with the money they have.

Weekend

2008-08-24T09:31:00.002-06:00

We've finished watching the first season of Heroes and look forward to watching the short second season. My co-worker lent me a disc with the second season on avi files to watch but I don't have anything on my computer that will play avi files and my dvd player won't play them either.

We've been doing pretty well with eating better lately. Julie makes this fantastic lentil soup that we've been eating a LOT of. I guess I just haven't gotten sick of eating it yet... we've been eating it nearly every evening.

It's been sooooooo hot here this month. The majority of the days have been above 30 Celsius, except of course the one day last Thursday when I went to the Edmonton/Saskatchewan football game and froze my ass off because it had somehow dropped to about 10 C with windchill for one freakin' day. It was okay though - free tickets from a co-worker and we won the game over the Grey Cup champions. I took my little sister to the game and spent some time with her... she's recovering from meth again and looks great. She's filled out a bit and looks really healthy. I haven't seen her like this in about three years. I hope she's able to keep off the meth!!

Yesterday I went into work and helped out in another department. I came home after 8 hours and collapsed on the couch and didn't wake up for four hours. I think I'm still exhausted. Today might include a bit of grocery shopping and some movie watching... I don't think I'm up for anything else.

Blah

2008-08-16T11:20:00.002-06:00

I haven't really felt like doing anything this week. I've been really depressed but unsure of what was actually causing it. Julie's been wonderful, trying to cheer me up with various things (food, movies, love, etc.) but I just can't shake it.

On Tuesday, our anniversary, Julie made me a candlelight dinner with wine and everything. She made me a mixed cd with pretty much everything that marks a moment in time during the past year as well as a card. I, in turn, bought a shower corner rack from Home Depot. I'm practical that way... I think Julie thought I was kidding when I showed it to her.

On Wednesday I got my hair cut. I ended up having to get about 3 inches taken off because it was so dry from all the sun I got last month (this month I've barely been outside at all because it's almost always 30+ Celsius) so now my hair is shorter than I like it. I guess that serves me right for waiting so long to get a trim.

I went to the bank yesterday to apply for a consolidation loan. When I applied for financing at the Toyota dealership, they didn't do it properly (meaning they didn't ask for what I really wanted), so although I'm approved for the car, I wasn't able to get my current loan wrapped into it - only 2/3 of it. So... I went to the bank to get them to do it. I'll probably get a better rate this way (if they approve it) and the best part will be that the Toyota finance guys won't get it which serves them right for half-assing it. (Yeah, I'm sure this will really break them... ha ha...)

Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend aside from vegging... it's 30 degrees outside again so staying inside will probably beat out going out and doing something.

Good Book Recommendation

2008-08-14T19:36:00.002-06:00

I just finished Hide by Lisa Gardner and loved it. I couldn't put it down once I got into it.

One Year!

2008-08-12T14:30:00.000-06:00

Jenn and I have known each other a year and we choose the day we met face to face as our 'official' lessiversary.

EXACTLY this time last year, I trundled off for a coffee with a friend and then, at 2.30pm, at a Second Cup, along came Jenn with my friend now gone. Jenn's hair was slightly wet due to the fact that one hour hence, she had had no idea I had wished to meet her, so she literally had jumped straight from the shower to the car when she had read my email titled, "Feeling Spontaneous?".

She walked up to my table where I was reading the Globe and Mail. I said something about Julie Andrews, and then Jenn demanded to know where her Russian mail order bride was . . . and I think at this point, we knew this was not going to be a disappointing date.

I want to post this at 2.30 for Jennifer. Ordinarily I would have had this declared a national holiday and ensured a moment of silence at this time, however laws take a lot longer than a year to pass.

J e n n

I love you, angel mine.

jules
x

Weekend Update

2008-08-10T13:03:00.004-06:00

This week Julie and I are house sitting for my parents as they take their first vacation in years. I'll be driving my mom's car to work and Julie will drive mine into the city for work (she'll get to experience my daily commute although hers will be a little longer due to the time and flow of traffic). It'll be nice to stay in an air conditioned house while it's so damn hot here - it's been in the 30's all week.

This morning we found out that Margaret Cho had a date in Edmonton on her stand-up tour but when I went to get tickets saw that it's been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. Damn... I really hope they actually re-schedule it and not cancel it. Driving down to Calgary on a Sunday evening for a show won't happen (Julie said no, that it would be silly). I really really want to see her live... I love her material.

I see the Olympics have started. Big deal. I used to watch them on CBC but the games this year don't interest me. It doesn't seem like a true Olympics this year... seems more like a production or a farce. Maybe they've always been like that and it's just this year that the media is reporting on all the insane things that happen or are forced upon the locals. In either case, I'm not interested. I'll play Wii Fit instead.

Aches & Pains

2008-08-06T06:17:00.002-06:00

Oww.... my legs are aching a bit from my Wii Fit adventures...

We are entering a heat wave for the next six days... all over 30 C. Yuck! So glad we have the little air conditioner in the apartment now but wishing, as always, that I had air conditioning in the car. Sigh...

We need a new mattress and pillows on our bed. I just toss and turn all night and wake up with stiff shoulders and neck. Not sure when that will happen... maybe Christmas.

I still can't believe that guy on the Greyhound bus who just decided to start stabbing the guy next to him then cutting his head and various other parts off while eating some. Jesus Christ...

Olympic Hopeful Rejected by Nintendo Abuse of Calorific Food Substances Scandal

2008-08-03T20:08:00.005-06:00

We meet our heroine, our nearly nude heroine, as she embarks on yet another round of 'Wii Fit'. Our heroine, not to be named and shamed by the Wii Fit, decided to call Heroine's GF to the board. Upon which the demon did pronounce (I speak of the board as a demon and not our heroine), "You have porked out British woman....5lbs...1 lb more and I will confirm you are overweight...but worry not, you are 36 and so is your Wii Fit age".

Humiliated (as I think may have been the idea - my fitness contribution to the beast was to unpack it while eating cheesecake)...I trundled out here (saddened and apparently heavier) to my bar stool and table while the nearly nude flexes and bends on the board.

In my defense, when Jenn went away I was 119 lbs. Somehow I picked up 11lbs after that - 5 in the last week. So really, what one gains, one can lose. I am resolved to go running but this has not happened since...gosh...let me see....this has not happened since I was 7, so it is not likely to start in the morning. Although, right now, in my head, I am getting up at 5.30 a.m. to do precisely that.

On Friday, proud of our heroine for getting oh-so-fit and everything (I think her Wii Fit age is like 15) - I went to a store and perused the sports section for an ideal Wii-Fit-Out-Fit . . . NOT that I oppose to her current birthday suit - just that the neighbours might....I spent - and I do not fib reader - 90 minutes...NINETY MINUTES....with a T-Shirt and two pairs of pants...I could not decide which would fit her....so I went around measuring them against sizes of clothes I KNEW she had...although, really no comparison could be made unless she was there. I had arranged for her to meet me at the shopping complex and after I had decided this WAS the size she was...I proudly bought the gear and left the store. Whereby, I ran into her...presenting my wares to her as a gift of love....she pronounced....at the exact same time that I realised...."Is this so we BOTH can wear the same pair at the same time baby...?". Indeed, my time had been in vain....the trousers were so large...so, so, SO large that the gift was more of an insult than not...the exact phrase was, "Is this how big you think I am???". I smiled sheepish and we laughed (me a long time before she did mind). I laughed quite a bit and eventually we were both scaring the people around us.

Bless her cotton socks, she wore them all night...the crotch down to the knees, having a good point and giggle at various moments. Rather reminding me of when Janine bought me maternity pants one Christmas and we realised that "Special Moments" must have referred to the maternity section. I went a step ahead there though....Janine was a runner and had stopped running for a while...lamenting, "I am so big these days"...I piped up MEANING to be helpful but mixing my words badly..."You know, you are a lot bigger than you think you are, babe". As she stood crestfallen saying "Whhhh - what??" I kept repeating it until she realised I meant...well, you know what I meant. "You aren't as big as you think are"...

Anyway, Jenn is now marching in front of the tele but not on the Wii Fit board. Should I tell her she is not on the board....mmm, maybe not. Never come between a woman and her weight in any way shape or form. And JESUSUSUSUSUS never ask her to get on the We Fat , sorry Wii Fit, to make yaself feel better....QED, it is me now crestfallen and I'm about to grab another glass of red wine. The diet and the Fitting can wait a day.

Our heroine is now doing yoga...I think Lemon cake might go ever so nice with this red wine. No matter how big I am today, at least I get to watch a gorgeous woman bending and shaping this evening ;)

Expensive Things

2008-07-28T18:14:00.004-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Toyota dealership near my work to look around and apply for financing. Of course the car I want is really popular so they have none available - If I get approved for financing I'll have to wait 4-8 weeks for it. Julie and my dad can't figure out why I'm not excited about the possibility of a new car. I am, it's just not the exciting part yet... finance limbo and waiting for a car to be built and shipped from Toyotaland is not exciting to me. Picking up a brand new car would be the exciting part.

In other news... groceries cost way too much money. Holy cow. I bought half a cart full of stuff and it came out to $70. I didn't even buy any meat this time either. Sigh... it's the fresh vegetables and frozen fruit that hike the bill up. Oh well, could be worse... we could live in Zimbabwe where inflation is now at something like 12.5 million percent right now. You can't even buy a loaf of bread for a billion dollars or something. Here's an article on it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701594.html

Wii Are What Wii Are

2008-07-26T16:02:00.004-06:00

I have taken to putting every living moment on my facebook page, so therefore, feel free to add me as your friend (... just look through Jenn's page). Heaven knows it takes a technology degree for me to upload pictures upon this site.

Enjoyed immensely the Yes Man trailer...six degrees of separation...I now know Jim Carey. Thank you Riley - xo :). Speaking of celebrities, Jennifer is now the proud owner of a Wii Fit. I have rather enjoyed her playing the Wiinter (get it..wiiin....n'em mind...) games....when Jenn was ski-ing down the mountain in just her lower-portions underwear, I truly was the happiest woman in the world, reader.

Ms J is looking at buying a new car. But first we must get through her monthly nightmare that is, 'the cramps'. I have always had girlfriends who are rendered unconscious each month by the monstrous affliction. I suffer, it is true, but never as much as I have seen the suffering. Because she is afflicted, I am watching Hairspray for the umpteenth time...the baby LOVES The Hairspray. Me not so much (I rather liked the movie where they blew up Baltimore actually...what was that - oh yes, Sum of All Fears..hee). Still it makes her very giddy and happy so hopefully cramps will subside and there will be a car in the lot by the end of the day.

In other news...I am having a tooth replaced for a MERE $3500...and am wondering why teeth are considered aesthetics when without teeth ones mouth would cave in. It would look bad, yes but I think there would be other health consequences....

Well, off out to a party this evening representing herself and myself - cramps do rather encroach onto one's social diary...so tonight I am partying for two. I would rather be in with Jenn but she has a point that we keep doing that lesbian-shut-in thing so one of us has to make an effort occasionally. Sigh. I'm so hard done by ;).

PS

2008-07-25T07:29:00.001-06:00

Oh sweet, sweet girlf' o' mine...when one stares half the night at another woman, would one be so kind to provide the link....

Divine Bovine

2008-07-25T07:19:00.004-06:00

After waiting weeks and procuring it through ill gotten ways, the Wii Fit, finally arrived. It sits in pieces around the living room as Jenn has insomnia. It was unpacked while we were eating cheesecake.

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough...I left university four years ago and still my student line of credit was open. This concerned the bank lady greatly as it was rather unheard of. So I shall be paying that off forthwith I imagine. Post-separating with my wife, I also did a thing of much wrongness and got a loan from people one should think twice about (Citi...). At the lovely interest rate of 31.99% (the lovely bank lady refered to them as the Mafia for much of the meeting)...it was rather dubious as to whether the mere $5000 would ever be paid...so lovely bank lady sorted me out there too. As we were waiting for lovely bank lady, Jenn coined a new phrase...after revealing the % she gasped the phrase, "Holy cow" about twenty times. Then there was a pause and under her breath she let out the classic...."Divine Bovine". I am now patenting this (much as I have acquired Riley as my "movie star friend that I know" story).

Jenn has insomnia. I have the opposite of. I may be stealing her sleep. The ridiculos thing is that we both still need to sleep the moment we 'get up'. I blame the cheesecakes. Jenn blames my thrashing around at night and my constant stream of night-time chatter while in slumber.

Too tired to scribe now....

Insomnia

2008-07-25T04:34:00.003-06:00

This not being able to sleep more than a couple hours at a time is really starting to drain me. Even when I do sleep, I'm constantly tossing and turning. :(

I've been up since 1:30 am... it's now 4:36 am. There's only so much a person can do in the quiet of the night. I suppose I could have set up the Wii Fit game but my goal isn't to wake up, it's to go back to sleep. I've done a few Sudoku puzzles, registered the Wii Fit game online, read the balance board manual, the game manual, etc. I've caught up on the online news, stared at a really hot picture of Gillian Anderson at the premiere of the new X-Files movie... I'm about out of ideas now. Speaking of cute girls... Danica Patrick is in town for the Indy race they're having about twenty blocks from the apartment. I'm still debating whether or not to go... I really enjoyed the Vancouver Indy (and not just because I sat across from Ashley Judd the entire afternoon)...

Tonight I'm going with my sister to Capital Ex, which is the annual exposition here in town. I think we may do some rides and some games and of course mini donuts. I don't know how it's physically possible to walk by all the mini donut stands and not buy at least one bag. Impossible I tell ya!

On Saturday, Julie and I may go to the Toyota dealership near my work and look at new cars. My car needs a tune-up badly right now, not to mention new tires and a thermostat by winter. It's 15 years old... still a reliable car but goddamn it, I want air conditioning!!!

Okay, off to try for one hour of sleep...

I know what I'm doing this weekend...

2008-07-24T22:29:00.000-06:00

:)

Our Wii Fit has arrived! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay, weekend

2008-07-19T10:07:00.003-06:00

Let's see... Thursday, we had the apartment photographed by the landlord people because I think they needed better looking pictures to put in the rental magazines and online. They told Jules that we had the nicest looking apartment in the building (although the gay boys downstairs also had their apartment photographed - but they have a two bedroom so I think they needed one of each). How funny that they like the gay apartments the best. Then again, the boys downstairs have a beautifully decorated apartment as well... the boys and us girls are Ikea fans and we're (okay, the boys and Julie) are really really neat and tidy.

Yesterday, I had two of my co-workers over (the two I'm out to) to see the apartment for the first time. They seemed to really like it as well. :) We played Trivial Pursuit: Greatest Hits (80's, 90's and Pop Culture) which is a pretty fun game but it takes FOREVER to finish (which we never do because who have 16 hours to play one game?).

Needless to say, I woke up with a hangover from the bottle of wine Julie and I shared.

Today, Julie is at work waiting for the carpet cleaner to finish. I'm going to play some Sudoku or maybe go back to bed for a while. Later on I need to go pick up my golf clubs in my parents' garage because I'll need them tomorrow for the round of golf I'm playing with work people. When do I need to get to the golf course, you ask? 7 freakin' am!!! What the hell?!?! I'm going to die...

Sudoku Madness

2008-07-18T06:19:00.003-06:00

Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am now a Sudoku addict.

I first became interested in it while in Ontario. My cousin is obsessed with it and can sit down and two minutes later have a puzzle completed. I was thinking, 'Well, if she can do it... I can do it.' - I had tried once or twice in the past but could never finish one. I forgot about trying again until I saw a puzzle in the newspaper this past Monday. One of the guys I was on break with does them, so I asked him for a couple logic tips past the obvious. Ten minutes later I had completed my first puzzle. On Tuesday, I completed the puzzle in the newspaper and then printed off some from online to do on my second break. That evening I brought a dollar store book home. On Wednesday, I think I did about ten of them. Yesterday we went to Chapters and Julie treated me to 'Extreme Sudoku for Dummies' (ONLY because it was the only book with logic strategy... the Mensa guide was sold out :P ), a three pack of mini sudoku pads so I can keep one at work and in my purse (as it says, you'll never be bored in a meeting again... ha ha... yeah, like I can not pay attention to a meeting long enough to play), and level one of the Mensa insane sudoku (never say never...). Julie may regret buying me all that... she may never receive attention again...

Lapsed Catholic

2008-07-17T07:24:00.002-06:00

Just read the headline, "Pope criticizes pop culture". His actual words were, "Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises,"

See my post below.....who KNEW that the Pope was there on my first date with Jenn?? Who knew that he too thought that the Golden Girls poster in the restaurant was infact the Dixie Chicks? False promises indeed. Amen.

Divinely,

Jules.

Love in the First Degree (Novel in the second)

2008-07-16T22:14:00.005-06:00

I have been with your former moderator for almost one year. One year since we met up on the spur of the moment and supped coffee while I lamented on the sadness of Julie Andrews losing her voice. In my defence, I was reading an article on this subject when Jennifer approached. I believe the first thing I said to her face to face is, "Julie Andrews has lost her voice...there may never be the sound of music ever again". Most women would have looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Sorry...I'm looking for my husband, he's . . .". But not Jennifer. We wandered awhile to a park. We had dinner at a place postered with pop-culture and I mistook the over sized Dixie Chicks picture for a rather fetching picture of the Golden Girls. "You mean that's not Blanche? Blimey". And still, she stayed.

Something I have never told her....

We were getting on extremely well. It was easy and she was astute, cute and knew exactly when to say the right thing, the funny thing, the sensitive thing . . . and so I said I had to leave because, "I have to do some things this evening..I should go". Truth be, I had nothing to do whatsoever. I just needed to control what might be happening.

It was my first date in well....I have never dated. I've only ever stumbled into relationships with people I have known as close friends for a very long time. The concept of going out to meet a person with the sole purpose of finding a love/sex relationship with them is completely foreign to me.

That evening I rang my wife who was (and is) in a relationship with my former girlfriend in NB and I got their advice, their thoughts, their general support (note they were my best friends first and remained so after all our switch-a-roo nonsense). That night I wrote to my parents and told them I had had this date . . . truth be, much like Jenn, I wasn't sure. It was scary. Yet I was excited and flattered and relieved and curious....when later that week Jenn casually rang to ask me to go to see an art exhibit, I did not hesitate...on the advice of everyone...'just do it' seemed to be the order of the day. And so I did. It was the best date I have ever had and that was the evening that hooked me. I was in. I had the passport and visa ready...I was going back to Lesbainia and this time I might just be staying....

Something about Jennifer draws me in over and over. On paper and sometimes in everyday life we aren't something an e-harmony ad' would come up with....but it flows and comes back to its centre every time. I know she has been hurt so deeply that she thought she would never be here again. So everyday I do my best to make sure she knows her heart is now in a safe place. I'll do lots of things to have her know that (the latest being that damn Wii Fit she wants so badly...I think I'll be arrested once it arrives...it seems very shady this deal I've done to procure one!)...aside from material things (my weakness when it comes to her), I also want her to know HOME the moment she walks through our door. Needless to say we have a beautiful home ;).

Sometimes at a loss, you can not express the love enough so you channel it in the ways above. But those are not the things that truly count. It is the look that does it. It is the silence. Because the silence is before everything. With Jenn it is her watching me, acknowledging what she has, what I have and what we have...a fleeting look in a crowded room that feels as though it is going on forever. That moment stays long after the cushions are straightened or a gift has been given that I know she would adore...for those things I know she could do without. The look says that I could have nothing material to give and still, she would look at me that way. That is the most brilliant and beautiful thing a lover can give.

So here we are almost at a year. I am sleeping on the sofa tonight as she has had the worst insomnia and I am fairly sure that me getting up 50 times a night does not help...me being out here has nothing (ahem...) to do with Nancy Grace going almost off her rocker this week (the woman is stark raving MAD I tell you..HOW, HOW does she have a TV show...it belies belief but it is the best comedy on television...it's a parody of..well, itself, in so many ways)....I am excited as I never get to watch it...and this is why Jenn and I work so well...we can do this without it being any issue whatsoever. She gets to sleep and I get me Nancy. Win-win ;).

Okay...nothing else to declare. Except the bloody Wii Fit....is anyone else a little SICK of this marketing hell yet?? Stores STILL do not have Wiis for goodness sakes...people still want them...so call me a little behind but does it not stand to reason that Wii Fits would be available for those who actually HAVE the Wii??? Stores get 20 at a time...does that even seem right? And they are gone within the hour!? Clearly it is driving up the black market . . . yes Nintendo benefit from the people who bought 20 at one time but now these people are now selling them for double the Nintendo price...I dunno...it's working yes, but I think people will get sick of the Wii and Wii Fit being in such short supply....right now it's clever....people are STILL clamouring...I mean I love me Jenn, so off I went for a Wii on her birthday...and over one year on I actually had to line up for a Wii and was the last person to get one that day! I thought people behind me were going to need medical attention they were so upset...not angry (as they should be - at Nintendo) but literally, people were looking as if their soul had been trampled upon. And no one in that line wanted it for themselves...that was the thing! I might research this marketing ploy a bit more and get back to you on this.

Okay - Nancy DisGrace is on, settling in for the night - bugger off everyone - let the entertainment begin!

Jules