It's been a while...

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

Updates to come soon...

Finally... a date!

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

First aid weekend with no cheating

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

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

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

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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...??!

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

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

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

Sad Stuff

So sad about Miranda Richardson...

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