our little kitties

i took this picture last night and i love it!

in other news, j's sister loves me SO much she's moving to town in a little while. yay!

new year's plans anyone?

short bus

i am SO glad this is a short week because i am exhausted. i'm not usually this tired. it's bad. and what's worse is that everyone else is still on holidays and out having fun and stuff. i feel like a sack of shit.

christmas - wrap up

christmas is all over. it was a very busy and hectic time, but no more so than past years. j's parents and sister lived with us for a week and a half, but that part wasn't too stressful since they all lived in the house before (much longer than i've been there) so they generally take care of themselves. we spent much time at j's grandparent's house and that was stressful. i feel like i haven't been home much in the past two weeks. yesterday we were finally able to spend some time at home. i cleaned and did laundry. you should have seen all the dirty clothes next to j's side of the bed.

last night was my baseball team's christmas party. i got a one year subscription to in style magazine and i'm pretty excited about that. andi got the present i brought, a girls night out change jar. she seemed to really like it.

i'm gearing up for my french oral test which is this afternoon. i still have to figure out exactly where i'm going and how to get there. work today has been pretty slow, but that was expected since more than half of the people are still on holidays. thank goodness for that. i need more sleep if i'm going to function properly.

oh right, christmas presents. i scored a bunch of movies (cinderella, march of the penguins, pocahontas (i don't know how to spell that one) and madagascar, which i still haven't seen), some super nice work out clothes from lu lu lemon, $50 gift card for chapters, a nice sweater, two frying pans and so much more. plus we were given some money so we're looking into getting a home theatre receiver. i don't know much about it, but j does so he'll be taking care of it. i'll just play the pretty position (where you stand around, don't do anything but look pretty). i'm good at that.

christmas number one

christmas number one was this past weekend since my brother was in town. he's left and gone to florida for the rest of the holidays. we had a good time. two big family dinners and present opening fun. i got my socks, so my feet are once again warm. i've been waiting a whole year for them.

this week feels really weird. j's family is in town and so we are spending a lot of time at his grandparents' place. i'm not complaining. i love the home cooked (and not cooke by me) meals and the company, but it's making me feel strange. i feel like i haven't spent enough time at home or with the cats and things are slipping.

so, maybe tonight i'll sneak out early and just spend some time at home, by myself (well with the kitties of course) and just relax. i think i need it and so does my lip.

burnt out

i don't quite know what to say. i'm feeling a little burnt out with work and being ripped apart mentally. i went to an interview yesterday morning that was really a resume workshop in disguise. and as much as i appreciate the help (lots of constructive criticisms, and plain re-write-the-whole-portion-s) i was not fully mentally prepared to have my life essentially ripped apart and the pieces picked through. it's one thing to sign up for something like that and know it's coming. it's quite another to show up hoping to talk about how i can make more money and still be happy only to be thrown to the bears.

anyways.

we hit a milestone last night. our savings have hit a big round number (in the green too!) and it feels so great. it's nice to know that you can do it. and it's encouraging for the months to come.

this weekend is going to be a busy one. all of our family is pilling into town tomorrow and sunday and we have family christmas parties to attend and houses to clean.

REAL oil crisis

monday i got home from work and thought it was pretty chilly. it was a pretty cold day. turns out we did finally run out of oil. so j gets home and breaks the news (i'm too stupid to realize this on my own) so we get on the phone and go out to pick up some little heaters and a lasagna (use the oven, heat the kitchen). with the three space heaters we had we were very comfortable. i stayed home tuesday morning until the oil guy came so i got to sleep in and eat an actual breakfast - unheard of on a weekday because i suck. so they put in some oil, enough for two or three weeks and that was that.

so i won something today. at work, there was this thing where you went to one of nrcan's sites and found information and sent it in. i did and they came and gave me a water bottle today. it's green and i love it! i love winning. getting free things is the best.

more later. more on jobs and family and stuff.

the day that flew by

i'm happy to tell you that today, much to my pleasure, has flown by and it's almost time to go home. it's sunny out, a little cold, but not windy like usual, i slept enough and feel rested, and work was good, and yeah. good times.

my body is a little sore from my body flow (=pilates, yoga and taichi) class yesterday. i went to the gym to work out like usual but saw people with their yoga mats. so i went and did the class. i didn't have the right kind of clothes on (you need stretchy clothes, and preferably ones that cover you when you stretch) but i went and apparently, the instructor was some super yoga guy because about 8 people stayed after the class to get his autograph. who knew?

after the class we went to j's grandparent's place for our usual sunday dinner. it was great. and i'm not just saying that because his grandparents read my blog. they don't. i wouldn't like that.

couple of shout-outs (i never use that word): happy birthday to frank. yay, you're 24! i hope you had fun after the sluts on saturday night (they said slOts, i heard slUts...). congratulations to matt and julie who just bought a house! i think i'm just as excited as you are (sorry...).

j and i went looking at model homes both saturday and sunday. we went both days because on saturday we found a place we really liked. and i mean really liked. and there was another builder we didn't get to see. so sunday we went and looked at the other model homes, decided we didn't like any of them, and went back to see the one we did like. i'm getting excited now, but i really should be getting more excited about having my own car cause that will happen first. i'm not joking. j's going to be getting a mazda 3 of his own so that will leave our little gray car to me, in nice weather at least. otherwise it's still our family car. move over volvo-station-wagons-with-wood-paneling! we still have to think of names for our cars. we will have twins (a boy and a girl car if you please) and can't think of good names. i want chad and kim, after the characters on 24, but now that i'm in love with michael scoffield from prison break, maybe i'll call mine "fish" (that's michael's nickname in the show). fish. i like that.

christmas season and the oil crisis in our basement

let me tell you about the oil crisis. we are switching from oil to natural gas and so have not received any oil since last winter. we are using up whatever is left in the tank before they come and take it away. so when j gets home yesterday to find the house a chilly 14 degrees, he promptly turns on the oven and opens the over door. to heat the house, you know. when i get home i promptly put on joggers and close all the blinds and curtains. so j's calling the oil company, who will only come after hours (=emergency) if they can give us 500 litres of oil + delivery charge = ~ $600. so, no, thank you. so that gets j thinking. turns out the batteries in the thermostat were dying and the fuse had blown. how both happen together i do not know. i do know, however, that i really appreciate the little oil we have left and that i was toasty in bed last night.

christmas season is upon us - my office christmas party starts in under an hour. this is both good and bad. good because i like most of the people i work with, bad because i don't like all of the people i work with. i think it will be okay. plus i have s&b to help me bow out early. and they're just down the street! no bussing home for me today, not that i mind the bus so much, except they have been sucking pretty huge in the past couple of weeks.

party time!

commitments

so i left work early today. i was all done my work and was tired of playing minesweeper (though i did get a new high score.. guess! i play expert). it was so nice to be on the mostly empty bus which flew past empty stops and got me home remarkably fast AND THE SUN WAS STILL OUT! it would probably be worth working earlier hours, you know, starting at 7 or 7:30 just so i would see more daylight and the bus ride would be shorter and less crowded. hmm, food for though.

so the title of this post is "commitments" and as i was typing it i realized that some announcements are entitled commitments and it's all the couples who got engaged. well that is not what this is about! i have made some commitments and thought i'd share. first is my french test. i got home from work and checked my gmail and there was a message saying i have my oral french test december 22nd. now i just have to prepare. i think i need level c for the job this is for, so i'm only talking french at work from now on. that's the first commitment.

the second is that i'm going to run the 10K race this may in the ottawa race weekend. i ran the 5K this year (remember?). it was my first race (besides cross country in little kids school) and it was exhilirating. honestly. so next spring i'm upping the ante to 10K. i know i can do it and i have all winter to train for it. i've been pushing myself pretty hard at the gym. not hurting myself or anything stupid, but just pushing my body harder than i normally would. and other than the million and five cookies i've eaten since sunday night i think i'm in pretty good shape.

i guess my only other news is that last sunday i finally got some books to read and i plowed through the first one. it was so nice to be reading again. and then this past sunday i got some more books, some very very good ones and i've already finished one. body double by tess gerritsen was just awesome. i read the sinner and the apprentice by her not too long ago and she keeps the same characters so if you decide to read her books, read them in order. it's worth it. and now i'm reading a dean koontz book. he never disappoints. have you ever thought of making a list of all the books you've ever read? what would you ever do with such a list? how about all the movies you've ever seen.

m, i'm going to pull out my 101 things to do in 1001 days one of these days and she how things are going. my guess - not so well considering my goals were so lofty. like 100 ft ceilings instead of the regular 8.

shut up, susan*

i'm at work and so is susan. susan is one of my office mates. as a temp, i get the wonderful pleasure of working in "the swamp". the swamp is a shared office space with no windows and four work spaces crammed in. the coop is pleasant and the new guy is nice. susan is a train wreck! this woman drives me insane. she works two days a week, and not even the regular eight hours a day. she spends all her time here talking on the phone. personal calls. i don't think she actually works. i think they don't know what to give her since she only works part time, but she also is not reliably here the two days a week she's supposed to be. did i mention she has a very annoying voice? it grates on my nerves. thank god for kevin (he's my iPod mini).

last night was my first annual christmas cookie exchange and i'm happy to say that it was a huge success. we had 16 people and 16+ different types of cookies. we played games and tested all the cookies and voted on our favourites. they were prizes and it seemed like everyone was having a good time. i almost made myself sick with the amount of sugar i consumed.

the rest of the weekend was devoted to cleaning the house, and going to the gym, seeing my parents and j's mom and grandparents and hanging out with friends. typical weekend activities.

this week will be.. well, i don't know what it will be. i thought it was a week later than it is. i don't really have anything until the weekend after next. maybe i'll focus on cleaning out sarah's room so when she's here she can actually sleep in her bed and get to it without having to climb over all my shit. sounds like a plan, superman.

*names have been changed

the sun is shining!

last night i had a very productive night. i cleaned, i wrapped presents, i made dinner (tuna helper) and jell-o (which i didn't eat so i have that to look forward to tonight), i went to the gym and pushed myself super hard, and i read lots of my book.

it's so nice to have a good book to read. i never really understood the people who don't read for pleasure (by choice, not because they have so much reading to do for classes and really don't have time to read for pleasure). you know? my brother was like that growing up. he hated reading and as a result he can't spell very well. i'm convinced the two are related.

speaking of my brother, he will be home for christmas two weekends from now so we're having our family christmas a week early. fine by me. like i said, my christmas shopping is mostly done.

i was looking at christmas albums last night on amazon. i think i might be coming around on christmas. i've always not liked the idea that people all of a sudden get nice around this time of year. the whole thing was very superficial for me for the longest time, but i'm finding that i'm surrounding myself more and more with people i like and who mean a lot to me. i guess i'm growing up and learning that i don't have to be around people i don't like so the holidays are more about being around family and friends, though the whole thing is still very commercial and that's another aspect i don't like but find myself buying all sorts of presents anyways. you can only give a scarf to someone so many times....