the little weekend that sucked

last weekend and last week we had it all: nice weather, tons of time off, good times... and then the little weekend that sucked came along. the weather was horrible, there wasn't much to do and even less energy to do it. yuck. yuck.

i did accomplish some things this weekend. i looked for brake pads. j stole mine and i want to start biking to work next week. no more bussing for me! this is a sweet thought after having to wait over 30 minutes for my bus this morning. at least there is a bus shelter at my stop.

i got one page done in my 2006 scrapbook and i finished the title page. that's something. julie and i were not in the right mood friday night. we were so not inspired. so we didn't last long.

s finished her skinny gray scarf and ploughed through a fatter red scarf. she's is now a knitting master. and then i taught her how to purl. again with the crying! so, once she gets through more purling and is more comfortable, we'll put the two together and she will be unstoppable.

on my own needles, i sped through 4 more pink squares. no two squares are alike, which is fun and keeps me entertained. some are a little bigger than the required 5"x5", but i'm hoping that doesn't make or break the deal. i'm packing them all up tonight and sending them off tomorrow. i will continue to make and send squares - i have no other use for the pink cotton wool and love that i'm helping in some way, admittedly tiny though.

and the biggest news from the weekend is.... (drumroll please.....).... well, let me tell you the whole story. it won't take long. promise. remember that baby blanket i made about a month ago? we went and saw landon and sheri and brand new baby boy, kalev, on saturday. he is SO tiny. i'm not very seasoned when it comes to babies, i even turned down my chance to hold him, but this was one cute little baby. he slept the whole time we were there. amazing. it gives me hope.

so anyways, we went and had a good time and gave them the baby blanket. on our way home, figuring since we were in the neighbourhood, we would stop by the sales center for the house we like. we talked to the woman there and were almost 100% talked into buying a house. now. yes, probably within the next two weeks.

there are many reasons and factors and contingencies and intricacies and delicacies but i won't get into all that here and now. basically, it works out that it might be best if we bought now instead of waiting until september or october like we previously thought. so sunday, we went back and went through the model again and managed to see an actual house of another of j's coworkers. and we talked and talked and talked some more.

and now that it's monday, j is calling around to mortgage people. hopefully we will meet with one or two this week and figure out which bank/institution to go with and get'er done! this is a little fast, but almost definitely the right move. i will keep you updated.

i'm ready i'm ready

last night was s&b. it was great. i brought s and taught her how to knit (no purling yet) and she's about a foot and a half of the way through a skinny scarf. she's a knitting machine! m, your salsa is great. thanks again for the jar.

there were lots of people there last night, which is nice, but i feel like i hardly got to talk with anyone. i got my second pink square finished though so that's good. i thought we had just over a month and a week to send them in for the contest, but really we have just over a week. so i'm going to try and whip up another square (the more squares, the more entries for the contest) before i send off my 2 and sylvia's 2. sylvia - you need to get me a postcard!

i left work early yesterday because i couldn't concentrate. my maxie, my parent's dog, was really sick and my mom was super upset and i felt helpless (one of the worst feelings in the world). she wasn't eating or drinking and wasn't her usual self (she usually follows my mom around all day and is fun and playful and happy) so my mom took her to the vet and had a bunch of tests done. turns out she has a severe, but treatable, bladder infection. she has antibiotics and is already eating and drinking again. poor puppy.

tonight should be fun. we're going out for dinner with the car guys and then it's the first official meet of the year and then i'm scrapbooking with julie. man, i don't do a single thing for nights and nights and then i cram it all into one friday night. odd.

i cannot believe it!

i was talking in my last post about the race i'm running in may (national capital race weekend). i registered with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund, the charitable partner, and have already raised $50! you can see my progress here. i am so impressed with everyone so far. maybe my $100 goal wasn't lofty enough. wow and thank you.

thursday stuff

i finished my first pink square for warming grace (click link or click the button on the right). i've started my second one. it's a different pattern and i think that's part of the fun. when you're making a bunch of little things that don't require anything but knitting a square, you can play with the pattern and not tax yourself so you can still pay attention to the tv. perfect.

i'm excited for knitting tonight. i missed the last two weeks (maybe even the last three) and s is coming. i'm going to teach her how to knit.

i am also setting up a scrapbooking date with julie for friday night. i haven't done anything on my scrapbook for weeks. i am really getting the urge to finish goliath, just get it done. i have a total of four blank pages and a couple more here and there that need something. i want to eventually have the cover and spine detailed, but it costs money (presents for batman??? <-- excessive use of question marks. i'm looking at you, j. *hint*hint*)

friday night is also the first ottawa mazda club meet. it will be nice to meet these people in person even though we won't be able to bring our carcar there. it still isn't running, though it will start now. it just stalls if you hit the gas. not driveable, but not completely fubared either.

i'm getting geared up for biking to work. i'm not going to get a may bus pass so i have just over a week left of bussing - less if i get my ass in gear sooner. i have to get new brake pads (j stole mine) and possibly a new lock (i think j stole that too). i already figured out where to park my bike and where the showers are in the building. hopefully this weekend i will bike out here and check out possible routes. i've been trying to scope them out from the bus on my way to and from work, but you can only do so much like that. i think it's about 16-20 kms, but probably less with bike paths and such.

i also found out yesterday that there is a running club here that meets every monday at lunch so hopefully i will be doing that as well. i really need to start training for my race, which is in just over a month. eeek! i might die. sponsor me!

last night, s and i checked out this huge jean-and-other-stuff sale. we both got shirts. i'm excited for them. if you're in ottawa, you should check it out. might as well. stuff on the cheap. just beware of the tons and tons of people, all with screaming kids and nasty b.o. they will be there.

smiley faces

let me tell you what i think about smiley faces. i'm against them. i think they're pretty dumb. especially when they are not accompanied by words. but, that said, there have been three occasions - and yes, only three - when i have wanted to use a smiley face. i won't do it. i can't do it.

i'm the same way about internet-speak. you know, all the lol's and rofl's and a/s/l's and iai's - i just made that one up. it stands for "i'm an idiot". i don't think it'll catch on.

and don't even get me started on the how r u's that make me want to run, screaming, from my computer, while ripping out all my hair, to a vat full of rotting grossness and jump in. head first.

i'm not normally a confrontational person. in fact, i do not usually voice my opinions because i don't care enough to maybe offend even one person. but here it is. i'm putting my feelings out there. don't be offended. it's me not you.

if you're trying to communicate with me using the interweb, don't hesitate to use smiley faces and acronyms and other internet speak. i won't hate you. promise. i might cringe and die a little inside, but i won't hate you.

i'm drowning

my skin is dry and i asked a pharmacist about it. she recommended some cream and said to drink lots of water. so that's what i'm doing. i've had two and a half of my nalgenes today already. it's an odd day if i go through a whole bottle at work usually. i've already peed a huge number of times. yuck. i don't feel like i'm hydrating myself: i feel like i'm flushing liquid through my body.

i want an apple.

easter? no. turbo weekend

this weekend was one of the longest long weekends i can ever remember. it felt like it went on and on and i loved it! thursday night we went to vik's place for dinner. yes, i've already mentioned it. friday night was dinner with my parents. it was your typical easter feast of lasagna. screw traditions. it was good. keeping with the food theme, we had turkey dinner with j's grandparents saturday night. we had fun making telus ads with our chocolate bunnies and our cell phones:



and that rounds off our easter dinners.

like you can see in the title of this post, this weekend was turbo weekend. earlier this year we bought a turbo for the mazda and this weekend was perfect for the install. i remember waking up to j getting ready to go outside. it was 8am and he said that it was like christmas morning. yeah, i guess it was. so he spent all day (11 hours to be exact) out in the driveway. a bunch of his car friends came by to help. i helped by getting pizza for lunch, looking pretty, and making dinner. i'm such a girl.



one of the highlights from the day was when gas sprayed into paul's mouth and dave and jeremy's eyes. it wasn't funny at the time, but they'll definitely laugh about it over beers later.

bad news, the car still doesn't start. something's not quite right, but it's okay because it'll get towed to a shop and they'll look at it this week.

today was a pretty relaxing day. we went shopping and i got a shirt for work and j got some shoes - the girl was so great and she even knocked $20 off the price - and we got some house stuff from zellers. i managed to find some 100% cotton pink wool so i'll be taking part in warming grace (see button on the right). now we're just hanging out until michael scoffield and jack bauer come on tv.

back to work tomorrow. not sure how i feel about that, but it is a short week and without work i wouldn't appreciate a huge fat long weekend like this one.

*knockknock* cleaning lady!

that's me. i just cleaned like it's my job. it's not my job, but sometimes i just have to clean. i never imagined that having one extra person and one extra cat in the house would make such a big difference, but we run out of dishes and utensils weekly and the hosue gets messy sooner.

last night we had easter dinner #1 at vik's parent's house. they have a new place in barrhaven. it's really really nice. basically a bungalow with one room on the second level. it had 9 foot ceilings and a huge 20 foot ceiling over the family room. very nice.

anyways, more stuff to do on day off #1 - yay long weekends! i'll leave you with this picture. that's m, j, s, a and b from m's surprise party last saturday night:

i've been doin stuff - i'm interesting, finally!

these titles don't lie - they're like shakira's hips you know. for real.

i've been busy. and this time i don't mean i'm dying at work and coming home, filling my grumbling belly and passing out. monday we went back to the gym - it had been a while - and then we watched prison break and 24. both shows are super good and definitely worth watching if you aren't already. but you should wait until you can catch up before jumping right in. i like how some shows have gone to that format. they're basically like super long movies stretched over a whole season. you really get into it and feel like you know (or want to know.. mmmm, michael scoffield!) the characters. come to think of it, i know some of the characters better than i know some of my own friends.

that's sad.

tuesday night the three of us went out to dinner and then trekked to amc in kanata to see ice age 2 on the cheap. what a smashing idea. the movie was funny and good and dramatic. my only complaint is that it was approximately minus thirty in the theatre. what the eff, people?? it's not summer yet!

last night was the gym again and then dinner and two for the money. another good movie, but much much different from ice age. firstly, it isn't animated. second, it was about gambling and money and making people gamble more with their money and then taking their money. and maybe now's a good time to point out that over there on the right, i have a link to batman's library. that's a site, primarily for me, but feel free to check it out, where i post about every movie i see and every book i read. so if you're mega bored at work, feel free to look, but i make no promises that you will be entertained. like i said, it's more for me than for you.

and now it's today, and because of the fantastic long weekend, today might as well be friday. i have tons and tons of things to do today, but nothing like last week so i'm laughing. plus, today is susan's last day. remember susan (link to post)? well she's leaving and i couldn't be happier. she's super annoying to work with. i wish i had two pillows to squeeze against my head every day that she's here.

oh, quick update on the cats: they are doing well. s's cat, monkey, is out of her room except at night, and is slowly getting used to the house and to having people and other cats around. soon, all three cats will be sleeping together and playing and eventually, monkey will show me some love because everyone knows i need it!

to work or not to work

so last week was intense at work. intense. this week, with everyone back in the office, and the crunch week past, isn't so intense. in fact, i've been here for two hours and i haven't done a lick of work. not one lick! and it feels great!

last night we went to the gym again. for the first time in forever. it felt good, but i feel dumb for not going more often in the past month (or two months even). i don't know what's going on.. it's the same thing for dinner. we've been really crappy at cooking dinner for ourselves and so never have leftovers for lunches. that's bad. we're bad. we're going to get better.

last night s cooked us dinner while we were at the gym. and tonight i think i'm going to cook up a big bunch of this chicken pasta we like so we can have lunches. tonight we're also going to see the travel agent to talk about australia - yes, we are really going - and also head out to kanata to see ice age 2.

i forgot to mention this, but s and i watched walk the line friday night. it was a really good movie. really good. i also finished my book and it was really good. i'm in a transition reading stage because i don't have any more books (novels) to read presently so i'm reading the third darwin awards. they're funny, but it's not the same as reading a story.

dun like dinner

happy birthday goes out to alan! he's 25. he's catching up to the rest of us. we went out friday night for his birthday and i think he managed to choke down half a half-pint and one shot. someone else did all the drinking for him.

i got to sleep in both saturday and sunday and let me tell you i was SO happy. i'm still tired today, but that's because i couldn't fall asleep last night.

we had the first cats-on-cat encounter and i'm happy to say that it wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be. s's cat is all talk and our two don't seem to really care about her cat. there's been more growling and hissing than we've ever had, but i think they're all coming around.

okay, enough about cats. friday night we went to honest lawyer for alan's birthday. like i said, he didn't get pass-out drunk, but that's just not his style. good job sylvia for organizing. it was a little bit of highschool flashback but that happens and isn't always a bad thing.

saturday night was m's surprise party and she was hella surprised. it was great. we all had margaritas and spaghetti (rob must have called me about 25 million times about a meat sauce) and enough swedish berries to make me feel gross. i was supposed to go out to a bar that night, but stayed late at m's and didn't make it out.

yesterday we had a baseball meeting. it was very productive and made me excited for the season to start. our next fundraiser is a play-off hockey pool so consider this your heads up for me contacting you about spending money and supporting my team. then we had dinner with j's grandparents. it was much more stressful than usual and left me worn out.

this is a short work-week because of the long weekend coming up. sweet! and then we have another short week. double sweeet! i'm guessing my brother will be coming home for the weekend, but i'm really not sure. we will see.

wow, what a crazy week

warning: if you don't want to read about my crappy week, skip this post!

this week has been absolutely crazy. the government's year end was last friday and we have approximately 200 contracts ending on that date. now we're dealing with all the paperwork that's coming in. tens and tens of claim forms and invoices are coming in every day.

let me say too that the woman who normally handles all this isn't in this week. the other woman in charge was out sick monday and tuesday. that leaves me. and i have to take care of all this on top of my other work.

i'm exhausted. it's really wearing me right out.

on a much lighter note: happy birthday to both m and kristina yesterday! you're getting old like me! i hope you both had wonderful birthdays. are we partying this weekend?

snow? now?

it snowed this morning. and yesterday i could have sworn it was october or november the way it was cold and gray out and all sorts of leaves were being blown all around. i'm not ready for winter. but really, i don't have to be. it's april! c'mon weather! it's almost baseball season! smarten up!

the wedding show went pretty much the same on sunday. my feet were killing me, but the day passed. and now i'm just fighting off the cold/flu/whatever_bug everyone seems to have. j and sarah are both at home sick today. i took yesterday off, but am back at work today.

i have to go out tonight and get some interview-worthy clothes. you would think i would have something, but i don't. ug. my fingers are crossed for a ride home. that would be excellent.

me

i like this picture of me. and i think i know why. it doesn't show any of my features that i don't like so much. everyone has something (usually more than one thing) that they don't like about themselves.

today went well. we completely messed up the music for the first fashion show but after much meeting and discussing, we figured it out and had a better show the second time. we had to kick out one woman for soliciting so that was kinda exciting, but other than that it was a pretty typical wedding show day.

i thought a bit today about what to wear to my interview wednesday. i had some ideas floating around and decided to look around tonight. why do stores close at 6 on saturdays? aren't they open until 9 on weekdays? i don't get it. don't people stay up later on weekends? or is it that people have lives and go out on weekends.. hmm, maybe that's my problem. ah well, i'm going to get back to my tv. nothing beats lying on the couch watching mindless crap with two warm bodies. oh wait, j could be here.

preparations

run around mode

i got up very early to get j to the airport. i got home and got ready for work, hopped on the bus and got to work at 7:30. it was a crazy day and a crazy long day, but i survived. once i was on my way home on the bus, i knew i needed some sleep. i couldn't concentrate on my book the way i get when i'm tired, not just distracted.

recovery mode

i slept. i slept and slept and slept. i got home and checked my email and the phone for messages and then went to bed. i slept for two and a half hours. mmmmmm.

preparation mode

i filled myself with food and set out to prepare the house for sunday. i knew that since i was working all weekend i was going to be pressed to find time for this so tonight seemed like a good time. i did dishes and laundry and vacuumed and put stuff away. the house still looks messy, but the mess is in piles. there's something to be said for piles. plus i got rid of all the spiders.

me mode

i'm always in me mode. never am i not myself. and you know what.. i'm proud of that.

silly cookie

i was so excited to get my pay cheque and then i forgot to cash it. money does not make you interest while sitting in your pocket. must remember to go to a bank tonight.

it's taken until now (well last saturday was the first time i noticed it) that when you google my first name this blog does not show up. after j's run in with identity theft, i did everything i could to take my personal information off this site and it finally worked. identity theft is more real than you think it is. get yourself a shredder!

well this week is coming to an end very soon. friday brings with it m's last day of work. i will definitely miss our lunches and our ~100 daily emails. friday also brings a pizza lunch for me and my team for a job well done. i have to get up mega early to get j to the airport so i'm sure i'll be grouchy and groggy most of the day, but hopefully i'm not a crank pot for my date friday night.

this weekend is going to be killer. i have to work full days both saturday and sunday and manage to get the house clean - and i mean clean enough for s to move in - by saturday night when they're expecting to get back. those two are crazy enough to try and make the 1800 kilometers in one go. good luck!

monay monay monayyyyy

i got my first government cheque today. sweeeeeet!

today's also a good day because i switched from winter jacket and tuke, mitts and scarf to light spring jacket. it's light green and fits well. it makes me happy.

this week is flying by, which is good. this is a heavy week with fiscal year-end and uncertainty of future due to a new government. but let's not talk politics. we don't even have to say we have. i hate talking politics.

last night j and i had a great dinner with a&s. they cooked us a wonderful meal. i'm looking forward to trying the dessert that i missed out on.

even though i had a great time, i'm looking forward to a night in tonight. i'll get home and we'll go to the gym, but then the night is mine. we have some chicken to cook and there are tons of little things to be done that you really need a whole night to tackle. things like laundry and cleaning. i'm sure there's tv to watch too.

speaking of tv and media and such, i'm still on my no-celebrity-gossip diet and i've lost 10 pounds! (diet - pounds... get it? i haven't actually lost any weight though.. not that i'm trying to lose weight....) i love that i no longer care about people i don't know and will never meet because their world is not the same as my world. my world has people who have to work 9-5 desk jobs to feed and house themselves. people who can shop in no matter what store and only be recognized by long-forgotten high school acquaintances. people who are so much more real than celebrities.

wedding show this weekend. don't forget to tell all your happily-engaged friends!

we're sick of waiting for an answer

on becoming a girl: i broke a nail last night. it was not pleasant.

on stupid drivers: generally, if a car and a bike collide, it's the car's fault. generally.

on work: it's nice to be alone in the swamp (my little office-for-four).

on babies: holy babies! is every woman pregnant?? shitdamn.

on books: i'm loving a short history of nearly everything. it makes me feel good knowing that i'm learning something. kinda like how it felt nice to be tested on biology stuff.

on friends and family: it's nice to have them even if you don't see them or speak to them in a while, it's nice to know that they are there and you will eventually see them again.

on cookies: cookies?! where have you been all my life?

on ridiculous posts: what? you have a problem with my posts?

on the theme of finishing projects, i also finished the scarf for jess. she sold the second most tickets for our comedy night. we went out and picked out some wool and i finally got it all put together and added the fringe last night. she's working with me this weekend at the wedding show so i'll give it to her then.

i wish i could say that i finished goliath - my scrapbook for 2005 - but when i got together with julie saturday night, i worked on my 2006 book. see, the pressure's off for finishing goliath because i'm so close and i'm still waiting on the last pictures (i ordered them from on online print store) so i couldn't have finished it even if i put the title on that one page. i think i'm maturing when it comes to my scrapbooking style. when i go back and look at the first pages i made you can see how far i've come. even j noticed and commented saturday night.. and this was after splitting two pitchers with two other people ("i'm not drunk, i'm just loud!")

j's dad was in town.. basically he flew in and out of here, but spent a couple of days in kingston. so we had dinner twice with j's family so that was nice. maybe i should go and see my family at some point.

the baby blanket

i finished the baby blanket i was knitting for landon and sheri. j used to work closely with landon while in his co-op, but now they just email back and forth with some other guys from the old group. they do this ALL DAY LONG. anyways, sheri is about to pop.

a close-up picture of the wool:



and a picture of the detail around the edges:



whoohooooo being done! and now for jess' scarf. it will finally get the attention it deserves.

shamelessness

i shamelessly plugged my mom's wedding show (link) on the whiteboard in the kitchen at work. this is what i wrote:

ottawa wedding show .com
April 1st and 2nd
Lansdowne
free to get in!

i walked by a couple hours later and someone else had written a smart comment underneath:

however, the marriage will cost you.

i laughed and then i laughed some more.

no white flag above my door

last night i was a party animal. i got home from work, kinda late because the bus stopped but didn't open the doors and drove on. weird, eh? so i was a senior citizen and called to complain. anyways, i get home and have a quick nap standing in the kitchen. we ate food and i watched millionaire, jeopardy and deal or no deal. quite the tv marathon night. i also knit the baby blanket until i had no wool left, which, unfortunately, did not coincide with the blanket being complete. so i put it down and got back to work on the scarf for jess. i'm going to need to get more wool for both projects i think. and then i went to bed at 9:30. i warned you. i'm not the go-out kinda girl i used to be.

i'm also fighting off the cold that's going around. that's my excuse.

i'll post from home with pictures.

dear flickr, i love you

as you can see from my new flickr badge on the right, i have forayed* into the online picture world known to many. flickr is AMAZING. my only beef is the monthly upload limit that is, in my opinion, much much too smal. get it? smal? moving on.

we went to gatineau looking for a walk and some picture opportunities. apparently the ncc doesn't plow their roads in the winter and so the walk to the really scenic places was too long for ill-prepared us. instead, we went to hog's back falls and snapped away to our hearts' content. the falls:



j got some really good pictures of the cats. rolo is the brown one and sandy is the orange one:




i haven't been sleeping enough lately and that's not a good thing with all the sickness going around. so tonight's the night. i'm going to bed early, and since the boss lady isn't in tomorrow, i just might sleep in a little. just a wee bit.

* please note, this is definitely the first time i have used the word forayed

weekend nothingness

friday night for me was a bust. i stayed in and talked on msn - a very strange occurrence for me - to a guy i hardly know. very odd night. i meant to knit and watch a movie. instead i sat at the computer and watched las vegas. does anyone actually watch that show. one of the female charaters irks me so much. she had fake lips and fake boobs. i find it hard to look at her because she is so out of proportion. there is something to be said for the correct proportions on a human body, especially in today's age of plastic surgerizing everything.

yesterday i got up and checked the messages on the phone. i had one from an alarm company saying my parents' place had a burgulary alarm. i couldn't be ahold of them so it was a weird ten minutes until i was able to contact the alarm people. guess i should get the password for that.

last night we went to lick's for the first time. talk about a themed restaurant. i had the best veggie burger i've ever had though. congratulations, lick's, you've really outdone yourselves.

we also bought a new camera. we realized that there are going to be multiple weekends this summer where we'll be apart and both want to have the camera. so we splurged and bought a digital slr. i can give you the specs if you're really curious, but it's basically an entry-level slr, but it's more than we need. it fun to take pictures with and we took ~100 yesterday alone including this gem of sandy:

the week's fun

instead of knitting last night we had a pizza potluck. m (captain pants) made the dough and everyone brought toppings. it was really good.

but i have been knitting. lots actually. i took pictures but none turned out very well. i'll leave you in suspense.

today is st. patty's day, but i'm not going out. my stomach has been bothering me lots today so i'm staying home and watching tv and knitting. yikes, i'm getting old.

i was checking out the race site (link) today and was pleased to learn that ottawa is hosting the first ever canadian wheelchair marathon. huge athletes will be coming from all over. i'm planning on volunteering again this year so hopefully i'll see the race. i also saw a news bit on the hour (link) about how the paralympics get so little coverage. i wonder if that will change.

so, happy drinking to everyone irish (which is every single person today). i'll be with my kitties on the couch watching tv.

do i really want to know?

my johari window (link). please take a minute and tell me what you think about me. i'm really curious.

my nohari window (link). same deal. tell me what you think.

and yes, i do really want to know.

it's cool to love your family

i listened to some music this afternoon from new music canada (link) by the stars and feist. they are both solid bands, but maybe not my favourite. or it could be that they're new to me and i'm tired and working. hmm. i will definitely give them both another honest try and report back.

let's talk about useless meetings. if you work in government you know what i'm talking about. i had two yesterday and one today. why? what is it about the government that makes people want to get together and talk about things that either don't matter, don't matter to everyone, or are just plain useless (like, you could have told me that by email instead of dragging my fat ass* up three flights of stairs!)

i was ultra productive today. i'm earning my keep. i can't wait to leave though so i can read my book.

oh, and by the way, i'm on my third day without celebrity gossip and i'm feeling good. honestly. who needs that crap anyways?

*the fact that i take the stairs should be indication enough, but just to clarify, i do not have a fat ass. in my opinion of course.

big relief

i had my test this afternoon. it was a three-hour long written test for a biology position with health canada. i smacked down the test in just over an hour. i am very pleased with my performance and can't wait for the next step. the next step is an interview. and i was double pleased to learn that there are only 12 of us writing the exam and that last time they ran a competition for these entry-level jobs, all 12 were hired within 6 months. i just have to dazzle them in the interview. SO.EXCITED!

okay, i was so windy today. i left my building at lunch and you know when it's so windy you can't breathe? well it was that windy. there were points when i was walking and not moving. i mean, i know my building creates weird wind tunnels (m, back me up here!), but it was super windy everywhere. i'm glad it wasn't garbage day. last time we lost our black box.

i'm making good progress on my baby blanket. i'm not quite half done, but it goes by really quickly and i can't put it down and now the guilt about not studying for the test is gone so hopefully i'll whip the blanket up in no time.

really?

so we're half way through march. anyone else find that a little crazy? it was so nice and sunny and warm saturday, but then the rain came.

my brother was in town this weekend, but when we went over to my parents place to see him, everyone was sick. we didn't stay long.

i'm trying to think of what else we did, but it really wasn't much. it was a relaxing weekend.

we did learn that our cats go crazy for cat nip. so crazy that rolo will actually follow you to the cupboard where it's kept. he's a little ocd like that. we have funny video of him trippin out.

and now for some knitting news: i started a baby blanket for our friends landon and sheri, who are very pregnant. it's really neat (link) because it's knit on the diagonal. i had to switch from two straight needles to some circulars to fit it all. it's excited for the blanket. i'm almost half done.

upcoming:

- i have a written test tomorrow afternoon for a job at health canada. this is a 6-12 month term biology position, so i'm really hoping for it, but you never know.

- my s&b group is having a pizza potluck dinner this thursday night. a little spin on our regular night.

- j's sister is moving here at the end of the month. i was going to fly out to thunder bay and drive back with her, but i can't.. because...

- my mom's wedding show (link) is the first weekend in april. like usual, i will be working all weekend and pocketing some mad cash.

and for those of you who didn't know, the government has renewed my contract, but has made me casual instead of agency. what this means for me: i get another $1 an hour, every hour. what this means for them: they get to pay less for my services. my contract now finishes july 19th. will i last that long? stay tuned.

eureka!

i've got it! i finally know what i'm giving up for lent. bear with me - i am not religious, i don't even know when lent started or when it will finish, but i've always wanted to give something up for lent. call me crazy and i'll be right there laughing with you.

all that aside, i've decided what it is i will live without for the duration (when does it end? easter?) drumroll please [pauses] [drumroll?] [who hired these people?? somebody get me a drumroll!] [DRUMROLL!] i am giving up celebrity gossip! no more reading the trashy part of metro every day. no more checking celebrity gossip blogs (they're already off my sidebar). no more channel hopping and stopping on e talk daily or whatever other crap show. i'm done!

i realized this is probably one of the best things i can do for myself and i'll tell you why. celebrities might as well be aliens. they are so unrealistic (reality shows can bite me!) and when i read that crap it doesn't make my life better. it doesn't make me feel better about myself. so i'm done. who's with me [jerry mcguire style]? who's with me [motions vigorously with fish in plastic baggie]?

moderate this!

last night was a nice, full evening, especially for a school night. i got home and almost immediately we left for somerset. we had dinner with some of j's car friends at the cleanest, brightest, nicest chinese restaurant i have ever been to. we bought a whole bunch of different plates and spun them around the centre of the table, grabbing whatever we wanted. we were the only ones in the whole place so the chef made us deepfried banana and ice cream for dessert. it was nice.

i left before everyone else to grab s and head to m's for some knitting madness. it was nice and calm and interesting and hardly madness at all. we talked about so many neat topics. i managed to get some work done on my last charity scarf, but nothing on my wavy scarf. i forgot the pattern at home anyways. so we were gabbing on about anything and everything and i look over at the clock and it's almost 11 (10:58pm to be exact) so we decide to start packing up.

i had parked on the street in the glebe in a huge and very deep puddle. so i climbed in through the passenger side, which was much easier with lumi who didn't have a centre console. i love the mazda, but it is a small car.

i get home and j was asleep. not unusual - it was late and we had a long day. but the funny part is that he didn't wake up even for a second with me stomping around the place (i try to be quiet, i really do!) not even when i had to rescue him from near strangulation from his ear phones.

so i wake up this morning and go into the bathroom. i look at the back of the door and there's a bug. ladies, when you live with a guy, it's the guy's job to deal with bugs. it's not that i can't handle them, it's that i don't want to. so i go downstairs and tell jon there's a bug in the bathroom. i'm glad you can't see my impression, because i stood in the kitchen and showed him what the bug looked like. this produced a lot of laughter from him and maybe some pouting from me. don't make fun of me! go and kill the damn bug!

so, any plans this weekend? i don't have any yet and i would like some. well, actually, my brother is coming to town so i guess i have some sort of plan in that i have to be at my parent's place for part of the weekend. and i have to crank out a scarf for the girl on my ball team who sold the most tickets.

comedy night a huge success!

it's finally over. it was such a good night. everything went pretty smoothly and the actual entertainment was funny.. sometimes crude, but funny. we managed to raise a chunk of cash for our team and had a great time doing it.

thank you to everyone who came out and supported me and my team.

i have to say, i'm surprised there weren't more lesbian softball player jokes....

let me tell you

i want to tell you about the germophobe in my office. let's call her germie. i see germie in the bathroom. there is one female bathroom on my floor so i tend to see a lot of the women in this office day-to-day in the bathroom. this is normal.

germie is so obviously terrified of germs. she goes to the bathroom, but not before she pulls some papertowels down. she leaves the papertowels hanging from the dispenser. then she pees. then she turns on the water. then she grabs the paper towels and wipes the handle she just used. then she washes her hands. then she grabs more papertowels. then she washes her hands again and uses to papertowels to turn off the faucet and get more papertowels. then she uses the final papertowel bunch to open the door and finish drying her hands. and then she's gone.

wow. maybe i should tell her about purrell. then should could just carry around a bottle and douse her hands whenever she got the creeping feeling that a single germ had entered her life. i'm glad i'm not her child. *rubs dirty hands in eyes*

you know it's spring when...

you know it's spring when you can smell the fresh dog shit.

i love how i wake up and the sun is already shining, and it's not because i've slept way in. i love how i've been able to not wear my track pants over my pants home from work twice in the last two weeks. i love seeing the snow melt, just before it uncovers all the brown crap underneath.

but, with the arrival of spring, we can expect to see a glaring lack of new snowmen. including ones like this little gem j and i came across not too long ago.



note the boobs and the contrasting neanderthal eyebrows. lovely really.

busses, yes, city busses

busses. i love them and i hate them. i hate how it takes more than 20 minutes for a bus that comes every ten. i hate how there is usually this drunk 40-ish gross disgusting man who insists on sitting near me. i hate how sometimes i have to stand. i hate how sometimes they break down. i hate waiting out in the cold.

but you know what i love. i love that i don't have to drive in rush-hour traffic. i love the randomness of talking to the strange people, or just observing them. i love that the bus gives me 25 minutes in the morning to just sit. i usually read my book, but sometimes i listen to my music and sometimes i listen to conversations going on around me. sometimes i watch people. sometimes i zone out and stare out the window at nothing and everything passing by.

most of all, i love that the bus takes away the sense of urgency. it takes away to rush in the morning. sure i run to the bus stop every morning, and sometimes i run home at night. i don't mind. i like that i have that time to not think, to just sit. so thank you busses, for every morning you give me 25 minutes of me time.

i'm just a girl in the world. that's all that you'll let me beeeeeeee

friday felt like monday all day, so the weekend was a nice surprise. i didn't feel all worn out from work - that's what happens when you take three days off - so it was nice. i went to julie's friday night and almost finished my 2005 scrapbook. i'm still missing a couple of baseball pictures and need to put a title on the last page i made. i put the spine back in the album. it's huge. in fact, i named it "goliath". goliath the scrapbook. i'm weird.

because i trust you, i will admit that i wasn't looking forward to saturday night. i was invited to a slumber party. i was picturing girls in pj's doing each other's nails and hair and make-up, giggling about boys. instead it was a bunch of fun girls, sitting around eating good food and drinking sangria and wine. it was a good time and i'm glad i went. though if anyone had come at me with nail polish or hair spray, i would have walked right out that door. yuck. but it was fun.

today was so warm out and so nice and sunny. we finally got quicktax and went through it tonight. we couldn't figure out where to put my tuition or where to put the rent we paid, and we're still getting a huge refund. sweet! there's our australia trip paid for.

i just want to say that our little cats are so cute. they're fun and talkative and cuddly. they love attention. picture? okay. this is from about a week ago. i'm going to start putting more pictures up.



here's one of the car. for the car's birthday, we got it tinted:



such a sexy car.

annonnnnnnyyyymosity

i've been told that some people read this blog and i really had no idea. hmm. not sure what i think about that and not sure if it will affect my writing style (do i even have a writing style?) i'm going to say no - to the 'will it affect me' question. i'm not going to change anything. this blog is for me. if i say something a little too personal and it offends you - suck it up or don't come back. fair? good, i'm glad we understand each other.

this week has been a whirlwind complete with job-hunting, candy and chocolate, working and not working, and lots of family dinners. the job hunting was for s who is moving here. four weeks! four weeks! i'm so glad that we get along so well. i remember calling her a night in may two years ago now.. make that almost three years ago now - oops! - to tell her that j and i were engaged. i remember her words: you're shitting me! you've gotta be shitting me! i have to call mom and dad." and off she went. her dad was in bc and her mom was in cornwall. she called them both and called back 6 hours later (around 4 in the morning) to say she finally believed us and that she was happy for us. gee thanks. nice vote of confidence. to her defense, i had only met her once (maybe twice) (back off! lots has happened over the years. i remember the important things) and so she didn't know what we were like together.

so she was j's best man and my brother, s funnily enough, was my maid of honour. we really threw most traditions out the window. there is no one else i would have had in those two positions. there are just some things that are right. and having s & s there was right.

kind of like, but not like at all, how when we were test-driving cars, we would get back in one of our little cars (lumi the off-white beast who would turn off while driving down the street or the saturn who is still trucking amazingly enough) and talk about the car we were just in. what we liked about it and what we didn't like. with the mazda 3 we could only say good things. we were in love. it was right. it was perfect.

i'm glad that we agree on the big things. all the major things that we've gone through so far, getting engaged and married obviously being the biggest and most .. big.. hmph!, we've agreed on. we're very similar when it comes to the big things. big big big!

i think i'm losing it! good thing s left all her chocolate in ottawa and i can go home and prolong the gluttony-fest another day. until j hides it all on me. though i did find his chocolate hiding spot!

wow, check out the amazingly abundant use of adverbs in this post. definitely not my usual writing style.

and finally, from captain pants, my horoscope from crazyauntpurl.com for march:
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)
The two-step may have been fine for Fred and Ginger, but who wants to be taking two steps forward and two steps back every time they hit the ground? Not me. And not ya'll, I'm just guessing. March is all about breaking out of the box step and break dancing instead ... or maybe a spicy mambo? A tango to work, a rumba to bed? Dare to do something buckwild crazy this spring, and release all the built-up tension of the winter months. Until the new moon at the very end of the month, the only expectations you have to live up to are your own. The most important thing I can tell you right now: Don't spend your life taking instructions on how to live from people that aren't even qualified to give you street directions. Or dance instructions.

hmmm, i have lots of dances. i make them up all the time.

SO.BUSY.

j's sister is in town and so we've been very busy. i will update later.

summertime cookout

friday night, i was a super star and was in bed before midnight. what can i say - it was a long week.

saturday i had a job meeting, but nothing exciting. j drove around for the hour i was in the meeting. remember all the snow and accidents? that was what he was out in. crazy fool. saturday night we went to the fox and feather with some friends. i had a great time. honestly. i was so glad i went.

sunday was a shopping day. we went to bayshore and got j some much-needed jeans. then it was dinner at gramma's (typical sunday fare) and out for groceries.

among all that excitement (i'm not actually very exciting) i was able to knit lots. i'm learning new things. i want to make a cat bed, but i need real wool, none of this acrylic crap that i usually use, and baby booties or something. not for me.

today is my only full day of work this week. tonight we pick up s from the airport and start a 5-day adventure that is her looking for permanent employment in the city and me being chauffeur. nice.

what's on your mind? spit it out

we went to the gym last night. i wore my lululemon pants. they really are the greatest work out pants ever. they make me feel sexy and they make me look good and they keep me dry even though i'm sweating like a pig. i'm very close to being addicted.

news on the australia trip: i'm going! i haven't booked my tickets yet, but i found out the ticket prices for sure and we can afford it. yay!yay!yay! i'll be gone for three weeks, maybe 4. i'm going to start seriously looking into things. i know that i for sure want to see the great barrier reef, which is north, and the girl i'll be staying with is south, still on the east coast, but south. i!am!so!excited!

i should find out soon about my contract. i know that i wasn't going to accept any more extensions, and my whole mindset has changed since i decided that. and it's become more bearable. weird, eh? so, i don't quite know what i'm going to do, but i'm more open-minded about it now. i think it helps that i have a ton of work to do so i'm busier.

oh, and last night i gave in my registration (and cheque) for the 10K race in may! i am officially in. so i have to start officially training. i've never (not once) ran 10K. last year, when training for my 5K, i was running 8K (5 miles = 8 kilometers - won't make that mistake again!) so i know i can do that. my goal though, is to 1) run the whole race. no walking. and 2) run the whole race in an hour or less. i don't know yet if that's do-able, but i'm going to try.

good news (seems like there's lots of good news today): i have most of next week off work. s is coming to town monday night, so i'll work monday. she's leaving friday morning so i'll work after i drop her off at the airport. perfect.

8 days a week isn't enough to show you i care

thanks again to both alan and richard who helped me figure out this damn blog. just when i was starting to think i knew a thing or two....

i've been listening to album launches on iceberg radio. it's a nice break from just music, but it isn't too distracting to not let me concentrate on work.

i had a little chat with the temp working upstairs. he basically thinks i'll all set for getting a permanent job in the government because i'm young. it's nice to hear that, but can't i be pessimistic for a minute?? i'm in a really grrr mood so just watch out.

we bought a team canada sweatshirt for my dad for his birthday. i was really impressed with the quality of the team canada gear. nice and thick sweatshirts. j, maybe this is a hint!

hey, i have most of next week off! how sweet is that?? i emailed my boss about two weeks ago asking to have the week off. she fired off a simple email saying "no". i was pissed. but then she came and talked to me and we agreed that i would work monday and friday afternoon. perfect. j's sister is getting to town monday night and leaving friday morning. it's perfect. damn perfect.

the book i'm reading is really interesting. the main character reconstructs faces from skulls. he gets a skull and reconstructs his own face. then the whirlwind of him finding out he has a twin brother who was an assassin for the cia and was in the middle of a super important field operative in mexico. so, off he goes to mexico and has to be his brother that he never knew and convince scary people that he is his brother, and finally must kill the bad guy. i can't imagine having all that thrown in my face and not losing it just a little. okay, maybe completely losing it and crying like a baby with overwhelming dread. honestly. think about it.

i think we are very desensitized to violence and death from tv and movies and the internet and even the news, but when it actually happens to you it's a whole nother story. this time last year, i was driving home from work where two lanes changed to one. you know when you're in the driving zone and you're just driving. well i was in the lane that kept going and there was a car beside me who apparently thought i should have done something to let him in. me: lalalalala. him: *honk* *shaking fist* *yelling at me* i can't quite remember now, but i think i flashed my brights at him at the next stop light or something. he got out of his car. i locked my doors and turned up the music. i was in the right and there was no way i was opening my window to hear anything he had to say. the light turned green i drove on. he scrambled back to his car and proceeded to hassle me. i finally lost him but i didn't go straight home. i was really worried he was going to find me and follow me home. so, all that to tell you that i was so high on adrenaline that lasted for hours. i was pumped about it all night and for days afterwards. and that situation had nothing to do with death at all. i don't know how i would ACTUALLY react to violence/death/whatever else gory. hmmm.

devious smiles afar

i did a step class last night. i am much less sore than last time, but i did my own stretching afterwards. it's amazing how we develop routines, be it the order in which we stretch or the hand we use to brush our teeth, and these routines help us maintain our bodies or simply get through the day. mixing it up, with regards to the hand you use to do things, helps avoid mental disorders later in life, or so i've read. i can imagine. it takes longer to accomplish simple tasks and more thinking.

being left-handed, i tend to do things with both hands, or at least don't favour a hand over the other. i know most people, aka right-handed people, are at a loss with their left hand. they really just can't do day-to-day things that most lefties can do with both hands. i'm not saying i'm a god when it comes to ambidextrousness (i don't even know if that's a word to tell you the truth), but i'm saying that i think being left-handed certainly has it's advantages. when i broke my left wrist, i was able to do most everything with my right hand, including write.

there are even some things i can't do with my left hand period. i can't use scissors. and believe me, i knew this way before my kindergarden teacher finally gave in and let me use the silver scissors instead of the green-handled ones. what a mess!

but there are some things that irk me. i was taught to eat properly, as in with the fork in my left hand and the knife or spoon in my right hand. i remember sitting in bayshore with my grandma learning about the proper way to eat. it took a while, but i can finally use a fork in my right hand, but i think it looks completely strange when people cut or spoon things with their left hand or use a knife with their left.

heavenly weekend

it's been a good weekend. friday night was date night. j took me out for dinner after i stayed home all day "sick". we had a good dinner at chances r and then went home to watch the exocism of emily rose. it wasn't as scary as we were expecting, but still good. then j went to bed and i watched miss congeniality. that's a funny movie, but so stupid. i still want to see the second one.

yesterday, m and i trucked to montreal to find her a dress for her sister's wedding. we were successful in that she found a dress she really liked. we were unsuccessful in that she didn't buy said dress. i got home and showered and was then taken over to julie's where i scrapbooked the night away. but bed was calling. i slept for hours and hours and then i napped for hours and hours. needless to say, sunday, today, hasn't been very eventful. at least i still have the gym and groceries to keep me busy. i don't think i'll be getting to sleep very early tonight.

valentine's day day

you know how december 24th is christmas eve and then the 25th is christmas day. well boxing day should be christmas day day. so that would make today valentine's day day.

valentine's day was just another day. it's so completely a hallmark holiday. don't tell me which day to *love* someone more. i don't take crap like that. maybe it meant something when i was younger and fresh to relationships and that crap, but not anymore. i'm old and jaded, at least that's what i'm sounding like.

but no matter what you think about the "holiday" guys, don't dump your damn girlfriend on v-day. even i would be slightly offended. the day before - fine. the day after - even better (though explaining the lack of gifts/fancy dinner out/ sexy night in/ whatever it is people do (ass-less fishnet stockings is the best i've heard so far this year) would be hard). just don't do it the day of. girls don't like that. take my advice and help yourself from getting your reputation tarnished. even if you can't stop the asshole/small dick/smelly rumours, you can not be that ass who dumps his girlfriend on valentine's day.

valentine's day is for suckers.

government testing

all day saturday i was downtown writing tests for the government. i applied to an inventory thingy for environmental officers and after i submitted my application it made me choose dates for all sorts of tests. i had no clue what was going on. i chose everything. this was a while ago.

then, last thursday i remembered that all the tests were scheduled for saturday. i was downtown longer than i'm at work. it was a long day. and of course i went to bed late on friday night. but the testing is done and maybe i'll get a job out of it.

i just asked my boss for a week off. she won't let me have it. i only have four weeks left in my contract, but i'm finding myself completely lacking motivation. i figured some time off would help. i've had some pretty crappy luck with jobs recently. let's recap. this time last year i was working away on a huge report for the government. i wasn't thrilled or extremely busy, but i was gainfully employed. then my contract ended. i went on ei for 4 months until i found another job. i was there from june-october and hated every second of it. and obviously my boss didn't think much of me either because he asked me to leave about three months early. i had two weeks off before i started this job and we all know how happy i am here and how well i've been treated. i started here october 15th, which is just shy of 4 months ago. i 've taken one day off, other than stats.

i am SO F*CKING FRUSTRATED!

i hope my boss isn't too surprised when i call in sick every day of that week i asked to have off. i'm on contract.

straight shooter

next time you see me, ask me why i'm a hiphop artist. cause i am, you know. and hiphop artists don't have babies.

whooo hooooo!

i'm quite excited about lots of things.

first, let's talk about knitting. i knit every week with my girls. we call it our s&b - or stitch&bitch - it's a nice break from the regular after-work-dinner-gym-rush of my life. usually i knit scarves. they're easy and usually quick and practical. last week, i finished my charity wool scarf (we got some wool and all made scarves and will give it all to the salvation army) and decided to try a knit-flat mitten pattern. the challenge is that it's not a scarf. i'm out of my element. but i'm having a good time and i'm learning things. eventually, i hope to be able to knit mittens in the round. ooohh, i'm so ambitious!

then, just today, m posts a link for kitty beds (this is a link) and i'm excited to try making one. i wonder if my kitties would like such a thing.. i can't see why not. and i would have to learn how to felt projects. exciting. and if it all works out, this is the perfect christmas present for next year ooooooohh!

now let's talk about finances. well, nothing specific. last night we met with somebody from primerica and right away he's found us a way to get $5000. sweet deal! and we don't even have to pay him. they do a complete financial assessment and work their tails off trying to get you out of debt so that they can make money off of you when you're saving and making money yourself. it sounds too good to be true, but i'm not lying. $5000 in my pocket! now that's enough for a trip to australia.

and finally, let's talk about my health. i'm only partly kidding. i went to the gym on sunday and again last night and i have to admit i'm glad to be back at it. i am sore yes, but i feel great.

my life's coming up milhouse.

(don't forget about Absolute Comedy March 8th. get your tickets early!)

ABSOLUTE COMEDY - MARCH 8th!!!!

remember that fundraiser i was talking about? well, it's here. we are hosting a fundraising night at Absolute Comedy (Preston near Carling)Wednesday, March 8th. i will be bugging you for the next month to buy tickets. they are only $5. show starts at 8:30. please please please let me know if you would like a ticket. i can promise you laughs and girls. what could be better?

my lovely lady lumps - check it out!

another weekend post! who's excited??? i am! i am!

friday night i went to fat tuesdays. i wasn't planning on going out, but since my montreal plans fell through, i had some time on my hands. i managed to drink a lot of beer. we went to honest lawyer next where i ran into dan, a guy i used to work with. he's so nice. then we went across the street to the drink. we managed to score a ride home and i stumbled in at 4am. i was the loudest tip-toeing drunk ever. it's amazing j managed to stay asleep through all of my thunder.

saturday night i was going to stay in. i even rented myself a movie (bewitched - i picked something j didn't want to see) and got cheese for nachos and ice cream. i was sitting on the couch, knitting with my kitties, watching the movie when j and richard came over. we decided to go out because it was a girl on my team's birthday. it was pouring and disgusting, but we made it downtown and went to on tap (since it's mardi gras everywhere was mega busy. everywhere except on tap). we didn't stay long and spent too much money on cover and coat check (thanks matt! i owe you lots of money!) and we didn't even manage to meet up with most of the girls. they were somewhere else.. i don't even know where yet.

no drinking saturday night, thankfully, and then sunday was a relaxing day. we finally made it to the gym. i'm happy to report that my abs are sore from my class and i feel good about myself. it had been much to long. j went out to watch the superbowl, but again, i got myself a movie and decided to stay in. i watched house of wax and have to say that i was pleasantly surprised with how deep it was, compared with what i was expecting. i wouldn't rank it up there with shawsank redemption or anything, but it wasn't the worst movie i've ever seen. i caught the last 8 minutes of the superbowl and was happy to see that it wasn't a blow-out - superbowls are notorious for blow-outs - and that pittsburg won. not that i really care.

oooooooooohhh!

i'm excited. my baseball team is going to be hosting a fundraising night at absolute comedy in just over a month! we haven't decided on ticket prices yet, but definitely between $5 and $10. don't worry - i will be sending you all an email begging you to come and support us.

yay!

you know what i love?

you know what i love? when you first leave the house in the morning when it has snowed lightly the night before and there are tons of little cat prints and rabbit tracks all along your driveway. that makes me happy.

my horoscope

when i was younger i was a huge fan of horoscopes and read mine every day. then i realized how fake they are. sure, you can make generalizations for people based on their sign, but really, what does it all mean? some days my horoscope would be smack on while other days it would be so horribly off.

these days i read my horoscope every day during the week because it's right beside the sudoku puzzle in metro. i don't usually pay it much attention, but today it's right on. i particularly love the last line in it that says "you'll use a suitcase soon". right on!

too bad it didn't say something like "you'll quit your current job and find the job of your dreams that pays a huge fat salary. you'll win the lottery but chose to keep working because you love it so much. with your winnings, you take a luxury cruise - no interior cabin for you! - and your australia trip is paid for. all the leftovers you smartly tuck away into rrsp's and resp's for your future child(ren)'s education(s) and buy the house of your dreams and furnish it, only going to ikea because you want to, not because you must. want that shirt? go buy it! want another car? go get one!"

the weekend

i just realized that my weekends are becoming very repetitive so this may be the last time i post about what i've done over the weekend. ah well, you still read it.

friday night we went and met up with j's mazda 3 friends and headed over to grace o'malleys. some of our other friends showed up so i wasn't bored to tears (don't get me wrong. they are nice guys, but i just can't not be bored when 80% of the conversation revolves around car-stuff. what can i say, i'm just a girl) and had a pretty good time.

saturday my parents were supposed to come over but didn't so we went out and looked at lots of stuff. i managed to spend -$4. i got the money back for our missing black box (the city pays if you lose yours or it gets damaged, but we paid upfront and then got the credit) and i bought a nice blue tray with a white fish on it. nothing like a jesus fish though. if that were the case, i would draw legs on it and put the word "darwin" where the jesus sometimes goes.

speaking of darwin, i received my package of free books from chapters. for those of you not keeping up with my life - i got a gift certificate for chapters for my birthday. so i paid for the books, but not with my money so they were essentially free. one of the books was the 3rd edition of the darwin awards. hilarious! i also got the lonely planet guides for australia and for canada, a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson, and a cookbook. i am very pleased with my new books.

speaking of australia... i'm going there!!!! mid- to late- september i will take off on a little adventure. i have two friends who are there currently, and will be for the next 11 months, for teacher's college. i will be taking at least three but maybe four weeks to travel and explore and hopefully see a kangaroo or two. i already have $20 australian dollars (= australios) towards my cause (thanks m & r!) and now i need things like a plane ticket and a plan. at least i have the general timeframe and the means. it's a good start.

getting back on track, i scrapbooked with julie saturday night. i am so close to being done my 2005 album i can taste it!

yesterday was a lot like saturday, except i spent money. i had a shirt to exchange at the mall so i did that and got a really cute black zip-up shirt with two bright pink bands across the chest. doesn't sound much like something i would wear but i like it.

not much else to report. i have stuff to do tonight and will have to watch 24 later, but that's life. i'm surprised i haven't missed it yet. last season we had to watch the first 4 episodes weeks after they aired. i can't remember why now.

watch out for the pink elephant

a guy in my group at work (i will no longer be calling my group my team) just had knee surgery. i emailed him to say i hoped the surgery had gone well and he responded saying he felt GREAT (all caps like that) and that there was a pink elephant following him around. drugs, perhaps? i think so.

it's friday. how sweet is that? and we're going out tonight. out on the town.

i've designated this weekend as a me weekend. wasn't last weekend a me weekend too? possibly. i'm going to get the house the way i want it and i'm going to sleep in until i can't sleep anymore and i'm going to do the things i want to do. plus, i have lots more cake to finish off.

wanna hear something funny? we went to best buy and bought an av stand that matches our tv stand. it's put together and is standing right beside our tv. the funny part is that we don't have anything to put on it yet. we have plans to get all sorts of things, but for now it's empty. grrrreat!

rolling on dubs

i was lucky and caught the biggest loser last night. how i love that show.

last night was really a home-night. while j napped, i did dishes and laundry and cleaned up. we had really been neglecting the house so it felt nice to have some of the chaos put at bay.

tuesday night was a potluck dinner at a&s' place. no one really knew what was going on and we were left with a lot of veggies and salad and dip, but no real food. and then m&r got there and we had tons of food. thank you everyone for making my birthday special. i got some lovely things and had a great time.

we got home late after the potluck and didn't go to bed right away so yesterday at work was a little rough, but them's the breaks. tonight we will get back into the swing of things by getting groceries and going to the gym and eating a meal at home. i can't wait.

batman live update

~ this just in - batman poised to quit crappy job ~

that's right folks, batman is fed up of being treated like crap for lousy pay. she is blowing this popstand. estimated last day of work: march 9th.

she will be pursuing other opportunities and following other paths. paths that don't include a team as disfunctional as this team.

please support her in the time of change.

and remember, you heard it here first.

time is short

when i say time is short, i don't in any way mean i'm dying. i mean that i have so much stuff to do that i feel a little like my life is full and crazy right now.

weekend update (not with tina fey and amy pauller): saturday night was fun. we went to andi's house and then to heart & crown. i managed to drink lots of beer and a bunch of shots. i was pleasantly drunk, but never pukey or even stumbly. i might have been a little more talkative, just ask the random guy wearing the sunglasses on the dancefloor. oops! i got home around 3am and promptly passed out on my bed. hooray for me i remembered to brush my teeth and put on my pyjamas first.

i woke up sunday feeling rested but not quite good. i drank a gallon of water and finally ate. then i had to shovel again. this damn snow! then it was out to kanata for birthday lunch with my parents. it was a very nice day. and when i got home, j was there. we had a good night. he showed me all 300 or so of his pictures from the car show and told me all the stories from his adventure.

now it's back to usual, except things are changing. i will tell all later.

justin to kelly, oh my

while i'm waiting for my ride to show up i innocently have the tv on much music. that's usually okay, but tonight, for some reason, they've decided to show from justin to kelly. what a crappy crappy movie. i just can't believe it.

i think the cats miss j more than i do. last night they were waiting up for him. at least i knew he wasn't coming home. then this morning they drove me crazy. i kinda left them alone most of today so this might be a little my fault. i slept in and that felt great, then i shoveled for an hour. no shit. there was lots of snow and it was heavy. i have lots of blisters now and i didn't make it to the gym. so i went shopping instead. completely a me day.

and tonight i'm going out with the girls. and i'm not driving so i just might drink a little. i'll report back later.

i found my box of letters that used to make me smile. now they make me lonely.

get this: i had a team building day today. a whole day of group exercises and planning for the future and learning. EXCEPT I WAS UNINVITED!!! over a month ago invitations went out for this team building extravaganza and then earlier this week my director's admin told me the director didn't want me there. nice. thanks, prick. and thanks for telling me yourself cause you were definitely in the office right across the hall.

so, i'm just guessing what they did all day. me, i slept in a little, got into work later than usual and spent an extra long time on lunch talking about all the things i want to do. i left early. screw you, work! hope the team building went well, fuckers!

okay, so i'm not really as mad as i'm coming across as being. i'm okay with this. i didn't want to go anyways, i just think it's funny. maybe they should have had some foresight and not invited me in the first place. maybe they should take a look into their team and then they would see how truly screwed up they are. i have never worked with such a back-stabbing, catty, and truly obnoxious bunch of people. they are pleasant to your face, which is nice, but then go behind your back (or not even in some cases - see below) and tell everyone how much you suck at this and are terrible at that.

we had a staff meeting earlier this week and my boss slammed me in front of everybody. that's just not cool. honestly. if you are that upset with my work (which i might say wasn't entirely my fault. maybe i took advice from someone not in a position to give advice, unbeknownst to me) just ask me to leave. tell me things aren't working out. i know from previous experience that i can handle having my contract cut short. i remember clearly the morning i was called into my previous boss's office. i remember the look on his face when he told me that things weren't working out. i'm a big girl and i can handle it.

quick solution - i quit. and i tell them just what i think of their little team and their crappy pay and how they've been mistreating me for the past 4 months. and i don't look back. but i can't do that. i won't do that. i need the money. even the shitty-pay money. i still need it. i need it so i can eat and clothe myself. i need it so that someday i can go on my honeymoon. i need it so i can indulge in some of the small pleasures in life. i need it.

hear that, crappy job? i need you because i need your money. but that doesn't mean i like you and that doesn't mean you don't make me miserable and that doesn't mean i won't leave you like k-fed left whatshername as soon as something better comes along. don't think i won't dump your ass. i'm better than you!

>end rant<

running around the world

last night i randomly went to the gym. random because i wasn't planning on it really. i ate and watched jeopardy (my guilty pleasure) and then just got up and went. i ran 5K in 35 minutes and stretched real good. i'm a little sore today, but not too bad.

i'm trying to decide what to do tonight and i don't know. i have to make some phone calls when i get home today. i also have to call kelsey's back. my ball team had a sponsorship deal with them in the summer. we were supposed to get our cheque in august and still haven't received it. so i wrote a pretty nasty letter and finally heard from them yesterday, but the guy had left by the time i got home. serves me right that the guy who i set up the deal with is no longer with the company. oh well. we'll get our money at some point.

what do i want for my birthday? i really don't know. doesn't it feel like christmas was a week or two ago? i'm looking at a calendar and see that it was long, but it doesn't feel that way and so i don't know what i want. ideas?

birds of prey

why is it that this month is flying by? does january usually race around and leave us in its dust? i don't remember.

you know what's wrong with today? today feels like wednesday. what day is it today? why, it's tuesday. yuck! and you know what else? susan (remember her?) is in today and isn't usually and is driving me up the wall. plus, my boss slammed me in a staff meeting this morning in front of everyone. why? because that's the way (s)he is. i am getting so tired of this bullshit.

24 was awesome last night (quick gear shift). there wasn't as much killing, well maybe in numbers, but not in importance. i think this is going to be another great season.

i got paid for the wedding shows and for some other work i was doing for that company. yes money! i put the cheque in the bank not a minute too soon. we were about to bounce a rent cheque. someone is a nazi when it comes to putting money in savings.

i'm all by myself this weekend. anyone want to do something?

i can tell you rock. i can tell by your charm.

weekend recap:

friday i went to local heroes with some ball girls, because brenda is leaving for australia on thursday. she's going for teacher's college for a year. will i visit her? perhaps. wouldn't that be awesome! after locals i was supposed to go out to the bar but i went to julie's instead and scrapbooked. we talked so much that i didn't get much done, but i'm still happy with my progress.

saturday i slept in like it was my job. i went to the wedding show with a guy from work's fiance. we had a good time. i was perky from all the sleep and had a much better time than last week. france got lots and lots of information and ideas and i didn't have to lie about anything. then i met j and his grandparents at swiss chalet. they have this new salad and it's so good. but i always feel a little weird afterwards and i think it's because there are nuts in it. saturday night i stayed in a watched tv and hung out with my kitties and my boy.

sunday was sunny! i woke up to blue skies and sunlight on my face. it was wonderful. i took the opportunity of not having anything planned to do some cleaning. then we went to the gym. i haven't been for so long. i went once over the christmas break, but not since, and i can't remember when i had been before so it had been way too long. i'm all sore today, but it's the good sore. tonight i think i'm going to do a body combat class, which is like cardio kickboxing sorta. tonight is also another 2 hours of 24. last night was the first two hours of the season and holy crap! it was great. all sorts of deaths and shooting and complications. awesome start to the season.

friday! where have you been all my life?

it's finally friday. this week has been super long, but today started out well. i woke up when j got up and promptly fell back to sleep. it was a wonderful sleep. usually it's a chopped up crappy why-did-i-even-try sleep, but not this morning. i woke up feeling rested and relaxed and happy.

then i missed my bus.

then i had about a gallon of hot chocolate. day saved.

found out j isn't going anywhere this weekend. he'll go next weekend. i guess i shouldn't be expecting any birthday surprises until at least my actual birthday now. not that i'm really expecting surprises. honestly. i would be happy with some cake - even multiple cakes - and some time with my friends. i just don't feel like planning it. do you blame me?

is it friday yet?

it feels like friday. is it friday yet? why can't it be friday. that would be nicerific.

last night was good. i finished my book (the debt collector) right after work. i had a hard time putting it down and losing sleep staying up to read. now i'm reading a book i've already read, so hopefully i can get some sleep.

j and i went to costco. it was much less busy than we thought it would be. and we went down every single aisle. i don't think we've ever done that before. we got lots of good stuff, and the regular stuff too. then we went to barrhaven so i could get some scrapbooking stuff i couldn't find in zellers, which is much closer and unfortunate that they didn't have it. we were like little kids. there was a huge area of valentine's day stuff. stuffed animals and cards and chocolates. we made some of the stuffed animals hump each other. don't look down on me. you would do it too, or you would at least laugh seeing the two monkeys i think they were, humping.

to top off a good night, the biggest loser was on. it's a two-part series with two engaged couples. one of the girls was just under 300 pounds! i'm glad she's on the show and can't wait to see how well she does on the program. good for them.

tonight is S&B. i haven't been in ages so i'm excited. plus, i found someone to come with me to the wedding show. it won't feel as much like work and i won't have to sign up for everything. she can. perfect!

call-out to all bridezillas

are you a bride-to-be? do you know someone who is? have i ever got a deal for you! i am offereing an all-expenses paid trip to the ottawa bridal fair this weekend, on the date of your choosing, saturday or sunday.

i will buy your ticket. i will be your friend and walk around with you. i will hold your hand during the fashion show if you so desire. i will pick you up and drop you off.

who will the lucky girl be?

birthday what?

my birthday is a mere two weeks away. what shall we do?

yes, i said "we". you're coming. unless you're some creepy weirdo who doesn't even know me. you don't know me! (that's what all the celebrities say. did you see that interview with gwen stefani when she was all swearing and saying 'you don't know me'! yeah, well i know that i used to like you and your band, before you got all big and hot on yourself and went all solo and now go everywhere with four japanese girls who aren't allowed to speak! like, what the hell? "don't talk to the girls. just don't talk to the girls." vj: "so it's like they aren't even there? i don't see the girls" gwen: "right." does anyone else have a problem with this???)

four fridays would make for a good week, unless it's the bad way

friday fours is a meme and i've been tagged. i don't usually do these things and i'm not sure my answers will be amusing, but here goes.

four jobs you've had in your life: pizza girl, garbage girl, government girl, and paper girl.

four movies you could watch over and over: bad boys 1 & 2, the new disney movies, but honestly, i don't really watch that much tv so i don't have favourites the same way other people do.

four places you've lived: now, this is boring as shit. ottawa and kingston. i've had three different homes in ottawa, and three different homes plus a 6x8 room in residence in kingston. oh, did i mention that the little gem in res was for two of us? yeah. kingston did provide some pretty funny times though: stinky matt, basement bugs, jub jub, cakestina, the pole of forgiveness, ban righ, sci 04!, ritual, biosci....

four tv shows you love to watch: 24, prison break, the biggest loser, and.. the fourth is a toss-up. there are shows that i like now and shows that i've liked in the past. i don't think i could choose.

four places you've been on vacation: victoria, BC, california, florida, all over ontario, new york, pennsylvania, western quebec and one trip to ohio for baseball.

four websites you visit daily: see the links on the right. i have time on my hands and visit all of those every single day. wow.

four of your favourite foods: i love chicken. i eat it about 5 or 6 times a week since i gave up red meat. hmm, i really like pasta and pc has whole wheat pasta now and that makes me happy. ooh, and they have a new chicken lasagna which combines chicken and pasta - what could be better?? i also really like strawberries and carrots. i'm weird.

four places you'd rather be right now: this is a tricky one since i'm home, in my joggers, with my little family and we have heat. there really isn't much else i want. let's change this question to 'four places you'd like to go'. okay, to answer your question, self, i would have to say i would love to see the east coast of canada. i would love to do one of those inclusive week-long hot places type vacation, though i think i would get bored. i would love to go to australia and see the big reef there, just thinking of that gets my biology juices flowing (that's not supposed to be dirty...). africa. and let's add on south america just for fun.

and that's the end of today's fun. today i went to work and then i went home early cause i wasn't feeling well. i napped for a while (three hours or something) and got up and made food and cleaned a bit. we shoveled the 5 feet of snow that fell today. and now i'm here. yay!

back to normal

saturday night we finally got our heat back. we didn't turn it down that night and loved the warm.

this weekend flew by, but most seem to these days. friday night we stayed in and cleaned and watched wedding crashers. i am so proud of myself for staying up until after 2am without napping. i made up for it by sleeping in saturday till late.

saturday i had to be a "mystery shopper" of sorts and pretend to be a bride-to-be and go to a wedding show. those two hours completely wore me out and made me so glad i've already gone through all of that. i spent some time at home, after treating me and j to mcdonalds, before going over to julie's for my scrapbooking date. i left j and the guys to play xbox all night. i didn't find out till much later that the xbox crapped out again and so they just sat around all night. scrapbooking was a lot of fun. we hadn't gotten together for about 6 months so we had lots to talk about. and i got lots done so it was good.

today i slept in again. i went out by myself and got two new bras and then got some pictures i had ordered and some groceries. then j and i went to the model house that we really like and took pictures and thought about where we would put everything. we were even able to go through a unit that was being built. it was neat and reminded me of my childhood. they were developing an area near where i lived and we used to break into the houses and run around (not legal or safe i will admit).

i'm not looking forward to work tomorrow, but work's work. it's gotta happen.

i miss my friends and having a furnace

this is a complaining post. well, it might start off that way, but you never know where it'll go... and neither do i. i stayed home last night and missed my s&b. that makes me sad, but it's also a good thing. the furnace guys were over yesterday and they will be over again today (remember, j gets two days off work for this). yesterday, they had a problem with one of the gas lines or oil lines or something and ended up spilling gas or oil in the basement. our house REEKS like stink and headaches pop up after minutes of entering the house.

so yesterday, i get home from work and i'm starving. i walk in the door and get bowled over by the smell. but i'm hungry so i turn on the oven. nachos are a life-saver. but the headaches all night! good thing it wasn't very cold out because we had a bunch of windows open and the front door open to get the air circulating.

it's a bit weird to me, but i haven't been feeling one hundred percent in the past week or so. i thought i was still receovering from the holidays and the stress of that and then having my french test, which stressed me more than i thought it would, but last night we figured it out. we've been breathing stale air all week. that MUST have something to do with why we both feel off. so we are very much looking forward to having this new furnace, both for the temperature issue (space heaters are grand and all, but nothing beats having heat all through the house) and the air being circulated and filtered and all that good stuff.

and now for some good news! i knew about this when i started writing so i misled you a little about the complaining bit. my contract is being extended (again) so i'm here for a month longer, which makes the end of my contract somewhere in march, most likely at the beginning.

flashy / clashy pants

i saw the most amazing pants this morning on the bus. a woman got on and was standing a little in front of where i was sitting. now, i'm not sure if i can do these pants justice but i will try. imagine this: pieces of material sewn together. got that so far? good. now imagine there are four different patterns - red paisley, blue paisley, bluish flowery, and... leopard print! together at last! they were shocking and nasty and clashy and i don't know what else to say.

we get a new furnace today. good thing too because i blew a fuse upstairs this morning trying to blow dry my hair with the space heaters running. in my own defense, i did think that the bathroom and bedroom were on different fuses. i'm not that stupid... just ignorant. and i don't know how to change the fuses cause they're the round kind. i'm used to having to flick it all the way off and back on again. so i left j, who gets to stay home today and tomorrow (so i'm not feeling too bad about this), without power or a heater upstairs. at least i warned him.

changes

i decided that i finally needed a change. one can only deal with orange-on-white for so long. now it's purple on black! how fun is this?? it took me a while - hey, i finished all my reports so i took some me time at work - but i got it done and i think i'm happy with it, though i make no promises that there won't be more changes to come.

we ran out of oil again yesterday, but just found out that the new furnace is being installed this thursday and friday. so we will not be without heat for long, and besides, we borrowed some space heaters from j's grandparents. those two, along with the one we have, keep the house, well the rooms we're in, at a comfortable temperature. plus, i put a comforter on the floor in the hall upstairs for the kitties. they like to sleep in it. i think they'll be fine.

so, j's taking thursday and friday off, and his newly repaired and functioning xbox will be arriving tomorrow or the next day so he'll be home all day, playing xbox. you'd think that three short weeks in a row is good enough, but no, not for that boy!

wonderful beginnings

today was such a nice day because it's monday and usually monday = work, but thanks to new year's being on a weekend, the government tells us to stay home one extra day. sweet! so we slept in and spent the day shopping and spending free money (in the form of chapters gift cards) and exchanging christmas clothing (i swear i am larger than people think!). we also braved ikea. it was a zoo but we learned that if we park far enough away from the store and the other cars, we're okay and not stressed. now, i have my wedding picture in a really nice black frame, ready to be hung on some unsuspecting wall, my super nice workout clothes fit and are currently being washed, and i have a cool decorating book for first-time home buyers. i still have more money on my gift card and have to decide what to buy. i'm thinking maybe a dvd, but i have to think about it some more.

tonight and last night, j and i played his new csi board game. i'm proud to say that i won both times, but i really wish they had included a trial story or something. there is so much going on and we're still not sure about a couple things. it would be much much better with two more players.. any takers? there are only 8 stories included. you can buy a pack with more stories, but then what? it's weird how, unlike clue, you can only play so many times and then you're done.

i've been scrapbooking lots lately and am on my way to being done 2005 (i'm going in chronological order instead of having theme albums). i can't wait to have an album complete. that will be an accomplishment.

new year's

we went to a house party for new year's. someone got really drunk and it wasn't me!