make me laugh!

went to absolute comedy last night because some friends "won" 10 free tickets and asked us to come along. it was a great show. my only beef was that the waitress spilled beer all over my coat. a good excuse to wash my winter coat, but i hate smelling like beer. the only time i don't mind is when i'm too drunk to notice and, if you know me at all, you know that that doesn't happen very often.

the reason i put the word, won, in quotation marks like that is because our friends got a call saying they had won ten free tickets, but then we find out that another guy who was there also got a call that same night (he wasn't home and they didn't leave a message). we're trying to piece it together and finally were shown the answer: at the end of the show the waitresses leave comment cards with the bills. they must have filled one out last time we were there (back in june or july sometime) and the club must call everybody at some point. i wonder.

but it meant we had a pretty cheap night out and were home before 11 and asleep soon after that. perfect. and tonight we have no plans. none yet anyways.

last night before we went out j went to the gym and i did yoga (at home? by myself? strange, i know). i had recorded a yoga program that aired on rogers tv (channel 22, baby!) it turned out to be pretty good and for the first time since i dumped my gym membership, my muscles are tired. tired in a good way. it feels nice. i'm going to try and record more of these shows and do yoga when j goes to the gym. sounds like a good plan, but will it work? who honestly knows.

i have a feeling this is going to be a slow day. they're physically moving our servers, or something like that, so we don't have access to our database or our shared drive. everyone was told to save work to our computers and so i did and i'll be able to do some stuff. but then we have our little group's christmas lunch. across town. all afternoon. hmm.

this is my new group. they're... well, they're different. they are much different from my first group, but until monday, i still sit with my old group. am i ever going to miss them when i'm gone. there are four or us who talk away all day long through our cubicle walls. i've been told that where i'm moving to is much quieter. in fact, the only "talking" i'll hear is the admin talking on speakerphone. hello! cubicle life does not jive well with speakerphone. idiot! and the music when you're on hold, apparently he blasts that as well. thankfully i have kevin - he's my ipod. i know i've been a little harsh abou kevin lately (he can't hold a charge for more than two albums) but i do appreciate the noise (of my choosing - but that's another story) to block out the crappy noises.

plus my monitors in my new cubicle face the hallway for everyone to see. no more posting from work? crappy. maybe it'll make me a better employee. or maybe i just won't care and will go on doing what i do how i do. cause that's how i do. either way, i'm not terribly excited to have to move. i'm putting off packing until monday (why do it now when i can procrastinate?) and will grudgingly leave my little office home. yuck.

but it's friday! yay happy friday! i'm manic.

straight edge, that's me

i'm back to telling you the truth: i went to bed early last night. proud? me too. it was just after 8pm that i curled up all cozy in bed. this was after four and a half hours of staving off sleep on the couch. i watched some good tv, but that's all. i have nothing exciting to report other than the fact i got a free pass to see a comedy show tonight so that's where i'll be. and that's all.

i lied

i remember seeing a tee shirt on some girl who-knows-when and it said "boys lie". it's so true. but really, everyone lies, even if only by omission, everyone does it. i lied yesterday when i said that i would get to bed at a decent time last night. even though i was home by 8pm i wasn't in bed early. and i sure wasn't asleep before the clock struck 2. and that, my friends, is not a whole lot of sleep. tonight or tomorrow (i'll leave it open so as not to lie to you again) i am going to crash hard and hopefully be in bed asleep before 8. wouldn't that be lovely.

i did manage to squeeze in a nap yesterday though. i was lying on the couch and it just happened. apparently i was tired enough and conked out for a while, maybe an hour, and the cats were good. this is very unusual.

j woke me up and i had to go almost straight away to hockey. this was probably the best game i've played this season. i opened it up and scored a goal on my first shift. i finally aimed my shot not at the goalie, but at where the goalie wasn't. that's a good rule of goal-scoring, but not easy to do. the goalie makes such a good target. anyways, i scored that goal, i might have got an assist on my team's second goal, i only had one penalty, and i had stellar passes all night. that feels good.

and i was asked to play in a tournament in january for a city team who will also let me play with them for the rest of the season and the playoffs. i'm still debating as to whether i'm going to play in the league again starting in january. maybe you can help.

pros
- one night a week, same night every week
- not far from home
- i get exercise
- i'm starting to like my team

cons
- level of play isn't the greatest
- very expensive
- i might not be on the same team

i'm just not sure what i'm going to do without it. well, i'm exactly sure what i'm going to do without it: not play hockey. i will have volleyball once a week and hockey with that other team from time to time, but no other sports/activities. so i'm torn. i don't know what to do.

after hockey, i did laundry and watched tv. the victoria's secret fashion show was on. they brought sexy back. definitely.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

i ain't joking:

the hedge on the far side of our house is apparently being overgrown with some red-berry-producing vine and i love it! i've been staring out the kitchen window this whole past weekend at these little red berries as it snowed and rained and froze all pretty. i finally threw on my boots and coats and grabbed the camera and took a picture. pretty, eh?

last night's volleyball game didn't end well, but i had a good time. seems like every week i do two things: i learn something new (good!) and i injure myself (bad!). this week i learned that i'm approaching short serves too head-on and need to get under them more AND i managed to bruise the heel of my right hand. thankfully i use the mouse with my left hand at work because it's really painful.

one of my coworkers who is pregnant (there are 6) let me touch her belly today. i was able to feel her baby's head. it was neat but the whole idea is alien to me. i honestly can't imagine what it would be like to have a little person inside of me. anyways, it was interesting but strange.

thankfully my game tonight is an early one so i'll be in bed at a decent time. next week is going to be killer though. but that's next week... still have to get through the now.

welcome!

welcome back, my valued readers. i took a much-needed break and stayed away from work and blogging and people and the outdoors for days. i'm not sure it helped much as i still feel somewhat sick, like this bug won't be shaken, but i slept lots and did stuff that needed to be done.

side note: i sound so hard done by but i'm totally not.

quick recap of my life since my last post: thursday was a regular day. we stayed home friday and slept in until after noon. it was nasty out and we didn't leave the house. saturday was much of the same except it was sunny and we left the house eventually. we got to finally meet sj's beau.

yesterday was my second annual christmas cookie exchange! 15 lovely ladies participated in this event.



i love this picture and am sad that it's blurry:


we had a good time though and ate lots of cookies. i'm in awe of the cats though. rolo was into everything (i had them locked up for a lot of the night, but let them out nearing the end when i had to get coats from the room they were in) and didn't puke.

congratulations to becky, specialk and caroline who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. everyone's cookies were great!

other than that, sandy figured out the tv and watched for a bit:


our cats are like a little married couple, even though they are brother and sister:


i went out to get a couple of things before the party and saw this, birds on a wire:


doesn't it look like winter has been here for a while? well this was just day 2 of snow. hmm.

i am an addict

i have an addictive personality. i haven't done much reading about this but i believe it runs in families. my family to be exact. i get stuck on things and do them lots and lots. eventually i stop and maybe that makes me not an addict at all. but really, when someone (i won't say who) merely mentions marble drop on her blog, i play until my wrist hurts for weeks at a time. soon my little go at marble drop will be over and my wrists will be shriveled up and whimpering but will eventually get better. why do i do this to myself?

marble drop surely isn't the worst thing to be addicted to. i mean, it could be worse. believe me, it could be much worse. but something mindless like marble drop (or minesweeper from way back) gives me a chance to not think and to, therefore, think. i read an article about multitasking and how to multitask and always be on the go is to sacrifice things like our short term memories and quality of life. weu enjoy things less when events are packed in like sardines. so mindless repetitive tasks, while keeping my hands busy, allow my mind to wander and come up with all sorts of interesting things. i do some of my best thinking while zoned out in front of the computer. maybe that's a kind of multitasking, i'm not sure.

my work involves a lot of multitasking and juggling multiple files at once. i'm still trying to get used to this. the hardest part i find is keeping track of all the little things going on in every file. when you're walking down the hall (going down to the caf for some food or leaving for the day) and someone stops you to ask about the file there's no way of remembering what they're talking about. some people can do it. not me.

since i started this job (in october in honest, since i moved groups then) i've found that i'm stressed. and i didn't realize this because i could tell i was stressed. apparently i don't know these things. my body has to whack me over the head, literally. i've been clenching my jaw so tight that i've been having headaches. i do it all the time now, but now that i've realized it, i do everything i can to stop it. i'm used to having mindless jobs that a trained monkey could do. maybe this is why they pay me the big bucks.

speaking of jobs though, i got an email yesterday about a job. it's a technician job at canadian food and inspection agency. i've been screened into the competition and have been asked to write the exam. it's time to talk to my boss. as a term employee (in government-speak, that means i have an end date, mine happens to be end of july 2007) my job is not guaranteed and so i've still been applying to jobs, though much less frequently than before. i don't want to have to take time off work to write this exam if they will give me a permanent job here. make sense?

i hate talking about money and contracts and jobs and any kind of topic related to those things. it's like confrontation, which i avoid, sometimes at all costs. but i figure that with all the christmas festivities coming up, me bringing up my position with my boss can happen in a more casual setting and i'll try and be very honest about it: i need some security. please give me a permanent job. how does that sound? maybe she'll whip out the papers right then and there and i'll be on my way. again, wishful thinking.

at least i'm not addicted to working. working makes me stressed while marble drop lets me consider the finer things in life. it's almost like seeing a psychic, which i've never done, but i assume it's similar, and so i will consult with marble drop tonight. marble drop will know.

the betties are back!

my volleyball team (the betties from the title) won last night after a 3-week non-winning streak. i'm not sure we played differently than the past two weeks yet we pulled it together and won in the 5th set. it was fun and my knee doesn't hurt. i was pretty worried about that.

as promised, some house pictures. we went out there after work yesterday to get our final price. they screwed up the paperwork so we haven't signed anything but we have a much better idea what we'll be paying (it's about time!) and now we know we have enough money saved up. can you say relief?

and now, some pictures. this is the front door:


and the view from the front door:


and that's all i'm going to post here. all the pictures - and believe me, there are lots - are up on my flickr page so go check it out! and the rest of the development will be under wraps. we have to keep a little mystery to our first new house. plus, this way, you'll have to come over and see the final product. am i mean? possibly.

i hope you enjoyed following along for the past 7 months (no, really. april 23 was the first picture and now it's the end of november. amazing.) the next two months will surely fly by, as the holiday season usually does, and then we'll be in the new house and we'll do a grand unveiling of the inside with all our options on display. fingers crossed everything matches!

the last weekend in november

the last weekend in november has come and gone and was rather uneventful. we didn't go out friday night instead opted to stay in and watch tv. saturday we did what more people should do around christmas time: bought ourselves stuff. we were both in need of new clothes so we braved bayshore for two hours and came out victorious.

new clothes mean laundry.

i did some more freezer paper stenciling. i made a prize for the cookie exchange and two christmas presents. i won't be putting up pictures until after the exchange and after christmas, for obvious reasons. it was fun though. much easier the second time.

yesterday was weird. we had gotten a phone call last week about a free meat sample. i said they could come and drop it off no problem. what i didn't know was that it was a sales pitch too. so we sat through this sales pitch. we may have even purchased something. i'll be sure to discuss more later once i know more and have tried everything out.

and then today, j got something done in a simple phone call that i had been trying to do for weeks. he got the final price for our house. so we're heading out there after work tonight. we'll get the final price and hopefully get a walk-through because, after seeing k1's house pictures, i realized we hadn't been inside out house for ages and there are likely lots of changes. we will have pictures up tomorrow, as promised.

also to come, pictures of my cookie attempts for the exchange this sunday, and sandy helping me bake. that should be "helping".

ps. my knee is feeling much better. i still don't know what i did to it but the pain has gone away.

charity

here's a picture of all the scarves we gave to the snowsuit fund:



new pictures of the house tuesday.

when the doctor stands you up

we got in the car yesterday after work and i decided i was going to go to the clinic. yesterday was the day. my knee had been feeling better but there was still pain when i did certain things. so we went and got gas and a car wash and by the time we got to the clinic the doctor was "done for the day" and the next doctor wouldn't be in for over an hour and a half, would i like to wait? hell no! i have better things to do with my time (read: play marbledrop, it's addictive so don't say i didn't warn you). i didn't go back and i likely won't go today. i haven't had any pain today so far (i know it's early) but i am expecting some pain tonight because my knee seems to be worse at night.

besides, if it is something bad, the pain won't go away and i'll know for sure. that's maybe not the best approach to one's health but it's an approach and it's my approach. i'm going with it.

we've been really bad at domestic things lately, like "getting groceries" and "cleaning", so the cupboards are bare and the house is dirty. that's how we roll. the cats don't seem to mind because their little food dishes are always brimming with kibble. i call them my little hippos. back to the point: i got us mcdonalds last night. and while i was driving home with the greasy smell overloading my senses i realized that we won't have a mcdonalds close to us at our new place. what were we thinking?? maybe they'll build one. or build that bridge into barrhaven so it'll be a quick hop over the river for my grease-fest. remember when you were 17 and the alcohol was a hop, skip and a jump over the river in hull at the dépanneur? me too. gotta love mcd's and quebec's lower legal drinking age.

after chowing down, i went knitting last night at sylvia's house. you can hardly tell they had a party, except all the new plants everywhere. i have been mia so far this year for knitting and it felt nice to see those girls and sit and talk and knit. i finished a christmas gift scarf and had time in the car on the way home to think about christmas and the cookie party coming up and other things. apparently i needed some downtime to let my mind wander and come up with things i'd missed. also, we decided that all the charity knitting we did last winter would be donated to the snowsuit fund. i gave in everything today and it feels SO GOOD. there was 9 or 10 scarves, one pair of misshapen mitts, and 5 hats. good work girls!

today's friday!!!

lovin it

guys, i am just loving all the comments you are leaving. i can't thank you enough. really.

you obviously all have lots to say about travel and believe me, i'm listening! i'm such a travelling-virgin so i have lots to learn. while about 80% of me really wants to pack up and go on a last-minute week-long all-inclusive RIGHT NOW the other 20% of me knows that my days off are limited and therefore extremely valuable. i'm going to wait it out until costa rica. we'll get two weeks off at once and the thrill of doing something not everyone and their dog has done and we'll likely be staying at an all-inclusive resort down there anyways.

bottom line: i'll wait, but i won't stop dreaming. AND i will eventually just pick up and go somewhere last minute for really cheap.

while dreaming about travelling and far off exotic places i've never been, my life is still rooted here and it's not all that boring. my knee was feeling a little better yesterday afternoon so j and i decided to go to ikea. we're keen on design ideas with the completion of the new house on the horizon (68 days till we close!) so ikea is a great place. we took our time and looked at all the rooms and things.

we were pleased to see that they have a good variety of mirrors. our house will not have mirrors or any hardware in the bathrooms so that's something we'll need to get. that was a decision we made so that we can have something different and hopefully fun and cool instead of the regular rectangular mirrors and whatever-the-standard-is fixtures.

also, we stopped by the dining room section to look at bar stools. our kitchen is open to the living room / dining room and has a bar counter. we ended up sitting at a table and both finally saying that we don't like the table and chairs we bought at the brick. the set was definitely the one we liked most at the brick but it really isn't us and feels so wrong. i didn't want to admit it so i never told j about it. apparently he was thinking the same thing (miraculous!) so we decided right there that we would cancel our dining room table and chairs from the brick. i am SO relieved. i was really worried about the similar-but-likely-clashing wood tones everywhere on the main floor and the fact that j had said not too long ago that our house was going to have a cottagey feel. no thank you. the table at ikea that we like it still wood but it's brown-black and has two leaves that are stored inside the table when not in use. it has funky chairs that are so much more our style and smaller so less intrusive. i'm positive this set will look much better in our space.

that was a load off. until we went to the brick. we went right there from ikea hoping we could cancel the order without having our invoices with us. it's all computerized, right? it is, but the orders weren't exactly done right in the first place so we had some issues. we left a little frazzled and worried but j went back and sorted everything out. no more dining room set but everything else is secure. perfect.

and then i ate red meat. we had meat lasagna and i haven't paid for it yet. i'm very impressed with my stomach. we caught up on the episode of house we missed two nights ago and i went to bed early. i didn't go to the clinic about my knee. i didn't get anything else done but i'm happy. sometimes it's good to not do a lot.

the knee issues

like i said yesterday, i did something to my knee. i hurt it. i hurt it good. i hobbled around yesterday at work, wondering what i did to myself. i took some advice and didn't do much last night. i was flat out on the couch icing and not-icing and icing and not-icing.

even when j's dad had a contractor over. i was interested in the plans for the house but didn't walk around with them.

j was really good to me. he brought me things and made me dinner. what a nice boy.

i heard from my hockey team captain that we lost last night. she even said that they missed me. i wonder.

but since i had the night off i was able to catch up on some tv that i had missed, watch some new tv, and be in bed before 10. so today i feel good. i'm not painfully tired and counting down the hours starting at 8am - believe me, that makes for a VERY long day - i'm as perky as i ever get and productive. it's nice in a way to have deadlines. dealines keep a girl honest. though i still take time out to blog and read the internet news and dream about costa rica.

i find that from mid-october to mid-december and mid-january to mid-march is when i really want a vacation. i find myself thinking about hot places and time off and activities i could do. are other people the same? i know a friend here at work is heading to mexico for a week in two weeks. and i know lots of people who head south at least once a year. and then i wonder why my priorities don't take me on a vacation that often. why am i so different? can i afford the money and the time off work? certainly because other people can. then why don't i do it? there's something about me, something that runs deep, that won't spend the money.

though i read in an article about happiness on cnn.com that said that taking a trip is better bang-for-your-buck than buying expensive things. and the reason, expensive things are around long enough to disappoint you whereas trips have an end date and leave you only with memories, often good ones. i sent the article to j in hopes of getting a little week-long trip before costa rica out of the deal. no such luck.

thankful.. and it's not even our thanksgiving

i wanted to thank everyone for their comments to my post yesterday. without comments i find my blog rather boring so it was nice to have something new to read everytime i came back. and yes, i check my blog often during the day. what can i say?

yesterday was the most frustrating day i've had so far at this job. i had to deal with some not-so-pleasant people (you might even say they were bitchy) who kept jerking me around and taking their time with time-sensitive things. yeah, thanks. it's one thing to be genuinely busy and swamped with work but it's quite another thing to be busy because you take 23 15-minute breaks a day and then choose my invoice to train another person with 5 minutes before the end of my day, which you know is at 3 because i've told you. some people. but then i had some help from a friend and was able to leave only 5 minutes late and everything got done. i have more deadlines this friday so i'm going to be busy whether i like it or not.

when i finally saw j after work and we were walking to the car, i vented EVERYTHING from the day. poor guy. and then i took a huge deep breath and was okay. we got home and i put on my pj's and read in bed before i fell asleep for 2 hours. it was great. and when i woke up there was dinner ready for me. i had time to eat and watch millionaire and go to my volleyball game.

we lost again, second week in a row and i'm not entirely sure why. i don't think we're playing much different than we played the first 5 games, all of which we won. i don't know what it is. i got home and a very sleepy j stumbled downstairs and said hello and stumbled back upstairs and was asleep in minutes. i was up late, that's what napping will do, but i got to read and spend time with my cats so it was okay.

and now we're here. my big plan for today is to get through the next 6 hours of work and then not nap and go to bed early. i did something to my knee last night so i'm skipping my hockey game so these plans are attainable. with a little luck.

it's fixed!

i broke down and upgraded my template to go along with the new version of blogger. i tinkered with it a little and am semi-happy with it. but the biggest thing is that the comments are working again. and not a minute too soon! i'm borrowing this from my aunt-in-law (i've never said those three words together like that before but there you have it) inner dorothy: it's thanksgiving delurking week!

this whole week please leave comments on every blog you visit even if it's just a "blogstone" (where blogstone = (o) ) to let the blogger know you've been by and read their words. blogging is about community so let people know that you're there.

and now, the regularly scheduled weekend updates.

friday: friday friday friday. i definitely napped after work. i definitely made some yummy perch for dinner. i definitely caught up on a bunch of shows i had recorded. i definitely knit and spent quality time on the couch with my cats. definitely.

saturday: saturday was a busy day. we did some running around and then made our way to kanata for a little get together at j&s's place. we ate and watched tv and talked. i got to see their house and their new cat.

we left early and went to a&s's place for their two-monthiversary housewarming party and what a party it was! there were lots and lots of people and food and beer and cake. j has a new friend. her name is lindsay and we met her and her husband about a month ago. they are both really nice people.


sunday: we checked out the house. the brick is almost all done.

i was talking to sylvia about this on saturday night and finally looked it up: it's 71 days until we close. i guess the countdown should now be officially on. except christmas stands in our way.

we broke down and got pizza for dinner - at least we have food for lunch - and then i went to k2's for scrapbooking. i brought my knitting instead, i'm not feeling the scrapbooking. but i had gone into the craft room earlier and the kitties found a great nesting spot and were absent for a lot of the night.


it was a late night but an okay morning so far. i'm hoping to nap tonight before my volleyball game because i have big plans of not living to work. and to do that i have to sleep enough so that i can go out and be social every opportunity i get.

comments not working

sorry everybody, but since i made the move to blogger beta, my comments aren't working. i haven't had a chance to really look into it, but i will. for now, if you have something burning to say, please email me ( nananabatmanATgmailDOTcom / work: myfirstname_mylastnameAThc-sc.gcDOTca).

yesterday i did some wonderful things. i read a bunch of a magazine that came in the mail, i napped, i didn't cook dinner, i saw a movie, and i saw the dancing with the stars finale. what a night!

i napped so i could go out. i didn't cook dinner because we stopped for subway on our way to the movie. i saw the prestige and then watched my pvr'd episode of dancing with the stars. AND i was asleep before midnight.

i really liked the prestige. it was fun and twisty with so many things that i didn't get, but in a neat way not in a super-confusing-i-hate-this-movie way. i haven't asked so many questions after a movie in a long time.

did i mention that it's almost christmas? i can't believe we're half-way through november. what happened? why is time flying by so quickly? it feels like i'm observing life as it flies by instead of participating. but then i think about it and realize that i am doing things, maybe not enough things, but things. i have friends and hobbies and ... things. is this normal? does everyone feel like this? is it because we haven't had any sunny days in the past forever? where do we live, england?

that was enough ranting to get the blood flowing.

i'll leave you with this: ohmibod. it's something i read about in chatelaine yesterday. it made me laugh. and then it made me wonder. ps. it's not safe for work. in fact, the site is blocked for me. go home and enjoy!

change is upon us

blogger has been updating things and now i'm using the beta version. so i'm still getting used to some of the new features. i don't know if i like this version better yet but we'll see after a bit.

more change: i'm moving cubicles this week. or so it said in an email that i was forwarded from a coworker, not my boss though. i'll be closer to my team and the elevator but farther from my old coworkers and the bathroom and the kitchen. tradeoffs. i will definitely miss the chatty-ness of the people right around me. we have fun over here.

we're starting to buy christmas presents but couldn't help but buy a sonic game for the xbox. i loved sonic when i was younger, probably because we had nintendo not sega. this game though isn't the original sonic but it's still good. and worth the $20. i played until my hands hurt. i just don't have the stamina i used to when it comes to console games.

hockey last night was probably the best game i've played in this league. my team is in 2nd place and we were playing the 4th place team but they brought it good. i was very tired nearing the end of the game, though i am used to having more people there and therefore getting less ice time. at least i didn't get any penalties and even scored a goal. it wasn't a pretty goal but a goal.

after hockey i decided i was going to go get groceries, because when it's 10pm and you get up at 6, groceries is a good idea. stupid girl. i got groceries and am happy about that but this morning was rough. i was a zombie for the first hour at least. i did it to myself.

i went to the doctor today to get a prescription refilled.. or so i thought. i was told to strip down and cover myself. what? apparently i was in for a full physical. i talked them out of that and just got my prescription. sweet. i also found out that we'll need only one shot to go to costa rica in the spring. (richard, have you had your hepA shot? you need it!)

now i just want to nap and nap and nap but friends are going to see a movie tonight. it's an early movie but should i do it? i'm exhausted and the weekend is still two and a half days away. decisions decisions.

weekend round-up

thursday night we went out to the outback for a falling-off-the-veggie-wagon party. j's coworker adam has been a vegetarian for three years and decided that he had to give into his meat cravings that had gotten worse and worse.



we were positive that he was going to be paying for it that night and the whole next day, if not longer. but he was all fine and at work friday and a happy camper. that bastard!

but it was fun. the restaurant is a little pricey compared to what we're used to but the food was good and we only had ranch dressing spilled on us once.

friday night j and i went our separate ways and each saw a different movie. in a different theatre no less! j's dad thinks we're swingers - i think borat has no appeal. that's what j saw. he said it had funny parts but overall wasn't that great. i saw babel with brad pitt and kate blanchette. it was an interesting though convoluted story line with crazy cinematography that made me want to puke the whole time. yuck.

saturday was a strange day. it's honestly a black hole in my mind. i can't say that we did anything, interesting or not because i can't remember.

i do remember though that we went to m&j's new house for a little get together. their house is really nice, very open and spacious for a townhouse with a nice layout on the main floor. i will admit that i like our house better but it is our house afterall.

sunday was a family day. we went and saw the house first (our little family):



we have brick on about one third of the house. i am super pleased with the colour of the brick. i was hoping for not-red brick and we didn't get red brick so it's perfect. other than the brick there aren't many changes, none that we could see at least.

then we went to kanata (my family) and hung out there with my brother, his girlfriend, his roommate and my parents. i got all covered in cat hair and loved by the dog. after a quick stop at home we went to j's grandparent's place (j's family) for dinner.

we stayed much later than usual and were going to go out but ended up just sitting at home (j played wow while i watched tv shows and knit). it was nice but not a very good use of a non-work-night-sunday night.

monday was our free day off thanks to the government and remembrance day. j got up pretty early and took the car in then walked from the car place to the gym and then home. meanwhile i was comfy in bed. we got the exhaust leak fixed and an oxygen sensor thingy installed (it's all very technical) so j can now play with the fuel-oxygen ratio.

j's dad came over and we all went and voted. larry o'brien is the new mayor. i don't know how i feel about that. at least i voted and can now gloat/bitch about the results (i won't tell you which because i just don't care to talk about politics). other than i we ate food and did stuff around the house. i vacuumed under the couches where 6 mousies were lying in wait. toy mousies. the cats are extremely happy and crazy now that those have been unearthed.

i caught up on grey's anatomy and prison break and some other shows i had pvr'd, got about half way done a christmas-present scarf, and still got to bed early. and that's the weekend. now it's back to work and back to waiting for the next weekend.

pretty in pink entry # 2

ta daaaaa! my second pretty in pink contest entry - a basketweave scarf:



i have no idea what it measures because i'm not that way inclined but i can tell you it's not as long as the scarf i normally wear. i didn't think it had to be. it's to be donated along with the puny tukey.

and, for good measure, here is rolo modeling the scarf:

i love my cats

we did the unthinkable yesterday: we went out right after work. we went and got catfood and then got groceries. and we were still home before 4pm. and that's why i love working early.

president's choice has a new kind of cookie, chocolate brownie somethings that are SO GOOD. so. goood. also, the knorr dinners that you see advertised are pretty good, but small. we had just enough for the two of us with no leftovers for lunch. not great for making a meal stretch but good tasting.

the title of this post is "i love my cats" and here's why. i was talking on the phone yesterday after work to someone who talks a lot. you know the type. you get them on the phone because you need an answer or two and before you know it they've rambled on for an hour.

so i was on the phone and i thought the conversation was coming to an end and i had to pee. put two and two together and you find me making my way to the bathroom. the conversation didn't end and i bounced around from room to room. but the kitties, well they were in the bathroom because they burst in there every chance they get. and what do they find? a lady bug. so they're "hunting" the lady bug and chirping away and i'm thinking 'i really should go get the camera' and i know that i'll have time because talker is still talking.

so long story short (almost done i mean) - i got this picture of the cats and i love it!



other than taking pictures of the cats, i also watched tv and saw a man almost win a million dollars on who wants to be a millionaire. and the best part is that he knew the million-dollar question but walked away with $500,000 instead. i don't blame him but he was so close. and why is it that i like to watch america's next top model? i'm not proud of that, believe me.

for unknown reasons we stayed up late last night. late like almost midnight. i'm guessing today will be a yawn-er-rific day. it's already starting....

a little grouchy

this isn't always the case, but today i will admit that i am grouchy. something about having nightmares and then having to wake up when it's still dark out and then heading out in the rain. at least it wasn't cold. see, i'm still optimistic.. just grouchy.

i may be getting sick and i may not be eating enough fruits and vegetables and i may have not done groceries in over a week. hmph!

but on the bright side of things it's hump day. half way through the week and then it's the long weekend. this time last year we were getting all ready to go to thunder bay to visit sj. we spent the long weekend trying to get her cat to come near us and watching a tattoo show on one of her exotic channels. i was also able to meet some of the family that i hadn't met before.

this year we have plans to take the car in on monday. after this though it should start the first time every time (it's running a tad rich) and that will be nice when it's minus a mazillion degrees out.

last night we played the last place team in the hockey league. i don't know what the final score was because they stopped putting up our goals. our superstar player was not being very sportsmanlike, which i don't like, but i can't say anything. she's one of those 18 year old "popular" girls. the ones that still intimidate me, even though i've got years on her. years and years. stupid girl. anyways, i had an awesome breakaway and put the puck in the net, not because we needed the point but because i deserved it.

the great part was that my finger didn't bother me at all. it only hurts now and then when i'm typing. i did block a shot with my ankle though. it hurt more than i expected but no bruising or anything.

i'm looking forward to filling the house with food tonight and lounging around in my track pants watching all of our exotic channels, which are still new and fresh and great.

little bo-bo

my volleyball team lost last night. for the first time this season. but it was a good game - lots of good rallies and close sets. it was strange though. the ref wasn't calling lifts or when people touched (or sometimes got completely tangled in) the net, but then i get called for sliding a little under the net, not touching anybody though. odd. anyways, at one point, i went down for a ball and managed to flip a nail backwards. well that is PAINFUL and a little bleedy. it was right near the end of the game thankfully because i was seriously considering taking myself out of the game.

note to self: cut fingernails, at least a little shorter than they are now. stupid.

other than that last night was pretty uneventful. we went over to jr's house after our game and watched the hockey game. man, the sens sure can lose good. they were ahead 3-0 and lost 4-3. wow.

we're getting more used to our new early schedule. the sun isn't up on our drive in and the lights aren't on when i get here but i'm here. and i get to leave early.

and let me just end this post by saying that work is really picking up. i have lots to do and here i am posting. something i maybe need to work on....

more pictures!

the focus for today's post is the new house (sorry if you're getting sick of hearing about it but really, it's so exciting!) we went out there yesterday. there are some changes: we now have a garage floor and a front porch. there is insulation on all the walls including in the garage. we have a door from the garage to the backyard. and the whole house was wrapped up getting ready for brick and siding.

pictures:





saturday night we went shopping! i mentioned this last post but now have pictures to share. our new washer and dryer, the couches (ours will be brown) and the dining room table:







and so my wishlist gets shorter AND longer. we no longer need to buy these things but there are things we didn't have on our list before. i will be making a whole post for the house wishlist, more for me than anything else. but in case you're curious i suppose.

we had a great time last night with the pvr. we were playing with the features - recording, pausing, rewinding and fast forwarding live shows. i recorded some shows last night that i can watch after work when the soaps are still on and j's at the gym. good thinking. anyways, the pvr is the neatest little thing.

m asked about the smart car in the comments from saturday's post. the smartie felt very stiff and jerky (the transmission feels so much like a manual, even in full automatic mode) but handles well and obviously can turn on a dime and would be great for parking. as for the size of the car, when you're sitting in it looking forward, it feels about the same size as our 3, but then you look back and the car ends. i personally think that it would be great as a commuter car, but i don't think we can afford to have just a commuter car. it just isn't practical enough. but if money were no option i would buy one in a second.

go out and test drive one. that's the best thing to do. and test driving costs you nothing but some of your time. just make sure you try the horn. i do love the idea of a two-person car that's super fuel-efficient with low emissions though.

So. Much. To. Tell. You.

tons of stuff to say.

today we got our new pvr!



along with it we got about a gazillion more channels so we've been flipping through them just because we can. also, we've recorded a bunch of shows just because we can. see a trend? it's all so novel. the kitties agree:



we also went buckwild in the brick and bought tons of stuff! (pictures later.) we bought two leather couches for the price of one. they're chocolate brown (like rolo!) and super comfy. we bought a dining room table with two leafs and 6 chairs for half price and a washer and dryer (gas dryer) on the cheap. it was some mega sale thing and we definitely cashed in. AND everything will be delivered to our new house (the couches not until march but everything else the day after we move in) so it's all very perfect and exciting and lovely (and expensive, but you know) so we're on a high right now.

also we test drove a smart car today. holy. go and do it. and make sure you honk the horn. i did and both j and i burst out giggling. the horn is so high-pitched and squeeky and totally not intimidating or mean. fun!

and one last thing, right before dinner was ready tonight (we made fish for the first time ever - it was good) we were in the basement and heard a noise from the kitchen. it sounded like rolo had knocked a plastic cup on the ground. turns out he had and he had knocked over the milk container. there was milk everywhere:



i came upstairs. it was so cute. rolo was sitting on the counter looking down at his mess. and then i got closer and saw that he had some milk on his chin, like a milk mustach but a milk beard. it was hilarious.. and gross all at the same time. i laughed.

and then i thought of this and how similar this was:



j got cheerios everywhere. note to everyone out there: cheerios are much easier to clean up than milk.

so that's my story. we also went out last night. j tried to see the borat movie but ended up hanging out at east side mario's instead (i napped) and then we went to richard's house and watched nacho libre. don't see it. it was awful. and we saw my parents today and i got some books from them. that's about it.

tunnel vision

there is a tunnel that goes beneath a major road near my office. this tunnel let's me go from the parking lot to my building without having to cross said major road. it's nice and probably important at stopping all sorts of dangerous jaywalking attempts. come to think of it, it may be there because of some jaywalking-attempt gone bad. i wonder.

either way, there is a tunnel. i go through this tunnel twice a day and always enter and exit right in the middle. the tunnel has a slight arch so i figure there's less of a chance of spiders being in the highest part of the opening and that's usually the case. except the other day when there was a spider dangling from the absolute middle. i almost walked right into him.

my other tunnel story has to do with leaves. it must be some sort of wind phenomenon but when i showed up at work one day earlier this week, i was greeted with TONS of leaves all along one side of the tunnel and since i am 6 i happily trudged through them, laughing. when i got to the other side i looked back to see another hc employee shaking their head. they probably wish they were as uninhibited as i. at least that's what i'll tell myself.

the leaves were gone by the end of the day. another miraculous wind story? i do not know.

well, i was going to tell you that we didn't do anything last night. that we took our night off after our first day of starting early. but we went out. first of all, let me say that it was marvelous getting home so early, except the tv programming sucks (until we get more channels that is!) but that didn't stop me from watching crappy tv. anyways, we went to a lighting store not far from our house and got some good ideas for our new house. since our dining room (see alan, only two n's this time in dining) and living room are essentially one big room, we're thinking that having the same lights in both rooms will be best. and we found some that we like.

and then we went out for pho. this crazy little pho place is like the crazy kitchen in that the floor is all bumpy and shifty and makes you dizzy just walking around. for reals. j liked this place best but i enjoy the closer place better. is it too much to ask to have a chicken vermicelli? instead i had spring rolls, shrimp on sugar cane - which is pretty disgusting - and meatballs. at least j gave me one of his shrimps. they were the regular kind.

but after that, we went home and i did veg out on the couch. my pink basketweave scarf (oops, i spelled it "skarf" at first and was wondering why it looked so wrong...) is almost done and then i'll have to find something else.

i'll leave you with this, the first snow of november (not of the season though):

i was mistaken

i thought this post was going to be entirely different (note that i haven't actually written it yet, but i can feel it) - i thought that since we started on the 7-3 track that i would be grumpy and groggy and otherwise unpleasant, but i'm happy to report that i'm pretty much like i normally am in the morning, it's just earlier. and maybe i'm a tad bit hungrier. but not grumpy and certainly not groggy.

last night was a relief. last night we went to the bank where we'll have our mortgage for the next five years and met with our new banker (our banker up and left for toronto without mentioning it to us) and were told that we're on track for everything and we will be able to get our money out of our rrsps. about one third of our savings is in there so not being able to get it out would have been somewhat disasterous. AND our interest rate went down as of today. perrrfect!

if all of our numbers are correct and we pay only the mortgage amount (no extras) over the next five years, our 25 year amortization turns into 16.3 years left instead of (25-5=) 20. how exciting is that? the last thing we want to do is have a mortgage forever so we'll be doing everything we can, short of eating grilled cheese sandwiches while sitting on lawn furniture, to be free of this debt sooner. and thankfully we're in a good place to make that happen.

aside: matt and julie, we want to know about your new house! we want details and pictures and a tour!

another aside: congratulations to jessp who just landed her first teaching job. the poor girl is going away all weekend and starts monday, but i'm sure she'll do great. good luck, jess!

back to me, because this blog is all about me. so because of this move to starting work at 7am we had to get up early and wanted to go to bed early. somehow i tricked my body into believing that it was tired before 11 and managed to actually fall asleep so that when the alarms - we have 3 - started going off at 5:20, i was okay. we put j's second alarm and my alarm in the hall and across the room to make ourselves get up. tonight i'm going to make sure the heat will be on that early because doing that to yourself is cruel, but is even worse when it's frigidly cold out of bed. we were up and showered and at work all before 7am. amazing. and, the absolute BEST part of this whole deal, is that we get to leave at 3pm. leave at 3!

also, did i mention that traffic before 7 in the morning is non-existent? it took us just over five minutes, definitely less than ten, to get here this morning. there will be less of a difference after work but still.

and that is my take on things before 8am.

unnormal

i actually remember when i was younger learning about how to make words mean their opposites using little words stuck on the beginning. moral -> immoral, usual -> unusual. but why is normal -> abnormal? i think it should be UNnormal. UNnormal it is. at least for me. on my blog. because i said so. pffffftt!

i added a link on the right to my christmas survey, well the post where i talked about it. so you can click there and see my answers instead of having to wander through my old posts and eventually archives. thanks to everyone who has already posted (captain pants and tania). it's fun so go and do it! don't have a blog? answer in the comments. don't miss your chance!

back on track: unnormal. i was thinking that yesterday was halloween and i must say it was the least halloweenie halloween that ever halloweened. honestly. we didn't carve a pumpkin. we didn't put up any halloween decorations. we didn't make costumes or go out. the only thing halloweenie about yesterday (and this whole week) is the prevalence of chocolate. and this is no good. it makes me crave carrots and salad and other green things. but i still eat the chocolate. oh yes i do. and then i complain when my teeth and insides start rotting. yummm!

also a little unnormal for yesterday: i got home from hockey and i sat my sweaty little self down and watched tv for two hours. and then i showered. i didn't sweat as much as i usually do but it's still gross and not something i normally do. unnormal i tell you.

oh! one of my christmas-y wishes has already come true. we are getting a rogers pvr this weekend! j was on the phone last night with the rogers people and managed to score us a pvr, tons more channels, and got us 9 months of free home phone. i don't know how he did it and i don't want to know. i'm just amazed and impressed and looking forward to vegging out in front of the tv with all my halloween chocolate. winter's the time to fatten up so that's what i'll do!

what, too soon?

when south park aired an episode for halloween that included steve irwin dressed up as himself with a stingray hanging from his chest, maybe they asked each other "what, too soon?" when they received the backlash from people all over the world. maybe they didn't.

i've been thinking about christmas. what, too soon? i don't think so. and i only say that because it's not too early for people to be asking me what i want for christmas. hello people! it's just halloween now. simmer! but i don't really talk like that so i just calmly tell them that i'll come up with a list.

lists. i'm known for my lists. i like lists. i come by it naturally. my mom is a list maker. lists help me organize myself and plan out the things i have to do or buy or the things i've accomplished. they make me feel good and on the ball.

but sometimes lists don't do everything. can you blame them? they're only as robust as they are created and most people make pretty skimpy lists. so i propose that instead of the usual christmas lists (1. a pony 2. popsicles 3. nintendo) we use a survey to let people get to know us and our interests and will therefore be armed when deciding what to get for us. on board? good. copy and paste the following survey, delete my answers and put in your own. post said survey on your blog or in the comments. change the survey if it doesn't include something important to you.

so let's all get to know each other while pining away for some great christmas gifts!

survey ahoy!

Batman's Wonderful Christmas Survey 2006

1. Where are you in life? (i.e. do you have a partner, kids, a house, a useless university degree and no job, cookie dough and Oprah on tv, etc?
Well thanks for asking, Mr. Survey. I am married with two cats. We recently bought a house and will be moving at the end of January. (aka: Buy me house things!) I would say that my university degree is useless but I finally landed a job in my field, so, thank you university degree. You are not useless.

2. Do you have any hobbies, passtimes, stamp collections, other things that might be useful, present-wise?
Let's see. I play sports (hockey and volleyball currently, baseball in the summer). I knit and I scrapbook and most recently I've taken up freezer paper stenciling. I love to read novels and magazines and blogs on the internets. I sometimes go to the movies and went to the IMAX for the first time recently. Did you know that they have season's passes? Oh, and I like the Disney animated movies and there are tons out this year (hint hint).

3. Are there any specific stores that you often shop at and would love if you had copious amounts of money in the form of gift certificates to spend there?
I'm glad you asked. I get a lot of my clothes from Suzy Shier, Old Navy, and Sport Chek though I would be willing to branch out. I don't often buy books but I like to so Chapters/Indigo would be a good one. And since we're moving soon, we'll be spending a lot of time (read: money) at places like the Brick, the Bay and various other stores (possibly Rona, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, others? Any ideas?) What else? I print my pictures at Photolab.ca for my scrapbooking and buy lots of stuff at Michael's for my other hobbies.

4. Are there things that if you had a lot of money you would buy but since you don't you don't? (This is an ugly-worded question, but don't judge!) Big things or little things, just try and make them somewhat-realistic-for-someone-to-buy-you things.
J and I would maybe get a PVR or a Rogers digital box. I can't really think of anything else so I'll stop there.

5. Are you okay with regifting?
Absolutely. Isn't there a saying about waste not want not? Does that even apply here? I think that if you receive something that is nice but not necessarily something you want, giving it to someone else is completely okay. Just don't throw it out.

6. Do you currently subscribe to any magazines?
I was very fortunate to have subscriptions to Reader's Digest, Chatelaine, In Style and Macleans all given to me. All of these subscriptions are on their last legs.

7. What are some present ideas that you've given to other people or heard of that you think are awesome ideas and woud love to receive?
I personally think presents like movie passes, hot air baloon rides, magazine subscriptions and gift certificates are great. I've been given framed pictures of my cats before and that was nice (thanks A&S!) and hot chocolate powder for work (thanks R&M). What I'm trying to say is that I've received many wonderful things in the past and the best presents weren't always the more expensive ones. I love the idea of being able to use the gift in some way and getting/receiving gifts that are personal.

8. Speaking of personal gifts (this will only work with my previous answer... oh well), do you like to receive hand-made items? What colour is your main winter coat?
Love it! I have a bright red winter ski coat and a long black wool coat.

9. What are some things that you get every year that you love? And hate?
I get socks every year from my parents and I love it! I don't think I get something consistently every year that I don't like. Sure there have been presents I haven't liked but I can't think of any right now.

10. This is an open question for anything you think hasn't been covered. Say whatever you want to say!
Coming soon: Batman's Second Annual Cookie Party, by invitation only (space is limited - sorry!) Invitations will go out to the people who attended last year and then I will open it up to others. Hopefully this will take place the first Sunday in December like last year.

it looks strange without a title

last post i forgot to put a title. i was going to write the post, which are never planned by the way, and see what a good title would be. i just never went back. oh well. i'm back to my old ways of putting a title and then writing the post. they will therefore remain unmeaningful. hope you don't mind.

okay, so i rocked volleyball last night! last week i was pretty annoyed with how i played. i had a bunch of boneheaded moves and was even laughed at by all the players, both on my team and the other team. but not last night. last night i had some great hits and tips and plays in general. i finally felt like i was contributing something other than my serves. it was a nice feeling. nevermind the fact that the other team wasn't very strong. we took them in three straight sets in under an hour.

and then we ate chocolate. that's my kind of volleyball.

so i was pumped about that. and i knew that i already had a lunch ready for me for today and we had already done groceries and all i had left to do was shower and go to bed. we were in bed at 11:30 and i was finished my book by midnight. but for some reason i was dead this morning. just dead tired. didn't want to get up and was a basketcase for the first couple hours at work. definitely a day i wish i drank coffee.

j and i put our plan into action last night and got groceries soon after work. we planned out our dinner for tonight and got some new things (like fish!) to try for this week. and tomorrow we're meeting with someone at the bank. did i tell you that our bank lady up and left for toronto and no one told us? is that right? is that normal? what if we hadn't called? but we did call so everything's okay. i guess. back on point: we will also drop off our passport applications (a full application for j and a name change for me) wednesday so we can go on our trip.

trip! travelling! somewhere hot! dare i say a honeymoon? yay!

in conclusion, i really want to travel because i think i would like it and i need something new to read. thank you.

i wish i had stories for you. stories of the wild and crazy parties i went to, or the wild and crazy things i did this weekend. i don't. for the most part i stayed home. i was in need of a nothing weekend and i got it.

friday night we went out for pho and then stopped by m&m to talk to some mazda people. the pho was amazing. my chopstick skills were absent. in my defense i was super hungry and needed to just shovel the food in. and so i did.

and then we went home. i knit.



j quested - wow. we're the ultimate partiers.

this blog is boring.

saturday we partied though. we partied like we were 50! j's dad turned 50 (happy birthday!) and we had dinner and cake at j's grandparent's house. it was nice and relaxing.



sprinkle in some random shopping and some scarf losing and that's my weekend.

but we have plans. we're both getting in the live to work rut and aren't happy about it. we have some ideas of how to change this and how to make ourselves happier but it will take some adjusting.

for now i will try and concentrate on making myself happy and possibly running again and eating better. sounds easy.....

how did this happen?

all of a sudden i haven't blogged for two days. i love it when my friends, and people i don't know but still feel like i know, blog every day. just so that i have something to read. and then i don't. i do have some excuses but i won't bore you with those. because i finally have pictures!!

like i said last post, j and i went to our new place wednesday morning for the electrical walkthrough so we were able to take pictures in the house without being illegal (we signed a contract saying we would stay off the property unless we were with an urbandale representative).

cement truck pouring porches:


this is actually the house next to ours but i like the truck.

we love all the windows (we added two.) living room (with fireplace):


we are positive this is where the cats will hang out most of the time. we'll be putting their cat hotel (aka cat perch (am i spelling that right?)) in the corner there.

dinning room:


go to my flickr page for all the pictures. and leave comments - i love comments!

okay, enough about the house for today. i could go on and on and on and on and on but i won't.

we went out for pho last night. we really like the little place right near us called pho thi. it's new and clean and always busy and no one ever laughs at me for being a complete spaz with chopsticks. it's amazing that the food actually gets to my mouth. that didn't stop me from stuffing my face though and being content for hours.

i managed to get a bunch of knitting done last night. i'm working on a pink basket weave scarf for eve's pretty in pink contest. hopefully i will be done soon.

anyways, it's almost halloween and i've been invited to two parties this weekend and a family dinner/party thing. i personally don't much like dressing up so i'll be at the family thing where i can be myself.

oh! this is a reminder to myself really: there's a sale on prints at photolab.ca so print your pictures!

where is the love?

my blisters were getting better and then i played hockey last night. i was hoping i would be okay, and my left foot is, kinda. my right foot is not. ouch! it was extremely painful and dashes any hopes i had of running. anyways, not to worry. my work is very laid back and the people here don't mind if i wear socks and birkenstocks.

j came home last night with a spanking new sun computer and was content to set it up after work. i was content to sleep for 2 hours in my warm bed. but napping really threw me off and i spent a long time trying to fall asleep last night. at 3am i turned out my light and prayed for sleep.

it finally came, but just my luck, this morning was our electrical walkthrough so we had to get up early. i only scored myself 3 hours of sleep. i see myself as a basketcase all day but who knows. j is always his most productive when he hasn't had much sleep. maybe i can be productive too. and then again, maybe i'll sit all hunched over in my cubicle rocking back and forth. we'll have to wait and see.

right, the electrical walkthrough. basically we went through the whole house and had the location of all the outlets and lights pointed out to us. it was very disorienting because our house is a mirror image of the model home, but i think that will be nice in the end because we won't always think of the model home (which is obviously professionally decorated and upgraded through the roof). our house will be our house. hopefully everything we chose looks good because we have no one to blame but ourselves! we took pictures so check my flickr site tonight or tomorrow for those.

right. work.

how is it possible?

i don't get how the weeks and months can fly by but then a single morning at work can feel like three days crammed into one. how it is already almost halloween? why is it dark when i get up in the morning? there's a time change soon and that will help with the morning darkness but it won't stop the days from flying by. hmmm.

yesterday after work was like a black hole for me. we got home and then i had to go to volleyball. but really, i had three hours at home. i didn't eat, i didn't do anything. i was a little beyond hungry at volleyball and only survived because k2 went and got me a granola bar thingy. she's a life saver. at volleyball, i had some good plays and i had some bad plays. some really bad plays. plays where everyone was laughing. at me. it was unfortunate. but then i had some really good plays and everyone was happy (on my team, everyone on the other team just had a point scored against them). i was having trouble concentrating.

but then i realized that maybe i play sports because for that hour or those two hours i don't think about anything. i just play. or maybe it's just because i always have played. we'll never know.

i'm definitely feeling the urge to start running and then i remember how gross and wet it is outside and nix that idea. i can have a soft belly for the winter, can't i?

you don't want to read more rambling, do you? okay bye.

because you all know it's coming....

... the weekend update.

i hate to do this to you but i never remember to post on the weekend. so you'll just have to put up with a longer post from me. sorry!

friday

since we had thursday off friday wasn't all that bad. plus i got to go out for lunch and that took well over an hour. we went to a little vietnamese place called sweet basil. i had chicken and shrimp over egg noodles. it was good but not filling enough. but it was nice to go out with my new group. i forgot that they don't know me very well and were surprised with all the "what university did you go to?" and "what does your husband do?" questions.

i mentioned to my new boss that i would be taking some holidays in march or april. maybe i'll have indeterminant by then (indeterminant for all you non-government workers is a full time job without a determined end date. right now i'm term and have an end date set for next july) but i'm not counting on it. government moves like molasses.

thursday sleeping in led to a very late thursday night, which led to a rough friday morning, which then led to a huge nap friday after work. and then it was quadruple-date night. we went to glow-in-the-dark mini put with three other couples. i lost. but i always do. it was still fun though. and then we went to kelsey's and i had really really good shrimp pasta alfredo. mmmm.

saturday

we slept in saturday (of course) and only got up because the phone rang. we did some shopping and then went to j's grandparent's place for dinner. j's grandfather's two brothers are in town and it was interesting to meet them. and as always the food was great.

then we went downtown. we met a bunch of people at pier 21, a random bar with a strange mix of people and i proceeded to drink lots of beer. for unknown reasons we left that bar and went to a strange grunge bar that smelled like smoke and didn't have anywhere to sit. we drank gross beer out of huge bottles. after that we went to chris' apartment and vlatko showed me how to draw faces. i need some practice.

we got home and i slept. i slept hard.

sunday

again with the being woken up by the phone sunday morning. somehow j can actually get himself out of bed when the phone rings. not i. i did lie in bed looking out at the snow though. snow! in october! before halloween! eeep.

we stayed in all day. i knit while we watched the wild. i had the girls over for scrapbooking and sj stopped by.

monday

tonight is volleyball. my blisters are at the point where i can bear to have shoes on but i'm not overly thrilled with it. hockey tomorrow night will be the big test. a demain!

mental health day

you know when your lack of sleep plus the crappy gray rainy weather is just making you feel like crap? and then you eat some ravioli with ground beef in it and you never eat ground beef and your stomach is hurting and all you want to do is crawl into bed and not leave for a whole week? yeah, well that's how i was feeling. and apparently j wasn't feeling so hot either so we took the day off.

work has gotten pretty busy. i started a post yesterday but never got around to publishing it so i deleted it. basically, what i was going to tell you, in a kazillion more words, that i played two hockey games tuesday night instead of just one (one of the teams playing after mine needed a spare so i stuck around and played), and about 5 minutes into the second game i could feel the blisters starting. true to form, i had two ginormous blisters and cannot wear shoes. but i've learned and that's the important thing. thing #1: i am not cut out to play two games in a row, and thing #2: not all people wearing socks and sandals want to be wearing them.

last night we headed to kanata to alan and sylvia's house for dinner. the food was awesome. we had veggies and dip and cheese and crackers and then chicken, rice and salad for dinner, and apple crumble for dessert. it was really nice to see a&s and to meet their friends who were a lot of fun. we hadn't yet decided to take the day off so we left early and were in bed by midnight.

this morning our alarms were going off in sequence (j's, mine, j's cell phone, and then mine again and so on) and i heard j ask if it would be okay with me if he stayed home. i said yes and quickly asked if it was okay with him if i stayed home. he said yes so we stayed in bed until almost 1pm. marvelous.

our productivity didn't end with the enormous amounts of sleep though. we took the car in and got the snow tires mounted and the oil changed and while we waited we looked around at furniture and found some things in canadian tire that we needed. we also stopped by future buy (future shop + best buy) and got an external hard drive (we're getting more and more paranoid about losing our pictures if anything were to happen to the computer) and new earphones for j. we also looked at laptops because we think that's the way we'll go in the new house.

lots of talk about the new house today. no new pictures though. we were thinking of going out today but ran out of time. we are currently waiting for the last of our down payment cheques to come out so we can finally know the exact final price of the house. we think we're on track for saving but we're not entirely sure. and once we know all that we can start buying appliances. sweet!

i will leave you with a picture of rolo mushed in the xbox box:

and the betties take the gold!

my volleyball team is called the bumpin' betties. we won last night. we lost the first two sets and came back by winning the last three. it felt awesome. and my arms aren't bruised and i don't think they will be. good times.

i got home around 10:30 and still needed to do groceries. so we did. i have carrots and yogurt and crackers again. life is good.

except i'm dead tired. you know when you wake up and it's still gray outside and you've been having nightmares and you've slept in a little too long and you really just wish you could stay in bed until tomorrow? well that was me this morning. yuck.

and at work, i recently switched groups. this is after a month of part timing in two groups, i've finally made the move. and i don't have a lot of work yet so i was reading cnn.com and found molecular expressions by davidson. take a minute to look at some of the art. do you drink strawberry daiquiris in the summer? this is what they look like under the microscope. how about a rum and coke? (from the cocktail section but there are so many others so check it out!)

i still don't have any pictures of my shark bag to show you (out of sight out of mind you know) and no more knitting to report. in my defense, the beginning of the week is heavy on the sports. i did decide to donate my pink hat to charity and that qualifies me for eve's pretty in pink contest. if you knit, this is one of the easiest contests ever so head over there and check it out.

friday saturday sunday

friday

i had plans to go out friday. i really did. for real! but i didn't go out. i didn't see the baseball game i wanted to see and i didn't go to the bar i wanted to go to. sad really.

what i did do was sit on the couch with my cats and knit while watching the last episode of season 2 of grey's anatomy. and then i watched all the bonus material. now i have to catch up on the episodes from this season that i've already missed.

i did get something accomplished though friday night. i knit a toque. it's pink and it's very wee. wee enough to fit my cats perfectly. do preemies come this small?



i followed the pattern for a toque that should have fit my head. and i don't even have a big head but this will never fit my head. so i'm going to donate it and just keep my fingers crossed that babies are actually that small. what do you think?

saturday

i had plans to help a friend move on saturday. i really did. for real! (deja vu?) but i didn't help her. instead j and i ran around all day. we put gas in the car, we went looking for a coat for me, we got cat litter, we had wendy's, we checked out the new house (no change, but shingles soon!), we got j a winter coat.... and then we were cranky. honestly cranky.

so i took a nap.

sleeping is the best way to be when you're cranky. and while i was sleeping j went out to tag ball with our friends for matt's birthday (happy birthday, matt! hope you like your card!) i woke up two hours later in the dark by myself. the crankiness had passed.

so i went shopping.

i went to michael's to check out the big yarn sale and was mega disappointed. but they had scrapbooking stuff on sale too so i bought some markers and some random things and then went downtown to meet j and friends at elgin street diner. we ate and were merry.

and then we went home.

i watched over the hedge while j played wow. over the hedge was funny. i also worked on my red scarf.

sunday

sunday we were supposed to get groceries. didn't. instead we hung around all "morning" (aka early afternoon) until richard and tania came over for some stenciling fun. my freezer paper stenciling fun was finally here! richard used a pumpkin carving template for a halloween shirt (picture on his blog) and tania used an abigram of her name (picture on her blog). i made a shark stencil and put it on a white canvas bag. i really liked how it turned out. i didn't take a picture yet so you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

stenciling took longer than i thought it would and i hardly had time to shower and eat before rounding up the scrapbooking girls and heading out to barrhaven. i had so little time that i actually forgot my book and had to go home to get it.

and when i was heading back to barrhaven i almost hit a pedestrian. i was a little shaken up and pissed but i won't bother you with that story.

i managed to get two pages done on my wedding album. i'm happy with that. two pages a week isn't bad, especially when all i wanted to do was knit.

speaking of knitting, i found out last week that there's a knitting group at work. they meet wednesdays at lunch. i'm looking forward to my first meet this week.

and now it's monday.

eureka - i've got it!

i know what i'm going to do this weekend! i'm going to (finally) make a freezer paper stencil. and you thought i had forgotten about the whole thing. well i haven't.

there is a flickr group dedicated to freezer paper stenciling. you can see so many neat designs. make sure you take a look at the discussions to get instructions and ideas.

OR click on this link for a super helpful tutorial by man duh. i can't believe how well laid out the whole tutorial is, complete with pictures and tips.

so friends, i'm thinking sunday is the day. please email me (myfirstnameATgmailDOTcome) or call if you would like to come. i have the freezer paper, iron, xacto knife and cutting board, paint brushes and limited paint (blue and black only). you need to bring a picture for your stencil (preferably black and white and not too intricate seeing as how this is my first time and likely your first time) and whatever you want that stencil on (shirt, pants, bag, whatever).

sunday. stencils. be there.

date night

j and i went and saw deep sea at the IMAX last night. we went to the 7pm show (not to early not too late).



i really enjoyed it. i had never been to a dome imax before and can't remember the two other times i had been to imax shows at all. it was really interesting and visual. i wouldn't mind going again and seeing something else (hint!hint!)

after the show we drove around downtown for a while. i wanted to get a picture of a stone angel for a flickr group i just joined. they have weekly contests for people to go out and take pictures of specific places or things. i'll have to go out again and get that picture.

it's been a long time since i've driven around downtown at night (except driving straight to the market or something) and the drive from portage to elgin is beautiful at night. i really wish we had had our good camera on us and didn't have to pee (oops!) and could have spent some time taking pictures. better do it before the snow.

did you hear about the snow? southern ontario got some snow but nothing compared to buffalo and other parts of new york who got upwards of two feet! welcome to winter, suckers.

anyways, last night, on top of seeing deep sea, we watched the movie click (check out my library for more details) and then i watched an episode of grey's anatomy and knit. i'm making myself a red scarf and will make a matching touque if i have enough wool left over. and then it's on to something pink.

bits and bobs

i've had pretty focused posts lately and i need a random post where i can throw everything out there. plus i have no more pictures to show you.

j and i are going to see deep sea at the imax tonight. i got the idea from tania's blog and am really excited to go. i have a feeling it's going to leave me wanting more though since a lot of my courses in university showed films that were very in depth about the species and the ecosystems. i just found out that it's narrated by johnny depp and kate winslet so that should be interesting.

i'm surprised it's not morgan freeman.

moving on. it's been really rainy and gray for the past couple of days (can you say we were spoiled with the weather last weekend?) so i've been sluggish. at least we made it into work today on time.

expect more house pictures because we've heard that they've started putting shingles on the roof. we'll probably head out this weekend. i will update you on all the goings-on of the weekend on monday.

i have this nice feeling about money and have this whole month. we decided to pay all of our october bills (minus the ones that get taken directly from our account) early on in the month and so have hardly anything money related to worry about. our last house cheque comes out early next week (the last of the $10,000 down payment) and then we will finally be told the actual price of the house. AND we can start buying the big things like appliances.

i can't wait until we're actually in the new house and we can see how our stuff fits and what it all looks like together (and start buying new things to finish the look... and eventually paint!) we're in a good situation of already living in a house so we have a lot of stuff (no more echoing for us!) but that will just make moving more expensive. i'm rambling.

check out the ViKaren pool on Flickr and email me if you want to join!

fun with the camera

when i got up monday morning (monday was a day off remember?) the sun was shining bright. this made me want to take pictures of the cats. i might be a little crazy. here are some of the best shots (more on flickr).

sandy


rolo


the both of them


the colours aren't as bright, but this is one of my favourite pictures of sandy

the rest of the thanksgiving weekend

(read friday's post and then saturday's post first)

i was really hoping to sleep in and not be disturbed by a vomiting-on-me cat. and my dreams came true! i slept and i slept some more. finally!

we really only had one thing to do sunday and that was go have our third turkey dinner with my parents and brother. so that's what we did. we spent a good 7 hours over there.





and when we got home i crashed. i poured myself onto the couch and slept. apparently i was a little tired. so we didn't end up going out. i slept and j played computer games.

monday was the bonus day off. we slept in because that's what days off are for and then i did laundry that i had been putting off for a long while and j helped a car guy fix some stuff on his car. i eventually gave up on laundry and went and read outside. again, it was bright and sunny and warmer than expected.

we spent the night watching grey's anatomy and playing computer games (guess who did what!) and finishing up the laundry. it was a nice end to a super long busy packed weekend.



if you know vik and took pictures on saturday, email me (myfirstnameATgmailDOTcom) and i will invite you to the group pool i set up (link here). otherwise you can just go take a look at the pictures so far.

catching up to saturday

(scroll down and read friday's post first)

remember that i was looking forward to sleeping in? all was going according to plan until 8am. i was sleeping away until i woke up to the sweet sounds of rolo puking on me. honestly, i opened my eyes as he was starting to puke. i hurled (hurled? get it?) myself into a sitting position and managed to escape actually getting puked on but the bed wasn't so lucky.

and you know that half-awake i-just-almost-got-puked-on feeling? well, i was a little dazed and knew one thing - that i didn't want to sleep in puke but that i was definitely going to sleep more. so j, the great guy that he is, went and cleaned up the puke on the floor (one just isn't enough for little rolo) and then put a towel down on the bed and took my side. my hero! so we slept all out of whack on the wrong sides of the bed until noon.

when i got up to pee i noticed all the dried puke on my sleeve. i hadn't been as quick as i thought. gross. needless to say everything got washed. at least we got clean bed out of the deal and my day could only get better.

activity #1: the arboretum
j and i acted like tourists and took the camera to the arboretum. i had never actually been so i was really happy to have the opportunity to walk around in the warmer-than-expected weather.



we saw tons of people and dogs and ducks and geese. there was even one wedding.

activity #2: the new house
we had some time before our next activity so we went to our new place. we now have windows.

view from the front


and back


we also walked to the edges of our lot in the back to get an idea of the property size and are happy with the bigness.

activity #3:
this activity was actually planned. we were all supposed to be at vik's parent's house at 4 because vik was going to propose to his girlfriend karen and wanted us all to be there when she said yes. it seemed kinda weird to me but it worked out well for them.

we were all hiding in the house waiting and finally they pulled in and vik did his thing.


and then the party got started. there was lots of champagne and food and cake. but we couldn't stay too long.

activity #4:
we had to head back for thanksgiving dinner with j's family. it ended up just being j's grandparents, sj and us. the food was amazing and we ate lots. second turkey dinner done.

activity #5:
after a quick stop at home we went downtown for an apartment-warming party for chris and joe.



there were so many funny things that happened. richard ate a whole plate of celery, a girl showed up and was constantly thrusting her chest out (i said 'thrusting' for a reason), the elevator door wouldn't close... and lots of other things that i can't remember. it was a good night.

for some reason the party died down right when the bars were closing so there was a lot of traffic when we were leaving the parking garage. we got home in one piece and fell into bed. i was hoping that i would get an actual sleep in without being puked on.......