Friday, November 30, 2007

oops

I forgot to add the link that I intended in the last post...
here it is

remember this?

seated like royalty (or) it's all about the small town

Last night a group of us returned to Karaoke. It's been awhile since I've seen my friends.
Myself and another arrived a little early, and we wandered the bar looking to see if anyone had gotten there before us. The back half of the place was filled with old friends, and I chatted for a bit as they prepped themselves for a night of competition ($500 up for grabs).
Seeing there wasn't room for the group we were expecting, we headed back to the front to wait to be seated, we hadn't been there (as a group) in forever... so we didn't want to take our old seats (remember this?) without checking.
A "newer" wait-staff came to us and asked for how many, we guessed about 5, and she asked if we wanted a booth (as it's pretty loud by this point). As we were shrugging our shoulders and taking the offer, a woman comes barreling down between the tables (the head waitstaff).
"what are you doing?" (she says to the waitress) "They NEED their table!"
waitress, looking flushed "uhh?"
the barrel-er "They haven't been here in 5 months! they NEED their table!"
waitress looks at us for some sort of clue
"We'll sit over there." I point at our table.
The barrel-er grins."Welcome back", she says, and walks away.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

mmmMMmmmh



just a little something that made me laugh today.
Pearls before Swine

one time only

for just this once....

the below issue really was nothing after all.
AND she apologized.
whew.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

to the shakes

There are people out there who know how to manipulate.
There are people out there with too much power.
There are people who really need a wake up. I've been dealing with one of those people for a few years now... and she angers me to the point of the shakes.

I'm talking boiling below the surface anger. Make me sick in the gut.

I have to sit here and remind myself that I am better than that. That I'm a bigger person for choosing to deal with things as rationally as possible. Breathe in, breathe out.
Close my eyes.
And try to convince myself that she does not in fact have power over me, that she is a sick sick woman in need of help.
Try to feel bad for her.

And then, between the cleansing breath.....I'm still shaking. I'm swearing under my breath.
I picture myself screaming at her. I picture making her feel the same way. I see myself exposing her as the insane person she is to the greater community. I see the police taking her away...

And then I breathe again.
And I remember she's not worth it.

squirt

Though he's a little swollen in the nether regions, Fynn Pants has returned home, safe and sound.
I trundled him off to the vet's yesterday morning before work, took my "lunch out" and picked him up... delivered him home, then back to work. I did however make the mistake? of leaving him in the cat carrier cage... and didn't put him back into his own cage... I wondered about maybe making sure he wasn't exerting himself... running around .. blah blah blah..
Then part way thru the afternoon I thought to myself.... "shoot! there's no litter box!" (inside the carrier) The second I got home I got him out and stuck him straight away into the litter box... all was well with the world.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get the meds INTO his mouth.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Bunday Monday

so innocent... so clueless....


well, this morning little Fynn is on his way to see the Dr. for a little... um.... snip.
I feel bad... but watching what poor 'Touf is having to put up with... and his problem with spraying when he's left in the big cage... it's time.
wish the little guy luck!

random side note:: (herrr herrr herrr...side!) That spot on his side is a perfect circle when he's laying down, I love how it's tucked right into his little hip pudge!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

there's a key for every lock

You know how sometimes in life things just aren't so great? Not as organized as you'd like (take my bedroom for one) or doesn't fit into the box you wish it would fit into?
It's when that happens that I'm always glad for the constants.
The things that I can take for granted because they don't change. The things I can be overly confidant in.
One of those is that there is a key in a "hidden" place for when I lock myself out. (Anyone who's been to my place is laughing right now.... it's hidden so well)
I can go on walks without my keys, I can go on bike rides in pants with no pockets... all because I have a key in a safe place waiting for me when I return.

Tonight I left the house without my purse... who wants to walk by themselves with a purse in the dark around town? NOT I! As I shut the door, I glanced casually in the direction of where the key lays in wait and thought to myself (and I distinctly remember thinking this tonight) "I'm so glad that I'm organized in at least one part of my life... I don't have to carry my keys with me."
With that thought, I shut the door and bounded off down the stairs.

Fast forward a few hours.

Wearily climbing the stairs to the house, patting myself on the back yet again for the preparedness of my being.... (I was, after all, a girl guide for nearly my entire adolescence) I reached for the key.
And remembered dropping it into my purse when I came home earlier.
The purse inside the house.

eeeeEEEeeeewwwch

I keep blowing my nose.
I don't want to.. . it's making things worse.....
But I have to.
Or I'm going to have to stick my finger up there.

Ever get one of those little cuts up in your nose... and it gets a little crusty spot around it, and when you hit it.. it hurts, and makes your nose run?
I have one of those today.
It must be the dry weather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(I didn't want to make it a habit to keep writing "in other news". Instead, the little squiggly lines will represent for me the line "in other news")

The part of Victoria will be played by Melinda Fandastic this episode... these are the days of our lives......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I shouldn't be complaining about my little nose cut. Fynn is going to lose his manhood tomorrow morning.
Poor little Bun.

Friday, November 23, 2007

mmmm. food.




up in the top left hand corner of the page you'll see a little link.... right now I can't get blogger to let me put up a banner (with a link) there.... I'll keep working on it.
Here's a fun little game for you, expand your vocab AND give food to people who need it. My high score is 39 so far... but I'm sure you'll beat me.

What a great idea for a site. for others check out
www.therainforestsite.com
www.thehungersite.com
there's a bunch of others... I'm sure you'll find them if you look.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

let it snow let it snow let it snow

Growing up I had a love hate relationship with snow, errr... rather with snow days.
Snow-I liked. You could make all sorts of cool things with it. Forts, snowmen, snowballs, toilets. A guy in grade six made a life sized toilet out of snow one year, I spent the next three winters at home trying to recreate it.... to no avail. Then one year my cousin showed me what you could do with food colouring in a spray bottle.... We built a giant rat and made it look like it was decapitated and bleeding all over the lawn... then went and "shot" all the snowmen in her neighbourhood.
It was more the "SNOW DAY" that I wasn't the biggest fan of...
My parents owned and ran a local business. Because of this, snow days didn't happen in our house- instead, we'd get a ride to school with mom. No matter the weather. This left my sister and I and the 12-15 students within walking distance stuck at school.
Here's where the love-hate kicked in, my nerdly-art side loved it. I always volunteered to clean the art cupboard on snow days. Teachers didn't actually teach anything to the 12-15 kids in the school, we watched movies, caught up on reading, listened to music, and changed the display boards. The hate came in- in the act of having to get dressed, in having to go when no one else was there, in having to make small talk with the teachers. That... I did not love.

Once in high school, I started to get snow days. Bussed into another town, if the weather was bad, I'd sit beside the radio in the morning chanting my bus number under my breath (come on 387, come on 387!) praying to hear that Milford had cancelled his route... But Milly was a tough old coot, and the cancels were few and far between.

Fast forward to working life... I've held a job now since graduation that doesn't allow for snow days. The entire town might be in lock-down in a blizzard, but a group home still needs staffing.

This morning I woke to the tiny ping of ice pellets hitting the windows... windows coated in ice, looking out at trees coated in ice. And I sighed.
Until I remembered something.... I work in an office now.

ring ring riiiiiiing

me:: uh... hello?
boss:: good morning, just calling to let you know we're not opening the office today, please activate your calling list.
me:: uh.... (then with more enthusiasm than I should have...... to my boss)
All RIIIIIGHT!

two things.

number one::
this is something I love.





fair trade chocolate.... I'm not the biggest white choc lover of all time, but.... the "with nibs" caught my attention. Little tiny pieces of cocoa! strangest.. but nicest combo of textures I've had in a chocolate bar... ever.

I can't remember number two.... but I was composing it in my head all night. I'll add it later.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

I'm not faking it.

I don't know if maybe I'm just in my own world, dreaming. Maybe it's wishful thinking?
I've been wearing my new shirt all day... and I keep hoping I'll run into a beautiful stranger... one who will glance my way, see my shirt and walk up to me... offer me his arm, and whisk me away. Saying only “hypothetically, I'm in that band too”.

1 800 (or) now I use fewer towels

welcome to post 800!
odd. Didn't think I'd last this long.

Last night I made some rather unfavourable comments about the quality of writing in the 'burg's paper... however, having read my own post from the same evening, I retract. I have no right to make a comment.

well, last night I finally did it. But I do have to admit it wasn't the look of horror I was given the other night, it was the time factor involved, AND, now I don't take so long to dry off.

I shaved my left leg.
finally.
See, the problem was (and still is) I get bored shaving my legs. And, I'm a creature of habit.... so, I always shave my right leg first, then my left... it's just lately, well, I haven't had the patience to finish the job... so, while my right leg has been presentable.... my left hadn't seen the blade since August.
So, last night I fought the urge to follow my right-left habit, and did the switcher-roo to left-right...
I got bored.
I'll get to the right leg tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

of brains... and brains!

my brain feels good.
both of them.

my brain in my head is happy... more than happy, to have been put to use the past two days. Work sent me to a "Train the trainer" event in the Petes, and now I've got lots and lots of info pouring out of my ears on Dual Diagnosis.... It was a nice refresher, and I was happy about the amount of info I'd retained since University. It felt good to be in a room of people sharing some neat ideas on support and diagnosis.
I considered (again) taking up smoking just to be able to hang out with our behaviour therapist... but was glad that she and the rest of her agency's members were there.... I was able to network with some other consultants who deal specifically with individuals dealing with dual diagnosis- including some who deal with individuals with Aspergers (something we didn't touch too much on in this course, but something we're dealing with more... as we're the only town in the county willing?able? to put time into these supports).

ok, enough work talk... for now. I know that came out in all gobbledy gook, but there's so much in my head right now that there's no space for comprehensive writing styles.....

moving on.
my other brain!




not the best picture.. but I was too excited to set it up all lovely.
I'm in the band... and I have the shirt to prove it ;) I could have kissed the mail man
(again).

train-ed

spent all day yesterday... and heading out the door now for some more...
training.....

my head is hurting.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Monday Bunday


happy nosevember

(the tip of his nose moves too fast... so it's a little blury)

Friday, November 16, 2007

relief

I've been in a mild state of panic since Monday... not that you'd notice in amongst the other quirky bits that make me...uh... me.
But last night it reached the point that I had to do something about it.
My camera was missing.
I know I had it on Sunday night (as I processed "monday bunday"... and modified the time stamp to make it look like I actually had gotten up at some ungodly time in the morning, early enough to be fully dressed and ready to go to work- and still have time to blog) (HA!). But after that... it's whereabouts were a mystery!
I knew I'd tried to fit a book into my pretty little leather purse without too much success, the flashlight had taken up too much room... the flashlight was now sitting on the floor in my room, and the book eventually came with me to work. Did I take the camera out then?
Did I toss it into my purse as it sat by my desk at work? Had I been showing someone pictures and forgotten to put it away?
All the places that I've (previously) found it were coming up empty.
I even started making phone calls!
Until last night.
When I crawled into my bed... and found it nestled beside a pair of socks under the covers.

time to clean my room.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

melting

sometimes I'm so exhausted that it feels like my face is just going to melt off.
land in a puddle
then I'll have to clean it up in the morning.
and that makes me sad.
so instead I cry myself to sleep, and all I have is a wet pillow.

but tonight...
I'm literally melting.
I think the thermostat is broken.
In the winter, we freeze here (unless the landlord is away and her kids crank the temp). It's a big old drafty house, with little to no insulation to speak of... windows that don't quite close... and a random vent into the corner of the kitchen that I stuff socks into when I remember... (note to self:: don't forget to stuff the vent this week).
But not tonight.... tonight I walked into the apartment to the smell of burnt lint (note to self:: time to dust) the thermometer says that it's only 26 degrees... but... for a house that averages 17 degrees....
It's so hot that one of the rads has sprung a leak... I've got a bucket under it, and I've called down to the landlord. If the water didn't smell so funny... I might be in for a nice hot bath before bed.

In other news, life is full of choices... pray for the ones that are appearing right now.... you all know how I adapt to change. (even if it's good)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hit Me!

oh my... I don't really know what happened yesterday... but for some reason, I got hit with 20 odd searches thru google.... just looking for SVFF!
(hate to break it to you A, they weren't looking for a folk festival)

So, those of you linking here looking for the film festival... also named SVFF....
here's a clip of Robin Williams at the fest.....

AND, just to let you waylayed visitors know, SVFF is really Shelter Valley Folk Festival.... the best of the fests...

is someone standing gaurd?

pretty sure I'm not suppose to check my daily reads from work.....
however.. yesterday I had a 5 minute span where-in I didn't take a smoke break (because I don't smoke), and had nothing to tide me over till my meeting with my boss.
Except... I wasn't counting on the sneeze being quite so funny, and nearly blew my cover doing a "turn that laugh into a coughing fit or phlegmy throat thing".

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

back in the day

On a blog I frequent daily, two questions were posed to us earlier this week: why did you start blogging, and name another blog I should read.

I gave my answer, but then, going back to read other's answers I was reminded.....

Another part of the reason I started blogging was because of a personal web page back in 96 or 97...
we'd just gotten hooked up to the world wide web, and I was clogging our phone line reading ...
wait for it....
a man's JOURNAL!!!
I thought for sure he just didn't know how to use his computer and was accidentally writing for all the world to see... All I remember was that he was really into swing dancing... I read everything he wrote till we got a new computer... and in my laziness never remembered the address.
That was back when we "yahoo'd" things... because yahoo was cooler than Google. But yahoo let me down trying to find him again... I had a bit of a geeky girl crush on him.

curses

swears thrown at you publishers!

Just as I'm enjoying a great book... loving what's going on, content to have left the real world and snuggled all cozy with my fictional friends... you go and screw things up!

I yelled out loud today. In my car. No, not driving. While waiting for an appointment. Reading.

I turned the page in my nearly finished book... only to discover that indeed my book was done. The remaining 30 pages we just previews for other books!

who does that???
Ugh. Now I have to go to the library again.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Monday Bunday

finally no red eye... brought to you by "lean the camera on the coffee table with no flash and only overhead lighting".

Sunday, November 11, 2007

hot potato

There are good microwaves... and there are bad microwaves.

Last week I saw a movie set in the late '70's.... a large box shows up in one of the scenes and one character reads the type on the box.... "what's a micro-wave anyway?"

I remember being just a little bit more than scared of our first microwave... That may or may not have something to do with the fact that it caught fire once.

Our next microwave was easy to use... pick either High, Medium or Low setting, then the amount of time... then start... pretty straight forward right?
It wasn't until I went to University that I realized I'd never used any other microwave other than my own (other than the old dial-the-time jobber at high school... but it was the same as our family's first box). Microwaves with extra buttons? Pre-set levels? Pre-set times? combos including defrost 3 portions? I was lost! All I wanted was a high heat for 40 seconds.... was that too much to ask?
It was then that I started using the "baked potato" setting to cook everything.
This method has it's downfalls.... you have to stay and open the door, or hit cancel when you've had enough... you have to hope that you want that high heat setting... and pray to God you don't need to defrost any bread! BUT.... it saves taking out the instruction manual and going cross-eyed. Last year, I decided to change it up, and I switched to the popcorn button.
(I know... I live on the edge)
Last week... I decided to have a baked potato for dinner.
I was about 5 minutes into the oven pre-heating when I thought to use the microwave.... and it took a few seconds of staring at the box before I realized that I actually knew how to use the microwave to cook what I wanted.....

triumph!

Friday, November 09, 2007

money money

.. and I don't mean the band. (Although... I do have some love for the boys)

right now... me and ebay are in love.
sweet cross border shopping!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

you can't be serious.

Last night I walked out to my car, and without giving it a once over... got into it and drove away. I reached my friend's home, went inside... then walked to my car....

SOMETIME yesterday after work, weather it was while my car was parked at home, or while it was parked at my friend's... someone HIT my car! Smashed it! Dented it! Scratched it!
My car... and I.... are none too happy about this.

I went out when I got home, and wandered the cars parked near where I park my car... it was dark, I brought my flashlight.

I like that my dad suggested I go vandalize their car if I found it...

I really want to.

He's always been a really good "eye for an eye" type guy like that :)

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

an open letter to the time keeper

Dear daylight savings time guy,

I hate you.

I work some nights doing a sleep shift in a group home... and I like my sleep. I look forward to sleeping so much that I often go in early.... in fact, I'll sometimes go in a full hour early, just to make sure I'm going to get my full allotment of sleep time.

Last night on the couch, waiting for it to be an acceptable time to go to work... I was counting down my minutes. getting nearer and nearer. 15 mins till I can go and get my stuff together so I can go to work and to go to sleep....
14 mins... 13.....
then the phone rings....
who the heck calls at 10:15?

I wander out to the hall to grab the phone... I look up at the clock again, starting to worry about why/who would be calling late-ish at night... and I see that I've forgotten to change the clock by the couch... in fact... it's only 9:15... and my shift doesn't start till 11:30.

I hate you.

Monday, November 05, 2007

monday bunday


man on the run.

The cages have moved to the sun porch... a little chilly, but both boys have thick coats, PLUS all the comforts of house rabbit living (read:: access to the rest of the house) I only hope they are getting enough rest... there seems to be a family of loud birds in the roof now too.... (in addition to the squirrels)

more than two weeks ago I called the land lord about the squirrels. I heard nothing from her after that... however... I heard lots from the squirrels. They eventually moved over to the other side of the roof. Friday night I'm headed out, and while standing beside my car I can hear them chewing the roof... I talking LOUDLY... like, as if I had a 2x4 of maple and was chewing it off hunk after hunk with metal teeth type loud.
I stand in the driveway looking up at the roof, just as the landlord drives in.
She asks me what I'm looking at, and I reply "I'm listening to the squirrels eat the roof."
to which she says plainly and coldly "there are no squirrels".

The chewing has stopped (as the van just drove in, and we've been talking) and I only reply "then what is that noise I'm hearing?"
She frowns at me and says.... "I've had a man up there twice, and he didn't see anything, and he's placed a live trap. PLUS (she says accusingly... like I put the squirrels up there?) you told me they were on the other side of the house!"
I don't bother to point out that was more than two weeks ago.

she continues.... "the man said that sometimes mice are loud chewers, we must have mice"
me:: "but... they must be very large mice then... because I can hear their nails as they run... I can hear their weight on the ceiling plaster... it's the same noise as when the rabbit runs down the hall"
her retort:: "perhaps your rabbit is in the ceiling."

I get in the car and drive away.

Sunday, November 04, 2007

and now it's half price!

one of my bosses, the morning after Halloween, hung her head out her office doorway, her face twisted in disbelief.
"I thought that was your voice speaking... but I just can't seem to believe that you'd do something like that!"

What she'd just heard was the exchange between myself and another staff, comparing numbers of kids to our door the night before.

This Halloween was the first that anyone's been home at our house since we moved in... (four years ago). So I went out and bought a big bag of candy around 5pm (we hadn't been sure that we'd be home this year either).... turned off the porch lights, locked the door.... and sat on the couch eating candy for the rest of the night.

we only got one trick-or-treat'er.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

another shot

oh yeah... those are beans growing in the autumnal collection of fallen leaves.
NOVEMBER 2nd!

november

ok... it's November... the month when we're all suppose to be writing everyday... month of the writer.. there's even blogs dedicated to counting the words written for the month... words written in support of the celebration of this month.... and what have I done?
well I sure as heck haven't been writing.


I think last year (or the year before?) I tried to commit to the whole "write every day in November" thing.. and failed miserably. When I'm thinking that I need to write.... I can't write.
Since last week when the Roomie and I rearranged the apartment (if it happens once every four years it feels like you've moved!) all I've wanted to do is curl up on a couch with a book.

or a rabbit.

the books don't make me sneeze.

Yesterday I was in Grafton... I love that little town... it's on the outer rim of my house-hunt radius... anyway. Apparently Grafton should also be the spokesperson (spokestown?) speaking out against global warming....
November 2 and I was wearing my flip flops....
my flip flops and I discovered something strange happening "on the high hills of Grafton... warmin' with the sun"...


points if you can name that tune.