Friday, March 30, 2007

One more week.

I need my vacation badly. You know when you leave the mall and you kind of have to pee, then you're in the car and just from thinking about it you have to go 10X more, but you're confident that you can hold it, until you're actually really close to home and you know that you'll be there in a couple minutes. At that point you're ready to burst and your eyeballs are swimming and think you might not make it and even though you're not religious you pray to Jesus and who ever else might listen that you do make it and by the time you turn the truck off and run into the house, dumping your coat on the kitchen floor and make a run for it - and it seems like if you were 2 more seconds you wouldn't have made it...BUT WAIT! NO! you realize there's only one square of toilet paper left and you have to get back up and waddle into the hall and get another roll and make it back without tripping and FINALLY, ahhhhhhh.

Its kind of like that.

Now that I know the trip is imminent, and I only have 1 week to go I feel like I'm barely going to make it. I can barely drag my butt out of bed and I have to flog myself to get anything done.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

My God there's TWO of them...

Chris, you hide the credit cards from them, I'll get the other one a tiara before she gets jealous.

Olsen twins, watch out.

<-----New Miss USA
Mrs and Mr Cathy------>


Monday, March 26, 2007

IDIOT.

I did the stupidest thing today. I locked my keys in the truck. With it running.

Who DOES that? I can see maybe if I turned off the truck and got distracted and forgot to take the keys out, but to actually leave it running and get out, lock the door and slam it shut - that really lacks brain cells. And guess what else..I have spare keys that are on Andrew's key ring and he is in Halifax for the next couple of days.

However, I'm growing. Believe it or not this is a step up from my previous self. Because my hubby nags me about never plugging my phone in to charge it or having enough gas in my car, I actually had gas in the truck and one bar of juice on my phone (AND I actually had it with me for a change) so I could call him and whine while I waited for CAA.

Here's where it splits into a dilemma. Yes, I had put gas in the car and charged my phone and had it with me and I brought my full wallet with the CAA card instead of just carrying my license and bank card and I had an umbrella with me, and I am now in the habit of locking my doors all of the time, blah blah blah. HOWEVER. If I had just as per usual just left the door or the hatch unlocked I could have just crawled in through the back like normal person instead having to call CAA and standing in the rain for an hour waiting for them watching my gas burn out at $1 a litre. My way seems like way less hassle.

My old systems work, in a very rudimentry, low tech way that allowed me to not have to rely on too many people or much technology. Its not until other people start sticking their noses in and messing around with it to make it better that I seem to run into problems. It makes me nervous that there are 100 wires plugged into the back of my TV and 3 boxes and if one of them goes wrong I will miss my show.

I've taken heat from people for not being a planner and winging it and marching to a different drum, but I've been in and out of alot of scrapes and it seems like even when you do plan, when the really bad stuff hits you its always with a twist that renders it into something you never could have planned for in a million years.

Monday, March 19, 2007

OMG WE"RE GOING TO DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!!!!

I'm so excited I could pee. my. pants... We just booked a trip to Dominican Republic - Punta Cana, Bavaro Beach. The resort is called the Catalonia Bavaro Beach Resort, its 4.5 stars all inclusive so hopefully it will be good.

<-These will be my tanned toes in just 3 weeks.

I've been to Florida a few times, but not as an adult (with an open bar). I don't really consider the US to be 'another country', so this will be my first trip off the continent. Very Very Very Exciting. Super exciting. Like, didn't get any work done today exciting.....



Friday, March 16, 2007

I have a new mission...


I've never been much of a collector. I'm a chucker outer. Part of it comes with moving around alot. I've always wanted to find something I was interested in collecting and dragging around with me though, not to mention provide some direction for gift givers because apparently I'm 'impossible to buy for'.

And now I've found it..... The Modern Library's 100 Best Novels....
http://www.bookspot.com/listmodern100.htm (That's James Joyce in the photo)

My mission for however long it takes me is to get and read every book on the list and develop a respectable library. In hardcover, before Oprah makes them a pick and they have a big stupid yellow Oprah star on them. I've read about 20 of them, and I own about 5 of them. This is a big challenge since I already read on average 2-3 books a month. This will take YEARS. I'm so excited to have a 'thing'.

I'd like to thank 'The Academy" (Sydney Academy) for selecting about 5 of these so I can cross them off the list ASAP, and my parents for never denying me a book.

I think some of you should join me on this mission.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Starting to see the light...

We went for a mortgage approval yesterday. What a sobering experience that is.
1. We realized how much scary rope they're willing to give us to hang ourselves with and how broke and bored we'd be for a very long time if we spent it all.
2. We realized how little rope it is compared to how expensive what we thought we wanted.

3. We wonder how on earth everyone else is managing without a trust fund and alot of anti-anxiety medication.

We take alot of heat for not owning a house. We aren't cheap, we've been focused really heavily on getting out of debt and saving for a kickass future. We've kept our nose to the grindstone when it would have been way more fun to go nuts and spend like drunken sailors. But now we're seeing the light and the excitement is building.


Dig if you will the picture, a modest little bungalow in the city. PLUS a kickass cottage on a lake in Quebec - like this actual cottage on an actual lake in Quebec that's actually 40 minutes from our house, where we can go on the weekends and invite friends and family to enjoy with us. Doesn't it look nice? Makes you want to come hang out with us White Ramshead Place, yeah? I want both the house and cottage to be comfortable and inviting. I want kids to raise kids who get to play with frogs and lightening bugs and whine about being bored on the weekends instead of just being driven to and from organized activities. Oh, and a dog and Prius Touring too, and more trips to visit family and friends, and Andrew would like a canoe, doorways he doesn't hit his head on, and a trailer to pull behind his truck. Please and thank you. Can you my darling, can you picture this?

How can you just leave me standing, alone, in a bunga-low, so cold....I want to be able to cut back and work a 4 day work week by the time I'm 45 or 50 so I can enjoy all of this stuff. When I 'retire', I want to open a bed and breakfast and get paid to dazzle guests with my home baking, good decorating and 500 thread count sheets and and make a sign for the kitchen that says 'He's 6'9' so Andrew doesn't have new people asking him the same damn question every day. Maybe I'm just too demanding...

Dream if you can a front yard....
Phase I of the plan is to find the modest sturdy bungalow that I can work my magic on, with a decent backyard, a garage for Andrew's car and a basement he can stand up in.
Oh, and one little tiny thing - I have to convince Andrew that's its a good idea and get him to pay for half. A flash of the big green kitty cat eyes and a spreadsheet might do it.

Stay tuned. I can find anything, anywhere, anytime - on sale. Just watch me go.
Why don't we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like - when ya loves, bye'.





Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Weight loss update.

Oh, its like watching paint dry or grass grow. I've lost 8lbs in 6 weeks. Nothing to brag about but nothing to sneeze at either. I've been getting lazy about tracking on ww online and the amount of easter candy floating around is just brutal.

I've upped my activity to include going to the gym and I have a little support network of people at work who come and drag me there if I'm feeling lazy - my little size 0 boss who is small but very persuasive and probably motivated to reduce my sick days due to back problems, my friend Adrienne who just likes the company and now another work friend who is a runner and has benevolently invited me along with her even though I am way sllllloooooowwwww.

I'm up to 3km on my own, 2x a week. The guy who works at the gym has stopped hovering around waiting for me to have a heart attack, so I must look like I'm stuggling less. Here's my 10 week training plan. The 2/2/2 stuff means 2 kms, 3 times that week.

Week 1 : 2/ 2/ 2
Week 2: 2/ 2/ 4
Week 3: 2/ 2/ 5
Week 4: 4/ 4/ 7 (this week is gonna suck!)
Week 5: 5/ 5/ 8
Week 6: 2/ 2/ 6
Week 7: 5/ 5/ 10
Week 8: 5/ 5/ 10
Week 9: 2/ 2/ 5
Race week: 2 /2/ 2/ 10!

Saturday, March 3, 2007

The Twins.


These are the fantabulous boots I got in Toronto last weekend. They are so hot that the guy at the shoe place (I had them stretched because I'm too delicate to break them in myself) was excited about them. Little chinese guy. He said:

Oh, Hewwo! Nice to see you. All day I see bwack shoe, bwack shoe, bwack shoe. Get sick of bwack shoe. Werry happy to see beautiful boots. Werry Nice. Wovely embroider. Good weafver too, no clappy vinyl. Try on, wet's see.
For the record, for anyone with big wide flippers like me, shoe stretching is the way to go. I brought two pair in, both were uncomfortably tight and now they are both like slippers. $6 dollar.

Friday, March 2, 2007

Bridal trailblazer...

Exhibit 1: This month's "Today's Bride" - with a lovely strapless gown and taupe silk sash.

<-Exhibit 2: Last year's wedding photo of me wearing my own design - white dress / raw silk taupe sash. Ha ha. I'm so ahead of the game it kills me. Clearly, the TB. people saw my photos and scrambled to copy me faster than Nicole Kidman at the Oscars.

I should be getting a cheque or something for that.

I have to admit that I like the way she's accessorized. (but she looks crabby)

Thursday, March 1, 2007

What goes around comes around...

I'm going to a wedding shower this weekend. Last week I missed a baby shower but I sent a nice gift.

Now that I've had a few major events / experiences under my belt I'm finding myself exponentially more empathetic, sympathetic, enthusiastic etc about other people's crap too.

For a long time I didn't feel like I could relate to alot of what people were saying or doing. On the outside with my nose pressed up against the glass. I didn't know what it was like to plan a wedding, or have a sick parent or sick kid or sick dog or close a deal on a house or comprimise with a partner. Now I can see that alot coming down the pipe for us, and now I NEED that information, and I want to talk about it - incessantly. I feel like a schmuck for not being more excited for other people when this was going on for them. Please forgive me, some of it was thinly veiled jealousy, some of it was plain old lack of experience and maturity.

I've learned a lesson in the last couple of years - you never know who is going to have useful information for you later on, so you better be nice to everyone. Maybe its retro-actively appreciating the friend who stayed home with her kids and turned out well behaved, beautiful children. Or not waiting until you need your passport signed to acknowledging the sacrifice made by the one who missed the party nights out because they were working on an MBA or CA or EMT or P.Eng, or saving up for something big. Savoring all the little parts of someone's invitation. Making a big deal out of someone's jewellry, or skill or recommendation. Sending a little card or remembering a birthday. Geography means nothing.

Everyone has a purpose, sometimes its not always obvious who be the person by your side in a special moment. Likewise, you never know who you will influence with your behaviour. Someone might meet you and want to be just like you, or nothing like you. Your reaction to them could shape a little part of how they feel about themselves, good or bad.

TMOTS = Be nice to each other.