affirmation

I'mquittingI'mquittingI'mquitting.

yesiamyesiamyesiam.

Back? Maybe?

I have no excuse for why I haven't been posting, except for the fact that - once I stepped away, I found it easy to stay away. Almost too easy.

What do you say after an absence of almost four months? Life hasn't changed that much. I'm still working full-time, hating the politics immensely (like, if you call in sick, you risk forfeiting all your hours for the next couple of weeks because they don't think you're reliable. Needless to say, my boss is a capital J-erk).

I'm still going to school part-time, this semester I'm taking Civil Procedures I. I didn't do so well on the midterm (64%) and I'm waiting for my mark on my Statement of Claim (which is the originating document in the process of suing someone). I have to start working on my OSAP appeal very soon if I want to re-join the program as a full-time day student. To that effect, it sure would be helpful if the program coordinator responded to my e-mails! I hate administration people.

I guess the most radical change is that I'm enrolled in this weight management program at the local hospital. I get to eat nothing but 900 calories a day in the form of shakes (plus water/diet soda, etc) for three months and then slowly transition off. Along with that lovely diet I have weekly meetings for 26 weeks during this process, in order to re-learn how to deal with food and eat healthier. I start product on April 1st, and I'm thinking work is going to be hideously difficult. You lose up to 20% of your body weight in those three months.

I don't know if I'll go back to posting regularly yet. We'll see.

2008 - Survey Style

JANUARY
1. Who kissed you on New Years? I spent it with my family at an Ashram; we exchanged cheek kisses and hugs.
2. Did you have a New Year's Resolution this year? Nope. Never do.
3. Does it snow where you live? Yeah, tons. And last year we came within 40 cm of the record set in 1970/71 with a total of 414 cm. (the city spent 18.5 MILLION on snow removal alone)

4. Do you like hot chocolate? Yep, sure do! Especially candy-cane hot chocolate from Timmies!
5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? Not in person.

FEBRUARY
1. Who was your Valentine? Tarzan ;-) and Shawn.
2. When you were little did you buy Valentine's for the whole class? Of course. I honestly think they should ban that in grades five and up.
3. Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? I can never remember which one means a long or short winter.
4. What did you receive for valentine's day? From Keith, I got the pleasure of his company; Shawn I received a keychain fairy pendant, celtic weave ring and a diamond necklace.

MARCH
1. Are you Irish? My mom's side of the family is and its the culture I most identify with.
2. Do you like corned beef and cabbage? Corned beef, sure; cabbage, not so much.
3 What did you do for St Patrick's Day? I can't remember. I never really celebrate it.
4. Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? What do you mean, pretty much? We got 116.0 cm (3.8ft) of snow in that month alone!

APRIL
1. Do you like the rain? Yeah, most of the time, because before it rains it 'builds up' for a few days and it gets pretty unbearable.
2. Did you play an April fool's joke on anyone this year? Yep, my mother. I told her Keith and I were engaged. HA!
3. Do you get tons of candy for Easter? No, but I seem to remember a big jar of jellybellys!
4. Did you celebrate 4/20? Um. That would be a negative.

MAY
1. What is your favorite flower? Yellow roses and lilacs, but I like almost all types of flowers!
2. Do you celebrate May 16th? What the hell happens on May 16th?!
3. Is May anything special to you? It's the month my life kinda took a hard speedbump this year, so yes (but not really in a good way).


JUNE
1. What year did/will you graduate from high school? I passed my GED in 2006.
2. Did you do anything fun during this month? Not really. I was still dealing with the fallout from the school situation.
3. Have a favorite baseball team? I hate watching baseball; thats definitely a sport you play.


JULY
1. What did you do on the 1st of July? Moved in with Keith!!!
2. Did you go to the fireworks? No, unfortunately, not this year. I made Keith promise next year for sure.
3. Did you blast the A/C all day? I'm fairly certain the AC's went up in June and were never turned off until October.
4. Did you go on vacation? In July? No.

AUGUST
1. What was your favorite summer memory of '08? I think moving in with Keith takes that honour, even if it didn't happen in August.
2. Did you have a sunburn? Of course, I'm the fairest person alive.

3. Did you go to the pool a lot? Not once, and we have one in our apartment complex.

SEPTEMBER
1. Are you attending school? Yes, part-time this year.
2. Do you like fall better than summer? YES!!!
3. What happened this month? I got a job after three months of unemployment, I got back on track with my schooling, all that good stuff.


OCTOBER
1. What was your last Halloween costume? I think I was a Russian princess. Grade 7 (1999) was the last year I dressed up.
2 What is your favorite candy? Jellybellys, Gummies, stuff llike that.
3 What was your favorite thing(s)? Mmm, Keith. Yes. He counts.


NOVEMBER
1. Whose house do you go to for Thanksgiving? Umm Thanksgiving is in October, thank you very much. We went to mine.
2. What are you thankful for? Keith's unwavering support and the general feeling that, while it might be tough goings right now, at least we're both doing it together.
3. Do you love stuffing? LOVE IT!! Especially my MIL's. So good.


DECEMBER
1. Do you celebrate Christmas? I can take it or leave it, but this year I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it. (First "real" Christmas with Keith and his family).
2. Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe? Not when it actually meant something!
3. What do you want this year? Peace, love and chicken gravy.
4. What do you love most about December? Um. When I'm inside. Also, candy-cane hot chocolate from Timmies!

channeling my inner monica

"So, sweetie, I re-organized the mail basket. See? That's all the stuff I threw out. And this is how it goes from now on - on the top there's delivery menus, then bills which are in the order that we're paying them, with the amount circled in red (they might be in ascending order of amount, but that was unintentional). And then there's that secured credit card letter thing I got, then all my OW stuff in order by month, then it's all your tax return reports for the last three years, your last school transcript, and some random letters that are important. AND ON THE SIDE, there's a package of your new cheques, then my paystubs, your paystubs, and then my old paystubs from Vangent plus my record of employment."

This is what the boy was bombarded with six seconds after walking in the door from work.

Oh yeah.

He puts up with alot sometimes.

snippet

Occasionally Keith likes to remark jokingly "I'd sleep with her again" when it comes to celebrities he finds attractive.

Tonight, after hearing the remark three times in about as many minutes, I remarked -
"Sweetie, if you don't stop saying that, I might not sleep with you again."

I'm happy to report he hasn't said it since.

home stretch.

So I ended up with an A in my course. I don't know what I got on my final exam, but I emailed the prof and hopefully he'll tell me.

After doing some thinking, I realized I probably won't be working Christmas Eve as work closes super early that day. So I just have to get through the next five shifts and then I'm off for three days.

I did most of my Christmas shopping yesterday - it was my only day off this week so I thought I would get a move on with it. I still need to get one gift for Keith and one gift for the dog, but it's going to have to wait until payday (Christmas Eve). We still need to get a gift for Keiths Mom, as well as their 'big gift' - we were thinking a set of Corelle dishes.

I think what I want the most for Christmas is a clean house, though, so time to get cracking on that. See ya!

Gabbery

Look! My blog is snowing! Isn't it cute?

Work yesterday was unreal. I switched my shift from 8-close to 11-4 with another co-worker, and at 2pm they asked me to stay until 8 anyways. I worked front cash from 11 to 2, back cash from 2-4 and then sandwiches until I left.
It was so nice to get home at 8pm, be able to have dinner and hang out for a bit over at the In-Laws and then chill out and shower at home and be all snuggled into bed and asleep by 11.

Grades come out on Thursday. Hopefully I can maintain my A but I'll be happy with a B or B+.

I still have all my Christmas shopping to do, but at least I know what I'm getting for Keith and the animals, and I don't really have to think about his parents because its from both of us (plus the way we divvied up buying gifts; he takes care of his parents, I take care of the animals).
Our next paycheque actually falls on Boxing Day, so instead they're giving us a cheque on the 23rd and we can cash it the 24th.

Guess who's going to be in Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve (which I will probably work until 11pm) at one in the morning, buying gifts? ;-)

Hm, that got interesting

• New layout! pretty! bright! LOVE. IT! (do you?)
• So I didn't end up taking the shift yesterday and I called in sick to work today, because at 2am or so I was sick to my stomach. Yeeah. Haven't done that in years.
• I think I'm done with eating Greek salads for awhile.
• Interesting side note: I've had a really bad string of luck lately with keeping my tongue studs (and balls) actually in my tongue. I think I've swallowed 3 (just the metal, I'm not even counting the balls) or so in the last week and a half. Last night one of the studs decided to make a re-appearance from my esophagus and stomach linings. Yeaah. Gross.
• Needless to say, that tongue stud is now somewhere in our sewage system. (But at least it's out of my body, right? RIGHT?)
• I heard of a great deal on World Junior Hockey tickets through my cousin (who's looking to sell his tickets due to dental surgery right after Christmas) on facebook today. All seventeen games (including medal rounds), two tickets to each game, for pretty decent seats. Still way too expensive for us to afford on our own, but I have a plan. Well, the beginnings of one. Maybe.
• Even though I'm seriously.miffed (seriously) that my boy Murphy wasn't invited to try-out. Damnit, people, he's leading all three leagues (OHL, Quebec, Western) with a unbelievable save percentange of .944% and is tied for second (again, IN ALL THREE LEAGUES) with his goals against average (1.96%) .

And the season is just BARELY halfway over.

• He's also the reining OHL goaltender of the year for last season, was was just named OHL Goaltender of the month for November AS WELL as being named Top CHL Goaltender of the Week for the week ending November 2nd.
• This might be his last year in the OHL (he's 19 and was drafted to Carolina Hurricanes last year) and he's never played at the World Juniors before. Maybe I'm a bit biased (he makes it so easy), but it just seems a bit of a puzzler as to why he wasn't picked.
• Did I say "a bit of a puzzler"?
• I meant to say the decision "generally dumbfounded everybody of who's-who in OHL circles".
• Including (even though I don't belong to the elite 'who's-who' group) this girl-with-a-huge-crush big fan.

Huh. Sorry. That was... interesting. Didn't mean to go off on that tangent (and if you made it through all that, I'm impressed. Give yourself five stars), but SERIOUSLY. It's been bugging me all week that he didn't even get named to the camp for try-outs.

Okay. Enough of that already.

• ooh, look, SHINY SPARKLY GLITTERY THINGS!! OVER THERE!
• Yeah. This post is officially dead.

Update

Whew. My class is officially done. As of right now, with 30% of my mark missing, I have an 86.6%. I'm just waiting on the results from my exam that I finished about an hour ago.

Work called and wants me to work 5-close tomorrow, on my day off. Haven't decided whether or not to take it but I probably will IF they put me somewhere other than back cash. Because back cash makes me think longingly of strangling someone - anyone.
On the flip side, I LIKE my day(s) off and I LIKE seeing Keith play hockey and I LIKE spending more than fifteen minutes a day with him. Besides all that, my shift on Saturday is 8am-2pm, so that would mean I close on Friday (11:30) and then head back 8 hours later? Um. For an extra 50$ on my next cheque? Big. Fucking. Woop.

There's nothing else going on really. Oh, except that the entire transit system is on strike and EVERYBODY has an opinion about it. The streets look weird without the big red and white buses and traffic is horrendous - it took me an hour to go cross-town today when it usually takes half that - and businesses are already reporting a 40% drop in holiday sales over the last two days (the length of the strike so far).

There. Now there's nothing else going on.

Bah Humbug.

From Kelly. (I admit, I'm sort of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas. I just. don't. get. it, nor do I even really like it.)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Neither. There's absolutely no point in us putting up a tree as Molly/Elvis would have it knocked down in about six seconds flat, and as well, we're spending Christmas over at the In-Laws, so yeah, no point. Eventually I would like a real tree though.
3. When do you put up the tree? Again, don't even own a tree.
4. When do you take the tree down? It stays down 365 days of the year.
5. Do you like eggnog? Ew. Gross. No. (Eggs? Drink? Gross.)
6. Favourite gift received as a child? Mittens, our cat...I think.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Keith, because everything he wants/needs is so freakin' expensive!
8. Do you have a nativity scene? I think I do, somewhere. Don't set it up though.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither.
10. Favourite Christmas Movie? How The Grinch Stole Christmas, I think.
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Um. I haven't had to shop for gifts in about five years.
12. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Can't remember if I have.
13. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Candy?
14. Lights on the tree? Yeah, its necessary, duh.
15. Favourite Christmas song? Santa Baby by Madonna (i think??!).
16. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Up until this year I stayed home alone and celebrated with a bottle of some sort of liquor and sleeping. (One year I slept at the cubbyhole on Williams St. downtown and drank a bottle of vodka and took some pills, then fell asleep only to wake up later totally feeling the effects. I still say it was one of the better Christmasses).
17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? You've got Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen (sing it with me now) Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blizten. But do you recall, the greatest reindeer of all? Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose (like a lightbulb!).
18. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas day? When we were growing up, my Grandmother would send us pj's to wear on Christmas Day so we got to open those and one other gift on Xmas Eve. Don't know whats going to happen this year though.
20. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? That Christmas music starts playing 24/7 everywhere come December 1st.
21. Favourite ornament theme and colour? Lights.
22. Favourite for Christmas dinner? As long as there's stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy it's all good. You can keep your disgusting dry turkey.
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? A decent sized gift card from Chapters, my G2 test, pack/carton of name brand cigarettes, SLIPPERS (so tired of my feet being ice-blocks), and then Boston Legal, Friends, Gilmore Girls seasons on DVD.
24. Who is most likely to respond to this? No-one.
25. Who is least likely to respond to this? No-one.

There's no blood here.

I went to the doctors today to get some blood drawn - 6 vials of it. It was a fasting glucose test, among other things.

But it didn't really go as planned - she started fine, got a vial and a half of blood - and then .... my vein seized. Have you ever had this happen to you? It's so freaky! The needle is in but absolutely no blood is coming out. She rooted around for a bit - not gonna lie, that hurt, but nada, zip, nothing.

She gave me the option of trying the other arm or else my wrist/hand. After looking for a suitable vein for ten minutes, she finally conceeded defeat for the day. Told me to come back whenever I wanted and this time to be sure to drink lots of water just before the draw. So I have to go back early next week, fast again for 12 hours, and put up with having six vials of blood taken. Again. Grrr.

Anyway, in other news, every American should watch this. It's pretty neat:

I love this I love this I love this.

I also (bragging coming up) love the fact that I live in Canada, and that we legally support love, not gender. Ahh.

Weekend Trip (part I)

I'm sick. So I'm hopped up on lots of Sudafed, OJ and Halls, with Neocitran at night to help me sleep. I worked a short shift yesterday and I'm not sure if I can handle a full one tonight, but I'm hesitant about calling in sick. I have to make up my mind by 1 at the latest.

Anyway. Our trip up to Guelph was unreal. We got to the Greyhound bus terminal at 9:20 (for a bus that left at 9:30) only to be told that they were totally full and were not sending another bus 'just for two people'. The next bus left at 11:30, which would get us into Guelph at 7:35 - too late for our schedule.

So...cue the In-Laws to the rescue. We went home first to take out the dogs and try to find a solution to the now-useless non-refundable 100$ greyhound tickets (solution: travel vouchers worth the price of the tickets and valid up to one year, subject to us sending in the actual tickets).

You know what they did? They actually drove us to Oshawa, four hours away. I couldn't (still can't) believe they did that for us. We then took the GO-train from Oshawa-Toronto and then Toronto-Georgetown, where we waited half an hour and then transferred to a bus to Guelph. I was so worried about Peggy; we were supposed to meet for dinner at 5:15 at the latest and since our first two trains were only 4 minutes apart we had absolutely no time to call her (neither of us have cellphones). Once we got to Georgetown we called her house and left a message to meet us at the hotel and we would run to the game from there.

Thankfully it was just across the street so we only missed the first minute and a half of it. Peggy got us such FANTASTIC seats - only two rows away from the glass behind the goalie. We were literally, five feet or so away from the ice surface!! You can actually see us on TV when the Bulls scored in the second period, jumping out of our seats and cheering. One of the surprises I planned for Keith happened in the beginning of the third period- I submitted his name to be read out as a birthday announcement. (heehee).

After the game (which was AWESOME - the Bulls won with 13.9 seconds left in overtime) we went to dinner with Peggy and my second surprise was revealed; with help from Peggy I arranged for a Dairy Queen ice cream cake with the Bulls logo on it. They did a fantastic job!

It was getting pretty late at that point - 12:30 or so - and all of us were going on very little sleep from the night before, so we just said goodnight and goodbye. Peggy went home and Keith and I went back to the hotel and collapsed into bed.

Despite the stress of actually getting there, it was a fantastic day and I was so happy to see Peggy and spend some time with her. And it didn't hurt that the Bulls won (in SUCH a fantastic way) either!

NaBloPoMo: #30

I'm exhausted. I just finished travelling for five hours and then working a full shift and I come home and the fucking dog tore the entire living room apart, so of course it's up to me to clean it up and I'm so sick and tired of it always being me that has to that I feel like just having a self-indulgent pity-me cryfest right now.

NaBloPoMo: #29

I don't have time to go into detail about our trip up to Guelph, but I will (soon).

Now I have to go jump in the shower - we're going out for dinner and a movie, I think.

NaBloPoMo: #28

I dyed my hair tonight. Wanna see??!

I love it. I think I'll stick with this haircolour for awhile.

(please ignore my unusually fat lower lip. I'm developing two very nasty zits right there. (who gets zits right around their lip?!!! and they hurt. alot. ow.))

NaBloPoMo: #27

I'm SO incredibly pumped and excited and HAPPPPPY!!! right now.

I got the results back from my 2nd midterm for my course and I got (get ready for it):

99/100.

Yep, you read that right. 99%!! WOW!

I think that deserves a cookie.

Definitely.

NaBloPoMo: #26

Yay! Living room, kitchen, foyer and bathroom done! All that's left is a general tidy up (dishes, another vacuum, load of laundry, etc) and the bedroom. I need to be done by tomorrow afternoon/night so we're all ready to go on Friday. And I just need to get through tonights shift and tomorrows class, and we're really ready to go.

And SCORE! The In-Laws finally said they'd look after Molly the entire weekend and therefore she doesn't have to go to the doggy-jail. Woop!! I hate putting her in the kennel. HATE. IT.

And now, some entertainment, courtesy of Kamie.

1. Where did you meet? We met at Wendy's where we both worked.
2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met? Oooh, new guy!
3. Do you remember what he/she was wearing? hahahaha. A sexy (not really) Wendy's uniform.
4. Where was the first time you kissed this person? Four years later on his couch.
5. Where did you go for your first date? We didn't really 'date', persay. We would just go over to each others apartments and hang out for hours.
6. How long did you know this person before you became a couple? I met him four years before (in 2004), but lost touch with him until September of 2007 (he added me as a friend on Facebook.).
7. How did he/she ask you out? Not officially. We just sort of kept seeing each other until months went by.
8. Has this person ever proposed to you? Again. Not officially.
9. Do you and this person have kids together? I brought two fur-children into the relationship.
10. Have you ever broken the law with this person? Um. Yep. And that's all you need to know.
11. When was the first time you realized that you liked this person? We had good working-together chemistry as co-workers, but as for dating-wise, it was...um...can't remember!
12. Do you get along with his/her family? I love his parents. Haven't met any of his siblings (and their partners and children) yet as they all live on the other side of the country. I probably won't meet them until the wedding.
13. Do you trust this person? Implicitly.
14. Do you see her/him as your partner in your future? Yeah.
15. What is the best gift she/he gave you? He tells me I'm beautiful/hot/desirable/pretty every single day (sometimes more than once!).
16. What is one thing He/She does that gets on your nerves? Leaves the cupboard doors open. Arrrrgh! Oh. And he leaves the dishrag/scrubby brush IN the wash water when doing dishes. That's just icky.
17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now? Hopefully in professional careers, maybe raising a kid or two (or three), with two dogs and a 3-4 bedroom house with a big backyard.
18. What causes the most arguments? The dog, the (lack of) housework that gets done.
19. How long have you been together? 14 months last week!
20. Are you Married? Not yet!

NaBloPoMo : #25

What a busy day. Of course I pick the day of the first snowstorm of the season to do all my errands.

Got my career testing back; my top 10 occupations are
1: Paralegal
2: Librarian
3: Business Education Teacher
4: Banker
5: Credit Manager
6: Translator
7: Public Administrator
8: Administrative Assistant
9: Reporter
10: Social Science Teacher.

It's about what I expected.

My testing for the Revenue Canada job was awful in the fact that it took 4.5 hours to do about 45 minutes of questions. The government at its finest, ladies and gentlemen!

Now I'm home, a bit hungry and all I wanna do is crawl into bed and snuggle. I think I'll be off to do that shortly!

NaBloPoMo: #24

So far the plans for the weekend-getaway are coming along nicely; the hotel in Guelph is reserved, the kennel booked for Molly, our bus tickets up there are paid for. And we discovered its about half the price to take the GO bus from Guelph-Toronto than it is to take the Greyhound. Score!

We've decided to leave on the Saturday and go to Toronto for the day. We'll leave from there (early) on Sunday in order to get back for my shift at 4. It should be fun!

Now if I can get this house clean and a load of laundry done by Thursday night, it'll be perfect.

NaBloPoMo: #23

I really have nothing to say (qu'elle surprise!) but I have to make a post a day, so...

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
bippity-boppity-boo

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It'll do magic believe it or not
bippity-boppity-boo

Salagadoola means mechicka booleroo
But the thingmabob that does the job is
bippity-boppity-boo

Salagadoola menchicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
bippity-boppity bippity-boppity bippity-boppity-boo!!!

PS: I smell like burgers. Yum.

PPS: Just realized its been 1 year exactly since Tammy left us so suddenly. RIP little one.