3:45am, and this is what I occupy myself with....

In between randomly checking Facebook, Twitter, and reading Just A Titch in its entirety (thanks Laura!), I have complied my yearly list of the premiere dates of TV shows I watch; categorized by channel, of course. Behold, my addiction (and indiscriminating tastes, apparently);

Monday;
House - Sept 21, Global.
Big Bang Theory - Sept 21, CTV.

Tuesday;
Sytycd(A) - Sept 8, A Channel
Sytycd(C) - Already on, CTV.
Big Brother - Already on, Global
18 Kids & Counting - Already on, TLC

Wednesday;
Sytycd(A) - ibid
Sytycd(C) - ibid
Toddlers & Tiara's - Already on, TLC
America's Next Top Model - Sept 9th, CTV
Glee - Sept 9th, Global **new**
CSI: NY - Sept 23, CTV
Criminal Minds - Sept 23, CTV

Thursday;
Grey's Anatomy - Sept 24, CTV
90210 - Sept 10, Global
Big Brother - Already on, Global

Friday;
Flashpoint - Sept 25, CTV.

Sat/Sun;
Project Runway 6 - (Sat) Sept 12, Slice
Degrassi - (Sun) Oct 7, CTV
Desperate Housewives (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Amazing Race (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Cold Case (Sun) - Sept 27, CTV
Big Brother (Sun) - Already on, Global

Upon reflection, this list is CRAZY. (Aside; does anyone remember when Thursdays were the 'big night' for TV? Now it looks like Wednesday is the night to have your ass parked on the couch. What's up with that?)

And it should come as no suprise to hear that I am incredibly in love with my PVR. No, seriously. If marriage to an inanimate object was legal, I think I'd be entered into holy matrimony already. Sigh.

So now that I've shared - what are you looking forward to this fall?

Bullets

• In-law's had to put down their dog this week. Kayla (a golden retriever/samoyed) was at least fifteen years old and had been steadily declining all summer; at the end she only weighed 13 pounds and had to be carried into the vet's office on a stretcher.
• It's hitting me harder than I thought it would.
• I think I found the place we're going to get married. Still fits our criteria - actually in the city (none of this country-bumpkin-just-outside-the-city-rustic shit) and beautiful grounds, yet more in-line with our budget. I go by it every time I go to & from work, and today they had the doors open and I saw a bride and realized they did weddings! Eff ya!
• Besides, it's right next to a Tim Horton's. How can you go wrong with that?
• I need school to start RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. Please and thank you. Let's just get this year going already!
• Speaking of that, my Landlord & Tenant prof posted our first 'assignment' - a web-based scavenger hunt due Sept 11.
• I'm already finished it.
• Does anyone want to lend/give me fifteen grand so I can actually get married when I originally planned to?
• No?
• Well, then, I guess I'm back to being depressed.
• Gah.

Needless to say, Keith isn't on board with this idea...

I'm in such an incredibly bad mood tonight, and I have absolutely no idea why. But the day didn't start well with me waking up at 5:30 (after going to bed at 1:45) from a nightmare, and then waking up again around 11 crying from a really mean, nasty dream.

Ugh.

Anyway. Remember when I wrote all these crazy, fanciful visions and dreams about how I wanted my wedding to be like?

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Bwahahahahahahahahaha. ha. ha. ha. HA.

Ahem.

Excuse me.

Yeah. Now that I'm looking to do a B.A.(hon) next fall (Honours because that allows you to do a Graduate degree afterwards, and I'm not about to close doors over a few measly extra credits) - anyway, now that I'm adding potentially another 3 or 4 years to the being-so-broke-it-hurts style of living, well, um. Let's just say the wedding won't be until, what? fifteen years? after the world was supposed to end?

And this depresses me. Immensely.

Right now, this is how I want to get married;
Marriage License; 145$
Rings; 2,500$ (we both want custom-designed pieces with bling)
Nice dinner out; 120$

And in a few years, when we can actually afford a big party, we'll throw one. Big effing woop.

Replay perfection

The last time my laptop crashed, I decided not to install any music downloading software. This was a pretty painful decision, since I used to listen to music constantly, but it seems to have helped with keeping my laptop going (that, and a fan I bought to put underneath). So I've been relying on youtube whenever I get the itch to listen to music; I find a song and usually play it on repeat for about an hour (it drives Keith CRAZY). But this song sums up my attitude these days perfectly; it started playing and I spontaneously started singing along to it.



Go on, have a listen - I dare you not to sing along too!

(Not-So) Wordless Wednesday

• Found out via Facebook that Tim Wojna's killer was found guilty. Relieved doesn't even begin to cover the array of emotions I'm feeling right now. Mostly, I just miss him.
• I beat my weight-loss goal this week by a pound. Total loss over five months? 35 pounds. Go me!
• Just went to put my laundry in. Kay, in our laundrymat, we have two double load front-loaders, and the rest are just regular old washers. Both were clearly showing they had two dollars owing to them to make them work - so I start loading one up. Naturally. And then this old lady with an incredibly thick accent comes over and quite loudly says "I PUT MONEY IN THAT, THAT'S MINE!" No, no you didn't, lady, it says - 2.00$. If you put money in it, it wouldn't say that. Asshat.
• My mother arrives this afternoon. Hilariousness will ensure, I am sure. /sarcasm.
• The elevator smells like hot garbage.
• I'm effing hungry. And lazy. Someone come make me lunch. Or buy. I'm not picky.
• Sigh.

Rewards

For the past eight weeks, I've been a standstill, weight-wise. I'd lose up to 2.5 pounds just to gain it all back the following week. Lose, gain. Lose, gain. Part of that was going back onto food, and owing the gym 226$ (since fixed and now going semi-regularly), but now it's mostly just fustration and lack of motivation from the lack of success. I realize I need some concrete goals tied to when I hit specific amounts of weight, so I've been thinking -

On Tuesday, if I lose what I gained last week, plus another half pound (2.5 to be exact), I get new headphones for my mp3 player.

When I reach 270, I'll treat myself to a mani/pedi.

Reach 240, and I will get my hair professionally cut, dyed/highlighted, blown-out, etc. etc.

Reach 200/180, and I will treat myself to Lululemon pants. I'm kinda drooling right now thinking about them, to be honest! (The reason for 200/180 is that I'm not sure I'll actually FIT into Lululemon pants at 200, so we'll see.)

Reach 150 and I will get my make-up professionally done and learn how to take care of my skin and do my makeup properly. Also will invest in some quality makeup/skin care stuff, as well as contact lenses.

And when I reach my goal weight, which is around 140 to 135, OR if I maintain 150 successfully and happily for 6 months, then I'll buy myself a violin. And lessons for 6 to 12 months, depending on cost. (I have no idea what my 'ideal' weight is because I've been heavy for so fricking long; it might be 150, it might be 135, or it might be anywhere in between - I won't know until I get there, really. )

I'm also giving myself around 14-15 months to complete this, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not 135 by that time. As long as I'm working towards the end goal, if October 2010 rolls around and I'm higher than that, I won't really give a shit. The main reason for that is I want to be as close to my "ideal/goal" weight as possible when it's time to go dress shopping (and I don't think I need to get into all the reasons for that line of thinking, I'm pretty sure you can figure it out), but pffft. Dress shopping can be pushed back a month or two (or six).

I like that pretty much all these rewards have something to do with making myself look better. I haven't liked how I've looked for a really long time now and I think by celebrating my new self by improving other cosmetic aspects (hair, nails, pants that make your ass look delectable) is such a great thing to do. And, as I move from student into young professional, probably necessary as well. The violin thing is because I've wanted one for a long time and I miss playing so much that I think it should be my end goal.

So what do you think? If you're on the weight-loss train, what goals have you set for yourself that work? Have you achieved any of them?

Why do these things exist? WHY?

Cleaning out the second bedroom has yielded some treasures, let me tell you.

Treasures like this book;

Why! That sounds promising, let's just open it up and take a gander, shall we?

Cripes! First off, who's bright idea was it to stick random roses on that girls dress? Did they think it would make it look better??! And secondly, ANYONE who makes someone wear something that hideous to be a part of their wedding party SHOULD BE SHOT. No questions asked. Seriously. That is the mother of all butt-bows, that is. Yuech.

And then there's this gem:

Seriously, Keith? SERIOUSLY? I can't believe you spent money on this. And if you got it for free, I'd re-think your friendship with them. Whoever gave it to you needs their lobotomy reversed.

But the best one is a board game (and I use that term very, very, very loosely here) called French Kiss. Check what's written on the back:

Be prepared for the sexual act? Your sexuality will be in extasy? What.The.Hell?? First off, ecstasy is spelled wrong, and um, be prepared for the sexual act??? I'm surprised the game didn't come with a sheath of condoms.

And then you open the baby up, and WOW, IT'S MICHAEL JACKSON! Nice celebrity endorsement there, although anything endorsed by him should have normal people running for the hills, in my opinion. And he's next to an .... ostrich?! Wha? What do ostriches have to with ANY part of the "sexual act"? Unless you're into that sort of thing, and in that case I think you should be looking in the yellow pages for a licensed therapist, not playing an "erotic" boardgame. Just sayin'.

And I don't know about you guys, but a random coloured strip of practically naked baby cherubs dancing around does NOT do it for me. What a horribly inappropriate thing to have on something like this!! WHAT CRACK ARE THESE GAME DESIGNERS SMOKING???

Needless to say, all the items mentioned above WILL be donated to poor unlucky Value Village sometime in the near future. Even if Keith wants to keep them. There is absolutely no effing way I am having them in the house. NO EFFING WAY.

In which I talk about an issue you're supposed to pretend doesn't exist -

Money.

Ugh. Even the word is making me cringe. We're in that awful last month, where my student loans are so tantalizingly close to being disbursed and all the money from the last student loan is gone. The part-time job I got three weeks ago is a huge help in keeping us afloat right now but we're still definitely feeling the squeeze.

Case in point; within the next two pays, we have to find the money to pay for Keith's part-time course for the fall semester. These courses aren't cheap! Five hundred and some change a pop. Geesh. However, it's a super necessary expense, absolutely non-negotiable. Five hundred has to be found, and paid, and that's it.

Ideally it would be the next pay, but the next pay is technically rent. You know how they say your housing costs should not be more than 30% of your net income? Yeah. Right. Excuse me while I laugh. We don't live outside our means; we just don't make enough. I go to school full-time and work part-time, Keith works full-time and goes to school part-time. There's not much else we can do. (And I am, in NO way, saying we live in a fancy place. We don't. We actually live surrounded by a pretty bad area of town; our "pocket" is nice, but that's it. Renting in Ottawa is INCREDIBLY expensive.)

Add to the mix that paydays are wonky for the next little bit - as in, next payday is August 21st. Rent? Due Sept 1st. Payday after that? You guessed it. The fourth. Sigh. OF COURSE. And the fact that we're in a loop for payday loans right now adds to the stress.

On the 21st, we will not be paying rent. We will write a self-cheque for the amount on the 30th, put it in the bank account, and keep writing cheques until the payday on the 4th. On the 21st, we will be paying back the payday loan, the gym cheque, Keith's course, some groceries, and gas money for Keith's parents. That's all we can afford right now. The Rogers bill will go unpaid, as much as I hate doing that. Oh well. There's really nothing you can do if you don't have the money.

We can't afford to even go to the movies, or dinner out, because if we do, then we're scrambling for money for the next three pays. Yes, we go on "vacations" and trips home (and in all honesty, I've been home twice with Keith, 2 weekend-trips, and one week-long one. In a year and a half), but those are carefully planned, budgeted excursions. I think you'd all agree everyone deserves a little R&R. So please, no judgment.

It absolutely SUCKS living like this. I won't lie; the big draw to me to start working in a professional career when I graduate as opposed to going to University for another 3 years is the money. I'm so tired of struggling. I dream of the day we can pay bills and rent with ease. I dream of the day we can look at our bank accounts and have money left over for saving. I dream of the day we don't have to resort to a payday loan, cheques don't bounce, and we don't have to resort to writing ourselves cheques to cover rent.

Sigh. It'll get better; it has to. Some day.

Frozen boobies will occur

The past few days I've been feeling the cleaning bug and getting a few apartment projects that I've been wanting/needing to do since I first moved in. A year ago.

I finally got tired of waiting around for Keith to feel it too and decided I would think of myself as "single" in order to get these projects done. As in, if I lived alone, these would be done already, so stop waiting on the other half to help. That sounded a lot worse than I intended it to, but sometimes that mentality helps. It sure does in this case.

Basically there are three things that need to get done; cleaning out the hall closet, cleaning and re-organizing what we affectionately call "The second bedroom", and putting the damn shelves up.

I cleaned out the hall closet yesterday and donated a whole black garbage bag of jackets, mitts/scarves/toques and other assorted items that were left over from K's ex. I was expecting it to be a whole lot worse than it was; it turned out to be a quick hour (or two) job. I don't even know why I waited a full year to even look at it. And now it's all organized and cleaned and PRETTY.

The second bedroom is a bit more of a challenge; its probably going to take me two or three days to get it done - really it's an onsite storage closet that has served as a catch-all for EVERYTHING over the years. There's a small freezer in there as well as a couple of deep wall shelves and two shelving units with doors with floor space left over, but we have so much on the floor that you can't really use any of the storage stuff. The shelving units used to be used as extra pantry space, but honestly? There's candy in there thats 4 years old. (Aside: Does anyone know if canned spaghetti sauce goes bad? Gatorade?) The freezer runs off the lightswitch; guess who turned out the lightswitch for months unknowingly? Yeah. NOT looking forward to opening that baby up and seeing the damage.

And then there's just STUFF. STUFF that's piled to the ceiling and Keith hasn't used in years and just really needs to be thrown out/donated. Am expecting some resistance to this, because Keith, as it turns out, is a fucking pack-rat. Doesn't want to throw out ANYTHING. Even if he hasn't used in the 2 years I've known him, and I can't see a situation where he would, ever, HE WILL NOT PART WITH IT. Which explains why I'm facing this predicament right now, doesn't it?

The shelves. Ah, the shelves. The f%&@king shelves. A YEAR AGO, I said, let's take them down. A YEAR AGO, I said, lets spray paint them red. And then winter happened. And I said, let's do a second coat. IN MAY.
They are now sitting in my living room, have been since JUNE, and they are mocking me in all their reddish glory. They need to be put up, they need to be put up NOW. And then I will ignore them for the rest of existence (or until we move).

Oh, TMI, but it has to be said: Do not lean over to reach the bottom of the freezer (which, incidentally, has a giant candy cane stuck to the bottom - those don't go bad, do they?) while not wearing a shirt. Frozen boobies will occur.

Who DOES that?

Who has class at 10am every single Thursday for four months, and yet on the last Thursday of the semester (on which day they had to be the judge in a mock trial presentation) thinks class starts at noon?

WHO DOES THAT!? WHO?

Me, apparently.

My idiocy astounds me sometimes. I don't even understand where the "class starts at noon today" thought came from - as I said before, it's been ten am EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY. FOR FOUR MONTHS. And yet, suddenly, I thought today started at noon. FOR SOME UNEXPLAINABLE REASON.

This is just proof I will NEVER work in a civil law firm. I am a flake. An incredibly unreliable flake. I feel so incredibly stupid - and rightly so. I don't even really want to tell my teammates the reason I missed the presentation today, because the excuse is just that lame. Seriously. "The dog ate my homework" is a better excuse than, "I am incredibly stupid and flaky and I totally blanked on when class starts even though its been THE SAME TIME EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY FOR THE PAST FOUR MONTHS."

SERIOUSLY, WHO DOES SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

how I'm going to do this in 'real life' is a mystery

getting up at 6:30am sucks. Sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks. To make it worse, Keith gets up with me and today he is singing. Singing! WHAT THE EFFING HELL?!

It's day 9 in a row of me having to wake up at 6:30, and if you haven't guessed, YES I'M CRABBY. Grrrrr. And somehow I am incapable of going to bed before midnight. Don't know exactly how it happens, but every night despite my best intentions, midnight rolls around and I'm still awake. Such a pissoff.

I figure that if you get up and you have no e-mails waiting, ITS TOO EARLY. Way, way, WAY too early.

And it's not ending any time soon - I have class all week and then Saturday I work at 7, meaning I have to get up even earlier. AS IF THAT WERE POSSIBLE.

Last Month Crunch *squeeze*

Hey guys! Reporting to you from the trenches of "the last month crunch". Papers are flying thick around here and we're right in the middle of the action. WOW! This is intense! Now, shiny teeth and hair person, back to you in the studio. I'm Sarah XXX, CollegeNews.

Ha. All joking aside, it's been an intense week and I still have two and a half weeks to go until basically the end of the semester. I kid you not, this week I have had 5 different projects due and next week I have the same amount to slough through. Since I work better when I concentrate on one project at a time, that's a project a day to finish. And since my English credit is only 5 weeks long (well, 2 and a half by this point), she assigns something each day to be done for the next class. Pretty intensive course.

Of course, I'm crazy, so I got a part-time job last week and now I'm trying to fit in training on a day-to-day basis until I get on the schedule. Ugh.

Anyway. I had an oral presentation to do for English today and I was so nervous and stressed about it because the topic was "How I got here". (How to tell it's full of immigrants....Really? You couldn't?).
So I did it about my, um, housing challenged period. It actually went super well! The prof actually called it "profound" and wants a copy of my powerpoint slides. Nice. And a couple people came up to me after class and congratulated me on having the courage to present something like that, etc. One girl actually gave me a little piece of paper with all the comments/marks she had given me (we were peer evaluating each other) and told me I was the only one she had given 40/40 to. Nice!
She wrote: "Profound/moving! Well presented! Awesome! Awe-inspiring! Emotional with fantastic use of slides! Took a lot of courage! Educational and informative!"
(yes, she put an exclamation point after everything. It sounds! so peppy! and upbeat! OMGZZZ! Like, really!)

ANYWAY. Just thought I'd come here to brag, cuz ya know, I'm klassy like that. And now that my head is sufficiently blown up from all this ego-stroking, I shall go back to drafting a f#%king bill of costs. Yippeeeeeeee.

new project

Just a quick note to say that I've started a new project. Because clearly, I don't waste enough time in a day.

The basic gist of it is that it's a story-telling blog for the Legacy Challenge in Sims3. You create a Sim with humble beginnings, and then through 10 generations try to lead them to fame, fortune and success.

The most obvious rules:
Can't cheat (obviously)
Can't pick your traits for your Sims, other than the Founder.

Both those are hard rules for me to follow. I usually move my Sims into a house, and then give them 50k to afford the best stuff. And, I never let my Sims have "bad" traits, like Klepto or Insane. I much prefer them to have characteristics such as Brave, or Athletic, or whatever.

Also, the house thing. I've NEVER built one in all my time playing the Sims (2 & 3), nor have I ever done any kind of story-telling within game either. So those are definitely going to be challenges as well.

Anyway, if you want to check it out, it's called The Wisk Legacy.

I can't promise it'll be as good as The Broxton Legacy and it definitely won't be as good as Alice & Kev: A tale of being homeless in Sims3, but I'll try my best!

(Housekeeping note: the blog layout and style is still very much under construction. Thanks!)

Feel free to laugh, I sure am

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers. For more info, check it out here.

So this is from the very first month I started blogging - I was 15 and living at home and I had a boyfriend named Chris who lived 45 min away from me (oh, gotta love Huron-Perth county!) and holy CRAP, does that ever feel like a lifetime ago. Oh, and about the Shakespeare thing? Yeah, we didn't have to write it in iambic pentameter - I did that just for kicks. I'm kinda geeky like that.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002
I was pretty much paid the biggest compliment
of my life yesterday. And no, it didn't come from Chris. Or my mother. Or any family member, for that matter.
It came from my English teacher. I borrowed the movie we were watching in class
because I missed three classes last week, and she really needed it back yesterday, on Monday. So of course I bring it, and she went "Some people
you just count on to not screw up."
Also, today, we had to pick a topic for our culiminating task for Much Ado
About Nothing. I picked the "in-voice" journal....and I
couldn't really decide who I was going to do it on. So finally I picked Beatrice, and Ms.Kappler was like "I was kinda hoping you'd pick that person." I go..."Why?" Ms. Kappler "Because she's an excellent choice for
you....gutsy and independent" (She's right, ya know.....you gotta be gutsy
to be goin out with a guy like Chris!!....heehee, mwa, I love you sweetie)
Anyway.....anyone EVER try to write in iambic pentameter?! Stupid, stupid
Shakespeare!
Btw, how is getting everything right on a questionnaire about your boyfriend scary? So I pay attention! I'm smart for a reason, people! On that thread of
thought, why haven't I gotten that back about me? hmmmm Chris? O yea, had a very interesting conversation with Erica last night.....::frowns::..
They put too much chlorine in the pool. I swam 2 and a half hours last night and an hour and a half this morning, so my shoulders and face are burning and really itchy. URGH!!! I feel horrible. Ok, an OFSSA time for a 50 free is a
:30.25 Right now my time stands at a :35. If I achieve an OFSSA time, then I
will probably be going to Western Regions, which is a double whammy. And if I
get my time down to a :28 I'm a likely candidate for Provincials. But thats not really going to happen. At least not this year anyway. Yesterday I had choir practice at my church for like 2 hours. I get to sing soprano this year but I was trying to hit this extremely high note and falling flat almost every time.
It was so fustrating, because I'm supposed to be a good singer and able to hit
that note and I just couldn't do that last night.
My poetry blog is up and running....its called Jardin Des Reves and the
address is www.jardindesreves.blogspot.com. I have a link in this blog but since
my links are currently white, they aren't showing up. By tomorrow I should have
a new poem posted. Go check it out if you want. (Tomorrow, of course)
Chris, one piece of advice. When you write something and are finished with
it, just go Shift+Ctrl+S. That'll publish it. Another thing, at the
beginning of each post, go < font color= and type in this six
digit/letter code. 9999FF... > This will make your posts blue....which is
what you want!!

Bebe

Absolutely delicious, decidedly nutritious....

You guys, I have food in my fridge. Real, honest to goodness yummy nummy FOOD.

For three months, all our fridge had in it was diet pop, a jug of water, and a few condiments.

Now we have diet pop, water, condiments, and THIS:You have NO IDEA how excited this makes me.

Oh! And wanna see my dinner? I swear - I never thought I could eat like this AND ENJOY IT.

Basically, that's a quarter cup of whole wheat pasta, 1 cup of tomato sauce, 3 oz of extra lean ground beef, 2 cups of chopped red, yellow & green peppers, a stalk of celery and one green onion with a side of 2 cups of steamed carrots, green & yellow beans with, of course, a diet pop to drink.

Doesn't that look amazing??!

AND, believe it or not, in about an hour (because man am I STUFFED!) I can have half a cup of low-fat frozen yoghurt with 2 cups of strawberries for dessert. Nom nom nom.

it's friday, I'm not required to think

Got this from Kelly. Mwah.

1. What is your current obsession? Sims3. And looking at my very pretty sparkly ring!!

2. What is your weirdest obsession? Collecting different versions of Monopoly. So far we have 3.

3. What do you see outside your window? Straight out: the other highrise in our complex, trees, buildings, blue sky and a highway. If I look down I can see the parking lot, grass and the pool.

4. What is your favourite colour? Yellow, Orange, Red, Silver, Blue.

5. What is your weakness? Books. Gah.

6. What animal would you be? GROUNDHOG! haha. Seriously, wtf?

7. What would you like to learn how to do? Be patient.

8. What do you want to never happen in life? Not sure.

9. What is on your bedside table? My rhiny horno, table lamp, phone, Dsi, book, a couple stray elastics & bobbypins, ring box, purple pen, a tub of mango body butter, two remotes, probably a couple of empty Sprite Zeros.

10. What's the last thing you bought? Little Pink Slips by Sally Koslow.

11. What do you think about the person who tagged you? I worry about her - she doesn't seem to be in a good headspace lately.

12. What was your favorite children's book? The classics - Hungry Caterpillar, Goodnight Moon, Love You Forever, etc.

13. Who do you want to meet in person? Keith's siblings! Damn them living on the other side of the country!

14. What did you want to be as a child? Writer/Journalist/Lawyer.

15. What did you dream about last night? I didn't.

16. Which do you prefer, day or night? Anytime I'm not tired.

17. What's your favourite piece of clothing in your closet? It's a tossup between my enormous black hoody that I've worn everyday (or close to it) since getting it last October, and my new purple tank top with lace at the top.

18. What's your plan for tomorrow? Finish nitpicky things on assignment, class, submit assignment, pay bills, look at my pretty ring, buy food for Elvis, play Sims3, read a book, play Dsi, listen to country music, take a nap & go to bed late. My life is hard eh?

19. What would you like to get your hands on right now? A RIDICULOUSLY ENORMOUS WAD OF CASH.

20. What is your must-have of the moment? My phone. Where the HELL is it?

21. What's your favourite tea flavour? Sugar. And milk.

22. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? Europe.

Are you blind?

The whole story really starts at about 4pm on Thursday....I was napping and all I heard was "Hi sweetie, I'm home." He then kissed my head and announced, "and now I'm off to school." In my half-awake state, I thought this was really weird as he usually has an hour or so between work and school, but it didn't stop me from sleeping another hour.

I got up at 5 and checked my bank account - and I saw the transaction from the jeweller (my account has the higher POS limit) and I immediately screamed and got very, very shaky. And then I was half-mad at myself for looking; but really? That's me. It's not that I hate surprises, it's that I'm so impatient that surprises never last long around me.

This was at five. Keith had school until at least 9:30. The next four hours passed by agonizingly slowly - although Keith called me twice, emailed me once, and we had a mini-conversation on Facebook about my status. I also thought that weird, because we're adults - we CAN go 4 hours without speaking to one another, believe it or not. I just chalked it up to him getting a new cell phone the day before.

The next part of the story is really, really embarrassing. He got home at 9:30, like usual. I actually started patting him down looking for the ring! (I can't believe I did that!) Needless to say, I didn't find it - and he explained the transaction away by saying they had made a mistake and the ring wasn't quite ready, but since he was there he just paid off the remaining balance. (He really knows how to deal with me, huh?)

Ahem.

My mood immediately went from nervous excitement to, well, I think you can imagine. I was disappointed, and yet chiding myself because it was silly to be disappointed - I wasn't even supposed to know! I was really tired at this point (about 11) so I decided to call it an early night. I went to bed and finished reading July's issue of Cosmo. I'd like to note here that he had me totally convinced that he didn't have the ring yet.

Keith followed me into bed and we just did normal stuff - watching TV, playing on the Dsi, talking - you know, just stuff. Then we started cuddling and slightly making out, which was really nice since we haven't done that in awhile. I was laying on his chest when he remarked "Are you blind? There was something on my desk the entire time."

I sat up and gulped while my stomach did a nervous flipflop. "What?" I asked. I'm not going to lie, it honestly felt like he was lunging at me while his hand came out from underneath his pillow and suddenlythere was this object in my face. It took me a few seconds to realize what that object was and it was as if his voice was coming from very, very far away - "Will you marry me?"

It was the most surreal experience of my LIFE. I managed to choke out a yes (obviously), but it felt like everything was like when they dub something and its a little off - his mouth was moving but I didn't hear them until a few seconds later. So surreal.

The wedding won't be for a couple of years yet. We've both decided that the focus right now is on our schooling and - let's be honest here - neither us nor our respective parents are in a financial position to host a wedding.

But that's okay, honestly. Just knowing I will marry him (and that it's official) someday is enough.

life-changing

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

I'll tell you the story in a day or two. Right now I want to just savour what happened.

(oh, and PLEASE click to enlarge, these don't do it nearly enough justice)

bang bang

• I LOVE unexpected money. In all forms! Like unexpected cheques, a bill for half the amount you planned on, or even just a kind salesperson that says they'll waive the connection fee for both cellphones.
• Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Sigh. "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Beggin'," "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," "Who Loves You, Pretty Baby?" "Swearing To God," "Oh! What a Night," "Grease," "My Eyes Adored You," are all on instant replay in this household.
• Getting very, very fustrated with this whole losing a half pound to a pound a week thing. Although it did take 9 years to put on, so perspective & patience are needed.
• I don't think my Mom will EVER stop working. I mean it. On her vacation this summer, she's headed to China to teach ESL for a month. WORKING. On her VACATION. Intense.
• I can't believe its nearly been two years for Keith and I. Every day I look at him and feel so, so incredibly lucky.
• Our trip was great. We really did tons - Ontario Science Centre, BlueJays game, CN Tower, the Zoo, Jersey Boys, ROM, Casa Loma. We were complimentarily upgraded to a queen suite, which was massive - 430sq ft. I got a wicked sunburn, a huge blister on the bottom of my foot and won a full game of Trivial Pursuit. I wore very impractical shoes and then limped very painfully through 3 hours at the zoo and 3 hours at the CN Tower on Friday, and at Casa Loma climbed so many stairs that until yesterday my legs felt amputated from the thighs.

(see that tower? Yeah. Climbed that to the top. Ouch).

(Favourite room in the entire castle - The Observatory)

gems

new trick

We're packed and counting down the hours until we leave. The one thing I absolutely HATE is having to put Molly in the kennel when we go away, so a couple of nights before, she gets absolutely spoiled with treats and cuddles. I'll miss her so incredibly much :(





(For those interested: weight loss: 3.5 pounds, 1 inch. Totals: 28 pounds, 5 inches)

new & old

Meet my new sexy phone:

It's a Blackberry Pearl Flip 8820
in PINK. (it's okay to be jealous)

My new toy; the game I got for it was Brain Age 2.

And because you haven't seen them in awhile (and they're still incredibly cute):

Can I start packing yet?

Keith's on vacation for the next week and we're off to Toronto in 3 days! Keith and I are SO excited - the last trip we took was in November for his birthday. It was a loooong winter, let me tell you. Sheesh.

The day after we get there, my bestest friend is coming down from Blyth to spend two days with us and oh, I can't WAIT to see her. And on Saturday, my mom is driving from London (after a teachers conference, no less!) to spend a day with us. Mom & I are going to see Jersey Boys on Saturday night and then the three of us are going to the ROM on Sunday morning/afternoon. I haven't seen my mom since Thanksgiving. That's WAY too long, if you ask me. But the trip to Stratford - Ottawa takes a day (literally) and its hard to find the money & time; it's not like you can just 'pop up' there for a weekend.

Because of my diet there's some logisitics to the trip that I've never had to think about before - like realizing last night that we have to bring along dish soap. DISH SOAP. How weird is that? But I need something to clean my shakers out every day.

Other than that there's just the usual to do before we leave anywhere - namely make sure the house is clean and the laundry is done. Which I should be doing now instead of typing this. Ahem.

Trip:
Thursday: Peggy arrives 8:10am at Union Station, then Hockey Hall of Fame, Ontario Science Centre and CN Tower (at night).
Friday: Toronto Zoo! Peggy leaves at 10pm *sad face*
Saturday: Jays Game at 1pm, Mom arrives at 5pm, show at 8.
Sunday: Checkout at 11am, ROM for afternoon, then catching the Greyhound at 6:30. Get into Ottawa at midnight.
Monday: Keith calls in sick? Maybe?

mystery

Next week is going to be the longest week of my life. And what kills me is I don't want to say anything because I want it to be this BIG! SURPRISE! when it happens.

I can't wait to show you pictures.

It's going to be beautiful.

8 things + results

Loss: 7 pounds (3.2kg)
Inches: 1 inch
Blood pressure: 120/80
Totals: 27 pounds (12.3 kg) and 4 inches.

Also, Mrs. E from The Marvelous Mrs. E tagged me today.

8 Things

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
vacation in a week
eating again
getting engaged
finishing my diploma
going to bed
watching the 90210 season finale
getting weighed next week
seeing my dad this summer

8 Things I did yesterday:
Watched Harry Potter movies #3-5.
Watched some Sex & The City.
Slept
Stayed naked all day
Did some wedding research
Snuggled with Keith
Went to the bathroom every 20 minutes (damn liquid diet)
Did some homework

8 Things I wish I could do:
Speak French fluently
Eat
Start actual wedding planning
Fit into a size 10
A cart-wheel
Get an A on every exam and assignment
Save money
Afford name-brand cigarettes.

8 Shows I watch:
90210
Grey's Anatomy
Flashpoint
Friends
Sex & The City
Criminal Minds
Say Yes To The Dress
18 kids and counting (don't judge)

8 Tags:
Heather's Daily Life
The Well Written Kitty
Dustyn & Kamie
Patiently Waiting
FiveBlondes
Empty Uterus Syndrome
Weedze - That's Me

something else

The wind is blowing so hard today. It's making the newly-leaved trees swish back and forth as if they were waves, crashing onto the sand. The sound through my open windows is intoxicating; I wish I could stay in bed to prolong the fantasy that the sound actually is water against land.

Too bad I have class in 45 minutes. F*$king school.

caution: F bombs ahead

What IS it that makes me so irrationally angry when my laptop is fucked up?

I JUST got it back today from it being repaired for a week. I had to re-install Windows on it myself, so that took 2 hours. I noticed it was getting really hot on the left side, but I went ahead and starting installing stuff like MSN, Office, Sims2, and it crashed on me (and it won't re-start). It was only on for THREE HOURS! That's gotta be a world record or something. ONLY THREE FUCKING HOURS.

I'm so incredibly fucked off right now. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I called the place that repaired it. I distinctly remember ending the message by yelling "I don't know what you did to it, but it's FUCKED."

Ooops.

Something tells me they won't be a hurry to return my call.

Why I love Keith: numbers 15, 16 & 17

Every morning before going to work, he puts 4 shakers filled with water in the fridge for me to mix later.
He re-sets the alarm to whatever time I need to wake up.
He asks if I'm ready for the dog and doesn't let her in the room until I say yes.*


*Molly isn't allowed to sleep with us during the night due to his allergies & bed size, but when he leaves for work in the morning he lets her in so I don't have to wake up alone.

the day started out aggro and turned into good

I didn't do any of the workout stuff I had planned yesterday, so that's a fail.

Did you know that Wal-Mart sells bridal stuff? Like veils/tiaras, cake toppers, even favour kits and invitations. Wow. I already planned on getting my shoes there, now I'm probably going to get my tiara and they have these cute little wine glass candles that would be perfect for around the centerpiece. Who cares if the headpiece costs 20$ or 200$? And more importantly, who actually notices? I know I don't care, and I don't care if people notice! 20$ is CHEAP, people!

My laptop is broken AGAIN. This makes it the third time in about as many months - the last repair only lasted a week and a half. I'm going in to drop it off tomorrow and I've already stated quite firmly that I WILL NOT be paying for whatever's wrong, because shelling out 70$ each time in 2 weeks is NOT acceptable.

School starts tomorrow...my evening class (Civil Procedures II) was canceled on Friday. I get a reduction in tuition, of course (making my tuition only 688$), but if I can take it during the day right now, then that's preferable. The situation with Civil Pro II is that they are doing a complete overhaul of the Rules of Civil Procedure in January of 2010. And guess when the course is offered in the day program? January 2010. So to avoid having to re-buy new textbooks and also to avoid having to re-learn all of the damn rules, I want to get it done now.

Grades are in! Keith got a B, which qualifies him for a CGA (stands for Canada General Accountant) exemption.

Basically, the way it works is if you take these courses now, and achieve a minimum grade of 70%, then you are exempted from writing that test later on to qualify to become a CGA. You can qualify for up to 13 CGA exemptions. That's Keith's plan - so it puts a little bit of pressure on him to make sure he gets at least a B- to qualify. There's really no room for failure (anything lower). I'm so happy for him! :)

And myself, I don't know if saying 76.05% is the same as saying 76.5%, or even if they round up final marks. If the first one is true, then I got a B; if the second one is true then I got a B+. Either way, I'm very very happy with my mark, especially after such a shitty start (64% on a midterm worth 25% - YUCK). And for participation I got 70%; I did miss 3 classes so that makes sense.

I also got 75% on my final (worth 25%) - I wrote it in TWENTY MINUTES. I'm not even kidding you. Me a happy Sarah!

Um, that's about it, I guess. Off to watch Family Guy! :)

Actual - Saturday

Saturday - Light housework, 20 minutes of treadmill, some weight-machines (8 x 15 reps x 3 x 2), 20 minute swim, 40 minute walk (due to crappy shoes and a blister on the bottom of my foot).

Added: 29 minutes of DDR and a 30 minute walk.

My upper arms are very much hurty right now. And Keith said he would make me a shake half an hour ago and he's still sitting so close to his screen I fear it'll swallow his head.

PS: GO CANUCKS! awww shit; chicago just scored to tie it up.

PPS: If you're wondering why I'm writing this all down, every week I have to write it down and give it to the doctor; if I don't put it here I'll forget/lose it.

Actual - Friday

Friday - 25 minutes of DDR, 20 minutes of treadmill, some weight machines (15 reps x 3). This didn't happen, I did a 30 minute walk instead.
20 30 minute swim, 25 29 minutes of DDR.

There. I did it (sorta, kinda, maybe?)

Now I'm off to snuggle in bed and choose a movie off RogersOnDemand as my reward.

Workout

Monday - did nothing except sleep, read and enjoy my first day of unemployment.

Tuesday - also did nothing; weigh-in revealed a loss of only a pound and a half inch. Bummed. (Totals: 21 pounds and 3 inches)

Wednesday - Light housework+, 30 minute power-walk, 20 minute swim.

Thursday - 40 minute walk*. In the rain, no less.

Friday - 25 minutes of DDR, 20 minutes of treadmill, some weight machines (15 reps x 3), 20 minute swim, 25 minutes of DDR.

Saturday - Light housework, 20 minutes of treadmill, some weight-machines (15 reps x 3), 20 minute swim, 40 minute walk.

Sunday - Light housework, 25 minutes of DDR, 20 minute swim, 40 minute walk. Keith plays ball-hockey.

Monday - 20 minute swim. Keith plays ice-hockey.

Up until Thursday, this list is truthful. We'll see how I do over the weekend, but that's what I want to accomplish. Let's hope that all my hard work this week will result in a good-sized drop in the scale on Tuesday!

* when I say "40 minute walk" that usually means a loop around our neighbourhood with the dog. She's loving this new exercise regime. On the days that we don't go on our walks, we try to take her out for a good 20 minutes of fetch.
+ Yes, I count housework as exercise. Anything helps. I actually do half-lunges when I'm vacuuming, believe it or not!

(oh, almost forgot to mention; it stopped on day 13, thankfully! I asked the doctor about it on Tuesday, and she said that if it happens next month, then to DEFINITELY go for an ultrasound. She thinks I might have had a cyst that burst, based on the amount of cramping I had. GulpGulp)

Big Bang Theory

I love this song, the band that sings it, and I absolutely adore the TV show it's a theme song for. (I seriously sit there and giggle for a straight half hour. It's that good).



In other not so great news, this makes it day 11 and I'm starting to freak right the fuck out. *sigh* And the pain is unbearable - today I took 12 extra-strength tylenol just to get through my 8 hour shift. Not good.

Speaking of that, ONE MORE SHIFT, BAY-BEE! I'm going to be so bored next week, but I picked up a few books - The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner and Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs (which I've already finished).

I'm never good at conclusions, so I'm just going to say - watch the video, hope you enjoy it - I'm off to download some music because of course I lost it all when my harddrive crapped out. Ugghh.

I'm in love

This is my desktop - isn't it just flat-out cute??

Seeing green.

I'm talking to my cousin right now and I'm trying my hardest to squash these feelings of complete jealousy.

She's a year younger than I am and I just found out she wants to be married in 2011 - either August or September. And that her dad will probably foot the majority of the bill.

Contrast that to my situation; I want to be married in 2011 too, in October, and Keith and I will be paying for the entire thing ourselves.

She just seems to have it so easy in everything. Her parents are paying for her university, while I have to borrow from the government. Her fiance just sold his house and so they plan on building an entire new house in a year or so.

God, I sound so petty. And don't get me wrong, I AM genuinely happy for her. I AM.
I just wish I wasn't so jealous of how easy she has it. And I wish I wasn't the kind of person TO get jealous about it all.

Sigh. I'm a horrible, selfish, petty person. And jealous. Don't forget about that.

day 21; 3rd weigh in

Only lost 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) this week, and no inches. My total is 20.5 pounds (9.3 kg) in 3 weeks.

However, I'm still on this 'period' like thing and I feel incredibly crampy/bloated and I bet you anything I'm retaining water like crazy.
Hopefully next week this problem won't be there and I'll have a big drop in the scales again.

Fingers crossed.

I QUIT!

I gave my notice today. As of next Sunday, I will no longer work at Wendy's.

Such a relief! I hate the job and have since day one. It's amazing I lasted nearly 7 months; so many times I came to work and just wanted to shout "I QUIT!" and storm out of there.

I made a stupid rookie mistake on Facebook the other day with my status saying something along the lines of the "M" word and my aunt (who lives with my mom) saw it and emailed me about it. Woops. I told her to keep a lid on it since it's not official yet. Must remember: Family on Facebook, don't put anything you don't want to be emailed about! YA!

Hopefully me quitting my job won't affect our mini-vacation plans to go to Toronto for the last weekend in May. I really want/need to just get away for a bit. We both do. It most likely won't - I'll have my osap by then as well as I still get 1 more paycheque from Wendy's.

Besides, by next week, I'll probably be hired on as a cashier at Wal-Ma.rt - I stupidly applied during inventory week so I've had my 2 interviews but they haven't had time to check my references yet. But now that inventory week is over they should be able to get that ball rolling.
Hopefully.

Oh, one more thing; and this might be TMI so if you don't like talking about monthly girly stuff, stop reading now -
Kay, this week I've been having what I think is my period - problem is, I'm still finishing off my pill pack! I've never had this happen before; I start my week of pills on Tuesdays, and usually I finish the 21 days of active drugs and then my period arrives the next Saturday. So should I count the first day of bleeding as day 1 for this cycle or was it just 'breakthrough bleeding'? (but I thought breakthrough bleeding was different?) If I count this as starting a new cycle, then that means my last cycle only lasted 19 days! Something tells me that's really not good!
(oh, did I ever tell you that the doctor with this weight-thing asked me if I had PCOS because of my incredibly high insulin resistance? Gulp.)

day 12: weigh-in

I'm trying not to let this blog become a once a week thing but last week was so busy!

Weight Loss: 9 pounds (4.1 kg)
Inches: 1.5 off my waist

Total (12 days):
17 pounds (7.7 kg) and 2.5 inches.

Also, I finally got the student assistance restriction lifted this week and so I've applied plus registered for full-time studies, starting in May. Such a relief to get that done!

thinking about more school (again, and again, and again: a theme revisited)

I'm flirting with the idea of continuing my post-secondary education come NEXT fall with starting a BA in Law & a minor in History. I realized this week that if I'm going to pursue this seriously, I have to start taking the steps now in order to be ready (academically and financially) to apply by this winter.

My mom thinks its a good idea - she pointed out that during economy 'downtime', staying in school is the ideal thing to do, so that when the economy picks up again, you're ready for it with more schooling and will have a better time finding a job than if I left school within the next year.

I figured out today that if I decide to pursue an LLB, I'll be thirty by the time I'm done. THIRTY.

yuckyuckdoublegagyuck.

day 6: first weigh in

I lost 8 pounds (3.6kg) this week and an inch off my waist. My blood pressure also went from 140/80 to 127/75.

I'd write more but since I closed last night (4-11pm) and opened this morning (6:30-2pm) and just got home fifteen minutes ago...*yawn* zzzz.

(Oh yeah, did I mention that I recieved an 81% "unofficially" on my Statement of Claim? WOOT WOOT)

day 3: self-talk

Time: 20 minutes

Calories burned: 148.46*

Shakes taste fantastic and I'm not even the slightest bit hungry, much to my surprise.

However, I miss chewing, and I still want to put food in my face. I have to keep reminding myself on a constant basis that I'm not hungry, so there's absolutely no reason to eat.

Rinse, lather, repeat.

*this might not seem like alot, but I'm burning 16% of what I ingest in a day.

A to the Q

On my last entry, Heather asked:
Do they expect you to do a certain amount of exercise on the program as well? Have you set yourself personal goals of weight and rewards for reaching them? How did you find/enrol for this? I'm curious to learn more.

If you already do daily excerise, they recommend continuing what you already do, but it's not time to start anything new. (I have a whole list of stuff that's not allowed, including "sky-diving, horseback riding, diving alone, etc.") However, I plan on "cheating" a bit and start incorporating 20 minutes of playing DDR into my day.

I haven't set myself personal goals of weight, persay. There's not much I can do to lose the weight faster than what I'm already doing, and to me, thats enough. Right now my weekly goal is to limit my Diet Sprite to three cans a day. I have to drink 300mL of water per shake, plus an additional 3 litres of liquid a day.

Bringing up rewards is interesting, because in the past, my reward system was based on food. I don't know how I'll reward myself now, but I guess I'll have to figure that out.

I found out about this when I was going for my assessment for an eating disorder - I was clicking around on the Ottawa Hospital website and stumbled across it. You need a doctors referral (with fasting blood tests) plus a consult with the clinic. As well, before you start product you need to do another fasting blood test plus ECG. Find more info here.

In other news, I just finished my first shake. Not bad. (I can't believe I just said that).

day 1

I start product today. I'm a bit scared, especially when I return to work on Thursday. I'm just anxious to get into ketosis.

Expect alot of my blog entries in the future to simply state

"I'm hungry."
"I'm really hungry."
"I WANT TO EAT YOUR FACE."

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!