Pseudo long weekend

Cause that's what happens when Canada Day falls on a Tuesday (or Wednesday or Thursday)...there's a day or two of what to do between the real weekend and the holiday. I had three choices this year - take June 30 as a vacation, work June 30 or work at home on June 30. Originally I had thought I'd work at home, but in the end I decided that I'd got to the office. I'm the only one from our department here today, but it's good...as long as I don't get distracted by the silence. I'm actually accomplishing a lot since there is no one to talk to, the phone has not rung once since I got here and no one is sending email...and this is a good initiation into the not working full weeks that is going to happen from now until I finish work in August (except for two weeks of training...)

Because it's fun...

or something like that...no, not really, it's not fun, but this time it is very exciting.

What is? oh right, I guess I didn't mention it, did I? We're moving. In a few weeks. When I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Because moving once in this pregnancy just wasn't enough excitement for us! But this is exciting because this will be OUR place. And this time, well, I'm taking those lists I made the last time into account so hopefully this move will be much, much smoother.

From list #1: "Do this again"

• thoroughly clean and disinfect the new place...this will happen the day we move. No doubt about it. Because not only will Alex and I be there to do this, but my Mom and Dad will be too and anyone who has ever moved with my Mom knows, the disinfection will happen!
  
• borrow bankers boxes from work for books, dishes and other breakables...these are still in hiding at the pink palace because we anticipated another move in the near future
• use lots and lots of tissue paper...still got this too
  
• hire movers...yup, to be booked on Monday
  
• set up the bedroom and bathroom ASAP before unpacking anything else. Then when bath time, naptime or bedtime comes, well, you can get clean and have a comfortable place to sleep, now, not after you unpack and assemble stuff...this will most definitely be happening. Naps are essential these days!
  
• have company come a week or two after the movers move everything...motivation to get unpacked...um, well, does a new baby count as company? Or what about my parents who have graciously offered to spend an extra long weekend with us helping to move and unpack?
  
• make sure horrible old furniture stays away from the new house...motivation to replace it. If the nasty stuff moves in, well, it's never going to leave...we don't have any horrible furniture right now (well, at least not any we need desperately to get rid of), but we do have a Queen sized bed and frame if anyone wants it (if not, it's going on craigslist) so we can replace it with a CRIB! a crib!
  
• give any and all things that are not important, useful, or needed to charity...we haven't accumulated too much in the last few months, but we do keep coming across stuff that we wonder why we bothered to bring it with us the last time!
  
• use original packing boxes whenever possible...yup, still got some of that too
  
• forward mail...of course
  

From list #2: "Don't do this again"

• move on someone else's terms (okay, sometimes there's no controlling this)...but this time it's all about us! Yay...
  
• prolong the move over a three week period...nope, one day. That's it.
  
• be a presenter at a conference the weekend of the move...good, none planned and I've been practicing my NO skills just in case, not that I'll need them. It's summer.
  
• move while recovering from the nasty winter cold...it's supposed to be summer then, but who knows, what with the weird weather we've been having lately...fingers crossed!
  
• move while suffering from morning sickness...morning sickness is gone, but the baby is huge now....we'll see how that goes!
  

From list #3: "Do this next time"

• move somewhere that has parking, preferably assigned...DONE!
• move somewhere that has storage...Christmas decorations and spare tires need to live somewhere else for most of the year...DONE!
• move in one day...prolonging the inevitable is stressful and makes everyone sad (especially when no one wanted to move in the first place)...DONE!

We're hoping this move is much smoother than the last one, but we're pretty sure it will be...we're happy to move this time, unlike last time when we were both very very sad to leave our house.

Pictures will come (I realize I still haven't really posted many of the pink ghetto palace and some of you have asked, so I'll try to get some up before the packing starts).

PS....I like lists!

Once upon a time

...winter stuck around until June.

Then summer came (and we pretty much skipped spring entirely) and it was wonderful!

And then...then winter seemed to come back. It's cold. I got rained on. And I'm allowed to complain again...but I'll try to keep the complaining completely weather related.

You didn't just...

no, wait, yes, you did.

And you did it again...

Ummm...okay...

Alex and I had dinner on Granville Island tonight. As we walked home, we passed a lady on the side walk who was apparently eating a baguette. Nope, that's not strange. Just as we crossed the road something smacked down on the crosswalk next to us. I thought I was going to crazy, but one look at Alex told me he had seen the same thing. The thing that hit the sidewalk, it was a chunk of the lady's bread. Alex figured she must be feeding the birds or something. She was by now "window shopping" and we just kept going. Three steps later, big thunk...yup, you got, another piece of bread.

Huh?

I just don't get it...we're not sure what we did to insult her, but we walked out of there pretty quickly.

Solstice

The sun same out just in time for the summer solstice...maybe summer will stick around. I'd like that. Especially if it was a cool summer, you know, low to mid 20s...nothing too hot to keep my internal furnace at bay. I know that many northern hemisphere countries celebrate midsummer today...but that just confuses me. Why the heck are they celebrating midsummer on the first day of summer...

Sigh...I'm just easily confused these days. Also, easily winded, easily exhausted, easily emotional.

To the people on the bus - Part 2

First of all, maybe I should just stop taking the bus. Then I wouldn't complain so much. Complaining isn't good. Or so I've heard.

Dear people on the bus who sit at the front and don't need to,

Like I mentioned last time, it's uncool to pretend to sleep, study or just not see the people who get on who need to sit down. And I'm not talking about me. How about the guy with the crutches the other day or elderly lady yesterday?

Dear people on the bus who sit at the front and speak in stage whispers,

I can hear you. Especially when I'm only one person away from you. And the only reason I didn't say anything to you was because I was too hot and tired and really couldn't be bothered talking to people like you. And no, I'm not "too pregnant to be out in public and on the bus." I know my presence on the bus wasn't hurting me or my baby. I can't imagine how it was hurting you. And I still had three months to my due date when you whispered that to your husband. Just you wait. I'm gonna get bigger. I PROMISE!

Dear lady on the bus who claims she was going to give the two girls who were (a) pretending to sleep and (b) pretending to study heck for not giving me their seats,

I know that (a) was pretending to sleep because once I sat down she "woke up" and was alert for the rest of the trip and I know that (b) was pretending to study because once I sat down, she stopped studying for the rest of the trip, but if you were going to say something, you should have said something when I got on or offered me your seat if you were that concerned, not eight or ten stops later when I sat down in a vacant seat. I wasn't concerned. If I needed to sit, I would have asked someone to move. I made it ten or so stops plus a bridge without fainting, falling over, banging into anyone etc. And when I did sit down, it was because there was a seat empty and no one in it - I'm pregnant, not an invalid - I could have managed the next six stops no problem too!

To the people who insist on standing in the doorways when there is space in the aisles,

Please move when the bus stops. I am pregnant. My belly is huge. I cannot get through the narrow little space that a three year old could maybe get through. Even if I wasn't pregnant. Six inches just isn't enough space for a grown up body. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I'd like to get off at my stop, not yours. And if you're on a B-Line, get out of the way so the people can get on...three door boarding and all, you know!

To the bus driver who waited until I got to my seat at the back of the bus,

Thank you! I might not be an invalid, but my balance isn't what it used to be and riding buses when I'm not holding tight to something could be dangerous!

To the people who roll their eyes and groan when someone gets on the bus who might take a little longer to board,

Chill out! You kinda suck...and you never know when a split second event could occur and that person who needs a courtesy seat, a few extra seconds to get to their seat, or who is in a wheelchair could be you. (Go read the last bus rant post and you'll see what I'm talking about - scroll to the end.)

And now the sun is shining and the birds are chirping so I'm going to try not to complain anymore..at least not until it starts to be winter in June rain again.

It was Mother's Day...

a while ago...and I never posted this, even though it was in my head...and even though I wasn't home, I did think of my Mom and talked to her at least once!



So...Mom, this is why you're the bestest...because you:

• temporarily moved in with me and Alex and took good care of both of us when I hurt my back and we all know that can't have been fun for you!
• pick the best books
• sent letters and clippings and other fun stuff to me when I lived anywhere other than Kelowna
• are already taking care of the baby and its not here yet
• send us home (and come visit) with care packages of good stuff like soup and canned fruit and jam and cake!
• helped me pack all those times I went away
• came to visit me all those times I went away
• believe in the importance of family
• encouraged but never pushed too hard
  
• are the very best mom ever!

Those are just a few of the reasons - I could write a book about you, you know!

Happy belated Mother's Day!

It's Father's Day...

Happy Father's Day Dad!


Yet again I'm not at home to wish my Dad the best day ever for the best Dad ever, but that doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about him!

Dad, I hope you have a super day...you deserve it, especially because you :

• put up with a house full of girls
• were at pretty much every school function and many, many, many games, even when they were during the work day
• showed me how to use a hammer, a screwdriver, a plunger, a drill and a bunch of other tools
• made (and still make) the bestest weekend breakfasts ever
• were my own personal field hockey goalie coach
• gave and give great advice and know when I just need to vent and don't really need advice
• have helped me move many times
• took us all kinds of places to do all kinds of things while Mom studied and wrote papers
• read books with me as a kid and now share the newspaper when I'm at home!
• are the best dad ever!

I just realized that my Mother's Day post never got out of my brain, so stay tuned tomorrow for my belated Mother's Day list!
(this is just a small selection of the many things I could list)

Tourists in our own neighbourhood

My friend Shannon is here for a few days from Toronto with her fiancé Sunir. It was a beautiful afternoon so we decided to walk down to Granville Island and explore. We started at the Kids Market and of course spent ages at the puppet store.

Pinocchio

Alex and his piggy friend

Sunir found Sunny, his puppet alter ego

Shannon looks for her puppet alter ego

Sunny the puppet is introduced to Queen Shannon the puppet

And one thing leads to another!

When we decided it was time to be grownups again, we ventured off to the market and drooled over the yummy fruit.

cherries

raspberries - golden and otherwise!

Alex's favourite - the fresh pasta

fishy delicacies...notice the chocolate sardines in the middle at the top!

Having successfully tempted our salivary glands, we wandered over to Rogers chocolates and then to the Sandbar for a yummy dinner followed by crepes...mmm...food!

You know it's cold in June when...

• not only are you wearing three layers, but people around you have hats and gloves on.
• you get off the bus at 9:30 in the morning and you can see your breath
• the extra blankets that have been off the bed for weeks/months, suddenly reappear

Summer, or even spring, please come soon!

Beyond inappropriate tile

So last week we looked at a place that went beyond the inappropriate tile. The building was nice, it had been recently redone - roof and all - and it looked okay on paper. Before we went in, we were warned by the seller's realtor that we should:

a) ignore the mess
b) ignore the woman in the suite.

Apparently she is very unfriendly and they had spoken to her a few times about being civil to the people looking at the place.

So we thought maybe she was a tenant and was worried that she might have to leave if her place sold, but the realtor told us, no, she was actually the one selling the place.

Anyway, it was a total disaster, there were some very strange features, the lady was most unfriendly, but the best part was the flooring. Even better than the place was completely tiled, this place had no floors at all. Gone. Right down to the concrete. Needless to say, we had vetoed it before we got past the foyer.

Changing up the meal plan

Alex and I have started making a meal plan. Which means we plan out our menu for a couple of weeks. We have a handy calendar that we've put up inside one of the kitchen cupboards (thank you cellular telephone provider for thinking we need multiple calendars in our household) and we write down lunches and dinners. We don't stick to it exactly because sometimes recipes make more or less than we thought they would or we decide to eat out (which happens way less now that we have a "plan"), but it's a good guide and makes grocery shopping much easier.

But we were getting bored. We were eating essentially the same things on about a three week rotation...blah...so we decided to make each week a cookbook week. We got three or four yummy cookbooks as wedding gifts and I have another four or so that are great, but we rarely use them. Rarely as in I have made maybe four recipes out of each cookbook and maybe one or two of those I make regularly.

Our first week was supposed to be Rebar week, but it's been a tad busy around the pink palace what with some major editing I've been ignoring, the hunt, and life in general. I made two recipes from the Rebar cookbook though - the Bombay Roll-ups and the Chocolate Chip Cookies. I know cookies don't count as a meal, but boy are these ones yummy. We decided (well, me since I do the cooking) that while many of the Rebar recipes look yummy, a lot of them are just a bit too time consuming or have too many strange ingredients to make on a "school night." We also love the spring pasta (I don't know if that's what it's called - the one with asparagus, spinach and vodka) and the green rice. LOVE GREEN RICE.

So we supplemented this week with the Moosewood cookbook and Alex happily ate spinach and rice casserole. Rice seems to be a theme in our lives right now...

Anyway, next week will be another cookbook - maybe something that is a bit more "school night" friendly...

But those Rebar cookies, they really are spectacular. You know.

That's all.

Stupid squirrels

So this morning, I got up and started my morning routine. I was in the kitchen when I heard some very strange noises coming from the bedroom. Now, Alex was in there, sleeping, I thought. The window was open, so I thought maybe it was the wind, pulling the metal blinds against the window, but the living room window was also open and it's relatively still. So, I went to see what Alex was doing. As expected, he was sleeping, but there was a horrible racket coming from our window.

And when I opened the blinds, well, there was a squirrel hanging off the open part of the window. The noise startled it and it jumped back to the roof next to us.


Then Alex pointed out that all of the neighbours windows were also closed...so there's a chance the little pain in the butt had been tormenting them too. The building is stucco and I've seen squirrel scramble along flat walls to windows, so it wouldn't be unheard of.


I wish I had a trap like my parents and a forest up the road to dump the silly thing in...The last thing we want is a squirrel loose in the house, so who knows when we'll be able to open that window again.

More about Project 365

I've been finding it harder lately to get my picture taken every day and I'm not sure why...partly I think because we now live in an apartment and I don't go outside as much (I have just noticed this...) and the apartment doesn't have as many cool features as the blue house did. Anyway, I've decided that maybe having a weekly theme might help me take pictures every day. So, this is where I'm asking for your help...I need some themes. Please leave suggestions in the comments and as time goes by I will make my way through them. I am hoping that maybe a theme will convince me to post the pictures every day instead once a week or so when I decide it's time to empty my memory card...Anyway, suggestions, pretty please!

Cross posted at Nanny Shanny's Project 365

A different take on Project 365

Last January, I decided to challenge myself to Project 365. It worked well enough that I kept it up this year. Some of my pictures suck, some are super blurry and every once in a while there's one that I love.

I've seen this girl's work before, but stumbled across it again today. She took a picture of herself everyday for three years and then created this video - there's a long version (2:30 minutes) as well as a shorter version on You Tube.

I love how her hair grows and shrinks and her glasses change. She must have the floor and the place where her camera sits marked because the pictures are remarkably close in placement (I know, Photoshop can work wonders too).

I have a hard time getting my picture a day done; I can't imagine trying to take a picture of myself every day...especially right now...you'd get to see the ever growing black circles under my eyes and my face getting puffier and puffier as the weeks go by!

Smells like Pax Lodge

You know how you can smell a smell and it immediately takes you to some other place or time? I know I've written about the Pax Lodge smell before and how it's one of the things I really like. I don't think I've ever smelled Pax Lodge outside of Pax Lodge before. I have smelled London outside of London, but not Pax Lodge.

Until today. Today I was in the little coffee area at work boiling some water and washing out a mug to make hot chocolate (because it's WINTER here again...what's up with THAT?) and the dish soap fairies bought a new brand of dish soap. It's some environmentally friendly something or other. And it did a nice job of cleaning out my mug.

And then, well then, I felt like I should be running Tilly and cleaning out Oscar and ironing to Classic FM and making endless beds and hoovering at 7:00 am and putting the flag up before breakfast and after putting in an hour and a half of work already and drinking wine on the Heath and vodka and tonic in the pubs and buying huge cans of beer, 3L bottles of Strongbow or individual Archers cooler drink things at the off license after last call. Yeah, if you lived or worked with me at Pax Lodge, you'll know what I mean.

Turns out, it was all because of that new dish soap.

Crazy.

And yes, yes I am procrastinating.

Memory Lane

Alex called me a work this morning with news that he had secured two tickets for us to go back to our early teens. In November we're off to GM Place for an evening of late eighties boy band nostalgia with New Kids on the Block. I don't know if you can consider them "kids" still, but I'm sure it will be an entertaining evening.

End of an era

London has a new mayor, Boris Johnson, and he has decided to ban alcohol on public transit - trains, tubes, buses, etc. The ban doesn't really bug me since I don't live in London anymore and I'm used to Canada's more restrictive alcohol laws anyway, but in true London style, some people got together and organized one last party on the underground before the ban came into effect this morning. It sounded like a super idea, but apparently it ended in a less than positive manner. Why? Why do people do stupid things and wreck a great idea/time for everyone else? Oh and apparently it's Mayor Johnson's fault too!

Why?

For more, just Google london underground last party or visit the facebook group.