happy weekend

I have not been so happy to see a weekend arrive in a long time. I was given a jump start on it too. We had a staff appreciation type luncheon this afternoon and our director told us all to get lost for the rest of the day. As I have mentioned before, our office is in the midst of a major restructuring and a lot of what we've been working toward starts next week. Over the month of May, I'll be handing off the job I've done for 8 years and be starting a new job.

When I first found out about it, I was not entirely sure that I liked it. I mean, I liked the other folks in the team I was going to be working in but I really love what I'm doing now and my old boss was amazing. Unforunately for me but fortunately for her, she's moved on to greener pastures. Since she's been gone it's not been the same. The work is still challenging and rewarding but it's been really stressful looking after things on my own. Ideally, I'd love to dump all of my old stuff off on the new people and jump right into my new job with both feet but I don't see that happening. I know that there are a couple of projects that I'll need to finish up, probably I'll be doing that at the same time I'm starting my new job.

The whole transitioning process has been extremely stressful. Finally, today, I found out where I'd be moving to (physically I mean, I've known what my new job is since mid-February) and I'm really happy about that. Some of the folks in our department will be moving to different departments entirely so our Director wanted the "old gang" to get together one last time. We had a lovely lunch and a nice visit and now I'm at home.

It's really quiet here right now. Mark's dad is having a nap and I've actually had 10 minutes to get caught up on some stuff of my own. Stuff that I normally do for myself has been shoved to the back burner all week. I have some things to work on around here with Joe this weekend but I'm hoping that the bulk of my time can be spent on stuff I need to do for us. Sometimes we all need to be a little selfish.

Anyway, errands and "me" time aside, I don't have much planned for the weekend so I'm looking forward to painting my toes and putting my feet up. Hope you can all find some down time for yourselves too. Enjoy!!

e-filing rawks!!

For the second year in a row, we did our taxes using Quick Tax. As per usual, we left it really late. I didn't even look at any of our tax stuff until about 10 days ago. Surprisingly, all three of us (I do Joe's too) were owed money this year. I just got home and checked my bank balance and my $49 refund is already in the bank (I do direct deposit). Mark and Joe will probably get a cheque next week. I'm so impressed and happy. I mean, I know it's only $49 but it's better than paying AND I can use it on something really exciting...like, putting it toward renewing my license plates next month. woohoo!!

blah blah blah

Work is insane.

I had the craziest day today. I don't think that I actually accomplished one thing. Actually, that's not true, I think I managed to return all the phone messages I had received when I was off but that's about it. I'm not sure how much longer everyone can keep the pace going. We're in the middle of a reorg and it's year end. I also think that we're going to be moving offices next week but I don't know for sure.

Fortunately, I had some help today. This fabulous woman who had temped in our office last year (and the year before) was available to come in 2 days a week to help get me over the hump. She's the kind of person who you can just throw anything at and you know that she'll do a great job. I just love working with her. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a handle on things over the next week or so. It makes my head spin just thinking about it....so I'm not going to think about it anymore. Hopefully if I can not think about it enough, it'll all just go away!!

pooped but not poopie

I got a lot done today.

Mark's dad sold most of his furniture but we asked if we could have this wall unit he had in the dining room. It's wood veneer and it's a little darker than anything we would have picked but it fills a need we have right now so we took it. I must say, it looks really nice in our dining room. It's a three piece unit and part of it has glass doors. We finally have a proper place to display our collection of Simpsons stuff.

Once that was in place, I basically scoured and totally rearranged the living room. It's amazing how filthy stuff gets over the winter. It looks good now though. The kitchen looks great too. We're almost done with this move, almost but not quite. We still have some stuff to do in Joe's room but we'll get to that on the weekend. I don't think that he minds one way or the other now that his recliner is set up in front of the tv!

Anyway, I'm not to tired to do this:

TV Tuesday - Week 7 - Stop me if you've heard this one...

1. Who is your favorite stand-up comedian of all time?

I don't even have to think about it, Bill Hicks. No doubt!

2. Which one could you do without? (Not your type of humor, or just plain stupid!)

If it has to be someone from the list, Jeff Foxworthy. I'm sorry, he's just not funny. If can be someone not on the list, Carrot Top. I just don't get him.

3. Which comedian do you think has gone on to have a great career aside from doing stand-up?

I think that most of the folks on that list have all done various and sundry cool things other than stand-up. If I can pick two, I'd say David Cross and Janeane Garofalo. He's brilliantly funny as a stand up comedian but he's also a great actor. I have really enjoyed watching him on Arrested Development this year. She's doing an amazing job on the Majority Report on Air America Radio. I love them both and was happy to see that they both appeared on this list.

~Bonus~ If you went to a comedy club on amateur night, and they gave you some jokes and a microphone, would you go onstage?

Nope. I don't think I could.

Done but not dusted

The move is over. The giving away stuff is at my mum's place (all piled up in the garage, my dad gasped when he saw how much there was) and his stuff is here.

Last night, we got his room semi-sorted out. We set up a bed in there (he's ordered a new one but it's not in yet) and it was cleaned. Mark installed a new closet organizer and a really nice "hugger" ceiling fan too. Right now, his TV is being hooked up and he'll be able to go up to sleep in a few minutes.

This morning, I picked him up and brought him back over here so that he wouldn't have to be in the middle of the chaos. Mark was able to finish work early so we changed the booking on the truck from 4 p.m. to 2 p.m. This made a huge difference. We had the truck loaded by 4:30 and were back here unloading (after delivering stuff to my mum's) by 6:15. It went really well but we're kind of pooped.

The downstairs looks like a furniture store threw up all over it but I know we will be able to sort it all out tomorrow. The main thing right now is that everyone can find a clear path to a bed and I know that we have that covered at the moment!

whirling weekend

I'm in the middle of a long weekend right now. I'm scheduled to be off from work tomorrow and Tuesday. I had to move a lot of stuff around to do it but it needed to be done.

We're finally moving Mark's dad in with us. Originally, we had intended to use this weekend as a prep weekend. We planned to move him around the middle of May (he has his apartment until the end of May). I got thinking about it and looking at my work schedule and realized that we might we as well do it while I'm on this long weekend and get it over with. I sprung it on him yesterday and he was a little surprised at the suggestion but I think he's coming around.

My mum helped me pack up his kitchen as we're donating the bulk of his stuff to her church. The Knights of Columbus have a huge garage sale every year and we figured that it would be nicer to give to the stuff to them this time, instead of to goodwill (like we usually do). We'll take all the stuff out to her place when we actually get him out of the apartment and the Knights will pick it up from there. It's looking like they will be getting a lot of stuff. It's all perfectly good stuff too, he just doesn't need it anymore.

We're going back over there this afternoon to tidy a few things up. I have managed to book a truck for tomorrow afternoon so keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain. It would so nice to have this all done (at least the move part of it) by tomorrow!! Wish me luck!!

Am I the only person, who, upon hearing the name Prince Bandar on the radio, thinks of a certain Conehead?


Maybe it's just me?

Here is this week's TV Tuesday:

1. Who is your favorite (past or present) TV cop?

Past, present and future: Andy Sipowicz. He seems like a real person to me, he's not always perfect, he's human but, he's still a good person and great police officer.

2. Which TV cop do you think was the most crooked, or the most inept?

Definitely Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane from The Dukes of Hazard. We actually watched half an episode of it the other week on Action TV and I couldn't believe a) how bad the show was and b) what a dick head he was.

3. Which TV show had the best ensemble cast of police officers?

I had never watched Homicide when it originally aired. Two years ago, when we first got a digital cable box for our upstairs television, I started watching it every evening on the Book TV network. It was pretty cool to watch the series in it's entirety. I thought that the writing was great and the cast was terrific. Overall, I think it was the best ensemble cast of police officers I'd seen on TV.

~Bonus~ You need to hire a bodyguard for yourself. Which TV cop do you choose?

mmm...I think I'd pick Baldwin Jones from NYPD!

Here is this week's Monday Madness:

Pick a letter; any letter.........Got one? ...Ok, for the following questions, each of your answers must begin with the letter you chose.......Have fun!! =)

I'm picking "M"

1. If you were limited to 3 things to pack for an overnight trip, what would you pack?

Money, munchies and music.

2. What 3 things would you pack in your picnic basket?

Margaritas, Melba Toast and M&M's

3. What are 3 things you'd rather do than go to work?

Make cookies, marinate chicken, master a new language.

4. Name 1 song.

My Aim is True

5. Name 1 movie.

Manhattan.

The Friday Five is out of commission again this week, so here's an oldie, from January 18, 2002:

1. What do you have your browser start page set to?

I'm at work and it's set to blank!

2. What are your favorite news sites?

I like the google news page, the New York Times online as well as the CBC's site.

3. Favorite search engine?

Google.

4. When did you first get online?

In 1991 or 1992. Yikes that feels like a long time ago and it makes me feel really old.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?

Putting in our new bathroom floor, cleaning and doing laundry. Fun huh??

The weather has been pretty nasty off and on all week. Yuck. It's supposed to do this all weekend as well. Good thing we're planning on working our butts off inside the house all weekend or I might be a little upset. We're finally (after almost 2 years) putting in a new floor in our washroom. I'm not sure how that will go. We had talked and talked about having someone else do it for us but we're going to take a kick at it and see how it goes.

Happy Tuesday

It's raining and gray and yucky outside but I still feel better today than I did yesterday. I feel more rested, I am coughing much less than I have in weeks, I just feel better. Last night, we did some errands after work. We needed a couple of things for lunches this week and some stuff for dinner. We also had to go to the bank. I had planned to just run in and use the bank machine but it was so dead in there that I grabbed Mark and we met with a rep about paying off one of our loans. It only took a few minutes and it felt so good. We had three loans leftover from when we closed the restaurant. Now, we only have 2. I think that we were the only folks in town to ever close a restaurant and pay all of our bills. We're suckers, I know.

TV Tuesday Week 5- Is That Your Final Answer?

1. Is there a game show (past or present) you think you would do really well on, as a contestant?

I think that I could kick ass on Beat the Geeks.

2. Is there a game show you think is the stupidest thing you've ever seen?

Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I just absolutely hate everything about this program. The only reason that I've even seen it is because Mark's dad is addicted to it. I find that the questions are really easy, and they give you the answers!! It's totally insulting!

3. Is there a game show you watch, but don't like to admit to watching? (A guilty pleasure!)

We have the Game Show Network so I enjoy watching (sometimes) Love Connection.

~Bonus~ Who is your favorite game show host? Who is your least favorite?

Chuck Woolery is, hands down my all-time favourite. I loved him on Love Connection and when he was the host of the original Wheel of Fortune. I have to admit that I have not watched WofF since Chuck left the show. My least favourite is Bob Eubanks. He constantly makes homophobic and misogynistic comments and I just can't stand him!

I'm back at work this morning. There was almost no traffic coming down here though. I suspect that many folks took today off to make an extra long weekend. I would have loved to have done that but I had a meeting for the entire morning this morning so I couldn't.

Anyway, I'm a little brain dead after my 3.5 hour meeting so here's the Monday Madness:


Each question will begin with 'What color is your favorite.......'

1. Vegetable - sweet red peppers
2. Beverage - strawberry daquari pink
3. Room - my lemon grass bathroom
4. Outfit - navy blue
5. Mood - lemon yellow
6. Season - deep green
7. Fruit - deep raspberry
8. Dessert - milk chocolate brown
9. Pair of shoes - black
10. Color???? - blue

weekend wrap-up

There was no way I could have gone out early enough yesterday to avoid the nasty crowds. I was at Costco when it opened and it wasn't too terribly bad but the traffic was absolutely insane. The stores were weird too. I noticed that a lot of folks were just standing around visiting, blocking the aisles. I guess it was because folks were home from out of town. This created an odd phenomenon, when I was in Loblaws, there were huge line-ups at several of the cashiers. I only had three things so I scooted down toward the express check-outs. When I got close to the express, I noticed that two cashiers (of regular check-outs) were standing there waiting for customers. I guess folks were so caught up in gabbing that they didn't even see a quick escape route!! By the time I got home at 11 a.m. I had had enough. There is something about shopping in suburbia that is just a little bit disturbing to me.

We're not religious at all but we had easter dinner at my folks today. It was nice to see them and it was the first time that we had gotten together like this since Christmas. I had a nice visit with my mum and the guys watched the Masters on tv. Poor Mark was struggling to stay awake through it all but my dad and his dad are big golf fans so they were really into it. We both struggled to stay awake actually. I think part of it is the cold thing and the other was the temperature at mum & dad's. They have a green house on the back of their house and we were eating during the sunniest part of the day so the back of the house was like an oven.

Other than that though, we didn't do too much today. Mark's birthday is on Wednesday. Since we're both working on his actual birthday, I gave him his birthday gifts last night (I got him a DVD burner amongst other things). He got the burner installed but I don't think he's burned anything with it yet. I also got him Red Dwarf Series 1 & 2 on DVD and Ab Fab Series 1-3. We basically spent the entire morning laughing our asses off.

I had thought that I'd have gotten into the garden this weekend but it was just too cold. I'm sure that by next weekend it'll have warmed up enough to get out there and rake. I noticed yesterday that our neighbours were raking their yard and they looked totally frozen the whole time they were out there. I know it can wait, the lawn isn't going anywhere I don't think.

I was saddened to read that Carrie Snodgrass has passed away. Diary of a Mad Housewife is one of my favourite movies. It used to show up on television all the time but I haven't seen it in a few years.

Oscar-Nominated Carrie Snodgress Dead at 57
1 hour, 19 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - Oscar-nominated actress Carrie Snodgress, who left acting at the prime of her film career to raise a child with rocker Neil Young, died last week of heart failure at UCLA Medical Center. She was 57.

An Illinois native, Snodgress rocketed to fame after making her film debut as the cheating spouse of an insufferable attorney in the 1970 movie "Diary of a Mad Housewife," for which she received an Academy Award nomination.

Despite expectations of stardom, Snodgress dropped out of movies shortly after the film was released to live with Young. The pair had a child, Zeke, who survives her.

In 1978, the actress returned to the screen in Brian De Palma's thriller, "The Fury." She also appeared in Clint Eastwood's 1985 western "Pale Rider" and the 1998 Matt Dillon-Neve Campbell vehicle "Wild Things."

Snodgress, who was awaiting a liver transplant, died on April 1, according to reports.

Most mornings, I am up before the birds. I get up in the dark and usually can hear the birds slowly waking up and talking their bird talk.

This morning, although I could have slept in, was no exception. We've had our windows open the past few days and it's been nice to get the house aired out. To blow away the stale winter air, to get rid of the cold germs that have been in the house for the past month or so. Having the windows open though, this morning, made me aware of how quiet the neighbourhood is at this time of the day. I suspect that it's not ordinarily this quiet on a Saturday morning and that the silence is because we are in the middle of a holiday weekend. Our garbage, normally picked up on Friday morning, will be picked up this morning. At any time now I can expect to hear the clanging and banging of the recycling truck and the bright orange garbage truck from up the block.

I'm kind of happy to be up early though. I have a lot of stuff to do today and the earlier I get started at it, the less chance I will have of being swept up in the insanity of the easter weekend shopping crowds. I honestly don't get why folks get their shit all in a knot about it. Most people I know (and let's face it, most folks in general) are not truly religious people. There are certainly exceptions, my parents for example, who are actually devoted to their church. They are there at least once a week, more often than not, several times a week attending mass in addition to volunteering there. Folks like my parents though are in the minority. Most folks who claim to be "christian" use Easter and Christmas as excuses to 1. shop; 2. dress their kids up and parade them around and 3. pretend, for a two days a year, that they are good and holy people. I find it all amusing, the hypocrisy of it all. It used to infuriate me but it doesn't anymore. It's like that old line, "I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused." Amused takes up a lot less of my energy than disgusted does.

I just checked back in and holy crap, there is a Friday Five this week. It was really late though for some reason. Anyway, here it is:

1. What do you do for a living?

At the moment, I am an events planner. I help with the organization of a huge, annual event that happens for a non-profit organization.

2. What do you like most about your job?

The volunteers. Each year I work with a different group of people and each year I meet totally amazing, interesting, lovely people. It is immensely rewarding for me to work with these people and help them with this event.

3. What do you like least about your job?

The volunteers. For the most part, I work with amazing folks. There is, however, a small percentage of them who are demanding and difficult and make me want to pull my hair out. Fortunately, these folks are few and far between.

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____...

I've had too many meetings. Our office is undergoing a huge transition right now and there are meeting booked up the wazoo (yes, it is possible to have meetings booked all the way up your wazoo!). It makes it really difficulty to get any work done at all when you're spending day after day running from meeting to meeting.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in?

I think I'd really like to do a more technically oriented job. Part of my job is doing web stuff but I think I'd like an opportunity to expand upon that. I also wouldn't mind doing help desk stuff. I really like working with people and with machines. I'm always helping folks in my immediate area with their machines, installing software, trouble-shooting, etc. I think I have a real knack for it and would love an opportunity to do it full-time.

Today is indeed a good friday. I don't have to work today as it's a stat holiday. Ordinarily I don't support stat holidays for religious observances but hey, a Friday off in spring is a Friday off in spring. I haven't got much planned for today other than laundry and more listening to Air America Radio. I have to admit that I'm totally addicted and that my tv is collecting dust right now. Who knew that the truth could be so fascinating.

Friday Five

Again this week, there's no F5. I snagged one from two years ago this week instead:

1. What is your favorite restaurant and why?

We like to travel when we can and we have favourite restaurants in places we like to visit. Having said that, Kingston is a culinary wasteland and I don't know that I have a restaurant here that I'd call a "favourite." There are a lot of chain restaurants here in town and a severe lack of really cool mom & pop places. I guess my favourite mom & pop place is a Vietnamese place called Dong Nai. They make a mean noodle soup and really delicious curry dishes.

2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to?

We tend to avoid fast food places whenever possible. I guess I'm partial to Dairy Queen. We have a really cool drive-in Dairy Queen near our house that we hit, once in a while, when we need a Blizzard fix.

3. What are your standards and rules for tipping?

A good part of what Mark makes every day comes from tips so we are generous tippers when we are eating out. We are big believers in tip karma.

4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert?

Nope.

5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant?

I will order black coffee and / or grapefruit juice if I'm going out for breakfast and diet coke if going out for lunch or dinner, for a treat. Ordinarily, I order water. I drink a lot of water each day.

happy thursday

I don't usually get all happy on a Thursday but this is a short week for me, tomorrow I don't have to work (stat holiday and all) and I'm really happy to see this working week draw to a close.

Things at work have been sort of insane since September. Since mid February however, they have been downright, crazy in a straight-jacket insane. We keep hearing that things will settle down once May rolls around but I have my doubts about that. Time will tell I suppose.

Not much is planned for the long weekend. We're having dinner at my mum's on Sunday but other than that, no real plans have been made. I may attempt to paint the closet in the front bedroom this weekend and I'd like to re-do the trim in our bedroom as well. We shall see. My cold seems to have made a reappearance so that may hinder any big chore plans that I have for the weekend. If the weather warms up a bit, I may get out into the garden and get some work done. Things are starting to get really green out there and it needs to be dealt with. What do you have planned for your weekend?

Stolen from Calliope:

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says

calls, third-party billing and collect calls

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?

a water bottle (full of water)

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?

This morning, I watched Dr. Phil on tape from yesterday.

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is

1:15 p.m.

5: Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

1:18 p.m.

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

The O'Franken Factor, through my headphones. Katherine and Al are interviewing Jon Stewart.

7: When did you last step outside? what were you doing?

The last time I was outside the building was this morning, when I arrived at 7:50 a.m.

8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at?

I was on Calliope's page.

9: What are you wearing?

Brown cords, a yellow tshirt and a navy blue fleece pullover. Today I have thermal socks on and my doc martens.

10: Did you dream last night?

I'm sure that I did but I can't remember it.

11: When did you last laugh?

A few seconds ago, listening to Al & Jon.

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Blue paint, cabinets, bulletain boards and some pictures. I cannot actually see any of the walls right now as I'm sitting in a cubicle. I can see the tops of the walls and the ceiling (and a window).

13: Seen anything weird lately?

Last night we were at Costco and I saw a guy leaning against the end of a cash register who looked just like Les Battersby from Coronation Street. It was really bizarre.

14: What do you think of this quiz?

It's okay, as quizzes go.

15: What is the last film you saw?

I saw part of Daddy Day Care on tv the other morning.

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

My house. I'd go and pay off the mortgage (and all of our debts) immediately.

17: Tell me something about you that I don't know

My office keys are on a red, blue and yellow lariat.

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

I'd find a way to let us all zoom around in those mini-space ships like the Jetsons had. I'd love to be able to fly around like that.

19: Do you like to dance?

Not really.

20: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

I have given this absolutely no thought as we have no plans to have kids.

21: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?

See above.

22: Would you ever consider living abroad?

Absolutely. If money was not an object, I'd love to live in Europe or in the states. I'd particularly like to live in New York for a while, but only if I had lots of money so I could go nuts and take advantage of all of the fun stuff that there is to do there.

Here is this week's TV Tuesday:

1. What shows would make up a perfect night of TV viewing for you?

Coronation Street followed by The Sopranos. We go to bed early so this would be enough for us. Funnily enough, I have 2 episodes of Coronation Street and Sunday's Sopranos on tape and we'll be watching that tonight.

2. What show(s) would you cancel without a moment's hesitation?

Everybody Loves Raymond. I actually have never seen this but judging by clips I've seen, it just looks too dumb for words.

3. Is there a show (previously cancelled or just no longer airing) that you'd bring back, original cast and all?

I was a huge fan of Designing Women and would love to see that show up again on TV Land. I don't know that I'd want to see a reunion (although maybe...) but I loved that show so much, I'd love to be able to either see the whole series from beginning to end or get it on DVD. It's definitely a guilty pleasure of mine.

~Bonus~ You get to create one show to put on the schedule, with any stars you choose. Who and what would it be?

I would love to see a cooking show, on Food TV, hosted by Mark. He's an amazing chef, he's funny and smart and would make a fabulous host.

I know that I cannot be the only person who struggles after the time changes. This morning I could not get going for some reason. I slept in a full 45 minutes later than I normally would and it threw my whole morning routine off. Work was a blur this morning so that's a good thing. With this being a short week, there's much more to do but I'm not worrying about it too much. I'm taking each day as it comes!!

Anyway, it's time for Monday Madness!

1. What makes your country special?

I could list a whole bunch of things that make Canada great but I think what is truly cool about this country is it's geography. The nation takes up a huge chunk of real estate so we have many distinct, different types of terrain. It's just a beautiful country full of unique and beautiful people who survive and thrive in sometimes extremely difficult weather conditions and in isolated areas.

2. What makes your hometown special?

It is the "First Capital" of Canada.

3. What makes your neighbourhood special?

It's called "the Wartime" because the homes in our neighbourhood where build either during or just after WWII. The neighbourhood is adjacent to the Alcan Manufacturing Plant and the homes were built for men who were returning from the war, to work in the plant. What I love most about our neighbourhood is that it's like a suburban area in the middle of the city. It's a working class neighbourhood and everyone keeps half of an eye on everyone else (but not to the point of being nosey). It's a great place to live.

4. And your loved ones - what is it about them???

Hey, if I love them, they must be cool!

5. And finally you - what is it that is unique about you...???

I think that everyone is unique. Even the clique-y-est person is different in their core. We're all individuals, deep down inside, no matter how alike we may look on the outside. It would take me days and days to explain, in detail, what makes me unique.

I think that I've become overly attached the memes list thing this week. I can't write for shit this week and I'm not sure why. I suppose I could blame it on my cold. I mean, sleep deprivation and over-production of snot products can cause brain damage I suppose.

The bottom line is that nothing much is happening these days. We go to work, we come home. We decide if we're eating at home or going out. We eat. We watch Coronation Street on tape, do the dishes or whatever needs doing. We go to bed, cough, hack, blow noses, etc. Sleep. Repeat. Not exactly thrill-a-minute is it? Between it all, we're slowly getting out shit together as far as Mark's dad moving in with us goes.

During our lazy hazy dazy day yesterday we made up a list of things we have to do before he moves in.

1. New floor in the bathroom. Two years ago, we had the flooring ripped out of our bathroom because the sub-floor was deteriorated to a dangerous level. We had the sub-floor replaced but decided that we wanted to paint the bathroom before we had the flooring replaced. Because we were basically lazy fucks (although I like to think that we were just busy), we didn't paint the bathroom until June 2003. Of course, we still have not yet replaced the flooring and I just have rag rugs all over the place in the bathroom so that we don't have to walk around on the plywood. We thought about having someone come in and do it but yesterday we decided that we'd just suck it up and do it ourselves. Next weekend, the long weekend, we'll probably do it. At the same time, we'll put down baseboards in there too. We ripped out the old ones before painting (because the previous owners felt it appropriate to have different trim on each wall).

2. Additional fixtures in the bathroom. We need to install things like a new cabinet for the little old guy, an extra towel bar and some of those old people safety rail deals in the tub. The towel bar and cabinet, we can do ourselves but I know that the LOG is not going to feel too secure if we install the safety rails ourselves (because we are just dumb fucks who couldn't possibly do it write) so we'll have to have those nice folks from the Sh*ppers Drug mart health centre do it. Goodness knows that we wouldn't have clue one about how to find a stud!! On the upside, if they don't do a good job and he falls and injures himself, we can always sue the good folks at the health centre instead of suing ourselves.

3. Fixing up his closet. The bedroom he's moving into is the second largest in the house. It's at the front of the house and has two nice sized windows. It's a really nice room and, when we first moved in here, we used it as an office. The only weirdness in this room is the closet. The hot water heater is in the closet. Our house is about 60 years old and was built on a concrete slab so we don't have a basement. The furnace is under the stairs, in the middle of our kitchen, and the hot water heater is on the other side of the wall from the bath tub. It actually works out really well as it's easy to get to but it does sort of cut into the space in the closet. The closet itself needs a coat of paint and some new shelves. The shelves that are in there now look really craptacular. They don't look like they'd hold much and, because we don't really use the room much, it's been something that has been easy to ignore until now.

4. Throwing out / sorting through crap. He's got a tonne of crap that we'll be getting rid of, either in the garbage or to goodwill. We also have a bunch of crap that is piled up in there and it's all gotta go. Not having a basement has been a blessing and a curse. It's forced us to get rid of a lot of useless shit that we'd otherwise just pack into boxes and toss down there. Right now, our computer room / office is full of the stuff that would ordinarily live in a basement and we're slowly sifting through it. I mean, we're going to keep some of the shit but we're also going to be chucking a lot of it out. Later on this summer, we plan to put a new shed in the yard, at the end of our driveway, where I can store seasonal stuff and things that I need to have to access to but not all of the time. We have an old-school aluminum garden shed that we keep patio furniture, bikes, lawn mower, gardening tools, etc. in but is has stupid sliding doors that freeze up in the winter. The shed I've got my eye on is vinyl and the doors open out. If we put it at the end of the driveway, there will always been a clear path shoveled to it and I can keep stuff like Christmas decorations out there and it won't be a major task to haul them back into the house in December. Installing a shed will also allow us to make the computer room / office into a more pleasant space, possibly even a guest bedroom. We'll see.

5. New ceiling fan. Right now, there is this semi-crappy track lighting that we installed after we painted the room. I've never really cared for it but it was okay for what it was at the time. We want to install a hugger ceiling fan (like the one we put in our bedroom last year) as it really throws the light well and it's a great fan.

6. Doors. As it's been just the two of us, we haven't had any doors upstairs. No two doors matched in this house and they took up way too much space so we just ripped them out when we moved in. In the bathroom and the front bedroom (where LOG will be sleeping), we have curtains up but I'm thinking that we're gonna want doors again. Fortunately, this time, we can purchase doors that actually match and that aren't totally shitty cheap crap that has been pulled out of the dump.

We figure that most of this stuff can be done over the next couple of weekends. Originally, we wanted to rip out the disgusting yellow/gold/puke carpet that is on our stairs and the upstairs landing but we've decided to live with it until we can afford to have it all ripped out and replaced with something nicer. When we first started talking about him moving in last fall, we had a shit load of ideas of things that we were going to do and we've really scaled that down. Partly because of the cash but mostly because of the laziness.

The work will be totally worth it though because it'll mean that our bathroom is finally finished and we'll have a lot less running around to do as far as LOG goes. He currently lives about 7 minutes away from us, in an apartment building that is mostly full of seniors. On a purely cosmetic level, it's a beautiful building. It's well maintained and very safe. It's also about 5 million degrees in there and I don't know how any person can live in it. LOG is always complaining about being short of breath. I suggest, on a regular basis, that this is because there is no air in his home. He also doesn't do anything all day. He watches TV, makes his meals, and that's about it. He lives on the main floor, right next to the lobby, so he doesn't even have far to go to get his mail. When he moves in here, he's going to have to go up and down the stairs several times a day. Hopefully this exercise (and breathing fresh air instead of gross apartment air) will improve his circulation and he'll have more energy than he has now. I know that I'll have more energy. I won't miss running back and forth and back and forth to this apartment. I also think that, as crotchety and mean as we can be, it'll be good for him to have some company. It'll be better for all of us I think. I hope. If it's not, we'll have to figure out a way to deal with it but, I have to say, I won't miss going into the sauna that he lives in. Won't miss it a bit!

The weekend is off to a slow start. We could have slept in this morning but didn't really. We didn't jump up and out of bed at 5:30 either though. We had a lazy morning of watching tv, munching on some breakfast and not much else. I think that the rest of the day is going to continue along the same lines as it started out.

For the first time ever, I'm playing the Daily Dirt:

Give me your?
1. Top 5 favourite movies:

These aren't actually my top 5 favourites. These are just five favourites that I could think of off of the top of my head:

Dogma, Auntie Mame, Highway 61, Best in Show and Hannah and Her Sisters

2. Top 5 dates:

My birthday, May 13, our anniversary, August 6, Mark's birthday, April 14, Hallowe'en, October 31 and whichever day of the year Mardi Gras happens to fall on.

3. Top 5 drinks:

Water, Diet Coke with Lime, black coffee, frozen lime margaritas and fresh squeezed orange juice.

4. Top 5 TV Shows:

The Simpsons, Coronation Street, The Sopranos, EastEnders and NYPD Blue.

5. Top 5 websites:

Plain Jane, Margaret Cho's Blog, the NY Times online, The Onion and google.

There wasn't a Friday Five this week so I found one in the archives, from this week in 2002:

1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day?

When I get out of bed, I scoot to the loo. After that, I pull on my workout gear and head downstairs to do 30-45 minutes of exercise, Monday to Friday anyway. On the weekends, the routine flies out of the window.

2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed?

I brush my teeth, put on some hand cream, turn off the television and kiss my hunny goodnight.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day?

I can't think of anything new that I've added to my routine recently.

4. What routine do you wish you could get rid of?

The running back and forth we do to Mark's dad's place. We will be getting rid of this though as he'll be moving in with us next month.

5. What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day?

Exercise. I never used to do it on a regular basis. For the past 16 months though, I've done it every day and now I find that I really miss it when I can't do it.

On an unrelated note, here's something of vital importance:


Cheese Test: What type of cheese are you?

radio radio

I love radio. I'm a radio junkie I guess. I love non-commercial radio, community run or publicly funded. One of the things I love most about the internet is the ability to find community radio stations from far away places that my radio would not be able to pick up. For the past day though, I've broken from my usual "no commercial radio ever" rule and have been listening to Radio Air America. Ads and all, this is terrific radio. It's refreshing to hear folks in the states talking candidly, in public, about how fucked up the shit is in Washington. I mean, I know that no government anywhere is without it's flaws but I'm thankful, on a regular basis that I don't live down south of the border.

Not that things aren't messed up around here. I was reading in the Toronto Star yesterday that they arrested some kids in connection with the anti-Semitic vandalism that happened over the March break. I was saddened, but not shocked, to hear that it was just kids. It struck particularly close to home for us because the cemetery that they smashed up is where Mark's mum is buried (fortunately, her stone was not touched) and Mark's uncle is a member at the Pride of Israel Synagogue which was vandalized. I'm not religious, but I was really upset about this because of the ignorance that is involved in acts like this. My heart broke as I thought about the little old people who would have been going to the cemetery on Sunday morning as part of their weekly ritual, and discovered the damage. People who do things like this are just bullies and I'm happy to hear that they have found and will be prosecuted.

On a happier note, my cold is getting better, little by little and I should be back to good as new by the weekend. Here's hoping anyway.