santa's big fall

I realized tonight, although it's something I've been thinking about for a few days now, that when one of your illuminated Santa's fall down from the window, it's officially time to take the decorations down.

I think I'll get a start on that tomorrow. That seems like a good "new years-y" thing to do.

Happy New Year gang. Have a fun and safe night!

installed!

installed!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

while Mark was under the weather this week, there wasn't a whole lot of stuff I could around the house that wouldn't involve banging and clanging stuff around. admittedly, I'm a bit of a clanger / banger when it comes to cleaning and puttering. in an effort to be quiet while remaining handy in case he hollered for something, I tackled my office desk. it had become piled up with papers, some ours, some Joe's, some which needed filing, some which could be recycled, generally it was a mess.

it took me almost an entire day to get it all sorted out and sifted through. when it was finished though, I could finally install my christmas gift from Mark. He gave me a 300 Gb external drive for backing up and storing all of my media crap. I have a tonne of movies and tv shows on my machine which take up a huge amount of room.

it snowed again today. it's actually been quite chilly around here for the past couple of days and we actually have snow on the ground right now. earlier, while I was chatting on the phone, our neighbour came over and plowed out the driveway. he's so sweet isn't he? it was a light fluffy snow but it was so nice to not have to go out and shovel anything more than the steps and the porch.

Mark continues to feel better day by day. he went to work this morning but it was really dead so he packed it in early. I'm glad he did too, the roads were really crappy this morning because the city did not send the plows out until they were sure that it wasnt' going to melt by noon.

Mark feeling better and me tidying up my office aside, we haven't been doing much. We've watched quite a few movies over the past week or so. Metal: A Headbanger's Journey was much better than I expected and the film maker is Canadian which was cool. I particularly liked how Ronnie James Dio was making digs at Gene Simmons. Having watched the Simmons' family reality show, I had an appreciation for the digs that I may have not had before. The metal world is an odd place but then I knew that from my years at the radio station, talking to metal label reps on the phone!

On Christmas night, The Family Stone was on. Boy that sucked. I thought it would be funny. It was not. It was mean spirited and stupid. Oh, it was also predictable. Dumb!

The other morning, while poor Mark was sick in bed, I crawled in with him and we watched a couple of documentaries: New York Doll and Positively Naked. Both of these are worth seeing if you have a chance. I thought that while they both had sort of sad endings, they also said a lot about hope and the power of the human spirit.

Last night, we watched The Queen. Good stuff. I mean, I love love love Helen Mirren (what's not to love) and she was wonderful as Queen Elizabeth. Michael Sheen, the chap who played Tony Blair was good too I thought.

I have attemped, a couple of times, to watch Christmas with the Kranks and, despite the fact that the Raveonettes are on the soundtrack, I cannot get into this. It's another stupid pile of steaming christmas poo.

I'm sure that we'll watch a few more movies this weekend. I think we're going to try Thank You For Smoking this afternoon and see how that goes. If all else fails, we can always watch the Vicar of Dibley christmas special!!

sickness sucks

mark waits for soup
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

poor mark, he was sick over the entire Christmas Holiday weekend. He even missed two days of work (which he almost never does).

today, he's feeling better after a visit to the doctor and a bowl of noodle soup yesterday. the sickness was making it impossible for him to sleep on top of things so he was pretty exhausted. I made him stay up all day yesterday though. He actually had a decent night's sleep last night, the naps he was catching over the past couple of days got him onto a weird cycle.

we stayed home for the past couple of days and nicely avoided the boxing day madness. we did stop make a couple of stops yesterday though and the stores were practically empty. this was good. Mark was able to pick up a portable DVD player (with a case and a bunch of other doo-dahs) to use in the cab and we got a new dvd player for the bedroom (ours died - we got a floor model which is WAY better than our old one ever was, for $47.99). we also picked up the Family Guy Season 4 and the Simpsons Season 9 while were out. We've got lots to watch! I received the Freaks and Geeks from my brother for Christmas. I'm looking forward to watching that over the weekend. I didn't realize how much we used the DVD player in the bedroom until it died. We're spoiled, aren't we?

Anyway, Mark went back to work today and I'm just puttering around the house, doing laundry at the moment. I'm still off from work for another week and a bit and have basically no plans, which is nice. As I said, I'm spoiled and it's good!!

accumulation

accumulation
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

this morning it snowed.

finally.

folks had been whining about our green christmas and for a few minutes, it looked like they may at least have a white boxing day.

of course, the snow soon turned to wet rain and it was all green again by late afternoon.

yay.

I'm not one for shoveling it if I can avoid it.

it was a spongebob christmas

it was a spongebob christmas
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

did you have a nice day today?

I had a very nice day today.

We spent a lovely afternoon with my parents and brother. It was a lot of fun. We ate a huge meal and opened presents, played games and joked around. We all had a good time.

My dad in particular seemed to be having fun. This year, he received a nintendo game cube with a Tiger Woods golf game. I doubt very much that my mum will see much of him until the spring comes. He spent much of the day in the basement, in front of his big screen tv, playing golf and laughing. blissed out is probably the best way to describe it.

It was great to see my brother. This year, we gave him the "Mousetrap" game. We had it when were kids. I remember how we'd set it up and then drop the trap but I don't think we ever actually played by the rules. We did today and it was a lot of fun.

The only spanner in the works today was that Mark wasn't feeling 100%. He's not been feeling that great over the past couple of days and it seems to have caught up with him. We ended up leaving my mum's place earlier than we had originally planned because he really needed to get home.

He seems to be feeling a little better right now but when we first got home, he was in a huge amount of discomfort. Hopefully, tonight he'll get a good rest and will feel better tomorrow. Originally, we had plans to attend a family open house out of town tomorrow but we've decided to stay home and rest up. He needs a "do nothing day" and that will be tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm yawning a bit myself right now so I think I'll toddle off to bed. 'night all!!

not unlike a ghost town

Today my holiday baking project continued. I made my shortbread cookies in the morning and then, after lunch, I got my Almond Coconut Cookies made. Mark helped me by doing the chocolate dipping on the Almond cookies.

Late this afternoon, we realized that we needed a couple of things at the grocery store. These weren't things that we wouldn't be able to live without for a couple of days but we thought we'd take a chance and hit the shop while we still could. Surprisingly, there was no traffic. The store was dead, possibly the least busy I've ever seen this particular store. It was nice. We were in and out quickly and painlessly.

We also made cookie deliveries to some friends. I really wanted to get the bulk of them to folks before Christmas Day, while everything was really fresh. It was also a nice excuse to see some friends for quick visits on the doorstep. Next week, after the holiday is over, we can meet up for proper chats.

Right now, as I type this, the Woodland Critter Christmas episode is playing in the background, the neighbourhood is peaceful and Norad is tracking the "big guy" with all their fancy equipment.

Whatever you celebrate this week, or last, or don't, I hope that you all have a happy holiday tomorrow (because, if nothing else, it is a stat holiday in most places). For those that do celebrate, Merry Christmas folks.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Chewy Coconut Cookies
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Don't they look yummy?

They smell amazing. I haven't tasted one yet but Mark assures me that they are good.

I also made chocolate chip jumbos (made with Christmas Smarties instead of chips) today. Slowly, the baking is getting done. I packed everything up kind of early today because we were expecting some company.

I'll finish up tomorrow, I still have two more batches that I'd like to do. In particular, I'd like to make some shortbread. I haven't done that in a couple of years and my brother really likes it.

Admittedly, I'm having a lot of fun baking. It's all cookies this year, no squares. I'm sticking to what I'm good at. If I do say so myself, I can bake a mean cookie! I can't take a lot of credit though, it's in my genes. I come from a long long line of excellent cookie bakers!!

...must be christmas

ready, set, bake!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I'm finally starting my proper, cookie baking marathon today. I'm ready and actually looking forward to it!

btw, you can tell that the festive season is upon us again by the movies that pop up on television at this time year.

this morning I turned on the television and "Pink Flamingos" was on. nothing says "christmas time" like a movie about the filthiest people in the world.

I heart John Waters.

wrapping it up

"disco ball" ornament
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

This year, Mark and I did considerably less holiday shopping than we have in past year. Partly this is because his dad passed away this year so that's one less person on our list but mostly it's because going "nuts" isn't really necessary. Particularly when it comes to buying for each other. There are a few things that we'd like for the house and a couple of DVD sets that we'd like to pick up but we'll wait for after the holidays, when the big Boxing Week sales are on and probably get what we're looking for, for a fraction of what it would cost this week.

Having said that, it still took me several hours to get everything wrapped up this morning. At least that part's done though. It feels good actually. Now, if I could just bring myself to start baking, I'll be in really good shape!

no line-ups

holiday display featuring Santa on a bike!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Is it me or are the stores just not that busy this year?

I went out really early this morning with some parcels to post and I needed to pick up a few things and was shocked at how empty the shops were. There was no traffic, I could pretty much park where I wanted to. It was weird.

Tonight, Mark and I drove around in the west end of the city, looking at the holiday lights. I particularly liked one house that had a bike riding Santa on the lawn. It was motorized and Santa actually pedaled. I guess it's not surprising that Santa would be getting around by bike. Considering how mild it is, his sleigh is going to be useless if this weather keeps up (and I'm hoping it does!)!!

at last...

I'm on vacation.

Four weeks worth of vacation actually.

Today was my last day in the office until January 8.

Am I a lucky girl or what? It still doesn't quite feel real, that I'll be off for four whole weeks.

I have a few things planned for the first week but nothing really beyond that (besides the obvious holiday stuff later on in the month).

Not since I was a kid in elementary school have I had this much time off. It feels kind of good although, not entirely real at the moment.

holiday lights

holiday lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I'm on another long weekend.

Lucky girl huh? Two in a row. And, a week from today, I start my christmas holidays.

We still haven't had any snow and it really doesn't feel a whole lot like Christmas but I'm starting my "baking" this weekend. Because next Friday is my last day in the office before the Holidays, I'm getting little gift things together for the women on my team at work. I'm giving them some Hershey Pretzel Treats and a DVD of some Christmas stuff.

Anyway, I should get at it, those kisses aren't going to unwrap themselves, are they?

candy canes

today was a gorgeous day around these parts.

it was sunny, warm, gorgeous.

it was so nice, in fact, that I was able to put up our outdoor "holiday lights" without wearing a coat. weird but nice.

so now, our porch is illuminated again. we have strings of multi-coloured lights on the railing and big red glowing candy canes attached to the spindles. it looks really pretty.

I still need to get my living room window done but that's easy enough, it's all "inside work."

our neighbourhood is starting to light up and it's really pretty!!

what a difference a day makes

Today is the first day, all week pretty much, that I have felt half-way decent.

Yikes.

Today has actually been a very good day, I got lots done at work, we did lots of errands after work. I have tomorrow off and I don't have to go anywhere. I shall putter around my house and do what I want, pretty much, when I want to.

nice huh?

so very sick

to my stomach.

still.

it comes and goes.

mostly I wish that it would go.

tonight, I feel particularly yucky and I'm not thrilled about it.

fun huh?

snow on the porch

snow on the porch
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it doesn't look like much but it actually did snow here, at some point through the night last night.

it didn't amount to much, it didn't last too long.

it did, however, remind us that winter is almost here, that the snow could possibly be something that we have to deal with again, like it or not.

happy monday, huh?

home again, home again

busy intersection
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

giggity...giggity...gig..gig

yeah, we're home.

I had a 22 hour day yesterday. 6 hours of sleep last night. a tiny little bit of food poisoning on top of that, just for fun.

I'm so glad to be home. I missed the fish. I missed my bed.

If I'm lucky, I'll figure out how to keep my eyes open long enough to watch the simpsons tonight.

If I'm luckier, I'll be able to have a nap for a few hours, right now.

there really is, no place like home!

inside the carwash

inside the carwash
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

things we did tonight:

1. ran errands (dollar store, costco)

2. went out for dinner (chinese, just mediocre)

3. washed the van (in a carwash, guess it should be called a "vehicle wash" cuz it doesn't just wash cars

4. made a list, checked it twice

5. piled up stuff that I need to pack in the morning

6. packed up stuff that I won't need tonight

7. worried a little about my trip out of tomorrow for work, I didn't want to do this but I did.

8. wished you all a very happy weekend

harvey night in canada

things we did tonight:

1. mailed parcels

2. bought 12 grain cereal (for making bread with)

3. visited costco for the rest of the groceries

4. ate dinner

5. drove across the new centennial drive overpass (just because - it opened yesterday)

6. drove by the new "fountain" in market square (it's sad, disappointing, tiny and plain - sort of like the mayor's term in office!)

7. drove past the lvec construction site (also sad and disappointing)

8. came home and got ready for bed

9. wrote this post (such as it is)

happy friday!

sunset

sunset
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I really like this time of the year. particularly, I enjoy the sun being up earlier in the morning since the time changed the other weekend. what I'm not thrilled about though, at least not until the holiday lights go up, is how dark it gets so early. I know it's a fact of life and something that happens every year but still, it doesn't thrill me to come home in the dark.

things at work have calmed down over the past couple of days and I'm feeling much better about things in general. feeling like you're always reacting is not good. I'm a planner and a list-maker and I am enjoying actually being able to plan my days again. it's a little boring I'm sure but it keeps me sane.

vote early and often

vote early and often
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

we voted tonight at an advance poll for next week's municipal elections. we used the electronic voting machines and didn't have any problems with them. I'm not sure why things got so mucked up over the weekend with them but everything ran smoothly for us.

given that one of the key issues in the mayoral race is about the LVEC, it felt kind of nice to be voting in the Memorial Centre. felt a little bit like we were all flipping the bird at the folks who shoved the LVEC through.

speaking of birds, there was a mallard on our front lawn when we got home. he was just wandering across the grass. Mark got some bread and the poor guy just sat under our tree watching us while Mark tore up a slice. eventually, he quacked a little and then wandered over to the neighbours. I hope he's not injured, he seemed really tame and a little stunned. he didn't eat any of the bread but it was dark rye and Mark thought that if he wasn't a Jewish duck, he might not like it. I wondered if he maybe wasn't full from being fed up the street already. either way, I hope he's okay. when I looked out about 30 minutes later, he hadn't come back.

be safe little duck dude.

smokey sky devil

smokey sky devil
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

poor mark had a weird day today.

most days for both of us are strange at times, as are yours I'm sure.

today, he picked up a fare and drove the guy to his destination. despite the early hour, the fellow was already drunk. upon arrival at his home, the guy informed mark that he was $3 short but that he'd go to his apartment and get what he owed. after a few minutes, the fellow came back and told mark that he was locked out but that he could get it at the restaurant next door.

patiently, mark waited for the guy but by this time, he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to see the $3. eventually, the guy came back sans $3. he assured mark that he would pay what he owed him and began panhandling beside the cab. you have to admire his effort but mark cut his losses and left. mark was both amused and disgusted at the same time.

fortunately for me, as frustrating as things might get, I pretty much never have to wait for someone to panhandle for me to get paid.

compared to that, my day (which was actually pretty good) was like floating on a cloud. yikes.

so, how was your monday?

borat movie = good laughs

This afternoon, we saw Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakstan. We were already fans of Borat from Da Ali G show and we both enjoyed it, a lot. Several times, I laughed so hard that I cried. That doesn't happen every day, let me tell you. If you like Borat, you'll like the movie. If you think that Borat is stupid, don't see this movie. You just won't like it! We hadn't been to the movies in a while. I am always surprised, and I don't know why, at how bad the coming attractions look. We saw two trailers for "Turistas" and both of them made me laugh at how bad it looked. Just horrible. Does anyone actually go to see these movies or do they go direct to DVD.

It was nice to get out of the house for a while. On Thursday, I went home from work early. I just felt lousy. I had a bad headache and a horrible sore throat. I also stayed home on Friday. For most of the day, I slept. When I woke up this morning, I felt much much better. I think I had whatever Mark had last week. It was pretty yucky. I think that all the sleep really made the difference. I don't think I've been getting enough of it lately. Not at all.

119

Last night, we had 119 trick-er-treaters at our door. Well, technically, we had 115. One treat bag went to a friend of Mark's who popped by (his friend has a little girl so I made him promise that he would give it to her when he got home). There were three really goofy teenagers who were at the door twice. When I asked them if they had been here earlier, they all denied it. I wanted to say, "dudes, you are the only three who are wearing your masks pulled up on your head like that. You all look like you are heading to a clan meeting, seriously!" but I didn't. I just grinned and gave them each another bag.

By 7:02 p.m. I had one bag of candy left so I turned the light off. There was a group of four kids at the bottom of the driveway and I didn't think it would be fair to turn three away empty handed.

I was glad when the last one was gone because I was feeling really shitty. My bones were aching and I was really warm. I think I've had a low grade fever the past couple of days. I've felt like hammered shit all week. No fun. It was cute to see the kids last night. Lots of little princesses...there were also a number of Freddy Kruegers. I hadn't realized that Freddy was so popular again. I'm not so sure if it's appropriate for little boys to be dressed as the offspring of a nun who was raped by criminally insane psychiatric patients but then again, I'm not a parent so what do I know?

happy halloween!!

happy halloween!!
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it looks like we've had a break in the storm. the sun actually seemed to trying to poke through the clouds a few minutes ago. of course, it'll be dark in a few moments so that will have been short-lived.

with any kind of luck, it won't rain on the wee ones tonight. we've got the rest of our decorations up, mark has the strobe light set up in the basement window under the porch so that will be cool when it's good and dark.

I have enough goodie bags for 120 kids. after that, the door will be closed. I'm sure it'll be fun and all but I'm not really feeling that well. I've felt a little off for a couple of days now and I think I had a fever all day, I definitely had a headache and some joint ache. yuck. I'm sure that seeing lots of cute kids will make me feel better. how can it not??

kingston at night

kingston at night
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

if they had a contest to see which city had the most asshole drivers per capita, across ontario, I'm sure that Kingston could win.

tonight, after work, we needed to go to the bank and to costco. on oue way home, this jerk in a giant pickup truck (is it me or does it just seem like all of these asshole drive pick-up trucks?) tries to pull out to pass us, as we're changing lanes along concession street. if you have ever travelled concession street you will remember that as soon as you cross the intersection from bath or princess onto concession, there are two immediate right turns: one into the liquor store and one into the beer store. There are a lot of dozey folks driving along this strip of road, most of the time.

Just past the beer store, two lanes of traffic join into one. As Mark started changing lanes (to get out of the one that was ending), this truck-hole speeds up to get past us. Fortunately, Mark sped up or he would have hit us. Once we got past him, we saw him turn right onto Macdonnell street. Like, he wanted to get past us so we would have to stop to let him turn. Asshole?

Another guy cut us off in the same spot on Friday night. I had my camera out that time and got him on video - Ontario plate 835 RSS. Should have been "835 ASS" but I'm sure that was taken by some other bad driver. Maybe they should have a contest about this, we didn't win Hockeyville but maybe we could win assholeville.

autumn leaves

autumn leaves
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Today ended up being very lazy. very very lazy actually. We watched a buttload of television. A few episodes of Weeds (season 2), a couple of episodes of Extras (the last one from season 1 and the first from season 2 - holy crap that is one funny show).

In the middle of all of the watching of the tv, I sorted out Joe's clothing. It's something I'd been avoiding but that I'm glad I did. I have four piles now. There is a Mark pile, a "rag bag" pile, a goodwill pile and a garbage pile. We still have to sort through all of his personal items, mostly just photos and knick knacks. I think that will wait for another day. The clothes was a big messy thing that needed doing. I know that when the time comes to sort through the other things, that will be sad. Right now, I know that Joe would be really happy if he knew that someone was going to be really warm this winter with the things we're giving to charity.

I'm so glad that I took some time last weekend to snap a few photos of the fall colours. They are totally gone right now.

Partly they are gone because it's dark out (one of the downsides of the time change). Mostly they are gone because the wind has been howling all day.

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if our power went off soon. There has been a hydro truck parked directly across the street from us for a little while. We first noticed it when our living room lit up and there was a huge skeleton shadow on the wall above the television.

The shadow was neat, the lights on the tv was not. They are working on something out there and the wind is still howling.

Hopefully it's not a hydro truck. It would be better for me if it was a phone truck. We have voip so I don't think that would bug us if the phone lines conked out.

Happy thoughts huh??

stuff what I did today

halloween candy
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

1. woke up, leisurely
2. drank coffee, it was delicious
3. did laundry, 4 loads full
4. baked bread, with multi-grain goodness
5. vacuumed the whole upstairs
6. cleaned the kitchen (including the stove which I have been avoiding and which now sparkles like nobody's business)

I feel good to have accomplished so much today. It's been a while since I've felt really productive. Mark helped out too, he got a bunch of things done as well but I won't list 'em because I didn't do 'em

Tomorrow should be a lazy day I think. It was rainy and miserable here all day today so I didn't really feel inspired to get out and do stuff. It made doing stuff inside so much easier.

Oh, btw, this is a picture of the goodie bags we're shelling out on Tuesday night. They are piled up in my office and smell very bubble-gummy.

yum

cold & lonely little june bug

cold & lonely little june bug
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Friday.

It feels good.

At work today, I actually accomplished two projects that were on my to do list. Two things that I have wanted to get to for a few weeks now but they were shoved to the bottom of the priority list by more urgent items. It felt really good to have an opportunity to actually work on my own stuff for a change.

I actually left the office tonight, sans laptop. Huh? Yeah, you heard me, no laptop! No office work for this chickie this weekend.

I have many many many things that I hope to get done around the house this weekend. Things of the cleaning variety. Things of the "oh crap I can't believe that I have left that for this long" ilk.

The weather is supposed to be horribly shitty this weekend. We did errands on the way home tonight which, should it happen, allow us to avoid going out at all if we don't feel like it.

In other news, we saw this little lonely june bug (I think it's a june bug, it looks like one to us) in the parking lot at the grocery store. Funny how sometimes you don't think twice about stomping on a bug and other times, well you just may feel a little sorry for them.

I love a boring day!

Today was typically busy but different in a couple of ways.

1. I did not feel a sense of panic at any time during the day. This is a big deal because I've frequently felt that way recently.

2. I took a break for about 45 minutes, went to the building next door to where I work and ate my lunch with a friend. This is also a big deal (although it shouldn't be) because I've not been taking breaks with any regularity.

Right now, I'm home for the night. We don't have any errands to do, nothing to keep us from home. I'm glad because I'm tired, dog tired. I yawned the entire way home, seriously. I'm yawning as I type this actually.

Being home feels good and honestly, too often recently, I don't feel good. I'm going to relish this.

ya got no water

when we drove up our street tonight, we noticed that our new neighbours had their front flower bed completely ripped up.

The bed is beneath their living room window, just to the right of their front porch. Mark commented that it looked like they were excavating for an enterance to the basement (perhaps for a basement apartment - this is pretty common in our neighbourhood). To me, it seemed more like they were having a problem of some sort because there two guys in the hole and two ladies "overseeing" the job from the driveway.

As we walked up our front step, our new next door neighbour lady said to us, "ya got no water."

My first thought was, great, they hit something while digging and now the street has been turned off. I looked at Mark and could tell that he was thinking the same "oh shit" thing that I was. She kept staring us and I realized that her statement was actually a question, "ya got no water" = "do you have water in your basement?"

She went on to explain that they had a full basement last night and that they were trying to figure it out. It looks like they have a big job on their hands.

Fortunately, we had no water in our basement. It was dry as a bone. Of course our water in the pipes was still running. It was just sort of a weird exchange. For a moment, it felt like we were both speaking different languages.

decorations!!

My halloweenie window decorations are up!

They look great.

We don't go nuts with the fake grave yard on the front lawn or anything but we will "spook up" the porch on the night.

I haven't taken any photos yet but I will.

Yay!!

short week

...why do short weeks always feel so long?

I guess it is the result of cramming five days of work into 4 days. forget feeling restful kiddos. it's going to be another busy week.

Oh well, I should have been smarter than to think that I'd be able to maintain my more mellow composure upon returning to work.

I suppose that it's better to busy working in a job I very much like than to be unemployed and worried. perspective is a very valuable thing, isn't it?

giving thanks

happy thanksgiving day everyone.

as I say every year, remember folks, you are what you eat!

we, on the other hand have had a blissfully, turkey-free weekend. today, I have even had a long over-due opportunity to be a veg, so far anyway.

I can't imagine that anything will change that, how nice huh?

ode to an empty grocery store

sometimes I don't mind going shopping. when I was younger, I was a bit of a mallrat, as were my friends.

these days, if I have something I sort of need to get and the weather isn't too bad and the stores aren't too busy, I can shop. When it's really desperate though, like I have no food in the house and I have no choice but to shop, and it's raining, well then it's not fun.

this morning, heathens that we are, we shopped while everyone else was in church, being thankful. it was so nice to get parked easily, to have the stores practically to ourselves and to not have to deal with folks who seem, quite frankly, too frightened to drive, in the parking lots.

with the errands run and the laundry done (got that done yesterday), I might actually be able to put my feet up tomorrow. How nice will that be?!!

woke up...

...fell out of bed...

well, sort of.

I got up at 3:45 a.m. to pee and was unable to get back to sleep. nice huh?? the first saturday that I haven't worked in a while and I couldn't sleep in!!

I did get some things done though:

1. changed the beds and washed all the bedding
2. did the last odds and ends of Joe's laundry
3. packed away my summer clothes
4. pulled out and sorted my fall clothes
5. baked a loaf of bread
6. cleaned up the kitchen
7. did some dusting
8. watched 3 episodes (intermittently) of "Gene Simmons' Family Jewels"
9. helped mark start the emptying of the pool process

I've yet to have a shower but I'll get to that soon.

Tomorrow, I'll do more laundry and get some groceries and very little else!

too much time on my hands (not really)

as I typed that "topic" line I was reminded of a really bad Styx song from my childhood. the things that your brain will retrieve huh?? it's sick

today was marginally better at work. I say marginally because I didn't feel like crying in frustration too many times. that has to be an improvement over yesterday, doesn't it?

I spent a little while this morning, organizing myself. this is not something I've had much opportunity to do just recently and I think it's what contributed to my mini-meltdown yesterday. going through the various mounds of paper on my desk was very comforting. I discovered that about 1/4 of it was shred-able, and about 1/4 of it was heading for the recycle box. Of the half that was left, a small amount could be filed into a binder, the rest was divided into actual project folders. no longer am I the pile's bitch!! I was able to deal with about 1 and 1/2 project folders and have a better idea of what exactly I need to be doing over the next week.

I'd hoped to get so far ahead of the game that I could actually take a day off next week but I don't think that will happen. it's okay though, I might actually get some proper sleep this weekend and take one of the three days off, completely off.

how nice will that be??

meltdown much?

today was not a good day.

I think that everything that's been going on in my life over the past 6 weeks or so has just caught up with me, or rather did today.

I know that I've been working too much but don't feel like I can control that.

I know that Mark and I spent a day and a half, just two weeks ago, watching his dad struggle for breath, waiting for him to die. I'm glad that we were there for him but it was one of the most horrific things that I have ever had to witness. I would have felt much worse about it if I thought that he was actually in any pain while the whole thing was happening. It's just not an easy thing to face, it's definitely nothing like what you see on soap operas. It's not romantic or sexy, it's difficult and gut-wrenching and draining.

I think that between all the working I've been doing, all the sleep that I haven't been getting, the death watch, the funeral, the aftermath...it's just hit me today like a mack truck.

work was extraordinarily frustrating today. right now, I'm at a point where I know that I have a shit load of work to do but I can't seem to get any time to figure it out exactly. this makes me jump into a mode of reaction. I don't like to have to be constantly reacting to situations. ordinarily I'm more organized than that. I can usually see around corners. I can't do that right now. the only things that I think saved my sanity today were being able to go home to Mark and vent and having lunch with a friend earlier in the day. I almost cancelled on her but I'm glad that I didn't. I needed the little bit of a walk to where I was meeting her and I needed just to see someone who didn't need anything from me.

aarrrgghhhh....if only I could get a good night's sleep, maybe I'd feel less like crying than I do right now.

don't fear the ripa

yanno, I was just listening to the Beautiful South's cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper."

for a moment, it sounded like "don't fear the ripa" to me.

I think folks should fear Kelly Ripa.

she sure as hell frightens me.

~~shiver~~

too tired to sleep?

I'm up and almost ready for work but I don't feel like I got any rest at all over the weekend.

rest is probably for weenies anyway.

I think I've gotten to a point where I'm too tired to get a good night's rest. When I do get to sleep, I dream about work and that wakes me up.

it's not good, is it?

decorations

so I ended up working 12 hours yesterday, it was a really long day but it all went well. that's the most important thing.

My feet were so sore by the time I got home that I had a tough time falling asleep. I'm still feeling a little yucky as far as the cold symptoms go but I don't think that this will develop into a full-blown cold. right now, it feels more like a "hey I'm overtired" type of thing. I will NOT get sick!

the only thing that I've really accomplished today has been cleaning up the kitchen and doing the laundry. that's good I guess. I would have liked to have cleaned some more but I didn't have the energy.

I did find my halloween decorations though. Mark told me though (and he's right, I know) that I probably shouldn't put them up until the pool is put away. I tried to convince him that we can turn the pool into a giant apple bobbing tank but he didn't go for it!

crap!

Almost everyone I work with is showing cold symptoms and I seem to be having them too. My head feels full and I can't stop coughing or blowing my nose. To make matter worse, I'll probably end up working at least 10 hours or so today. The timing couldn't be worse.

Is it October yet?

good grief, long day

11 hours. That's how long I was at the office today.

insanity.

oh well, it's almost over. tomorrow I will need to go into the office in a morning for a little while, there are a few loose ends that I need to tie up. I should have some time in the afternoon to chill out at home before our event tomorrow night but I'm not 100% sure that will happen. I'm not feeling stressed though, just sort of tired. I'm looking forward to it being over. One of my colleagues is the MRP for the event, she's feeling the stress in a huge way. I know that everything will work out just fine but still, you worry, right?

the entire month of September has been kind of crazy for me, between it being the busiest month of the year (no kidding!) at work, and Joe dying in the middle of it, I haven't really had much time to catch my breath.

October should be much better, I just keep thinking about that. September will soon be over and we can all sleep again!!

olde tyme gas pump

olde tyme gas pump
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

It's been so dark outside all day today that our "hey it's dark so we better kick in" lights on the deck were on shortly after 6 p.m.

it's been raining all day too which is kind of a bummer, it was chilly too. I am still wearing sandals though (well not right now but to wokr today), I don't want to give up on them quite yet.

today's blog photo was taken in the city of my birth. we stopped off there to get gas on the way home from Toronto over the weekend. I wish we could have pumped gas from this particular pump, and paid the same prices that folks paid for it when it was still in use. Unfortunately, we had to use the regular pumps and pay 2006 prices for it.

On a completely unrelated note, I was interested to read about the "Mama Mona Lisa" business. I think it's really cool that they were able to see more detail on the painting, so much so that they could see the type of fabric in the garment she wore. Part of it seems like yet another "celebrity pregnancy" story but I found it to be neat, all the same.

storm windows

have you ever heard of anyone in this part of the world putting up storm windows in September?? me neither

yesterday, I get into the office and it's stuffy as hell. I open the window, turn on my little fan and sit at my desk. it's still stuffy as hell. where is the breeze?? I was just outside, I know it's out there, why isn't it inside? then I look closely at the window and realize that the inside window is open but the screen has been replaced with storm windows.

morons.

the company that does the windows obviously didn't want to have to be doing this when it was colder than 20 degrees celsius outside.

who the hell thought that was a good idea? I had to turn the air conditioning on. ridiculous. of course, we're supposed to have the mildest winter ever this year, so we better get the storms on because goodness knows, when we have that one really cold day (four months from now) in January, we'll be glad we had them.

the rest of the time, we'll just run the a/c.

autumn sky

autumn sky
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Today I returned to work, it was a long day. It started at an event at 6:30 a.m. I made it through the whole day though, not bad huh?

Admittedly, I'm still moving a little slower than I would care to and I'm not going to be doing any heavy lifting anytime soon but I had a really good at work. It was busy but I feel like I accomplished something.

Talking to folks about Joe was harder than I thought it would be. With folks who I'm not really close to, it was easy. I had a little "moment" though, leaving a message on someone's voice mail. They were really nice about it, and I know I only got so upset about it because I genuinely care about them. I realize that you can never really prepare for someone's death, no matter how long an illness they had, or how sick they were. When it actually, finally, happens, it's still somewhat of a surprise.

After work, we went out to get some groceries. I say "we" but really it was Mark. I wrote the list and waited in the car while he shopped. He's a good shopper, he even found us a deal on dishwasher detergent. yay Mark!

The rest of the week promises to be really busy but it's okay, it's probably good actually.

crooked

crap.

I'm up, I'm sipping coffee, I'm still crooked as hell.

Admittedly, I feel slightly better than I did last night but it still hurts to walk and I can barely sit up in the chair right now. I think I have to get back to bed and call in sick. I really didn't want to do this, I need to get back into the office (we have a big thing happening on Saturday) but I am worried that if I drag myself into work, that I'll be worse tomorrow and be totally screwed for the weekend.

Stress sucks, doesn't it folks? arrgghhh!!

sore

last night, we were in bed by 8 p.m.

Up until we got home yesterday, we were holding ourselves together pretty well. Being home though, around familiar stuff, around Joe's stuff (a lot of his things were still in his room here at the house) was difficult.

When we got home, there was a beautiful card from my folks waiting for us, reading that made us both cry. Later on, a huge bouquet of flowers from the girls I work with arrived, that made us cry. Of course, I kind of laughed a little as we lit this candle that the funeral home gave us and placed it next to the flowers. In Judaism flowers are not really appropriate when someone dies. I said to Mark that they sort of represented the compromise that Joe made when he decided to move here to be with us. His life became a little more "goy-ish" than it ever had, he even spent Christmas with us at my mum & dad's.

I expect that the next few days will be difficult too. At some point, we need to go over to the nursing home and pack up his things. We had hoped to do that today but my back is completely screwed right now, well my hip really. My body deals with stress by having my hip seize up. This stops me from being able to sit comfortably or walk straight up. It's quite inconvenient and painful and I'm hoping that I'll be better tomorrow because I need to go to work. I'm just grateful that this didn't happen until after we got home (it started a bit last night). Mark says that it's just my body dealing with me holding everything in until the funeral was over and all the stuff we needed to do was done. I think he's right. Hopefully, sleep and ibuprofen will help get me sorted out. I don't want to miss another day of work.

back home

we got home a little while ago.

I can't remember when I've been so tired. the funeral was yesterday morning and it was really nice, I think that Joe would have liked it, he definitely would have liked the rabbi. Fortunately, friends of ours had a connection to this fellow. The rabbi is married to their neice. He was a great guy, young, cool and very respectful of the way we wanted things to go. The whole process was made a lot easier by him.

Right now, I'm feeling really beaten up and tired. My whole body aches and I'm anxious to get into bed. Is 6 p.m. too early to go to bed?

gone

Joe passed away last night, about 2 hours after we left him. I think he kept fighting and hanging on as long as he could hear our voices, at least that is what the nurse told us could happen.

In an hour or so, we're heading to Toronto for his funeral. He has to be buried tomorrow morning, before rosh hashanah starts.

thanks for all of your good thoughts everyone. see you in a couple of days.

still here

kingston general hospital
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Joe's still hanging on.

At 5:15 p.m. today though, we really thought that he died. Mark even went to get the nurse but by the time he was back in the room, Joe was breathing again.

It's still a waiting game, he could go any minute or he could go in a few hours.

It's been a really long day, sitting with him, but I'm glad that we did it. We're heading off to bed now, no matter what happens, tomorrow will be another long day.

don't get old kiddos.

hanging by a thread

well I managed to barely get through my busy week last week, it was really difficult but I made it. I'm still exhausted though and I don't see an end in sight for that. Joe is in the hospital again (he was in for a bit last week) and we don't expect that he'll make it through the next 12 hours.

We've been with him at the hospital all day, he's very weak, his lungs are full of fluid, his heart is very weak and he has a serious infection that is out of control. He's on morphine and oxygen and is very very comfortable right now. We don't expect that he'll regain consciousness though. We hope to get a few hours of sleep tonight and get back to see him in the morning. This has been a long time coming but it still feels strange. I guess you never really know how you're going to feel about something like this until you're in the middle of it.

lovely flowers

lovely flowers
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

aren't they pretty?

gorgeous even!!

they were such a terrific surprise that I almost didn't mind dragging my butt back into work today after working most of the weekend.

the week should go by quickly though, I'm off on Thursday & Friday.

yay!

just fair

so the k-town fair started up today. I heard them testing the polar express the other day so kids will no doubt be able to "go faster" while listening to "welcome to the jungle."

as tradition would have it, it's raining. you can't have a fair without rain, right?

it's supposed to be quite nice tomorrow and saturday though, not something that the k-town fair has had much luck with in recent years. this is good. the sunshine is more than welcome because the really big annual event that I'm working on this weekend could really use some good weather. keep sunny thoughts in your head for saturday if you could, for me...well, up until around 10 p.m. anyway, then it can pour for all I care!!

I'm really pooped tonight, the week has caught up with me. I'm hoping for / expecting a second wind tomorrow. I'll sleep with the windows closed again tonight and hope for the best. I'm looking forward to getting back to a more normal routine in October...I really miss my sleep.

Oh yeah, while I am thinking about it, it's Justin's birthday tomorrow, but I think it is already tomorrow in Melbourne so it's actually right now...Happy Birthday Justin!!

don't bee a doobie

ani
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

got to bed early last night.

in bed, teeth brushed, dark room, nice sheets. yay!

the neighbours two doors down who have a band, a band that usually practices on thursday nights, decide to practice.

they were playing doobie brothers songs.

the drummer didn't sound great, when they finished, we clapped. finally sleep.

then they started again and we booed. sleep, please? now!

I closed the windows and fell asleep.

alex and ani

alex and ani
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

raccoons fought in the neighbourhood last night.

I know this because they woke me up, twice.

nice huh??

the upside of this was that I got into the office by 6 a.m. this morning.

the downside is that I'm a little sleep deprived at the moment.

the week is ticking away and my head is still mushy. it might explode, but I hope not.

how's your week going?

wtf??

so we're both really busy working these days. At the moment, I should probably be at the office instead of at home but sometimes, particularly when your brain turns to oatmeal, you need to go home.

Mark and I both worked a large chunk of Saturday. After work, we did errands, yesterday, we got groceries and did chores. As you can tell, we haven't had a lot of quiet time just recently.

Having said all of that, I popped in to see Joe on Wednesday, a totally flying visit, to collect his laundry and say hello. I apologized for the quick-ness of it and promised that we would make some time on Sunday to see him. So yesterday, in the midst of running around and trying to get stuff done (because this week is quite literally my most insane of the year) we go to visit Joe. We have his clean laundry, we have some cookies for him, we're ready to visit. When we get to his room, he's asleep. This isn't a shock, he's frequently asleep when we go to see him. This time though, we woke up long enough to ask us the following:

1. what time is it?
2. why did you wake me?
3. can't we visit over breakfast?

He then basically told us to get lost, which we then did. Nice huh?

I wish I could say I was heart broken but I couldn't. It was nice to go home and veg out for a little bit. Hopefully he won't be heart broken when we don't get over there again this week to see him.

wrecked room

view of the wrecked room
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I'm a little tired at the moment.

mark and I both worked this morning, from around 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. I was kind of tired when I got up this morning, I'm dreaming about work a lot. When I got home, I wanted to have a nap but knew that I'd never sleep tonight if I did that.

instead, I went out with Mark and did a couple of errands.

I think we're home for the night. It's the end of frosh week today so it's quite busy out there in the big bad world. home feels good right now.

It's cosy too, the weather has turned a little cool. I don't mind it a bit but it's nice to be inside looking out at it rather than outside, shivering. I have to say, I really enjoy the changing seasons. fall might be extremely busy but it's also still my favourite time of the year.

meet syd

meet syd
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

he's no zoid but he's very nice.

we had no intentions of getting a new betta but there you go. we needed water conditioner and ended up looking at the bettas.

this little guy just looked too cool to pass up (not to mention that he was the most active of the group).

Mark's just finished cleaning and disinfecting the old tank and is getting it ready for Syd to move into.

welcome home Syd!!

so long, dr. zoidberg

dr zoidberg
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

our little betta fish, dr. zoidberg passed away today.

he lived in a little tank in our bedroom and was a cool little guy. he had a bit of an attitude at times that, quite frankly, I liked.

we think he had dropsy. over the past few days, we tried to treat it but I guess he was too far gone by the time we noticed that he was feeling crappy.

the weird thing is, every time I've gone into the bedroom since I got home from work, I've walked toward his tank to talk to him or just to say hello.

I'll miss little dr. zoidberg.

he was a very cool fish.

...which circle of "hell" is this?

...which circle of "hell" is this?
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I think we're crazy but we had no choice.

After 24 hours of rain, we took advantage of a break in the storm to run some errands. of course, we forgot that everyone and their dog would be out getting the kids ready for school.

It was pretty sick. Fortunately, we got in and out pretty quickly but boy, there are some dumb folks out there. Many of the folks we saw in the stores were walking around like zombies. Perhaps their kids made them that way, what with all of the buying of the school supplies and stuff.

Luckily, I can't think of a thing we need to do outside of the house tomorrow...this is good, really good, because I can't imagine going back out into that again tomorrow!!

empty lawn chairs

empty lawn chairs
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it's Saturday morning and I could have slept in this morning.

could of but didn't. I feel rested though, and peaceful.

I can hear the coffee dripping and Mark's still sleeping. the house is pretty quiet, the fishies are all kind of dozy in their tanks right now too.

the forecast for the long weekend isn't terrific but that's okay. I'm heading into the office this morning (after I drop Mark off at work) for a few hours. one of the nice things about being in on the weekend is that usually no one else is around so you can putter at your own pace and play music loudly if you want.

this afternoon though, I'm done with work for the rest of the weekend. it'll be nice to be brain dead for a day or so.

happy september!

how did that happen?

it's September 1 today and I can't believe it. seriously. the summer was just too short. I mean, I know it's the same length that it's always been but August was so cold and dreary, it feels like we were ripped off or something.

oh well, at least there's a long weekend coming up. yay!!

so you know?

so, you know when you're so busy that you forget to pee, until you really really really have to pee? yeah, that's what work is like right now.

it'll be like that until at least October 1.

yikes.

I'm hanging in there though, feeling much better as far as the sickness stuff goes. yesterday, again, I was still a little wonky but no where near like it was before.

anyway, I'm hoping that the rest of the week, while I know it'll be busy, will be managable. I plan to go into the office for at least a few hours on Saturday (Mark is working Saturday, it'll be nice and quiet then) and get some things sorted out that I can't seem to get to when the phones are ringing off the wall.

so yeah, it's busy but it's good. yay!

it's back

aarrghh

I literally dragged myself through the day today. In retrospect, I should have stayed home but I had stuff that needed dealt with at the office so in I went.

For some odd reason, I'm actually feeling better right now than I have in days. I must be better, right?

it's so sunday-y

greetings.

the worst of whatever I had seems to have passed. thank goodness!!

today is shaping up to be far more productive than the last two have been (although I did manage to get the laundry done, somehow...).

Unfortunately, the weather has been crap this morning so we've not ventured out. Mark's been puttering around in the basement, I've been riding the sofa doing some work and watching some movies. I brought some stuff home from the office and had great plans of getting it sorted out on Friday morning. So far though, I haven't figured out how to work on a lap top and sleep at the same time.

Oh well, all's well that ends well. right?

craptacular

I'm still feeling wonky. The symptoms have changed though, from allergy madness (sneezy, watery eyes, dizzy, sleepy) to more of a stomach flu thing.

I had no appetite this morning but by around 1 p.m., I was starving. I actually felt a little better. Mark's uncle and cousin were here to visit Joe and wanted to take us out for lunch. Because I was so hungry and feeling better, I went along. The meal was lovely but unfortunately, it was a huge mistake.

I've spent the better part of this afternoon, let's just say "not feeling very well." On an up note, it was nice to see the uncle and cousin and before I started feeling completely sick again, we got some groceries.

In a moment, I'll be heading to the sofa though. We have a bunch of stuff in the ole DVR to watch and right now, that's about all I can face.

Happy Saturday kiddos.

I sleep, therefore I am

I've been sleeping the day away today.

My day off, a long weekend. it was supposed to be a good day to get some things done, errands and the like, while Mark was at work. This way, when he is off tomorrow, I'd be able to just hang out.

My allergies are crap though. I've been sleeping almost all day, it's not fun and it's not like me. Ugh.

Mark just got home from work and he's going to take me out for dinner. I guess the sleep helped though because I don't feel quite as shitty as I did. Maybe fresh air and food will help.

I sure hope so, I don't really like the idea of being sick all weekend.

doeth!

rainy sunday
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it's been raining here, off and on, all week. the evenings are cooler too. it's kinda sad and definitely yucky. summer is way too short, already I can feel the end of it creeping up on me.

my allergies are driving me crazy too. I feel like I have a cold but I don't think I have a cold, I think it's allergies. I have been coughing since I got home but I didn't do that all day. Mostly I sneezed and sniffled all day.

fun times huh?

On an up note, it's the long weekend again for me. I'm off for three whole days and I'm looking forward to it. I have a little bit of work that I brought home with me (that I can do while the laundry rolls around the washer) but I'm hoping it won't take me too long.

I want tomorrow to mostly be a day of leisure, of lazing around.

in other news, our "new" next-door-neighbours (they moved in around the May long weekend) are having a pool put in. I tell ya, the folks they bought their house from hid out inside all the time. When they were outside, it was very brief and they weren't very friendly. snobby is how I'd describe it.

Now the new neighbours, they are the wave hello type. I like that kind of neighbour. You don't have to have them over to dinner (which we probably wouldn't anyway because 1. from the smell of their barbecue, they like really overcooked food and 2. they smoke cigarettes) but if your house was on fire or being burgled, they would probably report it to someone who could so something about it.

Anyway, they have been busting their hoopity-doos all summer on their yard. They put in a new privacy fence and have done lots of landscaping. It looks like they are putting in one of those "on ground" pools. They have a big digger over there, and dump trucks out front and stuff. I'm sure it'll take a couple of days to get it together. I keep wanting to call over to them "Tis a fine barn, but sure tis no pool english."

I'm basing this totally on appearances (they are an older couple who are prone to sitting in their driveway playing celtic style music on a guitar) they probably wouldn't get the reference or find it funny. I think it's funny though and I guess as long as I can still amuse myself, that's all that matters, right?

cards on the table time

Once again, I will admit, reluctantly, that Mark and I watch Canadian Idol. It's a guilty pleasure.

I must admit, we get a sick amount of joy out of watching it. We tend to pause it a lot and make really inappropriate jokes about the contestants (not to mention the judges - message to Jake & Farley - Don Cherry called, he wants his shirts back!!). Last night we watched both of this week's episodes. It took us about 35 minutes to watch the whole 90. Since the season started, we've both been Steffi D fans so we were a little disappointed to see her go. That's how these things go though, you have two girls from the Ottawa-Carleton area competing, they most likely split the vote.

What I don't get, really can't get my head around, is how Tyler "I do the shit-my-pants dance" Lewis has gotten this far in the competition. Of the four remaining competitors, I pretty much like everyone but Tyler. Eva is very talented and absolutely stunningly beautiful. Craig is quite a good singer. I like that Chad picks Canadian songs each week (I particularly liked that he sang a Sloan song one week - even if it wasn't one of my favourite Sloan songs) but Tyler, I just don't get him - he's goofy, he lacks any kind of stage presence and he's just irritating. I guess I don't have to "get" him, I don't get a lot of the crap that is on the mainstream radio these days.

As much as we enjoy watching these Idol shows (for all the wrong reasons), we have never actually bought any of the resulting product. On that note, I'm listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah a lot just recently. I don't think that they'd do well on Canadian Idol (or American Idol for that matter - I don't think they'd be eligible for Canadian Idol). I think that's really okay, it's good actually.

I'm tired

...and want to go to sleep...

...I want to sleep NOW...

Do you ever feel like stomping your feet like a three year old?

I know that this type of behaviour wasn't acceptable or particularly successful at age three, I know that it't not acceptable now. Sometimes though, don't you just wish that you could stomp your feet and take a nap?

truckasaurus

For the past two evenings, we've been "treated" to the sounds of a monster truck show. More than a sound though, it's a feeling. The house sort of rumbles and you can hear the noise over the television. It sort of reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons featuring "truckasaurus."

This particular show is a little sadder though. We could only count 4 actual "monster trucks." I think that the big part of it is a BMX Bike exhibition. Between that and an action figure convention (but only for GI Joe types) that is happening here too this weekend, there is a lot of testosterone floating around K-town.

~shiver~

just lovely

so far our day off is going very well.

we both slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and we're enjoying a somewhat lazy day.

I have been puttering around the house a bit, cleaning and what not. I've also managed to get into the pool once (and plan to go again shortly). It's not as warm today as it was when we were off in July but it's pretty nice all the same.

It's been really quiet in the neighbourhood but I don't expect that to last. There have been small crowds of children hanging out around the Memorial Centre fence, clammering to see the big trucks that are moving in as part of a monster truck show. Some things never change, do they? I remember when we were kids, going to the Ottawa Ex (and this was a loooong time ago) and kids were clammering around monster trucks then. I don't quite understand the fascination but it seems to be something that is cross-generational.

oooh...I think I hear my floating pool thingy calling my name. Happy Friday kiddos!!

woo hoo

fun world - big slide
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

long weekend!!

well, for us anyway.

we've booked tomorrow off and I'm really looking forward to it. I would have liked to have taken my vacation in August but it wasn't possible.

An extra long weekend is nice though!

me, clean?

For some strange reason (perhaps it was the episode of "how clean is your house" that I was watching) I got all inspired to do some housework tonight.

It's weird but I'm not complaining. I almost never feel like cleaning so when the spirit moves me, I go with it.

One nice thing is that I'll have that much less to do this weekend. I'll keep my fingers crossed that this is something that I'll keep up with. Goodness knows it's nicer to wake up in a clean house than in a grubby one.

sorta sunny sky

sorta sunny sky
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

will it or won't it?

storm that is...or rain, thunder, shower...that sort of thing.

it's hard to tell right now but the sky is weird.

it's really windy too.

and then suddenly, it's still.

one second, it's bright and the next it's dark.

I just love the unpredictability of summer weather

portsmouth barber shop

portsmouth barber shop
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I spent goodly sized chunks of this afternoon floating around in the backyard.

Actually, my floating was confined to the pool and didn't extend beyond the water's edge.

The floating was good, the sun's rays felt excellent too. I wasn't feeling all that shit hot today but the sun did a lot to change that. I felt much better after I'd been outside in the sunshiney day.

Lazy Sunday afternoons are just lovely!!

liz's pig

liz's pig
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

isn't he cute?

he belongs to my neighbour. I met her step-son's bunny tonight, his name is "bacon." Liz, like Mark, collects pig things and she showed me her collection tonight. bacon the bunny likes to "have his way" (if you know what I mean, wink! wink!) with her fuzzy piggy slippers. It's really funny actually.

It was nice to end the day by meeting a bunny. Today was kind of stressful. We had a call this afternoon that Joe had taken a bad turn. By the time we got over to see him (about 45 minutes later), he was stable and resting. He's really weak though. They are doing a bunch of tests on him to try to figure out if he has an UTI or has had a little stroke. Whatever happens, we'd like him to remain where he is. He's comfortable, he's surrounded by folks he knows. We had a long discussion with one of his nurses tonight and Mark talked to his doctor and we all agree that until we know exactly what is happening, he's far better off staying home (at the long term care facility where he's living now) than going into the hospital. I think that his poor little body is just really really slowly, winding down. We'll go over and visit him in the morning and see how he's doing.

Today's definitely been a bit of a rollercoaster for us.

an early night

kitchen window - pat's flag
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

tonight we came straight home after work and had an early dinner.

after two evenings that we were full of running around, it's nice to be home.

I'm off to bed early tonight, and will try to catch up on my sleep.

thank goodness the weekend is less than 24 hours away!!

in the driveway

our new van - in the driveway
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

we're home, with the van.

we were able to arrange with the dealer to pick it up closer to our house (we bought from a rural guy) so we were able to get the emissions test paperwork, and get the MTO before they closed at 5!

we've had a busy evening, we even managed to get out to Amherstview to wish my mum a happy birthday (happy birthday mum!).

overall it's been a good day. we've had two "late" nights (well, late for us anyway) in a row though so I'm a little beat at the moment. I'm really happy too though cuz our new van is here, yay!!

a vehicle

yikes I'm tired.

we just got home from running the roads. we were out looking at new vehicles and bought a van tonight. if all goes well, we might have it by thursday, the weekend at the absolute latest.

I totally forgot to take pictures (which is so not like me) but I'll post some soon (after we pick it up).

I'm totally excited about it. It's not new but it's new to us and we got a very good deal on it. anyway, yippee!! new van!!

mmmm...monday

mark's shoes
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

today is shaping up to be another gorgeous day. how lucky are we to have had three lovely, warm, lazy days in a row, during a long weekend?? Pretty lucky I'd say. I must admit, I really envy folks who have the entire summer off. For now, I'll have to settle for weekends and extra days off booked here and there. We actually have a couple of long weekends booked for later on this month so that should help a bit.

Almost all weekend, we've been outside enjoying the weather. We haven't gone much further than the grocery store all weekend, although we did slip over to see Joe for a few minutes yesterday. Our visits to him are less frequent than they once were as he tends to either fall asleep mid-visit or he just plain old doesn't make a lot of sense. We pop in about twice a week, last summer, we were there at least five times a week. Of course, he was a lot more coherent and we were concerned about him settling in. He's completely settled now and seems really happy in his routine, such as is it.

We're happy in our routine too because today we don't have one and that makes me happy. Happy holiday Monday folks!!

us

us
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

happy anniversary to us!

mark recycles

mark recycles
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

we both do actually. this morning, we took a load to our local recycle centre. Lucky for us, it's not too far from our house so we go over there quite often. Even though it feels like we've been in our house for ages, I'm still unpacking boxes every now and then. This morning, we took all of the cardboard over from my unpacking of the CD's. We also took two large bags of yard clippings. The giant municiple compost heap is at the centre too.

You could sort of tell that the folks working there today had a slight resentment in their hearts over working on Saturday of a long weekend. The fellow in the big yellow scoopy truck thing was just sort of riding back and forth. When we pulled over to put our bags on the heap, he honked at us, pulled right up behind us and motioned for Mark to throw our two bags into his "scoop." He then turned around and moved our two bags across the yard. Your tax dollars are hard at work folks!

So far today, we've had another gorgeous weather day. In addition to the recycling, we did some errands and spend some quality time floating around in the pool. 'Twas all very relaxing and restful, just like a long weekend should be.

Tomorrow is our anniversary and we're still not quite sure what we're doing to celebrate. We met 7 years ago tomorrow. We picked up some seafood at costco (shrimp and scallops) for a nice dinner, either tomorrow or Monday. We're just sort of taking the weekend as it comes for now and that's just the way I like it!

breezy

queen's university - light amongst the trees
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I can breathe! I could actually breathe before but today, the air was clear, there was a lovely breeze and while it was warm outside, it was not muggy and yucky and just generally gross out of doors.

What a pleasant surprise!! I actually sat outside with a friend and ate my lunch under a shade tree this afternoon. Also, after work tonight, I actually did a little weeding in the front yard. Now, of course, the sun was still really hot and I felt a little woozy afterwards but I actually did it. All week I've been wanting to get at it (because the weeds in the yard are the only things thriving in this weather) but just couldn't bear the thought with the temperatures so high.

Anyway, it's all done and I can relax for the most part, for the rest of the long weekend. Hope you all have a happy Simcoe Day (for those of you in Ontario -- happy whatever it's called on Monday where you are) Weekend!!

blue skies

blue skies over our backyard
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it's still hot, hazy and humid here in k-town.

it's supposed to be slightly cooler tomorrow, I sure hope that the forecast is correct. It was really gross in our office this afternoon. Fortunately, we had a meeting in an air conditioned room for part of it but by the time I left work tonight, I felt really sweaty and gross.

I feel like I'm on auto-pilot this week, just zombie-ing through the week until the heatwave is over or the weekend arrives, whichever comes first.

I'm quite looking forward to clean air again, and sleeping. Good night's sleep are hard to come by just recently. Again, I blame the weather.

Right now, I blame the weather for everything. Ultimately, I guess I must blame myself though. I'm a member of the human race and we're the ones who fucked up the environment and caused global warming.

Of course, president pea-brain, down south of the border, says that there is no global warming so maybe there isn't a problem after all and I can just blame the weather.

right.

hot hot hot

hot hot hot
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Happy August!!

Would you like to cook some eggs on the sidewalk? I'm pretty sure that I could do that for you, would over easy be okay?

I must admit that it's a lot easier to tolerate the heat when I know that I can get into a pool at the end of the day. I'm a little worried about Mark today, having to be out in the mid-day sun, driving around with the crazy people. Have you noticed how stupid people become during a heat wave? I guess that they suffer from fried brains or something. Sleep deprivation could be the cause too. So many stupid people, so many possibilities

burnt offering

backyard pool
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

I spent the majority of the weekend floating on a lilac raft. Well, it wasn't made of lilacs, rather it was lilac in colour.

I used the pool like a carrot though, not allowing myself to go in yesterday until we had cleaned the fish tanks and tidied the kitchen. Today, I had to wait until the laundry was done and the hoovering was completed. Fortunately, this was all covered by 10 a.m. For the second half of my pool time, I wasn't allowed to go in until the ironing was done.

I'm happy to say that my house is tidy and everything is in order for the working week. Also, I have mucho freckles and a bit of a sunburn. It feels good though, having spent the bulk of the weekend outside. Unfortunately, we didn't do any weeding so the yard still looks kind of nasty but, at least we got to float, a lot.

weekend fun

website as graph
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

websites as graphs


How is your weekend going so far?

Mine has been okay. I had the best night's sleep last night that I've had in almost a week. I still got up early but I don't think that I was up and down in the night a lot so that's good.

I'm really hoping that the rain holds off today. It rained all morning yesterday and that was good, it was a nice steady rain. If it has to happen, it may as well happen when you're working or sleeping, right? I was a little disappointed that it didn't clear the air out though. I'm blaming the weather on my lack of sleep this week.

Mostly due to the humidity, this week was rather uneventful. We both worked a lot and by the time we got home, collapsing seemed like the best option. By best option, I actually mean involuntary action.

Oh well, if it does rain today, I have lots of things that I should get done around the house. Cleaning, laundry, that kind of stuff. Fun things, you know? Well, at least things that need to be dealt with and that I'll be glad are finished afterwards. I guess you can't ask for more than though, the last weekend of the month, before payday.