Tuesday, January 31, 2006

spinning


kitchen ceiling fan
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
spin.

spinning.

spun.

spunned?

It's been a busy week already. I know it's only Tuesday but it feels like it must be next year already, isn't it?

At least tomorrow is hump day, thank goodness for small favours huh??

Monday, January 30, 2006

wrapping up


ducks in the harbour
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
Yesterday was nice.

The whole weekend was actually.

It was restful and yet, it was productive. A nice combo.

We didn't go out, at all, which was nice. We stuck around the house and puttered. Mark worked in the basement, on his office and on the computers. I tidied some things up. Did the laundry, watched some tv, cleaned the bathroom.

It was nice to not have to rush to get anything done.

Yesterday, we even watched a movie. "Mystic River" was offered "on demand" so we watched it. I'd been wanting to see it for a while. I found the story to be interesting, although it was a little predictable. There was a weird speech at the end of it that Laura Linney's character makes that I didn't really get but, overall, it was not bad. We've been trying to watch a movie each weekend, last weekend it was Napoleon Dynamite. Yes, finally, I know. It was cute.

Anyway, hope you all got where you had to get today, safely. It took me longer to walk from the front door to the car than it did to get to the office. I hate freezing rain. At least it's nice out now.

This is one weird winter we're having.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

fresh bread


fresh bread
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
For the first time since we moved in to our new house, I baked some break this morning.

When we woke up, we were both sort of hungry and yet, didn't know what we wanted to eat. Just recently, we've been very careful about what we're eating. White bread is not something that we've had in a while so I pulled out my bread machine and found my "super duper speedy white bread" recipe.

The loaf looks pretty weird, all lumpy and strange. When I was measuring everything, I was also talking to Mark (he was sitting at the table having a coffee and I was standing at the counter measuring). While we were chatting, I lost track of how much flour I'd put in. I couldn't remember if I was at 2 or 3 cups so Mark suggested splitting the difference and just putting another 1/2 cup in. Turns out, I shorted it and that's why it looks so strange.

It sure smelled good though, and it was tasty albeit very dense.

Tonight, I'm going to make a proper loaf, multi-grain bread. We'll have fresh bread for sandwiches tomorrow. It'll be yummier and healthier and not deformed.

Well, hopefully.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

signage


is it smokey or not?
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
signs are funny things sometimes.

I saw this last night. It's at times like that when I'm really glad to have my camera with me. I carry it with me all the time. I never used to, and I don't use it everyday but sometimes, I'm glad to have it.

This made me smile a little. Smokey Joe's must comply with the bylaw. It must be tough to be Smokey Joe in a non-smoking world.

In other news, I'm glad that it's the weekend again. I tried to sleep in this morning but couldn't manage it. I shouldn't say that exactly, I was up at 6 or so, normally I'm awake by 4:30 a.m. so I guess I did sleep in, sort of.

It's going to be a lazy day today if I have anything to do with it. With any kind of luck, we'll stay home and hibernate. It might be spring like outside but I'm happy to hunker down and hide out today.

Friday, January 27, 2006

dreamy


chef mark shopping for peppers
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
last night I had a dream about the polyphonic spree.

I was listening to them on the stereo at home, I think I was in the living room.

I remember that I was sitting on the sofa with a faceless friend, singing a long.

I looked up and suddenly spree members were flooding into the living room. They had their instruments. They were playing, girls were singing.

people were dancing.

everywhere I looked I saw blissfully happy people in robes.

I remember feeling very happy in the dream too.

In all honesty though, there is no way that they could fit into my living room all at once. It wouldn't make sense.

The nice thing about dreams is that stuff doesn't have to make sense.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

don't make me tap the sign


gas tank sign
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
It's been a weird couple of days.

First off, I found out last night that a colleague of mine suddenly quit her job. I was really surprised to hear about this but at least it was her choice. So often, folks just disappear with no explanation, it was good to learn that this was her decision.

Surprisingly, what really upset me was hearing about Chris Penn this morning. He was only two years older than me so it was really disturbing to hear that he'd died in his sleep. Now, I know that he was a big guy and that there was a history of drug abuse but still, 40? that's way too young and I'm deeply saddened to hear of his passing. He was a terrific actor who, unfortunately, had to live in the shadow of his older brother.

On the up side, the sun is shining today. Thank goodness for small favours huh??

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

snow, snow, go away!

The snow arrived late today, much later than was called for.

It started during our drive home from work. It was almost like rain though, I didn't expect it to last.

A few minutes ago, I stuck my head outside. It's still snowing. Looks like it won't be letting up anytime soon.

Oh joy, oh bliss. Guess we get to shovel tomorrow.

I should have known better than to get used to the spring like weather we've been experiencing. Afterall, it is only January.

Argh!

Friday, January 20, 2006

week end


empty waiting room
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
Happy Friday kids.

I'm glad that tomorrow will be a day off. It's been a busy week. The days haven't been particularly long or draggy. In fact, they have flown by rather quickly and I can't decide if that is good or not.

Once again, I have brought some work home with me but it's not too bad. If I'm lucky, in a couple of hours tomorrow I'll be able to get through it and I'll be that much further ahead of the game next week. Mark's working tomorrow so I don't mind working too if he's not around. I'll probably putter around the house a fair bit too. Should make for a nice quiet day.

We had thought about going to Ottawa to see The Glads and The Maynards tomorrow night. I say had because we've decided, after much discussion, to not go. I'm a little sad about this. I really wanted to see them and Pat's been telling me all kinds of good things about the Maynards. The weather forecast is a little wonky for the weekend and we just don't want to risk it. That's one of the things about living in this part of the world. Roadtrips in January and February aren't easy to do.

We'll probably stick close to home tomorrow night. That suits me fine. With us both working tomorrow, for a little while anyway, we'll probably be a bit pooped. If all goes well, Sunday will be a completely vegetative day.

I love vegetative days and I love vegetables. I hope to enjoy some of both this weekend!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

for no particular reason


nathan's famous hot dogs signs
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
...I went looking for a photo to post today that had sunshine in it. I got distracted and instead found this one with cool, old neon.

Nathan's is great. They have awesome hot dogs and you can super huge cups of diet coke, with lots of ice. It's very reasonably priced too, which is good, and they have a very cool outside eating area. When we were there, it was late-ish in the evening and there were lots of folks there who had been at the same concert we'd been to (at Keyspan Park - which is located next door). Thinking about Coney Island makes me smile. Sometimes you need to smile, especially when it's raining outside.

Last night, after work, we had some errands to do. As were driving to the west end, it started to freeze rain. I felt sick to stomach pretty much until we had finished our shopping and we were driving home. I'm always absolutely terrified of falling on the ice and breaking something. Fortunately, we got home safely but you know, it wouldn't be a freezing rain storm without a panic attack for yours truly.

Thank goodness, we're just getting regular rain today. Of course, sadly, all the snow is almost melted and it now looks like a large muddy mess out there. At least it's not slippy though. Thank goodness for small favours!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

the return of soup!


monday night dinner - january 16
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
So many times over the past few weeks, we've driven past their door, only to find it dark and cold.

Last night though, the lights were on, the broth was on the simmer...we could have soup! Yay!! A small number 14 please. It was so good, and after how cold it had been all day, it was nice to have something so warm and tasty for dinner.

As I was paying for dinner, the girl who worked there asked if Mark and I lived together and I said yes.

She then asked, "do you eat cheese at home?"

I looked at her and said "cheese?"

She said, "yes, cheese."

I said, "no, no we don't eat cheese at home."

She got this sort of sad look on her face and said, "oh, okay."

I wonder if someone had given them a brick of cheese for christmas and she was trying to give us a gift. She's a very sweet girl but it was a bit of an odd conversation.

Monday, January 16, 2006

new printer


new printer
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
Last week, I got a new printer.

We have a perfectly good, almost new, epson all-in-one printer / scanner / copier, colour. It hates my guts. It'll scan for me just fine but won't print. If Mark uses my machine and tries to print, no problem. I don't know what I ever did to it but it won't work for me.

We popped in to Costco last week for a few groceries and noticed a little HP laser printer on sale, black ink only. It was about the same price as the all-in-one we bought last year.

Over the weekend, Mark installed the epson on his machine and the HP on mine (they are both networked though). It's so nice to have a working printer again. I don't print all that much but it's nice to know that if I decide to print a one page document, I won't have to mess about with it for an hour.

..ain't technology grand!?

Saturday, January 14, 2006

spring?

The weather is oddly warm. I say oddly because ordinarily, at this time of the year, we are hunkered down in the middle of a massive cold snap. Some years, we get snow every freaking day so the shoveling never stops. This year, global warming seems to be in full effect. The snow is almost gone (except for a few crusty remnants of snowbanks), the grass is showing and appears to be getting green.

This morning I slept in for a change. We've been getting up at 4:30 a.m. this week so to sleep in until 7 or 8 felt like luxury. Initially, I woke up at 5:35 a.m. I could hear rain pelting against our window. When I peeked out at 7:30 a.m., I noticed that all of the snow in the backyard was gone. Now, we're having a "flash freezing rain" warning so I'm really really glad that we got groceries last night. I can't think of anything I hate more than freezing rain!

I have a lot of stuff to do today. Mark is off today and I know he's some projects in the basement to tend to. I have laundry to do and I brought some work home from the office so I'll be puttering on my laptop at the kitchen table between loads of laundry I'm sure. I don't mind though. The nice thing about working at home is the lack of interruptions. I can get more done at home in a hour than I can in 4 at the office. Funny how that is huh??

Anyway, I think it's time to make some tea.... Happy Saturday kiddos, enjoy the weekend!!

Friday, January 13, 2006

I voted!


advance poll - voting
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
We voted tonight, 'bout 45 minutes ago I guess, maybe a little less.

Ordinarily, I prefer to vote in the advance polls. This way, I figure that if something weird were to happen to me on election day, my vote is already cast and I'm okay. Also, if there is a problem with my voter card or whatever, I can get it sorted out before the election day. Another nice bonus about advance polls is that you almost never have to wait in a line. Voting on election day can be a long, drawn-own process.

It feels very good to have exercised my franchise. Now it's just a matter of time, we have 10 days until the polls close. It should be interesting to say the least.

Other than voting, we saw Joe for a few minutes after work, stopped off for a bit of dinner afterwards and then went grocery shopping. When we left the restaurant I really didn't feel like shopping but the prospect of facing it tomorrow held even less appeal. We did it, it's done and again, it wasn't busy. Score!

I don't really believe in lucky numbers but I was born on the 13th (of May) so I've always liked the number. Hope you had a lucky Friday the 13th!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

afternoon moon


afternoon moon
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
I love seeing the moon in the daytime.

Yesterday, Mark picked me up in the cab instead of our car. This just meant that I went with him when he switched cars at the cab stand.

I've been carrying my camera around with me all the time now (or am trying to) and was glad I had it yesterday. The moon was really pretty as you looked out over the river. You'd really never know from this particular picture, that it was taken in the middle of an industrial park, would you?

Monday, January 09, 2006

monday again?

Yikes.

I've been a journal slacker over the weekend.

It wasn't intentional, I actually thought several times about posting but it never happened.

Here is an incomplete list of some of the stuff I did do this weekend:

1. Visit Joe and pick up his laundry.
2. Talk to my mum on the phone.
3. Did several loads of laundry.
4. Go out for dinner with Mark.
5. Clean up the living room.
6. Unpack two boxes of living room knick-knacks (I found my other lava lamp AND Mark's Vargas Girl mugs!).
7. Watch four episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and another episode of Huff (thank you TMN on Demand!).
8. Finally put our Christmas gifts away.
9. Shovel the porch and the sidewalk (our neighbour did our driveway - thank you Tommy!!).
10. Talk to my brother on the phone.

So that's it, you're about up-to-date.

Friday, January 06, 2006

fridays feast - 75

Appetizer
Have you ever seen a ghost or an angel?
Oh definitely. On Halloween I saw several ghosts and a couple of angels at my door looking for a treat!

Soup
What is your favorite board game?
Probably Scrabble although I'm also a fan of Monopoly.

Salad
What was the last movie you saw that made you cry?
I cry all the time when watching TV or movies so I can't recall the last one. That's kind of pathetic huh?

Main Course
What would you do if you had 3 months off from your job?
Take a trip, if money was no object, I'd love to go Europe for the entire time. If we had the time but not a lot of money, I'd love to take the time travelling around North America. Mark and I have often talked about driving down the east coast of the US, across the bottom to California, up the Pacific cost to BC and then home, across Western Canada.

Dessert
What kind of shoes are you wearing today?
I wore my winter boots to the office and changed into my doc martens when I got in.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

be very afraid


january sunrise
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
My first thought, upon opening the living curtains this morning and being bathed in pink light was, "wow, how pretty."

This was very quickly followed by, "must get camera." As I ran to grab my camera, it hit me that a red sky in the morning is never good, nevermind what a pink one must mean.

As luck would have it, it's freezing rain right now. Actually, right now, it's just raining but it's super slippy out there and pretty dangerous if you're driving or have to walk down side streets. Everyone is sliding all over the place.

It's at times like this that I'm very glad to live in town, just minutes from the office. I'm happy to not have to go too far tonight.

Be safe kiddos!!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

this is it!


outside lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.
Almost all of the Christmas lights are now down!!

Mark will have to get the ladder out and take down the two strings that are still on the eaves but everything else is down and is in the middle of the living room floor.

It's a good weird feeling, having them down and putting them away. It's sort of sad because I love how sparkley our house was. It really stood out on the street and it always made coming home seem even more fun for some silly reason. Fortunately, the days are now getting longer and the lights aren't going to be a necessary as they were in December when it was so dark and dreary.

Today is my last day of winter vacation. Given that the only thing I really needed to do was rest up (oh and get Christmas stuff done), I'd say that it was very successful. I didn't do too much of anything and, the things that I did do, were usually things that I wanted to get done. It's all been good. I'm ready to go back to work now I think, the rest has done me a world of good!!

Monday, January 02, 2006

my do-nothing day

When I went to bed last night, my plan for today was to do very little. Our handy-person was scheduled to be here so this plan of doing nothing fit well with the staying out of his way that I must accomplish. Also, a friend was planning to come for a visit. Doing nothing won't get in the way of having a cup of tea and a chat.

So far though, I've done much more than nothing. I've actually accomplished stuff that while, not necessary to accomplish today, would have needed dealing with eventually and now it's done. So far today I have:

1. Totally scrubbed and scoured our master bathroom
2. Vacuumed the upstairs
3. Packed up a huge container of cookies to take to Joe
4. Washed and packed away all of my Christmas cookie/baking squares tins
5. Tidied up our bedroom and the guest room

Not bad huh?? Particularly considering how early in the day it is. I guess I just actually felt like puttering today and I'm glad that I've done it. When the handy-guy is gone, I'll go down and do up the last of the laundry and then, tomorrow, my official last-day-of-vacation, can be spent doing very little (unless, of course, I decide that I feel like doing some stuff).

Who knew that doing nothing at all could be so productive?

Sunday, January 01, 2006

...it's only just begun

This afternoon I was thinking, well, it's all over for another year. By "it's" I was referring to the holiday season. Of course, moments later I thought, "hey, it's just beginning." "It's" was now referring to this shiny new year we've got.

Funny thing is that I always think of September as the new year. When classes start up again, things get really crazy at work and it feels like a new start for me. Today just felt like a particularly lazy Sunday.

We didn't quite make it to midnight last night and this morning, I was up at 6 a.m. I didn't have to get up but I did. I wandered around the house, fed the fish, peered out the window to gaze upon our dark and silent neighbourhood. I mused to myself that I was probably the only person up on the whole street. Eventually, I went back to bed and slept until 10:30 a.m.

Mark made us an amazing breakfast, scrambled eggs with goat cheese (yum) and a side of sauteed portabello mushrooms. It was totally amazingly delicious and was served with freshly ground organic coffee and multi-grain toast. Ahhh, life is good.

This afternoon, continuing along the lazy theme, I showered, did my nails and watched a marathon of "America's Next Top Model - Cycle 5." It was mind-numbing and mildly amusing. I still have two more days of vacation left before I return to work. Lucky for me, the only thing I really need to do before I go back to the office is a couple of loads of laundry. It's a nice feeling. I'm not making any official resolutions this year but I do hope to spend more time doing nice things for myself this year. Doing my nails this afternoon was just a tiny step in that direction. Not sure what the ANTM marathon was about but sometimes, things don't have to be about anything in particular!