Non-binding Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Is your 2015 off to a good start?  Our 2015 is starting out much better than our 2014 did.  Getting a call on December 30, 2013 telling us that Mark's colon cancer had metastasized to his liver was not the best news in the world.  We're both still a little grumpy and phlemy from our colds but we can't complain.  2014 sucked in a big way in our house and I'm not sad to see it go.


Over the past few days, I've had some time to reflect upon my goals for 2015.  I don't like thinking about resolutions because they are very rarely ever kept, goals though, I can work on.

My short (and subject to change) list of goals for 2015:

1. Stay kind.  I started working on this a while ago and it's not easy.  I have made an effort to be less snarky online, in particular on twitter.  As a result, I'm not tweeting as much as I used to but I think that's okay.  Another thing I've been doing in "real life" is trying to cut some slack to the assholes I run into every day.  I have a better understanding, after Mark's illness/surgeries, of how you never, ever, know what kind of crap folks are walking around with.  We could all do more of this.
2. Connect.  Over the past year, between surgery and chemo, we really cut ourselves off from people and activities we enjoy.  Our focus had to be on Mark healing and getting through his treatments.  It kept us at home, cut off a bit from folks.  Phone calls and emails are okay but I want to see the beautiful faces of my friends and family, hang out a bit and laugh a lot.
3. Move.  I want to get outside and move my body more.  Be more active.  Walking around the hallways of hospitals and clinics is not the same as long walks outside and visits to the park with the dogs. 

As I look over these goals, I realize that they are a direct reaction to what happened to us over the past couple of years.  The time has flown by and we've gotten through it somehow.  Physically, Mark's better but I think that emotionally, we need to recharge our batteries.  Now is as good a time as any to do this.

Do you have any goals/resolutions for 2015?  I'd love to hear about them if you do.

holiday wrap up

Sammy #eskie #americaneskimodog #ilovemydogs #dogsofinstagram
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Happy New Year.

It’s hard to believe that it’s 2014 already and that I’m returning to work tomorrow.

My last day in the office for 2013 was December 13 so I’ve been off work for a while. I deliberately like to go back on the 2nd because so many of my colleagues will be away that it provides a nice environment to ease back into things.

The year is not starting off like I’d hoped it would but it’s not for a lack of trying. I had a couple of goals I had set for myself and implemented plans to achieve them and they didn’t work. Sometimes that happens I suppose. I’m old enough, and hopefully wise enough, to not take it personally. From time to time, the universe just decides to take a shit on your head.

For the most part, I was sick over the holidays this year. I had a horrible flu for a few days and was left with a nasty chest cold that is still hanging on. Admittedly, it is getting a bit better every day, just not as quickly as I would like. Because of the sickness, I didn’t do as much holiday shopping as I would have liked to, nor was I able to get as much baking done as I normally would do. What bothers me most of all though is that it put the kibosh on visiting with friends. Between my horrible bug and the gigantic ice storm, I didn’t get out to see everyone I wanted to.

For 2014, I am making no resolutions. I have to reset my own goals and rework my plans so things get better for me (ie I need to find some kind of shit proof hat) but that has nothing to do with the New Year. There is just stuff I need to do to keep myself sane and happy. All I’m asking for in 2014 is that everyone be happy and healthy. I am really tired of awesome people dying or being diagnosed with horrible diseases. That can stop anytime.

Happy News Year

Double Rainbow Saturday
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I feel like I start almost every post with an apology for not having posted recently. This time, I'm not apologizing, I'll just acknowledge it. It's been a while, hasn't it?

I decided that it may be easier to do a category driven update, it'll be easier for me that way and I'm all about keeping things easy / simple for me.

Work Stuff
Just before the Christmas break, I moved into a new office space. It's so nice, I can't get over what a difference it is making. The room my office mate and I were in before, was an “inside” room – we did not have windows which opened to the outside and lacked fresh air. The building I'm in was constructed in 1837 and has been added onto a couple of times. The room I had occupied previously was next to a stair case which had been added sometime (likely) in the 1960's or 1970's when the building stopped being a home and became offices. Our windows faced into a stairwell and thus needed to be sealed shut for fire regulations. My new space is gorgeous and features a large, deep window (I love large window sills!) and a view of Lake Ontario. Our old space has been turned into a meeting room and we've been working at getting organized.

Last week, I returned to work on Tuesday. It was very quiet around here because most of my colleagues with school-aged children took the week to be home with them. It was quite nice to ease back into things last week

Home Stuff
We had a really lovely holiday season this year. I convinced Mark to take the few days off between Christmas and New Years and stay home with me. Normally he works that week and business is so slow that it turns him into a miserable grump. We spent the week doing very little. Visits with some family and friends, vegging out, sleeping in and watching all four seasons of "Sons of Anarchy" is how we spent our holiday. By the time it was over, we both felt well rested and recharged for the new year.

Pet Stuff
Unfortunately, poor Sammy fell ill last week. Thursday night, his bottom seemed to be bugging him and I was a little concerned about him as we went off to bed. Through the night, he woke us all up, pretty miserable. Eventually we were able to get him into bed with us and he seemed comfortable. He'd never had a problem like this before and I thought that he may have been constipated. He wouldn't let me get anywhere near his bum so I couldn't see if anything weird was going on (with two long-haired dogs, we're very familiar with back-end clean ups or “dingle-berry-ectomies” as we like to call them – they're more “fun” that way!). We got him an appointment to see the vet on Friday afternoon and discovered that he'd had an abscessed anal gland. Once they expressed it and packed it full of antibiotics, he was like a whole new guy. Fortunately, the wound wouldn't require sutures/drains but we did need to start him on a course of oral antibiotics and pain meds and try to keep him away from his butt! Not easy if you know anything about dogs. The drugs were easy to disguise but helping keep the wound clean was difficult. The first time I applied the cold compress to it, he yelped so loud that I thought my heart would just break. Last night, for the first time, he didn't make a sound when I did it (although he did flinch a bit). I can tell that it's healing nicely and he's done with the pain meds. He's going back to the vet for a follow up on Friday and he'll be taking the antibiotics until Monday but it's over the worst of it. Thank goodness. I have to say, the only thing I HATE about dogs is their inability to tell us when they are not feeling well.

Sam's butt aside, we're starting the new year off well. We've got some goals and plans for 2012 but I wouldn't call them resolutions. They are really more like projects. I hate resolutions because I never keep them. Projects though, I can do!

it's a brand new year

pooped
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I stole this from Denise (thanks Denise!) because I liked it and thought it was a neat way to wrap up 2009.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Had a pedicure

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I normally don't make them so I can't recall making any last year and I haven't made any for this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, thankfully.

5. What places did you visit? We didn't get too far out of town this year. We did do a roadtrip to Montreal in May but I don't think we went anywhere else of note.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Can't think of anything!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 6 - it was the tenth anniversary of the day Mark and I met and it was our wedding day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Pulling together a fun and meaningful, DIY wedding on a small budget.

9. What was your biggest failure? Does making it through another year without sorting out boxes in the basement count as a failure?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? not really, luckily just had a couple of colds.

11. What was the best thing you bought? a bug zapper for our backyard!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Sam and Gracie. They continue to love us both unconditionally and are simply awesome puppies!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Prime Minister Harper. He actually makes me feel embarrassed to be a Canadian sometimes.

14. Where did most of your money go? Life! Mortgage, Insurance and Utilities. Sexy huh?

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I don't normally get "really, really, really" excited about anything.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? You and I by Wilco

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? About the same, generally happy.

b) thinner or fatter? No change

c) richer or poorer? Probably about the same.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? walking with the dogs

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? work. I love my job but I'd always rather be hanging out with Mark, Sam and Gracie if it's possible.

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2009? Spent the morning and early afternoon at home, hanging out with the dogs. The rest of was spent with my family. My mum made us a great dinner.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? No.

22. What was your favorite TV program? It continues to be Coronation Street but my favourite new show was Nurse Jackie.

23. What did you do for your birthday in 2009? I worked (had a totally crazy day) and can't remember what we did afterwards. When your birthday falls in the middle of the week, it's sort of a non-event.

24. What was the best book you read? I don't think I actually finished any of the books I started this year but I did finally read the Sinclair Ross short story, "The Painted Door" and really enjoyed it.

25. What did you want and get? I wanted Mark and I to catch up on Coronation Street and be able to watch them in realtime and we did. CBC being 9 months behind the UK Broadcast schedule can suck it!

26. What did you want and not get? I wanted to win the lottery and did not. Of course, buying a ticket more often would have helped.

27. What was your favorite film of this year? District 9. It shocked me how much I loved it considering I don't like Science Fiction.

28. Did you make some new friends this year? Why yes I did, through work.

29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being more honest with folks (like, say Nessa from Gavin and Stacey) and less polite.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? I'd rather be comfortable than conform to fashion trends.

31. What kept you sane? I'm sane?

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Like Denise, I love, love, love Michelle Obama. She's the bees knees to me.

33. What political issue stirred you the most? The prorogation of parliament. The Tories have done this twice now. The entire government cannot throw a sickie when things aren't going their way.

34. Who did you miss? I always miss my Nana.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. Life is too short to not be happy.