happy place

We've been having a lovely, quiet weekend at home so far and it has been lovely.  Early morning coffee on the porch is something we've been looking forward to all year.  It's green and peaceful in the morning.  We can sit quietly and listen to the birds calling out throughout the neighbourhood and watch the squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits running around.  Who needs TV when the floor show in the yard is so much fun.

One thing I was not expecting was for the truly summer-y weather to arrive so fast.  I never do very well when it's really humid.  You would think that growing up along the shore of Lake Ontario, I'd have adjusted by now but really, I haven't.  It slapped me in the face again this year, just like it does every year, and while I'll be okay in a few days, the adjustment period is always kind of gross.

Mark is feeling much better this weekend.  The new meds are working well and he's got his energy back.  Yesterday, he got the yard work done that he wanted to do and right now, he's in at the rental house, doing a couple of things before our new tenants move in.  It's nice to see him happy again, he was so miserable last weekend. 

He has chemo again this week and hopefully, with the new meds he has, it won't be too horrible.   Good or bad, every round is a new adventure and just keep trying to stay focused on the end. 

Do you think they meant to say hungry man?

Do you think they meant to say hungry man?
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I still haven't finished my post about the Roger shows, I likely will get it done sometime but am not sure when.

Procrastination seems to be my middle name these days. I had many great plans and long to do lists to get through this weekend. The plans went by the wayside. I spent the weekend doing my normal weekend things, errands, laundry, minimal housework, much playing with the dogs. Overall, it was a great weekend. As far as my mental to do list, it was a miserable failure.

I'm okay with that though. To do lists can wait, playing with the dogs cannot. The puppy playing is even more of a priority when there is an extra dog in the house. We're looking after the beautiful Bella again this year for our wonderful artist friends who are at a big art show and sale for 2 weeks. Bella is a doll and she gets along well with our guys. The first couple of days are always a little weird. Sam is fine but Gracie is a jealous little thing, does not like having another girl dog around. Gracie really likes being the only "good girl" in the house and who can blame her!?

Part of my puttering this weekend was to include massive reorganization of my office. We bought some furniture (small pieces) at IKEA last weekend during a quick trip to Ottawa. The purchases have me thinking about how to make the most of my office space here at home. When I get my act together, I'll have a permanent spot for my sewing machine. It'll be so much easier (I keep telling myself) to do mending and stuff when it's set up full time.

The only thing I accomplished from my post-IKEA list was to wash the new set of purple sheets I bought and put them on our bed. They look lovely and I'm sure will feel good tonight when we get to sleep on them for the first time. They are a really dark purple. White dog fur will likely stand out really well against them, I have no doubt.

I must say, I have no complaints about getting less done than I'd hoped to because you just can't complain when three dogs are sleeping on the floor around you. With all of that cuteness to experience, complaining is just downright dumb.

apres long weekend

Back to Cruel - Kingston Derby Girls
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I'm back at work today after a delicious four day weekend. The weather was amazing and we had a nice, relaxing time. In the middle of it all, we got our yard all sorted out and ready for winter. The lawn is cut, the patio furniture has been put away, the shrubs and bushes have been trimmed back. Mark even pulled out the snow shovels so we'd have them handy, should we need them. Hopefully we won't need them soon but once October hits, you never do know.

I have another long weekend booked this coming weekend too. 5 days actually. We're going to be seeing Roger Waters in Ottawa on Sunday and in Montreal on Tuesday. Mark saw the first two nights of this tour in Toronto last month. I have deliberately not read reviews or watched any video clips of the show as I'd like to be surprised for the first show.

In 2007, when Roger toured "the dark side of the moon" I did the same thing and was glad to not know too much about the show going in. I'm not the biggest Pink Floyd fan in the world (I really prefer the Syd stuff) but Roger does do the spectacle thing probably better than anyone (although I'm not a huge fan of "big" shows either).

Mark saw Pink Floyd do the Wall 3 times in New York in 1980, he travelled to Berlin to see the big version (Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, et al) in 1990 and he'll have seen 4 shows of the 2010 tour. It's a really big deal for him. He worked through the summer and didn't take a vacation so he could pay for all of these tickets. I'm so glad that he's been able to see these shows. Also, I'll probably get to visit IKEA when we're in Montreal so that's always good!!

tis the season

sweet red peppers
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We've been able to barbecue twice this week. not once, but twice. it's so wonderful to be able to do that without having to either shovel out the barbecue or stand on the ice while doing it.

The weather is incredibly beautiful and it feels really springy around here.

My work week was really busy. I think I got lots of stuff done but it is hard to tell. for whatever reason/reasons, it seemed to take me a long time to get things done from my to do list. I kept doing other things which was okay but it's tough when you have certain things which need to get finished and little fires keep popping up all over the place. It seems like everyone I work with is going through the same thing though so it must be the time of the year or something. I'm not complaining though. I have a great job, I'm part of a wonderful team and have a lot of support. It's just odd when things get batty like they did this week.

Not sure exactly what we're doing this weekend. I'm sure we'll be spending time at the dog park and we're heading out in a little while to do some errands. Ideally, if we get half of our running around done tonight and the rest of it first thing in the morning, we will be to chill out and enjoy the nice weather. It's all about the sunshine right now. We've had the easiest winter I can remember this year but still, the hint of spring which is in the air is very exciting to me!

Joe

Joe
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Last week's birthday celebrations did not got exactly as I'd thought that they would.

First of all, birthday Tiffany was out of the country on her birthday. She was whooping it up in Vegas, lucky girl. This meant though that I did not get to talk to her on her birthday or wish her a happy birthday, in person, 2 days late, at Lucia's birthday party.

Speaking of Lucia's birthday party, we stayed about 45 minutes and then left. Unfortunately, Mark quit work a little early on Wednesday afternoon because he had a migraine. He still had one on Thursday morning and could not shake it. By the time I finished work on Thursday (he'd stayed home), he was feeling better, still fragile but better. We decided we would try to go to the party. It was being held at an absolutely fabulous restaurant downtown. We were the first to arrive (which surprised us). They were expecting about 25 people and it was WARM in the room already. Warm is not good for a migraine sufferer. Once folks started to arrive and order drinks, I could see Mark turning green. The perfumes, the alcohol, the kitchen smells, it was getting to be too much. We stayed long enough to have a very quick visit with Lucia's parents and her grandparents and then we left.

On the way home, we stopped off at Dong Nai for soup but even that didn't help Mark. I'd never seen him so sick and he almost never had a migraine for 2 days. Awful stuff. Friday morning, fortunately, he felt better and went back to work.

We had a pretty good weekend, did lots of stuff around the house, got some errands done. We thought a lot about Mark's dad Joe too. He passed away 3 years ago this weekend. It's really difficult for me to believe that 3 years have passed but they have. I think about Joe all of the time, sometimes at silly times, often times when Mark is cooking and I think about much Joe loved good food. We miss him, lots. 3 years, crazy.

battle of the photographers

battle of the photographers
Originally uploaded by Julep67

My weekend was so nice that I really wish it didn't have to end.

We didn't do anything too terribly exciting but we did get a lot of stuff done and even had some time to do very little, which was awesome.

For about 5 minutes we discussed going "somewhere" to do "something" because we felt like we should but in the end, we hung out with the dogs, spent some time on the deck and chilled out. I also feel good about reducing our carbon footprint by staying home instead of being out tooling around in the van for no really good reason. Yay us!

We did watch a movie on the weekend which I feel I should heartily endorse: In the Loop. A friend in the UK had recommended it and I found a copy of it so, we finally got to see it. I'm so glad that we opted to stay home and see it instead of brave the lineups for District 9 or the new Tarantino film. We laughed our butts off. The dialogue is both quick and witty and the story moves along really nicely. If you're a fan of the absurdity of politics and how the media machine really runs the agenda, you'll enjoy this. I want to see it again sometime soon because I know that there were things we missed when we were laughing - I can't say anything better than that about it!! Oh, except, yay, James Gandolfini is in it and I am a huge fan of his so that was like icing on the cake of an excellent movie cake type thing.

what a weekend!!

Queen's University Spring Reunion Weekend 2009
Originally uploaded by Julep67

The inaugural Spring Reunion Weekend was held on campus over the weekend and it appears to have been a huge success. I would have been surprised if it hadn't been though. Kingston and campus are at their very best, at this time of the year and many grads have never seen either in full bloom. Lots of neat, new events were planned and a good time seemed to have been had by all.

I'm feeling a little tired today after putting in some extra hours over the weekend but I should be back to normal by tomorrow. Slept very well last night and had yesterday off, sort of. Because I'd worked on Saturday, and Friday night, my chores all fell to yesterday. I did about 6 loads of laundry and finally packed away the sweaters and pulled out the capris. I have another couple of loads of laundry to do but the lion's share of it is done and that feels good.

The rest of the week will be spent trying to get the house cleaned up again. Between the dogs and the deck construction and just everything else that's been happening lately, the house is a bit of a mess and I'm not thrilled about it. We had to do a bunch of cleaning (unplanned) yesterday because both of the dogs were throwing up. They both ate different things that they shouldn't have (in Sam's case, some garbage from the bathroom - kleenex and a piece of foil; in Gracie's case, some stuff from the basement - drywall and some rubber from a floor mat). I would never have imagined that two tiny stomachs could hold so much vomit, but there you go. Gracie started in the basement and then we got her up into the kitchen where she was sick a bunch more times. She also threw up on our bedroom carpet. Sam barfed on the deck and in the flower bed. It was a lot of puke and they both slept a lot afterward. They seemed to have it out of their systems by last night. After lots of water and a bland, small dinner, they were both find this morning. Fun huh?

The rest of the cleaning will continue. We're just going to putter, a little bit every night this week and hopefully have it all ship-shape by Thursday. We're having friends over for dinner on Thursday. Nothing inspires a clean house like impending company does, does it? I'm quite excited about it too because these are old friends who we don't see nearly enough of and I miss them like crazy.

movie star

We had a great weekend, really nice. We had time to chill out, time to play and time to do chores and errands. I came back to work this morning feeling really good. The house is in good shape as far as it's cleanliness level goes, which is something considering how bad I let it get while I was a sick a couple of weeks ago. The yard could use some TLC but it was either rainy or really cold over the weekend. For now, the front lawn is really too long and the back lawn needs some seed or sod but while the deck construction continues, there is no sense in doing that. We'll get it all neat and tidy looking soon, it's still early, right?

Yesterday, I was changing the batteries in my camera while sitting at the kitchen table. The dogs were wandering around and I took the following little video of Gracie. She was interested in the camera but was also watching Sam out of the corner of her eye.

wanna play?

wanna play?
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Once again, the weekend flew by in a flash.

Because of the dogs, we tend to wake up pretty early, even on the weekends. It's kind of nice though because on Saturdays lately, we've been getting up and out of the house nice and early. I really don't care much for shopping and I especially don't like it when it's crowded so shopping, early in the day, before the mobs wake up, is a happy compromise.

We had most of our errands and chores finished up by midday on Saturday. It's amazing what you can accomplish around the house when the weather outside is shitty. Mid-afternoon, it seemed like the rain had let up so we took the dogs to the park. Big mistake. It was freezing cold and super windy. The rain had almost stopped and what precipitation was still left in the air was blowing against our faces like little pellets of ice. It was so rotten that even the dogs didn't want to stay long.

The park we go to is really close to our house and the city is currently trying to figure out how to reconfigure the space. We're not sure what that will mean for us in terms of access for the dogs. Apparently they are supposed to keep an off-leash area but we have no idea how big it will be. Also, I just discovered that the site plan for the area where the more popular park (the one we stopped going to because it's overrun with disease and Sam and I were almost attacked by an out of control dog) is, may not include an off-leash area. This could mean that all of the dogs from that park will be heading toward ours. I'll not be impressed if that happens. It's quite cliquey over there and one of the things we like best about our park is that folks sort of stick to themselves. It's all about the dogs and not about the social scene.

Yesterday, even though the day was sunny and nice, we didn't get too far from home. Mark cut his finger pretty badly (took part of the nail with it) while making breakfast yesterday morning. He didn't need stitches but he was sort of in shock after it happened. More than anything else, I think he felt sort of stupid for doing it. I kept telling him to let it go but he couldn't. Of course, like any injury to an extremity, every time he moved, he banged it on something. It's a little better today. Hopefully it'll heal quickly. It's not a lot of fun having a sore finger like that.

sprung

sammy
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I think that the spring-ish weather might stick around for a few days.

We had a great weekend 'round here, busy, but good. It was so nice to get the dogs out to the dog park again. Gracie particularly seemed to enjoy it. Sammy always love to run in the wide open space but Gracie had only been to the park a couple of times last fall so she was a little nervous about it. Once she saw Sam take off from the van, she wasn't too far behind him.

We've really noticed a huge change in her personality over the past 6 weeks or so. She's completely come out of her shell and is very sweet and friendly. Whenever someone comes to the door, she very politely approaches them with a big smile on her face. Everyone who meets her just falls in love with her.

I almost can't believe how nice the weather is right now. Seriously, I keep wanting to pinch myself. The other day, I looked at some photos I took at the end of March and we still had a tonne of snow on the ground until well into April. Right now, except for one little spot in the back yard which doesn't get much sun, we've got no ice or snow on our property. It's pretty sweet. It'll be so nice to see green grass again. It's just around the corner, I know it!

long weekend

living room lamp
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We're enjoying a long weekend here in Canada this weekend. It's Thanksgiving tomorrow. We're going to be celebrating later today with my parents. It'll be the first time in a couple of days that I've been out of the house actually.

I took Friday off as a lieu day for working the other weekend and I just hung out around the house with Sam and did very little. Yesterday, Mark was home with us and while we had a long list of things we wanted to get to (continuation of winterizing the yard) it didn't happen. We just vegged out, watched TV and did very little.

Honestly, this cold we've both got is just hanging on and on. This morning I've been coughing almost non-stop. I say almost because I haven't coughed in about 30 minutes now and I'm trying not to talk because I'm afraid if I do talk, I'll start coughing again. Two weeks now we've been sick. I'm actually sick of complaining about it if you can imagine.

Hopefully, getting out into the sunshine and wandering further than the back yard will perk us up a bit.

watering can

watering can
Originally uploaded by Julep67

A garbage truck has been parked (presumably broken down), across the street from my office all morning. At first I thought that the driver may have been having a medical emergency (we're next door to the hospital) but since then, repair trucks and lots of men have been on the scene, standing around, staring at it and scratching their heads. Not a very nice way for the driver to start the working week.

Speaking of working week, we had a bit of a working weekend 'round our house. I say "we" but actually Mark did the lion's share of it. He got a tonne of yard work done this weekend. Some of it was stuff we'd wanted to do for a long time now so it's good to have it out of the way and off of the "to do" list before the snow flies.

I didn't get as much done as Mark because I felt kind of shitty all weekend. On Saturday, I was achy and tired and dizzy and felt like I was getting a cold. Yesterday, I thought I had a cold, but by bedtime, I felt much better. Weirdness. It was pretty irritating too because I only got about 1/3 of the things on my "to do" list done.

We're both back to work today. I'm in the office by myself today which is always strange. It's quiet and I do get lots accomplished but it's a little eerie too, being in the cottage alone. It's hard to believe that next week is Frosh week and that summer will be over for another year.

Things start to get really crazy busy 'round here when the students return. I don't work directly with students but the pace picks up, nonetheless. Mark will get busy too, which is good, because they've had a pretty quiet summer. Oh, that reminds me, the other day, Mark had an interesting fare (well he has some weird fares every day but this one was just sort of amusing). He got a call to a house not far from where we live. He picked up this young lad who was going "to work." Turns out, he's one of those guys who pan-handles at the intersection where the old traffic circle used to be (by the mid-town Canadian Tire store for those of you who are familiar with Kingston). He had a sign that said, "traveling to Halifax - broke - hungry - anything helps." He paid Mark with a $20 bill and didn't tip (guess he doesn't get the tip karma thing). We saw him at the corner on Saturday when we were heading home from Costco.

If he really was heading to Halifax, wouldn't it make more sense to be up by the highway where someone might actually be heading to the Maritimes? Oh well, what do I know right? At least he didn't try to stiff Mark for the fare, the whole thing just struck me as odd. Of course, that's not even close to the oddest thing that happened to Mark last week but it's a good example of the kind of things that cab drivers get to see all of the time.

open 12 am

open 12 am
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Happy Canada Day weekend folks.

I know that Canada Day is still two whole days away, and I know that a lot of folks have to work tomorrow but still, it's the weekend and it's almost Canada Day so, yeah.

We've had a really quiet weekend around our house. When we got home from work on Friday evening, Sam had had a couple of accidents. This is not ordinary for him so we knew that he must be sick. I could tell (I know that this is gross) that he'd been chewing on the deck carpet (last year, we put in some indoor/outdoor carpet on our deck) and I figured that was what upset his stomach. We cleaned up the house, cleaned him up and tried to get him to drink some water.

Friday night, I don't think that any of us slept well. Mark and I kept waking up to check on the dog. Sam kept roaming around the kitchen. When I got up to let him out on Saturday morning, I realized that he'd had a couple of little accidents in the kitchen overnight. Eventually though, I was able to get him to eat some ice and after that, drink some water. We gave him some boiled potatoes for breakfast and he gobbled that down. By dinner time, his appetite had returned and he seemed to be back to normal. He had some more potato, this time with some boiled chicken in it and was drinking a lot of water (which made me really happy, I was afraid that he'd become dehydrated).

This morning, he's been scootching around the house on his butt. I think he's got some sort of blockage so we're just trying to keep him comfortable today and tomorrow we'll get over to the vet. Neither Mark nor I have a clue about "expressing canine anal glands" so we figure we can leave that to the professionals. Once he finds a comfy spot to sit in, he seems okay. If he were to become listless, I'd rush him to the hospital but I don't think it's that bad at this point.

In other news, that big new tv we got last weekend was crappy. Technically, it was a 50" monitor. The unit did not have a tuner in it. This wasn't an issue for us because we don't use the tuner in our tv, we use a cable box. What we didn't realize though, is that for us and the channels we watch, the signal quality isn't what it should be (yet) so the larger screen doesn't necessarily look better.

Yesterday, we went back to Costco and picked out another 42" Plasma tv and right now, Mark and Andy are taking back the 50" and getting the new 42". The model we're getting is by LG and they just happened to have a 50" next to it while we were trying to choose. We both thought that the smaller tv had a better picture so that's what we're getting. After what happened last weekend, we're a little gun shy about another samsung tv but this LG one seems to be okay.

So that's been our weekend so far, dog poop and plasma tvs. I can hardly wait to see what the rest of it holds in store for us.

parked in an intersection

parked in an intersection
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Some folks are surprised when they realize I carry a camera with me everywhere that I go. This photo is probably the best explanation of why I do. On Friday, we were out doing some errands. When I came out of the bank, Mark pointed out this lady to me. She had parked her car in the middle of the parking lot intersection. It's a classic in Kingston - the worst drivers around live here. Too funny. Everywhere else we went that day, we kept saying, "hey, there's a parking spot", when we would walk through an intersection.

Parking laughs aside, we had a great weekend. I got some things done around the house that were long overdue and we took Sam out to the park for the first time. We went really early in the day yesterday, before it got too hot or too busy. He was not too sure what to make of the lake but he seemed to enjoy sniffing everything and he met a few dogs while we were there.

Sam's definitely mellowing out. Both Mark and I have noticed a huge difference in his behaviour over the past few weeks. Having said that, I must confess that I caught him ripping up some carpet on the deck this morning so he's still got that chewing instinct going on. Overall though, he's less destructive than he was before his surgery.

happy donut day

breakfast at krispy kreme
Originally uploaded by Julep67

did you know that the first friday of June is Donut Day?

I did not know this until I woke up this morning. A bagel for breakfast might be better for me than a donut and they are the same shape basically so hopefully that'll be okay!

We had a crazy storm here last night. The weather got super humid and we had the turn the air conditioning on in the house. I shouldn't complain because except for a couple of hours, a month or so ago, we've not had to run it. I don't know if the weather had anything to do with it but Mark had a mega migraine yesterday too. It was a really bad one and it hit him very quickly. The whole thing was kind of scary actually.

This morning, because of the rain I think, my allergies are really bananas. Fortunately, aside from one small work project I need to get done today, and a couple of errands which I'll get at later this morning, I don't need to do much today. I have today off as a lieu day for some overtime I worked a couple of weeks ago. I have also made Mark stay home today, after yesterday, I want him to rest up and not be out driving around with the crazy people if there is a chance he might have another headache like yesterday.

So yeah, long weekend and it's finally hot outside. Whoot!!

where do you think the fish are now?

where do you think the fish are now?
Originally uploaded by Julep67

This morning I put on capris to wear to work. I had them on for about two minutes when I realized that I was just fooling myself. I put the long pants on and went to work.

While I have been moaning that it's unseasonably cold this spring, Mark smartly reminded me that the lake actually froze this winter and that it's taking a while to warm up - hence, the cold spring.

It was so cold and gloomy yesterday that we did not go to the lake as we'd planned. I was pretty disappointed but it would have made for an uncomfortable afternoon if we'd gone.

Instead, we stayed home and vegged out. If you are a pack rat at all, you should watch the film we saw yesterday, " Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse." The film tells the story of the filmmaker and his brother has they pack up their mother's flat after her death. It's pretty gross in parts (the mother died in the flat and the beginning part of the film was devoted to the cleaning up of the room where her decomposing body had been) but worth watching for the way it exposes the effects of compulsive hoarding. Watching it definitely made me want to go into our basement and start sorting out boxes.

moving around

new furniture
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I think we are actually going to get up north to a friend's place today. We have plans to drive up to their cabin (yes, they live in a gorgeous log cabin) for lunch. Yesterday, we had massive amounts of rain and I didn't think we'd actually be going today but it seems clear (albeit a little damp) today.

We got some special tick medicine for Sam. It's like his flea stuff so we'll put it on him in a little while and he'll be safe from any ticks which might be on deer or bear in the area.

I'm really looking forward to getting up there again. It's a place I used to visit during the summer a lot when I was a single girl. It's been a good long while since Mark and I have been up there and we want to let Sam have a run around the woods with Bella (the dog we dogsat over the winter) and maybe enjoy a splash in the lake too.

In the meantime, Mark is making us breakfast and it smells amazing so I think I'm going to grab a coffee and start my morning. yum!

frozening

As if Monday's aren't hard enough to face, it's really dark, cold and rainy here today. At the moment, it appears as if the showers have let up slightly but it's absolutely pouring all morning. I think it was an hour or so ago, I looked outside and noticed that the street lights across the road had come on. It's bananas I tell ya! I actually had to turn the heat on in the office this morning too. I work in a little cottage and it's sort of close to the lake so can get pretty chilly down here. The dampness had crept in and my hands were frozen so I had to break down and turn it on. Last week at this time, the fellows from our physical plant department were here installing our air conditioners. Spring time is so unpredictable - what a difference a week makes!

My weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday night, Mark and I got our errands done and then on Saturday morning/early afternoon, I was able to get all of my chores out of the way. Mark worked for a while on Saturday so I didn't mind getting some stuff done around the house. Yesterday I had a pretty lazy day. The only time I really left the house was to go to the store for an oil filter for our lawnmower I didn't actually go into the store though. We brought Sam with us so I hung out in the van while Mark went into the parts place.

Sam is really behaving himself in the van. He's actually really behaving well overall I have to say. When I picked up his harness and leash yesterday, he actually stood up so I could slip the harness over his front legs and then he sat still, without coaxing, while I hooked the leash up. He still gets a little excited in the van but he's now figured out how to stand up, with his front paws on the back of our seats, and watch out over our heads. He gets the biggest smile on his face when the breeze hits him. Everyday, we just have more and more fun with him. He's so awesome, I cannot imagine what life would be like without him in the house. Just thinking about him makes me smile and now, the sun appears to be trying to push through the clouds - how cool is that!? Thanks Sam!!

flying

earth hour 2008
Originally uploaded by Julep67

My weekend flew by. I had a really great, fun weekend. Despite the fact that he was feeling like hammered crap, Mark had fun too.

On Friday morning, well really in the night sometime Thursday, he woke up in excruciating pain from his kidney stone. While this is a horrible situation to be in, it's like a light at the end of a long tunnel. With the pain comes the knowledge that the stone will pass soon. Well, soonish I guess. He's still not passed it but he is feeling better. He also drank about a half a case of San Pellegrino water over the weekend.

Earth hour was interesting. We turned our computers off, televisions, lights. Now, we did not unplug the fish tanks filtration systems or the refrigerator but I think we did pretty good. Much better it would seem than some of our neighbours. We looked around the neighbourhood and saw many tvs on, fully lit up homes. It was a bit disappointing. We did our thing though, lit some candles and played with the puppy.

Oh yeah, the puppy. He continues to bring us much joy and lots of laughs. We're learning a lot from him too. On Saturday, we discovered that not only does he like to chase mice, he likes to catch them and then chew the little rubber thingy off of the wheel. Fortunately, the mouse still works but it was touch and go for a while! Things are moving up to higher shelves, he gets a kong full of peanut butter and a newspaper to shred when we go out in the mornings now. We're still figuring each other out but it's going really well so far, I think it's going well so far at least.

happy happy

Boy, it was a gorgeous day here today, the whole weekend was lovely actually.

I had a great weekend. Except for a couple of odd moments, I felt pretty much normal the whole time and never had a relapse of my bug. We got to see some awesome old friends over the weekend, accomplished some projects around the house and just basically had a good time.

Honestly, I'm so happy to see the snow melting that you can't believe it. Last night, we were walking up to a friend's house and you could hear the water from the melting snow, running into the storm drains. It was one of the happiest sounds I'd heard in a good long while.

This week is a short week so that's nice. With all of the snow on the ground, it's almost hard to imagine that next weekend is easter already but it is. I'm happy about the short week and the long weekend for a few reasons, not the least of which is that we'll be seeing my folks next Sunday. We've not seen them in what seems like forever so it'll be good to have a little visit with them.

So yeah, happy weekends all around in this neck of the woods. Tomorrow's St. Patty's day so don't forget to wear your green!! whoot!