Mr. Clean Magic

Yesterday I did my weekly clean at home. There was a ferocious wind blowing so I decided to put a little elbow grease behind my cleaning efforts. My bathroom floor is a white tile floor. I've noticed over the past few months that it's been getting kind of grey and grimy looking and no amount of mopping or scrubbing seemed to help. I had previously used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on a few household items to great success but hadn't tried it on the floor yet. What was I waiting for?! I have NEVER seen a product work so well, so fast. My bathroom floor is so shiny and white and ungrimy looking now! Really - I nearly took a picture of a dirty tile next to a clean tile - that's what kind of difference it made.

I was so pleased with the power of this product that I went right out (well, not right out, I did finish my cleaning first) and bought the heavy duty version of this cleaning pad so I can take a crack at the grout lines next week. Oh, the possibilities!

Bad Morning

The power went off this morning at about 4:00am. I know this because my smoke alarm starts beeping when this happens. It beeps every 20 seconds for about 20 minutes until which time the battery runs out. I tried, I really tried, to stay awake for an hour so I could get to the gym, but it seems I fell asleep sometime after 4:45am and didn't wake up until the power came back on at 7:18am. So I didn't make it to the gym, I did rush around for 40 minutes getting ready, I didn't brush my hair after drying it, I did wait for the bus that was 10 minutes late, I didn't wipe the messy mascara from under my eyes until about 10am ... Honestly, it's a good thing I'm so organised and have all my crap ready the night before.

On a positive note, I got about 2 hours more sleep than I had expected.

A few new links

Have been catching up on some reading recently and came across a couple of articles I'd cut from the paper and a magazine. Here are a couple of links to some cool stuff. I'll add them to the side bar too.

Les Effrontés offer wardrobe analysis here in Montreal at a surprisingly reasonable price. Very cool.

Pat-Says-Now supply incredibly original mice for your Mac or PC. Trust the Swiss!

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/bblank.asp?id=6895 (link doesn't want to work properly, don't know why, so try a copy/paste into your browser) Dove ad on girl transformation: a real eye opener. Thanks to Super C for this.

Swimming Pros & Cons

Decided to hit the pool this morning instead of my usual cardio workout in the gym. Now I remember why I only like to swim in the summer. Hang on - think I need to make a list.

Pros to swimming inside all winter:
- I like to swim
- I don't feel sweaty

Cons to swimming inside all winter:
- It's cold walking around in a bathing suit, even if I'm still dry
- The pool water isn't that warm
- Even after 30 minutes of steady swimming, I still feel cold
- I get all shivery walking around in a wet bathing suit
- Even after a shower I still feel kinda cold
- Even after a shower, moisturizer and perfume, I can still smell the pool on me

Right, so I'm not sure how much swimming I'll be doing this winter but it doesn't seem like a lot.

700!

Managed to burn over 700 calories at the gym this morning!

Now, if I could just get back with some weight training ...

Busy, Busy, Busy

Looks like my recent spurt of social engagements has come to an end. Thank God! Phew ... I'm exhausted. How did it all get so crazy? Easy answer - I let it.

Started last Wednesday with a Design & Illustration show at Dawson College, followed on Thursday by a 40th Birthday party, Friday was dinner with an old Club Med friend, Saturday a yoga workshop and then girls night, Sunday Thanksgiving dinner en famille, Grandma's Birthday and then Julia's presentation on her 5 months in Africa and then to top it all off, breakfast this morning with Super C.

It's been great seeing so many of my friends and having lots of laughs and stuff, but to tell the truth, I will be quite happy to spend the next few nights at home doing mundane things like cleaning and laundry.

Baton Rouge & Baked Potatoes

Went out last night with some friends to help celebrate a 40th birthday. For dinner we went to Baton Rouge. I had never been before. The food was OK. Nothing that great - except for the biggest and best baked potato I have ever eaten in my life.

Seems all the portions at this place are L-A-R-G-E. Except of course the vegetables. I had a garden salad before my meal and that was an average size. For my main meal I had the salmon and a baked potato. It didn't even come with vegetables! None. Because I'd chosen a salad to start, I could only choose between the potato and vegetables. I have to wonder if they offered smaller, more normal sized potatoes, maybe they could afford to offer a few veg on the same plate without making you choose between one or the other.

Let me tell you about this potato. I do so love the potato. It is versatile. It is tasty. It is filling. I especially love a good baked potato. (Now I feel bad for having to push the incredible roasted potatoes my mom used to make for Sunday dinners to the side, for the horribly fattening but ever so delicious greasy Quebec french fries and the incredible Swiss rosti that Why made for me.) This was a beautifully baked potato. Big, brown, with a soft yellowy inside, perfectly cooked through. I managed to abstain from butter and cheese, but did splurge a little with some sour cream. The only thing I would have liked was to have the skin more crunchy, but it certainly didn't stop me from eating more than half of it! It was practically a meal in itself. I will salivate at the thought of that potato for many a day to come.

We all had a nice time and it was pleasant to sit at a round table and be able to carry on a conversation with everyone.

So dark

Last week I started back with my routine at the gym. Funny how much darker it is now at 5:30am than it was a month ago. And really, it only starts to get light out at about 7:00am now (later if it's a rainy day like today ...). When we change the clocks back an hour in a week or so it will take even longer before it gets light. I don't know if I'm going to be able to deal with that.

Donations for Panama Project

Many of you will already have received this letter by email (my apologies if I forgot you).

Dear Friends:

In February 2007, I will once again be volunteering my time in Panama. This humanitarian mission trip will be used to replace a church roof in the town of Paraìso, paint the pastor’s house and do some minor repairs such as replacing curtains and installing new ceiling tiles. We also hope to conduct a children’s program (sports, arts & crafts, singing and an introduction to using computers) for approximately 30 children who attend the day care facilities during their summer holidays.

Although we will only be there for a short period of time, I know from my past experience, the people seem to appreciate, more than anything, our time and effort and are glad to have us help in any way we can. Our encouragement helps them through some difficult situations.

My hope is that you will seriously consider supporting me by making a donation to this worthwhile cause. All monies raised by me go directly to the Salvation Army for this project. Please forward your cheque to me, which can be made payable to The Salvation Army. A tax-deductible receipt will be issued for your donation (over $10).

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

17 Years Ago Today

Suzanne was killed in a car accident. She was 20 or 21. Odd that it was also Friday, 13 October.

New Darcy Set on Flickr

Click here for the latest pictures of Darcy.

Sometimes I could just smack myself

Arrived home safe & sound just after 9pm last night. Enjoyed the weekend in Windsor. Darcy's speech is even more clear now than a month ago. It's crazy how fast she's growing and developing. Didn't take a huge number of pictures, but I did take some and had planned to bring my camera in with me this morning to download the pictures. I even came in early so that I would have plenty of time to take care of all that stuff. Guess what? I forgot my camera at home!!!

Is this a sign that it could be a long week?

Hurtin'

Thanksgiving dinner's been over for a few hours now and I'm still hurtin' from all the good food. Sue cooked a great turkey dinner, with stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, cauliflower with cheese, and of course gravy. For dessert we had a homemade apple pie (courtesy of Sue's mom - Thank You!) and a pretty decent store-bought pumpkin pie. Ate w-a-y too much and have pretty much spent the last two hours or so lying on the floor (after having to change into my sweatpants) moaning and waiting for the food to stop being a lump in my stomach.

Thanks, Sue, for a great weekend and a great Thanksgiving dinner.

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Couldn't get this to post last night, so here it is on Monday morning.

Score!

This morning's round of shopping in Windsor started off well enough, I was able to get myself a funky pair of boots for the fall (for quite a sweet price too). But after lunch at home and a nap, we headed out to the outlet malls and things went downhill from there. I was looking for something to wear next Saturday night and wasn't able to find a thing. As we had planned to eat dinner at a restaurant there, during our meal Mom asked if I'd had a look at this Olsen Europe store. I hadn't, so we decided that the girls (Mom, Sue & I) would stay for a little more retail therapy while the guys (Dad and Nick) took Darcy home. At first glance the shop didn't seem to have much in my price range although they did have some nice outfits, and they also had a bunch of sample items, in one size (still about a size or two too big). Then I found the 90% off racks. A quick trip to the try on the one sweater and skirt in my size and what do you know - I have an outfit! Even better - instead of paying $290 before tax, I ended up only paying $23.71, all taxes included! Can we say SCORE!!! Seeing as I'd only spent about a third of what I'd imagined I would spend, we took a quick trip around the rest of the shops to look for a jacket for Sue (also has a big event coming up) and a jacket for me. At our last stop, Danier Leather we hit pay dirt. Sue I'm sure will tell us all about her jacket soon. I got myself a lovely suede plum coloured jacket ($59 instead of $199 - Score!). Not sure that I can wear it next week (because of the neckline on the sweater I will be wearing), but I will be able to wear it with lots of other things.

Feeling very pleased that I did so well today. At dinner I was really starting to get kinda down because after all that shopping I hadn't been able to find anything. Anyway, all ended well!

The drive to Windsor last night was long. Traffic was heavy most of the way and construction slowed us down too so it was about 12:30am when we finally got here. This morning the first noise I heard was Darcy running around upstairs, calling "Daddy! Daddy! My Daddy!" We had fun with Darcy today, taking her shopping and listening to her chatter away, which gets easier to understand all the time.

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving. Sue made the stuffing tonight so it's starting to smell like good food already! Sorry to Uncle Marky-Sharky and Uncle Eric that you can't be here - it's bound to be interesting and eventful (and I will do my best to get it all on film).

Off Yet Again

Seems like I've hardly been home and already I'm packing for another weekend away. I'm heading to Windsor this afternoon with Nick and my parents for Thanksgiving weekend. I'm excited to see Darcy (Sue too!) and wonder how she'll react to me after our week together in September. Will she be shy? Will she immediately want to play hide & seek? Will she still call me Tef?

There probably won't be any more chocolate pudding or spaghetti incidents, but I promise to take lots of pictures anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Winter she's a comin'

And I know this because a spider entered my home and tried to find a safe place for the winter. Too bad nobody told it my house isn't safe for his 'kind'. Especially when it decided to sit on the side of my bathroom cabinet and scare the living daylights out of me while I was brushing my teeth this morning.

Open to Applicants

There's this dinner thing coming up with a bunch of people from work. I need a date for it. If I don't have a date either I end up the 13th person at the table, I take one of my friends of the female persuasion or I don't go. Not too sure which is the worst option right now.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions and applicants.

4 Minutes

I was able to watch 4 minutes of this new show Dexter last night before I had to change the channel (for fear of never sleeping again, EVER). This could be a new record.

Practically Myself

The cold of my life will soon be nothing but a distant memory. My head feels pretty clear this morning and you'll all be happy to know that the mucus (yeah, ok, snot) is back down to a normal level and my voice is just about back to normal too (no more 1-900 voice).