Can't Sleep, Can't Eat

Sleeping is one of the most frustrating things in my life right now.

Recently I thought the whole sleeping thing was getting better. That's when I was sleeping 2 nights with my appliance in, and having 1 night off. Once I moved it up to 3 nights on, 1 night off I started having problems with my jaw again. So I slept without it until my jaw went back to normal. It's nearly a week now and only this morning can I say my mouth, jaw and teeth feel normal. But in this week my sleep has gotten progressively worse. Last night was a bad one - went to sleep around 1am so when the alarm went off at 6am I had no desire to get out of bed. Ended up hitting the snooze button every 9 minutes until 7:45 and then managed to get up. Ugh. Feel rotten.

I know I've done everything wrong for my sleeping lately. I've been having naps, I've been reading in bed, I've been drinking (tea, water) after 7pm, staying in bed when I'm not sleeping, not keeping to my sleep schedule, not keeping to my wake schedule. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Now I have to start all over again from the beginning.

Simple Food

Recently I was reading through the profile of the Food & Thoughts blogger, just kind of skimming the info but when she listed a couple of her favourite cookbooks and food related books, I sat up and paid attention. (Those of you who know me will know that I'm a big reader and I like to cook, so when you mix the two together ... only good things can happen!) Anyway, one of her links brought me to a book called Women Who Eat. I've now read the editor's notes and some reviews (thanks to Chapters.Indigo and Amazon - fyi - now it's on my wish list). Somewhere along the way I read "Rose's account of how fiercely she missed the most pedestrian American foods when doing a Peace Corps stint in Gabon offers both Mom's Egg Casserole and Terez's African Egg Casserole" - and I totally knew what she was talking about. I had had that kind of experience - fiercely missing the simplest foods. Suddenly I was back in Club Med. More specifically, in Paradise Island (which unfortunately I can't link to, think the village has been closed).

From August/September 1997 to November 1998, I was GO in Paradise Island. I actually worked as a GO from 1995 to 1999, but that's a story for another time. Today I'm talking about food. So ... where was I? Right, Paradise Island, working with Jill in the Bank. We'd sit there in our cell (aka The Bank), peer out at everyone passing by, listen to music and talk. Despite having incredible buffets at our disposal three times a day, seven days a week, we often talked about what foods we would eat when we went home for vacation. We didn't just talk about the foods we missed. We would make up whole menus of what we would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My favourite lunch foods to fantasize about were a grilled cheese sandwich (yes, with orange processed sliced cheese) and a bowl of Campbell's tomato soup, with homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert and a tall glass of chocolate milk. Mmmm ... good, eh?!

It sounds a little crazy, but you have to understand that as great as the food was in Club Med, it just wasn't the same as sitting down to a homemade meal. Sure I could have a freshly made omelet for breakfast made with exactly the ingredients I wanted, or fresh fish at lunch with a selection of fresh breads and French cheeses, or a variety of themed dinners (Mexican, French, Italian, Asian, Caribbean) any other night of the week. No need to worry about shopping for the groceries, doing the cooking or worrying about the clean up. It sounds great, doesn't it? It was. At first. For me the novelty wore off after a couple of months with this kind of eating and by the end of my 3 years in the villages, all I could stomach was yogurt and fruit. No matter how bad I wanted a plain ol' grilled cheese sandwich, that was just one of those things that wasn't on the menu. I could have a quesadilla - no problem - but it's just not the same, you know what I mean?

Now that I've been back in the real world for quite a few years, I have of course had plenty of opportunity to make that lunch. And you know what - it's still my favourite lunch, especially on a Saturday. I don't know why Saturday should make a difference but it does.

All that to say that it's funny how one little sentence can bring back a whole slew of memories and also remind you that sometimes it really is the simplest thing, in this case, food, that makes you happiest.

If I had any processed sliced cheese at home, can you guess what I'd be having for dinner tonight?

She didn't want to be a wife

Probably closer to the truth than I'd care to admit. (Well, not really, but some days totally.)

Thanks to gapingvoid.

Public Service Announcement

If you're looking for a photo/frame shop with good customer service, Astral Photo is not the one to go to.

In January I bought three large (16x20) frames from Astral. I hung them up and admired the pictures I put in them. I was quite happy until about a week ago when I returned home after a day at work to find two of the frames in pieces on the floor. I don't know what happened. The nails and hooks are still in the wall. I'm going to guess that the top frame came apart, dropped onto the lower frame and then that one fell apart when it hit the floor.

After searching through my bills I managed to find the receipt and a customer service phone number. According to the receipt I had a 15 day period to return or exchange my items. As it is now March, that period has expired. But I called this customer service center anyway to explain the situation and was basically told that it's too bad for me, that I could go back to the store and show them and possibly they might exchange the frames, and finally - "good luck".

But before I do bring the frames in to the shop, I am going to take a picture of the wall with the hooks and nails still in and bring that in with the frames. Then we'll see what they say. It better be more than "sorry, too bad" and "good luck".

Update to follow.

Don't make these

Last Thursday night I used a new recipe for blueberry muffins. The plan was to take a yummy breakfast with me to the ski weekend for Sunday morning. I didn't have all the ingredients for the nice ones I made a little while ago, but I did have everything for a different recipe.

These ones are fine, but nothing special. I wouldn't make them again. Use the Kellogg's recipe.

Back from the Spa

So. Friggin'. Awesome.

When can I go back???

Off to the Spa

Getting ready to leave for the Spa!!! We'll be off early tomorrow for a day in the baths, followed by a body wrap and thermomassage. Topped off by a cocktail party, dinner and free night stay at Chateau Bromont.

Going to be sweet!

How long will it take me to notice?

This morning I just noticed that I bought 1% milk instead of my usual skim milk. Today is Friday. I bought the milk on Sunday.

Yes, it took me 5 full days to notice I bought the wrong kind of milk. Apparently not so hard to pull the wool over my eyes, as the saying goes.

Tags on Clothing

I have a question. Well actually, a couple of questions.

1) What kind of fabric do clothing manufacturers use to make the tags they put in clothing?

2) Why do they use the most irritating, hard, crunchy and scratchy fabric that feels like hard plastic digging into me?

3) Why do they make these stupid tags so big?

4) Why do they sew these mean ol' tags in so well that it takes some serious and careful cutting to get the tag out, but sew buttons on with two stitches so that the buttons fall off after a single wear?

If you could see the marks these horrible tags have made on me throughout the years ... This afternoon I just cut the tag off another bra because it felt like there was the hard side of velcro digging into my back. And by the way, the turtleneck I'm wearing has a hole in the side of it (which means I have to keep my blazer on) because the tag was practically 3 inches long (well, 6" because it was folded in 2) and had actually scratched me hard enough to draw blood that I cut it off in a fit of rage and ended up cutting too close to the seam so the seam has come undone now and I have an air-conditioned top when it's -12C with the windchill out and I didn't put an undershirt on today because I didn't realise it would be so cold.

Is this day over yet?

I. Am. Exhausted.

I. Am. Exhausted.

Thanks to gapingvoid for this one.

National Women's Show

Had a fun day in Ottawa on Saturday at the National Women's Show. My friend Sherry and I spent the day there and also did a little shopping afterwards. It was a good way to spend a random end of winter Saturday.

At the Show we got to see Steven & Chris, of Designer Guys and So Chic with Steven & Chris fame and I was able to snap a couple of pictures. They'll be up on my flickr page soon.

Update: pictures are up here now.

Women of Distinction (A Belated International Women's Day Entry)

Last night I attended a little 5 à 7 at the Women's Y Foundation with my Mom. She has been nominated as a Woman of Distinction for her community service work at the Salvation Army's L'Abri d'espoir. The evening was for all the finalists to get together, have their pictures taken, be presented to all the other finalists and of course enjoy a bit of food and drink.

It was very interesting to hear about each woman and the area that they are active in. There are a number of different categories and in each of them, the women, I would say, are ahead of their time. It was fascinating to hear how many of these women are pioneers in their field.

The 13th Annual Women of Distinction Gala evening will take place on May 16th. Mom says she doesn't care if she wins, it's just kinda fun to be there.

Congratulations, Mom and good luck on the night!

Muppet Personality Test

Here's a little non-alcoholic pick-me-up to help you get through Hump Day.

Who will be the first to say "I knew it!"?

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick. You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

More Tips for Guys (continued)

If you are married, DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, contact me.

That means, no winks, no smiles, no woo-hoos, NOTHING.

Eventually the shit will hit the fan and it'll all come out - YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE!!!

Sleep Update

Since getting my oral appliance back nearly three weeks ago, I've had some difficulty sleeping a full night with it. I've been doing what I can, but quite often found myself at 4 or 5 in the morning, just taking it out. Last week was a full two weeks since I got it back so I decided to try my second night in a row, even though I hadn't slept a full night with it on Tuesday.

Maybe I was really tired, I don't know, but I slept straight through the night. Seven good hours. What a difference. That was Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. I took Thursday off, then slept with it in on Friday and Saturday. Another two full nights of good sleep. Last night I had off and this morning I had a terrible time getting out of bed! It was a bad night. I'm looking forward to the next two nights of good sleep. And I think by Friday I will try to move it up to 3 nights in a row.

Library Book

Stopped at the library last night on my way home from work. Returned one book, picked up another, you know, the usual deal. Made it over to the bus stop, caught the bus and went home. A few hours later (after some Pilates and dinner) I sat down in my reading chair all ready to get comfy and cozy for an hour or so with my new book. In less than 10 minutes though, I had to put the book down. It seems the previous person had a cat. And this cat left behind enough of whatever it is that makes me allergic to them that my left eye started itching. I didn't realise at first what was going on, so I rubbed and scratched a little. Then when I couldn't see anymore I decided to have a look in the mirror. My eye was completely bloodshot and all swollen and gross.

Ended up taking the book, throwing it a plastic bag and placing it by the front door (as far away from me as possible). Then vacuumed around my chair, on the chair and on the bookcase. Then washed my hands in very hot water and bathed my eye in cool water. Spent the next 30 minutes with a cool damp cloth over my eye. The rest of the evening passed without mishap. The swelling had gone down this morning, but my eye is still just a little red. It's been a long time since I've reacted like that. Maybe the previous reader of this book had more than one cat. Oh well. Looks like I won't be reading that book and I will be making another trip to the library this weekend.

"Meh"

Last night my favourite celebrity chef show was on (plays on the CTV Travel Channel, Wednesdays at 9pm). It's called No Reservations and the chef is Anthony Bourdain.

This week's episode took Tony to New Zealand. Us viewers got to see his speech bomb in front of a crowd of foodies in Christchurch, then kill a wild boar (he didn't actually do the killing), drive an ATV along the beach and practically kill himself in the process (it literally rolled over him twice!), enjoy a bbq with all kinds of fresh seafood (I was salivating) and then was welcomed in a traditional Maori ceremony.

It was all beautiful, and in Tony's special way, he smoked, drank and cursed his way through the whole thing. I love him - mostly because he is so real. He's an ass, sometimes obnoxious but always honest.

The best though, was when he was on some billion year-old glacier and the guide was explaining about the snow, ice and flows, etc. He looked at the camera, shrugged his shoulders and said "Meh". "Meh" expressing his utter boredom and disdain for what was being explained. He just wanted some food and drink. Also, the "meh" is an expression or sound that I use often myself, so it was brilliant to hear someone completely out of my circle use it to perfection.

Keep on keepin' on, Tony. You rock.

Simple Things

Being able to leave shoes at work so that when I arrive at work and put on my shoes, I can put on warm shoes (not shoes that are frozen solid and emanate cold for hours). It makes a big difference.

More Tips for Guys (continued)

If you wish to have some success in the cyber dating world here is a rule that should be followed, if you follow no other rule, at least follow this one.

"Use the 14-day over-and-out rule" on email correspondence. If a man hasn't been willing to meet me or set a date to meet after 14 days, he will be deleted from my list. He's either married, living with someone, deeply in debt, or the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Ignoring this rule leads to mistakes, heartache, and time lost (and who has time to lose, certainly not me).

So, for those 5 or 6 guys out there that stopped emailing me for 2 weeks/a month and then decided to get back to me, the above rule is why I have not responded to you. This also applies to the guys who have been shilly-shallying with the email thing, not providing their name, local phone number, picture, etc., after 2 weeks of this kind of nonsense I deleted you from my list.

Friday Night Date

After what seemed a long week, I met up with this guy for coffee on Friday night. He was 15 minutes late thanks to an accident on Décarie, so I won't hold it against him. Other than that he was pleasant, polite and presentable (the three p's).

The problem: we just didn't click. It kinda seemed like both of us would've rather been at home alone. So whatever, I didn't dig him, he didn't dig me. No biggie.

I was also supposed to meet someone on Sunday afternoon but it occurred to me late Friday afternoon that he still hadn't provided me with a picture or a local phone number to contact him. I wasn't comfortable with that so I sent an email telling him that I'd be able to check my email for only a few more hours and if he wanted to meet to please send a picture before 5pm. 5 o'clock came and went and no picture arrived. I sent another email telling him I was cancelling the date and wished him good luck in his search. It is now Monday and I can safely say I did the right thing. My mailbox is still empty - no apology for not getting back to me, no excuse, no nothing. Altogether a little suspicious. Good riddance, I say.

There will be no more date analysis for the next while. I'm going to take a little break from the online dating scene. My profiles have either been deleted or hidden from the dating sites. May go back after tax season, may not. Gonna wait and see.

Another Date, Another Tip for Guys and Someone Made Muffins

I have quite the busy social calendar coming up in the next few days. Last night I had another first date with some virtual stranger. And it will end at the first date. Why, you might ask? I'll tell you.

Because hanging out with some psycho Moses look-a-like and his cats is just not for me. If someone out there is into that kinda thing, get in touch and I'll be happy to hook you up. I'm all for vegetarians/vegans and being active politically, but hold the phone - this guy was extreme. Obviously extremely intelligent had worked as a civil engineer and is now working as an electrical engineer, he is getting ready to quit his "day job" and take up painting full time, but lacking in some social skills. I had my reservations prior to meeting him mostly because the picture he sent didn't seem to reflect his age (46). I was right in my reservations, because when I met him I found a guy 10-15 years older than his picture. I lasted an hour (how polite is that?) and then ran for the bus, after declining the kind offer to drive me home (yeah, right!!!).

Another "Tip for Guys": the next person who sends me an out of date picture is going to find himself in the following situation. You show up to the appointed place, I see you, discover you are significantly older than your picture and leave before even introducing myself. Suivant ... next!

Anyway, within seconds of opening my front door, I got a phone call from my brother Eric. He asked me to guess what he was doing, or rather, what he had just finished doing. I hadn't a clue so he told me. HE MADE BLUEBERRY BRAN MUFFINS.!!! (Apologies for the caps, but I just had to.) My brother went out to the store, bought everything he needed (that must've the entire contents of the recipe plus muffin tin and maybe a few other things, I don't know) and then made muffins. He told me he even had to ask a woman in the store where he could find vegetable oil. How funny is that?! Wooooo ... I had such a good laugh! I'm waiting for him to tell all on his blog soon. So check there for the nitty gritty.

Which reminds me, there are now only 9 muffins left and I've promised Eric I'll keep one for him (so we can compare) - who wants the other 8?

That shut them up!

Many of you know that I have some noisy neighbours. In particular, the guy whose kitchen backs onto my bedroom, tends to be quite a racket maker early in the morning.

This morning I had been awake since 5am listening to the snowplows barrel along the sidewalks but was just resting in bed, quietly listening to the radio when at 5:45am (15 minutes before I have to get up), my noisy neighbour started dragging his chair across the tile floor (for the 1,000,000,000 ... time). Before I could sigh or swear, I leapt up and pounded my fist really hard, three times, on the wall.

Amazingly, I didn't hear another peep from that side after that.

Come and get 'em!

Some time ago, my brother Eric asked me if I had any recipes for Blueberry Bran Muffins. I didn't but did a quick search on a couple of websites and came up with two recipes for him. I emailed them to him and printed off copies for myself as well. Several weeks later I asked him if he had tried either of the recipes yet. He hadn't and it seems he had several reasons not to. Top most being he doesn't even own a muffin tin to bake them in, let alone have all the ingredients on hand in his pantry. Last night was kind of quiet so I decided to try one of the recipes out. Super easy, fast and oh...my...God! good!!! Originally I had planned to only taste test one muffin, but they were too good and I ended up eating two. Sorry, Eric, looks like you'll only get 10 muffins. And that's only if you stop by to pick them up soon. They may get eaten.

For those of you that are interested, the recipe for Blueberry Bran Muffins is here.

More Tips for Guys

These will take a little more explaining.

- Listen. And this applies to any situation, not just dating and relationships. When someone is telling you a story, if you're listening you can ask pertinent questions. If you're not listening and ask a question that indicates you were not listening - guess what? You look like an idiot! It will also indicate to the speaker that you are not interested in what that person has to say. This is rude.

- If the woman you are 'dating' (and I use the term loosely here just to cover all bases) asks about your friends and family, this is a good indication that she wants to know more about you. What type of relationships you have with people close to you, that kind of thing. So kindly remember that she will appreciate more than a 2 or 3 word sentence in response. Later, this will provide each of you with the opportunity to increase your knowledge and perhaps like or dislike of each other. It can help in making these kinds of decisions. Also, when things have gone sour don't accuse her then of not being interested in you and your friends and family.

Whiteouts and Blackouts

Canadians are fond of saying they're pretty tough cookies when it comes to dealing with extreme weather, particularly in winter. Montrealers, I’m inclined to believe, feel they are tougher than the rest of Canadians. Montreal can have some pretty extreme weather. Yesterday was a prime example. When I left for work in the morning, it was relatively mild (-5°C) and I knew that the temperature was expected to fall throughout the day. What I didn’t know was that there were several weather warnings in effect. These warnings consisted of a freezing rain warning, a wind warning and a flash freeze warning.

Working downtown in an area surrounded by skyscrapers, the buildings create a wind tunnel, and if you’ve never had the pleasurable experience of the joys of a wind tunnel, feel free to ask what it’s like to have freezing rain and high winds pummel you as you attempt to cross the corner of University and René-Lévesque. Suffice it to say that it’s just not worth putting any effort into your hair. Got it? So – there I am, up at my desk on the 25th floor, looking west toward the Sun Life building, safe and dry. Several hours later though I wasn’t feeling quite so safe anymore. The wind had picked up and according to Environment Canada the wind was gusting up to 110km/h at times. Never having lived through a full blown hurricane, I had no idea what such high winds were like (even with the whole wind tunnel thing). But what I can tell you is this - when winds of 110km/h smack into the face of a 40 story building and I’m more than halfway to the top, the windows shake, creak and the building moves. It doesn’t move enough so that you can actually see it moving, nor do doors open or pictures fall off the walls (but I’ll get to that in a minute). What happens is that suddenly you get that seasick feeling. (And no, it wasn’t because I was a little hungover – honest!) By the end of the day, the unpredictable shifting and movement had me feeling pretty ill. I was lucky though. Some of my colleagues had been at meetings at 1000 de la Gauchetière and came back to tell us that building management had closed the floors located above the 40th floor because, get this, doors and drawers were opening and closing by themselves and pictures were falling off the walls because of the movement of the building!!! People felt so unsafe that they were actually leaving work to go home. Nobody where I work did that as far as I know. We did also hear about a 60-car pile up on the 40 and closing of a section of the Met due to flying glass!

In this morning’s Gazette there was an interesting article about the weather, the accidents, etc. As it turns out, due to whiteout conditions there was a 70-car pile up on Highway 40 near Lavaltrie, 50km northeast of Montreal; a freight train derailed going from the South Shore into Montreal (by the Mercier bridge) which tied up the commuter train going to Delson/Candiac; the temperature dropped by 16C in 5 hours; thousands of homes and businesses were without power for a good part of the day and evening; while the City of Montreal road crews did spread salt and gravel on sidewalks and roads, the heavy rains washed most of it away (good picture in the Gazette of people hanging on to poles for dear life); high winds stripped the brick off the side of a school in Chateauguay. Apparently yesterday was the worst day for weather-related electricity interruptions since the 1998 Ice Storm.

Today’s weather is better but not by much. The wind has thankfully died down but not enough, it’s a balmy -29C with the wind-chill factor. It was dreadful walking to the grocery store this morning and just as bad waiting for the bus this afternoon.

Completely unrelated, but interesting to me, I noticed early last week that as soon as I ended things with Guy #3 I was suddenly able to sit down and read again. Today has been no exception. Made a quick trip to the library this afternoon and borrowed Elizabeth George’s latest With No One As Witness. Since arriving home just after 3pm, I have already read half the book. Going to put it down now and save the rest for tomorrow.

Feels good to be back to normal.

Sleep update

I got my oral appliance back on Wednesday and did try to sleep with it in that night. But it seems it will take some getting used to again because that night I only slept with in it my mouth for 3 ½ hours. I woke up at 2:30am (thanks to drunken man raging on the street corner) and after spending an hour trying to get back to sleep, decided to just take it out and consider it a fair try. After that I did get another 2 hours of sleep before waking again and just getting out of bed.

Last night I managed to sleep the full night with the appliance. Turned the light off at 11:30pm, probably fell asleep in less than 15 minutes and slept straight through the night (not even a middle of the night pee break) until 7:00am. I felt refreshed and ready for the day when I got up. I didn’t have that "Oh … I need to turn over and sleep for another couple of hours" feeling. Pretty sweet!

Finally, as promised some time ago, I’ve posted a couple of pictures of the oral appliance itself and of me wearing it on my flickr page.

Also on flickr, in my Flora & Fauna set, I’ve posted some pictures of the beautiful amaryllis Sina gave me for Christmas. I followed the instructions and it has grown into 4 incredible huge, beautiful and rich coloured flowers. Thank you, Sina!

The World's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a girl asked a guy, "Will you marry me?"

The guy said, "No", and the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, and farted whenever she wanted.

The End

Thanks to Sina for this gem!

Dishes in the sink

Had a little 5 à 7 (ok, so maybe it was more like a 7 à 12) last night for my friend Sina who has left the corporate world to embark on a new career as a massage therapist. It was a small gathering, only Super C, Sina and myself.

I made a variety of small nibbly food: lemon garlic humus, pita chips, cut veggies with french onion dip, crab crescent rolls, shrimp stuffed mushrooms, homefries and a pear/blackberry clafouti for dessert.

Us girls had a good ol' natter, discussed life, love and work, had some great laughs and generally just enjoyed being in the company of other fabulous women. Thanks for coming ladies, I had a great time!

Of course, with all the cooking there were dishes that had to be done and although I did do the dishes, our tea cups and saucers, plus a few plastic containers (emptied when I gave the girls some leftovers to take home) remained in the sink. Wait, it gets worse - these dishes stayed in the sink overnight! It's shocking, I know. But look how far I've come! I didn't even unload the dishwasher last night. In fact, it is now Friday morning and the dishwasher is still full of clean dishes and the sink still has dirty dishes in it. How's that for loosening up?! Pretty impressive, I think.

More Tips for Guys

- Women, no matter how independent and modern they may be, like to be asked out. We also like to be wined and dined on a Saturday night. Yes, it's true.

- On the rare occasion that you do call her, if she doesn't answer, please leave a message. If you don't, she won't know you called.

Next one is a big one.

- Don't lie. About your height, your age, how long you've been single, etc. The truth will eventually come out and however small and insignificant you think those little white lies may have been at the beginning, they will turn into big stinking lies eventually. I promise.

- If you have a cell phone and a local home phone, please give out both numbers without reservation. If you don't you will be looked upon suspiciously and considered to be hiding something or someone.

More tips soon.

Finished a book

Finally finished reading How Green Was My Valley.

Feel like I've been reading it for three months, which is about the same time I dated Guy #3. Isn't it interesting that as soon as I ended things with him I was able to pick this book up again and finish it off in a couple of days?

Dr. Phil's Love Smart

I'm not a big primetime tv watcher, but last night I happened to be flipping through channels when I came across Dr. Phil's Love Smart show. It was just at the point when the good Dr. has this guy, Rob, who has been dating multiple women, confront 3 of the women he has been dating.

Holy crap - in about 15 seconds I was sitting there speechless. The words coming out of Rob's mouth were very nearly word-for-word the ones that came out of Guy #3's mouth only 24 hours earlier. Where do they learn this shit? Is there some kind of class that guys take to learn the language of being this kind of player?

After watching the rest of that sequence, I turned it off (not so interested in seeing the Paula Abdul part) and started to think. And I thought a lot. For a couple of hours. I've learned a good lesson. I will elaborate more on that when I can get my thoughts in order. For now though, it's enough for me to know the lesson learned and move on.

Here's to moving on.

Tips for Guys

In an effort to educate the sometimes idiotic men I have come to know, below are a few tips that men may find useful in dealing with women:

- If you are only interested in 'dating' women and not in having a long-term relationship, please remove your profile from the 'relationship' section of whatever online dating service you're using.

- Please do not depend on email as your preferred method of communication.

- If the woman you are dating takes the time to make you a mixed tape/cd (whatever the technology of the moment), take the time to listen to it and thank her for her efforts. It can also be a topic of conversation when you next meet.

- If a woman asks you to participate in an activity, see a movie, join friends for drinks, etc. it would be considered polite to accept at least 1 of every 6 invitations (if not more).

And to end today's lesson:

- If you're 'just not that into her' don't waste her time by dating her for a couple of months.

More tips soon.

Made it

Here we are, Wednesday, Feb. 15. I made it through the dreaded Black Tuesday. It was tough, let me tell you. I was this close to actually leaving work early and going home to hibernate under the comfort of my duvet.

Oh wait ... I did actually leave early.

Anyway, I made it. You can all breathe easy again - I'm back to my 'normal' self.

Black Tuesday

So this year it falls on a Tuesday. I'm beginning to lose faith that I will ever have a good Black Day. Although, I must admit last year's Black Monday was particularly good - I was on my way to Panama, even with the early morning (3am) wake up and full day of travelling.

Nothing like being single on yet another one of these days to really cement my scepticism and cynicism in that thing called love.

French Canadian Mr. Collins

Last night I met this guy at 5:15pm. By 5:45 I was out of there. It didn't go so well.

You may well be asking yourselves why did it go so poorly? Well, I'll be happy to tell you - maybe because this guy was like a French Canadian version of Jane Austen's oh-so-memorable character in Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Collins.

In case you don't know me too well, I can get pretty impatient with the simpering, fawning and idiotic chatter type of person. This was that person. No wonder Elizabeth Bennett couldn't stomach him. Neither could I.

*************

In other man related news, Guy #3 who mysteriously left me hanging for 13 days (yes, I counted) decided to finally email me with his usual "Wassup" blah blah. What the hell is that about? WHAT???

Sleep Update

Yesterday I had a follow-up visit with the orthodontist who fitted me with the dental appliance in December. I had had some problems with it when I first started using it, which is normal, but I did have to stop using it for a little while.

There were however, a few abnormalities with the appliance itself (not me!):
1) One of the wires in the appliance was not put in correctly and needed to be fixed.
2) There was some corrosion in one area and that needed to be dealt with.

Upon speaking with the dentist I found out that some of the pain I had when I was using the appliance every night may have been due to the incorrect position of the wire. Hopefully this will be sorted out once I get it back.

When I do get the appliance back I will start using it for two nights in a row and then take one night off. If my mouth feels good and there is no pain or problems closing my jaw, the following week I will move up to three nights on, one night off, and so on until I'm up to 5 nights a week.

At that point I will go back in for another follow-up visit. It won't just be in 5 weeks though. It's entirely possible that it takes 2 or 3 weeks at each level for me to become accustomed to extra night.

Potentital Ax Murderer

As things with Guy #3 (see post last November) have cooled down considerably, I am once again on the search for a man. January was a complete bust and February isn't looking too good either.

Over the weekend I decided to stop communicating with a potential guy. We had met through Lavalife and despite not really being interested in his profile (or picture - yes, I am apparently that shallow), but feeling I should at least acknowledge him, I responded to his wink. He then emailed me at the site and when I didn't get back to him within a day or two, he emailed asking why I wasn't writing back. I didn't respond to him and thought he might get the hint - but nooooo ... he wrote again repeating his questions. I figured I would take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and gently (yes, I can be gentle) told him that I didn't think we were a match. He wrote back AGAIN trying hard to get me to chat with him, email him, meet him, anything. I decided to ignore him again. This didn't go over too well with him though! By Friday evening I had a pretty nasty email from him, basically telling that I was a tease, leading him on, etc. I deleted it immediately and decided to compose a suitable response. This response I sent out on Monday and the tone, it can be said, was none too gentle this time. I have also blocked him from contacting me and trust this will be the last in the episode.

This whole thing has kind of freaked me out. I'm pretty happy I listened to my instincts and never pursued him any further. The last thing I need in my life is some ax murderer/stalker hounding me.

But it hasn't freaked me out completely. I'm meeting a new guy on Thursday night for coffee. We've been emailing for a few weeks, have talked on the phone a few times and he sounds like a reasonable un-ax murderer type of person. Of course, I could be completely wrong but just in case something happens, will someone please call me at 6pm on Thursday to check up on me?

Winter Blues

Think I might be suffering from the Winter Blues. These last couple of months I haven't been able to read my standard book or two a week. You'll notice from my list on the right that it hasn't been updated in quite some time. It's not that I've forgotten, it's that I'm actually still trying to read these books. Last night I actually managed to read a whole chapter of 'How Green was my Valley'. 'The 7 Habits...' is still sitting there, laughing at me nightly. So much for being effective.

Argh - really think I'm going to put this down to Winter Blues. Can't wait for spring when I can once again whip through books like there's no tomorrow.

Family Resemblance

Last night we had dinner 'en famille' at my parents house. My mother's sister, Françoise and her husband Eduard, are in town for a week. It is always surprising to me that I see a resemblance between my mother and her siblings. I have noticed it before during past visits and again last summer while visiting Grandmaman in Switzerland, but I guess I made more of a connection to the resemblance last night because Mom was there at the time. It's more than just the eyes and the mouth. Françoise and Mom have the same hand gestures. How can that be a resemblance? It's not like it's a genetic thing. Anyway - it was weird and funny at the same time.

It's been 7 years since we last saw Françoise and Eduard. They still look the same. I especially find that Eduard never seems to age. I need to find a picture of them to scan.

Girls Day

Had a great visit with my friend Vivienne on Saturday. She's got two small children and is finding it difficult to have any significant time to herself. Her partner, Franck, suggested that she take one day a week and just take off for the day. For now she has to take the baby with her as she's still nursing, but decided to take him up on the offer. However, one day a week was too much, so she's compromised with one day a month. For her this seems to be easier for her to manage. Anyway, Viv and I decided that this Saturday would be our girls day (baby girl included).

And what a day it was! Viv dropped in around 10:30 Saturday morning, we had tea and a chat, fed the baby and then went off for lunch. Our original plan to have Thai food at our favourite little hole in the wall got nixed as the place was closed (and I wanted my red curry soooo bad!!!), so we went to Just Noodles instead - a far cry from our first choice, but at least it was piping hot! Then for a round of shopping and groceries and several hours later, back to my place for another pot of tea and baby feeding. It was about 5pm when Viv left to make her way home. I hope she had a good day. I certainly did. Even with the little baby Chiara in tow (she pretty much slept or sat there and smiled the whole day)! We had a good chance to catch up and plenty of laughs as well. It did me a whole whack of good to hear what Viv had to say and I hope being on her own for the day (albeit with baby and me) did her just as much good.

It was fun and I look forward to another Girls Day sometime soon.

PS - Uh, Viv - sorry about the state of my hair. I noticed after you'd left that I hadn't actually brushed it yet that day and I still had it up in a ridiculous bun from having my shower. I must've looked a sight ...

I think I might be weird

I say this because I find it fun to read the dictionary or thesaurus. Sometimes I just like to know the proper meaning of a word or a good synonym.

You're all thinking "what a weirdo". You may not be far wrong.

Madhuram

I wasn't able to do my little cardio Pilates routine this morning (thank you to my boots that are implements of torture and have given me huge blisters on both heels) so I turned the TV to ONE and did Living Yoga with Padma. I prefer not to practice yoga with a TV show due to all the commercial breaks, but I was up and needed to do something. Anyway, today's show concentrated on back strengthening poses, balance postures and brought the focus back to breathing using 'madhuram' (Sanskrit meaning sweet or essential sweetness).

I know for myself in times of stress I have trouble relaxing and therefore breathing, but I have also noticed recently that I am actually taking the 10 or 15 seconds I need to just breathe. Today Padma told her audience to 'breathe and smile' starting from the inside. As you breathe let your belly smile, let your lungs smile, let your back smile and so on. By the end, you are smiling from the inside out. It sounds kinda corny and all 'new age' but, you gotta do what works for you. This morning it worked for me.

It doesn't take long to take 10 seconds to breathe and smile. Padma called it a "10 second yogi break". Who doesn't have 10 seconds in their day to do something as simple as breathe and smile? And who knows, maybe you'll start smiling from the inside out too.

I could get used to this

Last week I posted after having a great night's sleep using my oral appliance. Since then I have been using it every second night with ... get ready for it ... much success!

Following the Sleep Therapy course last fall and being such a good student, I am still tracking my sleep with a log (a diary not a piece of tree) and have noticed that over the last 2 weeks, I am now averaging 7 hours of sleep a night. Ha ha! Yes, 7 whole hours! This is a huge improvement from my 5 1/2 to 6 hours that I was getting 6 months ago - and that was on a good night.

Let me tell you, all this good sleep, and it really is good sleep - I can tell, is something I could get used to. Fast. Pretty soon I'll be all "yeah, I gotta get to bed and get me some sleep".

Don't you love it when ...

Don't you love it when you're on a crowded bus and the bus driver has to let people on at the back door because it's so crowded and one of those people who has just got on at said back door starts looking around the back of the bus to see if there's a seat available?

Yeah, because we're all standing there squished together, hanging on for dear life because there are all kinds of seats available ...

(Rough start this morning)

Out of Shape

Without the added stress of making New Year's resolutions that I end up feeling guilty about not keeping, I decided to start a little at home exercise program at the beginning of the month. Incredibly, here we are 25 days later and I'm still doing it. Go figure. It's not easy exercising at 6am, but I'm up anyway so why not. I have even, occasionally, done the same little workout again in the evening just to shake myself out of the sitting position I'm in all day.

Mostly I would say things are going well, I have discovered some new muscles (painfully) and also have found my knees hurt. Is this the result of such a sedentary life or do I just need new running shoes?

If I ever

... own a dog, please shoot me if I spend the better part of every day talking about said dog and telling everyone about every stupid face and little thing the friggin' dog does. Who the hell cares what kind of treats the dog likes? Who cares if the dog whimpers in her sleep? Who cares how much attention the kids get compared to the dog?

For the love of Pete, SHUT UP!!!

I did it!

Incredibly, after 6 weeks of sleep therapy (last fall) and about a month of attempting to sleep with my oral appliance (since Dec. 23), last night I actually slept for 8 1/2 hours. Was only awake for a quick bathroom run around 4am and then straight back to sleep.

And it gets better - I felt good when I woke up this morning. I felt awake. I didn't feel like I needed another hour or two in bed.

I've been meaning to take pictures of this oral appliance in my mouth, just to give you an idea of what my Christmas present to me looks like. Obviously I haven't yet; never seem to think about it at the right time. I will write myself a post-it note and maybe get that done next weekend.

The point of all this is - I can actually sleep a whole night with this oral appliance in my mouth! Congratulations to me!!!

Nothing to write home about

Haven't had much to say recently. Apart from life's little irritations and cold winter weather here in Montreal, I have nothing to say. Just so you know.

Things not to do ...

... when you've had one beer and one shot of tequila:

Attempt to hang pictures.

'Nuf said.

I Hate Crowds

Sometimes I could just shoot myself. Today at work we had a little "4 à 5" to welcome in the New Year now that we're all back and hard at work.

Shortly after 4pm I found myself in a big room surrounded mostly by people I am acquainted with, everyone with a drink in their hand and a smile on their face - except me. Well, I did have the drink in my hand. But there was no one I felt comfortable approaching and just joining in the conversation. I lasted a grand total of 10 minutes. By 4:10 I was back at my desk.

I don't know why I clam up in these kinds of situations, but I always do. I lose any and all confidence I have/had. I become the proverbial wallflower. My shyness dictates that I am literally unable to approach a group of people and just talk. It makes me want to cry.

Woo hoo - Happy New Year.

Boys are Stupid

Boys are Stupid

Not feeling terribly happy with the male species right now. Need a little comic relief and today that will be brought to you by David & Goliath and their funny (if immature - but who the hell cares!) t-shirts, magnets and slippers. I likey.

Mom Speak

Funniest word to come out of my mother’s mouth recently: "Sub-woofer". My parents bought themselves a surround sound system and this has prompted Mom to get all hip with her vocab. Throughout the holiday season she had many an opportunity to spit this gem out - and laughs were had each time!

Whether it’s because she says it with a little bit of an accent, or because she tries to say it with a hip attitude – I don’t know, but it’s the funniest thing to hear her say it. And she’s said some pretty funny things over the years (generally not on purpose). Eric, Nick & Marc – remember "Rubber Plant"? My favourite is when she misunderstood me talking about a 'hot-tub' for a 'hot dog' ... the laughter that ensued was riotous.

In Memoriam

Yvette's Dad died on Friday, December 30, 2005.

As a small tribute, click here for just a couple of pictures taken at Yvette's wedding.

Mr. B, while being a regular Dad, stupid jokes and all, was a funny guy. He laughed at silly things. He drove his daughter to her crazy friends' houses. I remember him fondly. He made me laugh (despite trying to be a cool teenager), he was a talented artist and he even made us wine spritzers on Grad Night! He was always interested in what his daughter's friends were doing, what was important to us and even let us scream with glee (à la Sound of Music) in the car.

Yvette - I am truly sorry for your loss. I wish there was something I could say to make it all better for you. Know at least that I am here for you, despite the distance that separates us. Although I can't join you for the funeral, I will be with you in spirit.

If you knew him and have a story to share, please leave a comment.

Stef's Annual Christmas Update Letter

For those of you who have received this by email, my apologies for repeating myself. For those of you I forgot to email, my apologies, but here it is now.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hey everybody,

Oops - Christmas seems to have come and gone before I had the chance to send this out. Anyway, hope you've all had a successful year and are all healthy. Ready for the annual update? It's been a busy year for me; I hope you're sitting comfortably.

Christmas last year was a little different for the Titcombe Family. Little Darcy (my niece) made her first visit to Montreal over the Christmas holidays. It was quite a different atmosphere with a baby around. I'm looking forward to Christmas dinner at my parents this year, just to see how Darcy will react to all the people, presents and food!

As many of you will already know, in February I spent 2 weeks in Panama volunteering at a girls' orphanage and a seniors' residence, both run by the Salvation Army. It was a most enriching experience and I look to repeat it in 2007. If you're interested in looking at some of the pictures, have a look my flickr site.

In March I was able to join my group at work for the annual ski weekend. With a little arm twisting, I was able to bring a friend with me and we had a fabulous time at the spa. Nothing like a spa day complete with massage to make a girl feel great!

At the beginning of July, Nick, Sue & Darcy spent a week in Montreal. I noticed a huge change in Darcy from December to July. I also took a whole bunch of pictures.

In July and August I spent three weeks in Europe. First a week in England, visiting with my pen-friend Jilly and her family. What a riot that was! Her 3 girls are all growing so fast and are lots of fun to be with. Jilly and I managed to do some serious damage at the shops in Liverpool!! From England I flew to Switzerland and spent a week with Yvette and her family at a farm in the Emmental Valley. We experienced all kinds of new things – milking goats, the stench of pigs, treks up mountain sides and swimming in the river. I don't know who had more fun – her kids or me! It was great to spend such quality time with Yvette, Andy, Kolina & Dylan. After that I spent a few days with my Grandmaman in Vevey, an aunt in Bern, a cousin in Basel and finally back to Zurich for a few days before heading home again. Three weeks passed far too quickly…

September saw me on a road trip with my parents to Windsor for a visit with Nick, Sue & Darcy (starting to sound like we see an awful lot of each other). We spent a long weekend at their place and lots of time spoiling precious little Darcy. Oh yeah, and taking more pictures!

Suddenly fall was here and to provide a little pre-Christmas cheer, I got a group of women at work involved with providing some Christmas presents for the young girls in Panama that I met in February. Keith, our fearless and ever patient organizer from February's trip, made a quick trip down to Panama with hockey bags full of goodies. Lots of pictures were taken and I'm glad I was able to help out a little.

And there you have it! Lots more has happened too, but those are the highlights. If you want to catch up with me during the year, check out my blog. Plenty of ranting and raving going on there.

Thanks very much for all your cards and pictures of you and your kids - but I have to admit it kind of freaks me out that so many of my friends have children now! Please keep in touch. I always love to hear from those of you I haven't seen in ages and also those I do see more often. Wishing you and your families the best energy, health and successes for 2006.

Much love,

Stef

Happy Anniversary, Yvette & Andy!

Happy Anniversary to Yvette & Andy! 15 years ago today ... remember the snow?! I also remember having a little cry during the ceremony. It was a small wedding, but it was cozy and loving.

15 years, 2 kids - how does it feel?

Post Christmas, Pre-New Year

It's now a couple of days after Christmas and still a couple of days before the New Year. Have you had enough yet? I have. Enough food, enough drink, enough days off. Believe it or not, but I was glad to have a purpose when I got up this morning. Getting myself to work was (oh I know I'm going to hear about this ...) a pleasure.

Anyway, for those of you that I've seen, heard from or talked to - thanks for your thoughtful cards, pictures and letters, the food we shared, the time we were able to spend together or the time we spent chatting. I wish I could see more of you, but distance seems to play a huge factor in so many of our lives. Thank goodness for the internet, right?!

For the record, I'll have my annual update letter available here soon.

Oh yeah, and here are a few pictures of Christmas at the Titcombe's, featuring Darcy!

New career?

Came in to the office early this morning (well, my usual 8am) and dropped off nearly 20 cookie bags on the desks of my team and some friends. They seem to be quite the hit and much appreciated. It's funny how different people have different tastes and therefore, a different favourite cookie. A couple of people have even asked if I'd be willing to take orders for next year!

Wonder if this is the beginning of a new career? Naahhh ...

Oh, what a good Auntie I am

In Monday's mail I received a nice family Christmas picture from my brother. Also included was the most adorable wallet-sized picture of my niece, Darcy. So adorable a picture that, believe it or not, I promptly pulled out my wallet and placed it inside.

But wait - it gets better! Yesterday at lunchtime, I pulled out my wallet and proudly passed the picture around to my friends at the table. They (I'll admit it) were shocked that I had a picture of a baby in my wallet. I told them it was a first for me. We all had a good laugh and then they declared that I was finally becoming a real Auntie, pictures in the wallet and all.

PS - I can't wait to see my little niece! They'll be here on Saturday!

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 15

Boobonnière/Bombonnière: candy filled pouches generally given out at weddings, i.e. bonbonnière

My face on this one must've been priceless. I asked Tweedle Dee "boob-what"?

Tummy Trouble

'Tis the season for upset stomachs. This weekend was a little much for me. Too many meals out, too much rich food all equals a wobbly stomach.

Friday I didn't eat at home. All three meals were eaten out of the house and I ate of a bunch of foods I don't usually eat in one sitting, let alone one day.

Breakfast: fruit salad, mini croissant, scrambled eggs.

Lunch: shrimp, smoked salmon, egg salad wraps, tomato and cucumber salad, cold pizza, raw veggies with dip, cake.

Dinner: More egg salad wraps, more tomato and cucumber salad, chips, more raw veggies with dip, a chocolate.

Saturday I had dinner at our firm's Holiday Party: sushi and smoked salmon, cream of mushroom soup, grapefruit granité, mahi mahi with sauce, mashed potatoes and steamed veggies, mousse cake, coffee.

Sunday night I had a tomato and mushroom pizza with a friend after being all cultural and going to see The Nutcracker in the afternoon.

Monday: my stomach let me know that it can take no more meals out, fast food or other such junk. I'm back on the plain cereal for breakfast and the plate of salad for lunch with a few fruit for snacks. Tonight will be a little soup with a piece of toast and some tea. I'm hurtin'.

Recipes

As requested

For Sue: Cranberry Noels, originally I had seen Martha make them on her show. I lost her recipe but found what I believe to be the exact same recipe online. I've used it for several years now.

I can't seem to find my recipe for the almond bark/brittle. I'll have to give my recipe books a thorough search.

For Nick: Bruti ma Buoni (aka the Toblerone cookies). Not the real Italian Brutti ma Buoni cookies, but a Canadian Living version. Anyone I've ever given this cookie to has been in awe of it. One of my favourites.

Let me know if there's anything else.

Me and my big mouth

So here's the story. Tomorrow we're having a floor-wide party at work. Those of us that have decided to participate in the festivities have been separated into groups. Each group has to bring one dessert which will serve 12-15 people.

Being the organized person I am, I sent out an email to the people in this group of mine (who by the way, are all professional staff earning about a million times more than me) asking if anyone would volunteer to buy or prepare a dessert. No response. I waited until the end of the day, and then bit the bullet and sent a reminder with an offer to prepare something myself if I didn't hear anything from the group by the end of the day Thursday (which is today). Well, in about 5 minutes, I had responses from all of them saying "Thanks, please take care of this!".

What the hell was I thinking? Like I haven't done enough baking this year? Like I have time to make a cake tonight? (I'm going to a yoga class after work.) Why did I offer to bake something? Why didn't I just say I'd buy something and the team could pay me for it? WHY??? I've obviously got something wrong with me. Sheesh.

Christmas Baking

So far I've got 9 kinds of cookies (ok, well, 2 of them are chocolate barks) ready for Christmas. It was a bit of a push last weekend to get so much done, but I'm glad I did. Now there are just a couple more to do and then I can start putting the cookie bags together.

Hope you're all ready to gorge yourselves.

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 14

Maybe I'm just hanging out with the wrong crowd, but here's an expression I have never heard used before.

"Please note that I will be leaving the office at 4:30 today to do a few messages."

Messages? Do you do messages? Don't you run errands? What do you think?

Winter has Arrived

It's not December 21 yet, but for all intents and purposes, winter has arrived. At least in Montreal. The sidewalks are half covered in ice and it is treacherous walking. Oh joy.

How much longer until spring?

GazMet

Last night I opened my front door and was greeted with the overwhelming stench of gas. Not just someone farted kind of gas. I'm talking scare the crap out of you because you think your house is about to blow up kind of gas. Before I even had my coat and boots off, I had my head in my cupboard over by my water tank sourcing the smell. I was sure it was coming from the drain. (I was right, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

Next I placed four frantic phone calls. First to my parents (no answer), second to my Dad's cell (no answer), third to my Mom's cell (no answer) and finally to my brother, Eric - who answered! I was so happy to speak to a person! Unfortunately, he doesn't know much about gas leaks or plumbing so all he could tell me was to call Gaz Métropolitain. It was what I did eventually, but not before more frantic calls. Decided to call my parents again, this time leaving messages at all three numbers because there was still no answer. (Just where my parents were at 7pm on a Monday night is beyond me. Shouldn't they just be at home???)

Anyway, I knocked on my neighbour's door and asked her if she had any weird smells in her place. She didn't but offered to come and have a sniff at my place. She smelled the gas the minute the popped her head in. Luckily she is one of the people on the condo board, so had the keys to the "special" doors in our building. We then made a little tour of the building to see if we could smell gas coming from anywhere else. Nothing. Not a whiff. Then she told me that maybe one of the owners upstairs would know because she had a gas stove in her place. So, we knocked on her door and asked the question. Nada. But she did have the number to call in case you smell gas.

What happened next was nothing short of impressive. I called GazMet, they answered on the second ring, I spoke to the guy in English and he responded in flawless English (shock!) and within 30 seconds told me (a) that there had been a gas leak in the area late that afternoon and (b) he'd have someone at my place in about 30 minutes to check out the situation. 15 minutes later my doorbell buzzed and there was the most polite, patient (and dare I say good looking) GazMet guy. He spent the next hour testing for gas leaks in my place (thank goodness I keep a clean home!), throughout my building and outside my building. Finally, after testing with two kinds of machines, he agreed that the smell of gas was coming from the water drain behind the water tank and probably because the drain was dried up. He then showed exactly where the smell was coming from and explained why the drain dried up and even showed me how to put water in it to stop the smells from coming up. Within 5 minutes of him pouring a couple of litres of water down the drain, the smell was already dissipating. Then he told me to open the window and air the place out. I was embarrassed to tell him that I couldn't because the windows were frozen shut, but I did anyway and he ever so kindly asked if I wanted him to do it for me. I did. And he did.

The thing I'm so impressed about is that someone showed up so quickly, the guy knew what he was doing and he was polite. I was expecting some cranky old fart, to be rude and arrogant and pawn me off with a bunch of excuses. The service I got last night was the complete opposite.

My heartfelt thanks go out to M. Riendeau (GazMet guy) and whoever I spoke to on the phone last night. You were both awesome! While I didn't exactly sleep well last night (up every hour checking for smells), this morning there was still no smell and I will consider the problem solved. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Date 7 Report

Yesterday afternoon we were supposed to meet at this coffee shop close to the Atwater Market. Being the punctual person I am, I arrived about 10 minutes early (1:50pm), by the time 2:15 rolled around, I was starting to get pissed that this guy hadn't shown up yet. I checked my phone, called the voicemail service. Nothing. By 2:30 I was mad. Called his cell, no answer. Left a voicemail stating that I'd been at the meeting place since 2:00 and that if he wasn't there in the next 15 minutes, I'd be leaving. 2:45 - still no sign of this guy, still no call from him. So I left another message telling him that I was leaving. And I left. Oh yeah, and now it's Monday morning and there's no email from him either.

Analysis: 0/10

PS - In the unlikely event that he ever reads this - Daniel you're an ASS!!!

Date 6 Report

Don't freak out now. I'm still dating Guy #3, but am also still meeting other guys.

Saturday night, Guy #6 took me out for dinner. Yes, a Saturday night date! Now I'm a pretty independent kind of woman, but I'll admit, it was awfully nice to be treated to an enjoyable evening out. That is until mid-way through dinner he came out with a number of sexist and racist comments. Things could have gone quickly downhill from there, but I managed to steer the conversation onto more superficial matters. Also, forgive me - but there's something a little weird about a 45 year old living with his mother ...

Analysis: 2/10 - mostly because of the sexist/racist comments.

The Tweedle Dee Dictionary - Question of the Week

This couldn't wait until next week. Here's a doozy for you.

Question: "Stephanie, you speak Mexican, right?"

Answer: "If you're asking 'do I speak Spanish', the answer is yes."

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 13

This week's entry is an expression used incorrectly, rather than a word.

Used of it. Example, "You’ve just got to get used of it". I believe the person means to say 'used to it'.

One too many Down Dog

Saturday I dropped in on a yoga class to try out the Joy of Yoga studio in the hope that it may be the place where I take a class this winter. It was a great class. Invigorating and energizing. Much more challenging than my regular Tuesday class at work. So much so that now, even two days later, I'm still feeling some muscles I never knew I had. Guess this is a sign I need to be a little more active ... I'm putting it down to one too many Down Dog.

I gotta to tell ya though - I came out of there with a smile on face T H I S big.

Off to the Races

Good luck to Sue, my sister-in-law, who is running her first 5k race this weekend in the Santa Shuffle.

The purpose of the Santa Shuffle is to raise money for the work of the Salvation Army at Christmas time.

At the same time, my brother Nick (who by the way, is also Sue's husband), will be running against his work colleagues in the quest for an iPod nano.

Good luck to both of you!

Date 3 Report - Update #3

This will be the final update on Guy #3. We went out for the third time last night. Things are progressing well, so I have decided not to discuss what happens between us on my blog anymore.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to Jilly & John. They're celebrating 15 years of marriage today! It seems impossible that so much time has passed.

Of course, it also seems impossible that Jilly and I have been pen-friends since we were 10, but there you go.

Congratulations!!!

Sunrise

The clouds were still tinged with pink from the rising sun this morning on my way in to work. It was beautiful.

Date 3 Report - Update #2

Guy #3 and I had our second date last night. We went out for drinks after work. Met at 6pm, left at 10pm. Sounds like a good time, right? And I did have a good time; lots of laughing and talking about all manner of things. But here's the thing - I'm not sure if he's really into me or not. It's hard to figure out. I can't say I felt any "vibes", you know. Hmm.

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 12

Alphabeticalize: to arrange alphabetically, i.e. alphabetize

It's a Record!

I think this is an all time record for me - as of Saturday, my Christmas shopping is done and last night I wrapped everything. Now I can concentrate on baking many, many cookies.

Question of the Week

Question: "I wonder why they've never played here before?"

Answer: "Uhh ... actually, they have. A bunch of times. I think the first time was 1985."

Talking of upcoming U2 concerts in Montreal on November 26 and 28, with ... guess who? Tweedle Dee, of course!

Happy Birthday, Why!

Happy Birthday to mybestestclosestfriend, Why!

Happy Birthday, Rachel

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

She's 14 today! I could offer words of wisdom or advice, but really who wants to hear that when you're 14?! So - here's wishing you a great year and have fun!!!

Date 5 Report

Talk, talk, talk ... blah, blah, blah ...

It would've been nice if I hadn't been the only one asking questions last night. This guy seemed to be one of these people who, when asked a question, can talk for half an hour. He also laughed a little too long and a little too loud at his own jokes - most of which didn't make me laugh, they just made me groan.

To give him credit, he was on time, polite, well dressed, educated. Just not the guy for me. Oh well.

Analysis: 6/10.

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 11

This week's entry isn't a single word, it's the use of a double superlative. Here are just a couple of examples: more funner, most funniest, most beautifulest.

I mean really ... it's funny when you know you're saying it wrong, but when you have to listen to a person say it who doesn't know the difference, it's like nails on a chalkboard. (And that little nervous tick starts up again.)

Date 3 Report - Update

Yes!!! Can you believe it? I'm going to see this guy again!

I did send him an email yesterday (and yes, I saw your comment, Why) and he wrote back asking me out for a "real" drink and a chance to get to know more about each other. He also said I was easy-going, fun to talk with and that I have pretty eyes (!). This so makes up for the terrible date I had yesterday.

Date 4 Report

Where to begin? I'm so friggin' mad right now, I can hardly think straight!!!

When I first talked to this guy a few nights ago, I wasn't too enthused after our conversation, but put it down to nerves (both his and mine). I had found him difficult to talk to and quite negative in a lot of his responses, but decided the only way to really decide was to meet him. So, we decided to meet this afternoon at a cafe of his choosing. Now, understand that when you meet someone at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon in a place that is more restaurant than cafe - there is going to be a crowd. I arrived a few minutes early and noticed a few people hanging around outside but didn't pay particular attention to see if one of these people was the guy I was meeting. Went inside, waited a few minutes for a table and sat down. This guys comes in about 5 minutes later and tells me that he saw me go in, but didn't stop me, even though he thought it was me. (Is it me, or is that ... well, stupid?) I'll tell you why I didn't recognize him. The picture I had of this guy was about 10 years old (again this happens!).

He sat down and had a look around. It suddenly dawns on him that everyone is having breakfast/lunch. We ordered our coffee. I got a bowl of fruit too because I hadn't eaten lunch yet. He started complaining that he wasn't used to coffee (why he didn't order tea from the 50 types they had, I don't know.)

Conversation got off to a slow start (now I am comparing him to the great date I had yesterday). And it didn't get any easier. Finally, I was starting to feel rather like a chatterbox and told him speak up, interrupt, take part in the conversation a little. Now, I could've said it mean and snarky, but I didn't - I was trying to funny about it. It didn't work. At all. He got a little upset. OK - my bad.

Then I started on another round of questions. I tried to talk about music - he wasn't interested. I tried to talk about books. He hadn't anything to say about them, except for The Merchant of Venice which he read in high school. I tried again. What were some of the most recent books he had read. Answer: Dan Brown's books (and he thought they were good).

I tried to talk to him about my experience volunteering in Panama last year and about the gifts I had recently helped collect for the girls. This didn't go over so well with him. He pretty much told me that I wasn't helping these kids by providing them with gifts simply to subscribe to the North American consumer attitude (or something like that), that the time I spent was more beneficial to them than any "gift". Maybe I shouldn't have taken it so personally, but I did. In fact, I was pretty insulted.

That's when I picked up my cheque and walked to the cash. Outside he asked if I wanted him to call me. (WHAT???) I said no. Total length of date: 40 minutes. I think this might be a new record for me.

Analysis: 2/10. Making me spitting mad on a first date is a guaranteed no call back.

Date 3 Report

I can hardly believe this happened only a few hours ago, but it's true. I had a good date. No, I had a pretty damn good date. No kidding.

It wasn't terribly awkward. It didn't seem forced. He was on time, polite, looked the same as his picture, didn't lie about his height. We spent nearly 2 hours over coffee, just chatting, laughing and getting a feel for each other. It was fun and enjoyable. I'm still quite shocked.

Analysis: 9/10. Feel I can't give a 10 because ... well, I suppose, because I'm hoping to see him again and want to feel like there's only one way to go - and that's up!

Sleep Workshop - Week 6

It's over. Last night was the last workshop. While I know it was helpful in certain aspects, in others it was simply not the environment for me.

In the end, it comes down to practice and consistency. Keeping these things on the top of my priority list will help. The things I have to work on are: keeping a regular sleep time and wake up time. This means every day, seven days a week. No matter if I'm taking a day off, it's the weekend or it's vacation. My body needs to know when it's going to go to sleep and when it's going to wake up. If my sleep efficiency is less than 90%, I must stay up 15 minutes longer. Next, I need to keep up with my sleep hygiene - less caffeine (and none after 3pm), give myself a specific time to worry (but not at bedtime), take an hour to relax before bed (practice breathing and relaxation exercises). Finally, change my thinking - I can get by on little sleep, one bad night won't be the worst thing to happen, be kind to myself.

After a follow-up visit with my sleep specialist 2 weeks ago, I have decided to go with her suggestion to get this oral appliance that will help to keep my airway open when I sleep. This is going to be expensive ($1800). Unfortunately it's not covered by my insurance so it looks like I'll be working the tax pool again this year... Oh well, not the worst thing to happen. And hey - it could be the combination (appliance and sleep hygiene) that finally helps me get the restorative sleep I need.

Guess what? I'm hopeful.

Blackmarket Naps

Yesterday afternoon was a tough one. Tough being that I couldn't take the nap I so desperately wanted. I'm telling you, if I could've bought a nap, I would've paid for it. I often kid around with the woman who sits behind me at work, about having naps at our desks in the afternoon (she's got 2-3, I've got 3-4). Well, yesterday I wanted to buy some of her nap time and she refused (the nerve!). I joked that I was in the blackmarket nap business. Later that night, I thought that maybe it's not such a crazy idea. I have heard of shopping centres and airports having areas where people can catch a few zzz's. Seriously, I really think this is a huge money maker for someone with the right know-how.

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 10

Lozenger: i.e. lozenge. Small sweet or medicinal tablet to be dissolved in the mouth. Usage "I gave her a throat lozenger".

Sleep Workshop - Week 5

What to report? Not much really. Other than the fact that I was embarrassed at my lack of math skills. We had to start charting some of our sleep data from the last 5 weeks, work out averages, etc. For most people this is not an issue. For me, in a public setting, it's hugely stressful and all out nerve wracking (first calculating my time sleeping, then my time in bed, dividing that number and multiplying by 100 to get some other number). Everyone else in the class was able to provide some kind of data. I was the last one called on and here's what I had to offer: "Yeah, I've got nothing. This is too much math for me."

Ended up spending nearly 3 hours Saturday morning figuring out all these numbers. Ugh. It gave me a headache.

Thank you, Boys!

Thanks go out to Marko, Tim and all the boys who made last night such a great evening. There is nothing like a few drinks, some innocent flirting and many, many laughs (my cheeks are still sore!) to end off an otherwise ho-hum week.

Happy Birthday, Marko. I won’t tell everyone how old you are now, just that you’re great at being tall, skinny and dipping (not chips, me!).

Smooches to all of you!

Mr. Darcy!

So I did all the stuff I mentioned earlier today. Ended up doing a little more shopping than originally planned, but got everything I wanted and more!

One of my favourite second hand book shops in the Monkland Village, Déjà Lu, is closing. The man who runs it is retiring sometime in December and is selling everything at 50% off. I managed to pick up 6 books for $15 (which comes to approximately $2.50 each) – what a steal!!

Super C and I met for lunch at St. Viateur Bagel Restaurant & Café for a late lunch. Man, what a crowd! Good thing we didn’t try to meet at noon, or I think we’d still be waiting for a table.

Then to the library where I managed to find a number of books in that I want to read. Only took one though as I seem to have amassed quite a pile of books in my book basket.

And so to the movies. Ended up seeing Pride & Prejudice because Water didn’t start until nearly an hour later. Now, being a huge Jane Austen fan and a fan of the A&E mini-series done in 1995, I was prepared to compare the book and mini-series against the movie. And I did. There were many details that were omitted or shortened for the length of the movie: the Lucas family (except for Charlotte), Mr. Bingley’s married sister, Jane’s time in London and meeting with the Bingley sisters, Lizzy’s aunt’s connection to Derbyshire & Lambton. One thing that really ticked me off was how they changed some details, one such example being the sculpture busts of the Darcy family instead of miniature paintings. Honestly, I think that unless you’ve read the book or at least seen the mini-series, it may have been difficult to follow all the comings and goings.

Casting: didn’t care much Keira Kneightly (plays Elizabeth) or whatever her name is. Judi Dench was good as Lady Catherine DeBourgh. Jane was very pretty and reserved. Mr. Bingley was a bit too stupid for me. Miss Bingley was good and snobby. Charlotte Lucas was nice and plain. Mr. Bennet (Donald Sutherland) was, well, kind of iffy – accent wasn’t spot on and I really didn’t get a feel for the strong bond between him and Lizzy. Finally, Mr. Darcy: I was not prepared for was how much I liked the guy playing Mr. Darcy (Matthew McFadyen). I didn’t like him at first, but he kinda grew on me. And by the last scene in the movie (it’s actually the second to last scene, but I am choosing to forget the AWFUL last scene altogether), I was all “Oh, hello, Mr. Darcy!!!” Striding across the early morning field, with his great-coat billowing behind him and his shirt undone at the neck … *sigh* That even gave Colin Firth a run for his money! I kid you not. All in all, I think I may actually have to add it to my dvd collection, when the times comes, for that scene alone. Oh yeah, and also the big argument between Mr. Darcy and Lizzy in the rain.

Final analysis: not bad considering what they had to scrunch into 2 hours, but not a classic either. Rather disappointing.

Bank Day

It’s Friday and I’m at home. No, it’s not a holiday. I’m using up some of my banked overtime hours. Plans for the day: trip out to St. Hubert Street to price some of my Christmas wish list, over to St. Denis to have a look in some Naturopath shops, lunch and some shopping in Monkland Village with Super C, followed by a trip to the library and perhaps a movie (Pride & Prejudice or Water) then a little birthday party for a friend of a friend. It’s sunny out so I have great hopes it’ll be a nice day.

Date 2 Report

Before I say anything else, I've got to say this: Why, why, why do people lie about their height? And again - WHY??? Just so you understand where I'm coming from - I am 5'7. Exactly. I have three brothers. They are all taller than me and range from 6'0 to 5'10-ish. If you are shorter than them - YOU ARE NOT SIX FEET TALL. Got it? Good.

Moving on.

The date started off well enough. He was on time (and in my books that actually means early). He was presentable and in fact was colour coordinated to me. He is a "friend of the museum" (meaning he pays an annual fee so can bring someone with him when he visits) so I didn't have to pay the entry fee. Was kind enough to explain some of the differences in style, the influences and wasn't too pretentious about it all. After the exhibition he gave me a little box of Godiva chocolates (this is worth bonus points later). We went out for dinner and wouldn't let me pay my share (and no, I didn't do one of those pretend reach for my purse gestures - I actually had the money in my hand to give to him). And finally - he didn't cry!

That said, there were a few negatives. The first being the whole height thing. It's starting to sound like I have an issue with height and it's probably true. But my point is that I just don't understand why a person would lie about something so obvious. Next is the language. I knew beforehand that English was not this guy's first (or second) language. We had talked on the phone and I found it very difficult to understand him. His English in person was a little easier to understand. Perhaps because I was able to see the body language and facial expressions that went with the speech, but it was easier. However, it was still no simple feat to follow the thread of conversation while trying to put together each sentence in my head. He may have found me quite silent. This was not entirely my natural reserve but rather the sheer intensity of my thought process in figuring out what he was talking about. After the exhibition he invited out dinner. We agreed on Chinese food. He got lost walking there (it was cold, rainy and windy) and we ended up at a Mexican restaurant. (Coincidentally the one restaurant I won't eat at anymore because the last time I did I was sick afterwards.) My feet were soaked through, the bottom of my pants were soaked, I was cold and shivering (all this means I was cranky). Then he spent the better part of dinner talking about his ex-girlfriends and past long term relationships. (FYI: not what any woman wants to hear about on a FIRST date.) Finally, he told me I "made a mistake" by not having noticed his age before agreeing to see him. He's 47. I'm 36. I realise there is an age/generation gap, but I wasn't there to decide whether I'd spend the rest of my life with him. It was a date.

Right. So we said our goodbyes. I jumped into a taxi and headed home. Strangely enough, the taxi driver and I started chatting about the horrid weather (that's what us Canadians do, eh) and the next thing I knew he was asking me if I had time to go out for coffee! I kid you not! I politely declined and he just took me home. Then I gave him a $20 to pay the ($10) fare but he didn't have any change, so let me off the hook giving him about $5.55 in change. I thanked him profusely. Quite a difference from one of my more recent taxi experiences).

Final score: 4/10. (Allocation: 1 point for showing up, 1 point for being presentable, 2 points for giving me chocolates)

iStockPhoto.com

Came across an interesting article in The Gazette on Monday about an online stock photo company that sells royalty free images. They're called iStockPhoto. iStockPhoto maintains an archive of nearly 500,000 digital photographs, sold to advertisers, graphic designers and publishers for use in everything from annual reports to billboards. Clients can download pictures for a fee of $1 to $20 and use them as many times as they wish without paying royalties. Meanwhile, the photographer gets a cut of the purchase price.

Some people use AdSense or other ways to make money with their blogs. Think I'll load some of my pictures to iStockPhoto and see if I can make any money from my own pictures.

Tweedle Dee Dictionary, Part 9

Sorry, I missed last week's entry. Just clean forgot.

Youz: the plural for 'you'. As in, "What did youz guys do today?" Talk about aggravating my nervous tick. My head practically falls off from all the twitching I do when I hear that.

DontDateHimGirl.com

Public Service Announcement:

In the paper this morning there was an interesting article about a website that caters to scorned women. Check out dontdatehimgirl.com.

DontDateHimGirl.com, masterminded by Toronto resident Tasha Joseph, attracts an average 200,000 hits a day by unmasking alledged philanderers from around the world.

So, if you're angry or just interested, have a look-see.

Date 1 Report

If there's one thing I cannot stand, it's liars. Lies, be they small and seemingly insignificant, will backfire on you.

I may become petty and picky here, but not without some good reason.

Things started off a little bit on the wrong foot. I arrived at the coffee shop about 10 minutes early and made a quick detour to force myself to arrive only 5 minutes early. I ordered my coffee and sat down at a table. It was exactly our appointed meeting time. Shortly after that my phone rang and it was my date, calling to ask where I was. Where I was? Where was he was more the question. Apparently he had arrived at the correct coffee shop 15 minutes early, not found me there and decided to see if I was somewhere else. I explained patiently and kindly (honest!) where I was. He showed about about 5 minutes later. Fine.

Now - imagine, if you will, you are expecting to meet someone for the first time. You have a (supposedly recent)picture of this person and some physical details. This person shows up and is not the person you are expecting to see. This person is a good 4-6 inches shorter than indicated on the profile he wrote. This person gave you a picture that must've been taken at least 10 years ago and some significant physical changes have occurred since then. Why would you lie about your height? Do you think I won't notice? Why would you give me an old picture? Do you think I won't notice the difference between now and then? All I can think of at this point is if this guy has lied about his height, deceived me with his picture, what's next?

So we had a quick coffee and then left for a walk along the Canal. It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny, a little bit of wind, not too cold - good walking weather. Here's when I thought we'd really start talking. We had previously talked on the phone for over an hour a couple of days prior. I did find it difficult to talk to him and felt myself really trying hard to get him to talk. Possibly it was just because we were talking for the first time, but it was awkward. Understandable. But now there we were, face-to-face, and it wasn't getting any easier. I tried. And I tried hard. I asked all kinds of questions. And all I got in response most of the time was a one-word answer. An hour and a half of one word answers.

I certainly wasn't expecting to meet the perfect guy on my first date in nearly a year, but COME ON!!! Give me something to work with here! Ask me something, anything! He never asked me a single question without me giving him some kind of lead up to it. I know I can be intimidating (and both friends and family will tell me so), but I was trying so hard to put this guy at ease and getting nothing in return. His profile tag line was "Laugh a lot". In the hour we were on the phone, plus the time we were together on Sunday, take a guess at how many times I laughed. Wild guess here. Anyone? A grand total of ZERO. Oh no, I'm sorry, close to the end of our walk, (as I was getting more and more frustrated) I did one of those sarcastic little "Heh" laughs. Probably not the best thing to do on a first date. But I was fed up.

Oh yeah, here's the petty part - the more he didn't respond and didn't ask questions, the faster I walked. And he couldn't keep up with me.

Final score: 4/10. He gets a few points for not crying on the first date. (Yes, this has happened, twice.)

Wish me luck

I've got a date tomorrow afternoon. Going to meet a guy whose last name is the same as the name of the building where I live. No relation. Two friends have said this is a sign. I don't know if I'm inclined to agree, but I'm willing to give it a chance. Will let you know how it goes.

Then on Wednesday, I've got another date. His name is Ying. Is he the ying to my yang? (Although ying is the female and yang is the male.) We'll see ...

Wish me luck.

Sleep Workshop - Week 4

If you've been reading this space faithfully, you'll have realized that I didn't write anything after last week's session. I could say I was busy and that I didn't have the time. It's true. But really, I just didn't have the energy for it. While I still am pretty low on energy these days, I think it would be good to get this down on paper, so to speak. Right - so last night we continued on the topic of cognitive behaviours and techniques.

First we discussed the nine ways to reshape our thinking. I'm finding all of this really helpful and maybe you will too.
1 - Clean up your thoughts: Involves simply identifying those maladaptive cognitive distortions.
2 - Straight forward approach: Substitute more positive and realistic thoughts for your negative thoughts. Ask yourself "Is this negative thought true? Is there another way to look at the situation?" Instead of "I know I'm not going to fall asleep", think "People are very bad at guessing when they'll fall asleep - it's very possible I'm asleep within a few minutes."
3 - Cost benefit analysis: List advantages and disadvantages of a negative feeling (becoming angry in traffic), a negative thought (I'm no good at this). Ask yourself "How will this attitude help me and how will it hurt me?" Once we are able to identify that our automatic thoughts almost always are unhelpful, it becomes easier to reject them.
4 - Double standard technique: Instead of putting yourself down, talk to yourself in the same compassionate way you might talk to a friend who was upset. You may be amazed at how mean you are to yourself. Yelling at yourself (mentally or otherwise) is entirely unproductive.
5 - Examine the evidence: Instead of assuming that your negative thought is true, examine the actual evidence for it. What are the facts? Is it true? Probably not. Substitute the thought for something more realistic.
6 - Experimental method: Do an experiment to test the accuracy of your negative thought. (e.g. counting backwards from 100 by sevens "100, 93, 86 ..." - OK - so maybe not a math test for me ...) Do the task after good nights and bad nights and you may see that your sleep does not render you useless after all.
7 - Thinking in shades of grey: Instead of thinking about your problems in black and white categories, evaluate things in shades of grey. When things don't work out out as well as you had hoped, think about the experience as a partial success. Try to pinpoint your errors instead of thinking of yourself as a total failure. This is important while you're trying to incorporate muscle relaxation and other techniques into your routine. Giving up on things that are difficult is very easy and made easier by black or white thinking.
8 - Semantic method: Related somewhat to the problem of using "should statements", substitute for language that is less colourful and emotionally loaded.
9 - Reattribution: Instead of blaming yourself entirely for a problem, think about the many factors that may have contributed to it. Focus on solving the problem instead of using all your energy blaming yourself and feeling guilty. The fact of the matter is, there are factors that are somewhat out of your control; acknowledging that they are out of your control may reduce your anxiety.

Strangely enough, all these things brought up some nearly forgotten tips I had picked up at a yoga workshop about a year ago, but I'll get to that in a minute. Bear with me.

Next we discussed some procedures for identifying and countering negative self-talk and how we can break these habits. Here are the steps:
1. Notice - catch yourself in the act of engaging in negative self-talk. Be aware of situations that are likely to precipitate or aggravate negative self-talk. i.e. any occasion when you're feeling nervous or anxious, anticipation of having to face a difficult task, occasions when you've made some kind of mistake and feel critical of yourself, occasions when you're feeling depressed or discouraged, situations when you're angry at yourself or others, situations where you feel guilty, ashamed or embarrassed.
2. Stop - Ask yourself any/all of the following questions: What am I telling myself that is making me feel this way? Do I really want to do this to myself? Do I really want to stay upset?
3. Relax - Disrupt your train of negative thought with relaxation. The point is to let go, slow yourself down, and relax.
4. Write down the negative self-talk or inner dialogue that led you to feel anxious, upset, or depressed. It's often difficult to decipher what you're telling yourself by merely reflecting on it. It can be confusing to try to think about what you've just been thinking. The act of writing things down will help to clarify what specific statements you actually made to yourself.
5. Identify the type of negative self-talk you engaged in. After doing this for a while, you'll become aware of the particular types of negative inner dialogue and particular types of cognitive distortions you're especially prone to use.
6. Answer or dispute your negative self-talk with positive, rational, self-supportive statements.

Now back to the yoga tip list. More of it was resurfacing in my mind and I couldn't wait to get home and have a look at it. When I did get to it, I was astounded at how closely some of them are related to the techniques I'd just been learning. All these things were swirling around in my head last night as I recognized many of my own attitudes and beliefs. Here are the Top Ten Way to Reduce Stress (especially during the holidays)
1. Adopt an attitude of gratitude
2. Work from intention
3. Go with the flow
4. Practice metta (loving kindness) to oneself
5. Practice metta to others
6. Take a break
7. Practice gentle yoga
8. Turn off the TV, throw away the magazines
9. Find time for spiritual practice
10. Breathe!

Is this great or what? I'm going to make a copy for the others in the workshop as well. Maybe it can be of use to them.

More good news - I was "allowed" to add 15 minutes to my sleep time. And if my sleep efficiency continues to remain above 90% after 2 or 3 days at the new time, then I can add another 15 minutes, and so on ... At this rate I'll be up to 8 hours of sleep in no time! I know there will probably be some problems getting there, but I'm ready for them. Feeling rather proud of myself.

On that note, thanks to the two friends (you know who you are) who both gave me the same advice - be kind to yourself. Tonight I will go home and thrill in the no longer guilty pleasure of Prince or other things ... ;-)