Tonight's the Night

Tonight is the 13th Annual Women of Distinction 2006 gala. My Mom is up nominated for her work in the community. I'll be there too and am excited to see how it all goes.

Good luck, Mom!

No More Procrastinating

A week or two ago I said I would give my oral appliance one more attempt. I said I'd start using it again on May 8. Well, by May 11 I still hadn't started with it again so I said "Enough!!!" (yes, with 3 exclamation points). Wrote myself a post-it note and managed to force myself into wearing it Friday and Saturday night. Can't say I slept well with it, but at least it didn't hurt my jaw. Took Sunday night off. I plan on doing another 2 nights with it tonight and tomorrow.

I'd been asking myself why I wasn't using it every morning last week, as I saw that blue box in my bathroom cabinet. My excuses ran the gamut from "oh, I forgot (again)", to "well, I'm still working on that big project at work" (why that should have anything to do with using an oral appliance is beyond me, but this is really what I've told myself), to "it's going to hurt my jaw again", to "after ..." whatever excuse I can think up.

Here's what I know though - whatever the excuse, they are all just excuses. Either I want to give it another try or not. Either I want to improve my sleep or not. What do I really want out of this and how much do I want it? Obviously this is applicable to anybody, not just myself, in just about any area of life. Losing weight, finishing school, training for a triathlon ...

I have made a lot of changes to my lifestyle in an effort to sleep better. Some of these changes have worked better than others. And that's fine - I have to find out what works for and realise (and accept, hoooooo that's a big one!) that not everything will work. But more than anything right now, the one thing I have to do is try once more to sleep with this oral appliance. Starting with one night on and one off. Then 2 nights on, one night off. Working my way up to 5 nights. I think it may also be helpful to not think too much about my past experience with the appliance. Yes, I know it will be uncomfortable. Yes, it has even been painful. But I have to find a way to get around this type of negative thinking because I think in some ways, it may affect the results I'm having with it.

Enough procrastinating. I know that this is what I've been doing. I managed two nights without any problems, I can handle another two.

New Emily Giffin Book in June

The author of one of my favourite books has a new book coming out in June!

I read the excerpt of Baby Proof on Emily Giffin's web site. I'm intrigued now and can't wait for the release.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Exactly one year ago today I started blogging.

New recipes

This weekend I tried out a couple of new recipes. One dish (the zucchini one) my mom has made a couple of times and I liked it so much I got myself a copy - yesterday was the first time I made it myself. The second is from the Eat, Shrink & Be Merry cookbook (3rd in a series from the Canadian Podleski sisters). Click here to try a couple of the recipes from the book.

Both have great taste, are pretty easy to make and both I'll be sure to make again. See the recipes below:

Tourte aux courgettes et au feta (Zucchini and Feta Tart)
Serves 6 to 8 people

750g (1 1/2 lb) zucchini, washed and coarsely grated (about 4)
250g (8 oz) feta
4 eggs, beaten
30ml (2 Tbsp) nuts of your choice, roasted and coarsely chopped
30ml (2 Tbsp) dill, finely chopped
30ml (2 Tbsp) fresh parsley, finely chopped
75ml (5 Tbsp) grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

In a frying pan, cook the zucchini for a few minutes until they "sweat". Put to the side.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C (375F).
Butter a 20cm (8 inch) pie dish.
Soak the feta in a bowl of hot water for about 10 minutes. Drain the cheese. Using a fork, crush the feta until you get a smooth paste consistency. Add the zucchini as well as all the other ingredients (reserve 1 Tbsp of Parmesan) and mix it well.
Pour the mixture into the pie dish, sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top and put it in the oven for 45 minutes.
Check that the pie is done by inserting a knife, when it comes out clean, it's done.
Serve immediately.

Notes from Stef: I just mashed the feta until it was a small crumbly mess. I used sliced almonds, toasted them (didn't chop them) and also put some on top of the dish (with the Parmesan). There was no fresh dill at the store, so I used fresh basil instead.

All set for the next one?

Tongue Thai'd
(Pad Thai stir fried rice noodles with shrimp and tofu)

3 Tbsp each freshly squeezed lime juice and Asian fish sauce
2 Tbsp each ketchup and brown sugar
1 Tbsp each grated gingerroot and reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce
8 oz (227g) rice stick noodles, ideally 1/8 inch wide
2 tsp peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 cup very thinly sliced red onions or shallots
2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced or thinly sliced
8 oz (227g) uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup diced extra-firm tofu
2 cups bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts

First, gather all the ingredients you'll need for this recipe and get them ready (i.e., chop the red pepper, peel the shrimp, etc.). Once you're ready to go, the meal comes together very quickly. You don't want to be hunting for the bean sprouts while the shrimp burns!

To prepare the sauce, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, gingerroot, soy sauce, sesame oil, and crushed red pepper flakes in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place rice noodles in a large bowl and pour boiling water over top. Let soak 7 minutes. Drain.

While noodles are soaking, heat peanut oil in a large, non-stick wok. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until onions are tender, about 2 minutes. Add red pepper and cook 2 more minutes, stirring often. Add shrimp and tofu. Cook and stir until shrimp turn pink, about 3 minutes. Add reserved sauce, noodles, bean sprouts, green onions, and cilantro. Toss and cook until mixture is hot, about 1 minute. Add peanuts and toss again. Serve immediately.

Per serving: Calories 308, total fat 7.3g, saturated fat 1g, protein 15g, carbohydrates 47g, fiber 2.8g, cholesterol 57mg, sodium 990mg.

Notes from Stef: I used teriyaki flavoured tofu, and added some broccoli because I didn't have any shrimp.

Concert announcement

Here's what I had planned to post last Friday.

Radiohead is playing in Montreal on June 10 and 11. Am I going?

YOU BET YOUR ASS I AM!!!

(Well, only to the show on June 11 because Anna had to go and get married on the 10th and I've already said I'd go to that.)

However, due to circumstances beyond my control, that is not what I'm going to be able to announce. Here's what actually happened:

12:00pm - start hitting the refresh button on the admission site, start dialing their phone number as well.

12:01 - Keep getting the same message on the web site telling me that they have reached their maximum number of online users, please try again in a few minutes. Keep getting "access denied" message on the phone.

12:02 - 12:08 - Same

12:09 - Actually get a busy signal on the admission telephone line. One more try and I manage to get through to an agent. Relief was short lived as she was only able to sell me one ticket to the Saturday night show. Nothing else was available. I bought the ticket and hung up. (I bought the ticket knowing I wouldn't be able to go that night, but figured I'd be able to sell it to one of my brothers.)

12:10 - 12:40 - Kept trying to get through online, while managing to produce work (talk about multi-tasking).

12:41 - Gave up. Knew the tickets were gone by then.

Am disappointed in this turn of events. I feel for the fans who patiently stood in line for several hours at an admission kiosk waiting to buy tickets, only to have the first person in that line find out that there were no tickets left at 12:01. I feel for the fans who tried desperately to get through by phone or online who were rewarded for their persistence with nothing. Honestly - as much as I do love technology, I really think that in this instance it would've been better to go back to the old way - everybody standing in line overnight, signing their name on a sheet and being sure to get tickets to a concert.

I really don't understand how all those tickets got sold so fast. This really sucks.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Ricotta

Monday night I made this.

My comments: The recipe called for diced tomatoes and then told you to puree them - why not just buy pureed tomatoes? But I didn't read that before hand. In the end I decided to just puree them a little bit because I like chunks of tomatoes. Couldn't find orecchiette at my local grocery store, so used some nice big (whole wheat) rotini instead. And because I'm watching the calories these days, I used a low fat ricotta. It was a very easy, simple and quick recipe, but a touch on the bland side. Maybe I didn't use enough salt & pepper (or maybe it was because of the low fat ricotta, or maybe it was because of the pasta, as mentioned in the comments about this recipe). Think I'll keep the recipe and try it again sometime with different pasta and a better cheese.

Giselle

Kinda late on this post.

Spent Saturday afternoon at "il balletto" with my Mom. She managed to get some free tickets (I'm still not quite sure how) a week after I'd asked her what she knew about this particular ballet and the story of Giselle.

The performance was incredible. Forgive me, but I must repeat myself. It was incredible. The music was beautiful, the dancing awe inspiring. Just thinking of the practice required to have 20 people dancing the same exact movements, the strength and stamina necessary for this was incredible (sorry, I gotta start using the thesaurus). The dancing was truly sublime.

This version was done by the Houston Ballet company. The only other live ballet I have ever seen was The Nutcracker (and this only last December).

All in all a thrilling afternoon. Am so glad I got to experience this.

Mmm ... yummy!

The problem with eating a free chocolate bar in the middle of the afternoon is that once it's gone, I want another.

Secure

Managed to get a couple of things off my "To Do" list this weekend. Other than do a tonne of laundry (I'm embarassed to say how long it's been since I did laundry) and clean my condo (more embarassment), I did actually buy a security system for my window and with the help of my Dad, manage to install it. It doesn't look too horrible and it does seem very secure. Hopefully this will help with some sleep related anxiety.

While I was busy with my laundry, cleaning and running out to two hardware stores, it was quite late in the day on Sunday when I finally got around to my groceries. So although I didn't get to make the nice new dish I had planned on, I was able to improvise a little and make one of my favourite old stand-bys.

I originally saw Martha make these Stuffed Peppers and later found the recipe in Everyday Food. I modify it to suit my taste and eating habits. First of all I omit the olive oil and just use some non-fat cooking spray. Next I replace the chicken (meat, whatever) with more veggies, or sometimes add tuna. The recipe calls for diced tomatoes but I usually add a little of whatever other veggies I have around too (chopped mushrooms or zucchini, grated carrot). Finally, I usually just use whatever cheese I have in the house, but particularly like parmesan. The original recipe was quite high in fat (16.5 grams!) but I think my version is less than that (no oil, no meat, or if I use tuna that has less fat). These stuffed peppers are surprisingly filling - a half pepper is sufficient for me if I'm having a large salad on the side.

Sorry, didn't have time to make the chocolate chip cookies I'd promised last week, but now I that owe my Dad some cookies (for helping install the security system), I'll be forced to make them really soon.

Done!

Phew - just finished doing my tax returns. What a relief to know I'm getting a fairly sweet refund from both governments. All I have to do is bring in my property taxes, update the forms, print everything off and send them in. That I can do in less than 15 minutes on Monday. It's good to have this lingering anxiety lifted.

Other things to remember

Here's a list of a couple of other things I need to remember in the evenings as I get ready to sleep.

- Keep to sleep time and wake time (especially Monday to Friday). Allow myself some extra time on weekends.

- No scary tv programmes or movies. (Managed to scare myself silly twice this week because of this ...)

- Keep alcohol to a minimum. Not like I drink much anyway, but I find that when I have had a few drinks I sleep even less than usual and very poorly. Will try for 2 drinks a night, if I do go out.

- Buy and install some kind of security for the window I like to keep open at home. In the past, during warmer weather, I've kept the window open over night. This has probably not helped my anxiety, whether I choose to recognize it or not.

Starting Over

In an effort to get back on track with my sleeping, I have managed to make a few changes to my habits.

Step 1: Two nights ago I moved my alarm clock across the room and turned the volume up on the radio so that when the alarm goes off at 6am, I am forced to get out of bed to turn it off. Once I'm up, I'm up - so that's good.

Step 2: No more reading in bed. I know I've gone through this before, but I got a little off track recently. First it was just 10 minutes of reading in bed, then 20 and before I knew it I was up to an hour of reading in bed again ... I restarted this two nights ago.

Step 3: Exercise. Over the last couple of weeks I've slacked off a bit and have noticed the difference in my sleep pattern. For the last 2 days I've forced myself to exercise when I get up. I am also planning to up the post-work exercise, but for this week and next week that'll take a back seat while I finish up a big project at work. I'm putting it in writing now - come May 8th I will add either a walk home from work and/or exercise when I get home.

Step 4: My last and final attempt to sleep with the oral appliance. I'm taking a break from it right now because I've had a lot of jaw pain and problems closing my jaw. Maybe I should set myself a goal to try again by May 8th.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Any day now

Any day now you'll be reading about me in The Gazette. Any day now I'll be arrested for disturbing my neighbour. Any day now while I'm getting arrested maybe I'll ask the cops to arrest my neighbour for disturbing me. I mean, he started it!

For over 2 years now I have been listening to my neighbour scrape his chair across his kitchen tile floor 5 days a week, somewhere betwen 5:30-6:30am, making noise like a bull elephant that shakes my floor, my wall and wakes me up every time. For the first 2 years I simply let it go. Ignored it and tried (in vain) to go back to sleep. In the last 6 months I've been a little more aggressive. I've taken to banging on the wall with my fist. That seemed to work from time to time, but I was starting to have some pain in my hand from all the banging. So now I've moved up to the baseball bat. That worked well at first. He'd scrape his chair, I'd get up and bang the baseball bat on the wall. Instant silence. Next day we'd start all over again. And the next. And the next... Recently though, my neighbour has started to get a little pissed off with all my banging (doesn't he wonder why I'm banging?!?!) so he scrapes his chair continually while I'm banging the bat on the wall. Lucky for me I'm angrier than he is, because I can keep up with the banging longer than he can scrape his chair across the floor.

Round 1 to me.

Foodie, Food Snob, Foodanista - Which One Are You?

Recently read an article in Ottawa Magazine that I picked up a while back. The article, The Road to Foodieville, by Chris Knight, brought up some important questions for me. How would I classify myself in the food world - as a Foodie, a Food Snob or a Foodanista?

Before reading the article, I would have considered myself a bit of a Foodie and also a bit of a Food Snob. But now I know better.

Let's discuss the differences (I'm cribbing from Chris Knight's article). A Food Snob would never deign to partake of 30-cent wing night, whereas a Foodie knows where the best chip trucks are. A Food Snob will pay a small fortune for a side of double-smoked yak scrotum so as to impress dinner guests; a Foodie will put immeasurable passion and enthusiasm into cooking an honest meal to please friends. A Foodanista is someone who considers where one dines to be a measure of social status. Foodanistas go to a place because other Foodanistas hang out there trying to be cool, drinking overprices faux martinis while looking at faux wall treatments.

Simply put, a Foodie is someone who considers cooking fun, who sees food as one of life's great recurring pleasures, as an opportunity to pleasure oneself in public without getting arrested.

I'm a Foodie. Which one are you?

Back to the Kitchen

Over the last couple of months I haven't done very much cooking. I've done the usual dishes that feed me for a week, but haven't done too many new things. It occurs to me that eating the same old things is pretty boring and I like food way to much to let it be boring.

So, with May around the corner I am committing to searching out and making one new dish a week for the next month. To motivate me I may have to make some chocolate chip cookies first.

Recipes will be posted.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

It's raining. It's Sunday. It's just gone 1pm. I'm catching the next bus home and then I'm having a nap.

I'm such a wimp

After a 3 day work week last week, having to work 4 days this week has me beat. What am I going to do when I have to work 5 days next week???

Easter Weekend Highlights

What a weekend! I'm glad I took the time off and I enjoyed every minute (yes, even the many, many minutes with small children around).

Here are some highlights of the weekend: Seeing Cathy, Mike & Serena, hearing Serena say "Geez!" (my humble apologies to Mike - it seems I didn't get any pictures of you), seeing Nick, Sue & Darcy, listening to Darcy chatter away (even though I had no idea what she was saying), watching Darcy sit and read with Grandmaman & Papa, watching Darcy eat, walk, try on shoes, drink from a water bottle (not a child's bottle) and spill the water all down her front, make a scrunchy nose face, play the cornet, make a crazy funny face, hear her laugh on the swings, listen and love it every time she said "Mmm, yummy!" (which she said practically after every bite of food), laugh when she farted on Grandmaman's lap (twice), laugh when she burped, dance around the living room with her in my arms while Papa played Christmas carols on the piano. What else? I could go on and on. It was a great weekend.

Check out the pictures here.

Sushi & CAA

Had dinner last night with Sina & Cecilia. It was kind of a belated birthday dinner for Cecilia. Sina played hostess to the girls and fed us until we were full to bursting with homemade sushi, cantonese rice and a coconut/red bean paste cake. Mmmm ... it was sooooo good! Thanks again, Sina!

It was a very fun evening. We laughed a lot. And not because alcohol was taken. We didn't have a drop! It all started as Cecilia and I arrived at Sina's. Neither of us could remember which was her house. Cecilia decided we should ring at one house. I wasn't sure it was the right house, but rang the bell anyway. While waiting for someone to answer I peeked in the window and discovered that we were indeed at the wrong house. Luckily no one was home. So we tried the next house. This time we were right as Sina opened the door to us.

Several hours later, in the middle of a conversation about I don't even remember what, Cecilia sits up and starts patting herself down and asking where her keys are. Not in her pockets. Not on the counter. Not on the table. Not on the stairs. Is the car locked? Yes, I do remember hearing the doors lock as she moved away from the car. Thankfully, before complete panic set in, Sina mentioned that she had a CAA membership. She called, explained that the keys were locked in the car, no the car wasn't running. And presto, voilà! in less than an hour there was a CAA truck in front of the house. The ever so charming, cute and young CAA guy, Nicholas, had the car unlocked in less than 5 minutes and gave the three of us plenty to giggle over after he'd gone.

Thanks to Cecilia for two such great laughs in one evening. We won't forget those stories for quite some time!

Extended Long Weekend

Another 24 hours (ok, actually a little less than 24 hours) and I'll be hitting the road for an extended long weekend. I'm taking the day off on Thursday and Monday so that I can join my parents on the trek to Windsor to visit Nick, Sue & Darcy.

Thursday night I'll be staying with Cathy & Mike in Richmond Hill. Cathy and I worked together at Club Med in Huatulco, Mexico. Think that was in 96/97. Since then we've managed to stay in contact and visit each other in Toronto/Montreal occasionally. I even attended her wedding in Jamaica in 2001. That wedding still tops all the weddings I've ever been to (my apologies to friends and family). Anyway, Cathy and Mike had a baby girl, Serena, just over a year ago and this will be my first visit with them since. I'm excited to see Cathy as a Mom now. We've got some catching up to do!

Then on Friday we'll head out and make the rest of the trip to Windsor. I can't wait to see Darcy (or Darby as she is known to some of my friends, due to my excitement when she was born, I misspelled her name in an email ...). After reading Nick & Sue's blogs for updates on my niece it should be fun to see her in action!

Of course, "fun" is what I say now. By the time we head back on Monday I'm pretty sure my tolerance and patience for 'small child fun' will be spent and I'll be happy to return to my quiet little condo.

Updates next week and probably lots of pictures on flickr too.

What did you do this weekend?

I did nothing.

Rules For The Behaviour Of All Those Entering These Doors

My thanks to Catherine the Great for drawing up the following code of behaviour. I will be making up my own rules soon.

RULES FOR THE BEHAVIOUR OF ALL THOSE ENTERING THESE DOORS

1. All ranks shall be left outside the doors, similarly hats, and particularly swords.

2. Orders of precedence and haughtiness, and anything of such like which might result from them, shall be left at the doors.

3. Be merry, but neither spoil nor break anything, nor indeed gnaw at anything.

4. Be seated, stand or walk as it best pleases you, regardless of others.

5. Speak with moderation and not too loudly, so that others present have not an earache or headache.

6. Argue without anger or passion.

7. Do not sigh or yawn, neither bore nor fatigue others.

8. Agree to partake of any innocent entertainment suggested by others.

9. Eat well of good things, but drink with moderation so that each should be able always to find his legs on leaving these doors.

10. All disputes must stay behind closed doors; and what goes in one ear should go out the other before departing through the doors.

If any shall infringe the above, on the evidence of two witnesses, for any crime each guilty party shall drink a glass of cold water, ladies not excepted, and read a page from the Telemachida out loud.

Who infringes three points on one evening shall be sentenced to learn three lines from the Telemachida by heart.

If any shall infringe the tenth point, he shall no longer be permitted entry.

News from Swiss Miss

My bestestclosest friend moved last week. I hadn't heard from her since last Wednesday. For us, that's a l-o-n-g time. So I called her this afternoon to find out what was going on, how the move went and all that blah-blah.

She's fine. The move went well. The kids are enjoying the new house. The husband is already starting to take down walls. The cable guy is coming on Monday (April 10) to connect them to the internet. Finally! Apparently the previous owner either didn't have internet access, or used dial up because the only connection in the office was for phone. Man - the wait was killing me, so I called. We had a good chat, a few giggles and I feel much better. I guess you could say I had my bestestclosestfriend "fix".

You can all go back to your regularly scheduled lives now.

Latest Reads

You may or may not have noticed that my "Off the Shelf" link is empty again. I'm trying to keep it up to date, I really am. But I've just been reading a little faster than I can update recently.

Monday night I went to the library after work and borrowed two books. Read one Monday night (forgot to update my links on Tuesday). Read the second book last night and have just updated the links in my "Back on the Shelf" section. So now I need to get back to the library.

Won't get there tonight though. I'm heading to the museum with Super C and possibly/hopefully AngryGnome. We're celebrating Super C's birthday (it was Monday, the 3rd). Going to have a look at the Catherine The Great - Art for the Empire exhibition and then have dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant. Am drooling over my red curry already ...

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.