Back in the kitchen

Finally started cooking again.  Look at these tasty little treats!

Canada Day Weekend

Pictures from our Canada Day weekend are up here.

We had a lot of fun. It was sunny and warm-ish and there was plenty of good food.. It was great to see all the family together again - first time since Christmas.  Also crazy to see how much Darcy & Wesley grew in the last six months.

Happy to be home!

My Neat Freak-ness Pays Off

Got up, showered, dressed, made the bed, did my hair and just as I was starting to put my make-up on BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP ... BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP ... BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP ...

The CO alarm in my hallway was going off and waking up anybody in a 1km radius.  It scared the living daylights out of me. That alarm is loud! How happy am I that it didn't go off in the middle of the night? Ridiculously happy.

I pulled the alarm out of the plug in the wall and unplugged the battery. Once the alarm stopped and I could hear myself think again, I read the instructions on the alarm and it seemed it was telling me I needed to get out into fresh air and call 911. Not exactly great timing but I figured I'd better do what it said even if I was pretty sure there was no way there could be a gas leak and now I would be late for work.

After calling 911 and explaining the situation, I took the food compost out for pick-up and before I could get back to the bathroom to finish putting on my make-up, the firemen were pulling up outside my building. Ten minutes later they were gone. Five of them came in, one with some kind of machine to read gas levels (I guess) and they tested everywhere. The fireplace, the bbq, the vents, the drains, the water tank. In the end, it seems this high humidity (I don't think it's that humid but apparently others feel differently) played a mean trick on the CO sensor and set it off.

Now, if you're ever planning to have 5 unannounced firemen (although when are firemen ever expected in your home, unless you're putting together some kind of fundraising calendar ;) hee, hee!), you'll be pretty glad to have made your bed and have everything in the house in its place. No dishes in the sink. Counters tidy. Cushions placed just so. Bed made. Clothes put away. Etc. I can certainly tell you I was very relieved there were no unsightly dishes sitting around or a messy bed to be looked upon by complete strangers. Believe me, I was pretty happy that my neat freak-ness finally paid off.

So yeah, my house was clean and there was no gas leak to worry about!  But then I realised I had 5 people tramping through my house in their big fireman boots and now I will have to clean the floors. Also, this made me 3 minutes late for work.

Out of India

While I'm in India I'll be keeping track of events, adventures and stuff over at Stef Out of India. You will find me posting there starting in February, once I get a wifi connection sorted out.

I hereby solemnly swear to post many pictures and make you very jealous ;)

Another "last"

Today is my last day at work for the next five months! To say I'm excited about my Indian Adventure would be putting it mildly, to say the least.

The refrain in my head these last few days has mostly been something along the lines of "GAH!" and "Lalala!!!" and "Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tah!!!" and other ridiculous exclamations.

That is all. (Too excited to focus on what I'm writing any longer.)

Last week in Montreal

Down to the final 7 day countdown!  Next Monday I leave for nearly a week of Chocolate, Cheese & Hysteria Therapy (aka Switzerland with my best friend.) Two weeks from today I'll be in India!  Woot!

Back "home"

What's that saying about "you can't go home?"  Well, I have but I haven't.  Having rented out my condo and the last minute change in departure date, somehow I find myself moved into my parents' house for two whole weeks before I leave for India.  My parents' house is not "home" the way the house in Lachine was "home", if you know what I mean.

My stay at what is jokingly referred to as the Titcombe B&B in NDG is off to a rough start.

Moving Day 1 & 2: Track slush and muck all over carpets and hardwood floors.
Day 1:  Wake up with fever, go to work, come home at lunch time and sleep all afternoon.
Day 2:  Blow a fuse drying my hair at 6am.
Day 3:  What could tomorrow possibly bring? I'm afraid I will overstay my welcome as a guest at the Titcombe B&B pretty fast if anything else happens ...

Visa update?

8:30am

Does this sound to you like my visa for India has come through:

"Processed application has been dispatched from the Operations hub to the Indian Visa and Consular Services Centre, Application Centre Montreal on 09-Jan-2013."

Yes? No? Maybe?

4:00pm - Update

"Your application is ready for collection at the Indian Visa and Consular Services Centre, Application Centre Montreal where you had submitted your application."

I think this means my visa is ready. I think.

6:42pm - Update

YES!  It was ready! I have it! I have my visa for India!  Woot!!!

India, here I come!  (After I buy my ticket (now that I know I can get in the country), of course.)

Another week down

Counting down like nobody's business and have crossed another week off the waiting list.

Trying hard to be patient. Not easy.

Coming together

Ever so slowly, things are coming together as I prepare for my 5 month stint in India.

Tonight I signed the lease to rent my condo for 3 months, with the option for an additional 2 months, if the guy needs it.  This is a huge, and I do mean HUGE, relief for me. It will make all things budget related that much more manageable while I'm gone.

Now if my visa would just come through, I'd be able to start breathing again.

Out of my hands

Just back from submitting my application for my Indian tourist visa. In approximately and exactly 7-10 days I will know if they'll let me in the country.  It's out of my hands now!

Not a stick man portrait

Do you have talent? I don't. I am spectacularly talentless, especially when it comes to real artistry. Lucky for me, I have friends, very good and special friends. This one friend in particular, Cecilia, is also a very talented artist. You see this sketch here on the left? She DREW that! Like, with her hands! Hmmm, maybe just one hand. Unless she's ambidextrous and I don't know about it. Possible. 

Cecilia and I met at work sometime around the year 2000. She has told me that we met in one of the many training sessions we had to attend. Typically, I have no memory of this (this will come as no surprise to some other friends.) However, at some point we started having lunch together, then she started sending me doughnuts through our internal mail service, followed by cans of V8, half of a chocolate bar and before you knew it we were doing things outside of work too. Mostly drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot of french fries and cheese cake.

Where the last 12, nearly 13 years have gone, I don't quite know, but Cecilia has certainly been a part of my small circle of friends that whole time. We don't see each other as often anymore. Life is like that.  We don't work together anymore, she's moved out to Mars (a.k.a. Île Bizard), she's had two kids ... The point is that we're still friends and even though we're not a part of each other's every day life, I think on the occasions that we do meet up, we're able to spend quality time together. That's important for me.

A few months ago (maybe it was only a few weeks but when your friend lives on Mars you automatically think everything was a few months past) Cecilia asked me to send her a favourite picture of myself. After sending her this picture, she muttered back to me that it needed to be a picture of my face.(Sheesh, how was I supposed to know?!)  I emailed her back another picture and promptly forgot all about it.

Last week I received her Christmas card, along with a picture of her kids. Admittedly, I was disappointed not to see a reworked comical collage of some kind using the picture I'd sent, seen here to the right. (Also I had hoped her annual year in review letter would be enclosed but it wasn't and have since been told she emails that out in January. I think she's making me wait on purpose.)

Last night we had our Christmas get together and Cecilia presented me with this beautiful (and I mean the drawing itself, not the subject) picture you see at the top of this post. I was floored - I mean look at it! It's incredible! I was also so touched that I promptly burst into tears in the middle of the restaurant.  So I've been wide awake for awhile now thinking about friends and what they mean to me, and why, and lots of other end of year thoughts.  Nothing much to tell you that I can put into words just yet other than Cecilia is a great artist, a true friend and a very special person in my life. I appreciate the thought and time that went into this gift but more than all that, I am thankful for her.  Cecilia, thank you.

Winter, how you try my patience

Winter arrived yesterday with a snow storm. Then it warmed up and rained. And of course, after that it got cold again and snowed. Because winter, you know, is like that. Mean.

This morning I went over to the parking lot to pick up the key for the community car and found that the lock box was frozen solid.  I could turn my key but couldn't remove the metal plate to get to the keys.  I tried the second lock box and the same thing happened. Feeling very MacGyver-ish, despite it being 8am, on a Saturday morning, standing on ice, in the blowing snow - I found a pen in my purse and tried to scrape away some of the ice that was holding the plate in. Five minutes later, now with my nose running and freezing all at the same time, I gave up and decided to go home and get one of those really sharp utility knives. Back with my knife, I started scraping again, broke a few blades off, pushed the next one up, and then scraped too hard because the whole blade thing fell out of the knife and when I tried to put it back in, put the blade in the wrong slot and then couldn't get it out to move it up or down in the shaft. At this point I called the community car service and explained what was going on and how it was impossible for me to get the car back in time, if I ever did manage to get in the lock box to the key. The agent was able to change my reservation time and car. Phew! But would I be able to get to a key?

Question for you, my audience - sensing my frustration yet?  Oh, it was there. Believe you me.

Back home for my back up utility knife and back to the parking lot. More scraping, more blades, more trying to open the lock boxes. NOTHING. NADA. I gave up and tried calling the car service again, only to get stuck on hold as I was walking over to a second (further) car location and then my phone DIED. Don't know if it's because my phone is old or because it was cold and the cold drained the battery really fast or maybe a combination of the two but now I had to turn around to walk home to plug in my phone to call the car service again. (And there was much heavy sighing.)

Naturally by this time I was all out of what little patience I had to start with. Now with my phone plugged in, I was able to call the car service again, get stuck on hold for 15 minutes and finally speak with another agent (so I got to repeat the whole story again, lucky me!) who cancelled my reservation at the first location and added one to the second location (about a 10 minute walk away). 

You'd think by this point the story would be finished, right? WRONG!

Now that I get to a lock box that opens (!), when I put the key into the car door, it was a bit sticky and guess what? The key wouldn't go all the way in! HA! Yes, there was ICE IN IT!  What a surprise, I know.  So, I opened the door from the passenger's side and got it unlocked that way. (Much more heavy sighing.)  Don't forget I still had to brush the snow from the car and scrape the ice off all the windows. A further 10 minutes was spent doing that and finally by 9:15am - a full hour and a quarter after leaving my house - I was on my way to do my groceries. A very quick shop, return home to drop off the bags and then I zipped back to the parking lot and was able to drop off the car with 10 minutes to spare before my 10am return time. Finally, a horribly cold walk back home, into the wind and blowing snow and finally, time for breakfast.

I can certainly say I earned it today.

On my way out to dinner soon. Hopefully public transportation won't try my patience as much as winter has already today.

*SIGH*

Countdown

Five weeks today I will be on my way to India. I'm taking the long route, which includes 2 nights in Zurich to get a much needed dose of BFF and all the hilarity that includes, before arriving in Hyderabad 'round about Friday, January 25.

Five weeks, people!

In need of inspiration?

Do you need some inspiration to do something you've never done? To get back to something you haven't done in a while? To push yourself a little harder? A little further? Is there something you want to check off your "bucket list"?

If so, I highly recommend reading Wild, by Cheryl Strayed.

Maybe you need to let go of the past. Maybe you need to accept yourself for who you are. Maybe ... I dunno ... you want to prepare for a long distance hike.

For me it reminded me of what it felt like to finish (yes, FINISH) my first (yes, I did more than one!) TRIATHLON and how it felt like to finish (yes, FINISH) my second (!) TRIATHLON, and how I want that feeling again and I will make sure it happens again. For the record, FINISHING a triathlon felt like I was/am, to quote Cheryl (apologies to my parents for this language), "a hard-ass mother f***ing Amazonian queen."

Take the inspiration you need from Cheryl's story. And that's all I'm going to say about it.

For Rent

Ooops ... pressed the wrong button a few days ago and deleted the post about my condo.

Here's a link to the ad for my condo on craigslist.

And the one on kijiji.

If you know anybody, please forward the information on to them. I'm open to discussion about the dates (earlier in January, if necessary) and always willing to answer questions.

Cold - but not for too long

You know (or maybe you don't, depending where you live) when you're walking into the wind and it's snowing and blowing up hard against your face, and you get that brain freeze feeling except that it's not summer, you're not wearing shorts and there is no ice cream involved? Yes, so that ... I hate that.

But luckily, if everything goes according to plan, in 2 months I won't have to worry about that! Instead you'll be reading my posts Out of India, where I'll spending the next 5 months volunteering for an organization called Shining Stars Centers for Youth Development.

More about all of that as I start to freak out and panic about plans, packing, etc.  For now I'll just say it'll be another item to check off my Life List and how amazing the experience will be.

Life List #37: Take ballroom dance lessons

In case you've been wondering how my Life List has been going, I am thrilled to say that I can now check off item #37:  Take ballroom dance lessons.

In true Stephanie form (or maybe it's Titcombe - we seem to have a thing about doing things all the way or not at all), I didn't just take a single ballroom dance lesson. First I found a Groupon for 4 classes (2 private lessons, 1 group lesson and 1 practice party) for $40. Then, after having so much fun doing the first 4 classes (huge thanks to the instructors at Arthur Murray Montreal Downtown franchise), I decided to go all out and really make an event of this Life List item. To do that meant signing up for their beginner's "Quick Start" program (9 private lessons, 4 group lessons and 2 practice parties) and I also gave myself a kind of "race date" end to it all by buying a ticket to the Bal Viennois de Montréal.  (There's the advertisement on the left.)

Last night was the night! After completing all my classes, borrowing a dress from a friend, buying sparkly dance shoes, getting my hair and make-up done, I attended my first ball (a BALL, people!) and danced the night away. (And there's my ticket to the right.)  You can find pictures here.

I danced, in no particular order:  the Foxtrot, the Viennese Waltz, the Waltz, the Swing, the Hustle, Merengue, Salsa and even the Tango! And it was all AWESOME!

This was more than just learning dances. This was about meeting new people, learning a skill and proving to myself and the people attending that ball that I can dance. I may not be great at letting my partner lead on the dance floor (sorry, guys ...), but I'm still learning. I also know now that I want to learn more dances, learn the more complicated footwork, learn about style, etc. This last month of dancing has been so much fun that I'm going to take a few more classes before the holidays, just to keep me going so I don't forget everything I've learned so far.

Take ballroom dance lessons - Done!

e-Book Library

Now that I'm on the waiting list for 5 books at one library and cannot find anything decent to read in e-books at another, I'm wondering if other people have this problem too?  I'm guessing yes, but know that I can be hard to please, so am willing to admit maybe I'm being difficult. All I want is to have just as good a selection of books to read electronically as I do in paper format. Is that so much to ask?  It is decidedly so (right now.)

Thanksgiving

In case you don't follow me on Twitter, I was in Ottawa this past weekend, visiting my brother and his family. It was a quiet (or as quiet as a family can be with two young children) family weekend.

Before my other brother Eric arrived on Sunday afternoon, we had time to head to the park to get rid of some energy.  Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Enjoy and happy belated Thanksgiving. I was thankful for a family I could visit at the drop of a hat.