Rean House

FYI

2010-03-09T16:26:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd mention that I was not, as predicted, eligible for E.I. Quelle suprise eh?

On the plus side I was hired by Carewest (they got to know me when I was working for office jobs). They asked me if I was free so they could hire me through officejobs, I informed them I was no longer WITH officejobs so they hired me as a casual. So, I did, in a roundabout way, get a little bit of revenge on officejobs as they've dipped out on several hundred dollars (so far) that they would have made from Carewest. The best part is that Carewest isn't obligated to pay them a "finder's fee" as I wasn't on officejobs books when Carewest hired me.

My pregnancy is going well. I'm 25 weeks now and still nauseous every day. Something they DON'T tell you about pregnancy in school is that it can cause carpal tunnel syndrome. I think, of all my pregnancy discomforts that the carpal tunnel is the worst. I feel like I'm wearing a glove on each hand that is filled with crawling beetles.

We know the sex of the baby, it's a girl. We've decided on a name but that's going to be a secret (unless Kristy blabs) until delivery day.

Injustice for all?

2009-12-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in my previous post I am pregnant (13 weeks, 2 days) and HAD a job at the drop in centre.

Well, hold onto your butt because I've got a helluva story to tell!

As you may be aware, there is a little bit of a flu going around. They call it "SWINE FLU!!!!!!!" People. Young people. People with chronic health conditions. And pregnant women are dying from this flu. My mother works in a medical office and on Oct. 29 she heard that 3 pregnant women had died in the past week from swine flu and that another was fighting for her life in ICU. This, as you can imagine, caused her some distress when she thought of her only daughter who has diabetes and a bun in the oven working in a homeless shelter in downtown Calgary. So, to protect her only chick she came to the Drop In Centre (hereinafter referred to as "the DI") and asked me (well, actually TOLD me) that I was getting an H1N1 shot now if not sooner. I took her upstairs with me to tell my boss that I was leaving early to get my H1N1 shot. In the course of our conversation my mother mentioned my pregnancy. My boss said it was fine for me to go and get my shot and I told her that I'd see her on Monday.

That night I stood in line for 4 hours with Chris and got my H1N1 shot. My luck being what it is I spiked a fever and felt sick the very next morning. I went to the doctor and was informed I had (probably) H1N1. I phoned my boss and informed her of the situation and told her I'd be back in 10 to 14 days. She said, fine, I asked if i needed a doctor's note, she said not to bother as she could tell from my voice that I was sick.

On November 12 I was feeling human again and returned to work to take my CPR course. After my course I was called into the hiring manager's office (his name is Steve). He informed me that "we" had a "couple of problems". The first problem was that I'm pregnant and they just weren't sure I could fulfill my duties (let me remind you that I am a secretary!) The second problem was my mom. They were "disturbed" by the way she "stormed" into the DI.

Now, Steve not only works for the DI, he also works for Officejobs. I asked Steve if, since they were firing me, I could return to officejobs and temp. He informed me that Officejobs was no longer "comfortable" having me on their books because my mother's behaviour was too "erratic" and they couldn't feel safe that she wouldn't "charge into a client's office" to come get me in the future. He said that he's been in HR (human resources) for 15 years and had never seen a 28 year old woman be "dragged out of work by her mother".

Needless to say, I've filed a human rights complaint. Not only can they not fire me for being pregnant (which they did) they can't fire me for something a family member did (which they did). So, I suppose I'll just have to wait and see how things go.

I haven't received my final paycheque yet (even though they fired me over a month ago). I did however receive my ROE (record of employment) from officejobs. I was amused (but not surprised) to see that under my reason for termination they put "insufficient work". What a bunch of cowards. They don't even have the integrity and honesty to say why they fired me. Although, thinking about it, is there a governmental code for "Sarah's mom scares me"?

I'm not so mad at the DI for firing me (I wasn't really enjoying it there. I've found that before I worked there I used to be very sympathetic to homeless people but working there soured me. I am very angry at officejobs for taking me off their books. They've essentially denied me the opportunity for future employment. I've been hobbled.

So, Chris and I are back to surviving (there's really no other word for it) on just his wages. I really have no idea how we'll survive once the baby arrives. Knowing my luck I won't be eligible for EI (despite having paid into it since age 14).

I'll keep you posted with, hopefully, more optimistic posts.

Happy Chanukah to my Jewish friends.

Good News and Bad News

2009-10-19T22:58:00.001-07:00

I've had an anxious couple of weeks. I had my IUI treatment in September and was told to take a pregnancy test on October 11. I took the test on October 11 and it was negative. Meanwhile I've been miserably nauseous, able to smell a single scent molecule from a mile away and haven't have a period. Finally, tired of constantly carrying a pad around with me, and running to the bathroom every 3 microseconds to make sure I'm not bleeding and therefore ruining my trousers, I peed on a ClearBlue digital pregnancy test. I figured it would be negative (as usual) so left it to do its thing while I made myself a snack. Snack in hand I checked the stick and noticed that the digital read out read: "pregnant". I did a double take and read it again. It still said "pregnant". Utterly speechless I grabbed poor Chris by the scruff of the neck and dragged him (poor thing was quite confused by my behaviour) and thrust the stick at him. I then burst into tears (like you do).

I have, of course, called every living person within the Mountain time zone to share my news.

I'm absolutely ecstatic at the moment. I had really started to give up hope. I thought we would certainly be going through IVF and that even that would probably fail. I'm nervous about a miscarriage but I will cross that bridge if I come to it.

On the bad news side of things. I called my mother to tell her the good news and she informed me that my biological father was in the hospital and will probably die tonight. I feel bad about that. Even though I barely knew him, I still love him and am sorry that he's dying. Obviously I can't go down to see him (and what would be the point?) I'll try to make it out to the funeral though.

In other news. I've got a job at the drop in centre in Calgary (a homeless shelter). I'm working as a medical office assistant with 2 doctors and an RN to whip into shape. I started on the 13th and am enjoying it so far.

Why I Prefer Dogs to People

2009-10-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

Things that bring me joy. Apparently the injured dog did later die from his injuries. There was a massive hunt for the rescuer but they never found him/her.

My second cake (ish)

2009-09-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I just finished my Wilton Course II and am now presenting my readers (all 2 of you) with my final project. *drumroll please*

RMS Titanic

2009-08-09T20:03:00.001-07:00

A few months after we were married Chris told me he was going to build me a light up model of the Titanic. Tonight it's finally finished (according to me anyway, Chris still wants to make some minor adjustments). So here, for your wondering eyes to behold, after a long 3 year wait is (drumroll please) the TITANIC!

Sometimes he's eerily right

2009-08-05T11:10:00.000-07:00

Good Words to Live By

2009-07-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

-Marcus Aurelius

I wish I had the eloquence to have said this, it pretty much sums up my own thoughts.

Me on Mah Hawg!

2009-07-20T15:27:00.000-07:00

When we went to Ontario we stayed with Pam and Peter. Peter had a bicycle that he'd attached an engine to. This is me riding it. I'm a regular Hell's Angel!

Tub Puppy!

2009-07-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

Mush after her bath. (Now she smells like coconut instead of like... something I'd rather not think about!)

Mud Puppy!

2009-07-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

I took Miss Mush and Miss Maya (actually, at her age I should probably refer to her as Ms. Maya).

Anyway, Mush went for a swim then decided to roll in mud in the parking lot (why not? she doesn't have to clean the car!)

May I be blessed by his noodley appendage!

2009-07-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

I had a warm shiver run through me today. I saw a car on my street with a decal of his holiness the FSM. This decal was HUGE, it covered the entire back window... makes my Darwin fish seem small and insignificant.

My first cakes

2009-07-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

A Cake I made today, just for shits and giggles. The colours aren't right in the picture, the green is much lighter than appears in the picture but c'est la vie!

As it's Hailey's 5th birthday today I thought I'd make a birthday cake in class for her. Unfortunately she won't get a chance to eat it because by the time she, her mom, Mikey and Erik come to Calgary the cake will be stale. :( You can't see it in the picture but the cake is only about 1 inch high. Apparently if you open the oven while a cake is baking, it collapses. OOPS!

Cake

2009-07-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

I had my first cake decorating class last night. Tonight we take in our cakes and do our first decoration. In the interest of science I will post pictures of my cake. You can laugh, yes. But please don't point AND laugh.

New Bird

2009-07-15T12:52:00.001-07:00

Just saw a new bird at my feeder. It's a "Smith's Longspur". Looks a bit like a sparrow but yellow instead of brown.

The joys of estrogen

2009-07-14T16:47:00.001-07:00

Saw Dr. Edwards today (he says I'm fat). Well, he didn't say it in those words but the general gist of our conversation was that I'm a whale in need of immediate intervention.

It turns out I won't be getting my IUI treatment this month. I missed my LH surge so will have to wait another month. Joy of fucking joys. It never bloody rains but it pours. The nurse at the clinic informed me that I've been crying and emotional lately as a side effect of the clomid. Apparently, the longer you're on it, the more severe the side effects get.

I've exchanged my weepy sadness for irritability and anger at the world at the moment. I'm pissed off that nothing ever seems to go right for me, I'm pissed off that my ovaries feel like they're on fire and I'm pissed off that I'm fat.

I had a young man come to the door yesterday selling christian books. I politely informed him that I had no need for his books and that I was unemployed and poor so couldn't afford them if I did want them. He was very polite and offered to pray for me. I figured what the hell, it can't do any harm and it will make him think that he's being useful. So he prayed for me to get pregnant. (And if I DON'T get pregnant, for me to be content with god's will). Oh well, his heart was in the right place.

I came home to a very wet, very angry cat today. Apparently old Murdoch got out this morning while Chris was letting the dogs out, and was stuck in the rain all day. Serves him right I say.

A Weird Catchy Little Song

2009-07-09T10:28:00.001-07:00

The Milk of Human Kindness

2009-07-06T10:16:00.001-07:00

On July 4th, over night, my PT cruiser was broken into (don't worry, she's okay!) my iPod was stolen, Chris' house keys (why they were in there I do not know) and about $20 in change.

I filed a police report (you can do that online now), called apple to report my iPod stolen (pointless btw, they don't give a rat's ass) and prepared to start scrimping and scrounging to be able to afford a new iPod.

Last night I got a message on facebook from a girl named Heather who said she'd found my iPod on her front lawn (she plugged it into her computer and my name came up so she looked me up on facebook). She returned it to me. All my songs were still on there and, weirdly, the adaptor cord (so I can plug it into the car and listen to it) was still on it too!

I figure the little jerk who stole it plugged it into his (or her) car and didn't like my taste in music (lol) and so threw it out the window in disgust.

In any case some of my faith in the species has been restored.

We're out 200 bucks though. As the house keys were stolen (and the thief knew where we live) the police strongly advised us to get our locks re-keyed. It turned out cheaper for us to go to Home Depot and buy new locks (not by much but a bit) so we've changed all our locks. On the plus side, that means we removed our electronic keypad which we were going to do when we put the house up (keep if for ourselves at the new house).

So, all in all, apart from us now being COMPLETELY broke, not much harm was done.

Our VISA is in the stratosphere because of the IUI treatment (I haven't even fully paid for the treatment yet, I've still got another $250 to pay on the day of the treatment). We're hoping that this treatment works first time around because it works out to $500 per treatment and we just don't have that kind of money with me not working. My parents are helping us out a bit but I can't (and won't) expect them to carry the entire burden. If it comes down to it that we need IVF we're going to take some money against the equity in the house (risky in this economic climate but insurance won't cover a single penny.) I find it irritating that abortions are covered by Alberta Health Care but fertility treatments aren't. I fully believe abortions SHOULD be covered by AHC but I also fully believe that fertility treatments should too. I get REALLY pissed off when I see that addictions counseling and drug and alcohol rehab are covered as well. I can sympathise with poor Americans having to pay for this myself. It makes you feel shitty.

A Heartless Murderer in my own house!

2009-07-03T09:14:00.001-07:00

I got up to let the dogs out this morning and noticed a male robin sitting on the neighbour's roof cheeping in a most distressed manor. I couldn't figure out why until I saw the carnage that my beloved Murdoch had wreaked upon a female robin (presumably sad man's mate).

Murdoch was looking at me as if to say "do you like the gift I brought you?"
I was like "no you jerk!"
Now he's offended and is giving me the cold shoulder. I can't believe he'd even be able to take down a robin, he's dumber than a brick and de-clawed. Amazing.

We've still got lots of red winged blackbirds, common grackles, house finches, sparrows, chickadees and magpies to keep us company. Also, I assume this wasn't the only pair of robins in the neighbourhood. I'll have to teach him to kill the pigeons instead, they're a bloody curse!

On another note. Kristy is coming to live in Calgary at the end of the month. She's driving up with the kids (Erik will drive the u-haul) on the 22nd (it will probably take a few days to get here but yippee! I get to see my god kids).

In other news

2009-06-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

I forgot to mention in my previous post. I've signed up for a cake decorating class. This should be interesting! I'll post pictures when I make my first creation.

Usually, as the only left hander in the class I quickly become the teacher's "special project" as I can't do what everyone else is doing. (I hate to break it to you right handed people out there, but you do everything backwards!) I'm willing to bet my cakes will be ass about face but it's a chance I'm willing to take. I've wanted to take one of these classes for ages now (going on 5 years) and kept putting it off. My class starts on July 14 if anyone has any ideas for what sort of decoration I should do on my cake please tell me!

A Million Years and Counting

2009-06-29T16:46:00.001-07:00

It's been a million years since my last post I know. So what is new in the Rean household?

We went to Ontario for a wedding. We stayed with family friends Pam and Peter for part of the time and I think Chris has found his soul mate in Peter. Peter has an enormous garage with every tool and toy imaginable. He's also got an Isetta car which Chris was totally enamoured with. I rode a motorcycle all by myself. Nearly killed myself but not quite.

2 days after we got home my bff Kristy came to visit for a few days so that was fun. It's so thrilling seeing old friends and family members of old friends and friends of old friends..... yup, thrilling.

Miss Maya has been diagnosed with Cushing's disease. It's a condition in which the adrenal glands go into overdrive and over produce. She's in pain but so far we're managing it with crack for dogs. As soon as she starts suffering we will of course take her for the big sleep.

Money wise the last month has been a disaster. Of course there was the trip to Ontario then when Kristy was visiting I spent money like it was water. Then, after Kristy left we noticed a crack in the aquarium so had to buy a new tank. At the same time we noticed the crack we also noticed that the filter pump wasn't working so we had to buy a new filter too. Then Maya got sick and that ate up some funds, then the car decided it needed to acquire some nails in it's (new) front tire (we have had the car about 2 years and have replaced all 4 tires [at various times and in various quantities] twice. The passenger rear has been replaced 3 times.)

I'm still jobless, I had an interview a while back but blew it totally! She asked me if I knew Vista (which, unfortunately thanks to my dad's new computer, I do). So she did all my testing on the office suite that comes with Vista. It would have been helpful if I'd thought to ask my dad if he'd installed the office suite that goes with Vista or if he'd installed his old office suite. I managed to pass all the testing but mentioned I didn't know the new office suite. I got the impression she thought I was a lying toe rag about knowing Vista. Oh well. So, I'm going to start pumping out resumes again tomorrow. I joked that I should become a prostitute to make money. Darling husband quipped "no dear, we want to make money". He's a funny man (free to good home if anyone wants him!

Good news on the horizon

2009-05-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

I finally got the call from the diabetes clinic. My A1C is 7.1% Tomorrow I'll book my follow up appointment with the fertility clinic and see about getting ISU ASAP.

(It's about frigging time I got my A1C down, I've been working on the bastarding thing for 2 years now!)

Garage Sale Saturday

2009-05-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

I've spent most of last week helping my mother set up for a garage sale. Fortunately she's let me off actual garage sale duty (probably because if someone asked me if they could have a diamond studded, 24 carat tiara fora buck I'd say sure) ;)

So today husband and I are going to go out garage sailing. I'll post if we buy anything special (like a 1908 Bell upright grande piano). hee hee hee, I can't believe I got a 1908 Bell upright grande piano at a garage sale. Can you say lucky?!?!?!?

I went out for lunch with Mike (the ex boyfriend from 6 years ago). It was nice to catch up.

Busy busy busy

2009-05-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

Chris and I have spent the day working like dogs! We were talking to a realtor (Little Miss Curious went to an open house down the street) and have an appointment to have the house assessed on Tuesday to see approximately how much we can list it for.

To make the living room look bigger we moved the TV into the corner and turned the couch/coffee table et al 90 degrees. I'm amazed at the difference it's made, the room looks 100% bigger! If we'd known it would have this effect we would have done it this way in the first place. We won't be able to have surround sound because Chris wired the speakers to the TVs old position and it's too much work to thread the wires through the walls to the new position so we'll have to suffer with stereo sound but c'est la vie eh?

We've got 3 days to get the house ship shape so it can be assessed. Not much work involved, just some tidying.

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho

2009-05-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

It's home from work I go...

I just finished my last day at my former assignment. I was with the Regional Capacity Assessment Team for just over a month and I really enjoyed myself.

On Monday Chris and I are going to the general meeting for prospective foster parents. We're hoping to become foster parents and do some good for our community. I'll let you know how that goes when the time comes.

We're going to Ontario in May for my cousin John's wedding. That should be fun. I'm not looking forward to a 4 hour plane ride followed by 3 hours in a car with my mother but I suppose I'll have to suck it up!

I thought I'd shared all our bad news but...

2009-04-07T14:54:00.001-07:00

I thought I'd written a post about this. I guess I must have thought that I had but then forgotten that I'd forgotten... if that makes sense you're in need of medication!

I got home from Nanaimo on Friday February 27. On Sunday I left for Vegas with grandpa (we'd planned and booked and paid for the trip on Monday!) Vegas would have been nice except that grandpa was very ill, I honestly thought that I would be taking him home in a body bag!

At about 7:30 am on Tuesday I got a phone call from Chris. His voice was hoarse and he was very distracted. Finally he managed to blurt out that he was leaving for England in an hour because his mother had just had a heart attack and they didn't think she was going to make it through the night.

She passed away about 2 hours before he got there. He took two weeks off work (it took that long for bloody England to arrange the funeral!)

Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, about 2 minutes before Chris' phone call, I'd taken my first dose of Clomid with the expectation that I would be seeing Chris in a few days and we'd have a chance to see if the Clomid actually works. *ahem* those of you who don't know what Clomid is, or why I needed Chris in order to see if it works should ask your mom about the birds and the bees.

I arrived home from Vegas on Thursday, spent a week loafing around the house with nothing to do. I slept with Mush at night because I didn't want to have to sleep alone.

Needless to say, the Clomid didn't work... for obvious reasons!

On a brighter note:

I've got a job, only temporary but still it's money in the bank.

I bought a new bed for Maya, she's now sleeping on: a 3 inch foam pad, a mattress topper, a camp blanket, an "orthopedic" pet bed and her blanky. I figure, what the hell, she's 14 she deserves a bit of comfort!

We're knuckling down to get the house ready to sell. Most of the work that needs doing is outside. It would be much easier to do (are you listening mother nature?) if there wasn't a thousand feet of snow outside! I mean really wtf? Are we suffering from global warming or what?!?!?!?!?!?

I'm unable to play the piano at the moment, the damper pedal is not working for some reason. I suspect that a certain feline may have dropped something down the piano and it dislodged something. I guess I'll find out once we scrape up the dough to get the piano man in to look at it.

Suffering!

2009-02-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

I am suffering greatly at the moment! I am sharing a hotel room with my mother and Kristy. (My mother could not cope with being in aunty Diane,s house). Kristy has a head cold and sounds like Darth Vader! And my mother is snoring loud enough to wake the dead. I cannot decide whether to kill the two of them or kill myself! This is horrible! I think I am going to have to wake one or both of them up and tell them to wait until I am asleep before they are allowed to go to sleep. I cannot cope with this bull!

2009-02-26T03:47:00.000-08:00

Today has been, to put it mildly, a little surreal.

A few days ago aunty Diane fell and broke her arm. Now, for someone with ITP, Von Willebrande's and Hep C that is no laughing matter. We received word that she was in the hospital but would be going home on Wednesday or Thursday. Wednesday Chris and I were at my parent's house for dinner and my mother called the hospital in Nanaimo to check on aunty Diane and see when she'd be released. As she was on the phone her face drained of all colour and literally fell. The gist of the nurse's update was: she's in the ICU come as fast as you can because she's not going to make it through the night. Well, my mother was somewhat hysterical so I packed a bag for her then drove her to the airport (after stopping at my house to pack a bag for myself).

We approached the Air Canada desk and (crying) asked for the NEXT AVAILABLE flight to the island (we didn't care if we went cargo or strapped to the wing of the plane!) First we were shunted to three different counters then we were told (quite rudely) that there were no seats.

We went to West Jet and were escorted immediately to a separate counter, booked on the next available flight, and given $40 worth of meal vouchers. Talk about service!

The flight was delayed so we didn't get in the air until 11:00 pm (Calgary Time). We arrived in Victoria to hear that the Malahat was treacherous and it would be unsafe for us to drive up to Nanaimo. I explained our plight to the car rental lady (National Car Rental) and she upgraded us to an SUV (free of charge). It was a harrowing journey to Nanaimo and we had a few close calls but we made it.

We had discovered in Victoria, from my dad, that we were too late and that aunty Diane had passed away at 10:30 pm (BC time). We went to the hospital anyway because my mother wanted to see her and say her goodbyes.

I'm now at Aunty Diane's (well, I suppose it's just uncle Roy's now) house typing this on the computer. I don't think the enormity of the situation has hit me yet.

Because I'm cruel...

2009-01-30T11:44:00.001-08:00

Irks by Jerks

2008-12-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

Chris and I went to the movies Monday night, we saw "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith (an excellent movie btw, not your usual Hollywood drivel). However, to mar the evening, there was a yob and his girlfriend sitting just behind us (I was on the right hand aisle seat, he was on the aisle of the centre section).

Obviously he didn't understand the movie and so chose to talk throughout. He became progressively louder until I finally turned around and said "would you please be quiet" (in an annoyed voice). WELL! He said (top volume) "You're a rude bitch." I ignored him but could hear him chattering away. "I can talk in a theatre if I want, I bought my ticket" (Yeah, so did everyone else, except we paid to see Will Smith, not listen to your thoughts on life!). As the movie ended they sprang from their seats and as he was walking down the aisle past me he said "You don't own the fucking theatre you bitch, you can't tell me not to talk" (I could tell I was dealing with an intellectual giant!). I said (sweet as can be) "No, I don't own the theatre, but I DID pay 13 bucks to watch a movie, not listen to you prattle on incoherently." He walked out and his girlfriend (another future MENSA member I'm sure) gave me the finger and told me to fuck off.

Is there something about me that attracts me to theatres that have loud mouthed assholes in them? It seems at least every 3 or 4 times I go to a theatre there's some jerk talking (full volume of course, after all how can their companion hear them over that movie that's playing) or (seriously) choosing a new ring tone for their cell phone, or playing with a laser pointer (that guy I grabbed by the scruff of the neck and pulled him out of the theatre). People have no respect for others. I don't enjoy going to the movies any more because of people like this. It's like they're raised by wolves or something (no offense to any wolves reading this!). It's a sad state of affairs and I grieve for the state of the future.

Life is finally getting back to normal!

2008-12-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I quit my job on Dec 12. I was trying to hold out until my probation was over (Jan 14) but couldn't tolerate being treated like crap any more. I will probably post my rebuttal to my manager's accusations against me at a later time. The straw that broke the camel's back was Thursday (Dec 11) when she called me in and told me that I had made a tasteless, inappropriate joke in front of a patient. (Anyone who knows me will realize just how stupid an accusation this was) anyway, the joke was (brace yourself because you'll never look at me the same way after hearing the heinous thing that I said in front of a patient): "I'm so hungry I feel like I'm going to starve to death.".........that's it, that's the inappropriate, tasteless joke. I figured that I was in a lose lose situation but was planning on sticking it out. However, when I got home I was crying my eyes out and Chris, my mother, my dad and the drive through lady at Tim Horton's (was crying while getting a doughnut) all told me to quit.

I went in on the Friday and spoke to the medical director to tell her about how I was being treated. She told me to deal with it myself. I pointed out that it was difficult for me, a mere secretary, to tell my manager the proper way to behave, besides which I had already defended myself against her. Since she refused to do anything I handed in my notice and left on the lunch hour.

I'm slightly terrified about quitting a $21.00/hour job while going into a recession but I didn't do it in cold blood by any means. I called Officejobs.com to see if I can get back on the roster. They said they'll be happy to take me back (once I'm free and clear of the CHR). I'll call them tomorrow. In the meantime I'm back on Monster and Workopolis looking for jobs. The good news is that with Chris' raise we can survive without dipping into savings or using the VISA so even if it takes me a while to get a job we'll be okay. No repeat of last year after my contract expired!

In other news, we were supposed to fly to the island on December 24 to visit the family. Unfortunately all flights were canceled so we stayed here.

Muppet has just finished her heat. What a racket she made! She was a nuisance to the nth degree. We'll have to have her fixed soon. We bought a fish tank, complete with rocks, plants, a little temple and fish second hand off Kijiji. The cats are obsessed.

Holiday humour...although, sadly, it wasn't meant as a joke!

2008-12-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

Christian the lion

2008-11-25T13:51:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday

2008-11-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

I bought Chris his birthday/Christmas present today. He's been bugging me for a drill press for a while now. So as I sit here typing away he's playing with his new toy...er, I mean tool.
My parents bought a new stove so we've inherited their "old" one.

Other than that our lives are still pretty darn boring.

crankiness

2008-11-21T11:37:00.001-08:00

I'm very cranky today. In truth I've been cranky since Wednesday. I went home early from work today due to stomach discomfort (she says being polite). I'm mad as hell that my bosses are mandating that my coworker and I change our hours. Right now we both work 7:00 - 3:00 which is awesome because a) it gives us time in the morning to catch up and b) (most important!) I miss most of the traffic. The hours they will be making us work are (they haven't decided yet) 8:00 - 4:15, 9:00-5:15 or even 10:00 - 6:15. I'm very angry about this. First off, I love my husband and don't want to be getting home just in time to go to bed. Secondly, I like having time alone at home to do laundry, make the supper and relax before he comes home. Thirdly, I HATE traffic and if I hit rush hour traffic coming home from work I'm probably going to kill someone. Fourthly, I hate being told that I must change my hours. My coworker and I have negotiated a little bit for a while we will take turns staying late. As soon as they hire a new full time person we will go back to our regular hours and that person will stay late. In the meantime I'm pissed off. My first "late" day is on Wednesday. If I'm stuck in traffic for hours (which is very bloody likely in the seventh circle of hell...er I mean, Calgary) I'm quitting. In fact, I'm looking right now for a new job (just in case).

I didn't mention it before (forgot, sorry) we've got a new pussy cat. She's a 10 month old kitten, we got her on October 30 and her name is Muppet. She's quite a sweet heart. We had Alastar put to sleep a few months ago due to his old age and various infirmities. We gave Caesar back to my parents as he kept getting arrested (concerned neighbours are a nuisance). Murdoch was depressed so that's why the new addition.

I'm going to my first "gothmas" party on Dec 13. I think it will be a hoot.

Politics

2008-10-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Chris and I watched the election coverage last night. (Of course, we both voted as well). I was overjoyed to see that the conservatives did so well. The last thing we need going into a recession is parties (NDP, Liberals) hemorrhaging money out of us like there's no tomorrow. I'm not a fan of Jack Layton. Particularly, I found his ads attacking Harper and Dion to be in poor taste and a sign of someone who doesn't have much, if anything, to offer. I was pleased to see the NDP in 4th place (even if that means the Bloq Quebecois was in 3rd - just goes to show, you can't have everything!) I found it amusing to see Dion being such a poor loser. We were watching CTV. Dion lambasted the reporter and said, with MUCH bitterness "I don't have anything to say...especially to CTV". Classic moment. Oh well. I'm happy that Harper won (even if it is a minority government) I feel secure that he won't throw my money around like confetti at a parade and that we (Canadians) might survive the coming recession unscathed.

By the way, it's Chris and I's 2nd anniversary today. I went to the mall to pick up his gift and, shock of all shocks, there was Chris, lurking in the mall shopping for my gift.

Old dogs, fond memories

2008-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Poor old Maya is REALLY slowing down. Even with her medicine she's still limping quite badly. I hadn't noticed before just how different she is now. It used to be that when I would get up to get a drink or go to the washroom that she would get up and follow me (just in case I slip into an inter-dimensional vortex or something). Now, she keeps me in sight and only gets painfully to her feet when I'm out of her sight. She sleeps all day (I was mad at myself for shelling out money for an "orthopedic" bed for her, now I'm glad I did as I'm sure it's more comfortable for her than the floor). I'm not sure what to do about my old lady. She's still enjoying life, not in much pain. I don't want her to suffer, but at the same time I don't want to put her to sleep too soon. I'm hoping she'll let me know when it's time. In the meantime I'll cuddle her as much as possible and remember her as my good dog.

I have been offered a job with the CHR, it's basically the same job I'm already doing but it won't be through the temp agency. It's kind of weird when I was at Godfrey Morrow I worked 5 days a week. Working for the CHR I'll be working a .5 rotation (2.5 days/week) and making more money. The only downside is that it's a union position. I suppose one could think of that as a good thing but I'm very much anti union. They (unions) do have their place but with all the government regulation I think they're mostly just a vehicle for squeezing the living hell out of employers. Oh well, maybe I'll have a moment and run for union rep or something. Anyway my interview is tomorrow. Let's just hope I don't screw it up (as I usually do!).

All work and no play...

2008-10-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Not much to report. My house smells like a bar thanks to my home made wine. The smell has permeated the whole basement and if coming up through the vents. It's a nice smell but I wonder what the neigbours will say!

Bad boys bad boys whatcha gonna do?

2008-09-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

I had a bit of a disturbing incident yesterday. I was driving home from work, took a different route due to a pit stop, I was behind a man at a light and he suddenly got out of his GMC envoy and shouted at me "you stupid fucking bitch, learn how to fucking drive".
I was (understandably) puzzled so I rolled down my window and said "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
He waved me off and said "fuck you, you stupid bitch you need to get your head out of your ass".
We were stuck in traffic and he wasn't going anywhere so I got out, and shouted through his window "I'm sorry sir, what have I done?"
He yelled at me to "fuck off" so I stood in front of his car (again, he couldn't go anywhere we were stuck in traffic) and said "Sir, please tell me what I've done to offend you."
He said "fuck you" and moved his car forward and hit me (not hard just a nudge). I walked up to his window and tapped on the glass and said "What have I done sir?"
He said "fuck you".
I got back in my car (the light changed) and we went around the corner. As we were driving up a side-ish street in an industrial area I saw him signal to go left into a U-shaped parking lot. I thought, "this guy is gonna come up behind me and a) run me off the road or b) follow me home" so I followed him so that he couldn't get behind me.
He did a U and came out of the parking lot and shouted out his window "you stupid fucking cunt fuck off".
So, I shouted out my window "What the fuck did I do to offend you? You're a fucking asshole and you have no right to talk to me like that you stupid fucking prick. It's not my fault you have a non functioning penis!"
He shouted a few more "fuck you, you stupid bitch/cunt" and circled around again. As I was turning onto the street I noticed that he had pulled into the same parking lot and looked like he was parking. I thought, "good, he's going to tell me what's wrong, I can apologise and we can move on with out lives". Instead he pulled up outside a building, there were a lot (about 7) of people standing about and I thought "well at least he won't attack me in front of all these people, I can finally get some answers from him".
I stopped behind him (giving him plenty of room to pull out and leave), got out of my car and said "sir, can you please just tell me what I've done"
He said "fuck you I'm calling the fucking cops on you"
I said, "fine, please do, but tell me what I've done to offend you."
There was a woman standing between my car and his black GMC envoy so I approached her and said, "ma'am this man started shouting abuse at me at the traffic light down the street. I don't know what I've done to him and I just want to know so I can apologise".
She didn't say anything but turned around and got into his truck (he was out of the truck looking at my license number). He started shouting at her to write down "this fucking bitch's license number". He got back in the car and I approached the driver's side (where SHE was sitting) the window was down and she was trying to find a pen to write my license number, she found one and was writing it on her hand, he was quoting it to her incorrectly so I gave her the correct license number.
I rested my hands on the side of the car and asked him again just to tell me what I had done to incur his wrath. He told me to "get your fucking hands off my fucking car" and reiterated that he was going to call the police.
I said, "fair enough, I'll be making my own call to the police."
She drove away with him in the car, he was still shouting obscenities out the window at me.
I noticed some men standing in the shipping door of the "Norampac" building nearby so I approached them and asked them if they had witnessed the altercation between me and the gentleman (yes, I actually used the word gentleman). They suddenly decided that, although they had been there the entire time, they hadn't seen or heard anything. I thanked them and approached the building that "his" woman was standing outside of "Essilor". There were some people milling about and I asked if anyone had witnessed the altercation.
4 people stepped forward and one lady said that although she hadn't seen much she did know the man who had attacked me (she works with his wife) she said he's a lunatic and a bully and that she was impressed that I had stood up to him. A delivery man approached and said he'd "kind of" seen what happened but "didn't want to get involved". I took one lady's name, the other told me the name of the man who attacked me but didn't want to get involved and I thanked them and left.
I drove home and called the police. A few hours later a male constable with a very strong middle eastern accent called me and asked me about my "incident" in the afternoon. I gave him most of my version of events, he kept interrupting me and did not listen very well at all. He told me that they were thinking of pressing charges against me for "stalking behaviour". I was quite unhappy with the rude way he was addressing me and that he did not give me a chance to get a word in edgewise. He heard what he wanted to hear and nothing else.
Apparently it's okay for him to verbally attack me and hit me with his SUV but it's not okay for me to ask him why he was attacking me.
About an hour after this phone call another, female, officer called me and we had a similar conversation, I told her that I'd already spoken to an officer and she said she'd look into it. I'm not sure what story he told the police, there's no way on earth I could have cut him off as it was gridlock traffic and those who know me know that I pick a lane and stay in it, also, I was behind him. I didn't hit anyone with my car. And I was at least 4 feet behind him at the traffic light.
So, to sum up, some asshole decided he needed to vent his anger. I called him on his bad behaviour and I may be in trouble for it. Also, I would be willing to bet money that he's a wife beater. A more cowed woman you have never seen in your life! So, that's my exciting story.
Perhaps my next blog will be from prison, after all I was polite (most of the time) and non aggressive (all of the time) I didn't threaten him in any way and other than returning some of his own words to him I did not attack him in any way. Taking all that into account the judge will probably give me a life sentence, after all strong willed women who don't take shit from men are a danger to the moral fabric of our society. Any bets if this goes to court my word is counted as half of his?

In other news I found the perfect gift for you know who's going away party. I am officially a genius!

In other, other news, I took care of the Dr. Powell slide problem, there's a company in town that specialises in transferring slides etc onto computers.

All work and no play...

2008-09-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

I had "one of those days" at work today. Due to a coworker going on holiday and 2 coworkers quitting I've done the work of 3 people (plus covered the front desk at lunch) for the past 2 days. I have not had a moment to think lately! In two days I've only managed to type 2 reports as I've been interrupted constantly. It's very frustrating for me. I don't mind being interrupted for important things (for example a doctor needed a presentation made so I helped Charlotte do that) it's the little stupid, inane things that drive me nuts. I need a good stiff drink!

So I'm waiting with bated breath for the SPCA to come knocking at my door. On Tuesday Mush took it upon herself to eat a large amount of dark chocolate (highly toxic to dogs). I had to induce vomiting and clean up the resulting mess. Before inducing vomiting I called my vet to see whether or not I should induce vomiting. Yesterday I found Maya drinking out of the toilet bowl...no big deal right? WRONG! I don't normally mind animals drinking out of the toilet bowl, it's clean water so who cares. Yesterday however, there was toilet bowl cleaner in the aforementioned toilet. SO, I called the vet again. As it turns out there was nothing to worry about but they're going to think I'm intentionally trying to kill my dogs! Bloody animals!

Twenty Questions

2008-09-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve been tagged by anonymous.

The rules:

A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question. (I haven’t changed any questions.)

B) Tag 8 people to answer the questions.

1. How many songs are on your iPod?

I don't have an iPod. I listen to the radio or to CDs.

2. What music would you want played at your funeral?

The Bad Touch

3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to?
Reader's Digest. I buy Skeptic so often I should probably save myself a few pennies and just subscribe though.

4. What is your favorite scent?

Lilac and/or plumeria.

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?

Pay off my debt then invest the rest so I've got a comfy retirement fund (a million dollars doesn't go very far these days)

6. What is your theme song?
Who the hell needs a theme song? How self centered do you have to be to think you need a theme song?

7. Do you trust easily?

Too easily. I always think people will treat me the way I would treat them. I get screwed often but I still keep hoping for the best in people.

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?

I often act before I think but I'm trying to change that.

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?

Hormones!

10. Do you have a good body-image?

No.

11. Is being tagged fun?

Meh.

12. How do you spend your social networking (Facebook, etc.) time?

Farting around, I prefer to speak to people in person (or on the phone, computers are too impersonal)

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?

Banana splits.

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?

Decent and honest. Smart.

15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?

"Who Find Out Who Your Friends Are"

16. What’s your favorite item of clothing?

Blue Sweater.

17. Do you think Rice Krispies are yummy?

No.

18. What would you do if you see saw $100 lying on the ground?

If I knew who lost it I'd return it. If it was outside a store I'd hand it in to the customer service desk so someone could claim it. If it was just lying outside my house I'd ask my neighbour if she has lost some $$. If she said no, I'd keep it.

19. What items could you not go without during the day?

Chapstick.

20. What should you be doing right now?

Cleaning up vomit and diarrhea. (thanks Mush!)

Management Speak

2008-09-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

We had a big meeting today. People sitting uncomfortably in hard plastic chairs, power point presentation, the whole nine yards. The meeting was to elucidate some of the changes taking place in our milieu. I haven't been to a proper meeting in ages. I'd forgotten just how horrendous management speak is! They prattle on for ages and use lots of words but don't actually SAY anything. A man asked a simple question. "Should our doctors prescribe meds to the patients or should they simply make recommendations to the patient's GP?" (simple question right?) The answer, was...well, actually I'm not sure what the answer was, there was talk about accountability, procedure, process and such. The presenter spoke for more than 7 minutes to answer his question but honest to god DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!! It was bizarre. The answer is as simple as: it depends on the circumstance and the doctor's opinion. OR No, they shouldn't they should only recommend to the GP. OR Yes, they should prescribe whatever meds they see fit. Shouldn't a simple question demand a simple answer? This is why I would make a terrible manager. If someone asks me a question, I give them a straight answer. Oh well. I put my two cents in. I know I'm well known for being demure and keeping my mouth shut and never giving my opinion on ANYTHING but I did speak up. Several (5 actually) people thanked me and told me my comments were helpful. Of course, they were surreptitious about it, as though by being seen with me they'd be canned on the spot, but they complimented me. I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I was speaking to my direct manager (who, surprisingly [for a manager] has a head on her shoulders) and she was quite pleasant to me. I guess I'll find out when I go in tomorrow and there's a padlock on my office door! Har de har har *starts frantically thumbing through the want ads*
In other news...my life is completely and utterly boring! I had my first band practice on Monday night, quite enjoyed it, will definitely be going again. I decided to play the clarinet rather than the French horn as it's my new instrument and I want to stretch its legs a bit.

Joining the 21st Century

2008-09-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

Last night I bottled all my wine. It tastes pretty darn good if I do say so myself. This morning we had cable installed. It has occurred to me that I see WAY too much of my vet! I know his phone number and office hours by heart, and he knows the dogs by sight (he barely needs to glance at Maya's chart). I've got to take Maya in again today. I think she's got a kidney infection (or maybe kidney failure, she's not exactly a spring chicken) she's also developed warts all over her (quite gross) and she seems to have an ear infection! On the plus side, the medicine he gave us for her arthritis is working so that's okay. Mush needs to go because the medicine he gave us for her panosteitis is not working. We're going to have to try something else. Oh well, at least the cats are healthy. (touch wood!)

I hate thinking of titles!

2008-09-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here I am again, I know I'm a horrible person who rags on people for "never posting" and her I am taking a million years between posts. My bad I apologise!
So, what's new and exciting in life? Chris is on call for the next 3 weeks as it seems everyone and their dog is on holiday. Hopefully it won't take long for him to teach them the difference between a "crisis" and "leave it 'til the morning".

I went to Spruce Meadows last weekend with my friend Catherine and I brought Mush with me. She was as good as gold. She was petted hundreds (literally!) of times and never growled or snapped, even when people were being a little rough with her. She stuck to me like glue and was very obedient, even when off leash. On a sad note, both Mush and Maya are on medication for pain. Maya's got severe arthritis and Mush has that stupid bone disorder that doesn't seem to want to go away. The plus side is that the new medication is working. (I won't tell you how much it costs 'cause you'll throw up!)

I'm still at the CHR, still enjoying my job. I'm hoping to get a semi/permanent position instead of working via the temp. agency. The manager at Seniors' Health told me they were looking into a way of getting me, but not having to pay out so much on my contract (I'm being bartered over, not necessarily a nice feeling!)

Chris and I are hoping to get to Edmonton next weekend to see the Body Worlds Exhibit. It'll be a nice little mini break for us.

I just got back from BC. The Kristy monster was having some stress in her life so I rode in on my white horse (Air Canada) and helped cheer her up a bit.

I just, as of 1 hour ago, joined a band (well, we'll see how I like it before I commit myself) it's called the "Sherwood Like to Play" band and it looks like it'll be a lot of fun. As I was creaking my way up the stairs today I realized my marching band days are FAR behind me. hee hee hee.

My wine will (hopefully) be ready to rack into bottles on Monday. I hope I won't have to filter it, I shouldn't need to but knowing my luck...

Anyway, I'm starting to get the hand of this blog thing now. I still keep getting weird comments, not from people (hint hint) but from companies advertising on my blog. It's weird, do they realize that there are only about 2 people on the entire planet who READ my blog...and I'm one of them! In any case, I'm going to try to find a way to eliminate the advertisements ASAP. And I will try to write at least once a week.

It's been a while

2008-08-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

I noticed I haven't posted in about 5 million years so I thought I'd drop a line.
Chris and I have been working like dogs on the house. We pulled up all the grass in the back yard (a previous owner had thought it would be clever to lay sod on top of sod so we had various hills and valleys in the yard). We laid sod on most of the yard (28 m2 to be precise) and are going to put some landscaping rocks on the other part. We've started preppng to paint the trim and have chosen a nice peacock blue (by "we" have chosen I mean "I" have chosen). Work is going well, I don't know if it will be permanent yet but they like me. I'm not getting my hopes up like last time. (with CFS)

We nearly lost Maya last week, she was violently ill, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. I feel bad, we thought it was something she ate and it would pass so we waited a while to take her to the Vet. When we did he diagnosed her with Giardia. She probably got it from eating rabbit poop (that's what I think). We have a river down the hill from us and rabbits and gophers everywhere. So, lessons learned: when your dog is sick with vomiting and diarrhea for more than a day, take her to the vet and don't let your dog eat rabbit poop (or "gifts" brought home by the cat).

I bought a kitchen table at a garage sale, it's very retro 60s/70s with the vinyl chairs and the formica top, lots of chrome. I love it, Chris tolerates it.

They're he-ere

2008-06-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

The house is immaculate. Chris and I have worked like dogs to get it nice for him mom comimg. Brandon stayed last night, he's hoping to get a job at Calaway Park, or maybe Heritage Park for the summer. I'm picking James and mom up at the airport in 2 hours. Unfortunately I couldn't get the time off work while they're here so its not really a vacation for me, but oh well, somebody has to pay the bills!

Heigh ho, heigh ho it's off to work I go

2008-06-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'm working at the mo. I've got a part time (three days a week) job at the Rockyview Hospital. Why the Rockyview? You ask. Because there were no openings available in Northern Siberia, that's why! It's a long haul and I'm forcibly reminded of why I hate the human race every second of my commute. However, I do enjoy the job itself and though I've only been there a few days have already made some friends.

We sold the piano to a nice young couple. They had movers pick it up on Monday. I've got the piano tuner coming on Monday to tune the Bell so that'll start sounding the way it should.

Other than that, no real news to report. The parents are in Hawaii as I write this. We're looking after their animals while they're away. We're going to start calling ourselves "Animal House" rather than "Rean House" We've got 4 dogs, and 3 cats at the moment. It's utter madness.

In the limelight

2008-05-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

A few days ago there was an article in the Herald, I can't for the life of me find it, or remember when it was written but it spurred me to write a response. The gist of the article was that some students at Chestermere Lake Middle School had worn home made T-shirts to school with slogans like "homophobia is wrong" and "homophobia is gay" with the "gay" scratched out and replaced with "lame". Anyway, the teachers sent the kids home and/or forced them to change their outfits. The teachers said that the shirts were offensive and could be taken the wrong way.
This is the letter I wrote in response to that article:

(They titled it "Out of Line")
"I am writing to express my disgust of the students at the Chestermere Lake Middle School. Wearing T-shirts with positive messages about homosexuality is a sure way to promote tolerance and understanding. How dare they upset the status quo by expecting people to be tolerant of others. [I had a period but the editor changed it to a ? for some reason...idiots] Their parents should be ashamed fo themselves for raising socially aware, kind children who try to defend the downtrodden. Hopefully, any readers will have picked up on my sarcasm. My disgust is aimed at the school staff. I'm not sure what could possibly be considered inappropriate about a shirt saying "homophobia is wrong." If the shirt had said "racism is wrong," would the school have shunted the kids out the door in a panic? As for statements that the shirts could have two different meanings, that is a load of bollocks. I think the teachers are woefully unaware of how savvy children are. As for people who found the T-shirts offencsive, perhaps it is your world view that is offensive - my heart goes out to any gay people you may come in contact with."

I thought that would be the end of it, but today there was a response to my letter.

(the Herald Title it "Teachable moment")
"Re: "Out of line," Letter, May 24.
It is unfortunate Sarah Rean was so quick to conclude that staff at Chestermere Lake Middle School were not aware of how "savvy our students are" and that our "world view is offensive." The T-shirts had the phrase "Homophobia is gay," not "Homophobia is wrong." I don't feel that wearing a shirt saying something is gay (with the connotation that it is stupid) is appropriate for an educational facility for students in grades 5 through 8. Some students I discussed this with suggested it was insulting to gay people to use the word in that way. School is a place of higher learning and respect, not the mall or the street.
This was a case of actions by a group of students who were not suitable for this venue. In Grade 6 social studies, we teach students about being politically active and fighting for their beliefs, yet we also stress that being a good citizen includes following rules and laws and being respectful of others. Our students are bright and are learning the best ways to express their beliefs. They will make mistakes along the way. I embrace this incident as a teaching opportunity on how to get our message across without breaking rules and being offensive to others.
Tracey Bowes,
Okotoks
Tracey Bowes teaches Grade 6 at Chestermere Lake Middle School."

So, I've written back, I don't know if they'll publish it but we'll see. My letter is:
"In response to Tracey Bowes response to my letter I feel I need to clarify a few things. According to the article in question, the children's T-shirts had the phrase "Homophobia is gay" with gay scratched out and "lame" written underneath. It was also reported that some of the T-shirts had the phrase "Homophobia is wrong." I was fully aware of the "gay" T-shirts but felt that using them as an example, while doing nothing to further my point, would be grammatically awkward as you can see from the above example. Actually, I found the "homophobia is gay" with the gay scratched out and replaced with "lame" to be a better example of the student's ability to wittily get their point across. In one stroke they said that homophobia is lame and that the word gay should not be used in a derogatory manner. Kudos again, to them.
You mentioned that some of the students you discussed "this" with suggested it was insulting to gay people to use the word in that way. Obviously they didn't get the point of the shirts either. I would much rather see the kids painting the word gay on a T-shirt than other words that have been used in the past. Perhaps these, "insulted" students should learn about irony.
You also mentioned that "school is a place of higher learning and respect, not the mall or the street." I agree wholeheartedly with that. However, if students do not learn respect at school, they most definitely won't learn it at the mall or on the street. I think you, and other administrative staff, must have missed the point these kids were trying to make. They obviously feel that there needs to be something said about the way homosexuals are treated. Instead of stifling them why don't you engage them in an honest debate?
I enjoyed the irony in your second paragraph. "we teach students about being politically active and fighting for their beliefs, yet we also stress that being a good citizen includes following rules and laws and being respectful of others." Apparently you are unable to see the contradiction in your own statement. Obviously your students felt that it was necessary for them to be politically active and fight for their beliefs in order to respect others (homosexuals). I'm sure they felt like the lone student in front of the tank in Tiananmen square. Hopefully their fighting spirits will survive your teaching them how to get your message across. They already know how to be inoffensive to others."

It looks like I just manage to piss everybody off. :D

Update

2008-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

WOW! 2 posts in one day, you're not going to know what hit you! Just writing to give a couple of updates, also to escape the cacophony in the kitchen (Chris is cutting holes in the arborite to fit the sink, also drilling something). Item number 1, I have acquired a job (maybe temporary, maybe permanent, who knows) it's 3 days a week at the Rockyview. The irony of it is, I applied for the job through the CHR's website but have been offered the job through officejobs.com as a temp position. Hilarious. Item number 2, we have someone coming round to look at the piano tonight so, fingers crossed, hopefully it'll sell! (I'll let you know later)

Don't say it!

2008-05-27T09:30:00.001-07:00

I know, I know I'm a delinquent! I haven't written in about 500 years! Don't be mad though, the reason I haven't written is because my life is about as interesting as a lump of compost. LESS interesting, and less productive for that matter. Since my last proper post I have aged a year. Been put on hefty benzodiazepines to control my sleep disorder, been thrown in the psych ward at the hospital again and purchased a piano. So, long story!
I've been in and out of work for 5 months now. It's been extremely stressful for me emotionally and financially. As much as I like temping, it's just not reliable enough for me (emotionally or financially). I've begun the hunt for a proper job, hopefully part time, casual if need be. Chris is still working at the hotel, he's enjoying it but I don't think he feels challenging enough, he complains that all he does it move furniture all day. However, he has been promoted to supervisor and he got another raise today. I've told him to go in on Monday armed with some info and ask for a proper raise, he's still making far less than he technically should based on Calgary's job market. I'm doing all the research for him (as I'm a lazy bum who doesn't have her own work to do at the moment).
In April I had a BPD breakdown and wound up in the psych ward at the PLC. I was only in there for 2 days which just gave me enough time to get some help with my emotional distress. I'm also back to seeing Dr. Coll who is (hopefully) going to help me with my sleep disorder. Speaking of my sleep disorder. I'm no longer seeing Dr. M. He kept me waiting in the waiting room for over an hour (the third time he'd done this to me) so I told the receptionist that I was not going to wait for the "egocentric wind bag who loves the sound of his own voice" any longer and asked to be transferred to another doctor. I'm now seeing Dr. Flotre at the sleep institute and he's punting me back to Dr. Coll to deal with the disorder (if Dr. Coll is qualified). As for the drugs Dr. M. put me on, Dr. Coll is trying to wean me off of them because they're addicting, and he doesn't want me to build up a tolerance to them thus rendering them useless.
Dr. Stzukowski is getting me blood tests to test my fertility (so that as soon as my A1C is down, currently at 8.0%) I can get to work getting preggers. Poor Chris (cue the sad violin music) has to provide a sample to test whether he's the "problem". I'm finding it difficult to muster any sympathy for him as I've got to have a million blood tests, possibly a hysterosalpingogram and all he's got to do is provide a sample in a cup.

Maya is much better than she was last time I wrote. Her eye is fine. She's starting to develop those lumps again, but we figure that we'll just let them grow (they don't hurt her) and she can die with them. She's really slowed down a lot and is a lot more grey than even last month.

Mush, on the other hand, is not doing so well. In November she was diagnosed with panosteitis which means her bones are inflamed. She's been in a lot of pain on and off since February but we just figured it was part of her disorder and dismissed it. Finally, last weekend, she was in pain all day every day for 3 days (long weekend, vet was closed) we gave her baby Tylenol for the pain and I took her in first thing Tues. morning. Well, trouble is, she's twisted her back (probably when she first started exhibiting signs of pain in Feb.) So, she's on special medication, and she's confined to a small area so she can't run around and hurt her back any more. It's a long shot but she could potentially paralyse herself. She's not in any pain at the moment, thanks to the pills and hopefully the rest she's getting will give her back time to heal.

Alastar, the wunder cat is on antidepressants. He was peeing in strange places which is apparently a sing of obsessive compulsive disorder. The pills he's on are, technically anti-depressants, but work to control OCD as well. He was a bit gorked when we first put him on them but he's back to his old self and isn't peeing anywhere.

Murdoch is fine, we had him shaved except for a puff at the end of his tail, but health-wise, he's fine.
My parents and grandpa are going to Hawaii in about a week. That means that we get to look after Susie, Parsley and Ceasar for two weeks. Oh joy of joys!

I was at a garage sale and saw a 1903 Bell upright grand piano. So, of course, I bought it. Now, I'm trying to get rid of my "old" piano, my 1968 Hammond Console. It's a damn good piano, but it can't compare to a Bell! The Bell needs a lot of work, I think just getting it fully playable is going to cost me about $700. To refinish it, unless we can do it ourselves, is going to be about another $2000-$3000. Oh well, it's worth it. I've got John Musselwhite, the piano tech, coming on June 10th to take a look at it. He's probably going to have kittens when he sees what shape its in. Oh well.
We're nearly finished the kitchen (FINALLY!!!!) Chris will be screwing down the counter tops tonight and we'll probably tile on the weekend. Our next big project will be installing a new patio door. Then (cue scary music) developing the basement. It shouldn't be too bad, we've got it all mapped out on AutoCAD.
Chris is making his own beer now, beer is disgustingly expensive and we simply can't afford to buy it any more. (Not that he drinks copious amounts, it's just grossly expensive.)
I will try to be more diligent in posting, but I can't promise miracles.

2008-04-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

2008-02-19T09:38:00.001-08:00

I believe there are a$$holes among us

2008-02-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

I went for a job interview the other day and was offered the job. He asked for my references and I provided them. Yesterday he called me back and told me that my reference check had fallen through and that I should rethink who I use for my references. I'm not so much mad because I got a bad reference check, although, as a hard, honest, intelligent worker it baffles me as to why I'd get a poor check. What irritates me the most is that the people I used for references are all people who either volunteered to be a reference or answered in the positive when I asked if I could use them. I with that the person had the common decency and the intestinal fortitude to say to me "you know, I'm not sure I can be a reference for you at the moment." (And preferably tell me what I need to work on). I hate cowards.
I suppose every dark cloud has a silver lining though. I'm looking into taking a course to become an animal health technician. As my old friends know my original plan when I went to college was to become an AHT but lack of funds and the impracticality of living in Olds prevented me. We'll see how this pans out and I'll keep you updated.....all none of you.

Enter Sandman

2008-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting day yesterday....well actually it was mind numbingly boring but to anyone but me it was somewhat interesting. On the night of the 5th I went to the Canadian Sleep Institute to get tested for my sleep disorder. They wired me up (I felt like the $6,000,000 Man) I had electrodes all over my head, neck, chest, and legs, I had a nasal prong shoved up my nose, bands around my waist and chest and a pulse oximetre on my finger. The intention was to see what was going on in my poor tortured little brain when I did weird things in my sleep (talking, walking, breaking things, screaming etc etc.) so, of course, I slept like a log. Actually last night I slept like a log too. I sincerely hope I don't have to go back and do it again. Also, to add insult to injury we had to pay $1000 out of our own pockets for this because it's not covered by Alberta Health Care. This ticks me off. What the hell do I pay my freakin' health care premiums for if I don't get anything in return? Also, most private insurance companies don't cover it (we don't know about Chris' yet). Basically though, the doctor told that if I don't get it done ASAP he'll have to rescind my driver's license, I fall asleep during the day and apparently have little micro naps without knowing it, I know I have fallen asleep while driving. It's a bit of a catch-22. I'll see what I can get in the way of coverage though it seems stupid to me that a person with no choice in the matter should be black balled like that.
Our money situation what with Maya and Mush getting sick as well as our useless waste of skin for a lawyer charging us $860 and Direct Energy giving us a bill (for a house we haven't lived in for 6 months) for $720 and this stupid sleep test costing $1000 has put us in the dog house financially. I assumed I'd get a job fairly quickly but, of course here I sit, unemployed and, at the moment unemployable (how the hell would I get to work?) So, no stress at all (NOT!) Chris got a little baby of a raise so we'll see how that pans out. Knowing our luck it will be just enough to push him into a higher tax bracket thus decreasing our income. Never rains but it pours. Oh well, on the plus side, Maya is good as new, Mush is okay (still in pain but we've got it under control) and in two weeks time I'll know whether I need a padded cell or not. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Not my video, but a favourite of mine

2008-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

If I had the technical skills to make a video, I'd make one similar to this...but as I'm a techno phobe I'll allow the video maker to speak my mind for me.

When are they going to stop monsters like this?

2008-01-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

I was reading the Calgary Herald today. City & Region section, Wed Jan 23 2008. on Page B3 There's an article titled "Child porn collector faces one year in jail" (written by David Slade)
The story goes (paraphrased here and there for convenience) "A Calgary man faces upto a year in jail after admitting to possessing 10,000 images and more than 500 movies of child pornography, many of them involving pre-pubescent girls and babies being sexually assaulted....Weighill, 39 played no role in the production of the images and videos....The offender lost his job and has attempted suicide because of the nature of the charges.....Defence lawyer Paul Brunnen, who argued for a six-month sentence, said his client did not share and never intended to share the child pornography with anyone else. "My client said he was downloading it for himself," said Brunnen....[police] were able to download a movie from the offender's folder, depicting a three-year-old girl crying as she was being sexually assaulted by a man.....A search warrant of his southwest home uncovered 2,700 imaged and 82 movies of child pornography on a portable hard drive, as well as 7000 more imaged and 100 movies on his laptop computer and 340 ore movies on 34 discs. Forensic psychologist Patrick Baillie's report categorized the man's risk to reoffend as low."

Now, aside from the blindingly obvious, what the hell is wrong with this picture? This bastard has thousands of images of children being tortured and he's a "low risk to reoffend"?!?!?!? Um, what university did this dickhead psychologist go to? Or, perhaps more relevant, what planet is he from? The bastard probably spent years downloading these images and movies masturbating to them all the while and the psychologist thinks he's a low risk to reoffend. Okay. Meanwhile, back on earth....I'm just not sure what can be said about that. My favourite is the defense attorney saying that the pedophile didn't intend to share the videos with anyone else. OH! Well that makes it all right then! Gee I guess no one was really hurt then eh? Effing moron! I honestly don't know how these defense attorney's sleep at night. I couldn't look myself in the mirror without vomiting if I defended something like him.

I think, aside from the blindingly obvious, the saddest part of this story is not that he's only going to get 10 seconds in jail, but that he was unsuccessful in killing himself. Someone should tell him to try harder next time.

I've said it before and I'm saddened to hear myself saying it again, the Canadian justice system is a farce. The laws are made my middle aged, perverts (who else would think it's okay to possess torture videos as long as you don't intend to share them) who hate women and children. god help us all. Oh wait, they wrote the laws based on biblical precepts.....um, let's just hope we get some atheists into office so we can fix this sad, sorry system.

not my dogs, cute though

2008-01-22T12:20:00.000-08:00

It's a soap opera world in the winter...

2008-01-18T12:02:00.000-08:00

Maya had surgery on her eye yesterday. She's got basement membrane disease. The opthalmologist fixed her yesterday in ten minutes and charged me almost $300.00 and he wants to see her in two weeks (another $100) yippee! It's a good thing money grows on trees. Anyway at least she's not in pain any more.

I didn't mention it before

2008-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

To all those who helped me acquire goods to give to the sunrise community centre (you know who you are) They were over the moon when they saw all that we'd collected for them. Their cupboards were bare.
I don't know about you but I always prefer helping a little front line community centre than throw my money at a big name charity (not that there's anything wrong with big name charity). I feel that my money and time is better spent on a small community resource centre because it goes straight to those who need it.
Anyway, I can't believe I didn't say anything sooner about how appreciated everything was, what can I say, I'm a delinquent.

Boredom is a disease.

2008-01-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

I've been off work for 3 days now (well, almost three weeks but time on holiday doesn't count). I'm BORED! I keep trying to find things to do and my poor addled brain keeps saying "buy stuff buy stuff". Sad. Trouble is, because I'm home, our income is halved so I can't spend money. It's too bad I don't like soaps 'cuz that would be an effective way of wasting several hours a day.
I'm getting the piano tuned on the 9th which is great because I'm finding the piano offensive at the moment.
I'm hunting for my book of family recipes and when I find it I'm going to make the infamous "French Silk Pie" mmmmmmmmmm......three pounds of butter. My arteries are screaming just thinking about it.
I have turned into little Suzie Homemaker. I fixed a tear in Christopher's trousers (thank god for iron on patches).

A Year in Review

2008-01-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

We're back from England (obviously or I wouldn't be writing this!)
We enjoyed ourselves immensely. Except of course for London. Seventh circle of hell that, horrible place.
We flew with Air Canada and were pleasantly surprised with everything. I've heard a lot of complaints about Air Canada but we didn't find it that bad at all. The food was wonderful, there was adequate leg room and Chris got free beer so he was happy. England was nice, a bit cold and damp for my taste but it wasn't as cold as I'd been expecting.

So now, a year in review....2007 what hath thou wrought upon me?

January 2007 - silly bitch rammed into us with her car because she was fiddling with knobs. The Mazda was a write off and I've been in agony with my back ever since. Also, got a puppy...Mush

February 2007 - got a nice cheque for the Mazda $1000. Which was good because we couldn't GIVE the damn thing away.

March 2007 - bought the PT cruiser, celebrated 6 months of married bliss

April 2007- my 26th birthday. Went to BC for holiday.

May 2007 - boring, more of the same

June 2007- put the house up for sale

July 2007 - Sold the house on the 5th, bought a house on the 6th, Grandma died on the 8th after a gargantuan battle with colon cancer. She went very quietly and wasn't in pain and most importantly, we were all there with her. On the 9th Chris got his work permit and other papers so we went to England for 2 weeks.

August 2007 - I started working for child and family services, Chris started working for IMS machinery, we moved into our new house

September 2007 - Chris quit IMS because the boss was a jerk, starting working at the Port o' Call Inn, we went to BC to see the Titanic exhibit

October 2007 - went to BC for Mark and Dorothy's wedding, celebrated our 1 year anniversary

November 2007 - bought a piano

December 2007 - had a job interview for a permanent position with Child and Family services. Flunked the interview due to having too much personality. Contract expired with temp position. Went to England for Christmas holiday

January 2008....let's see what the future will hold for us! Child and Family services would like me back but they have to have a 4 week period before they can. So, I'm taking 2 weeks off so that I'll be available to go back. In the meantime I've sent in my resume again and will hopefully not screw up the interview this time.

Off to jolly old England we go

2007-12-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

Well, we're off today for 2 weeks in England. Note that despite my having left 7 messages for our darling lawyer she made no attempt at contact whatsoever. We phoned CIC ourselves and figured out how to get Chris back into the country. I think when it comes time to pay the silly cow we're going to have a chat about services rendered.
Not much to say, I have to finish packing so I'm going to get to it.
Probably will "blog" again when we get back.

Misogyny in the media

2007-12-12T09:14:00.001-08:00

Reading the paper this morning I found a lovely misogynistic article written about a rapist.

The gist. A "man" offered a lost 18 year old girl a ride to the bus depot. Instead, he raped her in a cemetery. He's been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison (whoopdee effing doo! He'll be out in a month.....says the jaded woman who's been screwed too many times by the justice system).

The misogyny comes in by comments made by the prosecuting attorney, John Rooke. He said, "He was the predator, she was the mouse, within five minutes of meeting her he started planning to assault her. This predator pounced on a young woman who was extremely naive, PERHAPS STUPID BECAUSE OF THE CLOTHING SHE WAS WEARING, WHAT SHE WAS DOING, WHERE SHE DID IT AND WHEN." Excuse me? She was "stupid"?!?!?!? Yeah she was 18 years old, they're not exactly the brightest crayons in the box at that age. She was wearing pajamas, not a bloody lace teddy. "What she was doing." Seeking help because she was lost and had a bus to catch. That gives him the right to rape her? I don't effing think so.

Perhaps I'm naive (or stupid, at least according to John Rooke) but I thought that women had equal rights to men. So, if he'd raped her in full daylight after threatening her into a car with a weapon and she was wearing a bhurka at the time, it would have been heinous but as he raped her at night, luring her into the car with the promise of assistance and she was wearing pajamas it's her fault? John Rooke, I hope you're not married and if you are that you don't have any children. I can't imagine what it would be like living with an asshole like you. And as for the rapist, Stafano Priolo, who showed no remorse (shockingly), I hope they sodomize you until you bleed to death. As for the previous judges who let him off for "13 prior convictions, including assault and weapons offences." Congratulations, you're all accessories to rape.

I think it's time the Canadian "justice" system grew some teeth and started punishing people for their crimes. As for this offenders data bank where he must be registered for 10 years. Why not life? What the fuck?

It's scary to be a woman, you're not safe from sexual predators and when one attacks you, you're not protected by the courts. I think the daily prayer of men of a certain religious group sums it up best: Thank you god for not having me be born a woman.

Why is it that every time I read the paper....

2007-12-12T09:03:00.001-08:00

I find something (usually more than one) that ticks me off? There was an article today that made me want to stab someone in the eye with a fork. People do not a) take responsibility for their own actions b) respect animals and c) think before they speak.

The article that ticked me off today is in the Herald in City & Region, page 1, titled "Designer forced to muzzle 'vicious' dog". The gist is a man had his dog tied up outside a restaurant, several people petted the dog then "without warning" (why is it always "without warning"? Are people too stupid to see the warning signs that a dog gives when it's frightened, frustrated or ticked off?) it bit a little girl. The judge, who obviously doesn't know his backside from a hole in the ground said "The cute dog that bites without warning is an allurement, a trap, for the unsuspecting and the young...." The owner of the dog now has to keep him muzzled and on a short leash when in public and was also fined.

The person at fault for the little girl being bitten is.........the girl's mother/father whatever. It's a shame she was bitten. She should have been shown the proper way to approach a dog. If she had approached properly and he had "turned" she would not have been bitten. The parents have to take responsibility for not teaching their child correctly. Having said that, I do believe the owner of the dog should pay for any medical treatment that the girl received for the bite.

I would bet money that she bounded up to the dog (a puppy at the time) and thrust her hand at his face. He felt threatened and bit. Once. A bite is not the sign of a vicious dog, if he were vicious there wouldn't be much of the girl left. It's time people learned to live appropriately with animals. And no, I don't see anything wrong with tying a dog up outside a business. Dogs aren't the problem, people are. Thank god they didn't decide to kill the dog for defending himself.

The Golden Compass

2007-12-10T21:14:00.002-08:00

Saw the Golden Compass tonight. Didn't see any anti-christian sentiments. Just pro rational thought. I wouldn't take a younger child to it though (13 and under) simply because it's very violent and has a bit of gore (poor old polar bear gets his jaw ripped off...fairly graphic). Honestly I don't see what all the fuss is about banning it and such. Mountain out of a molehill. Sad really that people are so insecure in their faith that they have to attack anything that may remotely challenge it. As an adult, I could vaguely see a little bit of anti organised religion but it was nothing to write home about. Maybe a little bit of intelligent debate will help cement people's beliefs in god. Or, hopefully, not!

By the by, one thing I find amusing. When Phillip Pullman is mentioned in the paper they usually say something along the lines of he's a "self proclaimed atheist" (usually one can detect the undercurrent of hysteria) It's funny to me because it's as though he's a "self-proclaimed rapist" or something. Quite funny.

Oh, by the way, only 8 days until we leave for England. I'm REALLY looking forward to that 5 million hour plane ride............

Why I hate Christmas!

2007-12-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

1 word: People

We had to get some essential supplies from WalMart today (food such) it was utter bedlam. People are ignorant, rude, pushy, nasty and horrible. I wanted to start randomly shooting people. Can't people who celebrate christmas just go to church or something? Is it really necessary to swarm the malls?

As for the job....

2007-12-08T10:17:00.001-08:00

I called the lady who interviewed me. She said that I know all my stuff and definitely have the skills to do the job. However, I was "flippant" and the interviewers could not "take me seriously". She felt that personality wise it would be difficult to match me up to an office.
So there you go, personality and government don't mix, it doesn't matter what you know, it's how you present yourself. And (most importantly) make sure to lie like a rug in an interview. DO NOT tell the truth, DO NOT be yourself! After all, if you represent yourself truthfully, they may get an idea of what type of person you are and how you will actually react in a real situation.
I've said it before, I'll say it again, the Canadian government is comprised of imbeciles, morons and humourless automatons.

Pedophiles on the run

2007-12-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

I was disgusted when reading the paper today. In the Calgary Herald, Friday December 7 2007 edition, City & Region section, page B5 There is an article titled "Child sex offender back in jail after probation breach".
This pedophile, Eric Brian Wanamaker, served "over a decade" in jail for a violent sex crime against a teenage girl. Then, once released (I'm not sure how long after he was released he did this), he pleaded guilty last June to "possession of child pornography after being caught viewing child porn images on a laptop computer during a children's festival." Does anyone else think this man is a monster?
He lied to his probation officer about where he was living. He told the probation officer that he was living at the Mustard Seed men's Shelter when in fact he was actually living in "a residence in the community of Citadel." There are a lot of kids, and schools and playgrounds in Citadel. His lawyer, I have no idea how these lawyers can look at themselves in the mirror and not vomit, said that he moved out of the Mustard Seed because he was "constantly being beaten up" (Remind me to make some donations to the Mustard Seed, those men have the right idea as to how to treat a pedophile!) This is the part of the story that gets really sick. His lawyer, a woman who has obviously never been molested, raped or otherwise sexually abused, is arguing for him to get double credit for his time in remand because his time in custody "has not been pleasant" What does she want? He's not in effing Disneyland! She wants his time to be served to be reduced to 4 1/2 months. Absolutely sickening. A man violently attacks a young girl, masturbates, in front of children to images of children being tortured and he gets less than a year in prison.

In the Canadian "justice" system a man puts his severely disabled, suffering, daughter out of her misery is put in prison for 6 years and counting, yet a true monster gets less than a year (4 1/2 months if his cow of a lawyer gets her way). Is it just me or is there something very deeply wrong with our "justice" system. I guess as long as we live in a patriarchal society then the rights of women and children will always take a back burner.

I guess what I've learned from these stories is, if you alleviate suffering, you're a monster. If you cause suffering and revel in it and lie and attack young children, you're an unfortunate victim of circumstance. I hope to god that Eric Wanamaker doesn't get some soft hearted (headed) liberal judge with a penchant for child porn to let him out early.

By the way

2007-12-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

I had my interview on Monday (Dec 3) I babbled like an idiot (as I'm wont to do hee hee) and received an email this evening telling me that (drum roll please.........) I didn't get the job. That, friends and neighbours, is why I love the government.

Robert Latimer refused parole....not funny

2007-12-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

I am appalled at the Canadian "justice" system. In 1993 Robert Latimer killed his severely disabled daughter using CO. His daughter had severe cerebral palsy, had the mental capacity of an infant, was in constant pain and had a bleak future ahead of her.
Having worked in a nursing home and seen the suffering that people go through in order to keep their families happy, I am a strong proponent of euthanasia. I'm not saying that as soon as grandpa gets a diagnosis of cancer he should be offed. I'm saying that quality of life is far more important than quantity of life. In other words, I'm saying he did the right thing.
What would keeping his daughter alive have accomplished? His family would be stressed to the breaking point looking after her 24 hours a day 7 days a week. She would have continued to experience unrelenting pain. She never would walk, talk, feed herself, have a boyfriend (not that that's necessarily a bad thing) have a family, get a job, go to school etc etc etc. All the things that everyone takes for granted, she would NEVER be able to do. I think that what Robert Latimer did was an act of compassion and he saved her from a miserable existence.
Now, I know you're thinking "but there are lots of people with CP (cerebral palsy) and people in wheelchairs who are perfectly happy. I've had two boyfriend's with CP, one was in a wheelchair (he experienced a lot of pain, a lot of the time, BUT he still had his mental faculties) Yes, there are many people in wheelchairs are are happy, but was she happy? Who knows, for all intents and purposes (and this sounds incredibly cruel but it's the truth so I'm saying it anyway) she was nothing more than a piece of furniture. A piece of furniture no less who cost a fortune, financially and emotionally to maintain.
How can you have dignity when you need someone to feed you, clothe you, wipe your bottom, bathe you etc etc? That alone, in my opinion would be enough to justify helping her die, add to that the fact that she was in chronic pain and keeping her alive is far more monstrous than helping her die. Ask yourself this, would YOU want her life?
A lot of people say that "life is precious" and every life is "a gift" and we don't have the right to take a life away. I say to those people....well, this is a family blog so I won't say it but it's not very nice. Try walking a mile in her shoes, in her family's shoes and tell me how precious her life is. The ironic thing is these are the same people who say that now she's "with Jesus" and she's "whole again." So if she's better off in "heaven" then why are you bemoaning the fact that she's there now?

I couldn't help but laugh reading a statement by Kelly-Ann Speck (any relation to Richard Speck I wonder?) representative of the parole board. She said "We were left with a feeling that you have not developed the kind of sufficient insight and understanding of your actions." What planet does she live on? Lack of insight? Kelly-Ann, that man had more insight in his little finger than you will EVER have. I've always said the penal system is run by morons and she is living proof of that.

Robert Latimer, I wish you all the luck in the world, thank you for standing up for your daughter's right to die with as much dignity as possible.

As for Canada's "justice" system....what can you say about a system that lets Karla Homolka run free but locks up a loving father.

Tempest in a teapot pt II

2007-12-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

I just read the paper and the little girl has, in essence, "pinned her cross to her bra" Instead of wearing her head scarf (hijab) in the traditional way, she's rewrapped it so that it's like a bandana. A clever solution that is in keeping with her traditional values and also conforms to the league's rules. Nice job on her part to meet in the middle.

Tempest in a teapot

2007-12-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

There's a little girl in town who is a Muslim. She wears a traditional head scarf at all times. A referee in her soccer league told her she couldn't wear the head scarf while playing because it's a safety hazard.
There are two camps on the issue, those who say that freedom of religious expression should be honoured and she be allowed to wear the scarf. This camp states that there is virtually no danger to the girl or to others from her scarf.
The other camp says that she should either a) quit the league or b) obey the league's rules and play but not wear her scarf.

I have to admit I'm a bit of a fence sitter on this one. I agree that the scarf doesn't really pose much of a safety risk to anyone and is really not a big deal. However, I also believe that when you join an organisation you have to obey their rules. When I was in Stetsons (Marching band) they dictated everything that we wore, from our hair to our socks. The issue never came up with head scarves or turbans or anything like that but I remember a christian girl getting upset because she had to take her cross off (she eventually did, she pinned it to her bra instead of hanging it around her neck and the "issue" was resolved)

I think, all fence sitting aside, I'm going to have to side with the soccer organisation on this one. It's a shame that some refs turned a blind eye and let her play until this one followed the league's rules. I think if she'd been told off the bat that it was unacceptable attire there wouldn't be all this hoopla about it. I think they're being a bit silly saying that she can't wear it for safety reasons, that, to me, is an attempt to stop people thinking that they're racist. I don't believe that uniform dress codes are racist at all. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When you join a team or an organisation, the dress code is clearly laid out and if you want to be a member of that team or organisation you have to follow the rules of that organisation. It's time the many stopped conforming to the needs of the few.

Oh, by the way, we STILL haven't heard from our lawyer. My status has changed from cheesed off to pissed off. What a waste of F@cking money!

My husband is no longer an alien....

2007-11-29T16:27:00.000-08:00

no thanks to our lawyer...I'm getting really cheesed off with our immigration lawyer. When we moved I phoned her 7 or 8 times to give her our new address, she didn't call back for three months. Finally, I sent her an email. Not nasty, just not overly nice. She wrote back with a tale of woe about suffering a miscarriage and being in hospital for 3 months. A sad story to be sure but couldn't she have had a partner or someone phone her anxious clients and let them know that they were without a life raft in the cruel sea of bureaucracy? Now, Chris has his landed immigrant status but he doesn't have his card. Without his card he can't travel out of the country without some sort of special permission from an embassy (we actually don't understand what the issue is which is why we hired a lawyer). I have called her every night and left a message every night since November 22 (it's now the 29th) How frigging long does it take to return a freaking phone call. Especially to someone who is paying you $1400 for your effing services?!?!?!?!?! I'm ticked off at her!

I've got an interview on December 3rd at Child and Family services. Hopefully I'll get the job. The girls are quizzing me and trying to surreptitiously trying to give me an ace in the hole. I think I'll be okay.

We've been leaving Mush out periodically while we're at work. So far she's eaten my best shoes ($125.00) Chris' dress shoes ($40.00) my favourite rug ($52.00) and some sort of plastic thing. Her toys are untouched. Little darling! If she keeps this BS up I'm probably going to strangle her!

My opinion on the Robert Dziekanski matter

2007-11-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

My mother phoned me last night and we had a heated discussion about the death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver airport at the hands of police. She thinks the police behaved heinously, I think that, while they over reacted, they did the right thing. For those of you who are gnashing their teeth and organising a mob to come for me, let me tell you WHY I feel this way.
Police deal with strung out drug addicts and mentally ill people all the time. They know that someone high on drugs has super human strength. A man high on drugs or in the grips of mental illness can easily overpower 4 policemen and injure them in the process. When I was 16 I had an insulin reaction and beat the tar out of 4 big (over 200 lbs each) men, one of whom was a former Olympic wrestler. If a 16 year old girl can do that a 40 year old man definitely can. The police didn't know why he was behaving irrationally (actually only he know that, saying he was frustrated from being detained is, although it looks painfully obvious, conjecture) they saw a man acting in an irrational manner and (maybe) assumed he was high on drugs. Looking at the video tape of his behaviour, he easily looked like someone either high or having some sort of mental moment. I believe they judged him to be potentially dangerous and so protected themselves and the surrounding civilians accordingly.
Another argument brought up by my mother was that he didn't speak English. Well, whose fault is that? If you're visiting Canada you are wise to learn at least a few phrases English (or French). Even if all you can say is "Where's the bathroom? I need a Polish interpreter. " etc. If you were going to visit Poland wouldn't you learn a few simple phrases? If you're planning on immigrating to a country (as he was) you should definitely have at LEAST a rudimentary grasp of the native tongue. When in Rome and all that. So, yes, he was frustrated and locked in the secure area of the airport (my husband was held for 4 hours when he came over to marry me and was not a happy camper). However, he chose to throw things around, and threaten people.
His choices led him to being restrained by the police. If he had learned a few important phrases in English (please contact my mother Mrs. so and so) and acted like an adult and remained calm he would be sitting at him mother's house right now bemoaning the fact that Canada wouldn't let him immigrate because of his criminal record (5 years for robbery in Poland).
I feel saddened by the fact that he died because of the taser blast and admit that the police could have been a bit more sympathetic to him but I would rather the police have tasered him and got him under control than for them to wrestle with him and have him kill or injure one of them. My fear now is that next time someone's acting up in public the police will be afraid to take him down and he'll wind up killing someone.

Who needs sleep anyway?

2007-11-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

I've had a horrible couple of nights for sleeping. Last night I dreamed that I was in a strange country/city/planet (who knows) and they were cutting the spines out of dead people and grafting them (the spines) onto living people so that the dead people would still be alive. I have no idea how that would work but that's how my subconscious thinks immortality will be achieved. Weirdly, I've been dreaming about a lady at work. (Not in that way you perv!) in my dreams I always deeply disappoint her in some way. It's bizarre. We don't really interact much day to day. I did discover something potentially useful last night. I noticed a bit of a trend. When I have difficulty getting to sleep (like last night) I end up having a reaction in the middle of the night. Last night I went to bed at 10.4 tossed and turned all night then at about 1 am I woke up and I was 2.2.

Christopher is making a chicken curry for supper and it smells delicious. We're taking turns cooking and doing other household chores because I was feeling a bit burnt out with doing it all the time.

We left Mush out and about in the house today, we half expected to come home to a catastrophe but apart from an ugly flower arrangement having been demolished, the house was in pristine condition (perhaps Mush was simply saying she didn't approve of the flower arrangement?)

We've got Bob the carpenter coming round soon (I always want to call him Bob the builder but I'm too mature to do that). We're hoping he'll put in new kitchen counter tops for us. Chris could do it but he doesn't have an appropriate saw for cutting arborite so we thought we'd hire a professional.

We're going to have to get a new sliding door for the patio, it's a gale force wind in our dining room...and that's with the door closed. We might actually put in French doors (Chris can install). It's wonderful having a handy husband. I don't know how people cope with an inept husband, we'd definitely be in the poor house with all the home improvements we've been doing.

Life is just a bowl of cherries

2007-11-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

Still waiting for a call from the HR person at child and family services. The ATL (administrative team leader) sent my resume for the 3rd time and told the woman to email her back as soon as she received it. Can the government do ANYTHING efficiently? Um, no, that's why they're the government. Stupid question.
Christopher and I have our immigration meeting next week, that should be fun. We'll see how personal they get.
I've bought most of the christmas presents, the only people we need to buy for now are the 2 dads, grandpa, James, Jack and Katie-May. All right that sounds like a lot but it really isn't. I've bought Chris his birthday present, silly goose thinks I've bought him a video game but doesn't realize I don't find that personal enough and bought him something else entirely. Poor him.

or perhaps in 4s and 5s....

2007-11-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

We received the piano yesterday, it's in good working order and sounds good. It needs a bit of a tune.
Took Mush to the vet, her back end has been collapsing every now and then. The vet says she's got a bone disorder, I can't remembe what he called it. But it's affected her bones causing her pain and that's why she'd been collapsing. He's given her some pills and I'll take her back in a month's time to get her checked over again. Joy.

My 2nd cousin, Helga was found dead in her house on Sunday morning. Turns out she died of liver failure (for those who drink...that's what will happen so don't drink).

That's about it, no more news good, or bad.

Bad Things come in threes.....

2007-11-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Lousy day today. I bought a piano from a coworker and it was supposed to be delivered last night, the piano movers didn't call, or show up. I called the company this morning and they didn't take responsibility, the man said, it wasn't his fault they didn't show up, um, excuse me, if it's not your fault, oh owner and manager of the company, whose fault is it? So, I called another company, they can't move it for at least 2 weeks. The next one couldn't give me a definite answer and I had to tell him my phone number about 6 times (not my usual hyperbole, he really couldn't seem to figure it out). Now I'm waiting for a call back from someone...anyone...oh well I'll just have to be patient.

So, last night (Halloween) Chris was eating some candy and his crown fell off (basically his whole tooth fell out). Poor guy. Fortunately today our dentist was able to get him in at 3:00.

Here's where the day gets lousy. At work they're doing some sort of work in the ceiling. As the workman came into my cage...er, I mean office, he opened a ceiling panel and I saw (cue scary music) some fibreglass insulation. I thought, it's miles away from me, it can't hurt me. Well, within minutes I was scratching like some sort of demented person. I scratched myself so badly I was bleeding. However, intelligent person that I am *ahem* I ignored it and thought, I'd run to the drug store and get some antihistamines on my lunch break. My mind was changed for me when I went into the admin area and one of the girls screamed and told me to get myself to the hospital. After looking in the mirror (I looked like a victim in a slasher movie) I decided to heed her advice and get the truck out of there. I drove to Chris' work so that he could take me to the hospital (as an aside here. We take 1 car to work, I drop him off then continue to my office. On the way home I pick him up. I had to get him because if I was at the hospital for 12 hours he'd be SOL for getting home) We went to the hospital and they gave me some antihistamine (by this time I looked like I'd had lip implants) sent me home and told me a) to come back if I was unable to breathe b) not to be alone for at least 24 hours and c) not to EVER drive again while experiencing an allergic reaction. So, joy of joys poor Chris had to take the rest of the day of work so he could babysit me, and I got to sit in the dentist's waiting room for and hour while he had his tooth fixed. Oh yes, and if they're still working on the ceiling, I can't go to work tomorrow. I'm no longer scratching the hell out of myself, although I've got deep furrows on my back and my shirt is blood stained. Where the lumps were I've got little red dots, it looks a bit like I've been bitten by ticks or fleas, very sexy.

Christopher is in a bit of discomfort so instead of a nice hot curry we're having soup for dinner tonight. How fun. I might just make the curry and feed him the soup.

Musical Meanderings

2007-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

When we were first married, I asked my husband if, when we have some money, he would buy me a "real" piano (as opposed to the electric one I've got).. Yesterday we went into Irene Besse (a piano store in town) and saw an antique piano that matches our decor that was within our price range. So, he bought it for me. I'm quite pleased, it's excellent quality. We noticed that the new pianos a) are WAY out of our price range b) are all very shiney and plastic looking c) have laminated soundboards vs solid wood and d) are made in China. Don't get me wrong, I bear no malice towards things made in China, however, I have noticed a certain lack of quality in all items that I've purchased the last few years that have been made in China. I'd hate to drop $4000 on a piano and have it sound like crap or crack or something because of poor workmanship.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but we're going to England for two weeks at Christmas. It will probably be freezing cold there (what with the excessive humidity).

It's off the the vet we go

2007-10-16T16:48:00.000-07:00

Maya was at the vet's all day. We took her in to have her cyst removed from her eye and while she was under remove the tumours from her chest. Dr. Torrence (best vet in Calgary by the way) removed 5 tumours from her chest, all were just fatty tumours and not cancerous. So Maya's walking around looking like Frankenstein's monster.
I've been feeling like death warmed up all day. Nauseous and dizzy. It's been fun.

the long arm of the law

2007-10-04T15:45:00.001-07:00

I spent the day in court today. Literally the whole day! I got a parking ticket in April and I felt that the "peace officer" was being a jerk about it. I got the the court house at 10 am and only just got home now, at 4:45. On the plus side, although the judge said that technically I deserved the ticket, there were mitigating circumstances and he lowered my fine from $40 to $5. SO I feel somewhat vindicated and am pleased that I got to have my say. Other than that nothing new to report.

No pain, no gain

2007-09-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been miserable for the last week. I've been in absolute agony with my back. A new trick its been playing on me is seizing up with no warning and no precipitating event. Also, this is fun, tingling and numbness in my legs and arms. Apparently the tingling and numbness are signs of nerve damage. Who knew? So, I've been fairly grumpy and had to miss some work because of it (not cool, especially since I've only been at the job a few weeks) I've bitten the bullet and am going to see a chiropractor over this spine of mine (hey, I'm a poet and I don't even know it). That should be fun, more X-rays. It's been especially hard on me because I've been having trouble sleeping. I wear my mouth splint at night (to stop me grinding and popping my jaw) and I'm sleeping with a special pillow between my legs to keep them apart and (supposedly) help keep my spine aligned (hey more rhymes!) Poor old Christopher has become my pack horse, he won't let me carry anything heavier than a lettuce leaf. However, the important thing is that I'm not doped to the gills with painkillers. No sir, I just lather myself in Ben Gay and try not to let Chris see me cry (or hear me scream).

No job yet for Chris, he was offered one job but it was unsuitable for him. The job consisted of mowing lawns. I've told him I'll screen any jobs he applies for in the future. I ask you, what made the man think he would enjoy mowing bloody lawns for a living?!?!?!?

So I'm in BC at the moment (I feel horrible being here as I missed Thursday and Friday from work with my back...it was legit, I was bedridden for two days!) If I'd backed out of the trip a) I'd be out +++ $$$ and b) (more importantly) I'd have missed the Titanic exhibition HELLO?!?!?!? THE TITANIC EXHIBITION! I've got OCD how the hell can I honestly be expected to miss and EXHIBITION of TITANIC artifacts?!?!?!?!?!?!? It was very nice and I'm glad I went, I made sure not to let Chris walk in front of me so that he wouldn't see me limping and grimacing with every step. I bought over $400 worth of books/DVDs/memorobilia. Yeah, I'm an addict what are you going to do about it? Everyone has a vice, this is mine. Besides it's not like I'm ever going to get an opportunity to go again. The sad thing was that I've got more books than they had there, also, my books were much better than the ones they had. They didn't have Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" also missing were the disaster enquiry hearing transcripts. Sad. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the people who went to the exhibit were expecting to see pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, maybe some were hoping to get autographs. Oh well, I'm sure some people learned some things despite themselves. I learned that when I'm subjected to the body odour or a 300+ pound man who hasn't showered in about 6 years that I have difficulty not vomiting. Seriously people! If you're going to go out in public PLEASE BATHE! Cripes, some people should be shot.

Anyway we're going home tomorrow (here less than 48 hours) so that's sad. I think when we come up for Mark's funeral...er, wedding reception. We'll stay a few days and enjoy a bit.

Jobs and sobs

2007-09-14T16:10:00.001-07:00

Chris had an interview today at a hotel, actually the same hotel that I worked at a few months ago (small world and all). He was offered the job but didn't accept because it was stupid hours. He's got his name down at a few placement agencies so it shouldn't be too long. He's only been looking two days.

Poor thing had a root canal on that nasty tooth today, he's a bit achy but not complaining too much.

I've got the funny numbness in the back of my throat again. I'm not sure what that's all about, probably bloody cancer or something.

I'm going to talk to the diabetes and pregnancy clinic. I'm very ticked off about the whole conception thing. They promised they'd get my A1C down to 7 in three months. Well, in 5 months they didn't manage to move it one iota. I'm going to ask Dr. Edwards if I can see a reproductive endocrinologist concurrently with the diabetes clinic. That way, I can work on getting the A1C down while at the same time seeing what else may or may not be wrong with me. It would suck to spend all that time, energy and money getting my A1C down only to find out that I've got blocked fallopian tubes and can't conceive anyway. We'll see what he says.

"Silly Questionaire"

2007-09-13T19:11:00.001-07:00

Received this from a friend on facebook I usually find these things silly but will fill it out anyway 'cause I'm like that.

What are 5 things that you cannot live without for under $10 each
1. chap stick (usually the mint kind)
2. diet coke
3. Beer (Chris)
4. ....
5. ....

What are your 5 favourite movies?
1. Schindler's List
2. Marvin's Room
3. Beaches
4. The Bird Cage
5. Das Boot (Chris and me)

5 Favourite BOY baby names
1. David
2. William
3. Rhys
4. Ewan
5. Johnathan

5 Favourite GIRL baby names
1. Hazel
2. Anne
3. Marie
4. Lucy
5. Eleanor

5 favourite songs
1. The Best Man - Blaine Larson
2. He Didn't Have to Be - Brad Paisley
3. The Broken Road - Rascall Flatts (our wedding song)
4. The Theme from "Driving Miss Daisy"
5. The Theme from "The Mission"

5 People who have influenced my life in a positive way
1. Heather (the rec lady from the Bev) the kindest, most altruistic woman I've ever met in my life
2. Kristy - who always was and always will be there.
3. Chris - who loves me just as I am, and taught me how to love myself
4. Anne-Marie Clavelle who taught me how a mother is supposed to be treated/loved
5. Moe - who taught me the meaning of "never give up"

5 Items that I keep in my purse at all times
Well, I don't carry a purse, but if I did it would probably contain
1. my wallet
2. chapstick
3. my blood testing kit
4. random pens
5. wads of kleenex (used or otherwise...hey, you asked!)

5 life changing moments
1. when I finally realized my biological father didn't love me and I was able to let go
2. when I met my husband
3. when I FINALLY got rid of Malcolm for good
4. when I received my certificate for graduation form the DBT program
5. when I buried my grandmother's ashes

5 obsessions
1. installing a new patio door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Dr. Who (more specifically, David Tennant)
3. growing my hair out (at the in between stage, it's KILLING ME!)
4. getting the house squared away
5. getting a "real" job instead of working for a temp agency

This wasn't on the list so I'm adding it myself (WAY deeper than bloody movies!)
5 Favourite books
1. When Rabbit Howls (Truddi Chase)
2. Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)
3. Any and all of my Titanic books
4. The Ancestor's Tale (Richard Dawkins)
5. The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins)

All quiet on the western front....NOT

2007-09-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, Mr. Rean has quit his job in a fit of temper. Although when he told me the circumstances behind his walking out I agree that he made a decent choice.
Of course, this comes less than 24 hours after we've spent almost $2000 on two separate trips to BC. We're going down to see the Titanic exhibition (which ends on Oct. 14) then we have to go down on the 27th of October for Mark's wedding. Yes, he's finally tying the knot.
Chris going to work his little fingers to the bone writing up cover letters and getting his resume out tomorrow. Until he gets another job I'll look forward to coming home to find a nice clean house and a hot meal.

sexism is alive and well!

2007-09-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

I went to the local hardware store this afternoon to get a piece of plumbing pipe that Chris needed to put in the sink downstairs. He gave me the piece that he needed and asked me to get the exact same thing. I couldn't find what he wanted so I asked the staff person. He was extremely condescending to me, I felt like a drooling retard who had no right to be there the way he was looking at me. He showed me a pipe that was the same size as what Chris wanted but was black (instead of copper) I said that my husband wanted copper, not black. The man sighed and said slowly, they're exactly the same. He lectured me on the difference between the black and the copper (they're exactly the same but they paint the black ones so you can tell them apart). I was extremely offended. I brought home what he told me to, feeling like a failure and worrying that it was the wrong thing. Of course, when I got in and showed Chris he said, these aren't the right thing, they're hardened with heat and the copper ones aren't (or something to that effect.)

I've noticed a lot that when I go into a "man" shop, like an auto parts store or a hardware store that I get attitude. Once, we went to Mopac (an auto parts store) and three men, standing behind the desk ignored me completely, I may as well have not existed. One was doing some paperwork, okay fair enough. One was on a call to a supplier and the other was doing absolutely dick all. Standing with his arms crossed gazing into the store. When the one on the phone hung up, he looked at me, then turned and started shuffling through some papers. I was extremely angry. Chris had been wandering through the store looking for what he needed. He approached the desk and all three of them sprang into action clamouring to serve him. He said to them (this is why I love him) "my wife has been standing here for 15 minutes. Even if you had the phase inverter (or whatever it was that he needed, I can't remember now) I wouldn't buy it from you. Then he gave them a withering look and we left.

I don't know why men feel that it's okay for them to treat a woman that way when we're looking for something "manly". I think that chauvinistic (word that rhymes with brass moles) should not be in customer service. When a man comes into a "woman's" shop, like Michaels or something they are treated exactly the same as anyone else. I think these dinosaurs need to realize the world is changing, women aren't going to stand for arrogant pricks belittling us and treating us like second class citizens. Although, who am I trying to kid, as long as we live in a patriarchal society and the good ole boys club is in full swing, what chance do we have? I'm going to have my say by boycotting Mopac and I think I'll talk to the manager at the hardware store I went to.

The depth of a puddle

2007-09-02T08:33:00.001-07:00

I've been reading some of my friend's friend's blogs. (Does that make sense?) I find that no blog that I have read has done anything to dispel my original belief that blogs are for narcissistic idiots.
One blog I was perusing is by a professional woman who acts like a high school girl. "My fiance is the greatest fiance in the world because he buys me lots of things." Um, excuse me? Shouldn't he be the best husband in the world because he's kind, caring, intelligent, helps around the house etc.?

Most of her blogs are chronicles of things she's bought and places she's gone. "Today we went to La Chez restaurant and ate le brie en rouge (not a proper food, but then I don't really care) then we went to Urban barn (not the actual name of the store, I just made that one up) and bought an awesome loveseat to go with our chairs, then they delivered the adorable table I bought the other day. Then we went to Le Gristle I had the lamb chops and my cute husband had the roast duck....." ad nauseum. Okay. 1) no one cares where or if you went out for breakfast/lunch/dinner unless something exciting or gruesome happens (like the woman at the next table went into labour and you helped deliver the baby there and then) 2) what exactly is an "awesome" loveseat? Is your life that pathetic that you need to hyperbolize every piece of furniture in your house? Is it studded with twenty carat diamonds? Is it self cleaning? Or is it just a run of the mill, yuppie couch that can be found in 99% of modern homes? If it's from the Urban Barn I can almost guarantee that it's crap. 3) what the hell is a "cute" table? Really, cute is for puppies and babies not freaking blocks of wood! This girl's blog is a stunning example of why yuppies shouldn't be allowed out of the house (or on the internet) without adult supervision.

She also goes on about her fiance, I'll call him Jim (not his real name, his real name is pure yuppie spawn) anyway, she thinks its adorable that he gets facials and pedicures and occasionally a manicure. Now, I'm all for equality of the sexes but seriously, does anybody else think he might be batting for the other team? Most men I know don't know what a facial is. I don't mean to stereotype but really what can you say?

Now I must admit I'm seeing the hypocrisy of my bashing blogs and their authors in my blog. Believe me I see it. I'm not saying the my blog is absolutely breath taking and worthy of awards but at least I don't keep a running inventory of my home furnishings and gastronomical delights. That's just sad.

Anyway, cranky rant out of the way, I'm going to go blog whoring again, maybe find some other blogs that drive me nuts.

PS, I'm stressed and cranky, can you tell?

Lots to do

2007-08-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

We took possession on the 15th (the money didn't go through until 3:30 pm so thank god I didn't book the day off work!) On the 16th the movers came to move everything in. They really annoyed me though. The two men were very sweet and nice but they dawdled and, when they were supposed to be following me from my parent's house (where we'd stored everything) to the new house, they "followed the wrong van" and took an hour to get to the new house! I was upset about that, especially since they charged me for that hour (as well as the extra kilometres they used taking a cicuitous route. Not amused. They bitched and moaned about the lathe (I can't blame them but really, if you don't want to move things....don't become a mover.) I'd been quoted $400 over the phone but figured, with the amount of stuff we have as well as the lathe it would probably be closer to $800. When they gave me the bill it was a tadge under $1000. I was gobsmacked! I'm going to call up and complain on Monday I don't think I should have been charged for them taking a long route (and probably going out to lunch) and the breaks they took. They also left cigarette butts on my lawn and left some stuff out on the lawn. Not impressed. The moving company by the way, was TSM "Total Service Moving" Total service my ass. NOT recommended.

We're slowly getting the house up to par. There are still millions of boxes strewn about but the kitchen is functioning (except for the total absence of food) and the bedroom is somewhat okay.
Today I've been busy. I bought a computer desk (ours is useless). a dog cage for Mush, and grandpa and I went out and he bought us a lawnmower.
Chris has been busy replacing the radiator in the car, it literally exploded the other day. The car is poorly designed and he had to dismantle most of the front end to get to the radiator. He said that there were a lot of holes and that it's been leaking for a long time. He thinks the dealer put some "stop leak" in it and tried to get rid of it as quickly and cheaply as possible before it died. Oh well, live and learn, not everyone is honest. To get it replaced at a garage is over $1000. Chris doing it cost us $350. Not bad eh? They charge extra for flushing it, checking the thermostat and changing the fluid (all things that should, theoretically come standard as they have to be done for the new radiator to work) I'm learning not to trust ANYONE! Thank god I have a husband who can fix a car, it would absolutely suck to have some useless metrosexual husband who wouldn't want to get his hands dirty.
Anyway that's my rant for today.

It's that time of year...

2007-08-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

We just finished cleaning the condo. The "new" people take possession tomorrow, we take possession of the house tomorrow too although I've booked the movers for Thursday (day after tomorrow) in case the lawyer doesn't get the $$$$ through in time and we don't take possession until 6:00 pm or something. Chris and I are exhausted, physically and mentally, we keep snapping at each other. I'm completely spent, I'm ready to die right now!

Best Buys

2007-08-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we bought a 42" LCD TV today. Our TV has been crapping out on us for a while now and we thought what better time to buy a new one than just as we're moving into a new house.

Carpet Day

2007-08-11T09:06:00.001-07:00

The carpet fixer guy came early to fix the carpet. He's fixing it as I write this. I just hope the floor doesn't look like a patchwork quilt when he's done! We're frantically packing everything in sight. Chris is procrastinating like mad, I don't think it's sunk it yet that we've only got 3 days to get rid of everything.
We went to RONA last night to get some mover's straps and some packing tape. There was a line up about 12-15 people long, and 1 cashier. We didn't bother lining up. What a useless way to run things. They need to either hire more staff or use the staff they have more efficiently.

TGIF

2007-08-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Long day at work today, several times I checked the clock to make sure it was actually working.
Had a NASTY surprise waiting for me on Wednesday when I got home from work. I went to let the dogs out of the bedroom (where we lock them up for the safety of the house). Mush had annihilated the carpet in there! She's destroyed an area about 6X3 feet. Never a break! I've got a man coming on Monday to (hopefully) repair it if we have enough spare carpet and/or carpet in the closets. Hopefully it won't be TOO expensive to fix.
That's it on the news front. Pretty boring.

TGIO (Thank god it's over!)

2007-08-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

Met with the lawyer today. We owe less than we thought we would (which is a good thing) but the lawyer's fees are absurdly high ($2000) but I guess that's the price you pay for....um....lawyers. He was actually quite a sweet man, bit of a chatty cathy but personable. No colour sense whatsoever, I think my retinas are bleeding after looking at his office for an hour. We can't register the car today because my insurance broker forgot to email the pink card to us (she also didn't fax a copy to the registry office). So that's another day wasted. I guess it's just hard to find good help these days.
Chris won't talk about his first day at work except to say that it was "all right". For all he's told me they could have sat around all day watching porn and playing poker. Oh well, it's not as though he's usually loquacious and is only being taciturn about his job.
Work went well for me today, I felt bad about leaving early to see the lawyer so I showed up 1/2 an hour early and only took a half lunch. They taught me how to split a file today so that was cool. There are some files so thick you need a donkey to transport them to the work table. I'm astounded at the amount of paperwork generated! Some of it (to me) seems irrelevant and there are copies and copies of the same email in each chart.
The house is still standing even after leaving Mush unsupervised for the day. We're amazed there's anything left of it given her track record. We didn't have the heart to keep her locked in her "bed" all day so locked her in the spare room.
Chris seems to be sulking about something but he won't tell me what it is. I hope it's just the inconvenience and irritation of the bloody car. Although, if he is unhappy with his job he can, of course, look for a new one.

Lawyers!

2007-08-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Lawyers drive me nuts! I used to be of the opinion that only defense attorneys were evil but in the last two years I've increased that list to include: real estate lawyers, immigration lawyers, prosecution lawyers and any lawyer with breath in his/her lungs! My real estate lawyer called me yesterday to tell me that we were "cutting things a bit fine" to be signing papers this Tuesday as though it were my fault that he took his sweet time calling me to set up a time. Now, because of his tardiness I will probably, at a cost of "a couple hundred dollars" have to get a bridging loan on the house. Um, excuse me, but WTF?!?!?!?! Very angry about this right now, I hate it when people leave things to the last minute, I go out of my way to make sure that I get things done ASAP and expect the same courtesy in return. Death to all lawyers!!! Anyway, a before bed rant so that hopefully I can sleep tonight.

Sunday Morning

2007-08-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

We did a lot of packing last night. 99% of the books, and all the furniture in the spare room are now sitting in my parents garage. Chris dismantled most of his lathe to make it easier to transport and I properly packed a lot of the boxes we'd taken over to my parents and labeled them. Today I'm packing the unessentials in the kitchen, the bathroom and putting all the clothes from the tall boy into suitcases so we can get rid of it. I think we'll have all the unessentials out by next weekend doing a little bit of work each evening after work. Next weekend we'll get rid of the entertainment centre, maybe keep the TV and DVD player so we don't die of boredom in the meantime. Today we'll take the sideboard and the pink chair over.

Busy as bees

2007-08-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

We bought a car today (FINALLY!!) It's a 1997 Mercury Sable GS. It's teal coloured and runs very well. The only thing that needs doing is new bulbs for the brake lights. Chris is going to Canadian Tire tomorrow to get same.
Time is running out to get packed to move. We take possession in 9 days and we still have loads of stuff to pack. Now that we're both working full time we're starting to panic a bit. It doesn't help that our animals (all 4 of them) are out to get us. Both dogs are vomiting, Murdoch has bloody diarrhea again and Alastar has been vomiting too. Of course, god forbid they should vomit/poo on the laminate or tile floor, oh no, not our pets, they have to mess on the carpet (not the rugs either, the actual carpet). So, we think we're going to have to clean the carpets again before the new owners take possession. Rotten animals, I'm going to sell them to a lab for animal testing!

What a job!

2007-08-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

I had my first day of work at the Child and family services. I felt like a prat this morning though. I went to the wrong office, and was lurking about outside said wrong office for a good 10 minutes before my brain switched on and I phoned to see where I was actually supposed to go. Idiot, oh well.

Car Crazy

2007-08-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

We experienced the joys of shopping for a used, oh I'm sorry, "pre-owned" car today. It's amazing the crap they try to pass off as decent. We took a pretty red car for a test drive, barely made it to the end of the street and it overheated. The second one had been in a wreck (although according to the salesman it was in pristine condition) the paint didn't match on some of the panels, the airbags had been previously deployed and the brakes didn't work, but other than that, it was in pristine condition. Also, the salesman was creepy, kept looking at me, asked Chris if I was his wife...spooky. The final car we drove today (this is after looking at approximately 5,000,000 cars) had a dodgy gear box. Oh the humanity!
It doesn't help that we have different ideas as to what type of car to get. I'm looking for something cheap, economical and reliable. Chris is looking for a bloody thunderbird or something, in mint condition that's on sale for $0.50. Men, can't live with 'em, can't kill them and bury the body under the floorboards.
I start work tomorrow, it'll be a long haul from here but once we move it will be a hop skip and a jump from home.
Chris has a second interview tomorrow with the same engineering firm he had the interview yesterday. I think they'll probably take him (why wouldn't they, he's a genious).
I've got a splitting headache. I've had it for about 3 hours now and I'm at the point where I'd just like to kill myself so that I don't have to put up with it any more. I'll give the pain killers another 10 minutes (I only took them about 10 minutes ago) then I'm throwing myself off a bridge.

The hunters and the hunted

2007-07-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

Well, we're searching doggedly for jobs at the moment. Chris had an interview today but the man who is in charge of hiring wasn't there and the one who interviewed him didn't have hiring authority so he has to go back and interview with the other man (does that make any sense? Probably not, I thrive on confusion). I've had a couple of phone calls from the temp agency but when I call them back I get voice mail. Oh well, we shall see.
I went to the diabetes clinic today. My A1C is 8.6%. In other words there has been no effect whatsoever. My nurse has given me a precise mathematical formula to calculate my fixes so that emotions won't play a part in my fixes. I'm very frustrated with my stupid diabetes at the moment but we'll see how this formula works. At least I'm not waking up in the 20's anymore. I'm usually about 12 ish. Not much to boast about but progress is progress. We still haven't finished packing, we're the worst procrastinator's in the world. I'm going to knuckle down today and clear out the spare bedroom, if himself wants to whine about it he's welcome to, but we're getting rid of the crap in there if it kills us.

Another day, another dollar

2007-07-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like we are the unluckiest people in the world! Yesterday we went to the antique mall. On our way back to the car we noticed that someone had relieved us of our license plate! So, home we drove (feeling like criminals all the way), phoned in the police report (apparently license plates get stolen all the time) then today we had to pay to re-register our poor old car. Not fair. So, to the "person" who stole our plate, go @#$^@#$@^%&@#$%^&$#@!#@% and, also, !@#^%#$(!)#@ %)!)# %*@()#@($! %^*(#)!#*%^)!!!!! So, there!
Not much new (other than the disgusting, aforementioned, theft) I had a job interview today, Chris has one tomorrow. It's disgustingly hot, I think we'll go down to the river and cool off again today (we went yesterday and there was a dead fish in the water....absolutely charming, I'm going to be in therapy until I'm 90!) Chris is very tanned, even his tummy is getting brown, I'm still white as a ghost although my arms are almost beige so that's something.