Im not going to live in a world without unicorns!

A fresh start....

2011-10-15T04:09:00.006-04:00

As it usually happens when change begins it snowballs at a rapid pace, it still amazes me we have accomplished as much as we have these last few weeks. Sept 26th Chris booked our flight to Vancouver and from there we needed to really get our things in order as our flight date was Sept 30th at 6:00 am. We finished packing, weighing, labeling 89 boxes of our belongings we couldn't live without. We sold the last few pieces of respectable furniture we had the week before and were stuck with about a dozen or so odds and ends not making the trip, with no time to sell them off. I put them in the yard with a big 'free' sign and was able to get rid of a good deal of the bulk. The day before our flight we had Sameday come and pick up our boxes and thankfully the people who were collecting were kind enough to put them on skids for us to avoid losing any of our parcels. The cost was around $2300.00 to move 89 boxes on three skids from Nova Scotia to Vancouver not to bad as the moving company estimates for the same amount of items were between $3500-$7000, and the moving companies would have taken 2-3 weeks as opposed to the 5 business days the couriers took. To be fair Sameday offers no insurance on your parcels, but we figured for $1000-$5000 in savings we could replace a few items that may not survive.

The only furniture item we packed was the baby's crib because it is a nice and expensive BILY model with mattress and Bambi bedding total cost around $700.00 and the baby has not even spent a full night in it. I was going to be damned if I sold it to some cheap whore for the $150.00 I was offered on Kijiji, having sold and given away a good chunk of the life I worked hard to build up I put my foot down on this sentimental item, we would just pack and ship it with us!.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house, making any last minute repairs and packing our suitcases for the trip. We went out and met my Boss and his wife for coffee and to say our good byes. It will be sad not working with them I was at that bakery for 5 years and really do consider the people there members of my extended family. The friends I made in Nova Scotia are a rare breed and although I have only been out of province for two weeks I miss them already. After that it was home again to say good- bye to the neighbors and keep on cleaning/ repairing.

By 5:30 am we still had not been to bed all night and we prepared for our cab ride to the airport. Luckily I had pre-booked our cab earlier that day, The cancelled phone service began at midnight, if I didn't have the cab coming we would not have been able to call for one as neither of us owns a cell phone (gasp!). We got to the airport after loading the poor cab with 3 large suitcases, one duffle bag, a car seat, a stroller, 3 carry-on bags, a diaper bag, the dog kennel, the baby and the two of us. We had a fairly uneventful flight two connections in total, Mushu tried to escape her kennel on the first flight from Sydney-Halifax as the noise from the small plane was scaring her. Chris just had to keep petting her in the carrier and calming her down. Once we got onto a respectable sized plane she calmed down for the rest of the LOOOOONG flight.

Then we had the fun of packing Mom's car with all our baggage after our long flight. But seeing mom on the other end was really nice, especially when Mushu was so excited to see her and the baby warmed up to her right away. Being around family is a good thing indeed.

So the last few weeks have been a bit busy but fun!. Chris started working with my stepdad getting to know a bit about workplace safety and the tools of the trade so to speak. I went out with mom and snagged some fabric and on Thanksgiving my sister and I made a blue furry monkey costume for the baby. She will be a flying monkey and I will go as the wicked witch for Halloween which should be pretty fun this year. Not so sure daddy will dress up with us. My last Halloween photo from this blog was sent into Awkward family photos by a reader and made it to the hall of fame for a few weeks before the administrators kindly took it down. 30, 000 Facebook shares later and he is not too keen to continue our family photo tradition, which is kind of sad :(.

We have gotten ourselves a storage locker for our belongings as Mom's apartment is kind of small for all of us. We are sleeping on an air mattress in moms dining room right now, but thankfully we are getting our own place on November 1st. We found a nice pet friendly building just down the road from mom, which is awesome as this is a really nice neighborhood in Vancouver.

I am hit periodically with the blues as our little Foxy never made it back home to us before we moved. I don't know what happened to her if she is alive and happy somewhere or if she has passed away, all I know is I miss her and I wish she was still here with us. We promised that poor sweet little creature we would protect her and love her and we failed her. I see all the dog friendly parks and places and know she would have been so happy here and it breaks my heart that she is not able to enjoy life with us now that the stress of home renovations and a big move are behind us.

A few weeks before we left I found and cared for a lost/ abandoned Golden Retriever for a few days, when no one came to claim her Chris took her to the SPCA. A few nights later someone called saying they found Foxy but it was a little Yorkie, we were able to find and reunite her with her owner, an elderly woman who had the little dog for 10 years so I'm glad at least I could keep her from feeling this pain. So that is a new beginning in a nutshell as time goes on we shall see how it plays out.

Stolen moments

2011-09-02T15:08:00.002-04:00

We dance through the house,
You giggle and your smile warms my heart,
Your downy hair wisps in the breeze,
Your tiny hands cling to my shoulders,
This is my reason for living,
Your big blue eyes twinkle,
Your legs kick me impatiently to go faster,
We spin and twirl,
For a few stolen moments the world is a magical place,
Full of joy and wonder,
Without pain and suffering,
For a few stolen moments we LIVE,
Instead of survive.

Foxy

2011-07-09T14:42:00.033-04:00

June 2008 I had finally convinced Chris it was time to get a second dog to befriend Mushu and keep her company when we were at work.It didn't take me long to find a toy Pomeranian on Kijiji that I fell in love with. Her name was Foxy and she was the same age as Mushu we waited almost a month to get her as the breeder had agreed to hold her until we went up to Halifax. When we got to the breeders friends house (the place we agreed to pick her up from as the breeder was in P.E.I) she was among a brood of happy, healthy Pomeranian's and Chihuahuas. Foxy was a small greasy, stinky, boney little dog who literally looked like she was going to die on us. How could we drive 5 hours to Halifax to get her and leave her to go back to the place she had come from, so despite not falling in love at first sight like we had with a feisty Mushu when she was a pup, we took Foxy home with us. This little dog projectile vomited on Mushu in the car and continued to pant/ foam at the mouth for the entire ride home. You could feel her rib cage and spine jutting out and she had hard pokey little nipples. We put her in a harness for bathroom breaks and the poor thing had no idea what it was for, she had no leash etiquette what so ever.

We brought her home and she had diarrhea right away, which was no big surprise given the fact her diet consisted of "Beneful stew" before we got her. We gave that little dog a
bath and began to make her food with high quality dog kibble pureed with a bit of baby rice cereal. She started to eat it and eventually graduated to eating the cookies/kibble whole. Her stools slowly got better, her coat stopped being greasy and she eventually developed a layer of mass over her jutting bones.

It was obvious to us Foxy had not been treated well when one day she peed on the carpet, I firmly told her no with a finger point and she instantly cowered to the floor and pissed herself again. Trembling and scared I picked her up and gave her some cuddles and kind words. The final evidence of her poor life was made known when we took her to the veterinarian to get her teeth cleaned and to get spayed. I dropped her off at the vet to get spayed and asked them to phone me as soon as the surgery was done so I could come pick her up. They phoned me quite early to ask if my dog had been spayed already as they found a previous scar on her belly. I phoned the "breeder" and discovered she had been bred once and became pregnant with one puppy which had to be removed surgically. The poor thing had died a few days later making Foxy a pointless dog for people who obviously only wanted her for the income her womb would generate.

The Veterinarian had to remove four of her teeth and let us know she had poor knees in her back legs due to poor breeding. Despite her rough lot in life, Foxy eventually came out of her shell. She learned to love walks and her favorite thing ever was to be let loose in an open field and go running and yapping. She was a sweet little dog who licked and cleaned her paws in an o.c.d fashion, and would then decide to make sure she cleaned your arm too if it was handy. She was very sociable with other dogs and at times cats. Although I remember the day the neighbors cat decided to let itself into our suite Foxy turned into a Pitt Bull chasing and snarling at it despite the fact it was clearly 4 times her size. She put her full 3 lbs into protection mode and that cat never tried to sneak in again.

Foxy loved the park and hiking through the woods, but she hated the beach. The ocean terrified her as did the camera for some reason we will never understand. Both Foxy and Mushu were able to come on a family vacation with us to Vancouver and Saskatoon in 2009. They seemed to really enjoy themselves meeting my extended family and Chris's.

When I became pregnant and would sleep on the couch Foxy and Mushu would snuggle up close to my belly while I napped, Foxy continued to snuggle up for naps with me and the baby after she was born. I remember when the baby first came home Foxy couldn't wait to come and try to clean her little head and hands. That tiny little dog would crawl up to the baby timidly and sneak in as many kisses as she could get away with. Foxy would sleep in the bed right next to me and the baby every night and sometimes would try to weasel her way right in between us. I caught her red handed on too many occasions to count trying to clean the babies head while she slept.

July 1st of 2011 Chris and I were getting ready to make some home improvements before we sold our house in anticipation for our move. Chris came home late from his shift at work and unloaded the supplies from the car I was asleep in the living room. I woke up we watched a movie and got ready for bed, at which time I looked and looked for Foxy and she was nowhere to be found. We ran outside and searched the streets from about 3:00 am until noon the following day but she was nowhere to be seen. I put up hundreds of posters and spent hours walking throughout our neighborhood, I took time off of work to go canvassing and asking people if she had been seen.

Every reported sighting we received we went to investigate but to no avail. Two phone calls resulted in me reuniting a Chihuahua and a Yorkshire Terrier to their owners. I continued to put up posters right up until the week before our move and I continued to put up adds on Kijiji and email the SPCA right up until this November 2011 (this post has taken awhile to write as it even now has me breaking down into tears).

I dont know if she has been taken in by a family who is loving her and treating her well, if she was hurt or killed by some malicious monster of a human being or if she became a meal for a wild animal. I do know I dream of finding her regularly and I'm not sure if she has passed on and is trying to say good bye or not. I do know that her loss has effected me to the point of putting me into a severe depression that I am constantly today fighting to rise above.

I promised that poor little dog that we would be her home forever, that she would be safe with us and a loved member of our family for the rest of her life and we failed her. I think about how confused and scared she must have been when she got outside and no one came to get her right away, did she think we were mad at her or that she had done something wrong?. The guilt of not finding her and keeping my promise to her eats me up daily. I loved and continue to love that little dog, she is still in my nightly prayers and I will admit I still stupidly cling to the hope that some miracle may one day bring her back into our life.

I know some people may think she was just a dog, but to me she was my family. I lived in Nova Scotia with Chris, very few friends and no family around for 5 years. My two dogs were the only family I had when Chris was gone away for a work contract (before the baby was born), my only friends when the few people we had made connections too were not around. I never had to worry about being judged or unloved by them, there was never any drama involved having them in my life. I considered both Foxy and Mushu to be my adopted children and now I have only Mushu and the baby.

As a family we are broken, Mushu is not the same. She spent our last few months in Sydney sitting by the back door all day long waiting for Foxy to return. She tends to want to spend more time sulking in bed then when Foxy was in our life. Both Chris and I are heartbroken and find ourselves in tears when we find situations that we know Foxy would love, like trips to the dog park. I dont think I will ever be the same again, a part of me lost faith that there are such things as happy endings, or higher powers that care about the lives of man.

What kind of higher power could let a sweet innocent little creature like that live a life of such torment then separate her from a family that loved her so much. How do you resign yourself to saying good bye to someone you love forever? .I had always thought to be cremated with both my dogs and Chris when we passed away and once the last of us had passed to have all of our collective ashes released on a nature trail somewhere. Now here I am on the opposite side of the country and my little Foxy dead or alive is so far away we will never be reunited. Good bye Foxy where ever you are, I love you I miss and I am so sorry that in the end we failed you.

the result!

2011-06-06T09:07:00.002-04:00

Here is my hair cut! I think it turned out pretty good! one step in the fresh start direction DONE!

shake it up!

2011-06-02T11:31:00.008-04:00

Last night, I got it in my head that I hated my hair, I have been growing it out for about 4 years now with not a single cut so I could have long beautiful tresses at my wedding ( yes I planned my wedding hair before my engagement, I knew we would get married one day!). With the big life changes going on right now, it may be at least two years before we tie the knot, and I am not going to keep my hair like this until then.

So last night I took some scissors and attempted to cut my own hair in the "scene" style......needless to say I am not a hairdresser at all! I should have looked at the botch job I did to the poor dog a few days ago and left well enough alone :(. But after a few snips it was apparent I would not be making a masterpiece and so today I am going to go get a REAL 100% PROFFESSIONAL haircut. YIPPIE!!!! I have been wavering on getting my hair cut like this for months and finally I'm going to do it!. Anthony Robbins says never to leave the site of a decision without making one step towards making that decision a reality. So by botching a part of my hair I have forced myself to go and get it done!.

Here are the pictures I'm bringing to the hairdresser (not me), fingers crossed it all works out!

Limbo!

2011-05-26T13:40:00.010-04:00

For the past few months from January until about April, life has been in stasis. We (Chris and I) have needed to make changes but could not get on the same page as to where and what these changes needed to be. Allot of circle talk abounded where we discussed our future and both Chris and I refused to budge on our position of where and what we were going to do with our lives. But something BIG does need to change, Chris's career is not stable enough for family life, I need to find a career that allows me to be the mother I want to be, the baby deserves to be a part of a big loving family. The lifestyle we are currently living is no longer fulfilling either of us.

As it stands Chris is now working a job he doesn't like to pay the bills at a crappy rate of pay, while I love the bakery I am only working part time because raising my baby is more important to me. While Nova Scotia is still far more affordable than most other provinces, you still cant get ahead if the decent paying jobs are not available. We went in a matter of a year from comfortable to making ends meet and if we stay here that is all that is going to be possible for us.

Change can be hard, especially when you have an innocent little life in your midst that depends on some degree of stability. But sometimes you need to take stock of what you have and have faith that things can be better if you take a risk. We have a house out here, and I have a few good friends but that is ALL we have aside of course from each other. I know if we move we will be back to renting again for a few years, and I HATE renting but what will we gain?. A new career for Chris and myself living in a province where work will be constantly available, friends and family that have gone years in between visits. Yes we will have to start all over from scratch again, and while it should be daunting and frustrating I'm actually really excited for a fresh start.

Chris has a fantastic opportunity thanks to my step dad to get into an Apprenticeship in HVAC. The first part of the paperwork has gone through this week and now we await for it to go through the union, then for the job application to be approved. So that would mean a big move across the country for us to Vancouver! My home town :). Once we get there I plan on taking my E.C.E at home while I watch baby and hopefully I will be able to watch one or two other children while I spend the days with my girl!.

That's the plan, now while we wait to hear back from Chris's job we will be spending the next month fixing up the house so it can be put up for sale by mid June. I'm a little bit concerned about finding a place to rent with the dogs but we will do it!. So much change on the horizon I'm excited, I know it will not be easy but once we finish school the rewards will be worth the hard work!.

So much catching up to do!

2011-01-23T12:53:00.012-05:00

So whats new in the life and times of me?? Halloween was awesome! I managed to sew/ create our family themed Halloween photo shoot as Jim Henson's Labyrinth characters!. Christmas came and went it was nice and quiet, just Me, Chris and the baby, we set up our first Christmas tree together and made our first turkey. It was good times. Baby had an accidental fall from her highchair the first week of January and fractured her femur bone, it healed nicely by months end and she is crawling/ attempting walking just fine on it now. I started to work a few half days at the bakery again around November, I only leave the baby when she is able to spend the time with Daddy, I really don't want to leave her with strangers for child care if I can help it.

We decided this January we were going to move back to Saskatchewan and Chris was going to go back to school to become an Electrician, I am planning on doing homeschooling to get my Early Childhood Education and Daycare Management so I can stay at home with the baby and still bring in a full time income. Gluten free baking is becoming a bit more lucrative for us, we added cookies and brownies to the bread we bake and they seem to be doing quite well. I cant believe how many people suffer from celiac disease these days. We planned to start renovating the house to sell it by summers end, we bought new flooring for the living room, the down stairs hallway and the office. As of today it remains in box waiting to be installed. We are trying to come up with a new 5 year plan, still debating when or if we should have a second baby, I'm hoping to lose enough weight this year to order my wedding dress, fingers crossed we settle on a wedding date soon too!.

Nostalgic friends.....

2010-10-24T14:04:00.008-04:00

Lately I have been feeling a bit alone in life. Yes I have Chris, the baby, my family, That is all good. I have more than allot of people do in life and I am very grateful for the blessings I do have. So what am I missing? whats the problem?.

~Close friendships.

All of my life when I have made close friends with someone it seemed it would not be long before they moved away (in more recent years it has been I that did the moving). The theme has been with me from kindergarten right up to present day. I have been on this coast for nearly 5 years now and managed to connect with only two girls out here. One moved away and now lives in another city, we recently got back in touch online and send letters which I really enjoy :). The other left for Europe for 2-3 years and just moved back home a few months ago, she is a sweetheart but our schedules make meeting up at times a bit difficult.

I have tried connecting to other people and we do have fun at times, but it doesn't come naturally, its hard to be yourself. There are always people you can chat up and have fun with but its so hard to find the type of people you can really connect to. I guess I would best describe it as superficial friendships, people who you like but your values are just different enough you can never really get close to them. I also suffer from severe social anxiety, there are days I feel like everyone enjoys my company to my face as a social nicety but when I walk away they sigh with relief.

I figured why not check up on Facebook and see what old friends were up to, but I think that has only made the problem worse. I know people change, life gives you new experiences to learn and grow from, priorities change, personalities change. I guess I just didn't realize how drastically those changes could take place in such a short period of time. So many people I considered Friends (and I don't use that word lightly) just don't seem to be who they were before. I try to picture in my head what it would be like to get together with them again and I can honestly say I don't see the potential for a close friendship like we once had. I would even go as far as to say they are complete strangers.

Thank goodness some people remain grounded and change at a pace that makes them still relatable I look forward to seeing my friends Ryan and Debra in Vancouver when I go home to visit this April. There are people I communicate with via blogs and online that I wish I had spent more time with when we lived closer together like 'Madam Diva', Heather and Georgia. There are a few back home in Saskatoon I still communicate with in letters like Jordan and Karen that I know I would be able to be myself around. I remind myself that there are glimmers of hope spread all over Canada, kind people, that I know give friendship honestly and wholeheartedly, people that don't take advantage of others and call it friendship. That picks me up when I get into a funk like this. For now I meet up with the few people I have connected to when I can and when I cant I fill the void with looking for more from myself, finding private hobbies that require only my own company.

The universe provides...

2010-09-19T11:31:00.005-04:00

Since I began my mat leave finances have been a bit tight, we are shy an extra six hundred dollars each month that I used to bring home working full time. Chris has also been waiting for a new contract in animation to begin but the industry out here is running cold this year. We have cut back on spending where we could, we pay better attention to sales flyer's and buy things we'll need before we need them (like diapers and dish soap) if we can save the $$$ on them. I have also taken to clipping coupons and throwing them in my purse "just in case" which has come in handy on more than one occasion. I have never grown up with allot of money ~so frugal is not a foreign concept to me. Still some days its hard not to worry what will happen when my maternity benefits run out and we receive an even larger drop in income?.

There have been a few times in the last few months where things have seemed pinched, like maybe a bill would not be paid until the following month. Then right when the worry starts to creep in something happens, A card with a belated baby gift containing a check large enough to pay that bill arrives in the mail. Someone comes to purchase our extra dryer the night before the bank account is set to go into overdraft, once again the right amount of money comes at the right time. I can be prone to worry about these things obsessively if I allow myself. Chris has a much more zen mentality. "We're not going hungry, we have a roof over our heads were healthy and that's all that matters". I am starting to pay attention to the timing of these little financial saves that show up right in the nick of time and its hard to deny the belief that the universe will provide what you need.

I used to be so embarrassed about discussing finances, especially when they are not doing so well but in the almost 6 years I have been living on my own I have come to learn something about life. Its like a river current, always moving always changing. There will be times when finances are golden, you can splurge you can go out for nice dinners and afford to be generous to others. Then there will be times when you have to watch your spending and count your pennies, sometimes its a career change or a lifestyle change but finances like every other part of life are fluid. You just have to learn how to change your paddle stroke to maneuver through them best.

Life.....

2010-08-15T15:51:00.021-04:00

Life has taken a lazy turn the past few weeks, many imagined projects and ideas but little motivation to get them started. The house is in a state of chaos, which seems to be the only state it can exist in. There never seems to be a point in getting it immaculate though, as soon as we tidy it a new project gets started- never finished and piled up in whatever corner it can occupy. It took me four days to assemble two prefab bookcases last month, they should have taken 45 minutes but between taking care of the baby and the other things in life the task was painfully prolonged. I just try not to think about it too hard the clutter and debris screw with my head to the point of breakdown some days.

I have been becoming a time thief stealing moments just for me and my sanity. Sometimes they are after everyone else has gone to bed, other times I wake up before the rest of the house and have my morning shower and coffee. The recent plan is leaving Chris with the baby and doing laps around the track at the park, I still have 10 lbs of baby weight to shed and 25 to my goal weight. I have decided to try to find a hobby or passion, In fact my latest goal is to become like Dos Equis most interesting man in the world~ my new role model. I have accumulated readings on stage hypnotherapy, speaking German and martial arts. I also have a teach yourself to sing program. I am by nature more inclined to daydream then to do, so I am going to try to offer myself a reward to work for. If I lose my 25 lbs and accomplish one of the above mentioned programs I will reward myself with a Katana!!!

Being on Mat leave I have had to tighten the spending belt as of late but I have had some success in the trading department!. I collect statues called Windstones and they don't come too cheap. In my collection there were 5 pieces I bought that just didn't fit quite the way they should so I went to the online forum and found some people to trade with. I was able to get 4 paint your own Windstones (which are nearly impossible to snag when they restock in the online store). I received two Kirins (oriental unicorns) and two Unicorns, I plan on painting one of each for the baby to start her first Windstone collection :). I also found someone trying to sell the one Gryphon I am missing so I was able to trade them a few smaller pieces for the larger Gryphon. So I was able to get 5 new statues that I have been wanting at the cost of shipping. Now I'm just waiting patiently for the Gryphon to arrive and the time to start painting the others.

Other than that I'm just living life at a slow pace and planning, plotting and waiting, My family should be moved out here in a month and I cant wait to have them around!!!. I may go back to work part time for two half days just to start making some Christmas plans $$$. Chris is going back home (Sask) for a wedding in October and I need to get my ass in high gear making our Halloween costumes. I also had an Epiphany the other day, there are tons of children in this neighbourhood, so Halloween should be awesome~full of little grubby trick or treater's!!!. I can hardly wait!.

Ratatouille ruined my life.....

2010-08-03T16:52:00.011-04:00

A movie about lovable huggable rats.....yeeuck! But I watched this movie when it first came out on dvd. No harm no foul it was a decent Pixar movie where I made the mistake was deciding to watch the bonus features, namely the the featurette "your friend the rat". This little short goes into details about the brown rats history etc., Anyhow somewhere in this film they let me know rats have been known to come up through toilets. Needless to say for about a month or two the toilet was a feature of concern for me, but as time passed the concern went away completely forgotten.

Fast forward to 2010 almost 3 years later and I have moved to a home of my own in a nice quiet neighbourhood, only a five minute walk from schools and the park. Now it has happened on not one, not two but three occasions while walking by the little canal bordering the park I have seen Muskrats! that's right MUSKRATS! Have I mentioned how close I live to the park???

Anyhow the Muskrat sightings mixed with the information gleaned from Ratatouille has turned into a full on phobia of a rat coming up through my toilet. I can no longer sit on my toilet without watching it to make sure air bubbles aren't coming up through the drain. This past week it has even become a fixation I cant seem to shake from my head, a paranoia even though I haven't seen a Muskrat since March or April. I'm not entirely sure how to combat this fear, I have seriously considered just doing my business in a bucket and flushing it down after to avoid a sneak attack.

Hopefully it will pass but as it stands I spend the minimum amount of time I have to on the commode, how will I be able to help the baby potty train with no fear of the toilet if I dread its use every day????.

Pure Imagination

2010-07-15T12:42:00.008-04:00

I have started watching America's got talent a couple of weeks ago and I can't help but feel inspired by the contestants to find a hobby in life. So many people both the good and the bad feel so much passion for whatever it is they are doing whether it be singing, dancing or something a bit more extreme. A particular guest on the show is just fabulous! he has created a character for himself that really seems to make him happy,Prince Poppycock, it got me thinking....

Some people are so flamboyant and eccentric it makes me wonder sometimes what the world would be like if we all let out our inner oddities rather than try so hard to fit the imaginary mold of normal. What if we said what we meant?, and did what made us happy regardless of talent level or other peoples perceptions?. I turned 27 this year, a good year for getting to know your real self. Once you hit your late 20's early 30's I think its safe to say if you have any ability to internally reflect, you know who you are. The challenge now is to motivate yourself to do those things you didn't have the confidence to do in your earlier years. I'm not sure where this inspiration might lead but I am hoping it will take me somewhere exciting, while on my mat leave I need to find a way to have me time to make my own brand of magic to share with the world.

little known facts about me....

2010-07-02T16:43:00.003-04:00

I absolutely love this band "Rhapsody of fire" along with a few other symphonic metal groups. This band is exactly like a band I wanted to front a few years ago called Bad Wizard. Perhaps one of these days I will get around to writing that album and setting up my band.....perhaps....

Rhapsody - Unholy Warcry

Lucky day!

2010-06-21T09:31:00.006-04:00

This week outside of the library downtown I found a four leaf clover while walking by. A few days later while walking by the library again I found a second one!. Two lucky clovers this month, one for us and one for family and friends that's where I wish the luck and prosperity to go :).

happy fathers day!

2010-06-20T12:31:00.008-04:00

Growing up I had a dad in my life, I would best describe him as a lion. Don't be mistaken this is not a compliment in anyway. Like a lion he sat around on his fat ass all day while while my mom, a lioness (a compliment to her) brought home the wildebeest, took care of her cubs and pretty much did everything for the families survival. Like a lion he expected to have first dibs on the goods he did f*ck all to bring into the household and if jail and my mom weren't an immanent threat I'm sure he would have killed off my sister and I in true lion fashion to have my mom all to himself.

About 4 years ago I had gone back home to visit my family for a month, I hadn't seen them in over a year, I was so excited to be going home for a visit. I had a great time with my mom and sister but at every turn my father was being miserable and trying to ruin our time together, like he has always done through out my life. One can only assume he was jealous of the relationship my sister and I have with our mom. Halfway through my visit he went out of his way to start an argument with me over something stupid and he decided to bring Chris up and insult him for no reason other than to try to be hurtful to me. I called him a fucking idiot and told him I was done with his bullshit, the rest of my trip I ignored him and continued to enjoy my time with my mom, sister and friends. A year later I still had not spoken a word to him, my mom left him and the only person still talking to him was my sister. I went home to visit and because my sister was living with him still I was courteous, nothing more and nothing less. A few months after my visit my sister had finally grown tired of the crap and she too had cut all ties with him and that's where my families relationship with my biological father has gone. 3 years later and I have maintained my distance, I don't regret my choice sometimes human beings can be tumors, poisoning your life with their cancerous behaviour and they have to be cut out. When the cancer is removed you can heal and start to live a fuller healthier life.

My story doesn't end there though. Three years ago when I went home to visit my mom and sister I met someone new who was about to become a much loved and important member of my family. I met Henk, at the time my moms boyfriend and now my new father. Everything I hated about my dad, Henk is the polar opposite. Kind, generous, easy going, thoughtful, humorous, loving and everything a father (and husband for my mom) should be. I have said before that I will not call him step ~just father, so anytime I mention Dad I'm referring to him. He has in the three years I have known him been a better husband and dad to this family than the twenty odd years with my bio-father. I never got to have a healthy loving relationship with a dad growing up but now in my adult years I'm able to have a second chance at having something I never thought was in the cards for me. I love being able to phone and talk to him with ease, laughing and joking, encouraging each other through our troubles and triumphs. Mom and Dad came to visit a few weeks ago when the baby was born and I'm so excited for my baby girl to have two loving grandparents, especially now that they are planning on moving to Halifax. My girl will have a chance to get to know and love them both and I will get a chance at strengthening my new relationship with my dad.

Happy fathers day Henk and thanks for being the worlds best dad!! This is the first time in my life I can use that phrase and I think its something I can get used to saying!.

27 today....

2010-06-18T16:02:00.009-04:00

So I turned 27, Its pretty funny how two years ago on my 25th Birthday I was in a completely different place emotionally than I am now. At 25 I was feeling like a failure. I had planned (ahhh those plans)to already have a house, be married, a mother, have a career etc. Where was I? working customer service living in a rented basement suite watching as it seemed everyone else in life was having those milestone moments. As happy as I was for everyone, believe me I was!!. I couldn't help but feel a bit of envy and almost like I was being left behind. The whole world seemed to be moving forward and while I wasn't doing badly I felt like I was at a stand still.

Today I have a house, I'm engaged to the man of my dreams who also happens to be my best friend, I have a beautiful baby girl, two sweet little dogs and I have to say I'm truly happy. The funny thing is life stayed at a slow pace until about July of last year, changes started to happen fast and furious from the time we bought our car last year. July- new car, August- vacation home to visit loved ones, August/Sept- discovered we were pregnant, December- bought a house, Feb- got engaged, May- had a baby. Nothing happened when and how I thought it would but it did eventually happen. Life doesn't stay stagnant forever, it tends to happen to you while you live it. What have I learned in the last two years, I have learned that plans and goals are always nice to have but they are not made of cement they have to have room to move and shift or else they will crack and split apart and leave you frustrated.

What did I do for my birthday this year?. We wanted to drive up to Inverness beach but about halfway there (its about a 4 hour drive) the baby started to get a bit fussy so we opted to go check out Baddeck instead, we have been in Nova Scotia for 3 three years and we had never been there before. So we walked about with the dogs and baby, watching sailboats and checking out gift shops, the weather was beautiful we had some ice cream and pizza for lunch~in that order and made our way back home.

We rested for awhile around the house, then we packed up the baby and the puppies and went down to the drive in theater to see Shrek 4 and Karate Kid. Best idea EVER for people with babies and baby dogs!!. It only cost $15.00 per carload, the sound doest have to be too loud you have privacy to breastfeed the baby during the show. You don't have to worry about being the douche bag with the screaming baby ruining everyone Else's movie. You can bring your own food, we had Wendy's and brought our own chips and candy. It had been almost a full decade since the last time I had been to a drive in theater (wow that was an old lady thing to say) , I can guarantee this will be something we do frequently over the summer. I had a great time and I know the whole family did as well (especially the dogs! as they spent the entire day with us no staying at home while we went out).

good times!

2010-06-16T20:33:00.007-04:00

Today was a great day for family fun! The sun was bright it was nice and hot outside. Chris and I decided to pack up the baby and the dogs, stop at the Tim Horton's drive thru and nab a couple of iced caps (one of my favourite things about summer) and go to the beach. We drove down to the beach and had it all to ourselves being the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Ahhhh funemployment!!. The dogs and Chris took a run along the beach and the baby cuddled up to me in her snugli under my light weight poncho. We only stayed at the beach for about 20 minutes as the wind was pretty strong in front of the water and we worried it may be too cold for the baby. We then decided to pack up the car again and make our way down to our old neighbourhood to stroll through the wooded trails they have there.

We started our walk with an encounter with three horse riders leaving the trail as we entered, Mushu and Foxy had no idea what the heck the horses were and would have loved to go sniff them. I'm just thankful they didn't start barking and scare the horses as two of the three riders were just young girls. We were in the woods for about an hour or so and then made our way back home. I'm glad we are still able to go out and do things even after the baby has arrived, The few bad weather days I have been house bound have been a bit boring and I'm grateful for the walks and day trips we have been taking each chance we get.

Craptastic days can have silver linings as well.

2010-06-15T10:08:00.008-04:00

Yesterday I had planned to have the girls from work over for a brunch to say thanks for all the nice things they did for me and the baby, everyone said that Monday worked for them, so I cleaned up the house and made a crap load of food. Monday morning comes and most of the girls have to cancel for one reason or another. It could have been a crappy day if I let it but I didn't. My friend Emily did show up, and I haven't seen her in about two years because she was in Europe. I was able to catch up with her for a few hours which was nice and that evening I was also able to watch True Blood. All the leftover food worked out good for dinner and even lunch for today. Instead of being upset I'm going to see all the positive points, The house will now only need a quick upkeep clean this weekend before Chris's Mom arrives to visit. I learned how to make really yummy cucumber sandwiches~something I have never tried making before, I was finally able to use my three tier serving platter which I have had for two years. I learned that I could still pull off being a great hostess with a baby in tow.

All my positive energy and outlook was there, When Chris came home he looked sad and turned to me and said, I'm sorry today didn't work out as planned. I just looked at him and said "don't pity me!", I'm getting used to life throwing those curve balls into all of my plans. The best way to cope I'm finding is to see your plans like a river, they are always there but they move and change from moment to moment, you need to learn how to paddle through the placid waters but be prepared to rough the rapids. I guess the baby's Zen like calm is rubbing off on me. I will try again to have my get together maybe just meet up with smaller groups at a time, that way its easier for people to juggle their schedules.

Awesome person of the week!.

2010-06-02T14:56:00.004-04:00

Last week Chris and I were waiting in the car at the Sobey's parking lot for my Mom and Dad. The Sobey's has a liquor store attached to it and we were parked closer to the liquor store entrance than the grocery entrance. A few minutes after my parents had gone into the grocery store we hear someones car coming from behind with their stereo system blasting out their tunes. A mini van comes into view speeding up to the liquor store, the song polluting the ears of all those unlucky enough to be near the parking lot happens to be "the Macarena".

The Macarena

Chris and I look at each other and I say " WOW, I have got to see who steps out of the van", Chris laughs apparently he was thinking the same thing. The door pops open and some 40 year old frumpy Mom comes out and dashes into the liquor store. What would possess her to be playing that song so loud, she wouldn't have even been in her prime influential years when that song came out. We collectively decided the only people more pitiful than this woman clinging to the love of her 1995-1996 one hit wonder 'the Macarena' are all those poor schmucks who lost their virginity to that song!. ouch!

Fun with photographs!

2010-05-10T14:59:00.003-04:00

Is that a promise???

fun facts about me...

2010-05-02T19:44:00.007-04:00

I have decided that this poor blog has been neglected as of late, so I have a new blog goal. Once a week I have to share a little known fact about me.

This weeks little known fact about me. The art if Michael Parke's makes me squeamish. I love the whimsical nature of his art, but I find allot of his figures have weird fatty deposits on their bodies. This odd placement of pudge makes me feel sick to my stomach, seriously I'm gagging as I post the images, It also happens when I see wet food bits in the sink drain. Now you could show me a real photograph of a nude morbidly obese person and I would be indifferent. Its the placement of the fat that makes me feel uncomfortable, like the fleshy wings of his sphinx characters.

Other pieces give me the odd sense of deja vu, like I have had nightmares I cant remember, containing these figures. Art doesn't normally elicit feelings out of me I either like or dislike it.....as for Michael Parke's I haven't decided which side of the coin he falls on yet.

Victoria's secret.....identity!

2010-04-27T14:33:00.064-04:00

Has anyone else noticed how much the outfits on the Victoria's secret fashion shows make the models look like She-ra characters???....

Group Pose: She-ra,

Group Pose: Victoria's secret,

And now by theme... starting with She-ra:

Frosta....

Flutterina....

Glimmer....

Peekablue.....

Angela....

Catra....

Sweet Bee...

Castaspella...

Mermista....

Spinerella...

Netossa....

Perfuma.....

Entrapta....

Tune in next week when we discover the real reason why Lady Gaga is truly, truly outrageous....

Damn you, Kraft dinner!

2010-04-24T12:21:00.011-04:00

Dear Kraft Dinner, (and I use the word dinner loosely)

You are responsible for ruining my lazy afternoon lunch and or snack on not one, not two but three separate occasions. I was unaware that you had been designing a new and improved version of yourself, a "healthy alternative" of your former identity. As I browsed the grocery aisle and leisurely tossed you into my shopping cart I had no idea the cruel jest that was being played on me.

A few days later I was about to find out. I found myself lounging on my couch clad in my p.j's playing a game of Dragon Age, tired, lazy and more importantly hungry. Who do I rely upon in my hour of need, why my good friend K.D of course, K.D has been nothing but a steadfast friend over the years offering me the quick fix of cheesy/ noodly goodness that such a day desires NAY in fact requires!!! .

I go to the pot of boiling water on my stove top and fish my cheese packet out from the box and pour my noodles in said water. As they fill the pot I notice a brownish hue rather than the bright yellow lustre they usually present..... Something is amiss. I take a second look at the box and there it is, "made with 50% whole grain".

First of all K.D what are you trying to prove? You have been a staple in many a childhood for a few generations (since the 1930's) already. Honestly in today's day and age of instant gratification and busy schedules are you really concerned about being outsourced to healthier options?. Let me tell you had I been looking for a healthy alternative your 'whole grain' would not have swayed me. I would have been in the damn produce/ deli section looking for the healthy bits and pieces required to make a time consuming, Canada food guide approved sandwich for lunch.

Are you trying to boost the self esteem of white trash mom's across North America, that despite the lack of time and effort they are putting into their children's meals they are still making "good choices" for their families?. Do you really think the few extra whole grains are going to make up for the health effects of your mysterious powdered/ endless shelf life "cheese"?.

Or do I have it all wrong? are you attempting to reach the higher class organic/ rice cake mom's. Well if that's your plan K.D I'm afraid you fail again, these moms are well read and educated. They not only pay attention to the nutritional labels they understand what it all means, they don't mind shopping in the higher budget sections of the grocery stores to get the very best. They are out of your league my friend, sometimes if you aim for the heavens you don't land among the stars, you just have a longer drop to the bottom.

But take heart K.D, all is not lost. When you stop trying to be something you're not with that cheese covered shit in a bowl you call whole grain goodness, and get back to your roots with original and extra cheesy blends, I think you'll find your going to be okay. I for one will be glad to not have accidentally grabbed the wrong package, and to not have had to waste precious minutes in the grocery store sorting through my "options" of Kraft Dinner of all things. You will always have college kids, lazy parents and low income families to rely upon, you know your tried and true friends. So step away from the dark side K.D and try just being yourself because we like you just the way you are.

Pink is my favourite color...take it away Steven Tyler!!!

2010-04-22T19:32:00.006-04:00

Today I saw the cutest dishware at a local kitchen boutique, the name brand, Emile Henry the color palate, 'Litchi'. Maybe its all the baby (girl) stuff we have been gathering or perhaps impending motherhood is reawakening my feminine side but I am finding a new or perhaps even renewed love of pink. This is the dishware/ cookware that has me dreaming of the life of a domestic goddess. It has me daydreaming of getting myself a cute little pink and green theme going in my kitchen, then the cute little 1950's style apron pops to mind. Then a buffet of home made sweets littered on a kitchen table for hungry and awe inspired guests...then I open my eyes and see the chaos of the house and watch my pink bubble burst into a thousand pieces and burn to ash on my filthy floors.

weird dreams....

2010-04-18T12:19:00.005-04:00

So last night I had the most bizarre dream, I was dating Will Ferrell (gross I know) but I decided to cheat on him with John Corbett. Incidentally I had to IMDB his name the next morning because the last show I remember him from was 'My big fat Greek wedding' which I think I watched about six or seven years ago. Strangeness!!!! I guess as far it goes John Corbett is a Major step up but still......man oh man its time like these that I miss my David Bowie dreams.

YOU call it spring cleaning ~ I call it roadside Christmas!

2010-04-12T17:42:00.019-04:00

I am a huge fan of yard sales, thrift stores, Kijiji, Ebay and anywhere you can get used goods for a decent price. Lets face it too many landfills are getting crowded with items that will take decades if not centuries to breakdown again, so if something can be refurbished and reused I'm all for it!.

Now I know what your thinking, what does all this have to do with spring cleaning and roadside Christmas????. Well friend, I'm glad you asked!! Because here is where "green living" meets "cheap bastardry" in a big way!!!. If you have ever been in an Archeology class you would have most likely been given the talk that all Archeology really is~ is going through peoples old garbage, In fact there are sects of Archeology that actually go through old out houses and dig deep into landfills to find out little things about past peoples diets etc. If you didn't get that talk in your Archeology class then may I suggest a course at Vancouver's Langara college :).

**ahem***~ To get back on track again, This week it was spring clean up. The magical time that only comes once a year where people take all the stuff they are too lazy to drag to the dump or to a thrift store and just leave it sitting on their curb for a few days until the large trash pick-up comes to collect it. It started with a few small piles in the grubby neighbourhoods, old retro televisions, broken planters ~real garbage. At this point I was able to resist the urge to peek into a few piles.

All this changed however a few days later while walking our dogs around the block, the number of the piles were growing, the items getting bigger.....better. I walked by and caught sight of an old gold picture frame. With a bit of black spray paint I could frame one of the art prints I have sitting in a shipping tube at home I thought to myself. I walked over and snatched it, Chris just shook his head and pretended he didn't know me as I walked home with my prize. Unfortunately once you find one treasure the "garbage fever" takes hold, the desire to make more great finds begins to claw at you. What if we found something else useful, something that would be an easy fix?.

I'm not sure if it was fear of my raging pregnant hormones or just a strong sense of love but I was able to convince Chris to drive me around on a treasure hunt for reusable goods. What was meant to be an hour long trek turned into an entire days worth of driving and hauling goods. In fact we even needed to make two trips back to the house to drop our 'goods' off at home to make room for more!!. Some finds included an old radiator cover an antique dresser (which we will spruce up). A glider rocker (nicer than the one I'm currently reupholstering), A table, an old 1930's photograph of a man and a big box of mirrors. As we begin to refurbish our finds I will keep you all updated on my home reno blog brazen babes home delights.

The highlight of our afternoon was meeting a local folk artist (the guy getting rid of the mirrors) When we asked him why he would throw them all out he told us how he just nabs the frames from the mirrors to use on his art pieces. He invited us into his home and into his art studio out back to check out some of his work!. Turns out he has been able to make a decent living on his art, it being his sole source of income since the mid 80's. Its really great to meet people who are able to follow their passion and make a living through the things they love. Apparently he is on Facebook so look him up also here is a quick link to some of his work David P Stephens.

ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL............

2010-03-01T19:13:00.012-05:00

Excitement, excitement, excitement!!!. The date was February 23rd, the time between 7:00-10:00pm the event......My proposal!!!!. Chris and I had spent our morning driving up to Halifax to do our Ucbaby to see our baby in 3D!!!. I even did a few hours of the driving, which is the first time I have driven the Pt cruiser and the first bit of real driving I have done in oh......three years. When we got to Halifax we dropped the puppies off at doggie daycare, which made me feel pretty guilty as poor Mushu seemed to absolutely hate it!!!. The saddest part was watching a big golden retriever come to sniff her bum and Mushu looking up at me like the inmate who had just dropped the soap during group shower.

We went up to the Ucbaby and did our ultrasound where we discovered we are having a baby girl!!! We also discovered that despite the limited space a fetus has in the womb they are still able to find good ways of hiding. The coolest part of our ultrasound was that my Mom and Chris's grandma could watch it from the other side of the country. The next coolest thing.....they record your babies heartbeat and stick it into a teddy bear for you!!!.

After the excitement of our ultrasound we picked up two very relieved puppies and went to our pet friendly hotel, where they give your pets a stuffed toy and some doggie treats upon check in. We got ourselves settled at the hotel and cuddled up on the bed looking at the few print out pictures of the baby along with listening to the recorded heartbeat. Chris and I were pretty happy and were talking about how perfect life seems to be going right now and how much we love each other. Chris then gets out of bed and runs to his laptop bag, he comes back and gets down on one knee and proceeds to tell me how much he loves me and how he is always going to love me, then he pulls out a ring box. He opens it and asks if I recognize the ring.....which I do as it was the ring I showed him over a year ago when we browsing the jewelery stores together. He then asks me to marry him where I of course said yes!!!.....in fact I may have even blurted the phrase "me love you long time!!".

Chris then began to tell me the epic saga of what had taken him so long to propose. The first time he had planned the whole thing out in his head and was going to do it at the end of a mountain hike we both really liked taking at Blackets lake. The day he planned to do it, I refused to go for a hike. The next few times he made plans to do it was the same story, he would invite me somewhere and I wasn't in the mood to go. Then was our trip to Vancouver and he was afraid he would lose the ring so he changed his mind on that idea. Then only days after we got back from Vancouver I discovered I was pregnant and he didn't want me to think he was proposing just because I was pregnant so he delayed it again. The next time he decided he wanted to try to propose was when we got our keys to the house, but the house had some leaking and electrical problems so the mood was ruined. The time after that was when we spent our first night at the new house.....but then the mattress wouldn't fit upstairs so that once again ruined the mood. Needless to say poor Chris kept waiting for the perfect moment then he realised.....the perfect moment may never come but the day in Halifax went so well that he decided it was a pretty good time to pop the question!!!.

So the 23rd of February was an awesome day, I got to see my baby and got engaged! Best day ever!!. Now in a few weeks on March 21st Chris and I can celebrate our 6 year anniversary as an engaged couple!!!. Life is funny sometimes....it seems like it wasn't that long ago I was complaining that nothing was going on, then within the course of a few months I got a car, got pregnant, went on a holiday to visit family and friends, bought a house and then got engaged. I'm pretty happy!! I'm finding it allot harder to be in funky mood these days, I have great friends and family, I'm building my own nuclear family in fast order. I'm so lucky to have found the greatest guy in the world and despite all the time we have been together instead of growing distant or tired of each other we are becoming closer everyday and I only seem to love him more. I'm having a sweet baby girl~ which has always been my preference! I have two of the cutest most well behaved puppies in the world, I have great coworkers......life is pretty good. I'm feeling pretty lucky these days!!.

reconnected at last.....

2010-02-09T10:07:00.008-05:00

So where have I been the last few weeks? The end of January sort of snuck up on us and we realised we still had allot of stuff to remove from the old house as well as get it all cleaned out so the people upstairs could view it and get it rented. So after work in the evenings and on my days off Chris and I went back to the old house to load up our goods and begin to clean it up. You never really realise how much stuff you own until you try to relocate it. Chris and I still couldn't fit our mattress up the small stairwell so we had it all set up in the dining room until we had the time to solve that problem. As of this past Saturday we are finally moved in our bedroom. It only took Chris ripping every single stair tread off the staircase and hauling the mattress and box spring up the stairs single handed while I was at work. When I got home that evening he still had to replace a few stair treads that had cracked when he pulled them, so while I took a nap he began to rebuild our stairwell.

About an hour into my nap I hear Chris yell "MICHELLE, I need your help". Startled, I jump up off the couch and run into the kitchen to see Chris hanging over the sink a trail of blood on the floor around him. With the amount of blood everywhere my first thought was he had cut off his finger with one of the power tools. I walk up to him to see what has happened, his head is oozing blood all over his face, his arms are covered and the sink is filling with it. He explains how he crouched down to grab some nails and whacked his head on a shelf bracket that had been resting against the wall. We staunch the blood with the some paper towel and clean him up quick then head out to the emergency room. We leave the house at 10:30pm we get to the hospital at about a quarter to and get checked in. We then proceed to wait...and wait....and wait at about 2:30 am they finally get Chris and I into a room, where we continue to wait for another hour and a half. We can overhear the nurses outside our room and discover that three ambulances arrived and they trumped our importance.

Five stitches later (thank god he didn't hit his eye)and by the time we were ready to leave it was a quarter to five in the morning. I was supposed to have started work at 9:00 am and I still hadn't even showered after work or had more than an hours sleep since 8:00 am the previous morning. Needless to say I phoned my boss who being a Baker was already at work as I was entering the Hospital parking lot and told him what had happened, I didn't phone off sick, I just switched my shift to 2:00-6:00pm instead. When we got home Chris still had to replace a few stair treads so we could get upstairs for the night, after that and my shower I wasn't even in bed until 7:00am....so needless to say I was a bit exhausted. The silver lining to the whole black cloud however was the emergency doctor letting us know of a female family doctor who may be accepting patients, he told us which office to reach her at and we were able to get her number from the front desk. I phoned today and got both Chris and I on her list and the receptionist said we should hear back from her office within the next week or so!!! So SCORE!!! we have only been looking for a family doctor for almost three years now.

Home updates going elsewhere...

2010-01-19T15:46:00.005-05:00

To keep things organised I will be moving any and all home related posts here. So any home renovations, inspirations and home news will be in one easy to find place.

January's news.

2010-01-18T13:41:00.007-05:00

Last week I decided to try something different and possibly even good for me. AQUA FITNESS!!! I hate exercise, I hate trying to keep my balance in weird yoga posses, I hate being out of breath with cardio, I hate getting sweaty with weight training.....needless to say I'm not big on the exercise aspect of life. If its not taking the dogs for a walk or a hike I'm most likely not going to be game to join in. So this past week I was invited by one of the girls at work to join her at the pool for this aqua fitness class. My first thought....I haven't been to a swimming pool in at least three years I don't think I even own a swimsuit that would fit me (pregnant), my next thought when was the last time I shaved my legs???.

So despite these few concerns I went out and found something modest to wear to the pool and made the decision to go. I showed up not sure what to expect. The gym always makes me feel uncomfortable as the last few times I tried going it was filled with pencil thin girls complete with hair/make-up wearing their latest lulu lemon fashions. Needless to say...not so much my scene. So I entered the change room and to my surprise it was full of women of all ages and sizes, a very un-intimidating group of girls. It was a good step in the right direction.

The hour went by incredibly fast, the exercise routine did not leave me sweaty, breathless or over heated and the atmosphere was very comfortable. Needless to say I will be going back this week and probably making it a part of my routine every Tuesday and Thursday night.

addicted!

2010-01-07T01:11:00.004-05:00

I have spent my last three days off in 6-8 hour shifts playing only the greatest game of all time! ~DRAGON AGE!!!. On the first night I didn't even make it to bed until 8:00 am. Poor Chris, he finally got his long awaited 42" flat screen T.V for Christmas (thanks family) and now his girlfriend is hogging it on him!......life is just not fair......

My new (to us) house...

2009-12-28T18:20:00.036-05:00

So here is my house, its got a bit of a fugly problem but were looking forward to renovating her up and getting her in prime condition within the next few years.

This is the living room...

Here are the ugly linoleum floors that grace the entire ground level. When laminate flooring goes on sale we will probably do the whole ground floor in a dark "wood" stain, except the kitchen, that we will probably do in a warm tone (brown) granite tile.

This is my uber large living room door frame, it will be great for a jolly jumper, no chance of hitting fleshy little baby heads on the door frame. It would be nice to maybe put in some french doors one day. We plan on painting the trim in white and the walls in a light tan for this space.

Here is the sweet sage green micro fiber love seat we got on Kijiji for $250.00 it matches our over sized chair that I reupholstered last summer.

Here is my front window, It will be white trimmed, I plan on making some chocolate brown window coverings and throw cushions to match my brown ottoman and tie in my tan/green/ brown area rug.

This is the second living room window with my awesome classic hot water radiators!!!! I have not yet decided if we want to make a radiator cover in white to hide them or to just spruce them up with a fresh coat of paint. These things are super toasty!!! I love them!

Now for the kitchen....

my new fridge included in house purchase...score!!! note the pale blue "wood" paneled walls.....the 1970's paneled walls are a reoccurring theme through the house as you will see. The game plan...rip em out room by room as we can afford it and put up drywall instead.

This is my kitchen sink and counter top... first order of business remove ugly dark rose valance that appears to have been made out of old sheets. This room will probably be our last and most costly renovation in the future, the game plan modern cabinets and counters/ stone tile back splash, slate tile floors. Make some space for the oven...which currently lives in the dining room.....I know...weird.

Here's a view into my kitchen from the dining room, notice the radiator cover under the window. Its a nice toasty little room, I like to sit on the radiator cover to warm my bum!!!.

Here we have extra counter space opposite the fridge and beside the radiator. I'm hoping one day we can turn this into a home for the oven, Ideally we will be able to knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining to give ourselves a bit more space to work with in the kitchen renovation....but we'll see. Like I said this room will be the last on the chopping block.

Next is the dining room....

This door frame leads into the kitchen, note the wall clock....it hides a sloppy wall cover up of a hole that indicates the house once had a wood burning stove here. Now a radiator has taken its place. ahh history!!!

here is an ammature built in shelf floating randomly in my dining room, it may be handy if we decide to move the washer in that corner one day, the dryer currently lives in the back entrance and the washer is in the basement. Not so convenient we may have to reunite this pair sooner rather than later.

here is the door that leads into the back entrance way.

on the other side of the door is my stove (also free with purchase of home!) note my second built in shelf, at least this one has the decency to be tucked into the wall instead of hanging a foot out!!

dining room view from kitchen doorway, the door to the right leads to the basement and needs to be fixed so it closes all the way. I have to pull down round two of that ugly rose pattern window treatment.

Here is my down stairs hall way...

This door leads to the front entryway, the night we first got our keys and took a view of our new home I opened this door and the knob came off right in my hand.... Ah well this door is pretty much useless, although it may be a handy way to keep the puppies and baby away from the stairs.

Evidence of a giant floor grate from the homes old wood stove heat days. I may put an over sized grate there just for appearances to hide the strange gap in the ceiling.

The end space of the hallway is pretty much wasted space right now, I will probably put my computer desk here and leave Chris's office as his own work sanctuary...for now. One day I would love to build up a wall and turn this empty space into a 1/2 bathroom with just a toilet and pedestal sink. Once the kids are walking age that would be best.

Now our journey continues upstairs....

Chris is going to put up a banister right away for these stairs, eventually the paneling will all come down and be replaced withe drywall, the stair will be carpeted in a light tan berber and the carpeting will be continued throughout the upstairs hallway and bedrooms.

The current hallway flooring.....ah well at least all this linoleum will be fine while the dogs learn where they are supposed to be peeing in the new house.

view going towards stairway..

view coming from stairway...

The bathroom

Here's my tub and shower....oh yeah powder blue bebe!!

Needless to say I'm hoping to switch out all the fixtures for white and switch the tub backing and flooring with some nice tiles.

Some nice drywall will be a must. maybe switch out this window for a new vinyl one like we have downstairs.

A new white pedestal sink will do nicely.

As well as a matching white toilet, did I mention new tile....anyhow a good cleaning of this will have to do for now.

Huzzah anouther radiator!!!!

The Office...Chris's sanctuary!!!

A small closet maybe will be used for linens...Chris already took a pry bar to the door frame to see what was under the pannelling.

Oh yeah check out this ugly....

More ugly pannelling and flooring to be redone in drywall and berber carpeting.

Homemade wooden valance's in all the rooms upstairs...we even have a scrap piece of matching wood in our bedroom closet confirming the homemade origins...we suspect the kitchen cabinets were homemade as well. Ah well these guys pop right off.

The future Nursery. This (and the living room repaint) will be the only room we really rush to get completed before the baby arrives.. New walls and carpeting, most likely to be done in nice neutral tones like tan or a soft green.

These closet are deceptively deep, the downside they are tiny little hobbit doors...big enough for me and Chris but a bit small for anyone else.

Seriously are you seeing these floors...really? THAT was the decor you wanted in your home.....wow these need work! Nice to know my bedrrom flooring matches!!

The shock of the day~ more...GASP...paneling.....

last in my tour of home improvement delights is my bedroom.

My closet..

I should have used flash here...sorry, my first window.

My second window.

So needless to say this place needs some major updating, but the home inspection went well, shes a solid old girl, so room by room we will shall improve her and get her up to modern standards of living. On the plus side WE HAVE OUR OWN HOME!!! we can decorate and renovate how we please. We can have as many animal friends as we would like and the best part....no more cohabitating and having to hear people through apartment walls etc. SCORE!!!!. I think once the reno begins I shall start a seperate blog on my homes progress.

December a month in review!!!

2009-12-25T14:13:00.006-05:00

So what has been going on the Eastern Canadian home front?. December was an incredibly busy month for Chris and I. We began looking at some property at the start of the month, we found an awesome historical home in Glace bay. It was a 5 bedroom, 3 level, 1.5 bathroom home located downtown. The price tag was $43,900. It had a sweet claw foot tub, as well as a fireplace. The downside, its currently occupied by some of the worst white trash tenants I have ever seen who are essentially running the home into the ground with their filth and disregard for the property. Despite the tenants it was SO tempting to buy and restore that home to its former 1920-1930's glory, but with a new baby on the way this spring it may have been a bit more work than we could reasonably handle.

The next home on our list was a small two bedroom located downtown Sydney, only a block and half away form the shopping district and the animation studio Chris occasionally picks up contracts from. We went by during the day and it seemed to be in a good state of repair from the outside, the street seemed pretty quiet and the price was $49,900. So we assumed the higher price tag for a smaller home may indicate it was a higher quality building.....WRONG!!!. The space was ridiculously tiny and the basement was so damp and dank it was growing a cotton candy style mold/ salt buildup from the floors. I swear to god in 50 more years the basement will be growing its own stalagmites. To top it off the building across the street which during the day looked like a quiet apartment or office building is actually a pretty loud and rowdy bar during the evening. So this home was a NO!!!!. The third was a horrible little crack shack located directly beside a busy stone quarry....needless to say we decided to skip even looking inside this one. Following the crack shack was a little two bedroom home sitting on almost an acre of lawn!, someone had taken the time to fully renovate the interior with new flooring, fresh drywall and paint. The downside.....the house had somehow buckled in the middle so the downstairs floors were a bit like a fun house with an odd slant, which actually made me dizzy when I walked from the kitchen to the living room. Also it relied on a septic tank rather than municipal water.

About a week later we lined up 4 homes in a row to view on a single day priced between $42,000-$60,000. The first one in Glace bay (only a block away from my boss) was a two level apartment building. The downstairs was an empty two bedroom unit with a decent amount of space, maybe slightly larger than the basement suite we are occupying now. It was still fully above ground!, and the perk was an older single woman living in the unit up stairs paying $600.00 in rent each month. It was only a two block walk to the major grocery stores. The unit itself needed a few repairs (rewiring of the kitchen/ new appliances/ new windows in a few rooms). A few more downsides were the lack of storage and a creepy little stone cross in the garden beside the house hinting at maybe a little pet grave :(.

The next home was a well built older home just outside of town a bit, it was a two bedroom bungalow style home, with a newly renovated unfinished basement. The catch it was at he highest point in our budget and the interior was beyond 1970's style grandma. I mean bright red shag rugs and wacky 70's ceramic tile 3/4 of the way up the kitchen walls, also strangely one bedroom had no closet but there was a bedroom style closet in the bathroom?????? weird!.

The next home was on a quite street close to a park, it was a small two level, three bedroom home. The downstairs was pretty clean and clear the walls were all a fresh white, the floors were an ugly department store style linoleum. The upstairs rooms were a bit outdated, wood laminate walls and gross 1950's style powder blue bathroom fixtures. The basement was unfinished but overall pretty clean. The plus side newer looking appliances and awesome old school hot water radiators. Other than a bit of ugly that could be fixed up over the next few years we had no real complaints about this house. The price~ $54,900.

The last home we looked at was HUGE!!!!!! It was a 6 bedroom two and a half bathroom monster home priced at $59,900!!. Apparently it had been used as a senior citizen care facility, so there were some old walkers and bed pans sitting around in one the rooms. The upstairs hallway had a huge ballet style rail all the way down the hall. The massive space was freezing!!!. As it was no longer occupied the owners shut the heat right down to next to nothing. As we here on the east coast have to pay for oil heating I couldn't imagine the cost to keep this thing warm, especially seeing as it would only be me, Chris a baby and two tiny dogs. Also the thought of living in a home that many elderly persons may have died in left a concern of ghosts in the back of my mind. So needless to say despite the fact the home was huge! and could have been easily made functional for us, it just had a bit of a creep out factor I don't think I would have wanted to deal with.

So that afternoon we decided that house number three would suite our needs nicely and we decided to put in an offer on the home pending inspection and insurance. We then spent ten days in a frenzy trying to arrange a home inspection/ land survey/ finalising bank approval/ getting insurance approval and getting all these things done before the lawyers office closed down for the holidays. We wrote in our offer to keep the appliances and the window coverings and offered about $2000.00 less than asking. They agreed to these terms but then after our inspection we learned we had to have the oil tank replaced and the electric upgraded to get insurance, so the seller replaced the oil tank and took an additional $1000.00 off the home price so we could get the electrical upgraded. So while we will have to pay for our months rent this January anyhow we decided to move our things over slowly and let the electrician in to make repairs while we could still comfortably live in our current apartment. Also my NEW dad (step is such an ugly word) said when he comes out to visit he will help us fix up the bathroom and check out the heating system, which will be a HUGE help!!!. I know Chris will enjoy learning some tips and tricks from him while he is here.

So now that a home is in our cards we need to accumulate some furniture, as we moved here with only the luggage we could get on the plane. My mom bought us a new bed and Chris's mom helped us with our down payment and closing costs on the house. We just bought a nice love seat and have a big comfy chair in a sage green that matches. The rest will be what we can find on Kijiji for a reasonable price. Our first few projects will be to fix up the babies room at least and to get the living room a bit more livable!. The best part! My family sent us a gift card for a video camera for Christmas and then Chris's family actually sent us a video camera so we can now use our gift card towards a new flat screen t.v for the house. Talk about having your cake and eating it too! Thanks everyone for all your help!!!. I think Chris and I truly lucked out in the great family department, I cant wait for everyone to come out and visit us this summer to meet the baby!!!.

bank meeting...

2009-11-25T17:13:00.002-05:00

The bank meeting looked promising yesterday, Chris and I will know for sure whether we are pre approved for a mortgage again within a week or so!!!. ****fingers crossed****

2009-11-24T19:57:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Score one for Credit!!!

2009-11-23T22:34:00.002-05:00

So Chris and I have made some pretty large strides in eliminating our overall credit these past 3 months. I'm happy to say were well on our way to meeting our goal for this year. Which is good, were going to the mortgage specialist again tomorrow and are hoping we have done enough to still be approved for a mortgage. We were pre-approved a few months back but the need for a new vehicle trumped our housing dreams so we had to put a new home on the back burner.

Now that we are having a baby this late spring we want to be in our own place. If that is not possible then we need to find a nicer place to rent, A basement suite will not cut it with a new baby. So fingers crossed we will have some good news to report this week.

Christmas cheer?

2009-11-16T11:13:00.005-05:00

The time is approaching fast, LIGHTS, TINSEL, SHOPPING!!!. Now most years the approach of December has me begin premature frown lines that no amount of Oil of Olay will be able to repair come January. This year however is different I find a little bit less 'Ba~hum' in my 'bug', in fact I am finding I am actually gently nursing a tiny seed of what can only be described as.....Christmas cheer.

My usual problem with Christmas is how commercial it is. I would much rather receive a handmade gift from people than an expensive gift that makes me feel guilty to receive. I also hate surprises, ABSOLUTELY DESPISE THEM!. I am a hard person to get an over inflated reaction out of, I generally save my over inflated reactions for my rage filled outbursts. A smile and a thank-you is pretty much as emotional as I get, even when I picture Ed McMahon coming to my doorstep with a giant check my reaction is still a "thank-you" with dignity, no fainting, no screaming. Its not that I'm ungrateful I may absolutely love my gift but it will always be coupled with the guilt of receiving it, an awkward feeling of being indebted to the giver. I even feel this way about a cup of coffee. So I hate surprises because I know the gift giver tries so hard to find the right gift, then to keep it secret and present it to you in a moment of grand revealing to get the ultimate response...which for me will not be huge.

But this year I'm not going to worry about it, I'm just going to enjoy my last Christmas alone with Chris. We have never had our own Christmas tree in our 5.5 years together so this year we will put up and decorate our own tree. We will sing Christmas Carols and make some holiday goodies to enjoy, and just enjoy a quite holiday with the two of us and the puppies. We may burn a yule log together and then have a nice Christmas dinner, the two of us.

I will be merry and enjoy decorating the Bakery and try to make the most of the last uncomplicated Christmas of my life :).

1980's me!!!

2009-11-06T09:48:00.006-05:00

So this Halloween was the first Halloween I actually dressed up and had some fun in the last few years. It was a spur of the moment idea between myself and the girls at work but we decided to come to work dressed up in our best 80's retro gear. About two days before we went down to Value Village and browsed the racks to find the look we were going for. My costume would not have been complete if I hadn't found the sweet metallic, fuchsia, zebra print, spandex tank top!! I tried to go glam rock wearing a longer t-shirt underneath my tank and a pair of skinny black leggings, the finishing touches were my pink leg warmers, leopard flats and fake hair extensions!. One of the girls brought in a CD book FULL of 80's tunes which we enjoyed for the entire afternoon while we dipped into the customer candy bowl, to finnish off a great day my boss baked us a pizza for lunch!!!:).

It was the best Halloween I have had since Chris and I lived closer to our friends!! I'm really glad I did something this year. Next Halloween we will be a family of five, two adults, two small puppies and one baby!, I think I'm going to borrow my friends family tradition of doing a group costume and going up to Walmart each year for a family photo session. I'm already planning my 'Labyrinth' tribute photo shoot~ David Bowie eat your heart out!.

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-31T21:39:00.001-04:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More Amy Sol

2009-10-28T13:15:00.006-04:00

Here is anouther sweet Amy Sol print I got last month. Thought I would share the awesome with you. Im thinking I may frame the two prints and put them up in the nursery when we set things up. oh yeah btw...Im pregnant check it out!!!
http://saucymamasjourneyintotheunknown.blogspot.com/

Today's highlight!

2009-10-16T00:48:00.003-04:00

(this is not the mouse I saved, but he was just as cute)

Today a baby mouse ran into work, one of the girls screamed and it was so scared it was paralysed with fear. I scooped him up in a little bucket gave him a chunk of muffin and took him out back to a small field that leads to a little ravine behind the store. I carefully turned the bucket on its side and let him be alone outside. when I went back out to check on him a little while later he had already scurried off somewhere. I'm glad I freed that cute little mouse before one of the men at work could kill him :). I have decided to write a short story about this little mouse who I have named Finnegan Pearson Mouse.

My vacation: Vancouver- round 2!

2009-10-14T18:48:00.007-04:00

Now we continue my vacation saga, day two in Vancouver we go to my Aunts house to help her build some shelving units, a few hours turns into an all day event. But it was fun none the less, we were able to visit with each other and spend the day together. Late that afternoon we browsed Granville Island and bought some Granville Island beer right from the brewery and I was able to visit my favourite store in the world.....Dragon Space. That's a store that sells nothing but fantasy related items, if your in need of Gryphon's, Unicorns, Fairies or Dragons- you need look no further. After that we went back to my Mom's house to have a BBQ and celebrate my younger sisters birthday.

The following few days went by in a blur of visiting friends and family, we were able to visit a few favourite haunts but the majority of our time was spent trying to see everyone we could. I was able to catch up with everyone I had hoped to see and Im so glad it worked out that way. We were also able to do some shopping....so much so that I had to ship some of my clothes out to myself to make room for my purchases in my luggage.

On a visit to my Grandmother's house my sister rear ended a car in front of us and totalled my Mom's car. We eventually made it out to my Grandmother's house after driving the car back to mom's house and contacting the insurance company. We visited my Grandparents and had a HUGE lunch at their house. We found out that they were going to be selling their house of 25 years and moving into a condominium near the beach.

They were pretty happy about the move, although I found it was a little bit sad to know they would be leaving the only home I remember them ever being in. What really makes it tragic is my grandmothers massive floral garden and my grandfathers vegetable garden in the back will eventually be bulldozed after the house is rented out for the Olympics to put up an overpass. 15 year old grape vines, roses, fig trees and hydrangeas among other flowers and vegetables will all be lost to "progress".The visit went well though, we poured through some old photo albums for a few hours and listened to some old stories about the good old days. It was nice. Having not seen them for over two years the good-bye was a bit emotional, living on the other side of the country from your friends and family can be tough. It turns out not just for us but for them as well.

Towards the end of the week we were trying to help Mom get her wedding organised, to no real avail. Eventually we just threw our hands up in the air and had to say 'its her wedding, not ours, let her handle it how she wants to handle it'. With the relatively little amount of planning and the huge last minute venue change (three weeks before the wedding) everything really did come together rather nicely. I must give allot of credit to My Aunt Sherry and my Sister for the amount of things they brought to the table to pull it all together, including flowers and getting my Mom to the bridal shops early enough to have a dress to wear on her big day. She wanted to go dress shopping a week before the wedding.....can you imagine that potential disaster?....gah!!.

I was able to make the best speech at Mom's wedding by singing a song instead welcoming my "My new Jewish Dad" to the family. The entire room was laughing and it was great. We danced we drank and we had a great night. The following day was a day for good byes as all our family from Ontario was preparing to leave and my sister left to go back up North to B.C. More tear filled goodbyes for all. Chris and I packed up and were ready to head out for our flight for the second leg of our trip...Saskatchewan. To be continued......

Halifax-Vancouver : my vacation part one

2009-10-05T14:21:00.019-04:00

So what has happened in the last few weeks I have been silent from my blog updates?. Well Chris and I were working pretty hard the few weeks before our vacation to earn a bit more spending money for our trip. Each of us working extra hours as well as baking Gluten Free bread which has been selling as quick as we can make it. On top of that we were packing up and house cleaning to prepare for our trip.

On August 21st, At last after a nine hour shift at work I was able to come home take a shower and 20 minute nap before we packed the dogs/ the luggage/ my neighbours stolen garden gnome and ourselves in the car for our 5 hour drive up to Halifax, to take our 8 hour flight to Vancouver....looooong day and a half to say the least. A few times we had to stop at a gas station and set the alarm on the cellphone for a 20 minute rest as we were both running on fumes at this point.

Before we got to the airport we had to find my Boss' brothers house as he was kind enough to let us park PT at his place for two weeks to save the $175.00 the park-n-fly or airport would have charged us. We arrived at his house at around 5:30 in the morning and parked the car in his driveway, left a set of keys in his mailbox and a note. We phoned for a cab to the airport and began waiting. A few minutes of waiting Chris realises he has to use the bathroom...badly and its a number 2. We cant knock on their door and wake them this early, that would be rude. As much as the thought disturbs me I suggest he craps in a few plastic bags and uses some paper towel crouched in the back of the Pt which still has its back seats all pushed forward after the luggage was unpacked.

The cab company calls us back and says the driver became lost but he is on his way now. Great Chris cant wait!!! He grabs the roll of paper towel out of the car and runs down the block hoping the end of the street will yield some lot of foliage....no such luck it just opens out onto another street. At precisely the moment he runs back (in a panic at this point) the cab driver shows up. We ask him to make a stop ANYWHERE with a bathroom. We pull up to a Tim Horton's and Chris runs in. While we wait the driver casually asks a worker having a smoke out front what time they opened...it turns out they literally opened up 15 minutes before we got there. Chris comes out and were on our way again.

We make it to the airport, check our luggage right behind a cute hippie family moving. Chris teases me saying that whole family has a kid and their moving across country and they have the same amount of luggage as I do....maybe he was right?. I had two large suitcases one medium carry on, my purse and Mushu in a carrier, he had one medium suitcase, a small carry on and Foxy in her kennel. In fact he had to check one of my bags just to make sure I could bring it along. Two weeks is a long time and you never know what you may need, always be prepared- a motto for scouts and women travelers alike!.

We have a coffee and some breakfast then go through security, we get to pre-board with our little beasts and get them settled under the seats in front of us. The flight goes by pretty smoothly as myself and the dogs nap through most of it. When we do arrive in Vancouver I am greeted by my Mom, her Fiance and my Sister. I have not seen my mom in two years and my sister since she visited last summer. We hugged and my sister and I took the dogs outside to make a pee while Chris gathered our luggage up. While at the airport we decided to get pictures of 'GNORMAN' my neighbors garden gnome at some of the tourist art displays throughout the airport.

That afternoon we showered the travel stink off ourselves had a nice long nap and then woke up to get ready for an evening at our old favourite Vancouver bar 'The Blarney Stone'. Chris and I were able to bus/walk from my moms place and be there in about 20 minutes.....which turned out to be about an hour or so too late. Our friend Ryan met us in line and we waited for about 1/2 an hour in line when our other friends decided it was too loud in there and came out to see if we wanted to try another bar. We all agreed and made our way to the next closest Irish pub which just happened to be two or three doors down the road.

This place 'the Irish heather'had a nice quite table out back for the group of us to sit and catch up. Sometimes when you haven't seen people in awhile you wonder if it may feel awkward seeing them again after so long, but once we all got settled at our table it was like old times again...minus all of us agreeing that maybe our crazy Blarney Stone days may be at an end....:( damn you maturity!!!!

After a few hours of visiting we all had to get ready to leave so our pals could catch the last sky train home again. Chris and I decided to enjoy the nice summer evening and walk the whole way back home after picking up a coffee at Tim Horton's. Once we walked across the Granville street bridge my pretty girlie shoes began digging into my heel to the point of drawing of blood and I was tempted to walk home downtown Vancouver barefoot.....yes I had partaken in a few drinks and it seemed like a logical conclusion. Fortunately for me, Chris had the sound judgement to say NO!. Instead he piggy backed me from the bridge uphill on Granville street a few blocks until we were almost home....ahhhhhh that's romance :).

We got back to Mom's place and crashed on the air mattress set up for us and slept like a couple of babies...without the need for midnight feedings of course :).

this concludes part one of our vacation...stay tuned for the saga to unfold.....

Update at looong last!!!

2009-08-11T22:00:00.009-04:00

So what the hell has been going on with me this past month or so..... where to begin......

I have been working lots trying to save up for my trip(s) to Vancouver and Saskatoon. I had to miss my Kiss concert because my car decided to be an asshole and fall apart on me.

Chris and I found a pretty neat little house online, four bedroom, living room, bath, kitchen dining room for $46,0000, seriously where can you get a house at that cost in this country???. We decided for curiosities sake to take a look at it one day, and we fell in love with it instantly. The next few weeks were spent going to bank meetings and and trying to get pre-approved for a mortgage. We were, and Chris's parents were going to front us the money for the down payment (as we hadn't really planned on buying a house and hadn't saved for said purchase). We phoned up the realtor to take a second look at the home pumped to be making this big step together and then.......APPARENTLY the f*cking home had an offer put in on it two days before we called to take a second look at it.

Being pre-approved for our mortgage we decided to continue looking at houses within our price range and same damn thing happened again and again. We would phone to view a house and it would literally have been taken out of the equation only days before our call. I was pissed to say the least!! The real estate agent said she would love to show me all her listings as it seemed all the houses we took an interest in seemed to be hot shit after that. What really ticks me off is a few of these places had been sitting idle for a few months before we noticed them. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

So as we were on our house hunting, our car failed its MVI and we were driving it illegally for a few weeks...oops. It would have cost us $1000.00 to get it fixed and that's if Chris did the body work himself, the repair guy said in our cars condition and at its age (98 for Taurus) we may put the money in to fix it and then find out it needs more repairs in a few months. It was pretty apparent we needed a new vehicle, especially since we have to drive up to Halifax (5 hr drive) to get to the airport for our trip and Chris will be needing to make business trips to Halifax this fall.

What really made me angry was the fact I would have to miss Crab Fest in Loisbourg because of our crappy car. Since Chris and I have been living together we haven't really made any traditions, holidays come and go and we pretty much skip them. No kids to make happy and if it comes down to cooking up too much food for two people to eat at Christmas or buying myself a present on ebay then I chose the online shopping. Having no family and a limited amount of friends out here pretty much eliminates the need for Christmas trees, Halloween decor etc... BUT since we moved out here two years ago we have gone to Crab Fest every year...it was our only maritime tradition, and as crappy as it may sound~ getting cheap crab and eating it for breakfast in overcast old Loisbourg makes me happy. So I was determined to get a NEW $1000.00 car that wouldn't fudge up our mortgage pre-approval and we could use it for 6 months until we were in our own home then we could apply for a car loan.

So we saw an add on Kijiji for a car it was $1000.00 had an MVI sticker for the next 5 months and we figured perfect it should get us to and from Halifax and around town for a few months until we get our home..... We drive out to North Sydney to see it. I have never been to North Sydney before........people told me it was the ghetto, I grew up in freakin' Surrey, B.C so when small Town Nova Scotian's tell me about the ghetto I tend to disbelieve the stories. Well~ when easy going humble small towners start talking trash about a place in the future I shall take there words a bit more seriously. We drove into the "down town" section of North Sydney, every window in the business sector was smashed in accept for the one dollar store, the well maintained historical homes were becoming more paint chipped and seedy looking. We drove up to the house to see this car, car parts laying around a dirt lawn....does not bode well. We walk up and see this purple monstrosity...when I say purple think "the Phantom" hue. "Well can we take it for a test drive around the block" Chris asks. This guy looks at us like were crazy~as if just looking at this thing should have us pulling out our wallet.... Chris offers him to come with us he says "no take it but I don't want you taking it to far". Okay fine we get in and drive her around the block, the first thing I hear in my head "bang bang chitty chitty bang bang, chitty bang bang we love you!" this car sounds like an old man in the throes of his final death cough. Chris looks at me and asks "what do you think?". I look at him and tell him "I think these people have a very different opinion of what a $1000.00 car is worth. Hell our car was $1000.00 and at the very least the interior siding isn't coming lose from the f*cking doors. The worst part was there was a baby seat in the back.

We get in our car and go to drive back home, As we are not accustomed to driving around North Sydney Chris somehow misses our turn back home and we find ourselves on some weird back road. Houses are becoming spaced out about a three minute drive apart. The gas light dings on...were driving in the middle of nowhere, At this point Chris notices he doesn't have his wallet on him and I left my purse at home as we just brought the check book in case the car worked out. Did I mention the cell phone is dead..... So essentially were screwed we have to make the car home or walk if it dies. The only thing I can think to do at a time like this~look at Chris and say "You got a perty mouth" and begin humming some hill-Billie banjo tune as I braced myself for the inevitable hill-Billie death rape that would surely ensue should the car decide to die out here. Chris was not impressed. Eventually we did in fact make it home to my relief, but Crab Fest was looming near and my only crap-tastic tradition was in danger of being ruined.....having already missed the KISS concert it made my mood even worse.

Essentially I had a choice to make... keep house hunting and rent a car to Halifax missing Crab Fest or get a new car. So we decided to put our house hunt on hold and get a vehicle instead have I mentioned how much I LOVE cheap crab for breakfast???. So we drove around a few car lots after hours to check out a few vehicles without the commission vultures circling us like a pair of dying baby Gazelles. We narrowed it down to the Golf, Matrix and Yaris as we figured a small little car would be perfect for our lifestyle and good on gas too!

So we go back to the few lots we found a decent vehicle at and decide to test drive a few cars. On our first car lot (Toyota) we checked out the matrix and the golf, they were nice, but nothing to write home about. The sales guy seemed so defeated, like his plans on making commission this month had been bludgeoned to death like a baby seal. He just gave us the keys to some cars and went back into the building telling us to come see him if we found anything we liked. As we were leaving to check out the next lot he made a point of letting us know he could drop the price on a few cars if we wanted. He didn't even try to play hard to get. The next two lots were crap so we didn't even bother test driving anything.

Then we made it to the Chevrolet dealership, we wanted to test their used Yaris, as we reinspected it during the daylight we realised it was a standard and lets face it I can barely drive an automatic, so it was a no go. They did however have a 2007 Ford Taurus in our price range that Chris wanted to investigate and that's when I noticed a PT Cruiser sitting there on the lot. "LOOK CHRIS A 2008 PT CRUISER!!!" I squealed.

"Absolutely not those are the ugliest cars I have ever seen" he replied. "Well come on it cant hurt to just look inside" he looks at me and shrugs "fine but were just looking".

We walk up to the dealership when a guy comes out and asks if he can help, he gets some keys and we sit inside the PT. "Hey Its kind of nice in here, huh Chris?" he looks at me and says "yeah it is kind of nice, I guess its not on my NEVER category anymore". We go check out the Taurus its just a newer sedan style of our current car so there is nothing new or exciting to report. The sales guy gives us the facts about each car we ask about then tells us to come back if were interested in taking any of them out for a test run.

We decide to head back towards home and wing past the Volkswagen dealership on our way. The second we hit the lot a slick commission buzzard is on us like a fly on shit, this guy is absolutely EVERYTHING I HATE about commission sales people. I look to Chris the second he walks off to get some keys and tell him " I don't like this guy, he would sell an Eskimo a refrigerator to make a buck". Chris looks at me and says "really I don't see that?" I smile and say "watch".

He has his schmooze button on max and hes telling us "unlike allot of sales people Michelle, I listen to what people tell me they want" he tells us a car in our price range is just on another one of his lots and invites us into his car for a ride up. This car that we get into is apparently the car he has just purchased for his daughter, Chris tries to open the back seat and the door is jammed shut. I just smirk~ if this piece of crap is what hes giving to his own flesh and blood I don't want to see the cars hes trying to pawn off on the unsuspecting public. The car he takes us to is not at all what we were looking for and before we know it hes throwing Chris a set of keys and telling us to take it back to the other lot. We cant refuse, were on the other side of town and have no way back to our car. He has successfully pushed us into his forced test drive sales tactic, at this point Chris can see what I was trying to tell him. I tell Chris I wouldn't buy a car from this guy if we found our dream car on his lot, so we have decided to kindly say thanks but no and go home.

We get back to the dealership and the guy somehow worms us into his office where he eventually tries to sell us ANY car on his lot (our budget was 15,000 at the most for a used car) hes trying to sell me 30,000 suv's by the end of our conversation. So much for "listening to what the customer wants". Gah I swear this guy was so greasy my face broke out from the 20 minutes spent in his presence. To make matters worse the very next day whose number shows up on my call display~ Jim Sampson, Volkswagen dealership.

The following afternoon we went back and test drove the Taurus and PT cruiser and eventually we came home with.........

The 'never in a million years PT Cruiser' a.k.a "PETEY"...TA DA!!!!

The next day I call from work to get a ride home and Mr. "I-hate-pt-cruisers" is out joy riding in the middle of nowhere, when he eventually comes to get me, I open the door and the first thing I hear from his mouth is "Man I love this car".

So that has been the highlights of the more exciting portions of July for you stay tuned for menial day to day nonsense in the near future :).

so much to share but I will wait until I have a better climax!

2009-07-24T20:29:00.005-04:00

So because Im waiting to share some potentially exciting news until it has happened and any story I may tell in that vein would give it all away I will leave you with some random thoughts for the day.

It has been said "once you go black, you never go back!" today I came up with an even better quote along the same lines. It goes a little something like this.....

"Once you go black, you ruin your snatch.......but..... when you go white you stay nice and tight!"

I know its pretty dirty but sometimes its fun to throw out things to shock and amaze your 40 something male coworkers who think they have said and heard it all.

Sloth Sunday! BANNED edition!!!

2009-06-29T00:12:00.004-04:00

You may notice my banner has been completed!! Thanks to Chris for the hours of tweaking, unfortunately I cant post the high res version which is even nicer than this one. I love it all the same though!!!. Huzzah ~ Giddy time!!! For those wondering whats going on in the image...Well I am luring my puppies and evil winged monkey with delicious baked goods to a world with unicorns on the back of the illusive space Hippocamp~ Duh!!!!(BTW I realise Duh is so 1996 but it amused me to use it).

My week in a nutshell~ oversaw the bakery while my boss was out of town and it was a success!!. Looked at a sweet fixer upper house with Chris and have fallen in love with it....now were trying to figure out the ins and outs of our finances and the mortgage game. Took a walk tonight with the puppies and we bumped into a fox with a dead critter in his jaws, we both looked at each other then walked along our separate ways. I have successfully paid off my capital one and I am selling my first ooak custom Hippocamp ornament on ebay.

Artist!!!

2009-06-28T00:27:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to SQUEEEEEEE about the new Amy Sol print I was able to snag today and bring this lovely artist to the attention of others. The print I got was entitled "DUST WINGS" and its adorable. I urge you to check out her site, she has a very unique style and is a rising star in the modern art community.

http://www.amysol.com/

Abused....

2009-06-27T23:53:00.002-04:00

Accident Prone! That would be an under statement for the last few weeks. Last week Chris and I were moving our mattress/box spring to the floor to make it easier for the dogs to get up and down from our bed when I managed to get the box spring (mattress weighing on top)to come crashing down on my fingers. I still have a black spot under the nail of my middle finger from the blood burst it caused. This week I tripped twice, two separate occasions and landed on my hands and knees while walking along the street. My palms on both hands have the scabs from gravel cuts. I have six other cuts and gashes on my hands from various paper and knife cuts, including a nasty slice from the side of a tin can. Today I dropped a 40 lb bucket of icing on my ankle which is now swollen the size of a grape fruit and quite painful, and tonight I burned my two index fingers on the pizza pan at dinner time.

I look like a battered spouse covered in cuts and bruises as I limp along my merry way. People are noting my injuries and asking how they could occur and when I give them my lame replies (I tripped) I can see their minds formulating far more sinister ideas about how they occurred. The only theory I have about this damage is Karma!!!. I'm sure this is just a continued slap on the wrists for all the nasty things I'm prone to saying and any negativity I release in the universe...well karma...I got the message loud and clear. Enough is a Enough!!!!

good bye

2009-06-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

Good bye Michael Jackson~may the media vultures leave your corpse in peace.

gah collecting!!!

2009-06-16T18:35:00.005-04:00

I am currently camping out on my favourite online store (Windstone Editions) awaiting new products!! hoping to get two sculptures I missed last week.....I have an addiction.....but by the speed of online sales at least I know I'm not alone!!!

btw- check out this sweet print I got on Ebay...my second favourite store....I need to get it framed...its awesome-tastic....so long I gotta go refresh my site.

Junebug!!!

2009-06-11T22:21:00.011-04:00

So now one third of June is over and what is going on in my life??. Not too much.... I may have to cancel plans for the KISS concert as our stupid car failed to pass its inspection. It is going to cost us about $1000.00 to get it up to provincial standards and frankly, its not worth it. I'm not going to invest that much money on a car that's only worth $700.00 at best, when were ready to sell it. We'll hopefully be in a better financial place by this Christmas and ready to invest in a newer vehicle.

So I'm kicking up green living a notch and walking to the grocery store, I found myself a sweet granny cart at superstore and I plan on getting my $20.00 out of it. I have lost 5 lbs and they have stayed off, its allot easier not to over eat when your not in hibernation mode. Not to mention, its fresh fruit season!!! I will take some sliced watermelon over poutine (my winter crack) any day of the week. And bonus- fast food is no longer convenient when you have to travel 20 minutes to get it then walk home!!! yippee forced healthy lifestyle!!!

I wish I could say my over spending habits are benefiting greatly from the inconvenience of having to travel by foot to shop but.....I'm an online shopper anyhow!!. It appears everything I have ever dreamed of owning is becoming available now- when I need to be saving for my trip. Sometimes I manage to resist...sometimes not so much!.

One of my recent purchases was a set of two new bathing suits (one black and one leopard print). I have not bought myself a new swimsuit since I started dating Chris,I don't really go swimming all to often so my swimsuits generally get pulled out only a handful of times each summer. Not to mention I'm a little bit heavier now than I was when we first got together, so its hard to get pumped picking out a swimsuit or even lingerie when your little belly pooch insists on poking out like you swallowed a whole Cornish hen. So when I saw these awesome 50's pin-up style swimsuits on Ebay I was pumped!!! A swimsuit that made curvier gals than me look smoking!!-booyah!!! Plus I'm totally rocking the sweet Betty Paige bangs so it seemed to be destiny.

Work is going really good! I invented a new cake for our bakery, its a double layer chocolate cake with custard in the middle, covered in cherry icing and decorated with a fudge spider web and chocolate shavings on the side. Its the only pink cake in the bakery and its selling pretty good, we sold 4 in its first week!!!. I called it "Black Rose". To finish off a good work week I also got a nice card from my Boss's saying thanks for all the hard work :). It made my week! I'm glad they think I'm doing a good job, I'm really trying to get the job done and keep things fun for all the girls as well. I am having allot of fun at work these days and I decided I really like my job, it was never the bakery that was stressful just a handful of people in it and they have moved on. I have been going in a few extra days to try to train/ interview a new girl-so far not too bad but not great, were hoping to find a girl with a real self motivated attitude. I'm back to trying a new one again tomorrow- wish me luck!!!.

oh yeah- the guys at work have had me nicknamed "Chuckie" for a few months now because of my violent, profane and often hilarious threats (think SNL Barry Gibbs) when they start to try to heckle me. Chuckie? you ask-yes Chuckie the evil doll from Child's Play-that's me. So when someone wants me for something, I usually hear "hey Chuckie, Chuck, or Chuckles". Last week I decided to tell them my plans on making a new work t-shirt that reads "DON'T F*CK WITH THE CHUCK!!" they thought that was awesome and now when they start up I throw out my new catch phrase and we have a good laugh!.

Chris has a new mini contract starting this week 'Pillars of Freedom' (fingers crossed)it is ten weeks that will overlap his Raspberry Jazz berry Jam contract so that's good!!. One of our friends is in town for the same contract from Halifax and we hadn't seen him or his girlfriend for about a year. We went out for drinks/dinner and to watch the hockey games twice last week and it was allot of fun. I really missed having a social group around, I'm hoping the four of us can get together a few more times this summer and catch up. His girlfriend loves fairies as much as I do so I can finally talk my head off about them to someone who WANTS to listen not just people who humor me!!!.

Hopefully this or next week I will be able to unveil my new "BLOG BANNER" I commissioned from Chris, he finally let me see the uncolored version -its kick ass!!. Anyone have any tips on how big a banner should be dimension wise??? I have no clue. html and I are only acquaintances not good buddies. I have received many great letters and post cards from a bunch of people :) and that makes me happy-don't worry folks I will be sending out more soon, once I'm back to my 3 days off again instead of two. Between trying to keep the house clean, the dogs happy and myself rested I have little time for hobbies or quality (letters lovingly hand written with personalised doodled envelopes) correspondence. But never fear there will be more -VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!.

Last update- I will be 26 years old in three days time, I feel old. Life isnt what I thought it would be at this age, but if I look back at the last 5 years I never would have predicted the five years of traveling acrossed this country and living in three different provinces. I always hoped but never really believed my mom would move on and find someone who treats her the way she deserves to be treated, now Im going to her wedding in two months. My little sister moved away to begin her own life in small town B.C in the span of one year. I never would have met all the fabulous people I have been blessed to know, or picked up the skills and opinions I have gathered in my travels, I wouldnt be the me that I am today given all these life experiences. Im not going to regret not being where I imagined I would be...hell at 14 I dreamed I would be living in a pink fun-fur hello kitty themed trailer. Life changes, people change, dreams change and all we can really do is try to hold on for the ride. Im just glad I have quality people to ride with, my health and my memories and everyday I wake up I have the future to look forward to.

Sunday- sunny Sunday!

2009-06-07T11:40:00.002-04:00

Lots to say but alas a migrane has gotten the better of me. So I will sloth you up and fill you in within the next few days!!!

Sunday times!

2009-05-31T19:41:00.003-04:00

Sunday: Today my boss forgot to bring more toilet paper to work, we ran out midday...I wiped my girl bits with industrial strength paper towel. After work I went for a woodland walk with Chris and the puppies, I found a frog-I pet him and then he swam off.....all things considered it was a good day!.

A few beach pictures....

2009-05-26T09:33:00.034-04:00

So I had mentioned earlier we had gone to a beach we had not been to before. I had completely forgotten to mention that we also went to a second new beach (not Inverness). This beach was located between 'Loisbourg' and 'Main-a-Dieu', it was beautiful but savage at the same time. I'm assuming due to the powerful winds tree growth is stunted in this region, a lone defiant tree stood among the red-brown underbrush that covered most of the land. The beach revealed three half-seal carcasses each with their head and upper bodies missing, I'm not sure if this was due to sharks and whales or perhaps boat propellers or fisherman's clubs when they were hauled on board with the nets of fish.

As we walked along a narrow grass pathway between the beach and a still water lake I had flashes of deja-vu, this narrow pathway looks just like a beach I had dreamed about many times before. It left me with an eerie feeling, as I don't recall those dreams being particularly pleasant. (this picture is only a view of the still lake water if I get to go back I will photograph how narrow the path was between the beach and the lake)

The pathway was littered with broken aging lobster traps that had been washed ashore, adding to the "Maritime" feel. It makes me laugh some days how much of the stereotypical maritime culture is not hyped up at all, Main-a-dieu (a town so small you could blink and miss it) would make a perfect "wish you were here" fishing town postcard. It seems so surreal some days having grown up in a larger urban area to see people living in tiny coastal towns with 100 or less citizens, almost like stepping in a time machine into an era long since past.

The further along the coast we walked the more dead bird corpses would litter our path in various stages of decay adding again to the creepy feel of the beach. Birds were not the only ones to leave proof of their existence on the rocky shore, hollowed out sea anemones and large sea snail shells were cast haphazardly among the rocks. Along with pieces of white broken coral that had washed ashore in the violent unrelenting waves.

Once we had reached the tip of the shoreline we sat down for lunch and watched the waves crash amongst the rocks. The roar of the wind and the ocean was nearly deafening, my little three pound Pomeranian 'Foxy' was terrified and decided she was going to run back (45 minutes) to the car solo.

Unfortunately shes not the brightest bulb in the room and had no idea how to retrace her steps along the path, so she just started running off in the underbrush on her own. I had to go chase her down and finally stick her in my coat to avoid another escape attempt....I'm not sure what ate all those birds out there? but I didn't want her to be next on the menu.

From the point we could see a large rock (small island) not to far out in the water which seemed to be home to hundreds of birds flying about its cliff face, I had wanted to get closer to them and see if perhaps they had been nesting on the rocks. I was also secretly hoping to get a view of some live seals or even an illusive puffin (which I have yet to see out here) the further we went along.

Chris had told me he read somewhere that there was a sunken ship visible from the coast a bit further along but with the dogs getting grumpy and the daylight fading we decided to turn back and make our way back to the car. I'm hoping we may be able to return san-puppies and take our time exploring and taking more pictures. I have no doubt that beach has a few good adventures left in it before it gets to be boring.

Into the Labyrinth

2009-05-25T16:07:00.008-04:00

So I have decided to rewrite Jim Hensons "Labyrinth". I will keep most of the initial plotline the same but my rewrite will have Me as the lead trying to free Mushu from the Goblin King. I will of course edit out any puppy throwing in the remake.....Throwing plastic babies=funny, throwing tiny doggies= not cool!!!.

I will also have to add a few steamy scenes where the ever so sexy Jareth and I fall prey to our temptations of the flesh (wow you can tell I have read a romance novel or two in my day:).

I have even taken the liberty of supplying my readers with a few publicity shots for my new film!!!!

HAHA ahhhhh its amazing what little doggies will endure for "beggin strips"! Its also kind of sad this is where my mind takes me when my new OFFICIAL BRIAN FROUD GOBLIN PLUSH DOLLS arrive......good thing Chris wasnt home to stop me!!!!.

Two weeks in review. too much action and drama!!!!

2009-05-17T23:25:00.008-04:00

Two weeks of too much excitement to share and no energy left to share it with.... where to begin???? how about here?

May 1st: I was at work digging through boxes of cakes in the freezer at the end of the night, when from behind me I felt a pinch on my bottom. I turned myself around with murder in my heart for the poor fool who thought I was the type of girl to stand by and be even mildly sexually harassed in the workplace. My rage turned to surprise and then joy as my "attacker" turned out to be none other than my boyfriend and with him a surprise bouquet of daisies and an invite to a date.

The card in my bouquet read "your stuck with me!, I want to go out on a date with you 2-nite, 4 real, 6 o clock". This surprise couldnt have come at a better time as I had just dealt with not one but two asshole customers in a row about an hour earlier. (the first a woman who I went above and beyond for to make her a slab birthday cake last minute...despite our policy of having to order at least a day ahead of time- I was given additude and not even a thank you from her. The second a woman with one arm, I had carefully packaged her cake purchase for travel given her special needs and she looks at me and proceeds to tell me if she drops her cake she will blame me for it. Ironically she did drop her cake in the parking lot and I guess she was to embarassed to come back in to complain...hey lady why not blame what ever ripped your arm off instead of innocent people trying to help you >:( )

Anyhow Chris ran home and grabbed me a change of clothes so we could leave right from work and catch the early show of 'Wolverine' opening night for my surprise date. May sound like a strange date movie to you but trust me if given the choice between this and some chick flick I would choose Wolverine every time!!!! :). We went and the theater was packed but we had fun, overall I enjoyed the movie it had a few things that bothered me SPOILER ALERT IN BRACKETS!!! (the slow walk away from an explosion all bad ass style, the lighting/c.g on wolverines claws in a few scenes were crap, the two deaths his girlfriend has in this movie-after the first time no one cared anymore, Dead pool's crazy amount of powers, Gambits random and pointless fight scene with Wolverine) SPOILER AVERTED but I gave up expecting to much from these comic book movies a few years ago and ever since I have let my standards fall I can enjoy them a bit more.

Chris the puppies and I went to Inverness beach for the first time and had fun hiking up Blackets Lake mountain trail for a picnic lunch. I went to Value Village with one of the girls from work (J-Ho) a few times as we both love bargain shopping it was fun to spend a bit more time with her before she moved. The 9th of May was a charity pub crawl for breast cancer, two of my co-workers and I went to. I spent all night with J-ho and we both decided it wasn't really our thing so we bailed a bit early. Its strange how only a few short years ago I would have been all over a pub crawl but now I just feel to old to be doing the "wild and crazy" thing. I guess I am just a house/dinner party or quite pub kind of girl now.... Man do I feel old some days! it sucks, I'm fine with dying just not getting wrinkled and smelling of mothballs...sigh!!.

I'm glad I didn't overindulge at the pub crawl on Saturday night, when I came into work Sunday morning one of the girls asked me to put the cash in the registers. I was a bit baffled as there is another supervisor in on the mornings that usually does this an hour before my shift starts. I looked at her and asked where is "Coco" she just stared at me with an uncomfortable look on her face and shrugged. I filled the tills and went out back and asked one of the guys "So did I miss anything exciting this morning?". He turned to me and said "oh yeah you just missed it, Coco was in a bad mood and freaking out over cake orders, "Our boss" told her to calm down and she got angrier. He told her she needed to stop coming to work in such a bad mood as it ruins everyone Else's day and if she didn't want to be here doing this job she should leave....so she quit on the spot".

This left me to finish up the days cakes, then doing both her job and mine for the rest of the day in the back of the bakery. This is the same girl who quit once before and has a history of drama and emotional issues at work. Our boss says he doesn't want her back but his wife feels sorry for her and is pushing him to give her yet another chance. I really hope she doesn't come back though, I like her as a person but she doesn't like her job and she makes sure no one else at work likes being there either when shes working. She should go and find something that makes her happy in life and let the rest of us do our jobs in peace.

So I am now the only supervisor......again, I'm fine with that though as long as you do your best each day, have a good staff and good attitude everything works out fine.

Is that all your big drama? you find yourself asking???? don't worry dear reader I wont leave you with something as petty as an episode of the Hills with a Title like this!!!

I have my few days off and come in on Thursday morning and again ask "So what did I miss on my days off?"

"Well yesterday the police showed up here looking for one of the employees" was my answer.

"what happened?".

"no one knows for sure but "GUY" wont be here today because hes in jail. Now no one at work likes "GUY" he is a smarmy weasel, not the type of person to shock you with an arrest. All I had to say was "I hope he didn't do anything to his kids", who are sweet and come into the bakery every once in awhile.

The following day we find out "GUY" is being charged with sexually assaulting a minor and he gets bail, that evening he gets picked up again for nine other charges. Even if he doesn't get jail time he will never be welcomed back to the bakery again. So sick, we were all horrified and disgusted. I fought the urge to throw up all day at work when I found out. Small town or not monsters are everywhere, just remember to follow your gut and if someone "feels" like a creep keep your distance and trust that feeling. I know in almost two years of working there I kept a good distance from that bastard because he was just a vile, twisted person and I'm glad my gut instincts proved to be spot on. I will continue to trust my gut from here on out.

Now we catch up to this weekend. I was left to take care of the Bakery this weekend while my boss and his wife left town. Despite how busy things were we only had one customer issue and it was an honest mistake made by the new girl on her third day so its something we can understand and deal with. I really hope that I was able to prove to my boss and his wife that things can still run smoothly without "Coco", and help take some of the stress of the past few weeks off their shoulders.

Last but not least... I was able to get a Windstone editions, retired 'Gothic unicorn' statue in mint condition on Ebay as an early birthday present.
I have wanted this statue for almost a decade but my timing was never right to get one. This year I add another "holy grail" to my collection!!!. I'm so excited I hope it makes its journey to me safely.

So that concludes my two weeks of action, adventure and drama!!!thanks for reading!!!

sloth sunday

2009-05-17T07:37:00.002-04:00

Too cute!! I love it!!!

Sloth Sundays!!!

2009-05-10T22:10:00.003-04:00

So by Sunday I'm usually waaaaay to tired to make many updates as it falls on the end of my work week. I have decided to dub each Sunday a "Sloth Sunday". When I remember I will share with you a new pic found randomly online of an adorable Sloth (one of my favourite animals!!!!). So to begin my Sloth Sunday tradition I present you with this guy!!! enjoy!!!.

bleh!!!

2009-04-30T23:31:00.002-04:00

Im tired and I dont want to start my work week tomorrow. I ordered Pizza and Poutine for dinner and am looking down at my winter pooch in disgust trying to muster up the motivation to do some crunches before bed......what a mediocre day.

Puppy love!!

2009-04-28T11:44:00.009-04:00

Every morning when I open my eyes and take my first morning yawn I'm greeted by the feeling of four tiny feet scampering up my blanket and a plunk of weight on my chest. If I close my eyes quickly to go back to sleep the weight on my chest remains still and eventually will curl up in a ball at my side. If my eyes remain open I'm greeted with the full power of puppy love, A minuscule tongue whips my face in a frenzy and a little tail swishes madly from side to side. I find its hard to wake up in a bad mood with that kind of a Chihuahua greeting each day. If I'm especially lucky on any given morning I will also get a good sneeze in my direction from my little Pomeranian as she scampers over and flips on her back for a morning belly rub.

I cant rightly recall what life was like without two sets of bulbous eyes staring at me each time I grab myself a snack or a plate of dinner. Its hard to imagine opening the door without the loud yaps of excitement and two legged hopping when I come home, even if Ive only gone outside to check the mail. I defiantly cant remember napping so soundly without two little heaters pressed into any nook or cranny they can find on the couch beside me.

When I have a bad day at work it all melts away when I get home and spend a few minutes with my baby dogs. Every outing we go on becomes far more exciting and magical as I see the splendor of the woods or the beach from my dogs eyes. They remind me to enjoy life to its fullest and that everyday offers something to get excited about even if its something as simple as waking up to the people you love each morning.

GRRRRRR ARRRGGG!!!!

2009-04-27T13:59:00.005-04:00

Today I'm rather miffed about customs charges. I ordered a Windstone Mermaid for myself a few weeks ago. I do allot of my shopping online as I live in a tiny little coastal town that really has no room for the types of stores I enjoy shopping at. I enjoy collecting fantasy figures, and I enjoy reading. The gift stores out here are catering to a large number of 30-65 year old Christians with a Celtic background. So most of the products they carry are geared to this demographic, If you are ever in need of a kitchy green plaid souvenir from your visit to Cape Breton there is no lack of supply. If your looking for that perfect Christening gift or religious motivational plaque then you will be in luck!!. Or if your only interested in reading the titles on the most recent best seller list then shop 'Cole's Books' and your life here in small town Nova Scotia will be complete.

If however your a pagan who enjoys collecting and reading fantasy items then your only option really is to order the item and have it shipped to your doorstep. For my books I generally shop amazon.ca, but allot of times a title I'm really looking for will be sold out, unavailable or ridiculously priced used by third party merchants on the .ca site. Now if I search Amazon.com I can generally find the title in stock and reasonably priced despite the exchange rate, so if it comes down to spending over inflated prices on a book or a moderate amount of inflation due to exchange rates then I'm fine with it.

As for my fantasy figurines I get a little bit choked..... These items are not cheap, I'm not talking dollar store dragons here!! but well sculpted, finely painted collectors items with a large following of serious collectors worldwide. These items sell from anywhere between $50.00- $2500.00 depending on the amount produced the size and whether they are limited edition, retired or in production . If I manage to pull together the money to buy one its usually coming from the country they are produced the United States. So when the list price is $150.00 I have to convert that amount into Canadian $$ which generally means tack on an extra $20.00-$30.00 at least. Then these items are needing to be shipped to me, and they are not lightweight porcelain but a hefty gypsum so I can count on paying an extra $30.00 U.S dollars at least (convert to Canadian $$$ again). So after all the extra money I spend to get my item I just want it to arrive quickly at my doorstep so I can enjoy it.

Is that what I get??? NOPE!!!! I have to wait an extra 3 days for my parcel to be delayed at customs so "big brother" can nose through my shit and then I have to pay those assholes an extra $20-$30.00 Canadian for the inconvenience, not only is that amount what the gst/pst would be but it also includes the $5.00-8.00 brokerage charge just for the luxury of having my item nosed through!!!!.

Maybe its a Gemini thing???

2009-04-25T01:26:00.014-04:00

Some days I feel like I'm two personalities in one body and these two personalities are in a constant struggle for dominance. Maybe its a Gemini thing? Or maybe its one of those GIRL things that makes us seem so crazy and indecisive all the time......

One Michelle loves everyone and everything, she sees the beauty in every flower and has compassion/ empathy for all people, plants and animals. This Michelle gets her feelings hurt very easily and puts too much meaning into peoples comments or tones, she cries over allot of things including tears of joy when she watches things like "Extreme Home make over". She enjoys giving to people, she likes making people food, taking care of others, giving unexpected gifts and a shoulder to cry on.

This Michelle sees injustice and the problems with the world and struggles internally to fix everything IE: poverty, animal abuse, global warming, she wants to open a women's shelter and sit down at a cafe with lonely people to give them a deserving friend. The sheer magnitude of the things this Michelle wants to accomplish become overwhelming and she is prone to fits of depression when she cant put on her fairy wings and wand and fix it all. This Michelle can be meddlesome in other peoples business but it is not malicious it is generally in an attempt to be helpful or to try to fix it. This Michelle is a dreamer an activist and prone to be the worlds biggest sucker if someone was able to get passed the other Michelle to abuse her good will.

The other Michelle is the steward of the first Michelle. This one has a backbone, shes the Michelle that shoots her mouth off and is willing to be a bitch to get the job done. This Michelle puts relationships on the chopping block and cuts people out for their transgressions (this generally takes a while as the first Michelle is prone to hundreds of second chances). This Michelle sees past peoples smiles and figures out their motives, she carefully screens those who are worthy to have access to the first Michelle. This Michelle is the one you will see if your on the opposing side of an argument. She is uncharitable and feels anyone not able to help themselves up should sit in the gutter. When the worlds problems cross her mind she shrugs and says "yeah well everyone has problems".

This Michelle has her good qualities as well, she is outgoing and fun at parties (where as the first Michelle tends to be timid and shy) She enjoys a good laugh and can be loud and rowdy. This Michelle is a good friend though and if you have gained access to the first Michelle then you also gain the protective loyalty of this Michelle as well. This Michelle doesn't fight for the world she fights for a few living within it. Her goals are based more in reality and survival. This Michelle is willing to take risks and enjoys a good adventure. She is sarcastic and blunt generally manages to push her way to the foreground of my personality.

The internal pendulum swings from one Michelle to the next at a moments notice sometimes and at others the two seem to blend into a mutual harmony. If you find though a difference in posts form one day to the next, one day positive and hopeful and the next negative and sarcastic you will see the stark contrast to these two sides for yourself.

Snail Mail bebe!!!

2009-04-22T14:12:00.004-04:00

Today Im starting my snail mail updates to those who gave me a mailing address!!!

Positve thinking, remember that little experiment, what has happened since???

2009-04-20T00:52:00.006-04:00

So a little while ago I decided to try to change my thinking in a more positive upswing than before in an attempt to test the law of attraction. So from the time I have started a few things have changed and a few victories have taken place.

My boyfriend and I decided to change our thoughts from worrying about money to 'money comes effortlessly into our life', within a week of making this change He received a call back for a part time job. (to hold him over until a new animation contract comes up) He had been applying and looking for one for two months straight beforehand.

Now I very rarely receive junk mail directed to me personally I only ever get my fliers once a week and usually tucked in there is a generic CIBC MasterCard application directed to no one and everyone all at once. The second week of positive thinking I received not one but two letters directed at me for some prize sweepstakes. One from 'publishers clearing house' and another from 'readers digest'. Seeing as you weren't obligated to buy anything to enter I filled out my forms and sent them back, the draw takes place this fall. I will let you know if I won anything :)!!

I have been trying to sell homemade Gluten Free bread at the bakery for a few months now, we had been selling about 10 loaves every month and a half. Last month (post positive thinking) I sold 26 loaves and this month we sold 38 loaves! and the demand seems to be getting higher each week!!!. I will also throw in that I signed Chris up for the hokey pool at work and he won $200.00 last week as well.

Before Easter I had a customer come in and give me a beautiful rose out of the blue and I have never received any sort of gift from a customer in my almost ten years in dealing with the public. It made my week!!!. I also received no less than seven compliments from customers about my cheery disposition.....what ME???

This week I noticed the bakery advertising a new age angel seminar on our counter, We don't advertise for things like that....ever but here it was and I found it a bit weird. I went to the counter to take a peek and there was one, only ONE free admission ticket sitting under the stack of flyer's, next month I plan on going. It may be hokey or it may be the first step in re finding my interest in religion again :). who knows but at 0.00 $$$ I can afford to take an hour out of my day and check it out!.

Now this may all be random and circumstantial occurrences but seeing as things are going so well I'm going to continue to put out positive energy and thinking into the world. So far it hasn't hurt anything!!! Whether you believe it or not I think at least trying this experiment for yourselves is the best way to gauge its effectiveness.

hmmmmmm a baby or a capuchin monkey????

2009-04-18T07:11:00.009-04:00

So sometimes I enjoy looking around online to see what adorable little creatures may be in need of a new home. Not that I am able to take on more until I own my own place, but I am always curious. Well last week I saw an add for a free Jack Russel Terrier and decided to let the people upstairs know about it, as they are considering getting their puppy a playmate.

I wrote out the info from the add and left it on a post-it note on their door, a few days later my neighbor asked me about the add and I told her I would try to find it again on Craigslist and print out a copy for her. I went back to Craigslist and there was no information about the Jack Russel but oddly enough there were two adds for a Capuchin monkey!!!!.

There are two type of people in the world those who have always dreamed of owning a monkey and those who have a bias against monkeys ( Dane Cook?). I am one of those people who always wanted one. As a kid I would reach into the monkey exhibit at the local zoo to hand my furry friends a peanut or a fruit slice. I wanted to take the spider monkeys home with me!!!. But as you get a bit older the possibility of having a monkey just seems non existent.

Now, lo and behold years later I find a link that makes the world of monkey ownership seem possible once more. I am ecstatic I run to get the boyfriend, hey Chris look!!!! WE CAN GET A MONKEY!!!!!! Can you believe it!!!. Chris's face darkens and the stern voice of reason pipes in "We are not getting a monkey".

I smile and laugh "That's what you said about both dogs too!!!", my dreams of monkey stewardship are not to be shot down by reason!!. The next morning I wake up and start to get ready for work, The monkey is on my brain. I sit in front of the computer and check YouTube "Hey Chris!! look these monkeys can help disabled people!!"...."WE ARE NOT GETTING A MONKEY!!!".

Later that evening, "Hey Chris lets face it, we missed the band wagon of having kids!!".

"What are you talking about?"

"Well everyone else has already had some so its not as exciting anymore....lets be the first ones in our group of friends TO HAVE A MONKEY!!!!"

"NO"

" But think about it, A monkey will never ask you for an xbox for Christmas!!"

Silence...Chris's last line of defence when he has decided to hold fast to his opinion and refuses to listen to my arguments...For today I need to regroup my thoughts and prepare for tomorrows onslaught!!!. I glance behind me and there sits Mushu my Chihuahua/ Dachshund cross, her Giant Bulbous eyes send their Chihuahua cute beams straight for the heart I go and scoop her up and give her a cuddle.

The monkey pops into my head again...this time I see it pulling her tail, trying to bite her or carrying Foxy (my 3lb Pomeranian) onto the rooftop shrieking. Suddenly the monkey in my brain, as exciting and fabulous as it was only moments before grabs his adorable little hat and tiny suitcase and goes through the door of impossibility once more..... :(

Fear

2009-04-15T16:16:00.008-04:00

Fear is the black ocean and all the creatures lurking within waiting for their chance to suck me beneath the waves kicking and screaming to dine on my flesh. I fear sharks and giant squid but more importantly man eating mermaids. I cant watch documentaries on the ocean without my heartbeat accellerating. I have to force myself to get even as far as my waist when we go to the ocean, even then my time there is short lived. The idea of swimming, snorkling or diving in the open water fills me with dread. The many new species of fish discovered during the tsunami a few years ago horrify me and make me wonder what other horrible things unknown to man may be hiding in the darkest depths. The ocean floor is my vision of hell. While I love living on the coast and spending hours at the beach my legs will never be sea worthy.

FREEDOM!! snipping away at what doesnt work!

2009-04-14T01:01:00.004-04:00

So I have officially deactivated my Facebook account as well as cut off my cable!!!. Why? well let me go into detail.....

For the larger part of 2008 I have felt as though I was surviving and not really living. I would wake up, work, pay the bills, wash, sleep and repeat. The time in between where I could be making use of my reawakened inspiration to create was wasted in front of the television and becoming addicted to checking my facebook updates.

Living on the opposite coast from my family and friends in a small town with an even smaller list of recreational activities to do in the bad weather has been tough. I viewed Facebook as my lifeline a way to keep in touch and keep relationships strong despite the distance. But despite the many features added to make things easier to share with your friends and family, over time I found relationships feeling cold. NOT to imply that my family and friends were being cold!!! But it is always human nature to find the easiest way to accomplish a task and being human I fell into the Facebook trap. What trap you may ask???

The outsider looking in trap!. Pre-Facebook I would have to put in the effort of writing out a long email to update people of the ongoing events happening in my life I would take the time to enquire about their news and updates and in return receive a long heartfelt response. The days of Facebook have made it so easy for me to just pop onto a persons profile glance at a few updates and messages and feel that I had been adequately updated on their life, so much so that the personal effort to maintain contact as I had before seemed irrelevant.

But over time I realised......other than a half paragraph response to an update every so often I had not had very much REAL contact with the people in my life that are very important to me. When was the last time I had a heart to heart with a friend? when was the last time I bothered to phone? when was the last time I had taken the time to let people in my life know more about whats going on than a quick one sentence update every few days. Rather than making it easier to keep in touch with people Facebook only made it easier for me to maintain an illusion of human contact. The people in my life that I am glad to know deserve better!!! I should HAVE to put in an effort to keep them around, because they are worth it, that's what real friends do isn't it? Its time to be a better friend... No more just calling it in.

I am trying this year to become a better person, not that I was a bad person before, not that I feel my personality is horribly flawed. I enjoy sarcasm and bitching that's not going to change its who I am and what my life experiences have made me :). But I am learning to see the humor and irony in the things that used to only just enrage me. I am willing to forgive hurts bestowed on me by others BUT I'm not stupid enough to forget them. Is every relationship in life salvageable? No!!! Some people are just toxic and will only ever suck the life out of you, but just acknowledge it didn't work out and walk away. There is no reason to harbour fantasies of revenge or wish them ill for years (as I am prone to do).

I am a pagan, my spirituality is very closely linked to the earth. I used to have flawless unwavering faith, I could feel the life force and divine presence in everything with little to no effort. For a few months It was almost as though my cord to that life force was snipped away, I had disconnected from my beliefs,I spent so much time on superficial things that I had lost touch with a big part of me. I need to make time to find that inner peace again to rebuild the bridge between me and my faith and find a way to incorporate it into my life seamlessly again.

Its time to start a more genuine life. Do instead of dream, LIVE instead of exist and remember what its like to be a part of the natural world rather than slip into the role of another gear in the consumerism machine, filling my days with technology and material things to fill the void that today's society has created in people. I choose to fill that void with humanity, going back to our roots. Plant some flowers feel the earth, Do some art, enjoy more time with my family....maybe take up an instrument.....

Snip away what doesn't work and make some room for what does!!!

Friends

2009-04-10T20:31:00.009-04:00

Conversations in my house usually go into three categories:

~things I care about but the boyfriend doesn't (being the largest)
~things he cares about but I don't (second in size)
~things we both enjoy that incite hours of stimulating conversations (IE: books, comics, music, movies...but allot of these can be funnelled into categories one and two, therefore its still the smallest)

The following conversation is a Category one:

Me: "who do you think would win in a fight between Cerberus and a chimera?"

Chris:*bewildered expression* "Whats a chimera?"

Me: "You know part lion/ goat and serpent!!"

Chris:"oh, I don't know"

Me: "Well the chimera is pretty Bad Ass!! Especially if you say he has a large serpent head in the front and a smaller one on the tail, then you can throw in wings, he seems to have the advantage!!. But then Cerberus is the hound of hell!!!...that's gotta make him pretty tough too right?"

Chris: *stares at me strangely in an uncomfortable silence for a minute*

Me: *sigh* " I wish I had some mythological friends!!!"

Chris: begins to laugh hysterically

Me: "NOT IMAGINARY FRIENDS!!!! people who enjoy mythology!!!!"

btw~ for those of you who may be curious I'm totally gunning for the chimera!!

Revenge of the WASP!!!!!

2009-04-04T23:57:00.003-04:00

So last Sunday I was at work in the bakery, out back making some colorful Easter cupcakes when myself and one other girl hear a few shrieks and gasps coming from the front of the store. We look out front and don't see anything so get back to work, a moment later one of the cashiers runs out back and declares in a state of alarm "there is a wasp in the bakery".

"Is it on the food?"

"no"

"whats the problem?"

She runs back out front to help the line of customers. The other girl and I both look at each other then peek out the window into the store front, there are about ten customers in the store a few men, women and one child. The entire group of them are cowering beside the sweet display while the one lone minuscule Wasp flies about the store minding its own business. My coworker goes out to regain calm. I decide I want to sit back and watch how this "incident" plays out, I take my place by the window and watch the scene unfold before my eyes.

My coworker dish towel in hand is running through the Bakery swishing and swiping into the air trying to shoo the Wasp toward the door. A woman at the counter ducks and flails her arms "WHERE IS THE WASP???? I'M NOT MOVING UNTIL I KNOW WHERE IT IS!!!" she clings her child protectively in front of her, three people inch further from her afraid her spastic flailing arms herald the approach of the Wasp.

I watch two men in their early fifties duck and cower by the cookie rack, the woman by the counter still shrieking and making a fuss "Where is the wasp??? where is the wasp???". The other customers in the store are still pressed firmly into the sweet display awaiting the removal of the wasp from the bakery before they dare walk out the door, all eyes on my coworker in quick pursuit. After about ten minutes my coworker finally gets the Wasp next to the door and pushes it open. One of the older gentlemen who was only just moments before ducking and hiding his head beneath his arms turns around and swings his bag in a last ditch effort of self preservation.

SUCCESS!!! The Wasp flies out the door, its reign of terror complete at last. The shrieking woman at the counter is still in hysterics and the older guy (must have been her husband) walks up to her puffing out his chest "Its okay honey I took care of it!".

My coworker comes back and we just look at each other and cant help but laugh!!! I realise its been a long winter but COME ON!!!!!

Wasp-1
Human Race-0

Until we meet again wasp...until we meet again......

Words of wisdom...

2009-03-16T20:08:00.002-04:00

"Never Fear Being Vulgar, Just Boring"

-Diana Vreeland

Words I live by daily.

get to know me better...

2009-03-15T00:27:00.004-04:00

A few Random Michellie thoughts today....

The first is that I am hereby and henceforth changing the term 'common sense' to 'uncommon sense'. I feel 'common sense' is an oxymoron as those with sense seem to be outnumbered by those without, therefore sense is now less common. So have some uncommon sense in the future and know you are now among the elite few in society.....your ritual robe and hazing guide shall arrive in the mail shortly.

Second I have a theory about fat girls with small breasts....god hates them. The only perk about putting on weight is the sweet jugs that come with the package, if the sweet jugs don't arrive after a years worth of binging at 'Dunk in Donuts' then you must have killed an orphan in a past life. Evidently I was Genghis Khan, My evening will be filled with shaking my fist at the sky angrily while I do some squats.

Twenty things I enjoy in life.....

1. family (includes my boyfriend and puppies)
2. friends
3. everyone Else's puppies and kitties :).
4. unicorns, fairies, elves anything mythological or fantasy related.
5. Paganism and finding faith in the goddess.
6. Gothic Lolita fashion.
7. Spicy foods, spiced with freshly diced Habenero peppers.
8. books, sometimes as a kid they were my only friends.
9. laughing, I enjoy laughing and making other people laugh.
10. art projects, painting sculpting, drawing.
11. Mango ice cream, it dominated cheesecake in my favourite dessert category.
12. Forests, nothing soothes my soul better than a hike in the woods.
13. Beach combing, I love to find natures treasures on the shore.
14. Imagination, I could daydream all day if I had the time.
15. Zoodles straight from the can, bowls and microwaves are for suckers.
16. collecting Windstones and fairies.
17. road trips, I just like driving on long stretches of road with my boyfriend and a cup of Tim Horton's coffee.
18. flea markets/ thrift stores someone Else's junk most likely will be my treasure.
19. poker nights with friends, so much fun I miss those.
20. planning a get together that requires cooking a great meal and playing hostess.

20 things that I hate (yes I know its a strong word)

1. Mankind's superiority complex over the animal kingdom, has it ever occurred to you that your not better than them?.
2. teen angst, emo, all of it. makes me grit my teeth.
3. celebrity worship, yes some of them are attractive but I also realise they fart and poop like the rest of us.
4. Stephen Harper, that's right Steve-o, you hate the ladies and we hate you too!
5. Movie adaptations of comics, Hollywood has raped every character I have ever loved (except you V).
6. People who talk on their cell phones while being waited on in line...your fucking rude and I hope you get short changed every time.
7. Cell phones, used for anything less than an emergency or to help you meet up with someone in person. Remember the good old days when people only had cell phones if they had important business calls???. Not soccer moms calling home to get a household census on ice cream or potato chips!!.
8. People who tap glass, tapping glass displays or animals terrariums, your an ignorant chimp....try using your words.
9. The screech of death all children make in the Wall mart.
10. People who walk slowly and wont move to one side of a shopping aisle, also in this category people who stand around and chat in shopping aisles blocking them for other customers.
11. When I have to repeat myself to people more than once.
12. People who ask questions then don't shut up to hear the answer. Especially when they interrupt the answer halfway to repeat the same stupid question.
13. Stand up showers,not fun to shave in.
14. Unwashed moldy smelling coats, for a year straight guys with the gross coats would always decide to sit next to me at the theater, now I block my seat.
15. People who are blatantly rude to sales people because they know the sales person has to be polite to them.
16. Parents who watch their children throw tantrums in a store but they still buy them the candy (or reward them).
17. creepy old guys who hit on young girls if your 40 and dating a 19 year old your just a loophole pedophile. (cougars this is you too!)
18. Fake people, be yourself , life is to short to try to impress everyone else.
19. Bleeding heart liberals sympathy for societies monsters, if you rape a woman or child your rights should be forfeit.
20. Dogma and organised religion, I feel it pushes man further from god.

there you have it folks some randomness... enjoy or don't.....its up to you!!!

Smother Mothers destroying our Nation!!!!

2009-02-24T22:08:00.007-05:00

You know when you have one of those weeks?, Oh you know the ones I'm talking about. One of those weeks where you just have to sit back with a nice steaming cup of Joe, shake your head and wonder....what is wrong with the world?.

Suffice it to say that is where I am tonight. I'm trying to be more optimistic about my life which I must say is going great so far, however I'm not entirely sure my optimism can transcend to the outside world just yet...if ever.

Lets begin our tale late last week at work, We have been short a girl on weekends for about two weeks now and the Bakery has been posting for two positions online. We have been collecting a handful of hopeful resumes and finally decided that last Thursday was the day to call in a girl to see how she would work out. (Just going to throw in that we tried to get her on the weekend before that and she agreed to come in then called back and said she had to delay because her grandma just died).

So our new girl (we'll call her 'R') shows up and shes young (around 22) and friendly, I'm very hopeful that she will be the right fit for the bakery. We need people here that don't need babysitters following behind them all day telling them what needs to be done, ultimately when you have people on shift like that I find its just easier to do it yourself and guarantee the job gets done right the first time. Needless to say we are looking for people that are motivated, hard working and fairly independent.

I was sent to begin training 'R' for a few hours before J-ho (my coworker...her nickname:)) showed up then she would continue from there. When anyone new starts at the Bakery I tell them from the very start, "Customers and speedy, friendly customer service are the most important things when your a small business, its what separates us from the large grocery stores". It sounds like such a common sense basic that most new hires look at me like I'm retarded when I tell them this. However in Cape Breton customer service usually consists of standing behind a till and finishing a ten minute conversation with your coworker before you assist the customer right in front of you. So despite my very basic 'Cardinal rule' I still find girls just cant quite grasp to drop whatever they are doing and get to that customer when they get to the till.

Anyhow I show her around the store and I then begin to show 'R' how the till is used. We memorise all of our prices as we work with old school cash registers...you know pre-dating the scan gun. I understand that this sounds really scary and complicated on your first day, I know it made me nervous on my first day. But the thing is we only have a handful of prices for all of our products IE: we have five types of bread with a $2.39 price tag. So its fairly easy to pick up the few prices after a few hours at the till helping a few customers, and we certainly don't expect someone to work the counter by themselves for their first few shifts nor to have every price memorised in there first week. I did make a point of mentioning this to her as I showed her the cash counter.

After helping a few customers J-Ho arrives to continue to "babysit" 'R' at the counter and help her get the hang of everything while I start on catching us up with food production in the back. I casually mention to J-ho in passing she may want to write down a few prices on a cheat sheet just a few basics for bread and squares to help 'R' out just in case it gets a bit busier than expected. I'm not sure if this small comment sprung from my lips like a speeding arrow hitting our Newbie on the O.C.D button or not, but "THE LIST" was soon to become an all encompassing obsession for 'R'.

I begin wrapping cookies and making pies and trying to keep things busy and productive in the back and I keep periodically peeking out the door to see how 'R' is doing. I notice her walking around the store with a pen and paper and ask her what she is doing. She tells me she is just grabbing some prices to help her at till. I tell her "okay but you don't need to get all of them there is a girl at cash to help you and you'll learn them quick enough by actually using them at the till". She listens to me nods her head and goes back to cash. The day goes on and I notice a line at cash and J-ho trying to help five people at once while 'R' for some reason is still wandering the store with her pen and paper writing down prices. (yes this is after going over the 'cardinal rule' with her and getting the dirty look for bringing up something so simple)

I walk up to her and tell her in a less than friendly tone "as soon as a customer is at cash you need to be up their helping them NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT than that and J-ho already knows how to do cash shes staying up their to teach you today". 'R' goes back and helps to clear the line with J-ho. Eventually break time rolls around and we tell 'R' to go get some lunch and head back out when shes done, well she finishes her break and decides she hasn't made friends with everyone in the back yet. I come out back to see where she has gotten to and come along just as shes telling Harold she wants as many hours as she can get and that she will happily work until 6:00 to learn how to close down the Bakery. I kindly remind her that shes needed up front and everyone soon gets back to work, the day goes on with J-Ho and 'R' up front and me finishing out back with Harold and I notice a guy walks into the bakery and starts to have a conversation with 'R' they stand there talking for about five minutes and I realise this is her boyfriend visiting her on her first day at work.

Shortly after 'R' comes out back and asks Harold if she can leave early to go home with her boyfriend who has shown up to take her to a family dinner that night. Harold agrees and we let her head out. I just look at Harold and shake my head I tell him from the get go " Shes not going to work out, she wont stay put at till and do what she asked but maybe J-ho got a better read off of her than I did?". We call J-Ho out back and ask her so how was your training shift.

J-ho rolls her eyes and goes on to tell us that she kept staring at the clock all shift she asked how long break was and sulked and whined "aww that's it?", she told J-ho she didn't like being around too many people and had left Tim Horton's on a stress leave (at 22 years old), she was obsessing over her list the whole time she was at the till asking J-Ho to double check it for her and despite J-ho telling her to forget about that list she continued to work on it all day. Harold rolls his eyes and says "okay we give her one more day tomorrow and if she doesn't improve by then we'll get rid of her".

Fast forward ahead to the next day where she shows up two hours later despite Harold telling her to be in at 9:00 (three or four times) she brings in a printed out spreadsheet of our prices she made from "The List", she continues to wander around the store trying to make conversation and friends rather than learn how to work. She does stay until closing time ( by this point I'm told by Harold to let her know we wont need her the following day and to tell her we'll call her when we need her, which means someone will call her later and let her know we've decided it wasn't working out).

We are cleaning the store at the end of the night and I let her know she wont be in the next day, we ask her to mop the matts (3 are big rubber filthy matts and we have one small carpet at the door for people to wipe their feet)She goes directly to the small carpet with the wet mop in hand and asks "how much water should I put on it?". WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD THINK MOPPING A CARPET IS WHAT WE MEANT????? The three matts that take up most of the floor space in the bakery or the one tiny carpet by the door???? what does she chose the F*#$ing carpet!!!!!. We correct her and keep cleaning up finally after the 15 minutes of clean-up we are ready to leave and 'R' turns to me and asks "so what time am I in tomorrow?". I cant help but think at this point, are you fucking kidding me? I literally told you 20 minutes ago in plain English "Harold will not be needing you tomorrow but he will call you and let you know if we need you on Sunday or not". Now I almost felt bad for this girl but at the same time I was so glad she was leaving, I really didn't feel like doing all the work for this kid and watching her collect a paycheck every week for her incompetence. We still have one girl like that working for us and we finally got rid of the other, and enough is enough.

Almost as if a guardian angel took pity on me and my mental state a miracle occurred the very next day. One of the girls we had working for us last summer that had moved away to Alberta had moved home and actually came to reapply for her old job and we took her back!!!. I was so relieved!!!.

So what has this whole story have to do with smother mothers? and bad parenting??

EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

'R' is the type of incompetent, lazy, boob you unleash on society when you raise your children with no responsibility and do everything for them. They don't even have enough common sense in there 20's to realise that mopping a carpet is a DUMB thing to do because they obviously have never had to clean up after themselves before in their life. Parents you are not doing your children any favours in life by molly coddling them until their late teens. I wish I could even say that 'R' was an isolated incident but she has only been the tip of the ice burg of useless teens and young adults raised by a failing hippie generation.

When the people in my parents generation hit their 20's they were married, raising children and supporting their households. What is the legacy of our generation? 30 year olds living out of moms basement rent free and still complaining about how hard life is. The generation after ours? these kids don't even know how to turn on the washing machine let alone take care of themselves in the real world. If we keep going at this rate the only shoes available to my grand children's generation will be Velcro.

Give your kids some chores and make them work for rewards in life, help them achieve a sense of ambition and work ethic so they can thrive in society rather than send them into the world unprepared and have doors of opportunity slammed in their faces time and again. They may not like it at the time but they will sure appreciate it in the long run when mom doesn't have to follow them to prom to help them wipe their asses.

News for the new year, the winter slumber is ending......

2009-02-12T18:26:00.005-05:00

So what is new with me......previously I wrote about cutting fish from my diet, but then I had an epiphany, I LOVE SUSHI WAAAAAAY TO MUCH!!!!. So my small creature tyranny shall continue but still limited only to creatures of the sea.

There was a piece of deer leg (knee to toe) all gnarled up in my lawn. I'm hoping it was a raccoon or coyote pillaging a hunters garbage (a hunter? so weird not living in the big city some days!!) and not a predator in the area. There have been cougar sightings in Loisbourg this January but that is about 30 minutes away...regardless no off leash puppies for awhile.

We had a really rainy day this week which resulted in the frozen eaves draughts overflowing therefore flooding my entry way. There was a hole in the cement foundation and water was squirting out like a hose. It would have been kind of funny had I not been panicking about a basement suite flood...one was enough for me to last a lifetime. But the landlord came and put tarp up for us right away which was good. We also had to call him this week about a broken laundry machine which he fixed right away as well, I think we've called about five or six things in the last few months and when we lived upstairs we didn't have to call him about anything at all..one more reason why moving to the basement suite sucks.

This Valentines day Chris and I got a KISS. That's right Gene Simmons is coming to Halifax this summer and we got tickets for both Chris and I to go!!! Apparently they will be selling 44,000 tickets and the Tall Ship festival will be going on at the same time bringing in about one million people, its going to be crazy!!!!.

But I saved the best news for last, My mom is getting remarried this August and I'm going home to Vancouver for a week, Then we will visit Saskatoon on our way back out to Halifax. So two weeks vacation and this time Chris and I are going to go together and we both get to visit our family and friends. I'm so excited this year is gearing up to be awesome. I delayed any baby making attempts for a month to ensure if we do conceive we wont be too far along to make the flight home.

Other than that the only thing I really have to talk about is my new experiment, I have to try to force my thinking in a more positive direction for one month and see if any huge changes result in my life. I'm testing this whole "law of attraction" phenomenon to see whether or not its nonsense. To avoid any cross contamination Chris will be joining me on this and were going to write out a list of positive affirmations to say together every morning. So far I'm thinking it sounds pretty hokey, but what can it hurt to try?

Sea Kittens!!!

2009-01-22T18:15:00.002-05:00

Sea Kittens!!! I love it!!! What a cute add campaign, just in time for this years personal battle to cut fish from my food chain.

Create Your Own Sea Kitten at peta.org!

This is madness......THIS IS WINTER!!!!! (sparta style)

2009-01-22T13:37:00.008-05:00

So I apologise for the lack of posting recently....life has been slow and mainly uneventful. I have been itching to create something, but what to create? I am having trouble committing to an idea. So I have been finishing up odds and ends of other projects left in various states of completion all over the house.

I have decided recently the plan is to watch shows I have been meaning to give a try, so marathon runs of full seasons have been my recent hobby. I have managed to get through the first four seasons of 'The Office' and the first few episodes of season five... in two days...woot. Sad for my social life but I have to say it is now one of my favourite shows. I also managed to get through the first seasons of 'Weeds','Moonlight' and halfway through season one of '24'. All this within the last two and half weeks......have I mentioned how much I hate winter?.

I have been going slowly crazy in the closed quarters of a messy basement suite, I normally enjoy taking the dogs for walks but it is too cold for both me and the dogs now. Last winter we were in the upstairs suite with a better amount of natural light and space so I don't remember feeling so confined but this year I'm slowly ticking away the days until the warmth returns to the outside world. Each time I step out from the dark basement I feel like a Morlock or Vampire shielding my eyes from the sun as it burns my retina. I am also really missing my bathtub, nothing is better than a nice hot soak on a cold night and all I have is a crappy stand alone shower that forces me to perform Cirque Du Soleil style acrobatics if I want to shave my legs....not pleasant.

Last night I trimmed my bangs and decided to cut a strip of my hair free to add to my style, that strip of hair became my new source of entertainment for the night(fully illustrating the depths of boredom I have been experiencing). I waited for the boyfriend to get on the phone and pasted it to my head creating a pretty convincing uni brow to distract his phone call...success. Later that night I decided the best plan would be to turn my 'girl part' into a fun joke, I shaved myself smooth and gave my 'bits' a moustache with the hair strip, I then proceeded to tape down some eyes and angry eyebrows and flash the boyfriend I laughed so hard I almost started to cry..... Apparently I found this more entertaining than he did......maybe its time to plan an evening out.....

On top of that I cant help but have Gowan's "Moonlight desires" stuck in my head, therefore I have been playing it on repeat in an attempt to get it out.. ultimately driving the boyfriend slowly mad as well. That has been a boring and delightfully inappropriate update from me this week, lets hope my next update is chalk full of something entertaining.

Tonight I drink wine!

2009-01-13T22:39:00.002-05:00

I did not create a new human life form this month as the Bloody Baron has decided to grace me with his presence. Therefore I can now thoroughly enjoy the unopened bottle of wine (sitting in the fridge) I forgot to finish before last months baby making attempts. So this is still a winning situation for January.

I'm not going to be one of those women who gets all worked up each month I'm not carrying a bundle of fun in me. Instead each month the Baron comes to visit I will enjoy my week by toasting him with a nice big glass of red wine while I am still able to enjoy it.

On another positive note this still gives me some time to try to lose about ten pounds to avoid getting too large when I am pregnant. After this weeks indulgences it will be back to alcoholic abstinence and round two of trying :)!.

Barack Obama

2009-01-06T02:23:00.004-05:00

So I have yet to jump on the "woot, woot" Barack Obama train. I am so glad that in my lifetime I am able to see a black president!. It speaks volumes on how society is slowly making positive changes. But I refuse to treat him like an American messiah come to save the world from economic turmoil etc. etc.

He may not be Bush but lets give him a chance to really earn our trust and respect through his actions rather than his campaign speeches because lets face it a politician's word is meaningless its his/her actions that are the true test of character.

Anyhow, as I was saying I am pretty much indifferent to the whole Barack Obama thing which makes last nights dream very strange. I had a dream that Barack Obama was my long lost father and he was really excited to give me away at my wedding. I woke up and started to laugh.....bizarre...Im not even sure on what subconscious level my mind thought that was something to bring up...hahahaha

Hottest women in Hollywood

2008-12-28T14:57:00.061-05:00

So as promised here is part two of my two part list of Hollywood's hottest celebrities according to me!. In part one we covered the hottest men in Hollywood and now part two we will uncover some obvious beauties as well as some hidden gems of the hot female celebrity world.

Obvious beauty number one....

ANGELINA JOLIE

Angelina Jolie didn't strike me as a hottie when she first started to climb her way up through Hollywood. In fact I'm not going to lie, I found her down right greasy. But post Billy Bob Thornton she has blossomed into first a beautiful woman and then a beautiful person. So I blame all the grease and grime on Billy Bob (who still never looks quite clean). I'm happy to say that this is one actress in Hollywood that puts her money where her mouth is. She doesn't just say "I wish I could make the world a better place" then spend thousands on a prada purse. She donates a sizable amount to worthwhile charities and even puts herself in harms way as an ambassador for the U.N in third world countries. Way to go Angie! I'm glad to see a celebrity who didn't let success mar their compassion!.

Obvious beauty number two...

SCARLET JOHANSON

What do I like about Scarlet (aside from the fact she shares a name with one of my favourite fictional characters)?. Scarlet is a young female celebrity that unlike most of her peers has not spent three quarters of her career as a train wreck for the paparazzi. She is not bulimically thin, in fact that girl has a bit of ass to her, BUT that's a good thing. She has not gone on a drug or drinking binge and lastly and probably most importantly of all she has not been seen partying with Paris Hilton!!!. This is a young woman who doesn't believe that all publicity is good publicity and has managed to make herself one of the few classy young stars in Hollywood. I'll also add, marrying a Canadian endears her to the people up north as well!! :).

Obvious beauty number three....

GWEN STEFANI

I have been a fan since 'the tragic kingdom' album but unlike most of the things I have given up from my teen years Gwen is still a keeper. She has a great sense of style and is not afraid to be unique and dance to the funky beat of her own drum. I'm so jealous this girl can rock any hair color of the rainbow and make it look good. Gwen is always introducing the world to fresh new styles and sounds and for that she is one of my top three. The rocking Abs don't hurt either!! :).

Now for a few ladies who may or may not have hit your radar screen....

EVANGELINE LILY

For those of you living in a hole for the past few years Evangeline Lily plays Kate on the television series 'Lost'. A fellow Canadian she was born in Saskatchewan but was discovered in my hometown of Vancouver and I believe she may have starred in a phone line personals ad in that area before she found her big break. I love this girl, she has my absolute favourite combination of green eyes matched with dark hair and she also sports a cute sparkling of freckles around her nose. She is the perfect blend of sexy meets girl next door despite her popularity on 'Lost' we haven't really seen her in any blockbuster films, which is a shame if you ask me, as she appears to have a great range of acting ability.

HUDSON LEICK

Can I get a "what?, what?" from all my fellow 'Xena' dorks...oh yes that would be the Warrior princess I am speaking of here. For those of you who missed out on that pop culture gem Hudson played a character named Callisto , who was the only other woman warrior with skills that rivaled Xena's. Despite the fact she played an evil psychopath there was always something very hot about her perhaps it was all leather and the dominatrix style authority she commanded. Even though she has been low radar since then I still have her near the top of my list.

TRICIA HELFER

Tricia plays the number six model of Cylon on 'Battlestar Galactica' (wow my dork roots are truly showing here). She too is a fellow Canadian born and raised in Alberta and she also hosted a season of Canada's next top model. What can I say? she is a truly beautiful woman and she has made the transition from model to actor flawlessly. This woman is proof that Canadians really can act and so to all those "Pamela Anderson's" out there you should try to take a page from Tricia's book instead and stop making this country look bad!!.

SHANNYN SOSSOMAN

Many may remember Shannyn from 'A knights tale' where she played 'Heath Ledgers' leading lady, I have yet to watch the series Moonlight, another Vampire/mortal love tale out there but you may know her as the character Coraline. This hot Hawaiian usually scores larger roles in smaller films or small roles in the big ones. Why do I like her? She has a great classy yet exotic look to her, shes not the typical bottled blond that Hollywood sharts out enmasse and I really hope she is able to land a few more big roles to keep me from the boredom of watching the same five or six women in every movie.

ZOOEY DESCHANEL

I discovered Zooey through a few films 'Elf', 'the happening' and the t.v series 'Tin Man'. While I think she is absolutely beautiful to look at I'm not going to blow bubbles up her a$$ about her acting abilities. I find in the few things I have seen her in she somehow manages to make the majority of her lines sound comical or just plain devoid of emotion. If she sticks to a career in comedy she will be hugely successful. If you get a chance to view the miniseries 'Tin Man' you should really look for the scene where she shouts "your out of your tiny minds"...not sure if it was meant to be, but it was hilarious and I say it around the house all the time.

LIZZY CAPLAN

I discovered miss Lizzy from the series 'True Blood'.While watching I wondered where I may have seen her before and a trip to IMDB found me an answer, she was the angsty teen from 'Mean Girls'. Needless to say where 'Lindsay Lohan' peaked and fell from grace a few years after 'Mean Girls', Lizzy has blossomed into a very attractive woman. Now that's one hot Jew!!!

NATALIE DORMER

Star of 'the Tudors' Natalie played Anne Boleyn King Henry's second wife. While I'm sure there is many a lady who may think Johnathan Rhys Meyers is the hottest person on the Tudors I have to disagree and say that Natalie takes that title. She has a very pixie like face with very Sharp features but rather than those features making her look hard they manage to make her look very mysterious.

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL

Well its official we need to harvest the eggs and sperm of the senior Gyllenhaal's. With both Maggie and Jake turning out so good imagine the potential of laboratory created Gyllenhaals for future generations..in fact lets build our genetically created friends an island called Gyllenhaaltopia where beautiful people roam around on sandy beaches half naked......sorry got carried away in fantasy land. You get the picture though!

LIV TYLER

Liv is cold hard evidence that 'Stephen Tyler's' Philandering has the potential to create something more than a painful rash and a need for a penicillin shot. She has been a sex symbol since her debut in the 'Aerosmith' music video 'crazy' where she and 'Alicia Silverstone' both broke into Hollywood. Since then she has gone on to do many roles including the role that captured the heart of every dork both male and female as 'Arwen' the elven princess in 'Lord of the Rings'.

AUDREY TAUTOU

I think everyone and their dog fell in Love with Audrey as 'Amelie' a few years back, while she hasn't been seen in to many large rolls since then I am adding her to my list because I still love the look of this girl. I generally don't find brown eyes attractive but I do make the exception when they are huge and framed by great thick lashes!!. She manages to seem very young despite her age and has a fresh unique look about her.

MASIUMI MAX

While shes technically not a "Hollywood" girl I am going to throw her in here because she is one of my favourite fetish models. You can check her out on her site 'Iamtrouble.com'.

DITA VON TEESE

Mrs. Teese has brought back (the once thought lost) art of burlesque in today's bare all world. She is a glamorous and gorgeous fetish model and her unique sense of style really sets her apart as beautiful. Who doesn't love a good old fashioned pin-up?.

Christmas party in the maritimes.

2008-12-28T11:32:00.003-05:00

So I was invited to my boss's Christmas party last night, Christoph (my b.f) and I left to go make a quick appearance. Im not sure what I was expecting but it exceeded my wildest dreams of a Maritime Christmas party. It started off as any other party with people mingling and drinking, lots of food. As we didnt know alot of people we started off the night at the outskirts speaking to a few people but keeping ourselves low key, about an hour or so into the night people were already liquored up enough to begin to dance on the small space left in my boss's kitchen.

Typical radio tunes spilled out of the stereo system ie: "womainzer", "I kissed a girl", The ladies and "Harl" my boss began to dance and sing, it was fun but a fairly standard Christmas party......and then.....

Someone had the divine idea to put on some 'Great Big Sea' (to any international readers they are a Canadian maritime band and pretty much a Maritime stereotype throughout the rest of Canada). The whole house full of people started to sing along to sea shanty after sea shanty, we had a reel going in the kitchen and eventually it spilled out through the kitchen to the living room in the form of an old fashioned style line dance. Person after person danced, hopped and skipped merrily down the line and sent a new person back up again.

Eventually though the Celtic style dance was replaced by a congo line, of all things. Winding through out the house, people of all age groups young and old skipping merrily through out the home and overall having a great time.

Despite all my griping about the Maritimes I will have to say this the people out here are fabulous, they are warm, inviting and really know how to cut loose and just have some good old fashioned fun!. I had a great time and thats without having had any alcohol myself!!!.

one more reason to hate small towns...

2008-12-27T16:15:00.002-05:00

Boxing day on any calender as well as any other city I have lived in has always been December 26th, the day after Christmas. Well we woke up early and got ourselves all pumped up to go find a sweet sale here or there and what happens?. NOTHING IS OPEN!!!! Apparently boxing day in small town Nova Scotia actually falls on the 27th regardless as to whether it is a small business or a Mega Corporation like WalMart or Future Shop!!!!.

Its bad enough nothing is open passed 6:00pm on Sunday, ironically the only day for the past few weeks I have felt the urge to go grocery shopping to make a great supper after work!!!. I guess this is what I get for living in an overly religious town with traditional values.

Some days I miss the hustle and bustle of Vancouver, right down to the crack heads.

So this is Christmas.....

2008-12-25T20:12:00.005-05:00

So this Christmas eve I spent working from 8:30 in the morning until 5:00 pm. I wouldn't have minded the extra hours its just that everyone else left work at 2:00pm. I understand that they all had Christmas dinners and family/friends to see and were all in a rush to kick off their holidays. But when I'm asked to put it the extra hours after they all go skipping off into the sunset it feels a little like rubbing salt in the wound. I know I have no friends or family here on the east coast or anything special to look forward to for the holidays but It would have been nice for them to consider the fact that I may be missing my family and friends and not really in the mood to carry the brunt of their holiday duties on my shoulders single handed.

Especially when they left the store in a complete state of disarray and mayhem for me to clean up by myself. The boyfriend came down to help me and we mopped the floors and scrubbed it all clean. Extra money is a nice thing, but the attitude that I have nothing better to do with my time kind of pisses me off. I don't mind helping people out but when it feels like I'm being taken advantage of that's when I get annoyed. I'm sure no one even thought of it as a "lets screw Michelle out of her Christmas eve" but it bothered me none the less.

On a lighter note my Christmas eve was pleasant once I got back home. My boyfriend and I made a vegetarian lasagna for our Christmas dinner and we set up the dogs stockings with treats from "Santey Claus", they were so excited their little tails going full steam as they happily hopped about undecided on which treat to start on first. I even made them their own little lasagna treat (without onions and mushrooms like ours was) to eat for Christmas dinner. I was rewarded with two little poopie bums to clean when I woke up this morning as it may have been a bit too rich for them, but I think ultimately they had a really great time last night!!.

So I made the very best of who I had in my life this holiday season and tried overall to have a good attitude about Christmas this year and I think I have succeeded. While it may not be my favourite holiday...in fact most years I detest the "holiday season" I think I was able to really relax and have a good time this year.

Hot List!!!

2008-12-18T07:33:00.050-05:00

Part one of a two part series on the hottest Celebrities (in my opinion)Part one will cover the men and Part two will be Hot female Celebs.

So recently a friend of mine 'four leaf clover' added a small list of people she found attractive in the famous people you would sleep with category. I thought it would be fun to post a small list of celebrities that make my hot list. I was initially going to try something like People magazines top 100 best looking but then realised after about ten celebrities I would be throwing people in of average beauty (in my opinion) as filler. Lets face it the major magazines keep trying to tell us that people like Ben Afleck, Matt Damon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Uma Thurman are hot despite their unfortunate faces telling us a completely different story.

Around here we like to keep it Real!!!

We'll start with a few no brainers. In the male Category our obvious choices are the following...

GERARD BUTLER

Now don't get me wrong while I did enjoy the steamy love scene in 300 that is not the place where good ole Gerry stole my heart. If I'm going to be perfectly honest of where my desire began it was when I saw him as the tortured musical Opera Ghost in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. While he may be controlling and mildly psychotic their is a part of me that feels with a little bit of love and compassion the Phantom of the Opera had a good chance to turn a new leaf!!. Who doesn't love a musician??? As for Gerry the Actor, It doesn't hurt that he has a HOT Scottish accent and enjoys wearing kilts!.

PATRICK DEMPSEY

While most of his fan base is derived from 'Greys Anatomy' I was a late fan to Patrick Demsey's beauty. In fact he didn't even blip my radar until I saw 'Enchanted'. Maybe I just needed one extra hour of showtime to appreciate his charms? or perhaps it was the over sized view on the big screen that smacked me in head like a V8 commercial. But regardless here I am world this is one band wagon I ride willingly....grrrrrrrrrrrr.

JOHNNY DEPP

Ahhh Johnny Depp, will there ever be a top Hotness list that doesn't include your name? Most likely not!. It doesn't matter if you dirty your teeth in 'Pirates of the Caribbean', if you go all misunderstood disfigured monster in 'Edward Scissorhands' or if you make the full transition into nut bar as 'Willie Wonka' or even 'Sweeney Todd'. I doubt we could wrangle a woman on the planet who would not trade her weight in gold to bag you for a night!!!. Obvious and unimaginative as it is, Johnny Depp is hot! that is not my opinion, just a fact of life.

Now we enter a realm of male hotness that is purely personal taste....Me I say- YUMMY!!!!

BEN BARNES

Oh snap!! that's right bitches, its Prince Caspian from 'Chronicles of Narnia', soon to be appearing as Dorian Grey in 'the Portrait of Dorian Grey' movie remake. One can only hope those sexy locks stay in tact for this film or at the very least if they have to be trimmed they auction of the tresses on Ebay for a worthwhile charity....or at the very least to grace some twisted woman's hair doll collection!!!I have never found men with nicer hair than me attractive...until now!!!.Thats right Fabio eat your steroid ridden heart out!!!.

JIM STURGESS

Although it may be blasphemy to say this I may enjoy the Jim Sturgess covers of some of the Beatles songs a bit more than the originals. Despite his unkempt appearance and pseudo mullet in 'Across the Univierse' I have got to say that Jim Sturgess by far is the Sexiest Celebrity known to man. If I could have my choice to sleep with everyone on my list except him or only him but noone else, Jim would win. Im not sure what it is about that man that lights my fire? Is it the baby face begging to be ravished and sullied by me? Or is it his voice that called me in like a siren song?. Whatever the case may be if I had these Celebs listed in a top ten format he would be number one hands down!!!.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL

Long before Broke back mountain there were two characters that opened my eyes to the sexiness of Jake Gyllenhaal the first was 'Donnie Darko' and the second.....try not to laugh....'Bubble Boy'. While its obvious hes rather into blondes (Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon) I wont hold it against him!!!

JAMES MCAVOY

Here is an actor who pops in as a hit or miss on the cute list. If were talking abut the James McAvoy from 'Becoming Jane' or 'Penelope' then Hells Yes cut my vegetarian ass a piece of that beef cake. But if were talking about the James McAvoy from 'Atonement' or 'Wanted' then he gets a meh? from me. So depending on costume and hair hes hot, without these vitals taken care of hes merely good looking.

TAHMOH PENIKETT

Captain Karl 'Helo' Agathon of the 'Battlestar Galactica' remake (pushes nerd glasses further up nose :D). Tahmoh is easily number two or three on my list if I had these guys in a numerical order. His chiseled facial features give him an elflike quality that screams hot to this uber geek!!! In season one of the series hes trapped on Caprica with Sharon (a secret cylon) fighting for their lives, but Sharon still has time to get freaky with him...well who can blame the girl? I would be getting freaky with this guy despite the threat to my personal safety as well if I had the chance!!.

RICHARD ARTIMAGE

What Maid Marion ever saw in the gappy toothed Robin from BBC's 'Robin Hood' series is beyond me when Sir Guy of Gisborne was obviously the more attractive of the two. Despite the fact that Guy was a villian of this series he still had enough redeeming qualities to be salvagable relationship material.

SPOILER WARNING

In the end he skewered her like anyone would in such a situation when the fickal bitch came clean about her back stabbing ways. Ahhh Richard Artimage the hottest lad in Sherwood forest!.

HARRY LLOYD

As we were just discussing the BBC Robin Hood I thought I would throw in Will Scarlet as an honourable mention as second hottest lad in Sherwood for all the (boring) ladies who only wish to route for the good guys!!.

CLIVE OWEN

Hes gritty and saucy and down right dirty in most of his roles but hell I cant help but like the guy! Everyone has to have at least one guy on their list that makes everyone else shake their heads and wonder why. Clive is my one guy!!!

TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN

The leader, song writer and keyboardest of 'Nightwish'! One of my favourite bands! If you havnt listened to "kiss while your lips are still red" then you havnt lived, Trust me on that one! Hes talented, has a cute Finnish accent and Good looking to boot! what more could you ask for?.

Now we have two more gentlemen to add to our party... These boys fall into the "a few years to late but still so hot" categorey.

HARRISON FORD

As if his roles of Han Solo and Indiana Jones didnt cement him as Hot in my books I recently watched 'Blade Runner'. With the hottest scene of male dominance when his Character 'Rick Deckard' throws 'Rachel' against the wall and kisses her... Gah every bead of sweat that glistens off this guy is manly and screams sex appeal. Hell I would even take old man Indie from 'the kingdom of the crystal skull' or his Character Quinn Harris in 'Six days Seven nights'. Young or old Harrison Ford is hotness in each decade he graces us with his presence!.

DAVID BOWIE

Thousands if not Millions of girls have fallen prey to the sex appeal of David Bowie from his role as 'Jareth' from Jim Henson's'Labyrinth' movie. There are whole facebook groups dedicated to the large bulge in his tights from that movie..some of which I am a member. What can I say? there is something about pseudo villians that women crave whether its the Goblin King, the Phantom of the Opera, V from V for Vendetta. We all want to love that misunderstood bad guy and turn him around.....but if we ever succeeded wouldnt we lose all the sex appeal that these bad boys bring with them?. Regardless David Bowie will forever be hottness for the ages. In fact even as an older Gent he looks perhaps better than he did in his youth, what with the nice new teeth and all!

Well that concludes part one of our two part series on hot Celebs join me next time to see my list of the hottest women in hollywood...some of them just may surprise you!!!.

taking care of business!!!!

2008-12-15T20:08:00.003-05:00

So this week has been busy, busy, busy at work!!! Lots of baking and decorating and mood swings for all!! ho ho ho, Merry Christmas !!!!. My poor blog may be neglected in the next week or so as Im full time and then some until Christmas eve.

Thats okay though I need the money, I have a collecting habit that gets pretty costly after a while!!!. Not to mention my goal is to have all my credit cards down to a $0.00 balance no later than January 14th. So far.....well I still have a few weeks of pay to go right!!!! :)

I decided to check out an online ovulation calculator today, I guess the boyfriend gets lucky on Christmas and his Birthday too!!! hahaha exciting, but kind of annoying as well, still no Doctor but if I wait around for one I may have to wait until we move back out West which may not be for at least a year!!!. So we'll just get pregnant and have the provincial health authority assign us a prenatal doctor :).

Crazy baby related dreams this past week. I had one dream where I was at work and I was poking my pregnant belly to try and entice a baby kick and I was squishing my belly with my hands trying to feel the baby, then I noticed I could feel two heads and I was pregnant with twins, it was a pretty good dream.

Then the next few nights my dreams went in a whole new direction entirley, one dream I had given birth but the baby had to stay in the hospital, it wasnt too bad because the baby was healthy enough in that one.

But a few nights later I had a dream I was in a public shower and I had delivered a still born preemie on the floor, then I delivered only an extra pair of legs and arms.....like a chopped up baby right beside it. It was so disgusting and vivid I was disturbed by it for a few nights afterwards. One dream Im pregnant with healthy twins, anouther dream I lose them both. Lets just hope its the jitters of making a big decision getting the better of me.

Oh Canada....

2008-12-05T23:20:00.012-05:00

So this has been a very interesting few weeks in politics for Canadians, at least those who take time from their busy schedules to bother watching or reading the news. The formation of a coalition Government seems to have Canadians across the country split into two factions, those for the possibility of change and those against. In the current volatile economic climate where as of Dec 5th we reported the biggest job loss since 1982, it seems the general agreed upon undertone from both camps is anger.

With so much turmoil going on in this Country what has our government decided to do?, Why close the doors of Parliament for two months of course!.I may not be an economist but seeing as every other country is sitting down and trying to enact some form of damage control I cant readily believe this is whats best for our Country. So what has occurred in the past few weeks to take Canada from an economic crisis to a political one?.

Our tale begins with the November 27 economic update in the house of commons. It was here that Jim Flaherty revealed the fiscal update and the Conservative Governments latest "plans", which included banning civil servants from striking for the next 3 years, preventing women from fighting for pay equity, selling off some of Canada's government assets and of course removing public funding to the opposition parties of this country. It was here the conservative government waved the red flags of war. The Conservative governments current fiscal update had no economic stimulus package and it seems the only plans revealed that day were plans to set back labourers rights, women's rights and eliminate opposing parties for pure corporate and political gain . Unlike previous "I dare you to call an election" fear tactics used by Mr. Harper this time the opposition chose to rally the troops and face these issues with a responding battle cry "COALITION GOVERNMENT". The three opposition parties then decided to call for a vote of non-confidence, Which Mr. Harper managed to have delayed from December 2nd to December 8th.

After this announcement the following few days were filled with Conservative Propaganda claiming the formation of a coalition government is an undemocratic coup( apparently Mr. Harper doesn't realise that this is not American Politics). Critics of Harper believe he has intentionally attempted to play on Canadians lack of political knowledge as opposed to American politics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_parliament

In fact Mr. Harper himself had been in talks with both the NDP and the Bloc to form a coalition government in 2004.

http://renaud.ca/wordpress/?tag=canadian-flag

As well as attempting to mislead Canadians about our own democratic system he also played the divide and conquer card, attempting to turn this situation into a Separatist Conspiracy to bring down Canada, Mr. Harper even went so far as to claim that the coalition would not sign their agreement in front of the Canadian flag(Lie).

"Yesterday, as part of the culmination of the machinations of the leader of the NDP, we had these three parties together, forming this agreement, signing a document and they wouldn't even have the Canadian flag behind them, They had to be photographed without it because a member of their coalition does not even believe in the country." ~Stephen Harper

The Governor General was summoned from overseas to help to settle this mess for concerned Canadians, she ultimately decided after a two hour talk with Mr. Harper that a proroguement of Parliament was what was best for Canada at this time. Therefore the doors of Parliament were closed until late January and Mr.Harper was able to dodge the vote. For a man who pulled the undemocratic card out first it seems hypocritical that he would attempt to bloc a democratic vote of the house. One can only hope that the coalition is ready and able to make the vote in two months time. That is if the Liberal party can learn to keep their emotions in check and take a page from the conservatives book-stand united and support your leader no matter how much you may or may not agree with him. Several Liberal Mps began to shoot their mouths off after the Governor Generals decision and that may have ultimately hurt the coalition in the eyes of the public, we know Mr. Harper is sure to use their moments of weakness as a way to discredit the Coalition in the new year.

Why do I support this coalition government? Because 62% of the voting public chose parties that were not the conservatives. These parties are opting to work together therefore the majority of Canadians elected officials are going to be the ones making the choices for this country. Rather than the 38% who only had one right wing party to throw their vote at in the first place. Lets remember that your vote went towards your local Mp not to one Prime minister, therefore its your Mp that is fighting for you and your needs, I would love to see the majority of Canadians Mps out there making a difference for them. It seems more democratic to me that the majority of Parliament work together to make positive change and keep the other parties in check to avoid corruption rather than have one party act as chief and commander for the entire country. It is a system that works well all over the world (including Israel, so if their parties can make peace in Parliament I doubt the Bloc and the Liberal/Ndp will fair any worse).

Bolt, boots and babies!!!!

2008-12-01T17:34:00.005-05:00

One month away from 2009 and I'm truly feeling the extent of my own mortality. This year has come and gone in such short order that I feel as though my life has been put in fast forward. If the years to come flow by this quickly I will be dead and gone in nothing but the blink of an eye. It is a rather sobering thought and in retrospect its thoughts like these that may have started my current life planning panic mode. The expression do or die has never felt more relevant to me than now.

This week I took a peek at value village and picked up a few books, one of which was "the mother of all pregnancy books Canadian edition", I have gone through about three quarters of it and decided the Gorey birthing details chapter can wait until after we conceive. Now the challenge is trying to find a doctor to get a pre-pregnancy check up and hopefully that doctor will be the same doctor that takes care of me during my whole pregnancy....but we'll see I'm trying to remind myself that I need to be more flexible with my life plans so I don't have another full blown attack of panic/rage like I did last week.

But overall although I'm not done researching this whole parenting thing before I start to actively try for a baby I think I'm feeling a bit more confident that I'm ready to get this ball rolling in the new year. The boyfriend is taking a very light approach to the whole idea and trying to calm any fears I may have with things like "It will all work out", and "we'll just do what we have to do to take care of a baby". I know he means well but his attempt at this calm, cool approach is only doing one thing for me- making me worry and panic enough for the both of us. I don't think bringing a human being into the world who could die or get ill on any given day you fuck up is something to take as lightly as a change in weather. I honestly don't believe he has any idea what is going to be involved in parenting and I do think he is going to be in for a hell of a jolt when we have a screaming baby keeping us up all hours of the night.

Now back to life pre-biological clock meltdown. I have finally received an order for some of my Gluten free bread for this Wednesday so tomorrow night I'm going to start a batch and get this side business thing started!!. I had almost given up hope that anyone would report back with whether or not they liked it. In fact ironically that very afternoon my boss had just started to tease me and tell me I must have poisoned the customers I gave a sample too. After the couple came in to place the order I phoned him and told him triumphantly that no one had been poisoned!!. We both laughed pretty hard about the timing on that one.

Sweater boots!!! I have fallen in love with a pair of sweater boots and I'm just waiting for some Christmas money to roll in the mail to pick myself up a pair.

I normally don't fall into the shoe lover category ( I have been known to cling viciously to an old pair of sneakers until the point they develop drastic water seepage through holes time and again) but this fall I have been obsessed with Knit anything!!! I have picked up a few very interesting knit blouses (did I just say blouse? :)) and have decided that sweaters have officially made the transition from Grandma to sexy!. Go sweaters!!!. I might note that since I have started knitting I have had a new found respect for knitwear in general, but never like this. It can only be described as a full on fetish.

Cute movie alert!!! BOLT.

If you have a dog I'm sure you will love this movie!! As I have two little dogs with big hearts very much like Bolt this movie tugged at my heart strings. This movie is great for younger kids as there is no real concrete bad guy to scare them and it is full of slapstick and running gags two styles of humor favoured by children. The fact that a variety of animals starring in this film cover pretty much every pet group makes it easy for most children to find a favourite character based on the animals they love in their own lives. For the adults it is no DreamWorks animation full of jokes/gags and innuendo that floats safely over children's heads, but its also not as bad as sitting through an episode of any of the disgustingly sweet garbage your forced to endure on tree house TV. Overall a good family film but keep in mind the target audience is a bit younger than alot of these animated films.

boring few days...

2008-11-26T22:52:00.004-05:00

Today's update, I'm bored!
bored, bored, bored!

I am not only bored but on a ridiculous sleep cycle that absolutely needs to be corrected by tomorrow or else I run the risk of a really crappy work week. I have been living the last few days like a bloody Vampire (no pun intended!), I have been sleeping all day and up from about 4:00p.m to 6:00a.m. I feel drained of energy and wonder if maybe I have mono or there is a gas leak in the house!!.

My fridge is apparently in worse condition than we thought and may take yet another week to repair, so meals have been fun to plan. Nothing that cant sit out in the frosty entryway (my temporary fridge) without running the risk of making us sick. I am still trying to eat up all of the thawed out goods before they spoil and I'm realising now I may have to concede a few culinary causalities. Other than that though my past few evenings have been for lack of a better word fairly stagnant. I haven't been out of bed early enough to go out anywhere that may still be open other than the video store to pick up some video game rentals with the boyfriend.

I have tried my hand at some watercolor painting and while it is not horrible I am less than pleased with my slow progress. I find myself wanting to break out the Acrylics and finish the job off that way. I think my real deterrent with watercolor is the wait time, I hate having to wait until the water is dried up to keep working. Watercolor is not an art form for the impatient I am learning, so I will either have to give it up or find my inner zen state to keep at it. I will for now give this trial run in watercolor a C-.

I received a package in the mail today!!! My Labyrinth Ludo plush and door knocker!! I didn't even have the energy to get out of bed when the postman was at the door, The boyfriend came back to the bedroom with my package and put it next to me in an effort to coax some enthusiasm. It was promptly kicked out of bed and forgotten for another hour of sleep. I think my game plan tonight will be to pull an all nighter and stay up until tomorrow night in an effort to be exhausted enough to have an early nights rest. I really feel like I have wasted a week of my life that could have been spent on worthier pursuits than vegging out on season one of 'True Blood' and playing "Fallout 3".

On the plus side my Christmas shopping is done!!! I just have to get everything together to be shipped out but that may have to wait until next week when I have some energy!