The World According to the Peevish Kitty
Dec
31
Happy New Year! It’s another New Year’s Eve. I don’t know about you, but I’m counting on a definite change of fortunes for 2008. Because we’ve had a run of quite frankly rough years, and we want a good one for a change.
We’re going over to visit with friends this evening — nothing fancy, just hanging out and relaxing. We’re not big partiers, so we like a quiet evening — good food, good conversation, some wine… Although right now I am so sleepy I could just as easily go to bed early and not mind one bit.
And since it’s New Year’s Eve, I’ve been singing this song to myself all morning. Have a listen to the perfect Ella Fitzgerald (there’s no video, really, only audio) and enjoy!
Dec
30
It’s another lazy weekend here at the House of Peevish. And what better way to be lazy than indulging in computer games?
Well, for us, it’s a good thing. But we’re geeks like that.
What TV is to most people, computers are to us. We don’t have TV in the conventional sense anymore. We cancelled cable at least a year ago, and we haven’t missed it. We have a ton of DVDs, sure, and we get many, many repeated views out of them (preparation, no doubt, for the endless repetition of much loved DVDs by our Mystery Baby over the coming years!) but for pure mindless fun, computers are it. Where other people sit down in front of TV shows and enjoy some mindless entertainment, that’s what we do with a computer. Or an iPod or a DS or a Playstation.
So, with an impending vacation back home in NS, where I have planned to book at least an afternoon with one of my favourite nieces, I decided to get prepared. The last time we visited, we played Sims 2 for an afternoon and had a blast.
If you don’t know what Sims is, it’s like a game where you are a god and this is the world you create and these are the mere mortals whose lives you get to control. It’s a game where you design people and help them live everyday life. You raise them, teach them to exercise and cook and clean and play games and all sorts of everyday things. You send them off to school and work and introduce them to other Sims and marry them off. You can get them involved in affairs, you can have them abducted by aliens, and you can even kill them off, if you get cheesed with them. It’s like The Sims of Our Lives. Or the Sims and the Restless. Or even All My Sims.
It’s a kids game, and it’s simple and fun and mindless. (And for me, the game is not so much the attraction as the ability to design and decorate buildings. I could do that for hours.)
And so this year, I have loaded up all the Sims games we own. Every. last. version. (Except the holidays one, because I couldn’t get it to load last night, but I’ll keep trying.) So we have Sims cats and dogs and birds, Sims who can go to university, Sims who can own businesses… we are READY.
But one of the problems with Sims is that it is as addictive as hell. You can lose hours and days playing it. And so, yesterday, I did. I loaded everything up and started trying all the new stuff. And I built a university, and I sent a Sim off to university, and I remodeled another Sim couple’s home and bought them a pet (a lovely parakeet called Wally). I made a cat and a dog, designed very specifically with breed characteristics and coat colours and everything. And before I knew it, it was midnight.
So I am pooped today. But there are two other things that weekends are good for — big mugs of coffee in the morning, and naps in the afternoon. And since I’ll likely spend a few more hours playing Sims again today, both of those things will come in handy.
Dec
28
Christmas = so much food, so little time
It’s true, isn’t it? We usually have way more food than we can eat over the holidays.We make a massive turkey dinner that could feed the Prussian army, we make cookies and sweets for everyone and then some, and if you are at our house, it isn’t Christmas unless as certain someone has his macaroon chocolates. Of which we have A TON, because hey, they sell them at the bulk store.
SO…
For today’s Friday Fun we have leftovers. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Some things that go well together, and some that maybe don’t usually go together. So choose a little bit from each and enjoy!
Dec
27
So much for Christmas. It’s over for another year.
When did time start to move so quickly? It was only a short time ago when the first snow began to fall, we had people over for my birthday, I was beginning to think about Christmas baking… and suddenly, in a flash or two of the digital camera, it’s done.
It seems that the older we get, the faster it goes. And for us, it’s not even that big of an event to begin with. We drag out a couple of decorations, we buy a couple of presents, we watch a couple of holiday movies. But we never really feel Christmas-y, not really. I am sure that it will all change when we have kids, but the magic isn’t really there for us now that we’re older. Sure, we had a lovely day, and we tried being festive and all that, but aside from the gifts and the food, it could have been any other day.
What IS nice about Christmas, though, is the opportunity to relax. When we’re here for Christmas, we don’t have to worry about visiting or entertaining, so once we get our baking and gift-giving for friends done, we have about a week of time all to ourselves. We clean the house, just so we can enjoy a few days in a nice, clean house. We decorate because we like how pretty it looks. We cook, but there’s no massive meal for umpteen people. And we can both sit and relax and enjoy some time together. I knit, BDH plays his video games. The cats have a special treat of turkey bits and pieces and then they snooze away under the tree or in some quiet corner or other. And we all unwind.
When we go home for Christmas, it’s much more festive. There are kids around so the magic of Santa is still in the air. There are big family meals but everyone pitches in. But even with BDH’s family, everyone appreciates this time of year as a bit of time to unwind and relax and so there’s still not a lot of rushing about and entertaining all and sundry. It’s still a relaxing time, just with more people around to relax with.
Now we’re in the post-Xmas, post-Boxing Day twilight zone. BDH has gone in to work for two short days after 5 days at home. He’ll go into an office that is half-staffed at best, as most people will undoubtedly have taken holidays. Nobody will feel much like working. They’re still mentally on holidays. People will mill about, chatting about their Christmas, eating leftover turkey and sweets from the holiday, and then after two days of work they’ll be back home for a weekend. Then, back in for one day — New Year’s Eve — and then off for one day, then back for 3… And then we are taking proper holidays for two weeks.
But even if BDH had taken holidays over Christmas and New Year’s this year, we’d still be in that post-Christmas stupor. Stuffing ourselves with leftover turkey dinner and plopped on the couch watching videos that Santa brought just two days before. Sleeping late, napping, yawning in front of the television. Sitting at the window with coffee full of cream and a shot of something special and watching the snow fall. It was all we could do to get up and get moving for work today.
I think it’s nice that we’ve abandoned the frazzled high-stress rushing-about holiday time in favour of quiet and relaxing and time off. We certainly feel a lot more peaceful on earth and feel more goodwill to men. But maybe that’s because we’re stuffed so full of turkey.
Dec
24
…I’m watching White Christmas! It wouldn’t be Christmas without Bing and Danny and “PINE Tree! COMING in to PINE Tree!”
Merry Christmas everyone!
Dec
24
What’s better than a little Bing and David Bowie for Christmas Eve?
Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men. Merry Christmas, everyone.
Dec
22
I love playing “spot the pop star” while watching this — and laughing at the bad ’80s styles. (But they were so COOL back then!) And I love that it features the great and beautiful Paul Young, one of the pop heroes of my youth.
This song is just a small part of my deep and abiding love and admiration for Bob Geldof and Midge Ure.
Merry Christmas. Feed the world.
Dec
21
It’s the last Friday before Christmas! So I thought we’d do something about… Easter. (HA! I kid. I’m a kidder.) Of course we’ll do CHRISTMAS!
I am feeling still not-so-festive-as-I-would-like, but I am getting there. It’ll be a quiet, downmarket Christmas for us, but sometimes those can be lovely. Only a few presents, not as much running around and two slightly overstuffed, sleepy people relaxing in front of endless holiday DVDs. Sounds quite nice, actually.
So let’s see if we can’t all get festiver (adj: more festive, as in “Ooooh, a Swiss Chalet Festive Special would hit the spot right now. It always makes me feel festiver.” or “Great idea putting antlers on the dog, Madge. Now the place looks festiver.”) before the holiday comes. Let’s talk about all the very best things about Christmas, and maybe we can get some collective holiday spirit going here!
Dec
20
I’m out today visiting with my new little nephew. So to keep you all amused until I return…
Quite possibly my all-time favourite Christmas song, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues, and featuring the late, great Kirsty MacColl. If you know the song, you know how lovely it is. And if you don’t… well, let’s just say it’s a bit colourful there in the middle, so beware if there are little ears listening.
It’s a beautiful song that makes me a bit welly each time I hear it. And shame, SHAME on the BBC for censoring it this year.
Enjoy.
Dec
18
A preliminary Christmas wish list. It’s a work in progress. I’d like to see Santa carry some of this stuff down the chimney, though.
There. That’s a start.
Dec
17
Who knew an 8-plus pound cat could wreak so much havoc at the holidays?
Our little man, Duncan, is not so little any more. At 9 months, he’s almost bigger than any of the other cats. And I think he’s going to get bigger still.
But he’s still a kitten. He’s still learning about his world and everything is still new and exciting. He touches everything, and smells it, and tastes it, and watches the most mundane things with wonder and astonishment and curiosity. And we forget that he’s still such a little boy inside, because he’s so big.
For example, snow is new to him. He stands in the foyer, sniffing the cold air when we come in and out. He sat in the window this weekend, just amazed at the falling snowflakes. He watched it fall for hours, tracking individual snowflakes. He eats the snow off our pants and boots when we come in — it’s something new.
And so is Christmas. Unfortunately.
He’s endlessly fascinated by the tree. We brought it out in stages, so he would have a chance to get used to it. He investigated the branches as they lay on the floor, tasting them from time to time, hiding in them to ambush his sister at other times. Then we put the tree up, bare of lights or decoration, so he could lay under it and look at it and get used to its presence. Then we put the lights on it.
And that’s where it began to get REALLY interesting.
Duncan was fascinated by the illuminated tree. He would flop down under it, roll onto his back, and gaze up at the lights. Maybe he thought they were pretty. He occasionally tried to taste one or two, but with a stern “NO!” he left them alone pretty quickly.
And then, on Friday, we decorated it.
For as long as I can remember — my entire life, actually — we have put cheap, indestructible ornaments on the bottom boughs of the Christmas tree for our cats. It has always been that these ornaments are THEIR ornaments, so they have their own special part of the tree, and if they bat them or knock them off, it’s okay. They have their spot, and they generally are content. And they get bored pretty quickly. Once they mystery is gone from the tree, they could care less.
For the last 18 Christmases, we’ve had 2 jinglebells that we hang on the very bottom branches of the tree. They are Opus’s bells. Ever since she was a tiny kitten, they have been her bells to swat and jingle whenever she wants. She’s too old to care now, but every now and again she’ll walk by and you’ll hear a little tinkly noise as she trots away from the tree (giggling to herself, no doubt). Also, they act as an early warning system that something (read: cat) is causing a ruckus around the tree, so we know to watch for trouble.
And Duncan? He LOVES bells. He spent the first hour the tree was up just endlessly swatting at the bells, having a heck of a time. So we put the rest of the ornaments on the tree, the cats snoozed underneath on the tree skirt, and all was right with the world.
Or so we thought.
We went to bed Friday, and slept right through. I woke on Saturday to find the cats in all their usual spots, mostly lounging in front of the bedroom door waiting for people to wake up. I went upstairs to grab my laptop, and noticed…
Ornaments. All over the floor.
So, I let BDH know about it. He went upstairs.
He came downstairs.
The words “little bastard” escaped his lips. Although, not in an angry way. More in a “what are you going to do”, defeated sort of way.
Now, we have an artificial tree. The branches? They’re made of wire. Wire that is designed to support lights, and glass balls, and little angels, and other pretty little ornaments.
NOT a large, fuzzy, mobile ornament. Certainly not an 8-plus pound ornament.
As it appeared to us, doing a little crime scene investigation afterwards, it seems our little man took the middle of the night as an opportunity to do a little tree climbing.
There was a huge, gaping, Duncan-sized hole in the branches from ground level, up through the branches, and out to the front, where there was another huge, gaping, Duncan-sized hole. All the branches on one side, about 2/3 of the way up, were flattened and bent down. The tree “stem” was bent into a bit of a curve. And there were ornaments scattered all over the floor.
It appears he tunnelled up through the branches, and attempted to lay across several of the boughs. Either the sparkly exciting new things were too irrestistable to his little kitten eyes, or he thought it might be nice to snooze at elevation.
Either way, our tree needed some repair work.
You can’t get mad. Cats climb trees. It’s what they do. And I’ve known plenty of people — my sister, for example — for whom cats in the Christmas tree is just a normal, everyday part of Christmas. But it’s the first time in 40 years that one of my own cats has done it.
But from that day on, Duncan and the Christmas tree have had an adversarial relationship. Since that day, Duncan has found that whenever he’s started fussing at the Christmas tree or the ornaments, there’s a lot of shouting of “NO!”, and he gets very, very wet.
And Santa will probably be bringing squirt guns for Christmas for the people in this house.
Dec
15
DUDE. THIS? Is an awesome forecast for this weekend:
Warnings
Guelph – Erin – Southern Wellington County
7:03 PM EST Saturday 15 December 2007
Winter storm warning for
Guelph – Erin – Southern Wellington County continuedA near-crippling snow storm with heavy snow and blowing snow as well as some ice pellets tonight and Sunday.
This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.
A massive winter storm is about to strike much of southern and eastern Ontario with near record snowfall amounts. Latest analyses indicates that the developing low pressure system is moving across western Kentucky preceeded by a burgeoning area of moderate snow with some freezing precipitation extending north to Lake Erie.
The low will move northeast towards the lower Great Lakes and intensify rapidly as it reaches Ohio Sunday morning then track across New York state into New England Sunday night. This storm track will place much of southern and eastern Ontario directly under the brunt of heavy snow. A few claps of thunder along with bursts of very heavy snow are also likely.
The brunt of the main snow event will begin this evening in the southwest and rapidly envelop all regions east to Ottawa in the overnight hours. Copious amounts of snow as well as strong winds causing blowing snow are expected. Freezing rain is also possible near Lake Erie.
Widespread snowfall accumulations of 20 to 30 cm are expected in most areas tonight and Sunday. Some local amounts of 40 cm or more are quite likely in a few areas by Sunday night..Especially from the west end of Lake Ontario and eastwards into far eastern Ontario.
Significant blowing snow is expected to accompany the heavy snow due to strong northeast winds gusting to 60 km/h whipping up the freshly fallen snow and causing whiteout conditions. In addition freezing rain is possible especially near Lake Erie for a few hours overnight and Sunday morning as milder air pays a brief visit aloft. Ice pellets are also quite possible generally along and south of a line from Grand Bend to near Toronto and east to Cornwall.
The public should be prepared to change plans accordingly to avoid unnecessary travel during this storm. This massive snow storm has the potential to cause near-paralyzing conditions as road travel on any unplowed streets may become next to impossible on Sunday. All motorists who must travel are urgently advised to use extreme caution and plan for much extra time to reach their destination.
There is a high degree of certainty with this storm as the concensus of weather model data is virtually unanimously forecasting this event.
Thunder AND snow. At the SAME TIME. Woot!
Despite the spelling errors, I am crushing on Environment Canada right now. I can’t lie. Just sayin’.
Dec
14
Christmas is coming, and the goose is not the only thing that is getting fat. OY, there’s so much to eat and drink during the Christmas season, it’s no wonder everyone is merry. Except shopping — people are not merry when they are shopping. And let’s not even get into how NOT merry people are when they are PARKING. If the world is a merry Christmas wonderland, then parking lots are where the Grinch sets up his recruitment centres.
Well I am trying my best to get all festive and all that, but it’s hard. I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit. There’s no anticipation, there’s no excitement… I am sure that will change when the tree is fully up and decorated and presents are under the tree. But right now, the only thing that makes me feel vaguely festive is Jose Feliciano. (“FELIZ NAVIDAD! FELIZ NAVIDAD! Feliz Navidad, mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble! A HA!”)
So let’s try to get a little festiver, shall we? Let’s try to get some comfort and joy going with this week’s edition of the Friday Fun.
Only one more week to get festive!
Dec
13
There are rules in this life.
*Note: I totally just made that up.
Dec
12
You know what I want? A nice, big journal-type book for writing things in.
I heard about this really neat idea in something I read once. A woman and her family kept this big book around — I kind of picture it as a nicely-bound book full of blank pages, not ruled, kind of like a scrapbook — and whenever an idea came to someone, or there was a thought or a quote that needed to be jotted down somewhere, or a sketch of something they wanted to do or make or whatever needed to be made (for I remember one of them being a bit of a sketcher), then they had this book. They could just write it down.
It’s not a journal, per se. Not like we are used to, like what blogs have become — it’s not a place for writing long bits of prose. And it’s not a notepad for writing down shopping lists and random phone messages. I mean, that’s what notepads by the telephone are for.
No. This is something more. Something that captures those bits of life we want to remember as they pass by, or plans we might have even if we never complete them, or things we’d like to try to do or make or remember. It’s like a bunch of mental “ooh, note to self:” moments, all made real.
I think one of these books would be a fab addition to our household. We are always picking out phrases we like from things we watch or listen to. We’ve always got these hopeful lists of potential house projects on the go. We often have ideas for things we’d like to buy or things we’d like to do to the house. I think of things I’d like to try to cook. And sometimes, we just have moments to capture. One of these books would be a great place for that. Although, I think ours would need to have lines. (And of course, we’d need a place to put it. Someplace that doesn’t get buried under bills and keys and other remnants of daily life.)
We’re very digital people. And I suppose we could do something like this digitally. But a book is so much more… real. We’d have it right there at our fingertips. And it’s central, and it would always be there, and we could always refer to it and flip through it.
And I think it would be cool to look back after a year at all the stuff that we’ve put in there. Look at all the thoughts and ideas we’ve jotted down. Laugh at the funny things our child might come out with while eating his lunch. Check out the sketches of things we’ve made and pictures of house ideas we’ve pasted in. Having a look at what some of the interesting moments of our day to day life have been.
I wish I could remember where I read this idea. If I had had one of these books, I could have written it down.
Dec
11
Well, let me just say, it’s tiresome wallowing in self pity. (Plus, if you wallow too long in ANYTHING, your fingers get all pruney. And nobody likes THAT.) So I am determined to NOT for a little while. I am shaking it off. And do you know how?
No, not yoga. Because yesterday? I was doing some downward dog/chimichanga combination thingy, and MY ELBOW. It PAINED me. So I stopped for a second, and tried it again as a test, and OW! More pain! What, am I in such feeble-ass shape that I have a YOGA INJURY?? Yoga is supposed to be GENTLE exercise, isn’t it? What’s next, spraining a pancreas doing Tai Chi? An Origami-related stress fracture?
But I digress.
No. This week I shall do my Christmas baking! You can’t be bummed while doing Christmas baking! Put on some festive music, get up to here in flour and sugar, and voila! Instant karma change. You can’t be bummed while listening to Bing and putting buttons on snowman cookies.
And we’re not talking just ANY baking here — oh no. We’re bringing out the heavy artillery. Shortbread. ROLLED shortbread. And fruitcake. And BDH’s favourite, icebox cookies. And whatever else comes to mind.
Plus, it’s like AN HOUR AND A HALF until Christmas or something ridiculous like that, and time has passed so quickly, and I have nothing done. And since we don’t have any money, all we can give people as gifts is baked goodness. Which isn’t such a bad thing, really.
So me and Bing and a cast of several will be downstairs in the kitchen until further notice. If you’re looking for me, just follow your nose.
Dec
10
Here’s one I wrote, rewrote, posted, took down, posted again, took down… I couldn’t decide if it was too self-pitying, too emotional, too… MUCH. But in the end, here it is.
***************
Still here. Still peevish.
I spent the weekend trying to unwind and get out of my post-adoption-news funk. I watched a lot of volleyball. BDH pulled out the Xmas decorations. I spent the day making Xmas cookies yesterday. But the funk is still here.
Our adoption caseworker STILL hadn’t returned our call by this morning, so BDH gave up and called her. AGAIN. Oh, she was sorry, and said she “understood our frustration” — to which I say, oh really? And how often have YOU adopted and had them switch your timelines, hmmmm? But BDH said it best when he said to one of the staff, “I know that you guys do many, many adoptions, but this is our first.” And as he said to me, “It’s crushing. That is what they don’t understand.”
I find that too often, the needs of the parents get lost in this process. We need information. We need assistance. We need understanding. And for those of us who are adopting our first children, there are a whole raft of needs that come with our histories and our motivations behind adopting in the first place.
But all that gets lost, and others’ needs come first. The needs of the child are all you generally discuss, and they are of the utmost importance. They are the face of adoption, and they are quite obviously and quite rightly everyone’s top priority. That goes without saying. The needs of the agency and the governments involved come next, because without the paperwork and the documentation you would not have adoption. It is also crucially important. And also, it’s okay to sometimes talk about the financial needs. It’s a reality, obviously, but it is only talked about as one of the challenges, as too many people out there in the world want to paint adoption as “buying” a child. Which is a disgusting and mean-spirited way that people consumed with ignorance or their own twisted agendas talk about adoption.
But talking about your needs as an adoptive parent is often done in hushed tones, as an aside. As an adoptive parent, your needs are often suppressed beneath what you must do and what you should do and what you have yet to do. It sometimes feels so selfish or petty or wrong to talk about it. If you do talk about it, people will give you their best advice, which is usually how it will all be worth it in the end and all the waiting/stress/disappointments/etc. won’t matter when you have your child.
No one ever talks about what they need.
But those needs are there. And I have been feeling them acutely these past few days.
I am a thinking, breathing, feeling parent-to-be going through the arduous, painful, heart-wrenching (and I know ultimately rewarding) task of adopting a child. I have a need that doesn’t go away to bring a child into my home, a need that hurts, like a hole in my heart waiting to be filled. When I get a vague and general email from my agency full of dates that ultimately mean I must wait still longer than I have already waited to bring that child home, I feel an ache inside, a cry of how hard it is and how unfair it is and how tired I am of waiting that just repeats for awhile. I get angry and frustrated. I rail against the system. I weep.
I have other needs too. I have a yearning to see some dreams fulfilled. There are special firsts I wish to experience as a parent that I have waited to experience all my life. There are moments I have dreamed of that are so special in any parent’s memories as to be sacred that I wish to have too. And so when I get changes in policy or delays in timelines or paperwork, I feel disappointment and pain at the thought that I may never have some of these moments. They are being torn from me before I even get a chance to experience them. Time passes so quickly in the life of a very small child. Moments and firsts are fleeting. Children move through developmental ages so fast. And the more time that passes, the longer these wait periods become, the more time I will miss. And the fact that I am powerless to do anything makes me want to cry and scream and vent and be angry.
But I can’t, at least not in public. I am supposed to bear in mind that one day, it’ll all seem unimportant because I will have my child home and part of our family. I am supposed to be grateful that one day, I am bringing any child into our family at all.
And I know that. Of course I do. But still.
It is so hard sometimes, walking this line of musts and shoulds and will bes.
Dec
7
I am in a foul mood. After a lovely week, my good mood came crashing down to earth yesterday afternoon with an email full of bad news about adoption timelines from our agency, The Agency That Never Returns Our Phone Calls (Or Performs Much Customer Service At All, Really). So I have been in a black, black mood for most of the last 24 hours.
Needless to day, I’m in not much of a mood for fun.
So I need YOU to help me with today’s Friday Fun. I need you to come up with 2 Friday Fun questions each. About any topic, whatever you like. Then we all still get some fun, and maybe it will jolly me out of my foul mood!
So who’s feeling creative and has some questions today?
Dec
6
We went to BDH’s company Christmas party last night.
Let me say right off the bat, I have been to some VERY BAD corporate Christmas parties. I have worked for some very sketchy companies and generally speaking, you have to endure these cheap-ola Christmas parties, badly catered, with lots of badly behaved coworkers and drunken dancing… And at one, some hookers came in off the street and crashed the party. So I know that most of the time, you are there to make an appearance, show “you’re one of the team” (oh dotGod, how I hate that about corporate culture), and then escape as quickly as humanly possible.
This? Was not one of those parties.
They do such an excellent job with their corporate Christmas party at BDH’s company. They spare no expense, and it’s an elegant and social evening. Lots of mingling and chatting, gorgeous atmosphere, excellent (if some years a bit too haute cuisine) food — and absolutely NO DANCING. It’s always an event to look forward to. You get dressed up, you go to a lovely restaurant, and always have a nice time.
And last night was probably the best one yet. The food was simplified this year — no crazy weed salad with a big hunk of brie and walnuts in the middle, no strange herb-flavoured chocolate as in previous years — so we had very good steak or fish or something else (I forget), and caesar salad, and this awesome seafood crepe appetizer, and a big decadent dessert. The wine was lovely. The group we had at our table was fun, full of lively conversation. It was an excellent night.
(And BDH was part of the two-person committee that arranged everything. And it was PERFECT.)
This morning, however, I feel like I overindulged the night before — which indeed, I certainly did. I ate until I was stuffed. All that rich, wonderful food… and today, I have that “oh-my-doG-I-can’t-even-LOOK-at-food” kind of feeling. Happily, the red wine I drank did NOT come back to haunt me — no tannin headache (yet). And I am really tired.
But it was totally worth it. Not every week, of course… But for one special night of the year, we eat and drink until we’re ready to burst. And have a lovely time.
I almost — ALMOST — feel a bit Christmassy now.
(Talk to me after I operate on the dishwasher. I’ll be back to my Grinchy self.)
Dec
5
My appliances hate me.
I have documented my adversarial relationships with some of our major household appliances over the course of the last year or two in this blog. So it should come as no surprise to you that our dishwasher has decided to act up today.
I went to load it to find that there was a couple of gallons of water sitting in the bottom, which must have been left from the last wash a few days ago. As a test I ran it, and found that the several gallons of water quickly became many gallons of water.
The SOB is not draining.
So I spent an hour fighting with it today, scooping out the water, then taking off the pump cover and the filter cover and futzing around. But I gave up when I banged my head, and — cursing LOUDLY this time — then tried running it again.
No luck.
The hose is going to have to come off and see if it’s clogged. But I don’t know if I want to tackle it today. I don’t know if I am strong enough, not to remove it, but to fasten it back on the sink pipes securely. So that may be a job for BDH.
God how I HATE my dishwasher. And, because I think they are in cahoots, I’m highly suspicious of my water softener as well. Not that it’s responsible. I know that. But I somehow suspect they’ve been plotting behind my back.
Now, my trusty microwave? That baby has been running for well over 15 years. And we get along famously. Also, my fridge and stove are also in my good books.
But that dishwasher? It is a BASTARD dishwasher.
I will beat on that dishwasher. But not now. Now I must try to get into a good mood by doing some yoga, for I have a Christmas party to go to this evening.
But tomorrow… it’s ON, bastard dishwasher.
Dec
4
I’ve been on a yoga kick lately.
With the gift of an iPod for an early birthday present, I’ve been exploring the world of podcasts. I watch and listen to all sorts of things — news, history, BBC, National Geographic — but what has been really big the last few days has been yoga podcasts.
I’ve explored a few, and found one I really enjoy. The instructor is gently humorous and easy to follow, and he has a wide variety of lessons. Some are easy, but most are a bit more advanced than I am accustomed to. They challenge me, at the moment to just keep up, but also because they are pretty tough and there’s new poses to learn.
So each day, at least once a day, I pull my laptop over to an open space in the room, and I start the podcast. I get settled and ready to start. I do a few preliminary poses. And then the inevitable happens.
CAT.
Now, a lot about yoga is to be present in the moment, and to be conscious of your breathing or your body as you do a move. This is easier than it sounds when you have cats.
If Opus doesn’t suddenly find this the perfect opportunity to a) start shrieking her fool head off or 2) start sniffing around as though she is looking for a place to happen, then one of the others will surely distract me. Lucy will try to snuggle in under me as I do a child’s pose. Duncan will come and lay down in the space and lazily stretch a paw out to tap your hand while you try to do a pose. Any one of a number of cats will walk through, around, and under a downward dog. I get cold noses in my armpits as I lay on my back or purring in my ear.
The cats? They love the yoga, it seems.
So, we haven’t worked out all the kinks yet in this high-tech yoga workout thing. But I am happy to say that this new class is kicking my butt and I really enjoy it.
And apparently, so do the cats.
Dec
3
I’m enjoying such a feeling of contentment this morning. It’s true. I know, you are shocked.
Despite the nasty weather, despite our debt, despite issues with family, and despite myriad other little niggling life problems, I had such a nice weekend. And despite the inevitability of Monday coming, I still feel good.
A lot of it is because we had a wonderful weekend. A really great weekend. And I really savoured it, all weekend long. Even when we were working, it was good.
We had to clean like maniacs before friends came to visit on Saturday afternoon. And we cleaned for hours — but without the panic and stress I usually feel when people are coming over. A lot of it is because, since I am at home these days, I can keep on top of the housework and so it isn’t such a massively big job as it used to be. So we worked together, we cleaned the whole house, and it wasn’t a huge terrible chore. We chatted while we worked, and we just went room to room and got it done. Now, as I look around the room, it is tidy and clean and comfortable. And that makes me content. I love to be in a clean house.
Having friends over is also really nice. I so rarely get to socialize these days, now that I don’t go off to work every day, so having the opportunity to sit and chat and laugh with friends is great. Also, because we have very little money, we can’t afford to socialize as much as we used to, so when we do have the chance, it’s a real treat. And our friends are so laid back, there is no need to wait on them or fuss about things. And we introduced them to “Guitar Hero” which went over really well (although I do not play, because the scrolling screen hurts my eyes, but I do enjoy being around when others play).
We also went out to dinner on Saturday to quite possibly my favourite restaurant in the entire world. We had a spectacularly good dinner and some excellent wine and we were in an atmosphere where we feel at home. We know the staff and they make us feel so welcome. It was relaxing and lovely. Good food, good wine, good conversation, good friends — a perfect evening.
Saturday night through until this morning, we had a storm blow through, with snow and freezing rain and cold winds and rain. So yesterday, we relaxed all day in the house, while the storm carried on outside. I had supper in the crock pot so I didn’t have to worry about cooking. The house was clean and there was nothing pressing to do. It was nice. Eventually we had to go outside and shovel our way out of the mess and clear the driveway, but even that was nice. (Of course, I don’t mind shovelling the driveway — I like the hard work and I do it during the daytime or in the evening when nobody else is out to bug me and it is quiet.) The air last night was still and warm, and although it is really hard work, it was really pleasant. And BDH helped me, which he doesn’t often do because he hates shovelling the driveway so much, and even he had a not-completely-ass time of it.
So today, I have a bit of a hangover of contentment. I know there are things to worry about, like money and the upcoming holidays and cleaning and whatever. But right now, I still feel really positive. I am still enjoying that blissed-out feeling from the weekend. And I’m going to go with it, for as long as it lasts.
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