CinnamonOpus Says

Fun With Spam

I love spam. Not the potted meat product (although I am sure it is lovely for some), but the junk mail one gets in email. I find it endlessly amusing.

BDH and I, on our long drives to and from infertility appointments, and sitting and waiting in parking garages for umpteen infertility treatments and blood tests, would laugh ourselves silly reading aloud some of the insane spam we would get. It certainly helped pass the time (and the many, many emails I got offering to help enlarge my penis certainly made for a running gag on the infertility front, of course.)

Nowadays, spam forms the bulk of a continuing email dialogue between The Guilty Squid and myself, which runs from surreal to silly.

Witness.

Steak and Flattery

From: The Guilty Squid
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 8:48 AM
To: CinnamonOpus
Subject: Hmmm…

Ralph wants me to stuff my pockets with MONEY - EVERY day!!!
Lisa tells me the secret to looking 14 years younger is a better love life.
And Vic Dobner wants to give me free Omaha steaks.

Money, youth, love and good food.

Must be my lucky day.

From: CinnamonOpus
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:02 AM
To: The Guilty Squid
Subject: RE: Hmmm…

That Lisa? Is nothing but a FLATTERER. I tell you TRULY.

But how can one not accept the generous offer of one Vic Dobner?

From: The Guilty Squid
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 11:10 AM
To: CinnamonOpus
Subject: RE: Hmmm…

Honestly, I would like nothing more than to name someone Vic Dobner. Best. Name. EVAH.

********************

Friends vs Stalkers

From: CinnamonOpus
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:57 PM
To: The Guilty Squid
Subject: Thank doG for Sidney Jennings

Because I got an email from him saying “Relax. Take a deep breath. We have the answers you seek.”

I just feel SO MUCH BETTER now.

And, I mean, why would I NOT trust Sidney Jennings? Has he ever lied to me before? Oh, I think NOT.

From: The Guilty Squid
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 10:31 AM
To: CinnamonOpus
Subject: Re: Thank doG for Sidney Jennings

Nicole Costner is BASTARD people, I tell you truly.

She just asked me, “Kelly, What’s wrong with your face?”

Bitch.

From: CinnamonOpus
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 11:08 AM
To: The Guilty Squid
Subject: RE: Thank doG for Sidney Jennings

Whoa. That’s the second time she’s lipped off at you.

Stalker.

********************

Insults and Unusual Offers

From: The Guilty Squid
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 8:53 AM
To: CinnamonOpus
Subject: I must look as bad as I feel

I’ve had a terrible head cold this weekend.

To top it off, what do I see in my inbox this morning?

Steve wants to know (Steve, you ‘member, member? You ‘member. He was so NICE to me last week.) how I like carrying “THAT MUCH CELLULITE”.

And Tami Hohn wants to know why I have “Body Drama.”

Truly, I’m hating these people today.

From: CinnamonOpus
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 11:17 AM
To: The Guilty Squid
Subject: RE: I must look as bad as I feel

Oh that’s no good. They’re all ganging up on you, hitting you when you are down! The BASTARDS.

But I guess “body drama” is better than “body trauma”. I think they’re all just jealous; your body is DRAMATIC. Theirs is ORDINARY.

And, at least they’re not offering you a “herbal solution to bigger manmeat”. I don’t even know what that MEANS.

********************

Rude Spam or Charity Drive?

From: CinnamonOpus
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:30 AM
To: The Guilty Squid
Subject: Is this suddenly an epidemic?

Joe Bell emailed me to say “Help Stop Premature Ejaculation!” And I am concerned – is this now a widespread problem? An epidemic? Is this a foundation that needs my support? Will telethons be happening? Will there soon be commercials with men with big teary eyes saying “This is Larry. He’s quick off the gun. With your help – for just pennies a day – you can give him the sex life he deserves. Help Larry smile again. Give now. Give generously.”

I live in fear.

From: The Guilty Squid
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1:03 PM
To: CinnamonOpus
Subject: Re: Is this suddenly an epidemic?

I fear the pamphlets with the cartoon mascot drawn gaily upon the front.

April 30th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Fun Stuff, Good Reading | 2 comments

Cold Snap

It’s cold here this week. Although it’s bright and sunny outside today, it’s going to be a week of cold temperatures, below 10 degrees, and rain (they were calling for flurries! –  ACK! — but that has passed) before warming back up to the high teens and twenties on the weekend.

So that means we’re inside for the week. And the natives are getting restless.

Our cats are relatively simple creatures in terms of day to day stuff. They have a routine, and they like to stick to it. Changes in routine are met with concern, confusion, peevishness… almost always expressed in a loud vocal fashion by certain members of the committee.

The change in routine brought on by the cold weather is that the windows are closed. Now, to an indoor cat, open windows are a source of great amusement. They like the breeze. They like to sit in the window and smell smells. And they watch birds and bugs, and leaves scuttling across the lawn, and it’s endlessly fascinating. So when the windows are closed, the indoor cat is suddenly BORED. Their schedule is OFF. They are DISPLEASED.

And their displeasure is voiced in one very tiny yet very loud kitty doing the rounds of the house, shouting her head off.

I’m being stared at right now, which is a welcome change from the last hour or so of hollering around and around the house, up and down the stairs. She’s like one of those trucks with a loudspeaker on it, roaming the neighbourhoods and blaring messages to all and sundry so loudly as to be incoherent.

But right now, it appears that she feels a campaign of intimidation is her best bet. She’s sitting across the room on the box that holds Mystery Baby’s high chair, staring at me with a LOOK on her face that would shoot daggers, if she knew how, and if she knew what daggers were.

It’s as if she’s trying to use the power of her mind to WILL ME into opening a window. Or maybe she’s calling upon all her powers of kitty telekinesis to 1) open a window and 2) cause my head to explode. It’s hard to say.

As soon as I look at her or make a move, she starts lipping off again. So I am careful not to move more than is required to work on my laptop and periodically reach for my coffee. If any sudden or large movements are needed, I wait until she is lost in thought or taking a moment to doze.

I am careful to keep my eyes hidden behind my laptop. Do not look directly at the Bubby.

The chill outside brings about a fairly frosty reaction inside, our own personal cold snap.

April 29th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Cats | no comments

Dream Analysis

Did you ever have a dream that just made you think, “Huh. Really.”

Because I had one last night and let me tell you, I am extrapolating a whole bunch of things from it.

I dreamt last night that I was at a bakery. (You can tell this is a dream because it is all written in italics.) It was run by an unpleasant sort of old man.

Now, BDH and I both pride ourselves on the fact that we are, on the whole, pleasant to service people in our day-to-day lives, because 1) they probably don’t deal with a whole lot of pleasant people in the course of a day, and it certainly doesn’t cost us anything to be nice, and b) that whole “be good to others and they will be good to you” thing. So I was nice to this old guy, but he was having none of it. I was chatting and he was just a grim-faced bastard.

But despite his cold demeanor, there were a lot of tasty-looking items in the bakery. And I am a sucker for tasty baked goods. And there were these biggish chocolate chip cookies in the display that I thought would go over well at our house (likely because earlier, before bed and in real life, BDH and I were watching a movie and thinking how good some chocolate chip cookies and milk would be.)

So, finally, I asked the old guy for a dozen of these cookies. He started to get them together into a bag, and then he started chatting with me. He told me that the cookies were not his best batch — he thought they were a little overdone. And since there were a little over a dozen and a half left, he was going to give them all to me for the cost of a dozen cookies.

Well, I was chuffed. First off, I was thinking, “Finally! The old guy’s ice is starting to melt! I have won him over with my charm and friendly manner!” because he was talking to me and all. I was giving myself, like, mental high-fives and stuff. But also, I was getting a whole bunch of cookies for the cost of a dozen — SCORE! So I was all cheerful and thanking him for being so kind and all that.

He handed me the bag of cookies.

“That will be $150,” he said.

I was stunned. But I didn’t say no, or refuse to buy them, or anything. I just handed over my credit card and paid.

And then I was walking around for the rest of the dream, fretting over the cost of these cookies. Cookies which had cost the same as a week’s groceries.

So this morning, I’m thinking to myself, “Self, this? Is a very interesting dream. A dream which could reveal much about you.” So, let’s do a little amateur dream analysis, shall we? (Like I know anything about that stuff. Or even believe in it. But whatever. It amuses me.)

1. I must make chocolate chip cookies today. This? Is certain. Priority number 1.
2. Perhaps I have an abnormally deep affection for the baked goods. Is this a warning? Are these very expensive cookies a sign that I am eating too many things that are not healthy and they are bad for me? That perhaps they will cost me a lot in life?
3. You cannot win over cranky old men. They are old, and they are cranky, and they don’t want to be not cranky. And I bet they don’t want to be not old, either. Bastards.
4. I need to work on my conflict resolution skills. I didn’t want to make a dream cranky old man mad at me or make a scene by saying I would not buy the cookies. Am I that much a sheeple, that I don’t want to offend people by saying, “No, that’s ridiculous, I will not pay for that”? I think I might be. I mean, they weren’t even their BEST COOKIES. And I was paying big. I’m such a schmuck.
5. Is this a metaphor for the big tax bills, both income and property, that I have to pay today? Well, I am paying out a lot of money, and it’s not like I am complaining to the cranky old tax man about it or refusing or anything.

Whoa. That’s deep. I’m getting really good at this dream analysis thing. Go, ME! More mental high-fives! Eat your heart out, Freud. (Okay, maybe not so much Freud. A bad example.) Take that… Jung?

Now, let’s look at BDH’s analysis of my dream.

1. “You’re so weird.”
2. “I’m not letting you go shopping alone anymore.”

He has a point.

April 28th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | 5 comments

Friday Fun: Just Stuff

Today’s a bit overcast, with a possibility of a thunderstorm this morning, although it might get sunnier by this afternoon. And I am feeling kind of blah. A little tired, a little uninspired, a little lazy… you know those days. Add to that a little bit of peevish, and a bit of stress, because I have to go sign our taxes to get them sent in, and that means we’ll be paying out a whole bunch of money we don’t have. So my day is feeling like it’s going to be a little bit of everything.

And so when I was thinking of what questions to do for our Friday Fun today, it was much the same. There was just a little bit of this, and some of that, and a few of those. All just a mix of stuff, really.

So I ask you:

1. What snack would hit the spot right now?
2. What jewellery are you wearing?
3. What’s one unusual or different place you’d like to visit?
4. Have you ever taken dancing lessons of any kind?
5. What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream?
6. Can you whistle?
7. Do you sleep on your back, your stomach, or your side?
8. What’s your favourite way to eat eggs?
9. What’s the best skin cream you’ve ever used?
10. I can totally wear this out for lunch today, can’t I?

At least I get to go for lunch with BDH after we get our taxes signed.

April 25th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Fun Stuff | 5 comments

Hope Springs Eternal

You’d think we’d learn. But no. We stroll headlong into situations where we are willingly going to find ourselves disappointed. It’s like we are genetically programmed with a really strong stupid gene.

We have a house in which our little, elderly, often sickly cat has left her mark on the world numerous times over by peeing on the walls. Not just the walls, mind, but any vertical surface she can back her bum up to. For reasons both medical and behavioural, she’s stunk the joint up but good.

In recent years, she’s been better. Part of this is because we’ve addressed the health issues behind the peeing. Part of it is because we keep her in the luxury kitty cage for the entire night and whenever she is unsupervised, to curb the peeing but also to encourage her to eat and put some weight on. And part of it is because we watch her like a hawk and divert her whenever we think she is looking for a place to happen.

But recently, she peed in a most inconvenient place: the cat tent. Now, this is a cheap $12 nylon tent from Ikea, but the cats? They LOVE it. They have all their toys in it. They play in it all the time. (We call it “going camping”.) It is endless hours of amusement.

And Bubby peed in it. Recently. At least twice. The little bastard.

It’s disappointing when that happens because she HAS been getting better, for the most part. And we’ve been really vigilant about cleaning up after her. And we have shampooed carpets and washed walls and baseboards and, for the most part, gotten rid of the smell. Of course, cats can smell pee that is — literally — decades old. So we keep going over the same spots, trying to get rid of it all.

So today, I was out at the vet buying cat food, and I saw they had tents on sale. $30 fabric tents. Luxury camping. So I related the story of the peeing and the Ikea tent and how I want a new tent but can’t rationalize paying $30 for a tent that’ll just get puncture holes in it and barfed in and peed all over.

And the office manager mentioned a new cleaning product they had, an enzyme cleaner that they use for all their pee stink needs. Only $18. And she said that it works like a charm for them, and it’s the only thing they use.

I was skeptical.

Over the years, we have seen it ALL in terms of cleaning products when it comes to cleaning up after Opus. We’ve tried soap and water. We’ve tried Lysol. We’ve tried all sorts of household cleaners for all sorts of surfaces containing all sorts of ingredients. We’ve tried OxyClean. We’ve tried those crazy-ass orange extract-y scented cleaners. We’ve tried other enzyme cleaners. We’ve tried cleaners that basically said, right on the bottle, “LOOK. THIS CAN EVEN CLEAN UP AFTER TINY TABBIES WITH BAD ATTITUDES AND RIDICULOUSLY POTENT PEE.”

And yet? Has a single solitary one of them worked?

YOU go sit over there in the corner and take a nice long sniff, and you tell ME.

SO.

Did I just turn and walk away, safe in the knowledge of experience? Did I tell her no, and keep the 18 bucks for groceries? Did I make a deal whereby I would pay her only if it worked?

Oh no I did NOT.

I walked out of there with a big ass bottle of enzyme cleaner, with promises that if it works for the vet’s cleaning needs, it will work for US.

And I came home, and started scrubbing the tent, and wiping some walls, and testing it on stains on the carpet. It’s still early. The jury is still out.

I am not optimistic.

What a maroon.

April 24th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Cats, Everyday Life Stuff | 3 comments

Spaceship Boy

Duncan has taken to sitting and playing in a plastic storage container. We call it his spaceship. He runs and makes flying leaps in and out, he takes his toys in there, or sometimes he just has a little rest or a little bit of quiet time in there.

It’s in the foyer. It was supposed to be there only for a few minutes, but he enjoys playing in it so much, we just left it there.

April 23rd, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Cats | 3 comments

Do Gooder. Freak. You Make the Call.

I don’t answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize. I don’t. I don’t want to talk to telemarketers, and I don’t want to deal with scammers, and I don’t want surprises. So if the phone rings and I don’t recognize the number on my caller ID, I let it go to voicemail.

So today, the phone rang. There was no ID on it; it was just a number. So… ringringring, and off to voicemail. And when the message popped up in my email, I checked it.

It was a woman looking for a company, one that I guess deals in those bouncy balloon castle things. You know, the ones you can rent for kids birthday parties and stuff? Anyway, she said she saw the number on a sign on a street, and said “So if I have the right number, can you call me back?”

Well, she clearly does NOT have the right number, for I do not deal in bouncy kids castle things. Not that I am against them, mind you — in fact, if they made them in adult sizes I would probably buy SEVERAL — but I certainly don’t sell them.

But I was standing at my computer, so I looked it up. And sure enough, the company is here in town, and the phone number is one digit off our home phone number.

So I called her back.

I told her that she had the wrong number, but I had looked it up, and I gave her the correct number. She seemed surprised, but pretty grateful that I took the time to give her the right number.

And I felt pretty good that I did something nice for a complete stranger.

Maybe she’s thinking back on the call and thinking I’m a bit of a nutter. Or maybe she’s surprised that somebody would be nice and just give her the correct information.

Either way — do gooder or freak — it works out well for both of us.

April 22nd, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | no comments

The Scenic Route

I took my car in for service today, which — because there is SO MUCH WORK to be done on my poor old car — meant that I had to drop my car off first thing this morning and leave it at the dealership all day. And that meant I have to get transported from and to the dealership by their courtesy shuttle in between.

Normally, I am not such a big fan. I hate the concept of driving around in traffic by a strange man in a strange van full of strange people, stopping of at all their strange places of work or homes or whatever. What’s normally a 10 to 15 minute drive stretches into a half an hour. It’s not fun.

But today, I didn’t mind it so much. It was a beautiful sunny morning, not too warm yet, and I was at the back of the van where I didn’t have to see all the traffic, and the window was open and it was nice and cool. I actually quite enjoyed it.

It was like a little trip down memory lane. Only, not really.

You see, I have always loved this town. Even growing up in the armpit of southern Ontario, I always looked at this city as clean and green and pretty. So moving here after coming home from Japan was a no brainer. The job offer I got was serendipitous, and I moved in and never left. And I still love it.

The problem is, I had forgotten why I love it so much. BDH and I used to live right downtown in a great apartment in a 100-year-old house, and I felt connected. But then, as families are wont to do, we bought a house in the suburbs and for the last few years, I have rarely ventured outside my small suburban area. And I didn’t realize how much I was missing.

I drove around this morning and looked out at the beautiful parks, and the river with it’s bridges over and trails beside, and at the lovely old buildings and houses, and at all the shops and stores… all these places I had never been. I had meant to get to know this town, and visit all these places, but haven’t had time or inclination yet. But to see them as I drove by, I realized that I missed the city a bit. I thought, this is why I moved here. But I am not getting out and enjoying it. So to ride around and be reminded was really nice.

It’s just so green and pretty here on a nice spring morning. I was glad not to be in a rush. Sometimes the scenic route is the best.

April 22nd, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | no comments

Shock and Horror, Not to Mention Pain

Another Monday has arrived, and not a moment too soon. For it has been a weekend of rude awakenings. A weekend of shocks to the system. A weekend where my comfy existence has been shaken, not stirred.

Okay. Maybe it hasn’t been SO dramatic as all that. But still, once I recount the events of this weekend, you will shake your head in knowing agreement and say “Tsk, tsk” in an entirely sympathetic manner to yourself, safe in the knowledge that is was not YOU, and for this you are grateful.

For my weekend involved (but was not limited to): excruciating pain, a glimpse into my own future, and a naked strange man.

Oh yes. That’s right.

A NAKED STRANGE MAN.

I know.

(This is going to be a LONG one. And involves nakedidity and toilets, among other things. So be forewarned.)

First, let me start from the beginning, for that is a good place to start.

On Friday, as I mentioned in the Friday Fun, it was 25 glorious degrees outside, so it was a good day to do yardwork. So I got out the various tools of the yardwork trade: my little weed basket, some hand tools, a rake, some gloves. I started by cleaning leaves and debris out the front garden and trimming the shrubs which had been so unceremoniously chewed down to nubs by the rodents over the winter. Then I raked the front lawn of all the dead grass, and moved to the back lawn and raked a little bit of that as well. But the back lawn is too big, so I decided to clean out some gardens. I pulled leaves and dead grass and some early weeds out of the side garden. I started on the back garden, pulling weeds and trying to get a start on taming the unruly periwinkle which is slowly taking over.

While I was working, Duncan was at the screen door watching. Now, Duncan is a big boy, but he has a very quiet little baby voice. He chirrups and peeps rather than your standard cat meow. So he sat at the window and peeped and squeaked at me while I worked. I wandered to the back garden. And I heard this strange noise. It was a cat, but none of the cats I know. I know all my cats’ sounds, and this one was unfamiliar.

And then I turned around and realized: it was Duncan. He had found his “big boy” voice, and he was shouting for all he was worth for me from the window.

It was odd. It was this strange yodelling, and a volume I was unaccustomed to hearing from our baby boy. Now, for whatever reason, all our cats speak in “sentences” and “paragraphs” — rather than utter single meows like most cats do, they often string a whole bunch of sounds together, like “meowmeOWmyowMEEEEEowmyowmyowMEOWmeow”. It’s quite a cacophony when they all get going. And so, here was Duncan, hollering in paragraphs in his big boy voice from the patio door.

I laughed. Silly woman. I didn’t know.

When I got tired, I went inside. And when BDH came home from work, I went out to help him bring his gear inside (as I have been doing of late, since he has his arm in a splint). And when I turned from the car to go back into the house, there was Duncan, trotting off across the porch, through the porch rails, and racing away between the houses for freedom, tail in the air and looking as happy as Larry.

Little bugger had ESCAPED. All that yelling had been him stating his NEED to go OUTSIDE.

None of our cats are allowed outside. We believe there’s no need to let cats outside — they are perfectly content inside, they live longer and healthier lives as indoor cats, and the world is too dangerous a place for housecats. But they still WANT to go outside, from time to time. This phase passes, but Duncan is still very young, so that has not happened yet. Thankfully, I caught up with him without too much trouble, and ushered him back indoors with much scolding. And we all settled in for the evening.

On Saturday, we were getting up early to go to Buffalo for the day, so I thought it best to get to bed early. My arms were a fair bit achey from the day’s work, particularly my forearms, so I took some extra strength Tylenol before heading to bed. But I could not get to sleep, and the pain in my forearms was getting steadily worse. After an hour and a half of tossing and turning and trying to sleep away the ache, BDH came down to go to bed. I was exhausted, and by this time, my arms were really sore. The pain started in the ends of my fingers, and throbbed all the way down each finger, through my hands, through my wrists and into my forearms, right up to the elbow. And I was irrationally tired.

So BDH got some ice packs from the freezer, wrapped my arms and hands in them, and read to me until I was ready to go to sleep. Finally, around 11:45, I was ready for sleep.

At 1:30 am, I woke with a start. The Tylenol had worn off, and I was woken by pain. This was excruciating pain like I had never felt in my life. Here’s the thing: many of the pain receptors in your body are concentrated in your hands as an evolutionary early warning system to protect the body from danger. So when I tell you it was hurting, every. single. nerve. in my hands was feeling it. I was in wretched shape, and seriously considering waking BDH up to take me to the hospital.

But I knew that it was just strain from the yard work, and they’d laugh me out of the ER. Hells bells, even BDH was saying I was a pansy. So I took some extra strength Advil instead, and an antihistamine — hoping it was enough to knock me out. And I went to bed with my arms wrapped in more ice packs and a freezer pack clutched between my hands, like I was praying (for pain relief or death, I didn’t care which).

I slept through the night, and got up the next morning very, very early. And I ate Advil for most of the day, which was actually quite a good day.

But it had been a long day, so yesterday we just planned to relax around the house and watch movies. So at intervals during the movies, one or both of us would head downstairs to get beverages and food and whatnot. And on one of these jaunts downstairs, mid-afternoon, I thought about how nice and sunny it was outside, and we still had our curtains drawn. I decided to pull the curtains so the cats could sit in the sun.

I opened the curtains to see our neighbour, suntanning naked, on his back deck.

EEK. I was, to say the least, stunned. Fortunately, he was lying on his stomach, so the damage to my retinas, not to mention my psyche, was minimal.

I have seen men’s bums before. Truly. However, generally speaking, they were bums I actually WANTED to see. Not bums of 50-year-old neighbours. I mean, EW.

I went up to the bathroom. BDH was using the bathroom, so the door was closed.

“Ummm?” I said to the crack in the door. And then, since the windows were all wide open, I very quietly related to BDH what I had just witnessed.

“You want I should go down and close the curtains again? While you go bleach your eyeballs?” he asked.

I thought it best. And I went upstairs and tried to dispel the image from my mind with a whole lot of snacks and John Cusack (who, to his credit, in the 20-something years in which I have been the unrequited love of his life, has yet to show his nether regions on film or otherwise. It is a relationship that works well for both of us, I feel.)

I slept hard last night, what with the not sleeping on Friday and the long day on Saturday and the ocular trauma on Sunday. And I got up this morning and headed into the bathroom, as one is wont to do when one gets up. And, as I went to sit down, as one is wont to do at times like this… I felt a searing pain through my knee. And I crashed down onto the toilet seat with a thud.

Just the act of bending my knees and supporting my weight to sit had caused me real, significant pain. And when the time came to get up, it was no better.

I’ve had bad knees since my late teens, the result of many years of hard sports training and an incredible amount of pounding during years upon years of jumping. So knee pain is familiar. But lately, it’s been getting worse. And suddenly, the future flashed before me: Grip rails on the wall beside the toilet. A house without stairs. Knee replacement surgery. My future looked pretty inevitable, and — let’s face it, my vanity kicking into high gear — pretty nasty.

I shuddered. The future is almost here. And I am GETTING OLD.

So, no walks for me today. Safe to say, no gardening either. And the doors will stay closed, in case any errant cats feel the need to explore. Probably I should keep the curtains drawn, as well.

April 21st, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Cats, Everyday Life Stuff | 2 comments

Friday Fun: Spring has SPRUNG!

WHEE! It’s going to be 25 degrees today! I am SO going outside, baby! WOOT! Meh, I’ll probably rake the lawn. But STILL.

Plus, we’re heading to Buffalo tomorrow so it’s shaping up to be a FAB weekend!

So our Friday Fun today will be outside and spring-like and warm.

1. Tell me 3 pretty things you can see from your window.
2. Choose: strawberry shortcake, fruit flan, or angel food cake?
3. What’s your favourite type of bird?
4. What’s the hottest place you’ve ever been?
5. Choose: hanging baskets, window boxes, or ceramic pots?
6. If you’re enjoying a little time outside relaxing, where’s your favourite place to sit?
7. How many adult beverages does it take for you to start feeling sleepy?
8. What’s a good picnic lunch for you?
9. Choose: Butterflies, ladybugs or dragonflies?
10. What should I start with: raking the lawn, moving the perennials, or edging the garden?

YAY! Spring is here!

April 18th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Fun Stuff | 3 comments

Blender Head

It’s another day with not much to say. But today, it’s because I’m having one of those days where there’s a lot on my mind — but it’s all disjointed thoughts, swirling around. I’m not making much sense of them, or at least nothing coherent to write down. It’s one of those days when you have a case of (as one of my ESL students used to call it) “blender head”.

(”Blender head”. Heh heh. Still makes me laugh. But so apt!)

Today’s blender head revolves around baby things and adoption things and family things. So here are some of the things swirling around my blender head this morning:

• I was searching for my Cow Bag (It’s a small bag made of cow-pattern fabric. Duh.) this morning, which I use when I walk to hold my keys and my inhaler and kleenex and whatnot. And I found the journal I started for our baby on the day I found out I was pregnant. I read a couple of entries, and it made me so sad for that woman. She was so full of hope and expectation and she wrote something to her baby every day. She told the baby how she was feeling and how big the baby was and all her hopes and dreams. Of course, the journal ends abruptly around the 10 week mark when I miscarried. It made me cry, and just goes to show that although adoption is going to be a great way to grow our family, the mourning for infertility and things never to be and babies lost never really goes away. Adoption is not a replacement, a sudden erasing of the pain of infertility. It’s just another wonderful path on the road to family. And it drives me a little crazy when people think (with the best of intentions, mind you) that now that we are adopting, that everything is magically all better and we’re never going to be sad about infertility again. It doesn’t work that way.

• On a side note, I think that experience plus infertility treatment made me a bit better equipped to deal with the waiting involved with adoption, because all the disappointment taught me never to get my hopes up for anything.

• On the flip side, BDH made me belly laugh the other day when he said he’s quite excited about adopting. And one of the reasons is because when he looks at our collective medical histories — including, but not limited to, asthma, allergies, diabetes, bad knees, bad backs, high blood pressure, heart disease, MS, strokes, and various sorts of cancer — he doesn’t want to pass that much bad genetics on to ANYONE, thanks very much. DUDE. Maybe it’s a good thing we’re not reproducing!

• I used to resent the way that once many women had babies, they were part of the Special Mommies Club. And as a childless woman, I was suddenly left out of the loop. I wasn’t fit to socialize with anymore. And I was one they decided would be a good choice to work late or on taxing projects at work because I didn’t have a family to go home to. Stuff like that drove me crazy. It’s especially bad on my street. But today, as I came out onto my porch to work, and saw two of the Queens of the Special Mommies Club shouting greetings at each other and baby talk at each other’s kids, I was actually kind of GLAD I’m not part of the club. (It doesn’t stop the club from letting their kids play all over my front lawn or congregate on the sidewalk outside my house, though. What, do these mommies have infertility radar or something?)

• I read articles in the news, like a recent piece in the Globe and Mail about adoption where they glibly say things like Africa is becoming the new China. And they post quotes about how people are shopping for kids, and how money is the big motivator, and they always trot out the celebrities and act like it’s all a fashion thing. Sure, there’s positives in it. Of course there are. But it’s also got its fair share of sensationalist information, too, and this is what most people seem to cotton on to. And it strikes me how much bullshit these articles spread about along with the interesting factoids. And it makes me so angry that these sorts of things, inadvertently or not, colour the public at large’s opinions of international adoption and fuel their biases.

• I can hear my lovely neighbour’s 8-month-old twins crying their eyes out next door, and I admire how she keeps an even keel. I used to have such silly girl thoughts about how much fun it would be to have twins (”Instant family!” “Matching outfits!” “Blah blah blah!”) and now I just think how hard it must be. I wish I could offer to help sometimes, but she’s a pretty private person and I don’t want to intrude. And I don’t want to be pushy, and come off like the crazy infertile neighbour desperate to care for a baby. And part of it is, I think sometimes she’s got everything under control, and the crying and screaming are just part of their everyday routine, and she’s coping just fine. So I don’t.

• I feel like a failure at the mommy game sometimes, because seriously? I just Do. Not. Want. to face cleaning and decorating that room. Am I a bad mommy-to-be? I suppose I am. But it’s the last thing I want to do right now. It just seems so… forced. There’s no baby to prepare it for yet. I am not excited. So why pretend? But then, we’ll get a call from the agency that’s going to smack me upside the head like a sock full of bricks.

• There are so many things we want to do to get ready for impending familyhood, but this year the tax man has ensured that this will NOT be happening, as he’s asking us for a gobsmacking amount of money when we file our taxes. The tax man is a BASTARD (and not in a good way, either). It’s a good thing our child will be too small to notice that we do not have gates up on our backyard or a finished patio or whatever until at least next year. And by that time, we’ll be able to claim our adoption stuff and THEN? I am making the tax man my bitch.

April 17th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Adoption, Everyday Life Stuff, Friends and Family, Infertility | 2 comments

The Post In Which I Have Completely Run Out of Things to Say

There are days when I sit down to write in my comfy Ikea chair, with a mondo mug of coffee beside me, laptop on my lap, and… nothing. I draw a complete blank. My head is totally empty of ideas and my soul is completely free of inspiration.

Zero. Nada. Nyet. Nothing. A complete void.

It’s a totally average day here at the House of Peevish. So what is there to write about on days like this? I have no adoption news to tell. I have no adventures in cat management or stories of delectably baked goods or misadventures of human interaction. It’s Wednesday, and even garbage day has been uneventful so far — although The Mayor is strangely not at work today, and has been overly attentive to his garbage this morning, so there may be something there. But I am afraid to go outside for fear he might spot me and — *gasp* — feel compelled to speak to me.

And it’s too early to have actually DONE anything yet. Well, unless you are Duncan, in which case there’s been plenty of time to poop a giant poop and then run around the house like a cheerful Tasmanian devil, bowling over elderly sisters and leaving puncture wounds in human feet and skidding across the tile, finally collapsing into a semi-alert fuzzy mass in a sunbeam in some improbable yoga position. Or Bubby, who has had breakfast AND second breakfast already, and had been down into the basement several times to yell at the litter boxes.

I am sure there are many people, too, who have been very productive by this time and are positively brimming with inspiration and ideas. Like my lovely neighbour, who has no doubt gotten all three of her boys up and out, as well as gone for a 5 km walk, cleaned her house to a shine, baked a cake, and built an addition on her house by now, all while looking fabulous. But it is still on the a.m. side of the clock; ergo, I am still about as alert as a soap dish.

So what does one write about when lacking inspiration?

Considering I broke the blog last night (although thankfully not the ENTIRE internet, as I am so often wont to do), and we were up until half past holy-crap-it’s-late futzing with computers, I guess it’s a good thing I am able to post at all. So you would think I’d be raring to go and full of stories and information. And yet? Not so much.

Could I complain about not having gotten a referral yet? Sure. Could I moan about all the work that I want to do around the house? Of course. Could I bitch about the hit we have to take in taxes this year from cashing in investments for our adoption? Undoubtedly. Could I post a laundry list of the thirty million things that have to be fixed on my car? Sure. Could I write One. More. Time. about the minutiae of my life? Well, obviously. Could I be ANY MORE BORING in doing so? I doubt it.

Oh well. I guess there’s just nothing to write about today.

But if I come up with something, I will let you know.

April 16th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | 5 comments

Random List of Randomness

• I love listening to podcasts. (I’ve said that before, haven’t I. Oh well. Go ahead and skip down if you want.) From the yoga classes I do online, to listening to Stephen Fry while I go for a walk (as he advises to do) to watching Gorgeous (and brilliant) George on The Hour while I make dinner, podcasts are a fantastic thing. It’s just like all the things I love about radio, without the commercials. And with better sound. And on the computer. Okay, so not EXACTLY like radio. Maybe like what radio could be. And TV too. The variety is tremendous, and I can choose whatever I am in the mood for whenever I want. And it’s free.
• My sports bra is broken. The wire is poking out at one end and stabbing me in the armpit. And it’s a really great bra, too. I hate when that happens. Damn.
• I didn’t win the pet photo contest at Canadian Living. Damn again. Oh well. I shall console myself with the fact that they OBVIOUSLY don’t know from cute pets.
• Today is a good day to make cookies.
• My seeds have sprouted! Well, 50% or so have, anyway. I have tomatoes, and basil, and dahlias, and cockscomb, and gazanias… hopefully we’ll see some more before too long. I have to set up an indoor greenhouse this week to put them all in to growgrowgrow over the next two months, which may or may not be a pain in the whatzis. The plastic cover is in the garage, no doubt being peed all over by Adventure Mouse. And the greenhouse framework is currently being used as a shoe rack in the hall closet. Le sigh.
• Every last one of my cats is full of beans today. It’s going to be one of those days. I can feel it.
• I’ve got to get out with a shovel and do some digging soon. In my garden. I have perennials I want to split and move and a garden I want to enlarge and edge. I suppose a plan is in order.
• Do you ever get a craving for something to eat even though you are not hungry? Just now I thought “ooh, French toast would be FAB” and yet, I am not hungry. Sometimes I just like the IDEA of food, I think. Maybe I should invent flavoured sprays to spray in your mouth so when you get a craving you can just go “PFFFFT — MMM! French toast!” without actually eating anything. I bet I’d make a fortune.
• Inventing something would require science and math. Science puts me to sleep (unless it’s of the MythBusters variety, in which case things are getting blown up, and that is GOOD) and math makes no sense whatsoever to me. So I think inventing is not in my future.
• The baby’s room has been cleared out to the point that you can go in there and walk around. There’s still an extra single bed in there, and the carpet needs shampooing, and the walls need painting, and all the furniture is leaning up against the wall and has to be assembled… but progress has been made.
• I have to go for my walk now. Ta.

April 15th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Random Thoughts | 6 comments

Enjoying the Moment, Even On a Monday

Here we are, another Monday morning. And it’s all right.

I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided: I don’t hate Mondays. Which is nice, since I have always hated Mondays. Probably because I always hated having to go wherever it was I had to go on Mondays.

That’s not entirely true. There were times when I actually didn’t mind Mondays. I didn’t mind Mondays in university, since I actually quite enjoyed university life. I was never a person who minded doing exams and studying, and I quite honestly liked doing research for and writing papers. So Mondays were not so bad. (Except for the waking up bit. Waking up on Monday morning still sucked.)

But I hated working in offices and I hated high school, so I usually dreaded Mondays, and the rushing around to get wherever I had to be after the weekend off. But there were two jobs I had where Mondays were okay. One was Japan, because I had Sunday and Monday off, so Monday was my day to go sightseeing or shopping or whatever. Since the majority of people were at work or in school, trains and shrines and temples and grocery stores were rarely crowded. The other was a job I had travelling to offices and training, because at least each Monday was a in different place with different people. So even if the office I was in turned out to be like the third level of Hell, it was at least all fresh and new on Monday morning.

But nowadays, Mondays are alright. I like the quiet that comes when everybody has gone off to work. And Monday gets me back into a routine, which I quite like. Get up, get BDH’s breakfast and lunch packed, load the dishwasher and get the laundry started. Get a cup of coffee and sit down and get some writing done. It’s nice. I feel productive on a Monday.

BDH is usually harried and stressed on Monday morning. Often running late, he has a hard time getting up and out the door. And his job is so busy it’s no wonder. I sometimes feel stressed because he is stressed, but there’s nothing I can do to help. And I feel guilty sometimes too, because he is running off to work and I am not. But then, my work is here, so the workday starts as soon as I get up. And it will be even earlier when Mystery Baby is here. So I guess it all evens out.

The cats like Mondays. Cats are creatures who like routine (even if that routine involves sleeping for 18 hours a day). They are happiest when their people get up at a predictable hour — in fact, there’s a crowd sitting waiting outside my bedroom door each weekday morning. They like the morning routine of being fed and queueing up for attention. They seem a bit confused on weekends when we get up late and BDH is home and they don’t have a routine. So I am sure they will be happy when Mystery Baby is here, too, because that will mean their routine will happen every day at a regular time — even if it’s upset a bit in the beginning.

So we all kind of breathe a sigh of relief on Monday mornings. And we have time and quiet to think.

I’m really trying to live in the moment a lot more. I sometimes sit for a moment and think how grateful I am for these days. I never really took the time to appreciate things like I do now. When I was working in an office, it was all too rushed and stressed to take any time, and besides, it was such a nightmare for me to work in a corporate environment that there wasn’t much to appreciate. But now, I can sit here and enjoy moments like this. I can sit and appreciate the quiet. I can spend a few moments and snuggle The Bubby, knowing that there will not be these moments forever. I can watch Lucy snooze in a sunbeam.

Sure, life’s not perfect. We can’t buy stuff like we used to. Our house is smaller than our friends’ homes and our furniture needs replacing. There are things I’d love to do around here, like finish the basement, and things we have to do and can’t really afford to, like finish the patio and put up some gates on the backyard. My car needs a ton of work, and we have to find cash for that too. We’re older than we want to be, and not as fit as we’d like to be, and feeling our age. And we’ve been waiting for children in our family for far too long.

But all in all, I am enjoying life way more than I ever have. Or maybe, I am appreciating it more than I ever have. We used to have money to buy whatever we wanted, and we weren’t happy. We used to be young and fit, and we weren’t happy. We used to be busy and running all the time, and we weren’t happy. So I am savouring this time. It may not last forever.

I hope it lasts a while longer, though, because this is the most content I’ve felt in my entire life. And this is who I want to be when we bring Mystery Baby home. (Okay, maybe a BIT more in shape, but STILL.) I want to raise a child who knows a contented family life and happy parents. We may not be the richest family on the block, and we may not be perfect, but I hope we will be among the happiest.

Even on a Monday.

April 14th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | no comments

Friday Fun: Variety

It’s a rainy, cold, windy day here at the House of Peevish. That’s April for you — warm and sunny one day, cold and blustery and rainy the next. But it is not snow and so that is a good thing.

So it’s a mixed bag here at the Friday Fun, just like the weather. A little warm, a little cold, a little good, a little bad… Variety is good.

1. What’s your favourite rainy day activity?
2. Have you got any flowers coming up in your garden yet? What are they?
3. When doing yardwork: bucket hat, baseball cap, or Tilley hat?
4. Are you afraid of heights? (as I watch a repairman climb on to the neighbours’ roof, and contemplate getting out there myself someday to fix the siding…)
5. What bugs do you think are the ugliest bugs?
6. What’s your favourite thirst-quenching beverage?
7. Stone patio or wood deck?
8. What colour is your umbrella?
9. When’s the last time you turned a somersault?
10. Should we drive to New York this weekend to watch a tournament, or stay home and do stuff around the house?

And now, I am off to visit the ever-magical Miss Isabella (and her mom and baby brother). We are off to Toys for Us (which is her name for it, and really — isn’t that more appropriate?)

April 11th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Fun Stuff | 3 comments

Hm. There’s A Surprise.

Things I learned today:

• Little wee rodents under great big snowbanks can really do a lot of damage. Witness the shrubs in my front garden, fully half of which are gone to make food and shelter for the voles.
• Duncan likes vanilla yogurt.
• “Good afternoon” is a silly thing to say when you pass someone while walking. “Good morning” — fine. “Good evening” — no problem. But “good afternoon” just sounds wrong.
• Our most excellent neighbours will be moving within the next 5 years to accommodate their growing family. Already I am sad.
• It IS possible to grocery shop with less than a hundred dollars. But don’t expect it to be a week of really good meals if that hundred dollars includes laundry soap, milk, cheese or pop.
• Lots of annual flower seeds sprout really, really quickly.
• Cream of wheat is a good idea in theory.
• It is significantly cheaper to hire a live-in nanny than it is to put 3 kids in daycare and after-school programs.
• Many people’s social chat is one-sided. They’ll tell you all about their life, but they rarely show any genuine interest in the life of the person they are talking to.
• Apparently the world is clamoring for wheat. Signs in my grocery store tell me the rise in prices for flour is directly related to the world’s geopolitical climate. I was looking for baking supplies, and got a lesson in economics.

April 10th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | one comment

Rebel Without A Clue

So. I woke up crabby today.

VERY crabby.

Part of it is that I woke up with a really bad headache. And part of it is that I even woke up at all.

Now, you KNOW how much we love our DVDs here. We have hundreds of DVDs and most of them we have watched multiple times. So, perhaps staying up late last night to watch a movie that we’ve seen — let’s be honest, here — probably 50 times (!!) was not the smartest thing we’ve ever done.

But it was Hot Fuzz. And if you’re going to stay up overly late to watch a movie, you have to admit, that’s a good choice. So we stayed up and had popcorn and laughed.

And I woke up this morning very tired and crabby. Part of the crabby comes from the tired. And part of it is because I am insulted.

Seriously. When did I get to be such a big pansy? “I stayed up late! OOOH! OOOH! Look! Look how LATE it was!”

Sheesh.

What the heck HAPPENED to me? What have I become? I used to be a night owl. I did my best work late at night, I had energy and liked being up. Now look at me. I have a headache. I’m dragging my arse. I’m bitching and moaning and complaining.

What a big PANSY.

I know I should not have stayed up so late, but we were having fun. And it never USED to be a problem. I USED to be able to stay up late and function on little sleep and throw caution to the wind.

So, this is what it’s like to be a responsible adult. Is THIS how it’s going to be? Is it? Because I tell you, I am not liking it ONE. BIT. I sound like somebody’s PARENT.

BAH.

I’m going to go do some cartwheels in the yard.

AFTER a nap, of course.

April 9th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | 5 comments

Help Yourself

You can’t turn your head for one. second. in this house.

I am sitting in the living room writing my blog posts. I’m sitting in my comfy Ikea chair with my laptop on my lap, supervising various and sundry cats — specifically Opus, making sure she doesn’t pee on anything, and waiting while she eats breakfast, and second breakfast, and elevenses, and what have you.

We’ve all been here for, what, half an hour. And it’s been mostly uneventful.

I settle my laptop comfortably, since I’ve got 3 or 4 posts to write this morning, and I set my coffee cup down beside me on the tile floor. And I get to writing.

Periodically I glance up to see what Herself is up to, which is mostly milling about the room, smelling smells, and having a bath. So I can focus on the task at hand, which is a press release that I need to post this morning on one of my vball blogs.

I look up and look for Opus. She’s not in the room, apparently.

I look over the arm of my chair.

Bubby is sitting on the tile beside my coffee cup with coffee all over her face and paw. There’s a puddle on the floor around her paw. And little coffee-flavoured footprints on the floor.

She’s licking her lips.

And her paw.

“Mrph?” she says. Which, I assume, roughly translates to “What??”

She’s apparently been enjoying a cup of coffee. Her little hand is all brown. And her chin. And she’s all happyhappy.

And I’m not drinking out of THAT cup again today.

April 8th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Cats, Everyday Life Stuff | 4 comments

Ow. Bright. Warm. Ow.

Today was my first walk of 2008! Taaa daaah!

No, it’s not like I haven’t walked AT ALL this year… but this was my first walk outdoors, around the neighbourhood. I’ve walked indoors, and in fitness facilities, and on treadmills and stairs… but this was the first day of warm springlike weather in which to enjoy the first of many neighbourhood walks.

For the past few years, weather permitting from spring through fall, I would get up each weekday morning and walk, usually anywhere between 4 and 8 km. I always enjoyed my walk time — well, perhaps enjoy is too strong a word, as my feet hurt or I got blisters or my legs became dead weights or I would sweat like a sweaty thing that sweats. Enjoy might be overstating the pleasure a bit. But it was certainly nice to get out and enjoy the weather, and have some quiet time to think and listen to my headphones and have no other pressing worries for 45 minutes or so. Walk time also depended on weather. The hotter it got, the earlier I walked. But it was part of my weekday routine. And I have kind of missed it.

So today was my first walk of this year. And here are my thoughts on the occasion:

• Ow. My everything hurts.
• And it hasn’t been sunny and warm since 2007, so I felt a bit like I had just crawled out of a cave, blinking and unsure.

But it always feels so good to be DONE. My muscles and joints ache in that delicious feeling of a job well done. A shower is a luxurious reward. And when I crawl into bed tonight, I’ll be more tired than normal, and that is always nice.

And the nice thing about walking is, I can try to incorporate it into my daily routine once Mystery Baby is here. It’s something we can do to get out and about for a bit. Babies love to go for walks (well, the majority do… hopefully Mystery Baby will too). It calms them when they’re upset, it’s fun for them when they are bored. And as for mom, it’s a bit of fresh air and exercise and — be honest — stress relief. To get out and stop the crying, or get out and see something besides the four walls of your home, or just get out and clear your head and get perspective — it’s all a good thing.

So here’s to the first step of many, and many walks this year!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go soak my aching everything in a hot tub.

April 7th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Adoption, Everyday Life Stuff, Fitness and fatness | one comment

Gardening, Of Sorts

Today is The Day. Yes. I know you have been waiting for it all year, and it is finally here.

It is the day I plant my seeds for this year’s gardens!

Can you feel the excitement? I thought so.

Yesterday we ran some errands and BDH and I had to stop in at Canadian Tire. I mean, it was 15 degrees outside. It was sunny. Who wouldn’t want to start the gardening? So we searched high and low throughout the store until we found a tray of seed starters. We looked at packets of seeds to see what inspired us. (Nothing, really. We were searching for roma tomato seeds and there were NONE to be found.) And I decided today would be The Day.

So, seed starters on the table, I mapped out this year’s vegetable garden. I always overplant. The problem is, you always have to plant more seeds than you actually want in plants, in case some don’t make it. And when you buy already-established seedlings, you get flats of 4 or 6 or whatever. And I cannot bear to throw away a perfectly healthy seedling — so I end up finding space for them all. But there has been a decree of absolute certainty handed down from BDH this year: Only FOUR tomato plants. (HA. He’s got a hope!) Other than that, it’s up to me.

I have no idea what to do this year. Tomatoes, obviously. Roma, oxheart (the best for sandwiches!) and some sort of cherry tomato variety. Also, basil is a must, because I make pesto and we love to have garden-fresh pesto all year round. And we like green onions, and they take up little space, so that’s easy. I tried onions last year, but harvesting and storing them was an absolute disaster, so I don’t think we’ll do them again this year. And potatoes are usually easy, so maybe a few potatoes. But the rest? No idea.

I’ve also got to get my flowers started. I have wildflower mixes, and I like to get some of the flower seeds from out of the mix and plant them specifically if I can. Like calendula — the first couple of seasons I had the most glorious big orange and yellow calendula. I harvested the seeds, but forgot to label them. So now I have to search the internet to try to find pictures of the seeds. Also, there are things — insidious plants that take over the garden — that, while pretty, I definitely do NOT want in my wildflower mix, like cornflowers (also known as bachelors buttons), so I have to “weed” those seeds out. And coreopsis. I’ve had a buttload of coreopsis in years past and I want something else.

And we mustmustmust have cockscomb and cape daisies (the ever-gorgeous osteospermum — BDH likes the purple ones) and gazanias. In fact, any sort of daisy works. And of course, pansies are one of my favourites.

I also have to try to remember plant names from years past. Two years back, I had a planter that contained a flower whose name always escapes me. But it loves the sunshine, and it’s bright and multi-coloured, and kind of like a succulent — I love it. Anyway, I just left the planter alone over the winter, and last spring, I noticed that this particular flower had re-seeded itself. I was In. Heaven. So I got a bunch of the seedlings and transplanted them to the front garden. They were fantastic. But now, if they don’t re-seed again this year, I have to remember what it’s called so I can go find it again. (ED: I found it! It’s portulaca!)

I really need to start writing stuff down. Don’t you think?

So today, since BDH is away with friends Defending The World From The Forces Of Evil, I have the house to myself. It’s quiet and sunny. It’s the perfect day for starting my gardens.

But first, to the internet! I have research to do.

April 6th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Craftiness, Everyday Life Stuff | 2 comments

Friday Fun: Take That, Mother Nature

So, Friday Fun is late today, because I am peevish. Because — and I know you will be SHOCKED to hear this — IT IS SNOWING AGAIN. It won’t last. It started out big and fluffy and wet, and has turned bit ice pellety, and will probably be all melted by mid-afternoon… but that is Not. The. Point.

It is snowing. And I am underwhelmed.

So. Let’s move on to the Fun and try to cheer ourselves up, shall we? Let’s defy the weather. Let’s go with something fresh and springy and warm as a theme. Let’s just pretend that the snow I am seeing is an illusion fuelled by too little coffee.

So tell me:

1. Lemon, lime or grapefruit?
2. Crocuses, daffodils or tulips?
3. Crocs, sandals or flip flops?
4. Washing windows, pulling weeds or painting the house?
5. Potato salad, pasta salad or cole slaw?
6. Apple blossoms, forsythia or lilacs?
7. Sidewalk chalk, bicycles or balls?
8. Chaise, hammock or Muskoka chair?
9. Grilled chicken, steak or fish?
10. Wildflower mix, cut flower mix or something specific in my back garden? (And if you have some suggestions, I’d love to hear them.)

So there. Mother Nature may be a cranky old bee-otch this year, but I don’t care. I’m thinking of more pleasant things.

April 4th, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Fun Stuff | 9 comments

Inching Closer

Adoption Journey - Day 440 (That’s 1 year, 10 weeks, and a bit)

So, I picked up the mail the other day, and there, in my mailbox, was an envelope from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services/Community and Social Services — so, provincial government.

I was curious. Qu’est-ce que le hell?

I didn’t even wait until I got home. I sat there in my car and opened it. And it was a Letter of No Objection from the Ontario government, addressed to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya.

I confuse.

I thought, wait a second, we had to get a Letter of No Objection during our homestudy. A knot of panic started in my stomach. I thought, surely to doG this document has not been sitting in transit on some bureaucrat’s desk ALL THIS TIME? Surely it hasn’t taken them over 6 months to get this done?

So I emailed our agency.

Now, let me pause here and say, because I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, that our opinion of our agency has much improved in recent times. Our horridly unhelpful and uncommunicative adoption worker no longer works for our agency, and our file is now in the hands of a new adoption worker with years of experience and a VERY helpful demeanour. We have been THRILLED with her. BDH chats with her almost weekly and she is always helpful.

So within one working day of my inquiry to her, our worker emailed back and told us that this document isn’t the original, but rather one that is required as part of our immigration paperwork. She told us that the Letter of No Objection is essentially the province’s agreement to treat your future child as an equal part of your family and a resident of Ontario. And, if they have this document before we get our referral than they can begin our immigration work as soon as we accept the referral.

Look at us! Ahead of the curve! Whee!

Needless to say, the knot of worry vanished. As a matter of fact, it was replaced by cautious optimism when I read the line:

It is great timing! I look forward to having something even ‘GREATER’ for you soon!

I can’t tell you how those words jumped off the page. I forwarded the email to BDH and that was his first reaction, too. “Do you think she’s trying to give us a hint about something?” he asked.

Probably not, I conceded. It’s not like they get advance warning that a referral is coming. It just arrives on their desk once things are done in Ethiopia, from what I understand. So it’ll happen when it happens.

But here’s something to chew on: In a recent conversation with our worker, BDH was trying to feel out how long we still have to wait. “So, within the next two months?” he asked, trying to give her a ballpark. “Oh yes,” she told him, with an indication that two months was more than enough time for us to see our referral.

I know that they cannot promise anything. And I know that there are no absolutes. And I know that, when it comes to starting a family, the worst possible thing to do is to get one’s hopes up.

But still.

It’s kind of hard not to be optimistic after this sort of news, don’t you think?

April 3rd, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Adoption | 11 comments

The Do

I got my hair cut and coloured yesterday. So I share with you The Do:

It looks quite red in this picture, but actually it’s a lot darker than it appears in the photo (when sunlight and a flash are not a factor). I kept the peekaboo highlights despite the fact that wearing my hair up in two ponytails gives me a peculiar skunk stripe on the back of my head. Such are the sacrifices of beauty, n’est-ce pas?

(I think I pulled a muscle taking this picture. I had to use our big-ass camera with the big-ass zoom lens on it and so I was holding my arm WAAAAY out while trying to push the button with my thumb…)

April 2nd, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | 7 comments

And Another Thing

Adding to the madhouse today… The neighbour has wind chimes. And it’s really windy outside today.

It’s like living next door to an insane ice cream man.

That is all.

(But at least my hair looks fab.)

April 1st, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | one comment

Madhouse

Good doG, it’s a madhouse here this morning.

Technical support calls for BDH. Cat fights. A noisy washing machine. A yelling Opus. Telemarketers and other phone scams calling. A Very Bad Kitty who is running around like he’s hopped up on a bucket of caffeine.

It makes a person want to run away from home.

I think I will. I am going to run away and get my hair cut. And coloured. Three hours away from the madness. Can you imagine? It sounds like bliss.

A haircut is definitely a nice way to get away. A few hours of peace and quiet. But you can’t do that all the time.

I need a plan.

I want to learn cat hypnosis. So when they are driving me crazy I can just make them doze off. Although swinging a watch in front of a cat seems counterproductive. An invitation to play MORE.

I want to buy one of those old-fashioned rotary-dial phones. So when telemarketers call I can lift the receiver and put it right back down again. Ha HA! Take THAT! That will stop the endless useless phone calls.

I want to win a few million dollars. Then BDH won’t have to get support calls at home anymore. Heck, even if he did, we wouldn’t be here to hear them. We’d be in some tropical paradise on holiday.

Oh well. Looks like a haircut is going to have to do for now.

At least the time at the salon will relax me enough that I won’t be ready to slap someone when I stop in at the grocery store on the way home.

April 1st, 2008 Posted by CinnamonOpus | Everyday Life Stuff | 3 comments