Friday Fun: Simple

5 Comments

Categories: Adoption, Everyday Life Stuff

Knowledge — Good and Not So Good

Knowledge – The Good

I’m sorry, I can’t write much today. I am planning on being very busy. Using my DISHWASHER. *insert heavenly choir here*

After spending the best $100 I’ve spent in years, $8 of which was a part that I now know how to fix myself, my DISHWASHER. IT RUNS. IT WORKS.

I spent the evening saying nice things to it and apologizing for bad-mouthing it for years. And running a load of dishes. (Just one. I didn’t want to push my luck.)

The service call was the best money I’ve spent in awhile. The problem was exactly what I learned about when I researched it online and in repair manuals and whatnot. It’s one of the most common problems with this sort of dishwasher. Only at that time, I did not know what to look for or how to fix it. So this terrific repairman showed me exactly how to see if the part needed changing and how to change the part. And for an $8 part, next time it happens I can fix it myself.

All I wanted was to know how to fix it, and now I do. Well, that’s not entirely true — I also wanted to have the damn thing work again. But that sort of comes after knowing how to fix it.

And now I do. And I am happy.

********

Knowledge – The Not So Good (well, today, anyway…)

We found out last night that we have a new adoption caseworker. Our uncommunicative former caseworker has left our agency, and we have a new one. And in the space of 24 hours, we have received at least 4 emails, most of them chock full of information. (I know. You’re marvelling, aren’t you. We got COMMUNICATION. From our AGENCY.)

Anyway, BDH was so chuffed, he called and introduced himself to our caseworker, who he says is very nice.

And in the course of the conversation, he has learned that we are — and I don’t know the exact phrase, but I will give you the gist of it — “near the top of the pile” of families waiting for referrals.

So this is good news, yes?

Well, you’d think so. But to me, today, the words “near the top of the pile” meant “more waiting”.

I have been hoping we were AT THE TOP of the pile for some time now. Not NEAR, but actually AT. We’re well and truly past the projected wait time for our referral, by almost a month. So I was anticipating a “YOU’RE NEXT”.

Of course it does not work that way. There’s no way of knowing when Mystery Baby will be in an orphanage, cleared to be adopted, and it will be decided that we are to be His (or Her) Parents and he is to be Our Child.

But we have been waiting so long to have a child, to grow our family. That ALMOST is not close enough. Almost means we are waiting more.

And I lost the plot, as they say. I had a bit of a meltdown.

For the last little while, BDH has been frustrated and despairing of ever seeing a child in our lives. I’ve been the one who has been patient and joking about the realities of waiting. But today the tables turned, and while he was full of optimism after his chat with our new caseworker, I burst into tears of frustration.

Not “now”, like I had hoped. More waiting.

It has been 5 years since we began trying to have a family. It has been 5 years of waiting and frustration. And I was just not ready to think about Waiting. One. Moment. More.

What was predicted to be a 9 month process when we signed on to adopt is turning into a two year odyssey. And I am tired. It is hard to keep putting your dreams on hold for another week, another month, another year. It is hard to maintain enthusiasm and optimism and patience.

So I had a meltdown.

I know it is silly and unreasonable. But I am tired. Waiting is trying.

So although it is a bit of very good news, it does not feel that way today. I’ll have a good cry, and get it out of my system. And I’ll have perspective again tomorrow.

Feb

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Waiting, of a Different Sort

I am waiting again.

No, not for the results of any infertility-related tests. No, not for paperwork. No, not for a referral.

I am waiting… FOR THE DISHWASHER REPAIRMAN. *insert chorus of angels singing here*

I am actually excited at the prospect of the repair guy coming and looking at this stupid machine. *glares at it with contempt* Not just because it might ultimately mean we will have a dishwasher to use again, but because I want to LEARN something.

You see, when this thing first busted, I tried to fix it myself. I was really excited about the prospect of fixing it, or at least trying to. I researched it on the internet. I got out the tools and I bailed out the water from the bottom of the machine and I climbed into the machine and started tinkering.

I didn’t find anything. In fact, I was completely clueless.

And it made me mad.

I really wanted to figure it out. I want to be one of those SAHMs who can just get things done. Someone who can just troubleshoot a problem and fix it. I want to be able to be more self-reliant.

But this dishwasher is just beyond what I know right now.

So I want to learn. I want to ask the guy questions and see what he is doing and figure out how the damn thing works. I want to know what to do. I want to be able to deal with it next time, if I can.

I’m not necessarily going to tell him that, though. I mean, it’s not good to tell your repairman to tell you how to fix things yourself so ultimately you never have to call him again or pay for his expertise.

(But also, if I am honest, that’s another big thing — I am cheap. So fixing it myself is cheaper than calling someone.)

So here’s hoping sometime today this dishwasher problem is resolved. And I can say goodbye to my dishpan hands.

And say hello to a little more self-reliance.

Feb

2 Comments

Categories: Random Thoughts

A Little Bit of Random

Some random for you today:

Apparently it’s possible to have a phone number with all zeros. Even the area code is 000. You know how I know this? Because whoever it is calls me every. flipping. day.
There’s a product samples lady in my grocery store who has been sent to me from heaven. The first time she was there, she offered the tastiest tomatoes ever. But the next time? DARK CHOCOLATE. And she gave me 3 pieces.
Everyone has their limit. BDH’s came shortly after looking at the massive pile of dirty dishes on the counter on Sunday night, after having washed dishes by hand for the past 2 months. And he threw up his hands in surrender and called a repairman to come look at our dishwasher. Or we’ll replace it, whatever is a more reasonable cost.
Because of this past point? BDH is my hero.
I no longer believe we are actually in the process of adopting. It’s just been too long a wait. I think what’s happened is that I’ve just had a really elaborate dream. And I’ll wake up and Bobby Ewing will be in my shower alive and well. And he’ll tell me it’s all been a dream. And that I shot J.R. And Mr. Burns, too. AND the sheriff. (But, as you may have guessed, I did not shoot the deputy. Phew.)
I drank the last of my Bailey’s in a mug of coffee the other night. I feel remorse. For it would be nice to have coffee and Bailey’s right now.
Doing a couple of gentle classes of yoga is sometimes just as good as doing one of the classes where Chaz kicks my ass.
It is not possible to get tired of A Year in Provence. Or if it is, it’s certainly not after the first several hundred viewings, because we watched it again on the weekend and loved it just as much as always.
Even 6 months later, I’m still totally grateful to BDH for buying me an iPod for my birthday and introducing me to the addictive world of podcasts.
I’m in the mood to eat something. Something hearty. When I figure out what it is, I’ll get back to you.

Feb

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Slacker

I was a slacker on the weekend. There was so much I could have/should have been doing and did not. I was feeling… blah.

I find it hard to do anything in February, especially on the weekends. I just want to hibernate and sleep. I don’t want to go out and face the cold. I am tired and worn down from weeks of overcast skies. I feel little motivation to do anything much except… well, nothing.

And watch movies. We tend to watch a lot of movies when we get like this.

I find the only things that intrigue me are more stationary pursuits. Like this weekend, I spent hours and hours building some Sims and some houses for them to send along to my niece. I did some knitting. I cleaned up some files on my computer. And I watched many hours of volleyball (which, admittedly, is part of what I do for my other writing jobs, so technically it’s not really slacking off. But I WAS curled up in a corner of the sofa. You be the judge.)

Anything that meant I could just sit like a bump on a log for a while.

I think I am simply one of those typical Canadians who gets a mild case of SAD each winter. I feel a little lethargic. My mood tends to be a little down. I start feeling bushed by the dog days of February. And then March comes along and the sun peeks through and the temperature climbs, and I’m itching to get back outside and get moving again.

So it’s a matter of getting through the winter and waiting for those first hints of spring.

I envy those people who enjoy the winter and have no trouble getting out and doing stuff. I’m not one of those people. A big thing for me has been the commitment to shovelling the driveway this year. It’s more outdoor time than I am used to spending.

I’m sure that if we ever have kids things will be different. Kids can provide instant motivation for mobility — often because being cooped up for endless days with a restless child is like one of Dante’s levels of hell. I can plan swimming lessons and build snowmen and that sort of thing to get out and about in the winter. I did that when my niece was small and it wasn’t too bad. (And the cheap-o in me can justify spending the money on swimming lessons or other diversions for a child, as opposed to spending the money on myself.)

But for the time being, I am a slacker. Although now that it is Monday again, there’s little time for slacking. There’s too much to be done after a weekend of being curled up on the sofa.

Feb

Categories: Fun Stuff

Friday Fun: Here. Have This.

Here’s a chance for you to use your imagination a bit. If someone gave you each of the following things, what would you do with it?

If someone gave you…

an additional $100 in your bi-weekly budget
a pound of fresh blueberries
a pirate hat
a notebook and a new pen
100 kilos of sand
a CD of oldies music
a gift certificate for $100 at a hardware store
a packet of seeds, type unknown
10 pounds of uncooked pasta
a laundry basket full of Lego
a website/blog

…what would you do with each of them?

Feb

2 Comments

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Work-Related Stress

Yesterday I felt overwhelmed.

Now, I don’t work outside the home anymore. So saying I was overwhelmed would strike some as a little silly. There’s this mythology out there that just because you don’t go into an office and bring home a paycheque, your life is somehow stress-free. You sit at home on the couch in front of the television and watch soaps and eat bonbons.

So, yeah… all you stay-at-home moms and retirees and people with home businesses… your life is so cushy, right?

Hardly.

I am as busy now with work as I ever was going into an office. It’s just a different kind of work. I spend several hours of most days, weekends included, writing on several sites on the internet. And when I am not writing, I am researching. (2 of my articles that I write during the week — just the 2 of them — can sometimes take somewhere in the neighbourhood of 24 hours of research.) And when I am not doing that, there’s cooking and cleaning and laundry and shopping and errands to be done. Bills have to be paid. Heavier seasonal work, like shovelling the driveway and taking out the garbage and yard work and such (thank goodness for allergies I don’t have to mow the lawn!), also has to get done in its time.

So days can be a bit busy.

And someday, we’ll be adding the care and maintenance of a small, busy person into the mix of things to get done in the course of a day.

Don’t get me wrong — I LOVE things this way. I am so fortunate to be able to have things this way, with a husband who supports what I do and goes out to a job that he loves each day. I would not trade and go back to the walking dead life I used to lead in an office for anything in the world. I used to have to do the bidding of incompetent, foolish bosses and do unfulfilling, meaningless work and work long hours to make other people money. Now, although some would say my boss (me!) is still a bit questionable, I do work that I enjoy in a place I like to be. Sure, I don’t get paid (yet), but I am happy. And since I am halfway through my time on this earth and you only get one chance at life, being happy is a pretty big thing.

But still, despite all that, there are days that are harder than others.

Some days there are just so many things to be done. I feel snowed under with tasks sometimes. I have a list of writing projects stuck on the one side of my computer. On the other side, I have a “to do” list of things to be done around the house. I have a grocery list going elsewhere.

I am getting behind in my writing projects. My house looks like a bomb went off inside it. My cat won’t stop yelling at me. I haven’t regularly done yoga in weeks. The water softener needs to be filled with salt. And we’re out of milk.

So yesterday, I just plonked down on the sofa and had a wee bit of a stress-induced, hormone-fuelled meltdown. And then I got up, put the shrieking cat in her cage, put the lists away, and did about an hour of yoga.

It’s good. Every now and again I need to be reminded, like those stupid people who think that stay-at-home moms and retirees don’t have anything better to do with their time that sit down with a drink and an episode of Oprah, that I do WORK. And I work hard. And sometimes it’s okay to get overwhelmed and up to here with stuff.

And that I need to have a more understanding boss who lets things slide a bit sometimes. And possibly, sets out less demanding schedules of things to be done. And maybe makes shorter lists.

Feb

3 Comments

Categories: Adoption, Everyday Life Stuff

To Giraffe or Not to Giraffe

Well, I guess I must believe somewhere deep down that we actually WILL get a referral and, by extension, bring a child into our family, sometime… because I actually bought something.

I got a message from my dear friend Heather — she of the magnificent Miss Isabella and mom to my adorable little nephew with the cute hat — who told me that she had been perusing the Toys-Backwards-R-Are-Us* flyer and there were some good sales… specifically, on high chairs.

Not just ANY high chairs, mind you. This one had GIRAFFES on it.

Now, people who know me know I have become enamored of the giraffes ever since our baby-making odyssey began, and carried through shopping for our Mystery Baby. So the thought of a high chair with giraffes on it… WELL.

Let’s just say I was EXCITED.

But one of the real bummers of adoption is the RULES. As an adoptive parent you have safety inspections and fire escape plans and bolting bookshelves to walls and whatnot that biological parents don’t have to worry about. So my first thought, whenever I want to get something big — any big baby-related purchases — is “will the social worker find something wrong with this?”

I hate that. It really takes the fun out of shopping.

If it had been my biological child, I’d have bought the giraffe high chair in a heartbeat.

But because we are adopting, I thought about brand names and safety ratings and all that crap. And this giraffe highchair was a brand name I had never heard of before. It was probably completely, 100%, absolutely baby safe and passed any and all safety tests. But I didn’t recognize it. So I decided to pass.

But then I started looking around and found, as serendipity would have it, another high chair — sans giraffe, but a well-known reputable brand name — at the same price as (or just slightly lower than) the giraffe high chair. Cute, but bland, and with the same features as the giraffe high chair. And a brand name that I felt confident would pass even the stringent safety standards of our social worker.

So I bought it!

We now have, I am somewhat surprised but pleased to say, a high chair on order, to be delivered sometime this week or next. A high chair which will hopefully have a baby sitting in sometime before we retire. Cute, functional, and social-worker-friendly.

But I would have loved the giraffes.

*Lifted unashamedly from Dave Barry. I think.

Feb

3 Comments

Categories: Adoption, Cats, Everyday Life Stuff, Holidays

Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned

Just so you know… the Apocalypse is upon us. (I am only telling you this because I care, and I want you to be prepared. But it IS coming.)

Now, you may ask yourself, how do I know this?

I had always thought there were Four Horsemen to warn of the Apocalypse. Turns out, it’s actually FOUR CATS.

Oh yes. FOUR CATS.

And I saw them this morning. (Well, starting last night actually, when Cinnamon climbed up onto my bed and actually SETTLED IN as opposed to behaving like a GIANT WEENIE.)

There are definite signs:

Lucy ate CAT FOOD this morning. (I know. I hope you are sitting down.) The most finicky cat in the universe ate what was OFFERED.
I bribed Bubby to eat by giving her a couple of teaspoons of the high-test regular cat food instead of her special diet food. She thinks she has pulled a fast one on me, and has been positively HAPPY and JAUNTY all morning. NARY A SHOUT TO BE HAD.
The aforementioned “Cinnamon-doesn’t-behave-like-a-weenie” incident of last night.
Duncan was actually SCARED by something this morning, and is now walking around with the poofiest tail I have ever seen. He’s like Pepe Le Pew over there.

Oh, there are other signs, too:

BDH did all the dishes yesterday. Voluntarily. Cheerfully.
We have a LONG WEEKEND in FEBRUARY. Like I have been wishing for my entire life.
I am getting significantly more sleep with my mask on these days.
It’s still early days, but it looks like this may actually be a month in which we are spending less than we make. And in a tax month, too. (I know. Crazy. Staying within budget. Us. Hard to imagine.)
BDH ate TOFU last week. Happily. AND SQUASH.

But you KNOW the Apocalypse will be upon us if we get the biggest sign of all in the near future: A REFERRAL. If that happens… well, all I can say, is pack some water and canned goods and run for the hills, man.

Feb

6 Comments

Categories: Fun Stuff

Friday Fun: Colour Me Bored

As you well know… I am NOT a fan of The Winter. I’m Up To Here with shovelling snow and more shovelling snow. I’ve had enough of the storm and melt and storm and melt winter we’ve been having. Everywhere I look is…WHITE. I am TIRED of the WHITE.

So in today’s Friday Fun we need to liven things up a bit! Get some colour everywhere!

Here goes:

Name 2 pieces of clothing you own that are red
Tell me your 3 favourite yellow foods
What colour is your car?
Name 3 things you can see right now that are green
What kind of photographs do you prefer: black and white, colour or sepia?
What colour tastes the best?
What colour is the trim on your house?
Tell me 3 pretty blue things
What colour are your eyes?
I need to start knitting a baby blanket. What colour(s) should I choose?

A splash of colour here, some thing bright there… ooh, things are looking better already.

Feb

Categories: Adoption, Everyday Life Stuff, Friends and Family

Stupidity, Saying Sorry and Some Shakespeare

Allow me to quote a bit of Shakespeare on this fine morning, from one of my all-time favourite movies, Much Ado About Nothing:

Leonato: Neighbors, you are tedious.

Dogberry: It pleases your worship to say so, but we are only the poor Duke’s officers; truly, for my own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find in my heart to bestow it all on your worship.

(I love that movie. It is beyond awesome. But I digress.)

Well, I wake this morning to find myself a bit of a Dogberry, having been quite tedious to a poor unsuspecting virtual neighour last evening.

(“What the hell are you saying?” you ask yourself at this point in the story. “Speak English, woman, or I shall go look at People.com instead.”)

Okay. So… Yeah. I was a bit of a boob yesterday, and now is my turn to apologize.

Our agency did something really dumb yesterday. I can’t say what, exactly. And it was an honest mistake but still… really dumb. Anyway, I was all ranty and peevish and waving my fist at the world in righteous indignation.

Call it misdirected frustration at this endless wait for a referral. Whatever.

Anyway, did I react in a rational manner? Did I take a cool and considered look at the issue and address it appropriately? (As BDH did…)

Oh no I did NOT!

So what did I do instead? Well, I fired off a disjointed missive of futile peevishness via email to another waiting adoptive parent, the awesome and ever-marvellous Nicky. Who, I am sure, looked at this email in her inbox and thought “who is this raving nutbar and why is she bugging ME?”

And so, Miss Nicky, in the cool light of morning, after a cup of coffee, I say: my sincere apologies for venting spleen into your inbox.

Nobody needs to come home from work and find an email from a crazy person. It sets one off one’s dinner.

(Although in my own defense, I was hopped up on sugar from eating a bucketload of Quality Street chocolates. But that is no excuse!!)

So, to continue on the Shakespearean fool theme, take comfort in the fact that “though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass” and that I will “be condemned into everlasting redemption for this.”

And now that I have issued a most necessary apology — Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Oh… “And Master, sir, do not forget to specify, when time and place shall assert, that I am an ass.”

(And you thought you wouldn’t learn anything by reading this blog. HA!)

Feb

Kitchen floor conflict intensifies

Categories: Cats, Fun Stuff

And In Other News…

It’s the story of OUR LIFE here in a house full of Duncan and Lucy.

And, I’m sure, in the lives of any other multi-cat household…

(Except around here it would be more likely to be skirmishes over the warm spot on the blankie. Or the cat tent. Hard to say, really.)

Feb

1 Comment

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Insert Colourful Language Here

That. Is. IT. I have HAD IT!

Enough with the SNOW already! I’ve had ENOUGH!

I spent another hour shovelling out the driveway and the walk today.

I’m writing someone a very sharply worded letter about this. I mean it!

Feb

2 Comments

Categories: Cats, Craftiness, Everyday Life Stuff

Objectivity

I’m thinking of entering some pictures in a photo contest. The magazine I read is doing a Pet Photo contest, and goodness knows I take enough photos of mine. So I thought I’d enter.

The thing is, how do you choose which ones to enter?

It’s hard to be objective about pictures. Every photo I have of the cats is because they were doing something cute or funny or whatever, so I took some pictures. I think they’re cute. I think they’re charming. But I know, from looking at other people’s photos of their pets or their babies or their kids, that beauty is quite often most definitely in the eye of the beholder. Painfully so, in some cases.

Cute just doesn’t translate well in many cases if you don’t know the subject intimately. I mean, I love my cats, so everything they do is cute in my eyes.

The same thing goes for pictures of people. We are usually very harsh on ourselves when it comes to personal photos. Personally, I absolutely hate getting my photo taken. I avoid it like the plague. And that is because I am unfortunately really, really not photogenic. Not. At. All. Or maybe it’s that I am really that unattractive in real life and it’s only in photos that I actually am faced with it. Either way, there are precious few photos of me around. And I am horrified to the point of panic at the thought that others might have pictures of me in their possession. Seriously. It really upsets me.

So when it comes to choosing a photo based on the merits of “cute” or “attractive”, it’s hard to say what is and what is not.

Then I thought maybe I could choose something that is a nice photograph. You know, where there’s good light or the subject is framed well or whatever. But the problem is, I don’t know sweet Fanny Adams about photography. I realized in looking at all these pictures that I wouldn’t know a well-framed shot if it jumped up and bit me. I have no idea what it means to have good composition. I know when I see a photo in a magazine or a book that there are certain things that catch my attention, and that certain pictures are pretty, but I could not tell you WHY. And I certainly couldn’t say if any of my own pictures have those qualities.

So in the end I’m just going to choose some that I like best, and send them in. Because it’s just for the fun of it.

Besides, I don’t ever win any sorts of contests I enter — no winning lottery tickets, no shouts of “BINGO!”, no big stuffed teddy bears at the fall fair. Not. One.

So why enter at all?

Well, it’s simple. If YOU owned the cutest pets in existence, wouldn’t YOU want to spread the joy of seeing them around??

Uh oh. There’s that objectivity thing I was talking about…

Feb

Categories: Adoption, Cats, Everyday Life Stuff, Fun Stuff, Random Thoughts

Tagged Again

Well it looks like once again I’ve been tagged for a meme on the blogs, this time TWICE! Ricki and Shannon both tagged me to list 6 random things about myself, so here goes.

I get my hair coloured quite often. I like the change. Sometimes it’s lovely, sometimes it’s just a bit funky. I let my hairdresser do whatever inspires her. This month, it’s kind of a dark purply-brown with bright blonde peek-a-boo highlights underneath. I mean, why not? Hells bells, it’s only hair. It’s not life or death.
I currently have a pan of cinnamon buns and a loaf of cranberry-raisin Portuguese sweet bread rising in my kitchen.
I am afraid of fish. Not on a plate, where they are wonderful, and not in an aquarium, where they are quite pretty to look at. Just in their natural habitat. I won’t swim in lakes or the ocean because of fish. I won’t go on a cruise because the boat could sink and then I would be, if not most certainly dead, which would suck, then stuck out in the middle of the ocean with FISH, which would also suck. My thinking is, if whoever created this planet wanted us to actually BE where the fish ARE, he would not have covered it up with water. He would have made it LAND.
One of my feet is a full half-size smaller than the other.
I have wanted to adopt since I was a teenager. I never imagined that I would have kids that were NOT adopted, and Ethiopia always appealed to me. Early on, I just felt that one of my children would be born in Ethiopia. And my life has presented nifty connections with Ethiopia time and time again. I had students who came from Ethiopia. I did a post-grad project on Ethiopian language. I became fascinated with it’s position as the cradle of human life during class on Bioanthropology. Some of my favourite cultural icons have a connection with Ethiopia. Things happen for a reason.
I have dance parties with my cats.

Now, I don’t do a lot of social networking on the internet, so I don’t really have anyone to tag. But I can tag YOU — yes, YOU, reading this right now — so feel free to add your random things about yourself in the comments if you like.

Feb

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff, Fun Stuff

Friday Fun: A Loaf of Bread, a Stick of Butter…

I’m in charge of the shopping at our house. And that’s because 1) I’m less of an impulse shopper than BDH is and 2) I do the majority of the cooking and taking care of the house these days. And I go during the daytime, when people are at work, so it’s less of a chore than it used to be. I used to hate shopping.

One of the things BDH has said recently is that he wants to try new meals. He’s getting bored of our “usual” meals. And so we’re going to try different things, different recipes — if it works, great, and if not… well, we’ll file it under “experience” and move on.

But this requires a little more planning on my part. No more just going to the store and putting things in the cart on autopilot.

So let’s talk this week about shopping. Tell me:

Do you like grocery shopping? Why/not?
3 “big ticket items” you normally buy
Something you’re really good at cooking
Laundry soap: liquid or powder?
The best chicken dish you’ve ever had
2 unusual things on your grocery list
Your 2 favourite types of pie
3 things you can get in your grocery store that start with M
Pasta sauce: canned or homemade?
What’s one thing I should slip into my cart as a treat when no one’s looking?

Dang. Now I am hungry.

Feb

9 Comments

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Admit Defeat

Okay. I surrender. You win.

BASTARD WINTER!

In the middle of yet another stupid messy storm, I admit defeat.

I LIVE IN CANADA. SHOVELLING HAPPENS.

There. Are you happy now? Stupid weather.

And today, you can’t just dump a whole bunch of snow and be done with it, can you? Oh no. Not winter in Southern Ontario. OOOOOOOHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO.

You have to dump a mix of freezing rain, and ice pellets, and snow, overnight. Then, you stop at dawn so the morning commute is a big ol’ stinking mess.

THEN, you take a break for, what, 6 hours? Just enough time for me to go out and shovel all the heavy half-frozen crappy stuff off the driveway and the walk. And THEN you do it all over again, just in time for the evening commute!

Winter? You are a BASTARD.

Oh sure, Ninja Jack takes the opportunities to make cheerful-looking snowmen in the back yard. And while that puts a smiling happy face on winter, you and I both know it is ONLY TEMPORARY.

For you are a wintery cold bastard with no mercy for little boys OR their friendly snowmen.

You send rain and warm temperatures to MELT them.

You MELT snowmen, Southern Ontario Winter! You break the hearts of little boys!

I surrender. You win, you coldhearted bastard.

I’m staying inside where it is warm. Call me when it’s April.

THEN who’ll be in charge? HMMMMM?

Ha HA!

Feb

3 Comments

Categories: Random Thoughts

Rejection

Hey, you.

Yes… YOU! Internet!

I’m talking to you.

You’re so QUIET lately.

I mean, it ECHOES when I come in here, it’s so quiet.

You don’t write, you don’t call… nothing.

Is our relationship in trouble, Internet? Do you not feel for me the way you once did? Has the bloom gone off the rose?

Well you certainly don’t pay me much attention these days, that’s for sure.

Oh, I know… you’re busy.

You have a life, too. Right?

But I had grown accustomed to your boisterous, chatty self. You remember… we used to have quite a witty repartee going back in the day.

But now it’s all quiet.

Sigh.

Well, I don’t mean to be a bastard about it, but… all I’m saying is, if this keeps up, I am leaving you.

That’s right.

I’ll leave you and go back to my TV.

Feb

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff

Boob-Tube-less

I may have mentioned before — we’re a TV-free home. And we like it.

That’s not to say we don’t own a TV. We do. And we watch it regularly. But we only watch movies and old series that we own on DVD. We don’t have cable or watch any TV stations of any sort.

We just found that we were paying a lot of money for cable each month, and watching very little — if anything. Everything we wanted to watch, we had on DVD, or were going to buy on DVD, or watched online.

So we just cancelled cable, and we’ve been without for a year now. And we haven’t missed it.

Although, I must admit, we DO miss the Weather Network. I mean, it’s a uniquely Canadian thing to sit and watch a channel devoted to the weather. And let’s face it — in the Canadian winter, you need to know the forecast.)

But I had no idea how very TV-free we are until this past weekend. I was away for the weekend for volleyball work, and staying at a hotel. I checked in, went into the room, and got settled in. I put my stuff away, set up my laptop, futzed around. And it wasn’t until the morning when I was getting ready to check out that I realized, when I was walking by the TV, that I hadn’t even turned it on. Not once.

I used to be a road warrior for work, staying in many, many hotels in the course of a year. And the TV had always been there, on when I was looking for something to do, or for noise even when I wasn’t watching it. But not anymore.

I have other things to keep me busy. Books. Hobbies. Computer. People.

But we do love quality TV shows, or some that we just love for whatever reason, and those we buy when they come out on DVD. So yeah, we’re not saving the money we spent on cable, so much as relocating it. And although the inital outlay for a movie or series on DVD might be expensive, we are also the type of people who enjoy watching things over again. We’ve got movies and series we watch over and over again. In fact, our box set of Sports Night has been so well loved and watched so often, we’ve “worn out” the first episode on the first DVD and can’t watch it anymore. I didn’t know you could do that.

So we do get lots of value for our money. Mostly.

We do have a couple of duds. Real stinkers. Things we thought would be good and ended up being not so much. Things that we picked up in a fit of impulse buying. But generally speaking, we buy stuff we know we’re really going to enjoy.

We love our DVDs. I think we have well over 250 DVDs/series in our collection. (We have enough that I suggested to BDH we should start doing a podcast and reviewing all the movies and shows we own. He suggested that while this was an interesting idea, one actually has to be entertaining and have something useful to say in order to have a successful podcast.)

I know there are people who love their TV. I know people who have to have to TV on, no matter what they’re doing, and get hypnotized by whatever’s on as a means of relaxing and having a bit of mindless down time. I know people who have kids who park them in front of the TV for awhile as a means of getting a few minutes of peace and quiet and time to get things done. And that’s all great.

It’s just not us.

I don’t know who’s still on whatever reality show is currently popular. You won’t be able to switch on the game that’s on today. I haven’t seen Lost since they first got lost, although I do know that they have been lost for some time and that they are still, in fact, lost. And although I’m not sure what kind of peril Jack on 24 is in, I can guarantee you he’s probably still in some kind of peril.

So if you’re coming to visit us, and you love your TV, consider yourself forewarned.

Feb

Categories: Everyday Life Stuff, Volleyball

Working, Learning and Schmoozing

Well the weather cooperated and I did end up heading up north to Barrie, where I am doing some work and mainly trying to help out at a volleyball camp. Which means I’m doing odd jobs — spreadsheets of data, lists of people — and generally trying to help out wherever I can.

It’s not easy. I’m new, and the people I work with aren’t even from Ontario. So I’m mostly out of the loop. But that’s okay — they’re very nice people and I am just jumping in and helping out where I can.

I am learning how little I know about this game. I always had what you’d call a low volleyball IQ, but when you’re surrounded by all these people who do this for a living and know so much, it throws just how little I know into sharp relief. Sometimes, I’d love to just sit down with these people and ask a million questions. “Why is that…?” “How do you know…?” I want to learn.

But I watch, and I listen, and I hope to pick up a little bit here and there.

And there are coaches here from all over, people I have read about from places I have written about. I haven’t met any of them yet, but there is a meet and greet thing tonight. I’ll stop in, have a beer and some pizza, maybe meet a couple of people. I won’t stay long, likely. I haven’t got much to say.

And BDH could not come with me. It’s lonely, and I feel stupider when he isn’t here. When we coached together, he was the smart one, the one who saw all the details and figured out all the strategy. But he’s not here. No strategy filter. I’m on my own. I feel like when I was a player again — I wasn’t smart or strategic; I got by on sheer physical skill, so a lot of complex things just flew past me. And the same is happening today. It’s like watching a foreign language film without subtitles, and you only know bits and pieces of the language.

But it’s fun. It’s a learning experience. It’s a work experience.

Feb