Sand In My Camera

caused me to get a really good shot...the lens cover didn't open all the way, but it sure caught McGee whimpering after a bird in the feeder on the outside of the window!

Looking Forward To That New Car Smell

So I hope to sign papers this week to buy a new car. My lease is up next month, and I don't want to buy a car that has already been driven for 3 years in salty winters, so have decided to buy a special edition Toyota Corolla. This is not the color though. Mine will be indigo ink (dark blue). I wanted something really different but they don't offer much for some of their models...the usual fare - red, blue, silver, black, charcoal, silver, and some goldy color. I want a purple car! And not one of those dumbass purple neons that came out years ago...ick. Now how will I get all my bumper stickers off without ruining them...

I HATE HOUSECLEANING

So my 20 year daughter is living with me, and my home looks like a frat house because she is a slob most of the time. She admits it, and doesn’t seem too bothered by it. I am.

This weekend I had invited some newish friends over for a bbq on Saturday and was determined that the damn house was going to be CLEAN. I’m not OCD about it or anything, but I have certain standards. For one, I like clean floors, clean bathrooms, and a clean and tidy kitchen. I don’t dust, and I certainly don’t do windows. Some of this responsibility for a clean home should fall to my temporary roomie, particularly now that she wants me to treat her like an adult, and stop “nagging her”. Oh, ok. Then I have a lazy slob for a roommate.

Needless to say, most of the cleaning was left to me, because it wasn’t on “her schedule”. Fine, I want it done, they are my friends coming over…fuck it. I’ll clean. If only it had gone smoothly…

The floors were very dirty…this comes from both of us walking back and forth with our shoes on, and of course, the other three resident pigs in the home – the felines. There is cat food and (clean) litter scattered from one end of the house to the other. I think it sticks to their paws, and comes off when they walk…however it happens, they are pigs…not cats.

So I vacuum up the first layer of dirt, then sweep twice, then mop, then sweep again, then mop, then sweep again. In order to do an effective job, I move out all the chairs and crap off the floor to the living room. My roomie does not do this, so there was a great deal of dirt in hiding. While the cat food is up on the table, I see Stormy heading to the food bowl like the pig that he is. As it is, he is at the trough constantly as is Pig Gee aka McGee. I holler at him not to spill it, and shove it back from the edge of the table. The floors had just been mopped up for the second time and I was fucking tired, wanting to sit down. Well no sooner had I hollered at him when he pushed the bowl off the table onto my freshly washed floor. Let’s just say the volume was turned up then and animals scattered, and roomie trembled upstairs (probably with laughter as she is never afraid of me). Got that mess cleaned up and mopped again, then swept again. Dammit the floors are dirty.

The bathroom was done half-assed by roomie, and she didn’t finally get the floors cleaned until about 10 minutes before company showed up. The kitchen, well I had to clean it several times, as roomie thought I wouldn’t mind a few extra when she made chocolate chip pancakes. Her version of cleaning up after herself meant chuck all the dishes she used into the sink, and wipe out the frying pan and stuff it back into the cupboard.

In the end, the house looked reasonably clean, but I was cranky and exhausted by the time company showed up. Roomie likes to comment often that the Queen isn’t coming, just my friends. What she doesn’t appear to understand is that I simply like a clean house, and company coming is just the motivation to get the work done.

And of course the day was not complete without injury…roomie seems to have difficulty in understanding the concept of replacing a drawer into it’s proper slot WHILE making sure it matches up with the drawer guides. I wish I had known that she had taken one in particular…as it crashed to the floor, or should I say, my foot. Now I have some purple bruising on it. Nice. Thanks roomie.

At least my house is clean now. Now she is at home for the morning, and I just KNOW the house will be a pigsty again by noon…

New Look For The Weekend

Well, I went out tonight, which was great for a change. I went with some friends from work, and a few of their friends, which was also groovy. There were tales of night out in the past, um. What a bunch of drunks...heh heh...just kidding guys. Anyhow, what was cool about it was that I went to the same school at one point in my life as did 3 of these people, and with yet another, I knew a lot of the same people...and we are all in the Yukon together. L.'s wife, A. was also a military brat, and lived at one time in Chatham, NB as did I. Two of L.s friends who were brothers, were from Goose Bay, NL and graduated from the same high school that I did, which was very strange. I hadn't met anyone since graduating who had ever gone to that school in Labrador, and had only minimal contact with ONE friend that I graduated with. And I graduated with an aunt of the boys from Labrador. And then L. is from close by to where I lived at one time in Newfoundland, and we knew a lot of the same folks from that area. It is a small world for sure.

We ordered pizza from Pizza Hut while we were at the bar, which was weird. Some bars south of here are so uptight about you bringing even a chocolate bar in with you, and we had the pizza guy deliver to our table in this busy bar! I like the Yukon.

So we left the bar and headed down to the Sunstroke Festival at the Shipyards Park. I had to meet A. at her place of work, so only stayed a short time. The music was ok, and the crowd was quite young. I didn't stay long when I returned with A. as we then headed back to the bar for a few more drinks. I didn't have anymore as I was to be the DD when we finally headed home hours later. It was weird...the sun was still up while we were at the bar...it just went down shortly before we left, but only just so...it is still light out a 1:13am. They days begin to get shorter now, and I wonder if they will turn as fast as they got light...stay tuned...

So I have made some changes to my template and am working on it still, hopefully finishing this weekend. I hate renovations...very time consuming, but they are nice when finished...comments anyone?

Why You Should Get Married In A Church

Oh Those Newfies...Smarter Than You Think

Two small business men in Toronto are seated in their soon to be new store.. As of now the store is bare with just a few s helves.

One says to the other "I bet you 5 dollars that any minute a newfie is going to walk by, put his face to the window and ask what we are selling" .

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when sure enough a curious newfie walks to the window, has a peak and asked "what are ya sellin here byes?"

One of the business men (trying to be a smart ass) says.."Oh..we're selling assholes here" as he laughs.

With that the Newfie replies "Well I see you're doing really well, you've only got two left."

redesign blues

wasted entirely too much time tonight searching for a new template...so now I have ended up with a half redesigned blog...please be patient...maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow night. so sue me.

WTF

Via, what have you been up to?

Undesirable Guests

What would you do if you found out someone was reading your blog that was an undesirable guest? I know I am putting myself out there anyhow to the world anyhow, but it has come to my attention that an undesirable person who knows me, and certainly doesn't like me, has been reading my blog. Not too sure how he came across it, though I do have a few ideas...

I don't feel like I should be forced to move my blog, or censor my content. He is probably just looking for fault, something negative to talk about...which usually doesn't bother me anyhow. If that is his reason, it's pretty shallow and tells me he has too much time on his hands. I guess if anything, it feels like an invasion of privacy (I met this person through my previous job). In any case, I was just looking for input from others who may have encountered a similar situation, or if anyone has any suggestions. And as for YOU(you know who you are), get your own life and stop reading about mine. It won't help your situation. It just makes you look like a stalker...and the last time I had one of those, I called the police on them...he turned out to be a crazy man who lived in his van and like following people around.

so, other than for negative reasons, why would someone who doesn't like you waste their time reading someone else's ramblings? Life is too short to waste it on pettiness.

Working Girls

Well, Amber and I drove off to work together today...that was weird! She began her new job at a the garden/flowers/automotive centre of a local chain store. She seemed to like it so far today, whereas I couldn't wait to get the hell out of mine. It was hard in the first few hours, feeling quite disconnected after being away for 3 weeks and not hearing anything about what's up at work, which is both good and bad. It took a bit to get back into the train of thinking required but I got there, and cleared up a bunch of paperwork.

It was a sunny and hot day today, with the temp at 29C when I got home from work today...thankfully I had closed the windows before I went to work this morning so it's nice and cool in the house.

Amber will be working until 5 pm now, starting at 9am, so close to mine and should make things easy enough. No real change to my own schedule, and I am chauffeured each day. I did have to wait a bit for her tonight though as she didn't have a watch and was still working at 5:10pm when her supervisor let her know it was after 5 and she could go home. :-)

The nights are cool, and when we got up to get ready for work this morning it was quite frigid getting out of the shower. In any case, the cooler nights make it much easier to sleep at night, however the nights are really short, so the coolness doesn't happen as early.

now it's time to unwind while watching Canadian Idol auditions...they are just funny sometimes...

A Former Home

photos by EJ

I used to live here, several years ago for more than a decade, and prior to that, I visited my grandparents there every summer since the year I was born. I still co-own a house there, and rent it when we can. My ex-husband is there now, for his sister's funeral. My SIL S. passed away on Thursday afternoon. Next to the waterfall that is found in the centre of the community is the local United Church where the service will be held. It sits at the centre of the community atop the hill, along with the fire hall. The boat pictured is the local ferry, the Marine Coaster.

Time Marches On

My ex-husband's sister, S. passed away last night from a long hard struggle with cancer. I know she fought hard, and had so much to live for, but that damned disease has won, again. We'll miss her. She was a special lady, talented, hard working, loving and such a great sense of humour. Thinking back, I have many memories and images of her in my mind to sift through...

- her many handicrafts, be it sewing, knitting, cross stitch, her work was beautiful and she seemed to enjoy it all (and I often borrowed her sewing machine before I received my last one for my birthday)
- that natural blonde streak in her hair that I often wished I had!
- the many mouthwatering recipes she so willingly shared, and the many calls I made to her over the years after I moved away, such as her molasses cookies, her trifles, and potato salad (yes, this is who I model my own salad after, for my friends that have enjoyed it over the years); and the beautiful cakes she decorated year after year for so many occasions
- S. taking my newborn daughter from my arms as I stepped off the Marine Runner, where she went directly to my house to strip her down for a better look. It was the funniest thing, but oh so cute to see. Hard to believe but that was just a few days shy of 20 years ago...
- the many card games at the cabin...I remember one such game where she and I were playing against our husbands and we took over 800 points in one hand...the men were savage about it, but we gloated freely
- she always seemed to have a smile for you, particularly all those years she and her husband ran their general store, and what a beautiful smile it was

There are more, but they're hard to write about right now, and I may just be selfish and keep them to myself. I can't make it to the funeral, some 7800kms away, but I will be there in spirit and Amber and I will do our best to remember S. as she was, keeping her close to our hearts.

I would like to encourage anyone and everyone who reads to please help raise breast cancer awareness and if you are able, donate to breast cancer research to put a stop to the continuing loss of so many of our country's great women. Click here or on the post title for more information on how you can help.

Amber and I have been putting together a small flower garden next to the steps these past couple of days just after we heard the news, I will think of S. as she loved to garden and mow her grass.

Hoarding Kitties, Gardening and Baiting the Fox

Well, I found cat food in my bed yesterday, just a scrap, but there it was, in all it's crumbly glory. We ran out of cat food on Monday and I didn't get home with it for a few hours as I had a couple of appointments in town, so the cats were crawling all over Amber while I was in town, begging for catfood. I reckon they're hoarding now incase their selfish owner runs out of food again and leaves them without for 3 or 4 hours, the poor starved felines...(though you'd never know by looking at the portly Stormy and McGee).

And now Amber has fashioned McGee a harness so she could take him outside while she gardened for me tonight. We visited the organic farm's garden centre in town today and picked up some truly fantastic flowers. Take a look at what Amber is busy potting in the backyard for our garden...she also thought it would be fun to take McGee out with her and parade him around with a harness she fashioned out of yarn, a bandanna, and the strap from her video camera...(sigh) but he wriggled out and moments after she brought him back in, the fox pictured here showed up and retraced McGee's scent...so I told her not to take him out again as the animals can clearly smell him!

Handsome Boys

I taught Amber how to crochet this past weekend, so she took it upon herself to make a scarf for her kitty, however he wasn't as impressed with it as Stormy was until he saw Stormy with it on and then got jealous, and wanted to wear it...I think McGee looks rather dashing with it on...

Duffel Bags

sent to me by a friend who shares my humour...

A man walked into a supermarket with his zipper down. A lady cashier walked up to him and said, "Your barracks door is open. Not a phrase that men normally use, he went on his way looking a bit puzzled.

When he was about done shopping, a man came up and said, "Your fly is open." He zipped up and finished his shopping. At the checkout, he intentionally got in the line where the lady was that told him about his "barracks door." He was planning to have a little fun with her, so when he reached the counter he said, "When you saw my barracks door open, did you see a Marine standing in there at attention?"

The lady (naturally smarter than the man) thought for a moment and said "No, no I didn't. All I saw was a disabled veteran sitting on a couple of old duffel bags.

Dances With Wolves

Who first? Stormy, Via, and McGee are all on the list to be booted outside to dance with the wolves, bears, coyotes, eagles...whatever. Last night they decided it was time to tear around the house the moment the lights were turned out. I know there is still some daylight due to living in the north, but these little bastards should know by now that when we're in bed, with our heads on our pillows, that this is the cue for them to settle down. Apparently they are cueless...up and down the fucking stairs they went, up and over both beds, in and out of the closet, up and down off the railings, through the Sideshow Bob fern, and around and around we go...after about an hour of this and the inner bitch in me coming out, they finally gave it up and settled in for the night. If only that was the end...

5:30am this morning they are up and at it again...this time it is just Stormy and McGee...same thing, up and over, up and down, around and around...however Via was no innocent...she took to rubbing plastic with her nose, which she knows DRIVES ME CRAZY! In this small cabin, there is nowhere she will go to do it where I won't hear her, particularly since I live in the quiet of the country. So after putting up with just so much again, and firing off all of my reading material at them (Reader's Digest travels well) I finally had to get up and scream and holler at them to settle the fuck down. Then I am too wound up to sleep again, so get out my laptop to do some browsing and reading. I begin to get sleepy, so position my laptop on a pillow next to me and read, fearing I'll fall asleep and let it slide (I know, a book would have been much easier but I am too rotten to look at by then). I end up falling asleep and dreaming that I dropped my laptop once again, cracking the screen and jolt awake only to discover it nestled right next to me, unharmed. This is enough prompting to get me up and out of bed with it to place it safely downstairs on the table.

So here I sit, writing this post and Stormy has the nerve to jump up for a cuddle...two words fat boy...fuck off...

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my kitties something fierce, but there are times when they try my patience...their only saving grace is that they don't talk back to me.

I feel a nap is in my afternoon agenda...sigh...

Oh, Those Witty Newfoundland Girls

a gal I went to school with in Newfoundland sent me this and it gave me a chuckle...

A girl from Newfoundland and a girl from Ontario were seated side by side on an airplane.

The girl from Newfoundland, being friendly and all, said, "So, where you from?"

The Ontario girl said, "From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence."

The girl from Newfoundland sat quietly for a few moments and then replied "So, where you from, bitch?"