Down 2 and Up 10,000

Guess what? At some point in the last week, my lowly little blog cracked 10,000 page views. That's kind of awesome. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't believe anyone actually reads my ramblings. I still can't get over how much writing this blog has helped me. It's funny how something so simple can be so effective. I'm truly looking forward to the next 10,000 page views milestone.

Anyhow....It's been a crazy week at the office and it's been a short week too since I had Monday off. For some odd reason, short weeks seem to feel long. I dunno. Maybe it's our desire to get back to the weekend again. I started my new position on Monday. It hasn't been a totally smooth transition as I'm still doing some of the old duties until the new person is fully equipped and up and running. I've been kept rather busy with my new tasks though, so that's good. Keeps me out of trouble that way. My boss reminded me to look into the available training sessions and let him know which ones I'd like to take and if there were any other tools that I feel that I need in order to become an expert with my new position. Sounds like a good idea.

I survived another week of Curves. I even got off my duff and went to the gym on my day odd. Braved the snow/sleet to do so too. I felt pretty great about it when I got home too. As a result of not being at my home club on Monday, we moved my weigh in day to Wednesday. The scale was kind. I lost 2lbs! So I'm down a total of 6.5 in my first 2 weeks. I'm quite happy with those numbers. I just have to keep an eye on the eating plan portion and try not to slide too much. I'm supposed to go out for lunch tomorrow so I'll have to work that into my day. I'm on a quest to find more healthy recipes to try out. Which just gives me a good excuse to kill entire evenings on Pinterest (like I need an excuse). That makes me happy.

While in the grocery store earlier this week, I couldn't help but notice how odd and strange some of the so called "healthy" foods are. I swear to god that I thought they were selling a bag of bird seed in the cereal aisle. I had to actually pick it up and read the label to confirm that it wasn't actually bird seed. It was some sort of muesli or granola. I dunno. It still looked an awful lot like the wild bird seed mix that I get to put on my balcony. It also baffles me as to how expensive 'healthy' food is. For example, 355ml bottles of Pomegranate juice are on 2/$5. Meanwhile, 2L bottles of pop are on 4/$5. Apples are $1.89lb (so maybe 4 apples) where as big bags of photo chips are 2/$3. Sigh. I'm getting low on peanut butter too. I really need that to go on sale soon. The hard part for me is working more vegetables into my meals. I'm kind of a picky eater when it comes to veggies. I only really like a select few: broccoli, cauliflower, raw carrots, mushrooms (cooked), turnip(rutabaga) and brussel sprouts. The turnip that I like is counted as a starch on my meal plan so I can't go hog wild with it. I'm on the fence with cabbage and cucumbers. Some days I like them and some days I don't. I guess the same could be said for celery. I'm not a fan of it cooked though. I'm going to have to get creative.


Maybe while I'm looking for recipes on Pinterest, I'll find some good gift ideas for my parents. I'm struggling to find something to get them and my mother isn't being overly helpful. I ask for a list and my mom gave me 2 items. I told that that didn't count as a list. Sigh. Yes, I know that the spirit and meaning of Christmas isn't about presents and material items. It's just that they give me so much through out the year that I'd like to be able to give them a little something back. To show them how much I love them and appreciate all that they do for me. My Christmas holidays are a month and 6 days away (not that I'm counting).

I need to go and get ready for bed. I work up at 4:21 this morning, got up and went pee, came back to bed and then couldn't sleep. I think I drifted off for about 15 minutes between then and when the alarm went off at 6. It was brutal. I'm hoping that a repeat doesn't occur this evening.

Good Night!

Sarah

Smiling on a sunny day!

Good People Still Exist

So my biggest success of the day was finally clearing level 105 in Candy Crush. LOL. I've been stuck on it for several weeks now.

Work was good. It's been very steady but not quite into the "crazy" side. Which is nice. I have to do a bunch of house keeping tomorrow. I need to file some stuff and move the things I need to my new desk. That will be a fun exercise. And I start the day off tomorrow with a doctor's appointment.

Sigh. My doctor. I really need to find a new one. But it was so freakin' hard to get the one I've got. It's just that the office is bad. The receptionist is incompetent and I can't believe she's still working there. And my doctor has the worst hours! Thankfully I don't have to see him often (knock on wood that it stays that way).

I saw a couple acts of kindness today which made me smile. A very elderly woman who I suspect has Parkinson was trying to get some chicken from a lunch buffet near my office today. She was rather short too and there was no way she was going to be able to reach the containers. Before I could walk across the place to help her, another woman came along and got her a container. The elderly women then proceeded to fill it herself...and man, did she take a lot of chicken. She then tried to close the container, but couldn't, so yet another kind soul came to her rescue. The last I saw, the elderly lady was pushing her container of chicken around on her walker, looking rather happy. It was great. It made me smile. And it made me a little sad. It made my miss my Gram. And made me worry that one day that would be me. Growing old alone.  But mostly I was happy to see that kindness still exists and for the most part, we're decent, kind and caring human beings.

After escaping the office this evening, I bought some groceries, came home and had a very simple but quite yummy dinner. And then watched a funny new episode of The Big Bang Theory. I love that show. So awesome :)

The only upside to having a doctor's appointment tomorrow is that I get to sleep in for a bit. That will be nice.

My abs are doing surprisingly well today. They don't hurt unless I really engage them. It's actually the backs of my shoulders that are sore today. And my foot. Maybe I'll mention that one to my doctor in the morning.

Good Night!

Sarah

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch....

I. AM. IN. PAIN. Seriously. Everything hurts. Even sitting upright hurts because you engage your abs to do so and those fuckers hurt the most. Standing waiting for the bus hurt. Walking from my bus stop to my house hurt. I don't think we ever fully appreciate how we use our muscles until we've done something to make them hurt. It was a hard workout today so that's why I'm in pain tonight.

My first weigh in was on Monday. It went well. I'm down 4.25lbs. Thank god. It was a rough week. Trying to completely overhaul your way of life is exhausting. And expensive. Healthy food really does seem to cost more and I need to buy new runners soon. Sigh. It's all worth it though, right?

Things at work have been going well. It's been busy but not crazy. I've been given a new set of responsibilities thanks to even more changes at the office but I'm cautiously optimistic about them. Change is a fact of life. I need to make peace with that sooner or later. And sooner is most likely the best option. I'm also working with one of our newer employees on planning our office holiday party. It's been fun and is a nice distraction from the regular routine of the office.

I'm back to the gym on Friday and I can't say I'm looking forward to it. LOL. Hopefully some of the sore muscles calm down a bit before then. Especially since I'm meeting up with someone for coffee after the gym on Friday. I need to be in one piece and functioning! Keep your fingers crossed.

Ok, I'm limping away from the computer now. I can hear my bed calling me from the other room. Sometimes I wish I could stay there all day. But I guess that's what the weekend's for!!

Good Night!

Sarah

I bet a few of those would make the pain go away....LOL!

Everything From My Butt Down Has Stopped Speaking To Me

My legs aren't speaking to me. And they've convinced my knees to turn against me too. So far my arms are still playing nice but the backs of my shoulders seem a little sore/stiff.

If you haven't already figured it out, I went to Curves again tonight. That marks a back to back workout. Hence why my legs seem rather pissed at me at the moment. It was a fun work out and the time flew by again. After the work out we got to play Yahtzee to win a t-shirt or ballots into a monthly draw. Apparently this is something they do every Friday. That's kind of cool and it was fun.

Work was interesting. More changes were announced today and that didn't go over well with some people. My role change was announced to some of the staff as well. I've had a week to process it and mull it over so I was doing pretty good when it was announced today. I keep reminding myself that change is good and doing something different will be a welcome change. The more skill sets I have, the better chance I'll have of finding a higher level position. Or so the theory goes.

I relaxed tonight, ordered in and watched some scary tv. It was the season premiere of Grimm and the series premiere of Dracula. I quite liked the spin they've put on Dracula. He's cast as a vigilante of sorts and has a rather interesting relationship with Van Helsing too. And it doesn't hurt that the actor playing Dracula is hot, but he speaks without his sexy Irish accent in the show. Oh well. LOL.

I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend. I'm planning on tackling the pile of clothing in my bedroom and re-arranging my closet for Fall/Winter. I also have 2 missions: 1. Buy new running shoes and 2. Buy a decent sports bra.  Mission 2 is going to be much more difficult than mission 1.

But for now, I'm going to go and take some Motrin and head to bed and pray that I can still walk in the morning. If I'm hobbling tomorrow, I'm going to have some choice words for a certain someone....

Good Night!

Sarah

My sexy bowling shoes!

This Won't Hurt...Much.

Another day, another dollar. Or so they say. Work went by a little more quickly today and thankfully, I didn't have any disrespectful people to deal with today, so that is a major plus. The weeks ahead are going to be very interesting ones and I really am not sure how things are going to play out. I'm going to take a "go with the flow" approach and hope that works.

After work was Curves workout #2, which was our first 'real' workout. Meaning that we did the full circuit and a half without the aid of the coaches. Sure, they did yell out some encouragement or gave tips on a specific machine, but for the most part, Steph and I were on our own.

It went really well. I have to admit, the time really does fly by. The stupid pull up machine was still awful but a few of the others that gave me trouble on day one seemed to behave better today. And, of course, there was some laughter. I almost went ass over teakettle while doing our cool down stretches. One of the stretches is where you reach behind you, bend your leg up and grab your foot and pull it towards your ass. Like this:



Anyhow, I can't do that. So they have this big stretchy rubber band to help. I looped it around my foot and then you pull the band up and over your shoulder. Well I kind of lost balance while doing this and ended up doing a fun pirouette instead, which allowed me to regain my balance. If I hadn't, I would have fallen over since my foot was otherwise occupied and I couldn't have put it down to stop me.

I'm finding that every time I get up off the couch or out of my chair this evening, I'm stiff and various muscles protest a little. Nothing major. Except the pulsing pain in my right boob. But that has nothing to do with my activities at the gym this afternoon. That's all hormonal. Stupid hormones.

Anyhow, Steph's insane and wants to go back tomorrow. One of the coaches said that if you do work outs back to back like this, you get to go less intensely on the 2nd day. I might be able to handle that. I also might not be able to move come Saturday.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see how that plays out too.

Good Night!

Sarah

It's all about balance.

My head hurts.

Seeing as I have a major sinus pressure headache at the moment and looking at this bright screen is really making my eyes hurt, this is going to be a very short blog.

Work was alright. Not slow and not busy but I ended up taking a late lunch thanks to someone from another department who I've been working with on some fundraising effort. Just because she has a different schedule than the rest of us doesn't give her the right to disrespect our schedules.

Thankfully, I wasn't very sore at all today. From time to time I could feel a little muscle strain in my upper legs and once in the muscle that runs under your arm pit and along the side of your boob but that was all. Steph and I are back to the gym tomorrow after work. I'd better take long pants with me because our high is only going to be +6 so it's going to be chilly when we head for the buses to take us home.

Ok, I'm calling it quits for the night. Time to pop some Advil Sinus and head to bed.

Good Night!

Sarah

Random photo of my feeding a squirrel, just because!

Let's Get Physical

After a somewhat interesting day in the office, thanks to a last minute visit from some higher ups from another office, I escaped slightly later than planned and headed to Curves for my first actual work out.

For those not familiar with how Curves works, it's a circuit of equipment with a fun bouncy "recovery board" in between each machine. The machines are set up to work a different part of your body so that you're not focusing on 1 area for longer than 30 seconds. The recovery board is just that. A spot to recover while keeping your heart rate up.

There were 2 instructors so Steph went off one way with one and I went off in the other direction with the other. She started by taking me to each piece of machinery and showing me how it worked and then got me to try it. Once we were finished that, the real fun began. The idea is simple: go as hard as you can for 30 seconds and then switch. Sounds easy right? Oh hell no.

I can think of very few situations where 30 seconds has felt so long. I'm convinced that the little "change" lady sometimes counts to 45 seconds or even a minute. On some of those machines, I was feeling the burn after 10 seconds. That can't be good. One particular machine is used to do crunches on. You grab these handles and rock forward, using just your abs to move you. I moved maybe 4 inches. Too much stomach and boobs in the way! On another machine, larger busted ladies such as myself get to actually rest our boobs on a padded bar to allow for a better range of motion. Glad to see that someone was thinking.

All in all, I survived (and I think Steph did too) and we managed to get to the bus without falling over. Even though I had a snack before hitting up the gym, I was pretty damn hungry heading home. I almost let out a cheer of joy when I was digging in my purse for my keys and found leftover chocolate from my outing to the movies on Saturday. I'm not going to lie but I'm pretty sure I set a new speed record for downing it. And then, while waiting for the light so I could cross the street, a guy comes and stands beside me, holding a big Wendy's bag. Not only can I see the grease from the fries, I can smell them. OMG. I swear to god, I nearly took him out right then and there on the corner. I think I have a better understanding of how vampires feel now. LOL.

Thankfully, I made it home without harming innocent strangers or chocking on chocolate that I inhaled and proceeded to make dinner. While I am a little sore, I am feeling good about this. The plan is to go back on Thursday. Wish me luck.

Good Night!

Sarah

CONTROL!!!!!!! (And yes, I'm back)

I know. I haven't been blogging lately. It's not that I haven't had anything on my mind, it's more that I've had too much on my mind and I need the time to figure it out and process it myself. And I have to admit. Sometimes I feel very stupid sharing my miscellaneous ramblings because I don't think they make sense.

Anyhow, a lot has happened.

For starters, I found some sort of inner courage and along with 2 friends, I went out to a meet and greet event. Which lead to me meeting and greeting some people. This then lead to a coffee outing with one said person which turned out to be a very interesting and very enlightening event. Yes, it was a male and no, there weren't any sparks. But he's an interesting fellow who reminds me of someone I used to know. My little foray into the social world also lead to my first real date in 3 years. That was an adventure onto itself, which involved running into my ex (I don't think he saw me) and some verbal sparring over our own take on the world. Don't get your hopes up folks, I don't see this going anywhere. I'll keep you posted.

I took some time off and went home for Thanksgiving. I got to spend some awesome quality time with my parents, a short visit with my great aunt and uncle and my grandparents and I got to see my completely adorable niece. And my brother too. My niece is just starting to talk. I really do wish I could see her and talk to her more often. She really has no idea who I am. Thankfully she didn't run screaming from me so that's a major plus. The time off was great. I really needed it.

Work has been very stressful for the past few months. Why? It's been nothing but change. A new regime has taken over and are shaping our office to their vision. I've always been the type of person who's resistant to change but I've gotten much better working where I do. Change is an ever present constant in our place of work and I think I've done a pretty good job of adjusting to it. But there's just been so much change lately and it's happened so fast that I'm not sure what to make of all of it. And yeah, some of it's affecting me directly. My role will be changing. My responsibilities will be changing. And God's honest truth, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I was angry about it for a little bit but that's subsided for the most part. Now I'm cautiously optimistic about it. Let's face it, it's the new management's purgative to make whatever changes they want and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it, so why should I stress out? I'm still employed. I'm still at the same level and pay grade. I'll still be doing some of what I do now plus some new tasks. And I have no control over it. So I just need to let it go. Roll with the punches. I need to focus on the things that I can control. Just like what my mom told me this morning: "Take it easy and don't stress out about things that you have no control over."

Sage advice if you ask me. Which leads me to what I got up to after work today... earlier this month, Steph and I went to the Women's Show. Had a blast, got a lot of free stuff, including me winning a 1 month membership to Curves. For those of you who don't know, Curves is an exercise facility designed for women only. I've been a big girl all my life. Call me plus-sized or full-figured or even obese (because clinically, I am) but just don't call me Fat. Fat is a substance, not a state of being. It's like me calling someone Jello. You can't be Jello any more than I can be Fat. Anyhow, lately my size has been bothering me. I'm not comfortable in my own skin anymore. A few weeks back I pulled a muscle in my back while trying to do up my bra. Not good. That's worse than the time I pulled the muscle in my neck by sneezing. I haven't been sleeping well. I've been fighting with my clothes because even my looser items are starting to get tight and I think I look like I'm stuffed sausage half the time when I go out. My weight has stopped me from enjoying some things that I like to do. So I knew that the time had come to make a real effort to change things. To get healthy. I love myself. And it's because I love myself that I know that I need to do this. I don't want to get type 2 diabetes. I don't want to increase my risk of heart disease or stroke or cancer. There's enough stuff in this world that can kill me. I don't want to be deliberately taking away my longevity by continuing on with the lifestyle I'm currently leading. I'm really good at failing. I've done it a lot. I know how to do it and am pretty darn good at it. But I've never really tried to fail at failing. So perhaps it's time I gave that whirl. I'm well aware that this endeavour isn't going to be an easy one. I'm sure it's going to be very difficult. And most likely painful. But all the the things in life worth doing are seldom easy. I have a plan. I have the means. I have the mind set. So let's do this. Let me actually control something I have some control over!

My first workout is tomorrow. I'll be sure to blog out that misadventure, providing I can lift my arms high enough to type. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Really has nothing to do with the blog, I just like the duckies :)

Count Your Blessings.

I've had a very rough couple of weeks. It's nothing that's happened to me specifically, just people around me. I felt like I was the only thing standing still in the middle of a tornado. All kinds of bad things happening to good people and I felt so helpless, because there wasn't much I could do to help everyone. I did what I could but somehow, it didn't feel like anything at all.

And then I get to work today, after commuting in on the bus like I do everyday, to hear that 6 people had died quite horrifically, doing the same thing I'd just done - commuted to work. They got on a bus, heading to school or work like any other day. Except their bus hit a train today and mine arrived safely, like normal.
After work, I got on a bus again, like I do everyday and I made it home, safe and sound. Just like we're supposed to.

So in light of all the bad, here's some good stuff:

Last Wednesday, a co-workers 20 year old son (who worked for us this summer too) collapsed while playing basketball and had to be shocked 3 times with a defib. before he started to breath again. He's now awake, breathing on his own, talking and has no brain damage and will hopefully be going home soon. Crazy happy news.

One of my closest friend's husband had a CT scan last week because they thought he might have cancer. Something had shown up on a chest X-Ray last month that didn't look good. So after waiting over a month, doing the whole "what if" thing, they got the test results back tonight: NO CANCER!!!!!!! Very Happy News!

And to round it out, a couple co-workers who've been working part time and haven't been able to find full time steady work were all able to get full time positions!!!! Very Happy News!

So there's some wonderful news to share. I'm now going to go and count my blessings and go to bed.

Good Night.

Sarah

Literally Sick of the Humidity

I spent the day at home, sick. Sometime a little after 3am, I was awoken in a great pain and spent the better part of the night from there on in with a bad tummy ache. As luck would have it, I feel back to sleep about a half hour before my alarm went off. I hauled out my work phone, emailed in sick and proceeded to sleep for another 2.5 hours. Still didn't stop me from feeling like a zombie though. I've been fighting the urge to nap all day, knowing that if I did, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Just before 11am, I did make a made dash across the street to Walmart to get some drugs. I nearly melted on the way back. The humidity today was insane! At one point this afternoon, I stepped out onto my balcony and it was like walking into a sauna. There's water dripping out of my AC unit like crazy. I don't recall ever seeing that much condensation come out of it. Crazy. I'm thinking that the humidity is what upset my tummy in the first place. I don't gauge temperatures well and as a result, when it gets hot, I don't drink enough water and it makes me sick. I've drank an insane amount of Powerade and water today. I didn't actually start feeling better until 4pm. A head ache had joined my tummy ache but they both took leave around 4 and I think that's when my bladder kicked back in too. With all that liquid going in, I knew it had to go back out eventually.

Since I was feeling better, I was also hungry. I decided to use some some pasta and turkey sausage that I had in the freezer and I made a soup that I'd found on Pinterest. Of course, I added my own spin to it but man, was it awesome. Really nailed that one and I loved it. I'll have to make it again sometime. I don't mind the hot weather, in fact, I like it. It's just this humidity that's killing me. I get all bloated and gross feeling and then I don't feel like eating and I can't sleep right, even with the AC on. Blah.

OH! I found my mystery moth. It was dead, on the floor, near my computer, in the living room. I have no idea at all how it got there (unless I had 2 moths and didn't know it). It's possible that it followed the heater but I really don't know. Kind of bizarre. But it's nice to know that it's gone and isn't lurking about in my bedroom.

And the glass from yesterday is still sitting here. I still don't know if it's half empty or half full but I'm in no real hurry to find out. But for now, I'm grabbing my book and heading to bed.

Good Night!

Sarah

Sure wish I'd been there today!

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty? Or is it Just a Glass?

Has anyone seen my "Happy Ever After"? It seems to be missing and I'd really like to find it.

A strange thing just happened to me. While surfing on Pinterest (I'd said it before and I'll say it again, it's a dangerous site), I kept seeing a lot of photos of various landmarks in Europe. Touring the UK and Western Europe is a dream of mine. So tonight, I'm daydreaming away, pinning new picks and mentally planning my dream trip when I suddenly realized that I was planning it alone. As in, I was mentally planning a solo trip. My subconscious just naturally took that assumption in. Then I realized that it's something I almost always do. Whenever I get a fit of whimsy and I decide to price out a cool vacation just for shits and giggles, I always look at single occupancy rates (which sucks because they're higher!!). When did I start doing that? When did my brain just start assuming that I'd be alone when I did stuff like this?

I used to daydream about romantic getaways and dream vacations with a yet unknown Mr. X but that seems to had faded away. I'm not quite sure what to think about that.

Kind of like the other day at lunch. The ladies I dine with were talking about what the weekend plans had held and one of them said that she spent some time alone and how great it was to have some "me" time and awesome it is to just get the opportunity to spend a few hours by yourself from time to time. All I could think was that's how I spend 90% of my time and I can't really see why you're so excited about it. And again, I realized that when I sit down and start to plan my weekends out, I plan stuff to do on my own. I just seem to assume that I'm flying solo and I plan from there. Not sure when that started either. I haven't been consciously aware of the fact that I'm doing it.

I really don't know how I should feel about these realizations.

I don't know if I should be incredibly sad that my own subconscious seems to have given up hope or if I should feel empowered that I'm strong enough, brave enough and independent enough not to be terrified of the thought of venturing out into the world on my own.

Am I reacting to some subtle message from the Universe that said that I'm not meant to find a mate. That I'm supposed to go it alone and my mind is protecting me from future hurt by getting me used to spending so much time alone now? Or have I just simply decided that I don't need someone else to define me. To make me happy. I'm enough on my own. I'm all I need and thus can continue on a solo path and still find a blissful happiness?

Tonight isn't a "glass is half empty" night. It's not a "glass is half full" night either. Tonight's the kind of night where all I know is that there's a glass and a whole mess of questions. Questions who's answers are all written in the stars.

Good Night.

Sarah.

So Sleepy.

My eyes are betraying me. They keep trying to close all by themselves. I had plans on surfing Pinterest and watching episode 3 of "Under the Dome" and maybe doing a little reading. As it stands, the words I'm typing are looking a little blurry and yes, I'm wearing my reading glasses and no, there's nothing wrong with them. The dude upstairs sounds like he's rollerskating across his living room right now. WTF??

I slept like crap last night. For starters, I wasn't tired so it took a while to fall asleep. Then I got all itchy and that didn't help with the falling to sleep bit. I think I passed out somewhere between 11:30 and midnight. Woke up a little after 1. Fell back to sleep. Work up around 3:15 and decided to get up and pee. Fell back to sleep. Woke up at 4:55am and had to pee again, and then couldn't fall back to sleep. I was wide awake. Dammit. Finally fell back to sleep around 5:30am and then my alarm went off at 6. It made for a very long day and it the reason why I'm so sleepy now. Despite my fatigue, I still managed to water the plants on my balcony, make my lunch and made a big bowl of fruit salad.

Work was good but long. I put on my iPod and focused on getting some finance stuff out of the way this morning. I managed to get almost all of it done. I have some more paper work to deal with tomorrow too and hopefully that will get the bulk of it out of the way for the week.

Nothing overly philosophical on my mind tonight. I think brain may had nodded off already. No sign of the moth either.

Keep cool.

Good Night!

Sarah

Anyone wanna go for a swim?

The Moth Saga Continues

I found my missing house guest (aka, the moth) around 11 this morning. It was hanging out on my window sill, behind the curtain. Being the kind hearted person I am, I decide to try to pick it up and toss it outside. I gabbed a kleenex and tried to pick it up. I failed and it flew into the curtain. So I tried again and it once more escaped and dropped like a rock...into my baseboard heater. Sigh. I have previously dropped a spider into it and the spider came out the bottom and tried to run away before I squished it, so I was hoping the moth would go right through too. No such luck. I haven't seen it since. Sigh.

I did, however, get a pesky fly out of my apartment this evening. It was flying around before bed and I got it out of my bedroom by turning on the hall light and once it was attracted to that, I shut off the light and ran to my room and closed the door before the fly could follow. I woke up to pee around 3am and the stupid fly was attacking the night light in the bathroom. This morning, it was on my balcony door, so I just opened it and shooed him out. Problem solved. Too bad the moth wasn't that easy to deal with.

It was very hot here today, so you know what I did? I turned on the oven, twice. The first time was to bake a loaf of Avocado Banana Bread (with dark chocolate chips) and the second time was to roast the chicken breast that I bought at the butcher's yesterday. Both turned out incredibly well. I made a nice salad for lunch tomorrow, using the veggies I got yesterday, and I topped it with some feta cheese and some leftover chicken from tonight. The only problem with baking today was that my apartment got warm, even with the AC and fans running. It's cooling off now, which is nice, since it's almost bed time.

I used my spare time to read and catch up on a summer tv show. I really should have cleaned or done the dishes but my body seemed to want the rest so I did what it asked. This just means that I have to pick up some groceries after work tomorrow and do up the dishes too. Laundry might be a good idea for a night this week too. LOL. I need to find a man who likes to clean.Seriously. I will happily cook every night so long as someone else cleans up the mess I make. I'll even do the laundry too if someone else dusts and mops. I think it's a great trade off!!

Anyhow, it's time to grab my book and read for a bit before turning in. Back to work tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

Not the one in my bedroom but you get the idea. LOL.

Hunter-Gathering and Moths.

It's a hot evening in Ottawa, so I decided to enjoy as much of it as I can and I sat out reading on the balcony tonight. Once it started to get dark, I got smart. I turned on the lamp just inside my balcony door and left the blinds open so the lamp lit the balcony and I was able to continue reading. I had a few mosquitoes come and bother me (and have a bite on my ankle to show for it) but that was about it. Finally I decided to come inside. I'd just got all my stuff inside and closed the balcony door when I turned and saw a giant moth flying through my living room. Crap. I followed it into my bedroom. I turned on my hall light hoping it would attract the moth, no such luck. So then I got my swiffer and decided to try to chase it back into the living room. Now I don't know if I actually hit it or just scared the bejesus out of it, but suddenly it took off, bounced off the bedroom wall then bounced off the ceiling in the hall, the then wall and then back into my bedroom, off my dresser and under my bed. And I haven't seen the fucker since. I just stood there and watched in disbelief. I tried putting out a few items from under the edge of my bed to see if it was there (2 pairs of running shoes and some dirty laundry) but no moth. I don't know where the hell it went. Maybe it's dead. Maybe it's hiding. Maybe it's made a new home in the underside of my mattress. I have no friggin' idea. Stupid moth. I've turned off the bedroom light and am hoping that it will come out on its own and head for the lights in the living room and kitchen. Funny thing is, had it been a spider, I would have tore the bed frame apart looking for it. A rouge moth, I'm kind of ok with.

I had a rather nice day today. It was hot and sunny but not too humid. There was a nice breeze which helped things out too. I did one of my favourite things today. I went to the Byward Market and got lots of fresh, local produce and meats. There's something so very relaxing and wholesome about doing that. I don't know if it's due to the fact that as a kid and into my early teens I spent most Saturdays helping out in a HUGE garden so I'm used to being around fresh produce or maybe it's something even more primal than that. Maybe it's a throw back to the hunter/gatherer days and going out to get fresh food is one of those basic things engraved on our DNA. Either way, I love doing it and it makes me happy when I get to cook it all up too. Tonight I had a very tender NY strip steak with 2 cobs of corn (first of the season) which actually had a lot of flavour to them for being the first of the season. I was quite impressed. All the vitamin D I soaked up probably helped my happy state too. And the frozen yogurt. That made me pretty damn happy as well.

I'm not sure if it was all the fresh air I got today or the 3/4 of a can of Pear Cider I drank earlier, but I'm rather sleepy now. I think I'll go and take one last look around for the moth and the call it a night.

Oh! And my hand/wrist is feeling much better and it doesn't really hurt to type anymore :)

Good Night!

Sarah

My haul from this afternoon's trip.

Canada Day, Goodbyes and Mac & Cheese

Guess who's hand is feeling better? It's not 100% but I can type, write and use a can opener again without it resulting in searing pain. So that's a very good thing.

Happy Canada Day! Being that I live in Ottawa and that we host the world's largest Canada Day party, today means that the downtown core is packed. I went downtown last year but opted to skip the festivities this year. I wasn't really in a "get up close and personal with 200,000 + strangers" kind of mood. I did watch the noon show on tv though. I think last year's was better. I heard the fighter jets fly by and I can currently hear some fireworks in the distance. I'm not sure if they're the ones form downtown or the ones from the park down Carling but I can hear a low, rumble and boom.

Today I spent my day being very domestic. I did up the dishes and made a half-assed attempt to get my kitchen in order. That kind of stopped after I found the item that I'd misplaced in the kitchen. I then spent time on my balcony, planting the last of the plants that I picked up in the market yesterday. I added lavender, garlic chives, chocolate mint and a yellow gerber daisy to the mix. My balcony looks quite nice now. Very green and cheerful. For dinner I made macaroni and cheese from scratch and I have to admit, it blew my mind. It was so friggin' good!! I had some fresh green beans with it. I picked those up in the market yesterday. I love being able to go out and get fresh, local produce. It makes everything taste better.

I felt a little home sick today too. My home town has quite the parade every Canada Day and I can't actually recall the last time I was there to see it. It must have been a good 15 years ago. I remember that we used to take my grandmother and her friend and then we'd go back to my parent's house or over to gram's house for pizza afterwards. Later in the day, my brother and I would go to the park as they always had a carnival with rides that weekend. In the evening, there would be fireworks at the park. My parents live a block and a half from the parade route and only 5 blocks from the park so it made getting around quite easy. Definitely less than 200,000 + people to deal with.

Wow, 4 paragraphs and only a tiny bit of numbness. This is great progress.

Work is going to be brutal this week. We have several new people starting tomorrow and we have a farewell party for my boss later this week. Where I work, people come and go frequently, so I'm kind of used to seeing people leave. But my boss had been there since I started working there. She helped to build the unit I work in. She gave me my job. I really don't know how to say goodbye to her. I'm an emotional person to begin with and this week is a PMS week so I'm going to be extra emotional. Not sure how I'm going to get through it in one piece. Perhaps I should just skip wearing mascara this week and put up a sign, letting my co-workers know that if they find me crying in the bathroom, I'm perfectly fine. LOL.

Speaking of work, I should sign off and get to bed so that I can at least pretend to be alert at work to welcome the new people tomorrow. On the upside, I have leftover mac and cheese for lunch :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Where the Hell Am I??

Ok. So where the hell have I been? I haven't blogged in over a month and I've had several people point that out to me and some even tried to demand that I start writing again. LOL. While I'm glad to see that people are actually interested in the crap I write, I needed a break. And that was for a couple of reasons.

The number one reason is: I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in my right hand and yes, I'm right handed. It was so painful I could barley hold a pen or an eating utensil. Using a can opening made my hand feel like it was on fire and typing not only hurt, but made my fingers go numb. In fact, just typing these two paragraphs has made my thumb and pointer finger go numb. Thankfully, the pain is more or less gone. The doctor gave me a note for an ergonomic assessment at work (got a new keyboard tray and wrist rest) and I'll be getting a new split keyboard. I'm also sleeping with a brace on, which really seems to be helping. If everything goes well, I won't need surgery and things will correct themselves.

The number two reason for not blogging is that I needed to think some stuff through. Birthdays do that to me.

Speaking of birthdays, I had a great one. I went home for the weekend and my family threw my great aunt an amazing 80th bday party and the included me in it. I got balloons and a horrible necklace and personalized chocolates. It was fantastic. I got to see a lot of family I haven't seen for a very long time and a very special family friend too. I felt very, very loved. I really do have an amazing family. I'm so blessed and lucky to have them. I miss them all very much, especially my parents. But this is two bdays that I've been home for that my mom has gotten out of baking a cake for me. LOL.  It was a great visit and I had some good train karma on the way back and ended up and a 4-seater all to myself. I had to laugh. While looking out the window, I saw an old guy on a riding lawn mower and he waved at the train as it went by.  I waved back.

Things returned to normal when I got back. I went out for a belated bday dinner with some co-workers. I had a giant ass glass of wine. It was a very fun night. Then the post birthday blues came to visit and sadly, they're still kind of kicking around. They're nagging me at the back of my head. I know that the vast majority of them are unfounded and I now I'm leap years ahead of where I was five years ago. But there's still some major disappointments there. Things I haven't done, goals I haven't accomplished. And I'm mad and frustrated with myself and I'm a little sad.

And the universe is playing tricks on me too. So not impressed there. Work's been really stressful too. I thought we were supposed to slow down in the summer. It sure doesn't look like that will be happening. And it just seems to me that the bigger our office gets, the less people seem to know how to do stuff themselves. Example - I called in sick today. I woke up feeling like crap. I was achy and my eyes were puffy and swollen. So I took an Advil and went back to sleep. Anyhow, I was checking my work email later in the day and I got an email from one co-worker, saying that there were window cleaners doing our windows and maybe I should send an email to the staff warning them. WTF?? They're window cleaners, not terrorists and THERE'S BEEN A NOTICE IN THE LOBBY FOR A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!! Shit. People really don't pay attention and OMG, I have much more important things to do in a day at work than worry about shit like that.

In case you're curious, it's taken me just over 2 hours to write all of this. I have to keep taking breaks because my fingers keep going numb.

Ok. Just take a deep breath and keep going. Everything's ok. Just be patient and the Universe will bring you what you need when you need it, not when you think you need it. Just now I think I need to plant my ass on a beach in Bora-Bora for a week. But I can't afford that trip in this life time so I guess I'm just going to have to take some more Advil and head back to work and keep heading for that light at the end of the tunnel.

Good Night.

Sarah

My very awesome birthday cake.

Happy Birthday from a Grateful Mind

What a wonderful day it's been!

My morning started off with my mom calling to wish me a happy birthday and telling me all about a humming bird she saw in the backyard. It's pretty early for humming birds, so this really was something special. Mom said that it was a sign of good luck for me since it appeared on my birthday.

At work, a lot of my co-workers wished me a happy birthday and Xtina gave me a lovely candle from Bath and Body Works. One of our newer staff, MA, make strawberry shortcake for my birthday, which we ate out of red solo cups, which was awesome. In the afternoon, my co-worker and I had our last French class for this session. We both passed :) So we celebrated with some cupcakes that I baked. After class, the pair of us had coffee with our teacher and thanked her for making class fun.

After work, I met up with NB and we went out for dinner. We caught up and decided that we're far too young to be this old so there must have been a mistake somewhere along the way!! We split a free dessert which was served with a sparkler in it. That's as close as I've come to blowing out a candle today.

Right now, I'm doing the dishes and trying to think if I forgot to pack anything. I'm heading home for the long weekend and for a party for my great aunt, who turns 80 tomorrow. That certainly puts turning 35 into perspective. I'm really looking forward to getting home to see my family. I haven't seen them since Christmas. Plus I get to do some celebrating, which is great. I usually miss all the family parties.

LOL. I just discovered that the Google Doodle for today is Google wishing me a happy birthday! That's pretty freakin' cool. Guess it helps when you have a Google profile. Awesome.

Since I still have a sink full of dishes and I should have been in bed 11 minutes ago, I'm going to borrow someone else's wise words tonight:

"Pleas'd look forward, pleas'd to look behind,
And count each birthday with a grateful mind."
~ Alexander Pope

Good Night!

Sarah

Saying Goodbye to 34.

In just over a few hours, I will hit the mid-point of the current decade of my age. Technically it's more like 14 hours since I was born in the evening, but you get the drift.

5 years ago, I was miserable. Even though I go to go home and see my family for my birthday, I was very unhappy. Almost nothing in my life had turned out like I planned. And that made me very, very sad. But here I am, just 5 short years later and almost everything seems so different. I'm happy. I'm once again heading home to see my family and I'm excited about it. I'm really looking forward to it. A lot of those same plans I had 5 years ago still haven't worked out, but it doesn't bother me anymore. You know the old joke "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"? Yeah, I've kind of learnt to live by that one. Just roll with it. Stop worrying so much.Have faith that the Universe isn't going to drop me on my ass. Let go of the past and the negativity that goes with it. Smile more. Smile for no reason. Love. Just love everyone you can, as often as you can. And stop beating yourself up when you think you've failed. Not every failure is an end or a failure at all.

I've grown so much over the last 5 years that I can hardly believe it. Here's hoping for many, many, many more years of wisdom and happiness. Goodbye 34, you've been awesome!

Good Night!

Sarah

This photo should be a clear indicator to which decade I was born in!

Laundry and an Overwhelmed Bladder

After a pretty stellar week weather wise, Mother Nature returned spring to us today. It was cool and rainy. But I'm not complaining. We really needed the rain (ok, maybe not the areas that are flooded but the tulips needed rain) and it was the perfect day for doing house work.

I managed to get 5 loads of laundry done. Yes, I said 5. And those loads didn't include any bedding or towels. They can wait until next laundry day. You see, I cleaned my bedroom about 2 weeks ago. This entailed discovering all kinds of odds and ends of clothing, creatively hidden. Some were on the floor of my closet or stuffed under the bed etc... Still didn't find mates for all my un-matched socks though. Anyhow, my apartment is now littered with clothing. I did two loads of "delicates" which simply means "can not go in dryer". I bunch are hanging in the bathroom, the "lay flat to dry and reshape while wet" are in the living room and I have several tank tops hanging off door knobs. You know, I never really understood the "reshape while wet" thing. It's a t-shirt. It came out of the washer looking like a t-shirt. How do you reshape it? Am I supposed to make it looking like a nightie or something? Weird.

I also did up all the rogue dishes. I have a terrible habit of only doing dishes every 2-3 days. I really need to learn to do them every day. But then I feel silly using the same plate/bowl over and over again since it's being washed and put back in the cupboard every day. I'm afraid that the other dishes will get jealous and revolt if I don't use them. Don't think dishes can come to life? Well then you've never seen Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I just wish mine would make the food themselves and then wash themselves afterwards like they do in the movie. That would be pretty sweet.

While on my cleaning spree today, I decided to spice up my water a bit. I bought some strawberries yesterday so I sliced up a couple of them and put them in my water glass. I've done this with lemons before too. It makes a very nice glass of lightly flavoured water (natural too). Well I liked it a lot, so I drank a lot of water today, which is very good. Just try telling that to my bladder. I think I've had to pee every 20-30 minutes for the last 8 hours. It's highly annoying. My bladder's like "WTF Lady? You trying to drowned me??" Maybe I am. I have a "sensitive" bladder to start with so I guess it didn't appreciate all the extra water. I've been told that it's possible to train your bladder to hold more liquid without feeling the need to pee but I kind of think it's just bs. Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow and see what happens.

I made my favourite pasta and lentil soup for dinner tonight (a very domestic day for me!). It was my best batch yet. I added in some marinaded tofu that I browned up first and it went really well with the soup. I also added in some smoked paprika and some Old Bay seasoning this time. It really made the broth yummy. I also cut back on the amount of lentils and pasta that went into it, so I had a more broth like soup. I find that it tends to thicken up quite a bit when you use the full amount that the recipe calls for. I have leftover soup for lunch tomorrow as well as some to go into the freezer for dinner another night. I think I might make muffins or something tomorrow. We'll see.

But now I think it's time to go and crawl into bed with my book...after I clear what's left of the clean laundry off my bed! I was good and put most of the dry stuff away already. I guess the rest are on my "to do" list for tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

More tulips which were probably very happy about today's rain!

Tulips and Playoff Hockey (How Canadian Eh!)

Ok, this is going to be a very quick one since it's past my bedtime and I've had a lot of fresh air and excitement today/tonight.

Work was, well, it's usual interesting self. A near miss of a cluster-fuck this morning but some quick thinking and good timing made everything ok and we carried on like we knew what the hell we were doing. Thankfully the afternoon ran much smoother and involved cake.

After work, a cluster-fuck did occur. There was a "suspicious" package found near the headquarters of National Defense so they closed one of the bridges...the one the buses run on. So....all the buses had to do a little detour which backed everything up. I was supposed to race home and get changed and meet Steph since we were going to go and see the tulips tonight. After 45 minutes of waiting, Steph told me to get on any bus heading to Tunny's (one of the major stops) and she'd rescue me. So that's what I did and that's what she did and I got a freezie for my efforts.

So we flew to my place, I changed and we headed back out to go to see the tulips. They were well worth the effort. The tulips were stunning (as usual) and I think the slowly setting sun made them even more beautiful than usual. Almost every bed was out in full bloom, which is amazing since a week ago they were all still in tight buds or weren't up yet. The weather was perfect and the park wasn't too crowded. We ran into a co-worker and his wife out for a stroll too. Everyone we saw was smiling and happy. It was just so pretty, peaceful and calming. Mother Nature really knocked one out of the park with this.

My good mood was slightly spoiled when Steph and I returned to the car, turned on the sports radio station and discovered the Montreal was winning 2-0 at the midway point of the 2nd period. Hmmm. Not good news but not the end of the world. I opted to watch a re-run of Big Bang while I had my dinner and then flipped to the hockey game to see the Ottawa had scored, making it 2-1. This is good. Ottawa kept fighting...and with 22.6 seconds left to play, they performed a hail mary and scored!!!!!!! Tie Game!!!! We're going to Overtime. Now that is playoff hockey. It would appear that Montreal's goalie hurt himself on his last save so it was their backup on the ice for the first OT period. And then, 2 minutes and 36 seconds into Overtime, Ottawa scored and we won the game!!!!!!!! Thank God/Goddess/Universe etc... I don't think my fingernails were going to last the night. Insane. But now I'm really happy and really sleepy.

Good Night!

Sarah

Oh, What A Night

Yes, I have a Billy Joel song stuck in my head (and yes, I know that it's a cover of the 4 Seasons)

I think I spent a wee too much time in the sun yesterday. I could hardly keep my eyes open by bed time. I almost didn't make it all the way through the hockey game (which Ottawa won 6-1). Actually, it was more of a boxing match than a hockey game. Both teams were running out of players. I haven't seen anything quite like it before.

Work today was....frustrating. It's a case of "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" or maybe a "too many cooks in the kitchen". Either way, it leads to frustration because you can't really move ahead until everyone is moving in the same direction. And it's not just me who's frustrated. I can see it on the faces and in the eyes of some of the people I work directly with. It's hard. Something I'd love to offer up my thoughts and suggestions but I don't feel that it's my place to do so. Instead, I support where I can and just keep at it, knowing that things will all work out in their own time.

Our weather was fantastic again today. 27 and sunny. A little too warm for May in my opinion but I'll take it. It does look like spring will return for us on the weekend though.

My evening was pretty good. I had every intention of doing the dishes but I never got there. I watched a new episode of Castle and then starting to putter about. Without going into details, because some of my life I still wish to keep private, I took a leap of faith and started to put into action some things to help me live a happier life. A few baby steps on the way to living the life I want to live. It was a moving experience and my soul feels happy tonight. That's the only way I can explain it. I really think that God/The Universe/The Goddess....whoever, whatever may have given me something that I've been asking for. Something I've been requesting for some time now. It's possible that I had earlier and was just too closed off to see it or maybe I just got it. I'm looking forward to seeing where this new path leads.

Don't worry if I sound like I'm not making sense. I assure you, I'm not off my rocker. Well, no more than usual. It makes sense in my head and that's all that matters at the moment. Perhaps I'll work on some clarity next.

Good Night!

Sarah

The Little Things In Life

Since my eyes seem to be staying open for the time being, I decided to blog since I haven't done it in what feels like forever. It's actually been about a week but you get my point.

It was a very odd week. I was very tired all week. My inconsiderate neighbours helped me out Wednesday and Thursday night with the no sleeping thing. On Wednesday, there were a bunch of people out back from 3 different cars. In addition to the car doors slamming, the inconsiderate bunch were standing around smoking and talking....at midnight. WTF? Middle of the week. Don't people have jobs?? The next night, my new downstairs neighbour had some people over and they woke me up at 10:18pm, 11:25pm, Midnight and 12:25pm - they kept going out on the balcony to have a smoke and kept talking/laughing. Not to mention the fact that the dude keeps slamming the screen door shut. The guy who lives across the hall from me broke his ankle and has to go up and down the stairs on crutches (and he's a big dude too, I think about 6'3"). His hopping/operating of the crutches up and down the stairs is quieter than some of the jackasses in my building.

Besides my lack of sleep, things at the office were "off" this week. We're coming up to a big transition period where most of our casuals are leaving and we're getting a new crop in and I think that has a lot of people on edge. There seems to be a lot of stress and tension in the office. It wasn't an overly positive environment this week. And there seemed to be a good deal of "personal drama" that spilled into the office too. Maybe everyone has spring fever. Who knows. I'm just happy that the weekend's here and I can relax.

I had an absolutely fantastic day today. It started off with me getting to sleep in. I got to pull my summer clothes out of the closet and re-discover things I forgot I owned. I headed out with Stephanee today. I haven't been out with her in quite a while. It was nice to hang out again. Even though I'd been upset with her, I still missed spending time with her. I've spent a lot of time alone over the last 2 months, mostly by choice. I needed the solitude. I spent a good deal of time thinking and reflecting on life and myself and my goals and dreams. I needed to do it. And am happier now as a result. Just like we spring clean our homes, it's nice to do a spring cleaning of our minds too.

Steph picked me up around 11:15 am and we headed out to Dollarama where we nearly froze to death. Their AC works quite well apparently. We then decided to grab lunch and head for the river. We found a nice picnic table and ate lunch before heading down one of the pathways along the Ottawa River. It was beautiful. The rapids were crazy, the Canadian geese were everywhere, the birds were signing, we saw a wood pecker and a hawk and the temperature was perfect. It looked like spring but felt like summer.

After the path on the Ottawa side of the river, we headed into Quebec and took a walking path along the river on the Gatineau side. We were able to get quite close to some rapids there. We then decided that we needed to cool down (partly due to the weather, partly the scenery...) so we headed to DQ for some treats, which we then went and ate at Britannia Beach/Park. After the treats we walked some more and ventured out onto the rock bluff at the beach. We walked most of it until we encountered a large group of spiders so we turned around and headed back. It was actually quite funny. I said to Steph "We might want to head back. I can count 5 spiders on the rock ahead of us". I turned around and Steph was already half way back down the bluff!!!! LOL. We saw a turtle sunning itself on a log too.

After that we decided we needed a cooler destination so we opted for Chapters. I needed a new book anyhow, so it was a good choice. After getting said book, we headed into Starbucks for their half price Frappachinos. I managed to score us a free one too, which one of Steph's husband's co-workers ended up enjoying. Once home, I ventured onto the balcony where I sat and read and drank my Starbucks for the better part of an hour and a half. I decided I should make dinner then. I had a lovely t-bone steak with some corn and a nice salad and a can of Pear Cider. A perfect Saturday dinner. After dinner, I had a very relaxing, very refreshing and very welcome shower. My feet were nearly black from wearing my flip flops all day.

And now I'm sitting at the computer, blogging and thinking about uploading the photos from my day. After this, I'm going to curl up and read for a bit more before heading to bed. I wish I had a light on my balcony so I could read out there. That might be bad though. I might never go to bed.

If you're out in the sunshine this weekend, remember your sunscreen (I did!) and enjoy.

Good Night!

Sarah

Montreal, Pt. 3 - Random Montreal Stuff

I suppose I should finish the story about my trip to Montreal. Days 3 and 4 were much more subdued than days 1 and 2. Largely due to how busy and how much walking we did on those first 2 days.

We started day 3 by heading to the Eaton Centre, near McGill University. After we got Michelle some new shoes, we headed over to the 2 story Addition Elle store. While we do have those stores here, we don't have them quite like this one. It had lines/clothing in it that aren't in our stores yet. I ended up with a new outfit (top/bottom) and a strapless tank top. We decided to go back to the hotel and drop our stuff off so we didn't have to lug it around town with us. We were meeting up with my co-worker for lunch since he was in town and had told us that he knew were to get the best poutine in Montreal. We were sold.

At this point, Michelle and I were very tired and our feet/legs hurt, a lot. It was also cold and had started to snain (kind of rain, kind of snow). So my poor co-worker had to listen to us bitch while he lead us through the plateau area of Montreal (which I'm sure it quite charming when you're not cold/hungry/in pain). We finally arrived at the restaurant only to discover that there was a line up...out the door. After assuring us about a dozen times that the poutine was indeed worth waiting in the snain, we relented and waited. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait outside long. Within 5 minutes we were inside and within 20, we were seated. I'm not going to lie. It was the best damn poutine I've ever had (well, ever had sober). I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that it was food after a long day or if the pogo cut up on top of mine added to it, but it was amazing. And very affordable too. Probably the best value we'd found thus far.

That evening, we venture out to an Irish pub that was within walking distance of the hotel. It was a cold and windy walk over. The pub was packed and was kind of cool. It was a typical Irish pub/sports bar, but the building was beautiful. The ceiling looked like it might have been copper and had neat designs in it. The Montreal game was on CBC so everyone in the bar was watching that. Unfortunately, Montreal started to lose very early and the bar got really quiet. I'd had 3 porn stars to drink so I was feeling pretty good and couldn't care less about the game. We headed back to the hotel after the first period. It was a sobering walk thanks to the crazy wind and low temps. The hotel was only 4 blocks away, yet Montreal was losing 4-0 by the time we got into our room. We stayed in and watched hockey for most of the evening.

On our final morning, we scored a free breakfast at the hotel thanks to a special connection I had. LOL. It was quite nice. We just rested and watched tv and then ventured out to pick up some food and snacks for the train. The train ride back was un-eventful and went by rather quickly. We played a game of "look, there's another church" to keep ourselves entertained.

All in all, it was a great weekend away and I think we both had a lot of fun. I can't wait to do it again next year but maybe this time we can find someplace warmer to go :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Ducks in the courtyard of our hotel

More Craziness on Public Transit

As much as I can, I try to avoid grocery shopping on the weekends. The stores are always crowded and it takes twice as long to get everything because you have to dodge people. So it might seem rather crazy that I decided to venture out to the Superstore today. What makes it even crazier, is the fact that it was their "save the tax" day to boot. I haven't been to Superstore in a very long time and I needed to stock up on a few things so I decided to brave the place today.

The produce section was a zoo, but it always seems to be that way. The rest of the store wasn't too bad. There was a lady giving our cheese samples who really loved my necklace so I stopped and chatted with her for a bit. I got a cheese sample and 2 coupons so it was worth it. LOL. I found almost everything I was looking for so I was happy.

The checkouts baffled me a bit. They have a lot of cashes, plus some self serve ones. Now for reasons I can't explain, the cashes at the far end of the store all had line ups of 3-4 people at them. The ones closer to the exit, only had 1-2 people at them, and no they weren't express lanes. I guess some people just don't pay attention. So I checked out in record time.

Now, the most entertaining part of my trip occurred on the bus on my way home. It was one of our smaller buses that came. There was already someone at the front with an electric and a man in a wheelchair got on at  the stop I was getting on at. There were 5 of us waiting for the bus and we all let the man in the wheelchair go first. Well, he got on but didn't pull the chair all the way in so he was actually on a diagonal and was blocking the aisle. As a result, the 5 of us all had to do a little dance and get created to get past him and the other guy in the wheelchair in order to get back to the seats on the bus. At this point, the man in the electric chair, who was already on the bus, points out to man #2 that he's not pulled in right and it blocking the aisle. I will point out at this point that if you have a manual wheelchair on the bus (like man #2 did), you're supposed to out the seats up (which he did), pull completely into the area with your back to the driver (he kind of did) and secure yourself with the seat belt provided (which he didn't do). He opted to hold on to the age of the flipped up seat for dear life instead. So, as we leave the stop, man #1 is still telling man #2 to straighten his chair out, especially since man #1 is getting off in 2 stops and can't get his wheel chair off is man #2 doesn't straighten out his chair and stop blocking the exit. Man #2 claims that he can't straighten out. Man #1 is growing more and more agitated. Man #2 is still clinging to the seat for dear life. The bus driver is clearly ignoring all of it. Technically, the bus driver should have made man #2 properly get into position since blocking the aisle is a safety hazard.

Anyhow, we get to man #1's stop and by some miracle, man #2 manages to pull his chair further in, almost creating enough room for man #1 to get out. Almost. Man#1 first drives into the padded post next to him and then hits the wall by the driver before finally being able to manoeuvre enough to get to the ramp to get off the bus. But not before having some final not nice words to share with man #2. Man #2 did seem to have something wrong with him (mentally) but it might also have been alcohol related as he came flying out of the LCBO just before catching the bus (I'd previously seen him in the Superstore too). But it really annoyed me that the bus driver just ignored the whole thing and it was happening right behind him. The man sitting in the seat facing man# 2 ignored the whole thing as well.

I guess helping your fellow man really has gone out the window. Maybe everyone's just afraid involved. No good deed goes unpunished so they say. I can remember when the bus drivers used to help people with strollers, wheelchairs, crutches etc... or make sure that the elderly had found seats before taking off but not so much anymore. Just like the people who ride the bus and don't seem to understand the concept of giving up your seat at the front to someone who's older than you or who has a disability and can't stand on the bus or giving up your seat to a woman who's clearly pregnant. If you're not capable of behaving in a proper, respectful and courteous manner when in public, then perhaps those people shouldn't go out in public. Or maybe it's a matter of parents not teaching good manners and respect to their children anymore.

Good Night.

Sarah

Montreal, pt. 2

I've been too sleepy to write the last couple of nights so I'll try to get a post in tonight.

Day 2 in Montreal started with a trip to the BioDome. It's a kick ass place that has re-created 4 environments indoors. They each feature flora and fauna native to that environment along with some animals and fish. There are lots of educational things along the way to read too. It's very cool to experience the different environments as you move through the building. The tropical rain forest is very hot and humid while the Maple Forest is like walking through a local park. I highly recommend this to anyone going to Montreal.
I loved watching the otters. They almost seemed to know that there were people watching so they were putting on a show for us and almost totally posing for photos!

After that, we headed back to the hotel. We picked up some sandwiches en route and had lunch in our room before heading back out. This time we were off to the incredibly beautiful, Notre Dame Basilica.  When you first walk in and see the stunning alter standing before you, in all its glory, it kind of takes your breath away (I had the same reaction the first time I saw the inside of the Library of Parliament on the hill in Ottawa). I've seen this church a couple times now and the beauty still takes my breath away. If I got to sit in something so historical and so gorgeous every week, I might just be inclined to go to church on a regular basis! 

We did the self guided tour and were able to take our time and look at all the fine wood work. The really big treat for me this time was getting to see the Chapel of the Notre-Dame du Sacre-Coeur. The chapel (located inside the Basilica) burnt down in 1978 but was restored and re-opened in 1982. The chapel is so bright and airy and has a slightly more simple beauty to it. I really enjoyed seeing it as I missed it the last time I was there. Michelle and I wrote in the guest book and continued our tour. The size of the church really is something else. We lit a couple of candles and then moved on out to the gift shop.

It was a crazy windy day and we almost got blown away while sitting on a bench in the square across from the church. We decided to head to the Old Port and check out the St. Lawrence River next. We were able to see Montreal Island and the amusement park during our walk along the river. After resting for a bit and once again nearly getting blown away, we headed back into Old Montreal for dinner.

Old Montreal is just that: old. It's narrow streets and gorgeous old buildings. Some of the roads are still cobble stone. Since I'm a history buff, I love the place. Even if half the shops are cheap souvenir stores. We had dinner at a rustic Italian restaurant called "The Spaghetti Factory" (not to be confused with The Old Spaghetti Factory) and then did some shopping in said cheap souvenir stores. 

We finally got back to the hotel and decided that a nice swim in the pool would be awesome. The hotel's pool is an outdoor pool. Normally, one doesn't go swimming outdoors in Canada in April, but this was no ordinary pool. It's a heated one. We went swimming in the cold rain and totally enjoyed ourselves. If your head got cold, you could swim over to the waterfall and stand there for a bit or just dunk down under the water. It was very awesome.  Michelle and I were pretty darn tired by the time we got into bed. Kind of like how I am now.

Stay tuned for part 3 of the Montreal trip!

Good Night!

Sarah