True Patriot Love

Life is full of little ironies. Like the fact that I'm sitting here, scrolling through Pinterest in search of "healthy" meals while making my way through a small pile of Hallowe'en candy minis and am pouting because I just dropped 2 M&Ms on the floor (you only get like 10 total in a pack!). I think it's time to lay off them though as I'm beginning to feel ill. It's been a rough week and I'm PMSing to boot (explains the Hallowe'en candy, doesn't it?).

I started a new job this week. Change and I are old foes but we're reached a truce over the last few years so the transition into my new place of work wasn't as traumatic as it would have been say, 2 years ago. It was both exciting and frightening at the same time. My new work environment is drastically different than my previous one. For starters, I am now one of the "younger" employees in my office. Previously, I was somewhere in the "middle to older" range. My new office has an 80 year old. In my previous office, I knew the names (and faces) of all 191 staff members. There's something like 178 people in my new office, spread out over 4 floors. As of today, I can recall the names and faces of 10 people and two of them have the same first name so I only have to remember that name once. The bathrooms are much better though. There's actual ventilation in these ones. Not once this week have I walked into the washroom and thought to myself "OMG, what died in here". At my previous place of work, that was almost a daily occurrence. And the people in my new office don't eat lunch together. Almost everyone goes to the food court to buy lunch and then they eat at their desks. I'm a much more social creature than that. My goal for next week is to find a lunch buddy.

I did get to know some of my new co-workers a little better on Wednesday though. My building was put on lock-down until 5:30pm after a fucked-up idiot shot and killed an honour guard and shot and wounded an un-armed guard while running around part of downtown Ottawa and Parliament Hill.  It was a home-grown terror attack. In my city. And all I keep thinking is: "How dare he".

Ottawa has a population of just shy of 900,000 people. Before Wednesday's tragic turn of events, Ottawa only had 4 murders on record for the year. That's it. Take Calgary for example. They have just over 1 million people and have had 24 murders so far this year. A lot of people are under the misconception that Ottawa is a boring city. I think we get a bad wrap because we're a government town and all the cool bands forget about us and are drawn to the flashier cities like Montreal and Toronto. But we are fun. We're a perfect mix of big city and small town. Want to get in some culture? We've got museums and the National Arts Centre. Want sports? We've got NHL, CFL and 3 post-secondary schools with great athletics teams. Want something more small town? We have one of the biggest, permanent Farmer's Markets in the country not to mention dozens and dozens of small towns all within a half hour drive from the downtown core. In my mind, it's a perfect city.

Or it was, until Wednesday. I've lived here for a grand total of 13 years. Wednesday is the very first time I've ever questioned my safety here. It's the very first time I haven't felt safe in my own city. And that is a sickening feeling. When I left work that day, I walked a little faster. I paid more attention to my surroundings and more to the point, I paid a lot more attention to the people around me. The man responsible for carrying out the attack on Ottawa wasn't an immigrant. He wasn't some bitter transplant from another country. He was born here. He was raised here. He was a Canadian. And that upsets me so much more than if it had been someone from some where else. He had the opportunity to grow up in this amazing country. He got to experience what freedom and democracy are. He lived in a country that had great social services and access to things like doctors, dentists, specialists etc... without huge price tags. And yet, somehow, he got it in his head that the Canada that I know and love isn't the amazing country that the rest of us know it is. He decided that he needed to attack it. And that's the part that hurts the most. 

Yes, we're not the global "boy scouts" that we were once known as being. Over the last couple of decades, we've taken on a much more aggressive role on the world's stage than the peacekeeping role we were once known for, but I think we're still a peaceful nation at heart. We all have to stand up for ourselves and stand up for those who can't look after themselves, right? I'm not going to get into whether or not I think our troops should be over dropping missiles on militants on the other side of the world but I am going to say that despite everything that has happened this week, I have never been prouder to be a Canadian.

I was going to have lunch in our food court today, but I decided that the weather was too nice to hide indoors. I also needed the chance to walk around my city again and to be reminded that it is still a safe place to live. My office is on the opposite side of Parliament from where the attack took place, so things are calmer in my area. My walk at lunch was a peaceful one. I enjoyed seeing all the other people out and about, doing the same thing that I was doing: enjoying the nice weather and our collective freedom. 

To the two soldiers that lost their lives this week, Patrice Vincent and Nathan Cirillo - thank you both for your dedication and service to Canada. And to their families - my deepest sympathies and condolences.

It's time for our country to pick itself up, dust ourselves off and show the world that we are still the true north strong and free and that this country is full of millions and millions of people who are very proud to call ourselves Canadian. 

Good Night.

Sarah

Canadian War Memorial in August 2014

                               

All That I Am Thankful For

Today is Thanksgiving so it only seems fitting that I take a moment to look back and reflect on things and thank the universe for the plethora of things that I have to be thankful for. 

I spent Thanksgiving on my own this year, completely by choice. I had several invitations to dine with others or head home but I opted to decline them all. I know what some people might think. Why would I willing opt to spend Thanksgiving alone when some people out there would give anything to not be alone today. Well that's one of the things I'm thankful for - that I have the choice.

Given the stress, anxiety and emotional roller coaster that the past month has been, I needed time to myself to decompress, relax and re-focus. I also wanted to save my remaining holiday days for Christmas. Yes I miss my family terribly and would have loved to have spent the weekend with them, but I fear that I wouldn't have been much fun to be around as I'm kind of stuck inside my own head at the moment. And my decision to stay here saved me from what has been described at "horrible" gravy.

Anyhow, I cleaned and did laundry today and I cooked and baked. I made cookies this morning (thank god I only made 1 dozen because I nearly ate them all) and then I made an apple pie and cooked a Prime Rib roast to perfection. So there are two more things I'm thankful for - that I can afford groceries (granted prime rib is a rarity and only when on sale) and that I know how to cook and bake for myself and that I like to do so. I guess that's 3 things to be thankful for.

I spent some time sitting on my balcony this afternoon (thankful for a warm fall) and watched the chickadees eat sun flower seeds and watched some orange ladybug fly around and climb on the balcony (and me for a bit too). It was very nice to just spend a few moments doing something so simple yet something that made me smile. So I am thankful for the simple pleasures in life.

I texted with a very great friend who lives very far from me for a while this afternoon and heard about the adventures of her day and what the week holds in store for her family. So that made me thankful for the technology to so seamlessly communicate with someone 2 provinces away. And it made me thankful to have someone as wonderful as her in my life. I am thankful that I have a set of friends that let me be myself. Even when I'm at my worst, I know I have a few strong souls to depend upon. And for that I am thankful.

A 3 year, 8 month and 1 day voyage will be coming to an end this week. For all that it's taught me and for all the great people I've met along the way, I am thankful and I am most certainly thankful for the new adventure that lies ahead. I'm hopeful for that one too.

And most importantly of all, I am thankful for my cheering section back in Southern Ontario. My family, especially my parents. It's funny. Some days I think that they don't get me or understand me at all, yet that never seems to stop them from giving me their 100% support and having my back no matter what I decide to do. Not only am I thankful for them, but I'm blessed to have them too. 

Now it's time for me to head to bed. I have a very long short week ahead of me. I need to figure out how to impart 3 years, 8 months and 1 day's worth of knowledge and wisdom onto someone else. And clean off my desk........

Good Night and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah

My Mom's fall mums from 2011

Lunar Eclipse and Horoscopes.

I like to read my horoscope every day. Not because I 100% believe it, but to use it as a kind of compass to guide my day. Sometimes it's pretty true to my situation and other days it's completely out in left field. The one that appeared in the local free daily on Monday was so accurate, it gives me chills. It said:

"According to the planets you have reached the end of one particular road and what happens in the run-up to Wednesday’s eclipse will point you in a new direction. After that it’s up to you. What’s holding you back? Absolutely nothing."


Long story short, there was indeed a total lunar eclipse this morning. And I signed a contract for a new job this afternoon, which is taking me down a new road as I'm changing departments all together. The new job is also a permanent one, rather than the term to term one that I'm currently in. It's also a higher level of responsibility (and pay!).

I was offered the job 2 weeks ago - on the new moon. I'll be starting the job 2 days shy of the next new moon so I think that's pretty close.

This has been a long time coming. I applied for it nearly a year ago. Career wise, this is the first move I've made that was 100% intentional. Most of my previous jobs have come along by luck or accident. This was a very deliberate action. I am thrilled. I really am. I'm very excited (and a little nervous) about this next adventure.

It's kind of funny. I'm someone who doesn't really like change. I like to be comfortable and routine is that for me. But it also makes me complacent. Which isn't good. So by actively seeking out change, I actually found it. And am welcoming it. Evening looking forward to it. My inner warrior is happy. So very, very happy.

Makes me wonder what other things I can accomplish if I decide to go for them and invite change into my life.....

Good Night!

Sarah

Pick a path....

New Moon

Tonight is a New Moon. It's the period of the month when the night is the darkest, since the moon isn't there to illuminate the blackness. For those uncomfortable with the dark, this can be a scary and troubling time.

But not for me. I enjoy the energy of a new moon. It's symbolic of new beginnings. It's a good time to set intentions for things you want to achieve. A chance to put new ideas in motion. A chance to ask for forgiveness for past actions. A chance to ask the universe for new things. For power. For strength. For hope.

A new start.

The power of the new moon is alive and well and I'm soaking it all in.

The winds of change are picking up.

Good things are coming.

Stay tuned...........

Sarah

You're Such A Positive Person

It's been a very rough week. And we're only half way through. I haven't been feeling so hot. Last night was really bad and I spent the day in a fog, concentrating very hard on holding it together.

Maybe it's the early cold weather that we've had. Or perhaps is the abundance of alone time I've had of late. Two weekends in a row plans went askew/off the rails and I ended up flying solo, which isn't anything new for me. It just sucks when I actually make plans and start to look forward to some human contact and conversation and then end up on my own anyhow. Or maybe it's the reminder/realization that I really am on my own here. It's just me. I am not a priority in anyone's world, except my own. Maybe one day that will change, and I think I'd really like that, but for now, it's my reality. I'm always the one asking other people to do stuff. I can't recall the last time someone approached me and invited me to do something. Unless you count my new boss. She invited me to do a 5k walk with her at 7am on Sunday. I think she was mostly kidding though as she was trying to find a way out of it. It just really sucks that people mean more to me than I mean to them. Actually, it doesn't suck. It hurts. 

Anyhow, it was a rough day. I didn't sleep well last night. I was late getting up, late getting moving. Got to work and had multiple items thrown at me right of the get go. That part actually helped. It distracted me for a bit. Let me get outside my own head for a while. It was a nice change of scenery. I did go for a walk at lunch and that felt good. The fresh air on my face helped to wake me up a bit more and just being away from the office made my soul feel better for a while. My afternoon was ok until about 3pm when I started having dizzy spells and my head felt tight, like it was in a vice. Brutal. Don't know if was a stress issue, or I'm coming down with something or low blood sugar or pressure. Who knows. All I know is that I felt like crap. All I wanted to do was go home. But some co-workers needed help and I soldiered on.

I was just getting ready to leave work when one of our officers started talking to me and asking for some information. So we got into a discussion. Said officer actually said some very complimentary things to me about my work and hopes for my future, then they said something that almost made me burst out laughing/break down crying. They said "You're such an optimistic person". I'm standing there, feeling like crap. I'm exhausted from holding it together all day, having been on the verge of tears about 6 times that day, cried myself to sleep the night before and they're standing there telling me how optimistic I am.

The Universe really loves throwing stuff like that at me. I found it funny and sad all at the same time. I guess this means I was doing a good job of not letting it show how miserable I was today. I hate feeling like this. But I've been through it enough times now to just sit back and let it get out of my system. Give myself a day to wallow and then slowly pick myself up, dust myself off and start putting one foot in front of the other again.

Tomorrow will be a new day. Hopefully the sun will be out and the black cloud hanging around me will start to sail away. So long as I have hope, I have something going for me.

Now it's time to go and hopefully have a full and restful night's sleep.

Good Night

Sarah

I Think Your Shirt Is Nice

As anyone who's ever worked out at a gym knows, you don't exactly look your best when you finish your workout. Yes, you have that "glow" about you (which is usually sweat) but your face is red, your hair is a mess and is stuck to your face/neck and sometimes you don't smell the best.

My gym outfit changes from week to week. It all depends on the weather and what's clean. This week, it's cotton shorts that come to my knees and a plain jane, dark blue, scoop neck cotton t-shirt. It's actually very comfortable. The shirt is very soft.

Anyhow, I was too tired to bother changing back into my work clothes after the gym today so I opted to go home in my shorts and t-shirt. What do I care? I'm just going to the bus, getting on it and going home. So I get on the bus tonight. It's almost full but there's a seat in the back. I get there and I'm organizing myself and moving my giant backpack out of the way and I notice the guy to my right looking at me. I looked over and he was looking directly at me. He smiled, so I smiled back. I always do that. Doesn't matter who offers me a smile on the bus or on the street, I always smile back. It's the polite thing to do, especially in our digital obsessed work. I dig my iPod out of my purse and I'm playing with it and I look over and the guy is still looking at me. He then pulls the cord and gets up to get off at the next stop.

On his way to the door, he leans over and says to me "I think your shirt is nice." So I just smiled and said "Thank you very much". He got off the bus and I plugged in my iPod and dissolved in my music. He was kind of cute too. LOL.

Here's the fun part - my internal monologue is thinking "you look like hell. Your face is blotchy, your mascara is most likely flaking off  and your outfit isn't flattering at all" but thankfully, confident Sarah over-ruled and simply said "thank you".

I'm actually really bad with accepting compliments. I get thrown off my game when someone offers me a random compliment. On the up side, I've gotten very good at accepting them. I used to brush them off and try to downplay whatever the person has said but now, I say thank you and that's that. Learning to accept that other people, even perfect strangers sometimes, can see good things about me and make complimentary comments to me is all part of the growing process.

As a random funny thought, my horoscope told me that a new person on my social scene would get my attention...but a relationship with this person would never last. Maybe that was kind of cute bus man? LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

No, this isn't what I was wearing but it's one of my favourite dresses

Searching For A Stress-Free Job

We're only two days into the week and it seems like it's been a long week already. LOL. Work's been one issue after another. Lots of fun there. I've been crazy tired at home too. I keep waking up in the night and worrying about stuff that still needs to be done at work. Sigh. My nightly mantra is "stop worrying about work." One night I might listen to myself. Things are slowly coming together so I'm hoping the worry will leave soon too. Some days I wish I had the kind of job where I simply forgot about it when I walked out the door at the end of the day. No stressing. No worrying. Maybe if I win it big in the lottery I can find a job like that. Everyone knocks working in retail. I kind of liked it. I didn't like the sore feet from standing around all day but I liked the staff discount and getting to talk to people and the whole 'when you leave work, you leave work behind you' thing. Sadly, I can't afford to live on a retail salary, especially if I keep buying stuff from the store where I work. Working in a book store would be cool but I'd spend all my money at work and I've already run out of room for the books that I already own. That would present a major problem. I think it might be fun to be a chef too, so long as someone else did all the dishes.
Being a dog walker would be cool too. Unless one of the dogs ran away. That would be stressful. And I don't think I'd like to walk them in the winter. I hate winter. I hibernate in winter.
Maybe I could get a job as a personal shopper! Then I'd get to shop but spend someone else's money. Only downside is that I don't get to keep anything that I buy. That would be a bummer.
Ironically, my dream job is to be the Governor General of Canada. I'm guessing that job comes with a fair bit of stress. But then again, you could always pass all of your work off to someone else. Hmmm. Something to think about. I need to start getting in friendly with the Prime Ministers if I want to be GG for Canada.
Or maybe I just need to win it really, really big in the lottery and then I don't have to worry about working at all......

Eyes are closing.

Good Night!

Sarah

100!!

Something I forgot to mention: I hit my 100th work out at Curves on August 11th.

That was a pretty big deal for me. When I first joined, 100 work outs seemed like something far away, especially since I only work out 3 days a week. And some weeks it's only twice and for one week last winter I gave up going all together (but I went back the following week!). So I was pretty stoked to hit 100.

I'm not sure that I've ever stuck to a diet/exercise regime this long before. It's become routine for me. I actually enjoy going (most of the time). Today I learnt that I won 2 prizes from games/contests that the club ran in August. I won a pen from our trivia contest and I won a "100" t-shirt from the 100-150 work outs contest. Awesomeness!!!!! Now I'm slowly inching my way forward to the next goal: 150 workouts.

Despite going to the gym on a regular basis, I haven't actually lost all that much weight. Some is gone and while a few pounds keep coming back, the vast majority of what I've lost has stayed lost. So I'm rather pleased with that. I know why I haven't lost much weight. It's no real mystery, especially when you've been in this game as long as I have been. Simply put, I need to modify my intake. And I'm working on that and will be making some changes in the near future. But I'll share more on that later.

Funny part is that people keep telling me that I look like I've lot weight. Probably because I have better posture now. I sit and stand up straighter. Strengthening your core will do that. I'm also slightly leaner, as I'm redistributed the weight around a bit. So it's small changes but they're changes and they're occurring.

Losing weight is a very funny beast. In theory, it's a simple process: intake fewer calories than you burn. But there's so much more to it than that. It's emotional. It's mental. It's a constant internal battle between side A that screams: Love yourself the way you are. Fuck society and accept yourself the way you are. Everyone's beautiful and side B which simply states: Keep it up and you'll have diabetes by 40 and drop dead of a heart attack by 50. Both sides make some valid points. So I think there's a 3rd option: I love myself and am confident enough in myself to know that I have to change. I don't want to die young or be a burden on my family or society because I have a weight related disease or issue. But at the same time, I have no desire to be skinny. I don't even think that's possible given my bone structure. I personally think curves are sexy and plan to hold onto some of mine. I'd just like to reduce them a bit and give them some more definition.

I'm not perfect. Never have been, never will be and I'm happy about that. If you're perfect, you've got nothing to strive for and that sounds a little boring to me. One little step at a time, except on Curves days, and then it's several big steps for about a half hour.

Good Night!

Sarah

Told You So and Mystery Chicken

It was an interesting day today. It was one of those "hit the ground running" kind of day. Thankfully, there were no major fires in my little bubble but there was a big one burning away with the big project. And I knew there would be. I called it. Weeks ago in fact. And I had a very opportune "I told you so" moment, but, alas, I opted for the moral high ground and kept my mouth shut.

I wasn't being a neigh sayer by any means. And this wasn't me being negative. I was being quite realistic. You see, I've done 3 previous projects that were very similar to this one. And there were issues with each and every one of them. And this time around, we had 2 newbies working on it and one not so bright coordinator over in group in charge of projects like this. So I'm pretty sure it was doomed from the start. Add in the fact that my previous (and very disliked) supervisor was the one originally in charge of it for our office and it was definitely doomed. But cooler heads prevailed today. My new supervisor got on it and fired off some emails and got some balls rolling. I jumped in too and lent a hand to the IT guys.

All in all, the day ended well and we're on our way to getting everything resolved. Which is good since we have 15 new people starting at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I'm with them (along with the recent addition to my team) until roughly 10:30. Should make the morning go by pretty quickly.

Speaking of work, I got official confirmation that the evaluation board for a process I applied on, has found me to be "qualified" for the position and I have been placed in the pool. That's two pools I'm in now. I'm excited to be in both pools. It was hard work getting there, but it's a little bitter sweet. This means that 2 other organizations has deemed me qualified to be doing the work that I'm currently doing, but my current organization doesn't acknowledge that I'm doing work above level. Just a wee bit frustrating.

I stopped at the grocery store after work to get milk, bread and veggies. I got milk, bagels, ham and raspberries. Totally forgot about the veggies. LOL. The raspberries were on sale and I find that they go bad super fast so I decided to use them up tonight. I whipped up a batch of lemon-raspberry yogurt muffins. I think they turned out pretty well. I'll take a few to work to share with a couple co-workers and we'll see how well they go over.

I bet you're wondering about the mystery chicken mentioned in the title of this blog eh?

While my parents were here, we stopped at one of my mom and I's favourite stores: Giant Tiger. They had my favourite stuffed chicken breasts on sale for $1.87/pack. Couldn't pass that up. Only problem was, we weren't going back to my apartment, we were going onto their hotel. No problem says dad. There's a freezer in the mini fridge in their room. So I buy 4 boxes: 2 ham & swiss and 2 herb & garlic. We get back to the hotel and try to stuff the box in the little freezer. Won't fit. So we decide to take the chicken out of the boxes and mom stuffs them all in to a bag and then we stuff the bag into the freezer. They fit! Only problem is, there's now no way to tell which flavour is which as they all look the same. D'oh! So now I have mystery chicken. And they threw out all the boxes, which had the cooking instructions on them so I had to wing it and go by memory. It worked out well. I ended up with Ham & Swiss tonight (which is what I wanted). I think I have the same one for lunch tomorrow too. I guess I'll find out at noon hour tomorrow which flavour it is.

Got to go and get some sleep so I'm bright eyed and somewhat alert for my day tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

Duck! (because I don't have a photo of a chicken)

Catching Up

Hey. How's it going? Long time, no read eh? I know I haven't blogged in a long time but I didn't realize it had been that long. 5 months to be exact. I'm not entirely sure why I stopped just like I'm not entirely sure why I felt compelled to write this evening. Maybe I needed a break, so I stopped. Maybe part of me longed to write again, so here I am. I don't know. But that's a very big part of life isn't it? Not knowing.

I just spent the last 45 minutes writing a very long blog......only to discover that my computer disconnected from the internet, AGAIN (computer issue, not my internet provider) and only the first paragraph above saved.  Shit.

So I'm going to summarize the last 5 months of my life in 5 minutes or less:

Moronic, worst supervisor ever appointed to my team and has thankfully since left. New one is much, much better. New manager at work, seems very nice. Went home for my dad's birthday. Had a great time. Went to see Cyndi Lauper and Cher, awesome show! Turned another year older! Had a fun dinner out with friends and a couple of us won money at the casino. Right on! Bought myself a new camera. Love it. Went home for a wedding. Had a horrible time, mostly due to being abandoned by everyone and having to sit alone and then getting a horrible drunken text message from my brother. Moved on. Went to Bluesfest! Rocked out to Slash, Moist and Collective Soul. Got to meet The Barenaked Ladies. Had an awesome time! Got to go and see Katy Perry. It was a kick ass show. Well worth the money! Took a couple days off work and had a stay-cation. Got a pedicure, saw the changing of the guard and had tea at the Chateau Laurier. Bought a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. How did I ever bake without it? My parents came to town for a couple of day. Had a very wonderful visit with them and got to tour the little villages south of Ottawa. My mom made friends with the front desk clerk by giving him cherry tomatoes from their garden. LOL. I was very sad to see them leave. The older I get, the harder the goodbyes seem to become.

So that's it in a nut shell. I'm sure other stuff happened but that's the main points that I can remember right now.

It's now well past my bedtime and I have to be up and moving early tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

Super Moon - taken with my new camera

Just chillin' with the Barenaked Ladies

Katy Perry

Mom and Dad <3

Disappearing Doctor and a Sugarless Surprise

Since I just cleared a world in Candy Crush and I'm currently waiting for 3 friends to send me passes to the next level, I decided I'd kill some time by blogging.

It was an interesting week at work. It was very busy. And not just for me. For a lot of people. Ah, the joy of year end (the fiscal or financial year that is). The ending of this year and getting stuff done for the start of the next one kept me equally busy I'd say. Part of it was my own fault. I requested today off since I had one "use it or lose it" vacation day left and I'm not the type of person to let a perfectly good vacation day go to waste.

My day off was a long and rather interesting one. I've been having problems with my knee for several months now. I very much dislike going to the doctor so I'm a big proponent of "walk it off'". I think it stems from the time when I was 6 and I feel and severely sprained my ankle and broke 2 tiny bones in it and I limped around the house for a day and a half before my mom decided I wasn't faking it and took me to the doctor. So I've been "waking it off" for the last few months, only problem is that it's becoming increasingly more painful to do so. Sigh. Time to see the doctor. Knowing that I had today off, I decided that it would be best to go on my day off so that I didn't miss any additional work. I called the doctor's office on Tuesday and made an appointment for Friday. I asked for the earliest appointment they had. She said "10am". And I said "that's the earliest?" and she said "Yes, the doctor's usually in by then". Sigh. I took it. We had a little bit of freezing rain earlier so I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter on my way to the bus this morning. Thankfully, we didn't get much and it had warmed up already and all the snow we got overnight was starting to melt as well as any of the frozen stuff that feel earlier. I make it to the corner in time to see my bus go by on the other side of the street. Damn thing was 3 minutes early. Sigh. So I wait for the next one and arrive at the doctor's office 5 minutes late (not too bad). I go up to the receptionist, tell her who I am and that I have an appointment with my doctor at 10am and apologize for being late. She just looks at me. And then says "You have an appointment?" Me - Yes. Her - hmmm. Then - the doctor isn't here. And I can't see your appointment in the computer. It looks like it's all blocked off. Me - I called on Tuesday and made an appointment for today. I called at 10:30am. Whoever I spoke to (btw - I know it was her that I spoke to) told me the doctor would be in a 10 and gave me that appointment time. She just looks at me. Then the computer. Then me. Then she says "I don't know where the doctor is. We're expecting him today.". WTF. What kind of doctor just goes MIA?? Beauty part? This isn't the first time this has happened. I told her ask much. She just shrugged at me and gave me a helpless animal type face. Thankfully I don't fall for that kind of BS easily so I just sighed and said "Can I see the other doctor?" And she said "Of Course!" and merrily starts typing away at the computer, gives me back my health card and tells me to take a seat. My doctor is based out of a Walk in clinic so there's always another doctor there except on weekends. Thankfully, the place wasn't busy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. The walk in doctor was an old dude with a really thick accent that I could hardly understand. He wiggled and twisted my knee all over the place (which hurt) and asked me twice if I had a drug plan (which I do have, thank goodness). He wrote me 3 prescriptions. One is a powerful anti-inflammatory that I have to take twice a day. 2nd one is for a medication to protect my tummy from the anti-inflammatory (it appears to be a drug who's main purpose is to treat ulcers and really bad heartburn). Ok then. The 3rd was the one I asked for, which was just a repeat on my regular meds. Bugger only gave me 3 months worth of that one so I have to go back to see my doctor.  Trying to be good and giving the guy one more chance, I made an appointment for a physical in May. Have to wait and see what happens there.

So after the doctor's office, I went to Curves. It was monthly weigh-in day. I've never been there that early in the day and I'd only eaten breakfast at this point so I'm sure that helped with the weigh in a little bit. Anyhow, it went very well. I'm down 3 inches. I lost a little or stayed the same for every part of my body except my biceps. They increased thanks to the muscle I've built. The best part was what the scale had to say. Down 8.5lbs in the last month. YEEHAW! That's roughly 2lbs a week. The only thing I've changed in my diet is sugar. I've removed it. And apparently that's having some very positive results. I even managed to say no to my biggest temptations yet: The crazy awesome looking and very amazing smelling Ferro Rocher cupcakes that a very awesome co-worked baked for KayD's bday. I was tempted. Boy was I ever. But I held out and the result on the scale today made me very happy about that decision. I know damn well that 1 cupcake wouldn't have an impact on the results I saw today, but it's the principle of my quest that matters. The wonderful photo that appears on tonight's blog are the delightful cupcakes. You'll understand the temptation once you see them. Honestly, they were pretty epic or so I was told by those who ate them :)

After Curves, I celebrated my weight loss by sharing a deep fried snack platter appetizer at lunch with a buddy of mine. It was good. I eventually paid for it (some indigestion this evening...prior to taking the new meds) but it was yummy. This was followed up by a tour of the Canadian History Museum (aka Museum of Civilizations). It used to be my favourite museum in Ottawa but they're currently renovating it and changing a bunch of stuff so a lot of it was closed off to the public which puts a bit of a damper on it. I'm sure it will be awesome once it's done but that's not for another few years. It was still cool to see the Canadian Hall, which is may favourite section. They have re-creations of buildings and homes, schools and churches and they have real artifacts in each area. And some very life-like mannequins that are rather creepy.

By the time we were done at the museum, the fog had really rolled in. That's what happens when warm air hits cold snow and a cold river. And it was pouring rain too. Traffic wasn't too bad and I got dropped off at the mall so that I cold get my prescriptions filled. I remembered to by lottery tickets yet forgot to buy milk. D'oh! Now I don't have milk for my morning tea/coffee. Dammit. Guess I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. Either that or I'll be drinking green tea.

All in all, it was a very interesting day and enjoyable for the most part. It would have been nicer if I could have walked the museum rather than limped it, but hopefully these meds help and I can get back to normal. If not, I'll be seeing my doctor (if he shows up) sooner than my planned visit in May.

I should toddle off to bed (aka curl up in bed and read for another half hour or so) as I need to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Another busy week ahead!

Good Night!

Sarah

Amazing, right??!!

Reflecting on Life Lessons and 21 Days Without Sugar!

You know, it's funny how a 20 minute meeting can result in hours and hours and hours of work being assigned to someone. I had that happen this week. Not that it's a bad thing. A good opportunity to get my feet wet with someone new but looking at it yesterday, I had the distinct impression that I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Thankfully a good night's sleep and a fresh perspective this morning, it didn't look nearly as daunting. And it's going to make for a couple interesting weeks. Besides, I have Curves to work out my frustrations should things not go well with the plans! LOL.

I did discover something very cool online today. It's from a blog and it made me stop for a few minutes and really think about things for a few moments. It's called "30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself" and on the blog Marc and Angel hack life. Every single one of the items is true and completely makes sense. If you like the post, please support their blog and sign up for their newsletter. I did!!

The first one is:

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you.  You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.  Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth.  And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

OMG, I'm such a proponent of this one. And I think that I've learnt and lived this lesson. My only regret is that I didn't realize it sooner. Looking back on high school, I can think of several people that I would have just cut out and walked away from because they sucked the happiness out of me. Or just used me and never saw me for the awesome person I know that I am. Which leads me directly to points 5 and 6 in the blog:

5.Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

I think I have a pretty good sense of self now. I'm not a party girl. I'm not the type of person who goes out to bars or clubs every Friday and Saturday night. I don't go out drinking  and dancing with the girls. I'm lucky if my eyes are still open at 10pm on a Friday night. I'd rather curl up in my comfy close and read a book than get all dressed up and freeze my ass off waiting in line somewhere and then spend my night in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers. And I'm cool with that. There was a point in my life when I wished I was that girl. The bar star. But that's not who I am and I have no desire to be her either.

I don't like dwelling on the past. Been there, done that. I will occasionally recall something from my past in order to remind myself of the lesson I learnt from it, but that's all. Sadly, I've had a few people in my life who can't seem to get past the past. Which then goes back to point 1 and I don't associate with those people anymore.

I am somewhat guilty of # 15 and 16:

Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.  Concentrate on beating your own records every day.  Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.  Ask yourself this:  “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

I'm 35, live in a small, kinda crappy apartment (because I can't afford anything nicer)  am still single and have 0 prospects on the horizon. Even if I had an interest in having kids, my chances of doing so would be pretty slim to none at this point. I often day dream about owning my own house with a nice backyard where I can have a lovely garden and a couple of dogs running around. And a husband who's arms I can curl up in on our porch swing and watch fire flies come out at night. Yes, I realize that I sound like I'm 80 but it's what I want. And I don't have it. But I know other people around my same age who do have it. I've learnt to change my thinking. I can't measure my life and successes against others. They're living a different life than I am. They're on a different path than I am. I know that I'll eventually get there, I just am taking a different route.
Same with people at work. I've seen people with less experience than myself getting better jobs. I've seen people who only worked in our office for a short period of time get promoted or find a better job faster than others who have been there longer. I can't begin to compare them all. Everyone is living a different life. I'm thankful for the things that I do have and will continue to strive for the important things that I want (happens to be point 30).

I will admit to being completely guilty of point 28 on the list too (you have to read the list to find out what it is) but I come by it naturally. It runs in the family and I'm fairly certain that I inherited it from my mother, who most likely got it from her mother :) And 29 is a work in progress for me as well. I've taken to doing a bit of positive affirmation after my workout at Curves. There's a stretching routine that you're supposed to follow after your working out to help your muscles. Part of it is done sitting on the floor. During those stretches, I like to close my eyes and think nothing but positive thoughts. I remind myself how strong I am. I remind myself of my goals. I think about why I'm there and what I want to accomplish and how much I love me and I just remind myself to take it one day at a time. Taking little steps towards all my goals are better than taking none at all.

Speaking of goals, I'm at day 21 without sugar :) Just 7 more days and it will have been a full month. I did nearly have a set back this morning when I opened the office fridge at morning break and found myself staring at two half eaten cakes. I grabbed my yogurt and ran before the devil could scramble up on my shoulder.

Good Night!

Sarah

My new Bonsai Tree

Mini Milestones

My day has been a day of some mini milestones which I didn't actually realize until late this afternoon.

For starters, today marks 2 weeks without sugar. I even survived the dessert section of an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet on the weekend. I broke down and bought some sugar free Jello Mousse cups to help with the chocolate cravings. Otherwise, fruit has been satisfying my sweet cravings and I'm feeling pretty darn good.
I'm finding it rather shocking just how much sugar is in things that you don't think have sugar in them or should have sugar in them. The one that surprised me the most are the frozen dinner and the supposed "Healthy" steamer style bowls. They have insane amounts of sugar in them. Talk about buyer be ware.

This evening also marked my 50th workout at Curves. Their computer system keeps track and lets me know how many workouts I've had when I sign in. I'll admit it. I'm a little proud of myself. I've actually kept with it for 5.5 months now. It's become routine for me and I actually enjoy it. Yes. I just said that I enjoy exercise. Some days it is hard to drag my ass there, like tonight. I was really tired after work. I've been tired all week. And it was really grey and blah out. Snow was in the forecast. And I'm reading a really good book right now (Omens by Kelly Armstrong) and all I could think about was going home, curling up and reading. But I didn't. I went to Curves. I was rewarded with my favourite coach being there (She normally works mornings except for Fridays) and I got in a good work out. Beat my target again for the 6th or 7th consecutive work out and it was my 50th workout. Something seems to have clicked. Now if my knee would just cooperate.....

Work is going well. It's been pretty steady so it's keeping me out of trouble. My co-workers are still providing me with a good deal of amusement. I swear, one day I'm going to write a book about my life in that office. I got a piece of good news last week too. I wrote a test on the 10th as part of a hiring process. I got the score back on the 12th and I did a pretty good job, scoring 42 out of 50. I'll take it, especially since I was still recovering from my cold and thanks to my inconsiderate neighbours, I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before the test. Oh yeah, and they tried to blow us up during the test too! (Blasting at the building site behind the test centre). Made for a very interesting day.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Not that you'd know it from looking out the window. We had snow today and there's snow in the forecast again tomorrow. The City of Ottawa set a new record on Monday. It was the coldest St. Patrick's Day in Ottawa's recorded history. Lucky us. Two years ago we had a heat wave and set a record of +25. It got so hot in our office that we got sent home. I'd much prefer that to this. I'm very excited at the prospect of having Spring here soon. It means longer days and more sunlight. It also means that I survived the dark, cold days of winter and I once again triumphed over my demons. I must say, this has been one of the best winter's I've had in a very long time. My seasonal depression really stayed in check and I've had  very few down days. There were a couple weeks between January and February that I found a little rough and had no energy but they were short lived and I bounced back quickly. I honestly think that Curves had a lot to do with the improvement in my mood. They say that exercise is good for more than your physical health. Who knew that they were right? LOL.

Steph and I checked out one of the positive signs of spring 2 weekend's ago: Blowing up the ice on the Rideau River. We got there too late to see the ice being blown up as they were further up the river, but we heard and felt some of the blasts and we did get to see the very beautiful and very frozen Rideau Falls. It was rather interesting to see. I got a lot of amusement out of watching the large ice chunks from up river going over the falls and creating quite the splash at the bottom. It was almost as amusing as watching Steph sniff bread in the grocery store but that's a story for another day. So is staying out to 2:30am, betting on electronic horses at the Casino in Quebec :) LOL.

I can hear my book calling me so I should sign off, go and curl up and read a little before bed. Or a lot.

Good Night!

Sarah

Very Frozen Rideau Falls - Steph took the photo when we stopped to check them out 2 weeks ago. So cold! But so beautiful!!

Back to Work and Day 2 & 3 Without Sugar

Despite still being sick, I made it back to work today. Even survived the day while remaining vertical, keeping my lungs in my chest and only mildly grossing out my nearest neighbours with my nose blowing. One of my managers referred to it as "trumpeting". Anyhow...

It was a long and busy day. Played catch up almost all day and not just my own work either. I'm half assed covering for a co-worker too. I managed to make it through the day without any cold meds either. Just lots of tea and water. And a mid-day nasal rinse.

Day 2 of the no sugar went well. Again, since I was home sick it was easier to avoid temptation. I did venture into Walmart in search of honey but managed to avoid all the bad stuff.

Today, I had a slight bit of sugar this evening. I had a quick swig of chocolate milk as I'd eaten something spicy and needed a quick milk blast to stop my tongue from burning. So all in all, not to bad at all. I did have a wicked craving for coffee yesterday and again this evening so I think I may need to track down a small box of Splenda tomorrow just so I can have coffee from time to time. While I'm quite happy to have honey in my tea, I can't say the same thing about coffee. Coffee and honey don't seem to go so well together. I don't want to go overboard on the sweeteners either so I need to limit my intake of them as well.

I can sleep in tomorrow so that should help knock this could out a little more. I need to take my night time medication and slather my chest with Vicks. I giggle and think of The Big Bang Theory every time I do it. The episode where Amy gets sick is priceless. I did like my mom's best friend's suggestion. She said to find a firefighter to do it. I'm down with that.

Good Night!

Sarah

Pretty much how I spent the last 2 days...

Day 1: Sugar = No. Sinus Cold = Yes.

So today is Ash Wednesday, for those who follow the Western Christian calendar. For those unfamiliar with the concept, Ash Wednesday is the kick off to Lent and it occurs 46 days before Easter. The story goes that Matthew, Mark, Luke and Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting in the desert while being tempted by Satan (I guess he had nothing better to do). The purpose of Lent has changed over the millennia and basically it boils down to giving up some sort of luxury or benefit in your life as a way of paying penitence for your sins. Now if you've been paying attention, you'll notice that we're missing 6 days in the math. The extra 6 days account for the Sundays between now and Easter and those are kind of like a day off. Fast for 6 days and feast on the 7th. Anyhow, back to my point. Since I am neither overly religious (much more spiritual really) nor do I believe that I commit many sins, I use Lent as a time of motivation. A period to make positive changes in my life and use it as a motivating factor. And with a little hope that God, the Goddess and the Universe all help me out a little and give me some extra strength and will power.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I'm giving up sugar for Lent. To clarify, I'm giving up any foods with "added" sugar in them, as well as high fructose corn syrup and other bad sugars. Anything that has naturally occurring sugars like fruit and milk are ok.

It just so happens that the World Health Organization published an announcement today asking people to consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar a day. They go on to say that no more than 10% of your daily calories should come from sugar but would prefer it if people could make that 5% instead.

Sugar is everywhere. It's in things that you'd never think of it being in. One tablespoon of ketchup has almost 1 full teaspoon of sugar in it. Even one serving of the Sour Cream and Onion Crispy Minis that I have has 1 gram of sugar in it. A lot of processed foods have sugar in them. A lot of "diet" or "low fat" foods have added sugar to help with the taste. It's very overwhelming when you stop to think about it.

I'm kicking the habit so I'm going to do what I can to avoid sugar for the next 40 days. I dawned on my today that my dad's 60th birthday falls during this 40 day period so that's going to be a tough one. But my aim isn't to be perfect, just much more aware.

Day 1 went well. Mostly due to the fact that I'm rather sick with a nasty sinus cold right now. I remember to buy sugar free cough/throat drops and I used honey in my tea this morning. Once I'm feeling better, I'm going to have to hit up the grocery store for a new cereal as my favourite one here has added sugar in it. I'm also trying to find some recipes online for no-sugar granola and breakfast bars. I'm sure I'll be a little more motivated when I'm finally feeling better.

My night time cold medication is kicking in so I'd better log off before I fall asleep at my computer and get snot/drool all over the keyboard (that's a pretty image eh?).

Good Night!

Sarah

Guess What? It's Still Cold.

It's been 3 weeks since I last blogged. It's still cold. There's still lots of snow on the ground. The forecast for the week shows more cold and more snow. And the first day of Spring is 18 days away. Someone needs to wake Mother Nature up and remind her of that fact. I'm so done with this weather. I think most people are. According to the weather experts, this is the coldest winter we've had in the last 20 years. I believe it. I'm hanging in there though.

From a mood/mental standpoint, this winter has been pretty good (knock on wood since it isn't over yet). Other than a  couple of days in December and a week in January, I've been doing pretty good. The demons haven't been bugging me. Maybe it's even too cold out for them! The only thing I've done differently this winter than last is Curves. It's become pretty much routine for me now. I haven't missed a session since mid January. I did miss one day in February but that's because they were closed so that wasn't my fault. I think the exercise really has helped. I've been pushing myself to get out more too, be a little more social. That's probably helped too. I'm starting to see the results from Curves. Just small ones. But they make me smile. In numbers, I've lost 6lbs and 10.75 inches. That means I'm trading fat for muscle. I think it's a pretty good swap.

Despite being up late last night, I woke up early-ish this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep. So I hauled my butt out of bed and got moving. I made it to the grocery store and home again by 10:20am. I then had breakfast, watched Police Academy and cleaned my kitchen. Like really cleaned it. I still have the stove/oven and my kitchen table to tackle but the sink and counters are looking pretty good. Took out a whole mess of recycling too. I can't believe how quickly it adds up! I did empty and toss out some expired stuff so that contributed to the recycling mess.

I've decided that I'm going to attempt something this week. It's going to be hard and I'm most likely going to be very cranky but it's worth it. Lent is coming up. And while I'm not Catholic and thus don't normally observes lent, over the last few years I have. For the last 3 years, I've given up chocolate for lent. I've managed to stick to it and then I go hog wild at on Easter. LOL. This year, I'm stepping up my game. I'm going to give up ALL sugar for lent. You see, sugar is my drug. Some people go nuts for chips, for me, it's sugar. Cakes, cookies, squares, chocolate bars, gummies....sugar. And I need to kick that habit. My mid-section needs me to kick that habit. So this should be an adventure. I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not perfect and I'm sure God won't be disappointed in me either but I'm going to hold myself accountable and give this a real try. I've been told that it take 6 weeks to make or break a habit. Lord knows that my "doing dishes every night" habit attempt failed miserably but my making the bed every morning one worked. I bought a bunch of unsweetened apple sauce fruit snack cups to help with the sugar cravings. I just hope I can do this without killing anyone :)

Bed time has arrived so it's time to sign off. I really hate that the Oscars save all the big, fun awards until the end of the show. I guess no one would watch it to the end otherwise. Oh well.

Good Night!

Sarah

Cold Power Walking and a New Lunch Date

Well I certainly got my cardio in this morning. Thanks to the design of the downtown corridor, an accident in one key spot caused major backups for all the buses.

I was first aware of a problem when it took us 5 minutes to get up a hill. And then when we reached the stop at the top of the hill, we sat there for 5 minutes, without moving away from the stop. Thankfully, I'm a well prepared Canadian girl and was dressed for the weather. I had my boots, two pairs of pants, a sweater, a hoodie, scarf, mittens and my heavy wool coat on so I was good to brave the elements.

Me and about 6 other people hopped off the bus and started the trek into downtown. Looking down the street, there was a long line of pretty red and white buses and a heavy stream of people heading into the core on foot. While making the trek, I passed my boss' boss en route to the office. We said a hurried hi as we each scurried in a different direction across the street.

Despite the fact that it was -28 with the windchill when I left the house, I was quite toasty by the time I got to the office. There was a quick stop at Starbucks involved, where they gave me the wrong drink but it was still good so I was ok. I wasn't the only one who opted to take the two feet and a heartbeat approach to getting to work today. At least it was sunny.

I must say, I'm really looking forward to the new transit tunnel under downtown being built. I think it will really improve traffic in the core.

I had a fun lunch today. Due to scheduling conflicts and over crowding, I opted to have lunch with a couple of our students rather than my usual group. I know one of the girls pretty well as she's been with us for a few years now. They were quite fun to hang with. It was neat talking about school stuff again and I assisted in the one girl trying to plan a romantic weekend away. LOL. They were a nice break in the day. They gave me advice on boys too :)

Kind of like the conversation I had with our boss' assistant over the difference between the photocopier and the printer and the fact that you cannot send a print job to our photocopier. I'm sure it was a fun conversation for anyone who happened to over hear. Our office isn't equipped with over high tech machines. We're kind of an old school place.

All in all, it was a pretty decent day. I think it's time to go and feed my Merlin addiction.

Good Night!

Sarah

Ice Storm, Christmas, New Year's and Merlin.

So it would appear that I haven't written for a while. I haven't written for 2 months and 26 days in fact. I don't know I haven't written. Just didn't feel like it I guess. I formulated a couple blogs in my head but never had the energy or drive to get them out and onto the screen. I guess I needed a break.

I'll bring you up to speed.

I'm still employed. I'm still single. I'm still broke and I'm still going to Curves. So that would be great, not so good, really shitty and fantastic.

Christmas was lovely. Went home for a week and got to spend time with my family. Thankfully, none of us got sick this year which is good, because I still haven't fully forgiven Typhoid Stephen for giving me the stomach flu last Christmas. It's been over a year and I still can't bring myself to eat cranberries.

The day after my arrival at home, mother nature blessed us with an ice storm. Not quite on the same scale at the one that Ottawa received back in 1998, but it was pretty impressive none the less. We were very lucky and only lost power for a very short period of time. 2 minutes the first time and 10 minutes the 2nd time to be precise. The next door neighbour and the one across the street both lost power after a limb from our tree took down the line (that sound you heard was my mother correcting me and saying that it was the city's tree and not ours. Minor detail. It's on our lawn!). Anyhow, the line was live but it was blocking the road so the nice people at the Hydro company came and cut it, thus knocking out power to both houses.

I got to test out my new "winter tracks" when dad suggested that we go for a walk around the neighbourhood and check out the damage. The damn things worked and I stayed vertical while facing a great fear of mine. I'm terrified of ice. We walked in the middle of the road and everyone froze the second we heard a cracking tree branch as a lot of the tree limbs were still falling. But hey, you've got to do something a little stupid every now and then, right? Besides, it was my dad's idea!

Adding to the excitement of the day came in the early afternoon when a tree around the corner caught fire. Ironically, the house where it happened is owned by a Fire Fighter. The cool part was watching the wreath that was hanging on the tree light up and sizzle as the electrical current ran through the tree. It was like a giant, live science demo.

Christmas Eve took on a fun twist when one of my oldest and dearest friends tagged along with us for dinner in order to avoid having to visit her mother-in-law. However, she made the kids go and see her. I'm not sure if that's cruel or just plain old funny. I think I'm going to side with funny on that one. Kind of like our Christmas dinner. We were only expecting my grandfather to come for dinner. But when he arrived, I broke the bad news to my mom as I saw him helping my grandmother from the car (earlier she said that she was too sick to come). Dinner was interesting as, for the first time in my life, we had Ham for Christmas dinner and not turkey. A fact that my mother bitched about, non-stop, for almost a week straight. The kicker? She's the who bought the god damn ham! In the ham's defence, it was delicious and I loved it more than I like turkey so I wasn't upset about the swap at all. Anyhow, back to grandma. She spent most of dinner just pushing food around her plate and saying that she wasn't hungry. Things really got interesting when she asked for some extra strength Tylenol and then her and my grandpa got into a fight over whether or not she'd taken 2 aspirin before leaving the house. My father really didn't say much. Just kept looking at his plate a lot. And my mom drank more sherry with dinner than I've seen her drink in years. It all amused the hell out of me.

Now before you point out what a horrible daughter I am, rest assured that I'm fully aware that karma will be coming back to bite me in the ass over this. One day, hopefully in the really distant future, I'm going to be the one drinking the sherry and staring at my plate while my mom and dad bicker over drugs. Actually, it won't be sherry. It will be Bailey's.

This is a photo of my grandma from earlier in the day...she's hiding from my camera.

Moving on. I headed back to Ottawa just before New Year's Eve. Mostly because I was out of vacation days and had to go back to work. Also because a very good friend of mine was in town and I got invited to his parents' house for a NYE party. This also meant that I *finally* got to meet his awesome wife and see his wonderful little guy, who had the decency to sleep the entire time. I also got to try lobster for the first time and quite enjoyed it. Sadly the night flew by far too quickly but 2014 was ushered in with good cheer and some great people.

Not too much out of the ordinary has happened since then. I do have a bit of a "dating" conundrum going on at the moment but that can wait for another night as this blog is getting quite long. Seriously!? Why can't people just step up and say what they feel? If you're interested, just ask me out. It's not hard. Especially when I've told you that I want to get some face time with you. Clearly that means I'm interested, right?
Sorry, sorry. Just needed to vent a little.

Work is going well and so is Curves. I was there tonight. And now I'm very sore. Especially my back. Hello new muscle groups. Oh, and I've formed a slight addiction to the BBC tv show Merlin. I've been watching it on Netflix. No worries, I just have 1 last episode in season 4 and then all of season 5 to watch and I'm done.  Then I'll have to find a new series to get hooked on. I am behind on my Sherlock and Downton Abbey watching. It would appear that I'm on a British roll.

Anyhow, I have to go and finish doing up the dishes and then I'm going to relax and watch an episode of Merlin.

Hang in there. I might just very well be back.

Good Night!

Sarah

Happy New Year 2014!!!!