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!

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!

There's A Mystery A Foot!

Two more sleeps and Michelle arrives and I'm on holidays for 5 days. I can't wait.

Work was really good today. I focused and got through so much stuff. For the most part, I was pretty much left alone to my own devices today, which allowed me to plow on through my "to-do" list. I'm certainly less stressed as a result.

Wish I could say the same thing about my apartment. LOL. It was tv night so I wasn't really focused on cleaning. I did get the dishes done, along with 2 loads of laundry. But I still need to sweep and mop the floors and dust a shelf. Good thing I don't watch anything special on Tuesday nights. Michelle was right. Tomorrow is going to be one very long day.

Last night my dad did something a little 'odd'. He asked a woman I went to high school with (and haven't seen or spoken to since roughly 2000) for her phone number. When I asked him why he's requested it, he said "no reason". My dad is a horrible liar. Mom's pretty bad too. But the older I get, the better my BS detector gets. So I knew something was up. Today in the mail, I got an invitation to my great Aunt's 80th birthday party. I've already bought my train ticket to go home that weekend so I was planning on going. It also happens to be the long weekend in May and my Aunt's birthday happens to be the day after mine. The party is a surprise party (so if anyone reading this knows my aunt, shhhh, don't tell her!), but there was a note written on the back of my invitation which says "P.S. It's a surprise for Sarah too. Haha". I quizzed my mom on this and she's claiming that she knows nothing. Which isn't true. My mom;s like Wikipedia - she knows everything even if some of it's made up. So now I don't know what the heck is up. Are they messing with me? Is it s joint party? Screw it. I'll worry about it after Montreal. I've got enough to think about already.

And now I'm off to clear the clean laundry off my bed and get some sleep.

Good Night!

Sarah

Clean-Sweep of a Weekend :)

It was a pretty quiet weekend here. I didn't actually really leave my apartment, except for the trips I made to take the garbage and recycling downstairs. The weather wasn't the greatest so I didn't mind being indoors. When the sun made an appearance late this afternoon, I did go and stand on my balcony. I stood in the sun, closed my eyes, and soaked in the warmth and happiness for a little while. While I was out there, two chickadees came along and were eating the seeds and nuts that I put out for them. They didn't seem to mind that I was there.

I spent all weekend cleaning and re-organizing. Or trying to at least. It would appear that my idea of re-oganization is moving a pile of stuff from one spot to another. I quite literally got down on my hands and knees and was scrubbing the grout on my kitchen floor this afternoon. It paid off too. Literally. I found a toonie wedged under the baseboard by my kitchen door. I pried it out and now have $2 more than I had this morning.

When I booked the trip to Montreal, it seemed so far away. And now it's almost here. 4 more sleeps :) I'm sure I'll be a little more excited about it once I'm finished with my apartment and I've made it through work this week. I'm really looking forward to just relaxing and spending time with a good friend and a change of scenery. Maybe getting a difference perspective on things. And on the bright side, I'll have finished my spring cleaning so I can go out and play on the weekends again!! I really do need to over-haul my bedroom though - but it can wait a bit long.

Good Night!

Sarah

Blog trivia - this is the photo that I used on my very first blog.

More Weather Venting and A Bus Caused Power Outage

I made it through the wilderness. Somehow I made it through. Didn't know how lost I was....because the damn snow/ice pellets were in my eyes. It was definitely a brutal day. Those bloody little ice pellets really hurt when they're coming down. The wind whipping them around didn't help. The funny part is that the ice pellets actually were providing some traction on the sidewalk. There'd been some freezing rain earlier. Thankfully that had stopped before I left for work. It's zero and raining right now. Our "Winter Storm" warning ended at 10:18, so about a 20 minutes ago. We still might see some freezing drizzle overnight and possibly some more tomorrow morning but it sounds like we're in for just normal rain and above zero temps tomorrow. My apartment is still damn cold though. It's kind of like being at my parent's house. My poor nose has been cold since I got home from work. Looks like we have a rainy week ahead of us too.

Work was good today. I was kept busy doing research on requests and getting some late finance things done. It was relatively quiet in the office as a lot of people had taken the day off and even more didn't make it in today due to the weather. We had an office "coffee break" which involved getting coffee and doughnuts for the staff. I think everyone liked that. We even managed to get some for the evening shift and they were happy. Unlike parts back home, we lucked out and didn't lose power at all today. The storm caused power outages back in Southern Ontario. Only one part of Ottawa lost power and that was thanks to a city transit bus. It slide off the road and took out some power poles in the process. Our buses are talented like that. And it's the second time one of those particular style of bus has slide off the road this winter. I think the City of Ottawa needs to "Winter Road Test" any new style/type of bus that they're thinking of purchasing. That was they'll know that they can survive our winter weather.

I'm in for a quiet weekend. First up on the agenda is a frequent item: sleeping in. Once that is accomplished, I really have to get my ass in gear and finish getting this place cleaned up. I need to re-organize the clutter and then sweep/swiffer/wash the floors. I also need to wash the towels and bedding. Lots of fun, right? Curling up with my book or a good movie might be in the cards too. I think some Chinese food might be as well. I'll have to see what I feel like tomorrow. Here's hoping that the productivity fairy comes to visit and I can get a lot accomplished. My bedroom is pretty much a lost cause (always is) so I'm not going to worry about that right now. Besides, no one but me sees it!!

Since my eyes seem to be closing on their own, I think it's time to log off and go burrow down under my blankets and see if I can get warm. Which will probably backfire and I'll wake up at 3am, hot and sweaty. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Snow be gone!!

Ho-Hum

I had just decided to head to bed with my book and read for a bit when I realized that I hadn't blogged yet. So then I got up to go and find where I'd left my reading glasses. After doing that, I realized that I hadn't put away all the leftovers from dinner yet, so I did that. Now I'm back at the computer and am pretty sure I'm ok to blog now. LOL.

I had an interesting dinner tonight. I had a roast cornish hen and as a side, I had roasted brussel sprouts and jerusalem artichokes (aka sun chokes). Everything was pretty good. The hen was bigger than the ones you usually see in the grocery store but smaller than a chicken. Enough for 2 people/2 meals but that's it. The sunchokes didn't really taste like anything at all, so they picked up the flavour of the brussel sprouts that I cooked them with, which made them quite yummy.

I slept in and then spent most of my day cleaning. However, I did manage to lose a good chunk of time on Pinterest. That site is dangerous!!!!!!! I talked to my parents tonight and they told me funny stories of their afternoon as my nephew was over. He and my dad were trying to build Legos. My dad is really out of practice :)

I also sat in the sun for a bit this afternoon, in hope of re-charging my emotional batteries. It helped a bit but over all, it was still a ho-hum kind of day. I only left my apartment to take the recycling out. It was damn cold out there today so I'm not too upset about that fact. It's going down to -29 tonight. I hope those damn ground hogs were right and that we'll get an early spring.

Being a ho-hum kind of day, I got to do a lot of thinking, which was nice. Because it was mostly background thinking. Stuff I've been mulling over for a while. While doing a mundane task like the dishes, my mind was able to ponder things without me focusing 100% on them and I only really became aware of what I was thinking about when a revelation or solution popped up. I needed that. Granted, a lot of it just generated more things to think about, but that's ok. I'm feeling positive about my thoughts at the moment. I might just have a plan forming. And yes, me actually knowing what I'm doing for a change is a very scary notion. Most of the time I just make it up as I go along and pretend I know what the hell I'm doing.

But right now, all my mind is telling me to do is finish reading the chapter I'm on in my book and then go to bed. I don't have tomorrow off so getting up is going to be a bit of a pain in the ass. I need to check the bus schedule too... Sigh.

Good Night!

Sarah

One of my most favourite photos that I've ever taken

The World Is Nuts

Well I've certainly had a long and busy day, which is slightly surprising since it's Saturday :)

I got to sleep in, which was awesome. I had breakfast and then got my butt in gear and was off and running. I'm kind of impressed with myself. I managed to get 3 loads of laundry done. Pretty much all of the dishes done. I keep finding stray spoons in odd places. And then I stand there and think "How the hell did that get there?". I dunno. I cleaned the shower (after a run to Walmart because I was out of my Scrubbing Bubbles), did a little online shopping (bras for $10!!) and then made dinner. Actually, I think the shopping was before the shower but whatever.

Tonight I relaxed and watched a movie while surfing Pinterest and getting opinions on beer from my Facebook friends (for a recipe I'm making tomorrow. Stay tuned!). It was a good day all around.

Then I turned on the news. I'm more or less convinced that the whole world is going nuts. We've got Charlie Sheen posting a video asking a fugitive former police officer to call him, Egypt banning YouTube for a month thanks to a video that caused rioting a few months back and protesters in Montreal (again) lighting off a flare gun inside a building. Those crack pot survivalist groups that want to wander off and live theirs lives off the grid in the middle of a forest might actually have the right idea. Maybe not the armed to the teeth part but the running away from the world part. It's nutty out there.

Something a little "odd" happened to me today, twice. You know when you're in a room or your office or something and someone walks in? You didn't necessarily see or hear them come in but you know that they're there? You can sense them? Well that happened to me twice today. Except no one was there. I was in the kitchen both times it happened too. Perhaps one of my loved ones wanted to have dinner with me? Maybe I was just hearing the neighbours next door and reacting to them without being conscious of it. Who knows. Either way, it didn't creep me out and it was kind of nice thinking that I had company.

And now I'm thinking that it's a good idea to go to bed. Which is currently covered with a large assortment of laundry and I'm going to have to clean that off before I can get into bed. I probably should have done that sooner. Oh well :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Snow on my balcony this morning.

Out With The Old...

Not too much to report on today. I spent the day cleaning and listening to my iPod via a very cool speaker thingy that my mom bought me after Christmas. Which meant my mind got to rest as I really wasn't thinking about much.

I got the kitchen cleaned and started to throw out a bunch of crap I really don't need/use. I donated a few things to my fellow residents. We have this ledge under the stairs where people put items that are still good but that they no longer want and other people take it. It's kind of a cool system.

I made some major progress on the re-organization of my apartment. And that feels good. Better than I thought it would. There have been several studies that show when you de-clutter your space, your stress levels drop. I think they might be right. On the up sides, if I get rid of a bunch of stuff, I get to buy new stuff to replace it. LOL. Like my towels yesterday :)

I really wish that the awards shows would get the big ones out of the way at the begging. Or end earlier. I always end up going to bed before the big awards are announced. I did stay up late enough to see Jodi Fosters wonder acceptance speech though. She's a stand up gal. But alas, I shall miss the rest. I'm sure the news will bring me up to speed in the morning.

Good Night!

Sarah

These are the old towels but this shows how small my bathroom is!

Who knew that blogging could be so Therapeutic?

Wow. 4,026 page views. Incredible. My random ramblings have been viewed 4.026 times. That still blows my mind. I can't believe it. I can't believe that this is post number 129 either. I guess I've been blogging for almost 4 months now. That's pretty cool. And I've blogged every night except for one..the night of the Hallowe'en party. That's a pretty good track record. And to tell you the truth, I think it's helped me a lot. My mind is quieter. I do lie in bed thinking about the day quite so much anymore. I think I'm a little less stressed (well, some days). I think being able to sit here and write what's on my mind and just leave it here on the screen is helping me to deal with things.  Which then allows me to walk away with a clearer head. Who knew that blogging could be so therapeutic?

I had a good day today. I was productive, which means I started to see results in my cleaning/re-organizing/getting rid of crap I don't need/use quest, which in turn made me feel better. My back is a little pissed at me as I managed to stain it at some point but oh well! A little pain in the pursuit of progress isn't so bad. The trick will be carry this momentum through the week with me. If I do little bits and little areas each night, I'll be in awesome form by next weekend. It's all the little bits that seem to add up. Like emptying out and organizing the bathroom closet, then kitchen cupboard, my pantry shelf, dresser etc...I'm also thinking about re-arranging the livingroom but that can wait.

My parents finally got their computer fixed today. They've been having an issue for 2 years now with it so dad enlisted the help of a "computer geek" friend of his to come over and help. Now I don't have to listen to them complain about it anymore and hopefully this now means that they can buy books online and update the library on my mom's Kobo. Now if they'd only get their act together and give me a decent Christmas list to work with....Sigh. Same for my brother and his wife. I think I'm getting them all coal :) Christmas is only 1 month away.

I'm really looking forward to going home this year. I'm happy about going home every year, but I'm usually somewhat apprehensive about it too. But so far this year, that apprehension isn't there. I'm just really looking forward to going home, spending time with my family and getting to relax for a bit. It's not some warm sunny beach in some tropical paradise, but in my world, it's pretty damn close.

I think it's time to turn in. I've got a full week ahead of me so sleep is a good idea.

Good Night!

Sarah

View from the observation deck on Sulpher Mt. in Banff, AB

Eyes Open, Wide Awake.

I'm beginning to thing that having a Starbucks grande Caramel Brulee latte this evening was a bad idea. It's 10:40pm and I'm pretty much still wide awake. Actually, I've had a crazy productive day and it feels awesome. And I didn't take my iPod with me when I was out today. Usually I turn it on and tune out the world. I love being able to escape into the music but today I decided I needed a break from my own head and choose to explore without my tunes. It made for an interesting day.

I got 3 loads of laundry done, a whole mess of dishes done, rotated my mattress and changed the bedding, put the laundry away, took the recycling out, did some minimal Christmas shopping and ran a bunch of errands at 2 different malls (by bus no less), made dinner and I'm pretty sure I had a shower somewhere in the middle of all of that. I hope that this productivity runs over into tomorrow. I really want to get my apartment re-organized soon. I don't think the clutter is helping my mood much.

I'd also like to get some baking done :)

Being wide awake today, I noticed/had a few odd things happen. First off is the strange guy who keeps trying to get into our apartment building. One evening last week, he buzzed everyone in the building until some idiot let him in. He then started knocking on random doors asking people if they "knew where the lady with no teeth lived". I was smart and didn't answer my door door when he knocked. So today, someone starts buzzing everyone again. I decided to go downstairs to see who it was as one of my neighbours has been known to accidentally lock herself out while letting her dog out. I get down the stairs and it's the strange guy again. I stopped halfway down the stairs and asked him what he wanted. He said that he lives in 106. Yeah. I don't think so. I've seen the new people from 106 and I'm pretty sure it's a white couple and this is a black dude. So I told him that I didn't know him and I wasn't letting him in and I went back upstairs. I talked to one of me neighbours about him and she mentioned that she'd seen him on a different day too, doing the same thing. I think it's time to talk to building management again and get them to remind the tenants about "stranger danger".

On my way out to the 2nd mall of the day, I passed one of my neighbours on the stairs. He was wearing fuzzy pj bottoms with penguins and was just in sock feet. This isn't too odd but he'd just come in from the garbage room like that. Ewwww. I'd never venture out of my apartment without shoes on and definitely wouldn't go to the garbage room without foot ware.

When I got to mall # 2, I'm walking through the one covered parking area and a guy comes out of the mall, with his iPod on, signing at the top of his voice. LOL. It was quite amusing. He seems oblivious to everyone around him and seemed rather happy. Good on him :)

I also should point that I did not kill the girl on the bus who was using it as her own personal jungle gym. She was swinging from the handles that you use to hang onto when you can't reach a pole. And I didn't bitch slap her mother who was letting her do it either. At one point, she almost fell out the door when she swung too close to the open door. Frankly, I think it would have served her right. All her mom said was "watch out for the door". WTF?? And it was an older kid/mom too. I'd say the mom was in her early 40s and the kid was 10-12. I would have never been allowed to act like that on a public bus when I was a kid, nor would I have tried. I was raised better than that.

I picked up a new book today too. I'm switching from Vampires to Werewolves for a change of pace. And this one is written for grown-ups too. I was reading the first book in the "Game of Thrones" series but I'm finding it really hard to get into and I've been watching the first season on DVD so I already know what happens in the book. I read the first chapter of this book over lunch and it seems pretty good so I'll give it a chance.

It's pretty cool what you see and notice when you really focus on and pay attention to the world around you.

I probably should go and finish making my bed and then maybe I'll curl up and read more of my new book and see if that counter-acts the latte. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since I celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, today was my own day. I had big plans for it. I was going to get the laundry done, do up all the dishes, clean the bathroom and living room and bake a pie.
I got 3 loads of laundry done, most of the dishes done and I made the pie. LOL. I did get caught up on a good amount of TV watching and internet browsing though. I need another day off work in order to get caught up on the house work I should have done today.

I really hate doing house work. I like to cook, but don't like doing the clean up. I need to find a man who likes to clean. I'll cook for him, so long as he cleans for me. Except laundry. I don't actually mind doing the laundry. And I don't mind vacuuming either, but since I don't have carpets in my apartment, I don't do much of that. I miss having a dishwasher. My apartment in Calgary was awesome. It was big, bright and it had a built in, apartment sized dishwasher. Ottawa needs more apartments like that.

And God help me, I've discovered Pinterest. I could lose hours a day on that site. In fact, I'm pretty sure I lost several hours on there today. I did find some very cool recipes I now what to try and a couple very cool craft ideas. There's just a world of endless opportunities on there. It's crazy and wonderful all at the same time.

The pie I made today was a pumpkin pie and I made it from scratch. As in I cup up and scooped out and cooked the pumpkin myself. I cheated on the crust and used a pre-made one but it was a fresh, not frozen one so I looked home made. Not that it mattered what it looks like as I'm the only one eating it (for now). I may end up taking some leftovers into work. It's a very good pie. I'm quite impressed with myself. I had roast chicken, turnip and stuffing for dinner tonight. It was very lovely. I think I'm going to try a recipe I found on Pinterest for dinner tomorrow night, which will use up some of the leftover chicken and cheese I have in the fridge. I just remember to stop at the grocery store and pick up the few items that need to go with it.

It's back to work tomorrow. I think it's harder to go back to work after a long weekend than it is after a normal weekend. You get used to have the time off and it seems to fly by to quickly too. Oh well. Thankfully it's a short week.

To all the Canadians out there: Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone found at least 1 thing to be thankful for.

Good Night!

Sarah

A slice of my home made pumpkin pie!

Domestic Sunday

I think I can count today as a productive Sunday.

Before breakfast, I ran over to Walmart to pick up the filter I forgot to get yesterday and then ran into Metro to get something to cook for dinner. I ended up with a very nice roasting chicken. I came home and threw a load of towels and socks into the wash. Once that was done, I made breakfast. Ok, it was brunch by this time but whatever. It was good. Turkey bacon and pancakes with real maple syrup. Awesome.

This afternoon saw me attempting to find the floor in my bedroom. The theory being that it had to be there as it was what was most likely holding up that very large pile of clothing. I was right. There was a floor. I got most of it done. Lots of clothing hung up, folded up or put into a bag for donation. I also have a HUGE basket full of laundry. That's the downside to cleaning.

I alternated my floor hunting with the doing of dishes, just in case floor hunting was too boring. I also had to pause from all the fun in order to get my chicken into the oven. I have to admit that one of my favourite things about cooking is how awesome my apartment smells while I'm cooking. After getting my fine poultry friend into the oven, I was back in the bedroom. I got the bed cleaned off and all the random shoes/flip flops/slippers moved out of the way and then I changed the sheets and made my bed.

I'm quite looking forward to getting into bed tonight as the sheets are brand new. I bought them yesterday morning and washed them last night. Not only are they super soft, but they smell awesome too. Climbing into a freshly made bed, with fresh sheets is one of those simple pleasures in life.

I made mashed potatoes (with the skins on) and boiled broccoli and cauliflower to go with my chicken. It all turned out very well and it was very good indeed. And now I have left over chicken to take for lunch this week.

While I was waiting for dinner to finish cooking, I did find the time to finish doing my nails, which look pretty kick ass if I do say so myself.

It's been a pretty good and rather domestic day. I think I'm going to read for a little bit before crawling into my awesome bed. But before I go, I want to wish my dear, sweet, slightly insane but I still love you friend Michelle a very, very, VERY happy 35th Birthday. I hope it was a good one :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Cake from my 30th bday party :)