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!!!!

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!!

More Ranting About The Weather and Random Thoughts.

For a long week, it's gone by surprisingly quick. It's been a very busy and stressful week too. Plus I've got PMS. I'm kind of impressed that I haven't snapped and tore someone's head off. But tomorrow is going to be a tricky one. We're in for a very nasty storm, full of snow and ice pellets and maybe even my favourite thing of all: Freezing rain. Stupid weather.

I was in bed a little after 9 last night. I curled up and decided to read for a bit but I'd put my book away and was asleep before 10. I haven't made it to bed that early in quite awhile. I sure made a difference on my day today. French class was good. We had a quiz and I made it through the quiz in one piece so that was good. In fact, the class seemed to fly by today.

I just keep telling myself that I only have to make it through tomorrow. Then it will be the weekend. I've stocked up on food so I don't have to go out (but I still might as I think I'm going to make mussels again this weekend). I'm going to focus on cleaning all weekend and get my apartment in tip-top shape again. It might not look/feel like spring but my spring cleaning is in full swing. I still need to find something for my friend to sleep on while she's here. I'm pretty sure I saw some air beds on sale in the Canadian Tire flyer for this upcoming week.

My winter boots are ready to go for tomorrow but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the storm misses us all together (yeah, I'm delusional) or at least doesn't hit as bad as it's supposed to or maybe just brings us a little snow and no ice. Or just rain (normal rain). Sigh. I'm so ready for spring to be here.

Time to hit the hay and dream of sunshine. Oh, and my little blog here now has over 8000 page views. That's  crazy awesome. And still incredibly unbelievable.

Good Night!

Sarah

Sarah + PMS = this photo :)

Working Girl

So I'm sitting here, and in an attempt to find something on tv that isn't a reality show or a Christmas movie, I end up watching "Working Girl". You know, the movie from 1988 with Melanie Griffth?
I haven't seen it for a long time and I can't help but think "What the hell is up with the hair and outfits!?!?!"

I'm convinced that everyone was high in the 80s. It's the only way to explain those hair styles. And clothes. Crazy. It's like the Jersey Shore exploded all over a decade.

I survived another slippery and sloppy Monday. We had more freezing rain and rain which resulted in very slippery roads and sidewalks. I'm terrified of ice, so this doesn't go over well with me. What sucks is that we're not out of the woods yet. We're still under a freezing rain warning as it may re-develop overnight. And then turn to snow. Snow I can handle. It's the ice that I hate.

It's going to be a short blog tonight. I have to get to bed as I need to be at work early tomorrow. It's going to be a long and busy day. And I have a doctor's appointment after work too. Lots and lots of fun.

But only 4 more sleeps until I'm homeward bound!

Good Night,

Sarah

Very Random Ramblings

I survived the ice today and managed to get to the bus stop and then from the bus to the office all while remaining vertical. That's a very good thing. Coming home was much easier since everything had melted. I had to dodge some really big puddles though. I'm slightly dreading tomorrow though as all that water is going to freeze overnight. Sigh. I guess there's no escaping it unless I win the lottery and can afford to winter in a warmer climate.

I witnessed one of my biggest bus pet peeves this morning: Some jackass taking up more space than he should. He took up 2 of the 4 seats in a 4 seat bench. He was sitting there, leaning back, legs spread so wide that they covered both seats, his bag and coat were on the seat beside him and he had his arms spread out, holding the pole on either side of the 2 seats. WTF? There's no need for that, especially during the morning rush hour. Some people are really very inconsiderate. Sometimes, I'll put my purse or bag on the set beside me, but as the bus fills up, I move them so someone else can sit down. It's not rocket science people.

Seeing as the Christmas season is upon us, here's something new to kill some time with: The Reindeer Cam! Yes, I'm serious. The best part? You can watch Santa feed the reindeer 3 times a day. I have to admit, watching the Polar Bear cam is actually more entertaining. Anyhow, if you want to check it out, here's the link:  http://reindeercam.com/

I'm packing it in early tonight. I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah