We finally have some snow! I know some of you down east are probably sick of it already, but up until today we haven't had any here in TO, so I'm glad to see it :)

Today was the first day I had to pull out the long-johns and wool socks, bundling up in multiple layers of sweaters and my warmest hat & scarf. Love it! It reminded me of all the times as a kid that we got into our snow gear and went outside for hours of fun.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Have you ever gone a little bit shack whacky? By the end of the day yesterday, TC and I decided that we'd been stuck in the apartment for long enough and needed to get out. We made plans to walk down to a little Thai place today for lunch, so that's what we did despite the extremely cold temperatures outside. As a result of this little outing, I'm thankful for 2 things:

1) That there's a Thai place nearby which is MSG-free. I don't often get to enjoy Asian food, since the majority of it contains MSG, so it was great to be able to eat at this place without having to worry that my heart was going to go haywire shortly thereafter.

Amusing side note - there was a guy in the restaurant who entertained us greatly with his continual efforts to impress both the woman with him and the waitress. My favourite part?

Guy: (Trying to impress Asian waitress with his extensive knowledge) Did you know that Thailand was named one of the best places to live? It was Bangkok, actually.

Waitress: (deadpan) Are you sure?

Guy: Uhm...well, it could have been...it was somewhere over there.

Tee hee!

2) Did I mention that it was extremely cold today? We walked to and from the restaurant, about a 25-minute endeavour each way. By the time we got home I was painfully cold, which made me realize how thankful I was for a warm apartment to come home to where I could put on warm, fuzzy clothes and make a nice hot cup of tea while I waited for the feeling to come back in my fingers. My heart goes out to the people who I know will be out on the streets tonight.

I know it's been a while. Life has exploded since September started. I don't even really have time to be writing this, but I'm going to anyway! Here's a quick run down of what's been going on:

• We had a great time visiting with a couple friends from university who came up to attend the U2 concert last week. It's fun being a tourist in your own city!
• Work has gone absolutely crazy. My boss is steps away from having a breakdown, and the rest of us aren't too far behind. There's just too much to do and not enough time to get it all done. But we have to get it done anyway.
• I now have to carry a blackberry around with me wherever I go, so that I'm always available should a work-related emergency come up. Boy am I thrilled about that.
• My brother is getting married in less than 2 weeks. Last week he sent me an email asking me to play the piano for the wedding. We still haven't picked the music :)
• TC has started back at school, and will be teaching a Shakespeare course for the winter semester. Which means he's now Professor TC. At least for 3 months.
• It's been so busy that I haven't gotten groceries in over 3 weeks, other than picking up a necessity here and there.
• I'm almost done the mystery crochet project that I've been working on, which means I'll hopefully be able to post pictures of it soon.
• Our home church has started up for the year, so we've been attending various elders' meetings, training sessions, and kick-off events. It's good to get back into things though.

Right now the pace of our life has picked up to the point where I'm starting to feel like all I can do is dig in and hang on for dear life. The good thing is that I know this will pass, so I'm not as stressed out as I would have been a few years ago. In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to laugh at life and enjoy the ride.

A little something to help with the laughter:

Obviously speaking...

I've been working in the corporate world for 3+ years now, yet the propensity for business-type people to state the obvious never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday I was in a workshop designed to help train performance managers, and one of the 'experts' delivered this line with all seriousness, as if were a pearl of great wisdom:

"To be a leader you have to get people to follow you."

Does that seem like a no-brainer to anyone else?

Another Pain in the Neck

Do you remember way back in May '08, when I went to Washington and came back with a neck that wouldn't work? Well, I've managed to do it again, but this time without having to leave the country. I woke up on Tuesday unable to move my head without an intense burning pain shooting from my neck to my shoulder and then through to my chest. Sounds like fun, eh? I'm not quite sure what set it off this time, but it's probably a combination of stress and the fact that I had spent the entire weekend prior to that with my head turned at a 45 degree angle.

It's getting much better, thanks largely to my fabulous chiropractor, but I still don't have the full range of motion that I previously enjoyed (we're working on that). As a result, I've spent the last week having to explain to people why I couldn't turn my head to look at them. And you know what struck me as funny? Every single person - seriously, every single person - knew exactly what would make my neck better. I've been told to rest it, to make sure that I keep using it as much as possible, to ice it, to heat it, to stretch it, to massage it while stretching it, to avoid massaging it altogether, to take muscle relaxants, to take anti-inflammatory pain killers, to see an acupuncturist, to drink a particular kind of herbal tea, to get a type of electro-stimulation therapy...

I appreciate the fact that everyone was trying to help. Every bit of that advice was well intentioned and no doubt helped the person who gave it to me at some point, but the range of the remedies is just hilarious. At least to me :)

To Do This Week:

1. Re-pot my houseplants that have outgrown their current homes.
2. Pick up the clothes that have erupted all over the floor and wash them.
3. Listen to old mix tapes and determine if they're worth keeping.
4. Order a shampoo bar - Sherrie, do you make those? Or know someone who does? I want to try one to see if they work.
5. Order some books from Chapters with my gift certificate (thanks for all the wonderful suggestions, folks!).
6. Plan crocheting lesson for a friend who wants to make a baby afghan.
7. Start making list of what to pack for our upcoming trip to France (17 days and counting...).
8. Arrange for someone to cover my shift in the nursery the Sunday we're away.
9. Buy a pile of non-electric pencil sharpeners. Did you know that many African children become infected with HIV because the only thing they have to sharpen their pencils with is their father's old razor? A friend is going to Africa next week and has asked everyone to bring in as many pencil sharpeners as we can.
10. Pick up one more skein of yarn to finally finish the latticework afghan.
11. Photocopy some sheet music and return the originals to their owner (I know, I know - I'm a criminal).
12. Get milk.
13. Look into sources of local, preferably organic produce this summer.
14. Come up with an idea for celebrating mother's day that doesn't require buying gifts (any suggestions?).
15. Book a massage at the spa.
16. Charge the batteries for our camera so I can start taking pictures again!
17. Call the folks.
18. Randomly select winner of mystery gift from previous post and send the gift.

That ought to keep me occupied! Have you all been out enjoying the glorious spring, even summer weather? TC and I went for a walk last night to pick up the soil for item #1, and it was lovely! The grass is green, the trees all have leaves, and some have started to blossom; daffodils and pansies and tulips are everywhere - it's a beautiful time of year.

Along the way to the hardware store, TC got ice cream while I got some sour gummie bears, which reminded me of all the summers I managed to beg a dollar from my mom to spend on penny candy at the local convenience store. Good times! We got home exhausted, TC from carrying 10 lbs of dirt for half an hour, and me from forgetting that it was 30 degrees out and over-dressing.

It's a warm, rainy day today - the kind that makes the earth smell delicious, and the worms come out to play on the sidewalks. A puddle-jumping kind of day. I'm going to have to find one on my way home :)

Tuesday Recap

Only thing that made me smile = Having TC call me at work just to tell me he loves me.

Least stressful task accomplished = Going to the dentist to have 3 holes drilled into my teeth and then filled.

Most challenging task accomplished = Trying to eat supper with half of my mouth and all of my tongue completely frozen.

Lesson learned vicariously = Don't vent frustration by posting violent threats to co-workers on facebook, especially if some of those co-workers are your facebook friends and can read said post.

Discouraging realization = I misread the pattern for a crocheting project I'm currently working on while commuting. Had to frog half of it.

Amount of holy-crap-you-want-that-done-by-when? work done = Not nearly enough.

I can't wait for this week to be over.

(On an unrelated note, why is it that when I have lots of time I can't think of anything to post, but when I have no time, all kinds of ideas pop into my head and I feel the almost uncontrollable urge to blog?)

Playing hooky

The computer program I'm supposed to be working on is currently on the fritz, so I'm going to take full advantage of that and come talk with you folks - I'm so bad ;)

Things have been rather hellish at work lately. In fact, the highlight of the last few days was when I accidentally spilled a glass of water on my laptop, quite efficiently frying it. Why was that the highlight? Because while IT was trying (unsuccessfully) to salvage my hard drive, I got to take a lunch break that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Of course, that also put me behind in the holy-crap-you-want-that-done-by-when? amount of work I have to do, and I lost a few crucial files, but I'm all about focusing on the silver lining...or trying to.

Drat. The program is working again.

Caffiene Nation

I had an interesting conversation with the lady who is conducting a training session I've been in since yesterday. She's American, although that really has very little to do with it, and early in the session she mentioned that every night at around 11:00 pm she brews a pot of coffee (apparently strong enough to float a horseshoe) and drinks it before she goes to bed. Then later in the day, as part of a different conversation she mentioned that she suffered from insomnia for 2 years until she started taking medication to help her sleep.

Does anyone else see the connection? Apparently she doesn't.

Curtains, Crafts and Cussedness

Don't you just love tulips? We had an almost perfect spring day here in TO on Saturday, and let me tell you, I took full advantage of it! TC was gone for most of the day, which provided the perfect opportunity to get so much done...after going for a little walk to McD's for some breakfast and people watching, of course :)

The biggest project that I accomplished was to take down, wash, dry, iron and rehang all of our curtains, which hasn't been done since we first moved in almost four years ago (it's at times like this that I really miss having a clothesline). I must have spent about 6 hours ironing on Saturday afternoon, but it was worth it. Incidently, did you know that prolonged sessions of ironing can give you blisters? Fun fact.

Between ironing and waiting for the next load of laundry to finish, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the various crafty things I've been up to. This is the batch of vanilla soap I made last weekend, which is now curing out on the sunporch. It smells so good, I can't wait to try it!

This hat has been the bane of my existence for the past two months. It's a lovely design, and I quite like the look of it, but the pattern was way off in terms of size. I used the recommended yarn and the correct needle size, and when I followed the pattern exactly, ended up with a tiny hat that fits a baby, not the "average lady's head" as it claimed. I made some alterations, and version 2.0 was wide enough, but too short. This is version 3.0, and it's just right. I guess I should probably start swatching.

My Jaywalker socks, which I finished a little while ago but haven't posted about because I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures yet. I love them - they're extremely pretty and very comfy. Plus it's supremely satisfying to wear something that you've made yourself :)

I also did some major organizing of my craft supplies - moving all the leftover yarn from various projects into storage, sorting through the collection of patterns, and getting rid of the ones that, realistically, I'll never use. Then I sat down and made a list of all the people I need to give gifts to this year, and decided what I'd be making or giving them that would fit the criteria of my gifting resolution. It's looking like there will be no shortage of projects to work on between now and December 31st :)

If I ever finish the cussed top-stitching afghan, that is.

Weekend in Review

Things I Liked:

• Not waking up to the sound of the alarm clock.
• Sleeping in until 11:00 am :)
• Being taken out for brunch by my honey.
• Walking in the spring sunshine holding TC's hand.
• Getting 5 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and put away.
• Opening all the windows and getting rid of the winter stuffiness.
• Planning the meals for this week and getting all the grocery shopping done.
• Playing with babies in the nursery on Sunday morning.

Things I Didn't Like:

• A hair dresser who doesn't understand "chin length with layers".
• Trying to compensate for a bad hair cut.
• People who say they'll meet you and then don't show.
• Discovering halfway through a recipe that I'm missing a key ingredient.
• Watered-down fountain beverages.

And the Winner Is...

...someone other than TC. We found out last night that he didn't win the election, and although he's a little disappointed, we're definitely okay with not having to move into Massey. As much as we were excited about the potential adventure, the more we looked into it, the more of a logistical nightmare it became. Certainly do-able, but it would have taken some serious effort to make it all happen.

So we're going to stay right where we are, and focus our energy on different adventures :)

The Waiting Game

Today's the day - TC and the other candidates give their speeches tonight, and then the polls are open! They stay open until Saturday night, and the votes are counted on Sunday, so we should know by Sunday night what our fate will be...

Be sure to tune in on Monday morning :)

On the horizon...maybe

Is the suspense killing you? Are you anxiously waiting to find out what our potential new adventure is? I hope not - that would be a little wierd. I mean, you all have lives of your own, right? (Sorry, the antibiotics seem to be making me a little loopy. Yeah, that's got to be it...)

Anyhoo, do you remember waaay back in the beginning of this blog when I told you all about the high table at Massey College that TC and I attended? Well, it may turn out that we'll be attending quite a few of them next year. Because we might be living there. TC has decided to run for the position of Don of Hall, which if he's elected necessitates that he live in said Hall. Which necessitates that I live in said Hall. I never thought that I could still be living in residence at 30, but what fun would life be without any surprises? :)

We'll know if he's been elected in a couple of weeks, so until then I'll be here, trying to keep it all in perspective.

Let's kick her while she's down

It seems that I just can't catch a break this winter. I'm mostly over the flu that hit this weekend, but it turns out that the sore throat that I thought was just a manifestation of this particular bug is actually strep throat. What am I doing wrong? I went to see my doctor this afternoon, and am now taking the prescribed antibiotics, but man oh man!

On a different note, stay tuned for updates later this week about a new adventure that might be in the works...

And before you even ask, I'm not pregnant. ;o)

Three things...

We had a rather nice treat last night, with a visit from our friends Nick & Maureen who are in town for a while. They came for dinner, and over the course of the evening I was struck by three different things.

The first thing: I was reminded of how important it is to always, always, always read the entire recipe when planning to make a dish. That way you won't realize after you start making said dish that it is going to need to simmer for an hour before you can finish making it. Causing dinner to be late. Very late. And then because you won't be feeling rushed, you won't forget to put some of the ingredients in. Causing dinner to be edible, but rather monochromatic. (It was a beef stew, and I forgot to add the green veggies, so everything was red and orange.)

The second thing: I am turning into my grandmother. Whenever anyone visits my grandmother, she will not allow them to leave her house empty-handed. It may be cookies, it may be a side of beef, or a set of decorative tins, but you will be taking something with you when you leave. TC pointed out last night that I do the exact same thing. Poor Nick & Maureen - I wouldn't let them leave last night without taking some grape jam and 2 kinds of soap. At least it wasn't decorative tins :)

The third thing: I'm not quite sure yet how to articulate this one, so please bear with me if I seem to be rambling - there is a point, I promise :) I've known Nick & Maureen since my earliest university days. Maureen I knew sort of in passing - it was a small university, so everyone knew everyone, but we travelled in different circles. Nick was someone that I hung out with on a regular basis, so we became good friends. Life happened, as it usually does, and I didn't see either of them for several years.

Then a couple of years ago, we reconnected through facebook. I learned that they had a blog and became a regular visitor, which has helped me to know Maureen quite a bit better, since she does most of the blogging over there. We also share an enjoyment of tea stores and yarn crafts (though she's a knitter and I'm a crocheter - for the uninitiated, that's sort of like being a Capulet and a Montague), and discovered that we're both part of the online community at Ravelry. Then when I started this blog, Nick & Maureen were some of its first readers and commenters. So when they came to visit last night, it didn't feel to me like we hadn't seen each other in years, although in reality it had been years. Instead, while it was a treat to be able to be with them in person, it was more like we were continuing a conversation that had already been taking place.

It became clear at a couple of points during the evening, though, that this was not the case for TC. As you may or may not have guessed by this point, my husband is a bit of a Luddite, at least in some respects. We do not own a cell phone, and although he's comfortable using email, TC does not and will not participate in any other form of online communication. He does read this blog, and will read entries from the blogs of people we know if I bring them up and put them in front of him and tell him he should read them, but that's about it. And to be completely honest, he's not entirely comfortable with the extent of my own participation in the online world, though he's always supportive. So for him, it wasn't just the first time he'd seen Nick & Maureen in years, it was the first time he'd interacted with them at all in years. And if he wasn't married to me, he would have gone on in that sad Nick & Maureen-less state for who knows how long!

I'm not saying that online communities should or can replace face-to-face interactions with people. There's something important about physical presence in any kind of relationship - that's why it was such a treat to actually spend time with Nick & Maureen. But at the same time, I guess I was struck last night by how friendships that might otherwise never have been possible can be started, renewed and/or maintained through the medium of the internet. It's really a rather amazing thing, when you think about it. Which I did. Until way too late last night. Which is probably why this such a rambling post. Sorry.

It's Snowing!

The first major snow storm of the season is starting outside right now. By the time I'm ready to go home it should be in full swing.

And I wore a skirt and ballet flats to work today.

Dangit.

Note to self - CHECK WEATHER BEFORE DRESSING IN THE MORNING!!

Tales from the crib...

I love babies. And before the conjecture begins, no, I am not yet expecting a little one. However, I still love to play with other people's babies, which is why I love the fact that when my turn comes to work in the children's program at our church, they almost always put me in the nursery. Apparently most of the volunteers prefer the older kiddos, and I could never understand why. Until yesterday.

The morning started out well enough. I had one very sociable little 3 month old guy who was just waiting to give you a big toothless grin as soon as you paid any attention to him - so cute! Then the other volunteer arrived, so there were 2 of us. By the time the church service started we had 3 babies - the grinner, and 2 little ones who were at the stage where they can walk while holding your hands, but not on their own. One of them was a very serious, solid little fella who was perfectly content to sit and play on his own, and the other was a little girl who was fine as long as she maintained some kind of physical contact with a grown up.

Everything was going along swimmingly until it seems that the parents who had decided to take their kids into the service with them changed their minds. A little over half an hour into the service, we ended up with 3 more little ones - a 9-day old (so tiny!), and 2 who were able to sit on their own, but weren't walking yet. Again, all was well, if a little busy, until one of them started to cry. As if they had been waiting for that cue, every baby suddenly started crying! Six crying babies and only 2 people to try to calm them all down. You can probably imagine how well that worked. After about 10 minutes of the wailing chorus, we waved the white flag and started paging the parents of the wee ones who had been there the longest.

It was a rather exhausting experience - my legs are actually sore today from all the squatting and lifting involved in trying to calm 6 screaming, relatively immobile infants at the same time.

And you know what? I can't wait to do it again :)

It's my treat

One Friday every month, I give myself a little treat. It started back when I hurt my neck and began seeing a chiropractor - the wonderful woman who keeps me aligned and pain-free. Initially I was seeing her every other week as she worked out the immediate issue in my neck, as well as the other issues in my back that were the root causes. Now I see her once a month just to check on things and make whatever small adjustments are needed. It has really worked, too. I used to get these kinks in my back every couple of months or so, but since I've been going to Dr. F, it hasn't happened once. It's amazing - but I digress...

My appointments, like the one I had today, are always very early on Friday mornings. No stores are open, except coffee shops and convenience stores, and a little breakfast place that's about a 15 minute walk away. Every month, after my appointment, that's where I go to sit and enjoy a leisurely breakfast while I read a book that I've brought with me. It's a lovely, quiet time, away from home and work and the sundry pressures of life. I eat my breakfast, drink 2 or 3 cups of tea, read my book, and thoroughly enjoy every moment. It's my treat to me.

What are some things that you do to treat yourself?

Mailbox Delight

Look what arrived in our mailbox on Friday...

...this lovely hat for TC...

...and these gorgeous fingerless mitts for me from Blogless Annie! It's been a hard week - our friend G, who is part of our home church, passed away on Wednesday morning - so it was a perfect time for a pleasant surprise. Thank you so much Annie! TC liked the hat so much he wore it around the apartment for a while on Friday night :)

We spent this morning at G's funeral and burial. She was an amazing lady - came to Canada from Zimbabwe eight years ago to make a place for her son, who waited for her back home. Almost 2 years ago, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was successfully treated. Just this past year, she was finally able to bring her son to join her here, after 7 years of waiting. Her tumor then reappeared, and this time there was little that could be done. Thankfully, her son, who is 11 or 12, was granted permanent residency late last week, so G knew before she died that he would be able to stay here.

Something that struck us as we were sitting at the reception was that there are a number of similarities between funerals and weddings - the booking of facilities for the ceremony, there's a special car, the reception (where you meet a lot of different people), sending out thank-you notes, the procession of cars, people get all dressed up - the difference (other than the obvious) being that you usually have months to plan a wedding, and for funerals you only have days to pull it all together.

As draining as it all was, it was a good thing. There's something beautiful about gathering together to celebrate a life well lived. And G's life, though brief, was lived with grace, dignity, generosity and love.