Sunday, April 29, 2007

Week at a Glance

Well, I have to say, it's been a hell of a week, and, if my spidey sense serves me right, we'll be in for an extra helping this coming week.

Last Saturday, Sean moved in, and that was a fiasco in itself. See Sean's blog (don't worry Babe, no links!) for details. I especially liked the part when Creepy Moving Guy #1 says I look really familiar. I didn't recognize him- I'm really good at remembering faces I wish I could forget.

On Sunday, we did lots and lots of errands- but got very little actually accomplished, except for something we never set out to do in the first place; we adopted a kitten! We'd swung by the pet supply store, and they have a (crazy) lady who comes by on weekends with rescue kittens for adoption. We'd been talking about getting a 'Leonidas' for Max to play with, but Sean insisted that he had to be gray with blue eyes. None of the kittens there fit the bill, but as we were going to leave one started meowing bloody murder and the crazy cat lady had to take him out of the cage. She was busy with customers, so I offered to hold him... and he promptly jumped into Sean's arms, curled up into a purr-ry ball and fell asleep. Sean decided he'd found his 'Leo' after all.

The week was a blur. I can't even straighten out the days. I went to coffee (well, tea actually. I've given up coffee!) a bunch of times with friends I've been neglecting for weeks. The Guide meeting on Thursday was especially crazy as we had our annual 'Coffee House Open Mike' and all the girls brought their poems, stories and art to share. And of course, chocolate fondue. Every evening was a hockey game as the Red Wings and the Canucks play on alternate nights. And, oh yes, unpacking. Still working on that.

I'd like to add that there was also a full moon this week, and anyone who works with the public can attest to the weird goings-on that happen around this time of month.

What happened this weekend? Um, well... oh yeah, multiple trips to Ikea, Home Depot and the 'Stuporstore'... lots of cleaning... unpacking and assembling... and we went to see 'Hot Fuzz'. Me for the first time and Sean for the second. It was freakin awesome!!!! Go see it right now! How about now? Well, what about now? ... Now?

The cats are, um... exuberant. They're finally getting along- actually they seem to have become good buddies... almost, and Leo has definately brought out the best in Max. Last night we watched Leo pick a fight with Max (jumping at someone's face claws out will do that.) and Max pin him down, ignoring Leo's flailing paws, and groom him. It was the funniest thing. Maybe I won't have to call Leo 'Stinky' much longer. Really dude, Spartans shouldn't smell like that.

BOB points: 7

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The word of the day is Cephalopod.

Last night, to thank me for helping him clean his apartment, Sean took me to my favourite restaurant even though he really doesn't like it. (very, very sweet of him) We went to Guu; that japanese pub on Thurlow just off Robson and it was great as usual- except for the service, but whatever. My favourite dish (well, untill last night when we had the grilled black cod with ponzu sauce- that was awesome) is the grilled squid legs with spicy mayonaise. Since they're very long, to eat them, you need to pick them up around the middle with your chopsticks, and bite near the top where it's tender (chew, swallow). Then, take another bite, and if you can't sever the legs with your teeth, suck them up like spaggetti. Beleive it or not, this is the least messy and probably best way of eating the little suckers, and has the added bonus of making your dinner partner turn several shades of green. If you're really lucky he might compare you to a lizard or a sea monster. Then you can slurp up another batch and get even. Hee heee heeeee he he....

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Doomed to Drudgery (warning: the following is a rant, and makes very little sense.)

I'm not a religious person, so I can say the following without fear of omnipotent smiting; Adam and Eve were dicks.

If the Christians had it right, and Eve really ate that apple that eventually developed into our need to clothe ourselves, then I have a bone to pick with her.

It's not so much that I don't like wearing clothes- aside from the fact that nothing ever looks as good on me as it does on say, Angelina Jolie, I'm OK with them. The problem is, the Big Guy upstairs, in compelling me to wear clothes, has doomed me to a life of... laundry.

I fricken hate doing laundry. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to do laundry for a whole family- my own is too much already!! Thankfully, I've already decided that I won't have any children until someone invents disposable, biodegradable clothing.

The absolute worst part is a process called "putting the clean clothing away". Or so I'm told. I find it never quite makes it all the way there. I might fold and empty half of the basket, but by that time I've usually made more dirty laundry and have to re-fill the basket with more clean clothes. Sometimes I wonder if I have laundry room trolls that sneak out and create more laundry while I'm at work. I'll have to set some traps or something.

***
Well, I've just conferred with Sean, and we have a solution. It's actually a variation on his current laundry method. All we need is a giant vat to put the clean clothes in. We'll save tons of closet space. Lets just hope the wrinkle is 'in' this season.

oh, and btw, BOB points are at 4.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Moving Moments

This past weekend, Sean and I packed and moved all his stuff to my apartment. Anyone who's ever moved or helped someone move might understand the horrors that the previous sentence implies, but for those of you who haven't, or if you are a hyper-organized freak-of-nature, read on with my compliments.

It was Easter weekend- you know that wonderful spring holiday filled with Ham and Chocolate, walks in the park and R&R. Except for us of course, who happened to be trapped in our very own self inflicted hell.

Ok, okay, I'm being a little over dramatic. It actually wasn't that bad- Sean, like me, is not a pack-rat, and we managed to pack/get rid of everything from Friday to Sunday. We packed dozens of boxes, carried them down to the lobby ("Oh, uh, Hi Mr. Security Guard, no, we're not moving... yes, we know we have to give notice... uh, we're just, uh, transporting some boxes.") crammed them into my Mazda Protege, drove the 35kms (1 hr drive) to my place, unloaded, drove back, rinse and repeat.

Our very last load was at about 3pm on Sunday afternoon- plenty of time to get loaded and unloaded then over to my parents' place for dinner. It was a very big load- Sean wasn't quite sure it would all fit, but I had faith in my shuvementa gifts. We piled box after box into the back seat (the seats were folded down) using every spare square inch of space, then shut the doors and opened the trunk. This is where things went sideways.

A few months ago, I locked my car keys in the trunk, and found out the hard way that my trunk release is broken. Ever since, when I open the trunk, I place my keys on the inside rim of the trunk, because you couldn't possibly shut the trunk with the keys there, right?

I placed my keys on the rim, we filled the trunk fill to the brim, we looked around to make sure there were no more items to go in, and... I slammed the trunk shut.

Well, it would appear it is possible to slam a door shut with a big wad of keys right in the middle.

We pulled, we pried, we swore, we laughed and finally we just stared at the mess we were in. The car was packed and ready to go, but parked (in a no parking zone I might add) and locked and not going anywhere.

What ended up happening was Sean rammed one of his fingers between the car and the trunk lid and managed to just tap the unlock button attached to the keys. I opened the doors and started unloading... all the bloody boxes out of the back seat, then out of the trunk, through the backseat. When everything was empty, I crawled through the backseat into the trunk and pulled the emergency release. Hurray! The trunk was open!! And as I slid out of the trunk, the seat of my pants caught on a hook... and tore a big hole in the ass of my jeans.

Let's just say, it was not on my weekend 'to do' list to stand around loading a car with boxes in a no parking zone with my ass peeking out of my pants, but alas, I did it anyway. I'm just glad we were both able to laugh our way through it.

Battle of the Bulge

Recipe of the Day: "Funny Little Muffin Tin Poached Egg Thingies"

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 slices Calabrese Salami or similar
green Tabasco
pepper & parsley

  1. Spray muffin tin and drape each salami slice over a muffin hole
  2. Crack an egg in each
  3. pepper, parsley & Tabasco
  4. Put in 350ish degree oven
  5. Go have a shower
  6. Take out of oven- egg white will be all cooked and yolk will be half hard/half runny- just the way I like 'em.
Don't forget the shower- very crucial to the cooking process.

So, I've started again with the low-carb eating. I'm ready this time thanks to my brief stint with the ever handy Special-K challenge which never fails to remind me how much I fucking hate eating cereal.

I thought about shelling out and trying the LA Weight Loss or maybe WW, but I've found LC to be easy to do, and effective. I lost 70 Lbs doing this before, and kept it off for almost 2 yrs, but then something happened and I have once again ballooned to ridiculous proportions. Well, like any normal bride (I'm comparing myself to a 'normal' bride, not suggesting I am one) I want to look my best on my wedding day. (Even if it is going to be taking place in somebodies office, squeezed nicely between a half dead houseplant and a coat-rack.)

Today's Battle of the Bulge points (ie: Lbs lost): 0 (I did just start this morning!)

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Boxes of memories

Yesterday, with the help of my good friend Meghan, I finally dealt with my apartment. I say 'dealt with' because the mess and clutter was just as much psychological as it was physical.

I am a messy person to begin with. I'm not a very good organizer and my time-management skills are almost non-existent. Combine all that with the fact that I deal with clutter the same way I deal with all my other problems; out of sight, out of mind... and you start to understand my predicament.

Over several hours, we completely gutted the place. Closets, drawers and shelves were emptied, their contents strewn over the living room and sorted into garbage/recycle, charity and keep. The smallest pile by far was the 'keep' pile.

The end result is that I now have a fairly organized and clean-ish apartment that is mostly ready for my fiance to move into. More importantly, I've been forced to deal with everything I've been keeping packed away. And not just the old papers and knick-knacks. For some reason when we started pulling everything apart, I hadn't anticipated all the skeletons coming out too. Not all were bad, (some were very well dressed) just a lot of mementos of people and places I'd done my best to forget, or at the very least, not think about. People that had hurt me, people I'd hurt, old friends I've out-grown (or who've out grown me), past successes and failures, bittersweet memories, old favourites, and many, many mistakes. All the things that have culminated in the person I am today.

I took a good long look. I said a silent prayer. And I let go.