Friday, Friiiiday

I'm watching the clock and waiting to see when I should go and pop Chloe in her carrier to head to the vet. She's getting her teeth cleaned (an annual event), but I never like what they have to do to her. Especially the knocking her out part. She comes home and wobbles all over the place like a drunk and has a voice like a husky lady (from the tube down her throat). And she smells like the vet, so Lulu gets all hissy at her, and she gets all drunk and hissy back, and it's a big gong show. Plus we have to watch that she doesn't wobble and roll down the stairs, or tries to KO herself by jumping on something high. So there's lots of fun in store for this afternoon.

I also have to go become worldly at the liquor store and pick out some decent bottles of wine for a birthday present for Trevor's great uncle, who's party we're going to on Saturday evening (although it starts at 5pm -- so we'll probably be out of there by 6:30 or so *hoping*). I'm going to grab one white and one red and hope that they don't taste like dirt (LOL). Nothing a little wrapping and bow action can't help.

And the stools I ordered online came yesterday! Everything is perfect with them with the small exception of colour. In the photo they look white as snow, and in reality, they're BEIGE. (Well, what they specify as 'cream'.) They don't look bad at all in the office area, but it irks me slightly. But considering the crappy selection out there for bar stools (especially those in white), I think these will do just fine.

Work is getting busier as well. There have been a few new sniffs around here this week from a few people looking for design work, so that's nice. Whether or not they'll actually jump on board and work with me is another question. They might have sticker shock from the prices I charge, but I cost what I cost. Take it or leave it. Gone are they days of buying jobs just to have work. But it will be interesting to see what happens.

Well I must go get a carrier ready, and do a quick google on 'wine that doesn't taste like dirt'. ;)

Just had to say...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lucas.

Hee hee!

Disturbing...

Why are there BOYS in it? Maybe I screwed up somewhere.

Oot and aboot

I went for a quick walk outside today to grab some bread from the bakery (and a fajita kit from M+M...something easy to make as my energy level is waning this week from being a sickie). I figured that the fresh air and exercise would be a good way to kick this cold I have to the curb.
But...
Not only is a walk good for you, it's good for your wallet too! Lookie what I found on my way back home!

Not bad. Not bad at all!

The pantry

It's hard to take shots of something that resembles a closet, but here's one of the first updated basement photos. I swear, one day I will get my office cleaned up enough to take a glamour shot. Proper organizing takes time!
(These were also taken before the Tupperware upgrade, but really, the new containers just get dwarfed by the amount of stuff in here.)

My office assistants

Sometimes they don't work all that hard. I will have to write them up in their files for sleeping on the job.

Four day review

It was a busy end of week and weekend, so I'm going to lump everything into one post, starting with booting my bad boyfriend (BAD client) to the curb last week. On the 20th, I burned all of the previous and current projects for the BB (around 15 DVDs worth, so a lot of stuff) and sent it all on it's merry way to the next sucker in line to take BB's abuse. It felt pretty good. It will feel even better in 1-2 months when I PERMANENTLY delete every last scrap of file and photo off of my hard drive and backup. ahhh. And that's why I call it a BAD BOYFRIEND. It's like getting rid of all the things that you did, all the events and dropping it into a garbage can and burning it all. Some sort of closure I guess. Even though the bitterness is still strong in this one...*silent simmering*

And after that, I had my birthday on Friday (and turned 29). I will have to whoop it up this year for sure. Trevor came home early (nice surprise, bonus points there!) and we saw 'Be Kind Rewind' which was just so-so. Then went out to Cactus Club for a late dinner (always good there). We shared a piece of key lime pie there for dessert, mmmmm.

On Saturday we went to Main Street to look for a cheap antique (or just different looking) dresser to turn into a bathroom vanity. Just in case anyone's wondering, that doesn't exist. And you run into a lot of, ehm, colourful people and musty smells. So it was a no-go there. We then went to Metrotown because Trevor specifically wanted sushi on a conveyor belt. We did that and ended up accidentally stiffing them on the bill (I thought I had put $5 in, when I counted wrong). The guy at the counter gave us a dirty look and we figured it out while we were walking away. Oh well, one place we can't go back to for a while then. LOL We hit a bathroom lighting place on our way to Mike and Cynthia's for dinner, and hit up a London Drugs for some hair gel (Trevor). Dinner at the M household was fab. Always a tasty treat there. And some donuts from Duffin's afterwards (specifically an ANGEL donut). Very tasty. And my favorite part: a good game of UNO (which I didn't win ONCE, but meant no shuffling for me!) and rigging Mike's cards so that they were all yellow...ahhh still makes me laugh!!!

Sunday was a home day, we washed the car (took many hours, dirty dirty!) and then went for dinner with Trevor's family out in Abbotsford. I ended up getting one of these for a birthday present from all of them:

Practical. But too practical? I suppose I won't be shooting myself in the eye with bits of bark and grass anymore (pro) and won't have a chance of snipping the cord (since it's cordless) and zapping myself (also a pro). Now if only we lived on a half acre lot instead of the postage stamp sized one we're on now...

And today, well now I'm sick with a cold. It's not horrible yet, but I was supposed to go out for lunch and now it's not going to happen. But at least it's sunny out for another day, maybe I'll go air out my schnozz later.

Pressure's on

This week we've been pestered by both the electrical safety commission and the township regarding our permits for the basement. The electrical permit people stuck their hand out for more money to extend the permit, and the township people gave us three months to finish our bathroom for final inspection. So now the pressure is on to finish things up and get these permits signed off.

We slacked off around Christmas (and the vacation) because things were busy with work and we had burned out. Plus I was too excited to get on to decorating... The bathroom is a tough call (for me at least). I have big ideas for that small space. Putting me in a tile store boggles my mind. Maybe it's because I'm an artsy-fartsy person, but I see too many options. And there's always the price 'issue'. lol If money meant nothing, I'd be tempted to put in magic mosaic tile (mmmm) or something like this:
Don't even ask about vanities, because that's a whole other issue...

I guess we're really going to have to put our thinking caps on, set our wallets on fire and make some decisions soon.

Boggle anyone?

We busted out the Boggle last night and got our little brains in gear...
The funniest part was Trevor making up the word 'telsa':

Trevor: 'telsa'
Me: I don't think so. That's not a word.
Trevor: Um, haven't you ever heard of a 'telsa' coil? *Insert superior voice*
Me: Noooo... I'm going to check that out in the dictionary *Insert loud voice of word justice*
Trevor: I can't believe you haven't heard of a 'telsa' coil? Are you serious? *Superior questioning voice of disbelief that I haven't kept up with science*
Me: (on dictionary.com) AHA! YOU'RE WRONG!!! *really getting loud* IT'S A TESLA COIL....NOT A 'TELSA' COIL!!!! THAT IS SOOOO EMBARRASSING...SOOOOO EMBARRASSING!!!! *super loud and laughing*
Trevor: Oh...

Ahhh...I love Boggle.

ps - I lost...but did I really lose? ;)

Shoppin'

Here's the two new stools I've bought for the office. I looked everywhere for something similar, but I had to order these online. 7-10 business days and I'm going to park my bum on one of these!

I'm thinking I'd like to get this for my new desk chair, it's from Urban Barn. Could it be in store now? I will have to check.

House hunting (just looking...)

Yesterday we went to Fort Langley to take a look at the Bedford Landing development, right next to the river. Let me emphasize that it's RIGHT NEXT TO THE RIVER. Okay, with that out of the way, we can now talk about how much you're going to spend for a house that will, one day, be floating.For a detached house, you're going to spend a minimum of $589,000 (or 'value priced' as it says in the ad) and for a detached house that you get a backyard and some semi-privacy with you're going to have to sell your soul for a minimum of $899,000 (again, 'value priced'). It was sad walking around mass-produced homes that try so hard to have character but just end up looking like dominos waiting to be toppled over (hmmm, enter river flooding action?). There were so many issues that we saw all through these houses, from the choppy basements (unfinished, so I can say we're able to make that assessment after doing our own) to the outright mistakes that were made (a beam that went into a staircase and was carpeted over, a fridge door that couldn't open fully because of a wall) to the HORRIBLE finishing of cheap moulding, wobbly edges of drywall, crappy painting...

You can see my point. If we moved in there we would need two contractor's packs of caulk because the builders sure didn't use any. Oh, and remember that you'll be paying GST on those prices above for that 'brand new' house.

Not that I'm immune to the whole mass-produced house, we live in one now. People make the mistake all the time of saying that we live in a townhouse because these houses are so close together. But at least we can say that this is only our first house and that hopefully on the next move that we'll be moving up in size, both with the house and with the lot. But realistically, those Bedford houses can't possibly be a starter house for people, and look at what you're getting: a teenie house on a teenie lot.

Oh! And the best part: there are two ways into the area, and both are crossed by rail lines. When we were walking through the houses we noticed that there were fire sprinklers all over the place. Well, this is in case your house is burning down and there's a train on the track and the fire truck can't get in. The rep at the sales office told us that Park Lane was kind enough to do this for peace of mind for the homeowner, and that the maximum time it would take, if there were a train on the track, for the fire fighters wait to cross would be 20 SECONDS. Hmmm. Not sure where they get that time, but there are some long freight trains that take a lot longer to get through the crossing than that. I suppose they'll say anything to sell a house then. Good thing they didn't ask us what we thought of the development...

Okay, so still no photos

But we did make a trip to the dump today! Hurrah! We got rid of the old office mini fridge, old shelving, a bag of junk and styrofoam. We still have to make another trip to an electronics recycling place to get rid of the old techie stuff around here.

Pictures will be coming some day...

I know that I mentioned (a long time ago) about posting pictures of the basement on here, and they've never surfaced. I've taken a few, but maybe it's the pursuit of perfection (or not!) that keeps me from posting them. I want to take pictures and post them and be able to do a big *sigh* and have it look the way I have it in my head.

The reality though...

It's not so perfect at the moment. I don't think it's got to that point yet. At the moment my office is a piled of dragged out junk from under the stairs (beside my office) and all the dirt that's come with it. Driving me crazy. I'm working on that today so I can hopefully clear out a good amount of crap from the spare bedroom (you can't even see a bed in there it's that bad). Then I want to swing the vacuum around without sucking up boxes, Christmas goodies and other large miscellaneous items. And I want to be able to walk in a straight line down the upstairs hallway. We have mastered the 'junk swagger' and learn to cross by things by using walls for balance...lol.

Maybe I'll post some goodies later on today. And maybe not! (Just for the suspense you know!)

Indy! Indy!

It's the new Indy movie preview! Let's hope it looks as good as the little snippets they show (although Harrison Ford must have a bionic hip by now). Although, how could it suck? It has the f*cking LEBEOUF in it!! LOL!

Hot stuff

So today is Valentine's Day. What am I getting, you ask? Um...the same as always, nada! lol! Now don't take this as a black mark towards Trevor, because I don't get him anything either! We just don't get into Valentine's Day. I guess it's too commercial, and almost too forced to HAVE to show your LOVE on a specific day, just because Hallmark says so. Plus, I think that if Trevor ever went out and spent $25 on a dozen roses I might kill him (not into red roses, and man, what a rip off!).

I think Valentine's Day was more fun when I was in elementary school. We would make big construction paper envelopes and tape them to the edge of our desk and collect all of our valentines in them. And someone would bring in cupcakes, and cinnamon hearts, and those chalky candy hearts with messages on them (hence the 'hot stuff' title!).

And now, maybe someone will bring in a bunch of cupcakes to step class this morning (AHAHAHA...right!) and I'll come home and make an envelope and tape it to the side of my desk and cross my fingers that someone drops a funny daffy duck valentine in there with some cinnamon hearts. ;)

The v-e-t is done, for now

I managed to get out of the house relatively on time yesterday for the 3pm vet appointment. I couldn't find Chloe at one point and was looking under the bed in the spare room for about 10 minutes, only to realize it was the WRONG bed I was looking under. Back into our room and there she is, and she knows the gig is up.

Everyone got their shots (Lulu with a blanket over her head and horrible shrieking...ugh) and Chloe got an extra blood test because she's 9 this year and has to get her teeth cleaned (*rolling eyes* she doesn't chew her food). She gets to go back on the 29th for her dental and gets to be drugged up for the day.

Slow week

It's a calm and slowwww week around here. There's still things to do, but work-wise it's quiet. I'm waiting for people to get back to me, and they all seem to be taking their time. Oh well, Trevor says that whenever I say that it's quiet it ramps up all of a sudden (which has been true on past few times), and to enjoy the quiet-ness. I'm a natural alarmist, so what can I do?

I'm taking the girls to the vet today for their yearly check-up (which is late, and usually done in January). It always stresses me out because Lulu is HORRIBLE at getting shots. She gets so scared that she makes these horrible screaming noises. Chloe just cowers and tenses up. Then when we get home they skulk around and get mad at each other because they each smell like the vet's office. So there's a fun afternoon coming up.

You know what sucks?

When you've fallen behind on Quickbooks entries and your GST and PST are coming up this month.

*sigh*

Who knew you could do so much with this?

I learned this at step class this morning. Our instructor brought out the ball and proceeded to contort and roll all over it. We did all sorts of sit-ups, twisty things, roll-y things and squeeze-y things on it. At one point I had to try not to laugh as we all rolled up on the ball at the same time and made this big farty noise that echoed through the room (I've been hanging out with Trevor too much, lol). It was fun, and a nice way to get out of the house (I've been working in the 'compound' here all week).

The rest of the week has been filled with work (getting ideas for a new logo project that's due for the first presentation TOMORROW, no pressure), cleaning the house and doing overall domestic things. I made an awesome chicken dinner on Tuesday (roasted chicken...on a Tuesday you say? Why yes!) and was very happy with the way it turned out. I tried a Jamie Oliver technique of salt and pepper-ing the chicken in a bag the morning before it was roasted and then added the garlic, butter and lemon before it was put in the oven. MMM-mmmm. It was so juicy that I literally had to POUR it out before it was carved up. And then I made chicken stock out of the rest of it yesterday (it was a pricey organic chicken, so I'm using all of it up!). Über domestic, that is moi.

And for the weekend, we're partying it up with Mike and Cynthia. Mike is having a man time with Trevor playing video games on the big tv and Cynthia and I are going to TARGET!!! Woop woop! I love going there. I think I could go there every weekend, in fact. So we'll see what we score there.

I think I might try and tackle some closet organizing as well. I tried to do that last week and failed. (Okay, if you don't really try, can you really fail?) So we'll see what comes out of all of that. :)

New blog

This is more to satisfy my artsy-fartsy side, and doesn't include any writing. Just things that I come across (and are better organized on a blog than on my hard drive!). :)

http://mintyfreshahhh.blogspot.com/

This satisfies my secret modernistic side

Magnetic curtain: A curtain which you can shape to any form. Through the incorporated structure and magnets, it stays in the shape you push and pull it to.

Oh to have an über trendy loft to live in and just shape my curtains all day...

Kerry-ism

Me: "I wear my shoulder on my sleeve."

Trevor: "Isn't that supposed to be 'heart' on your sleeve?"

Me: "Um, yeah, that too."

Mo' Sno'

We woke up to snow AGAIN this morning. Not that I'm opposed to it at all, in fact, I'd rather have snow than rain (that might also be because I don't have to go anywhere right now). I get out there and shovel it, and throw in a few other houses worth of sidewalks and walkways (might as well, I'm there anyways). I think the warm air is coming in now, the snow is melting fast. I'm also hearing big THUMPS on the house in random places -- must be chunks of snow coming down.

Here's the random tidbit of the day:
The largest snowflake in recorded history was reported at Fort Keogh, Montana, on January 28, 1887, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The snowflake was reportedly 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick. The person who found the snow flake, ranch owner Matt Coleman, described it as "larger than milk pans."

Good thing I don't have to shovel that.

Good news!

Trevor fixed the car! A new oil pressure sensor, a new battery (not needed), some NEW TOOLS (more???) and a weekend, and problem solved. He's such a smartie (discovered how to get a diagnostic code from the car by doing some key sequence). So we've saved $$ on time, a tow truck and a visit to the Chrysler dealership. Hurrah!

My favorite Super Bowl commercial

Spot the Mii's

I've got some friends and family all immortalized on our Wii. See if you can spot anyone you know! LOL

Stupid phone calls

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's getting annoying telemarketer calls, or 'courtesy calls' during the day...evening...night, you name it (and they don't leave messages or are just a dead line). I came across this tonight:

https://cornerstonewebmedia.com/cma/submit.asp

It only works for companies in Canada registered with the CMA, so it might not do much. Like those stupid 'Bloomingdales, Macy's and other stores...you've won a vacation!' calls that come from the States. But it's a little glimmer of hope.

These remind me of Cynthia

ahhhh...good times, LOL!

Car-less again... (or still)

Well Trevor's car (okay, OUR car, but the one Trevor mostly drives) has gone for shit again. (That's the best way I can put it.) We went to run down into Langley on Tuesday night and it wouldn't even start. It did a chugga-chugga-wheeeeze. So we thought it was the battery (that would make sense?). So off to Crappy Tire we went to get a new battery. Came back (and in the freezing cold) put the battery in the car. Trevor went to start it...chugga-chugga-wheeeeze AGAIN. So Trevor has to drive my car back and forth to work now (with me also missing yet another day of class at the rec center). And I've been stuck in the house for going on 65 hours straight now. Not that I don't have things to do around here, but you know.

Last night Trevor checked the car again (we plugged in the block heater, thinking that maybe that would do the trick) and still a no go. But he did find that the car gives you a diagnostic code on the odometer if you fiddle with the keys in the ignition a certain way. And he looked up the code on the internet and it's something to do with an oil sensor, which is a $16 part. And with this problem, the car will not let itself start up. Smart car...too smart. So this weekend we're headed to the Chrysler dealership to see if we can get the part. *fingers crossed* Trevor's beginning to think that his car was built on a Monday.

Now, if we're going to look on the positive side, at least the car died in the garage, and not out in Chilliwack...or at a store parking lot...or on the freeway. Isn't it great how we luck out like that? LOL.