Holy busy week, batman!

What the hell is going on? Why is time rushing past me in a blur? How did it get to be Tuesday already? When do I get a night home on the couch doing nothing? Looks like next Thursday might work, but no guarantees.

Fall is a super busy time for everyone it seems, so I know it's not just me who's run off their proverbial feet. But man - the last week of October is pure killer!

Saturday was my nephew's third birthday party. His birthday is actually today, but the party was Saturday morning so as to maximize the number of kids (and their adult companions) in attendance. So we shuffled over to my sister's place for 11:30, ate appy things and some crazy chocolate dinosaur cake, then dashed home to prepare for the evening.

We hosted four couples plus us for dinner on Saturday night - a dinner party! How grown up am I! You know you're all growed up when there are enough plates of the same pattern for everyone at the table. I have arrived!!

It was a great night, I love entertaining. Three couples were WB gals and it was great to finally meet hubbies and put faces to stories. The fourth couple was comprised of Taco and his new wife. It's always great to see them, and we were delighted to show off our finished product house as they were part of our painting crew and haven't been back since we fully moved in. They were happy to see how the fruits of their labours (aka our master bedroom) all came together, and I, the consumate diva, was happy to show off my decorating skills.

Good wine, good food (if I do say so myself), and good Wii was had by all.

Sunday we were quite happy to have a day to just veg out and do nothing. Well, nothing much, that is. Since we didn't have time on Saturday, the plan was to go the gym on Sunday and get a workout in. All well and good until I went and kicked the leg of our couch.

A few choices utterances of profanity later, I surveyed the damage to my baby toe. I couldn't move it, it started to swell and turn colour, and therefore was not going to be crammed into a running shoe of any description.

So we decided to burn some calories at the Jeanne Lottie sample sale instead.

I hobbled along in my Crocs and sweats, a picture of style. Fortunately they all know me there and know better than to judge. I left with 8 bags for $103. Bought a great bag for CJ for her birthday, two other Christmas presents, a diaper bag for my sister (pink - it hurt, but it was the right/nice thing to do) and three other bags just for me. My consolation prizes for not being able to buy my very own diaper bag. Sigh...

We then traipsed over to Hakim in search of new glasses. The time had come - my already shoddy vision continues to deteriorate, so it was my turn to once again embark on that most challenging of chores - trying on glasses when you can't see how good (or shitty) you look. 'Cause you're not wearing your glasses.

I took Hubs with me and put him through the paces of helping me choose. Poor guy - I must have tried on about 80 pairs and hmmmmed and hawed through all but 78. Then I had to make a decision - practical and nice, or funky and not-so-functional? Much to my chagrin, practical and nice emerged victorious, and I placed my order.

Picked them up tonight and man - everything is crystal clear! I feel a bit drunk though. Free buzz. I always hate the transition period from the old pair to the new. It's like I move my head but my brain is too slow to stay caught up to my eyeballs. Not a pleasant sensation. You won't catch me behind the wheel of a car for the next few days! I'm a bigger menace than an 87 year old lady propped up on phone books squinting through her cataracts! My sense of civic duty is simply too strong to attempt to drive. So fret not, the streets are safe.

Had a great time with CJ last night. It was her birthday so she came out to my hood, we went for a really nice dinner, then she came over and we watched a movie and the Bachelor (he's just hot, isn't he? That's a whole other post but hubba hubba. If he was a fireman....yeesh), ate some birthday cake, and just had a nice night gabbing and catching up. I'm really glad I was able to celebrate on her birthday with her. Good times!!

Tonight we went to the sister's place right after work in order to celebrate the true birthday of my nephew. My sister got more mileage out of the number 3 shaped candle than I ever would have thought possible! My parents are down so it was nice to celebrate together, and to give my sister her card as well (her birthday was yesterday too. See what I mean about it being busy!!!??).

Tomorrow is Halloween of course, so that's another busy night. Then Thursday I have my fitness assessment at the gym. I'm looking forward to that like I would a root canal. Just what I need to really round out my week - some spandex clad muscle gal that I will never in a million years resemble coming at me to measure my body fat. NO THANK YOU! I've decided I'm skipping the body fat part. Some numbers were meant to stay a secret of the universe. This is my universe, and this is my secret number.

Friday begins another weekend of ours with DeeDee, Monday it's back to the gym, Tuesday is dinner with the gals downtown, Wednesday is the gym again, and this therefore brings us back to next Thursday - the first day I might possibly be able to sit down on my couch and veg all night.

Seems so far away, doesn't it? Bugger.

Oh well. I'm going to try to look at the glass half full side of this. Molly Maid is coming tomorrow in an effort to boost our opinion of them while cleaning our house. At least I won't have to spend any of that precious home time scrubbing toilets! Providing they do a good job this time, that is!!

Hope everyone has a good Halloween tomorrow! We've got lots of candy and it better all be given away. Last thing I need is more temptation in the house. Kinda counteracts all that gym stuff and pushes the magical mystery body fat number in the completely wrong direction.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

The clouds have finally parted...

Guess what? Today was a good day!

I know! Hard to believe, but there it is!

First off and perhaps most importantly, Maxx made his way home. I was so relieved it's not even funny!

My sister is off on mat leave getting ready for her daughter to be born and volunteered to come by the house a few times today just in case he came home. Sure enough, the first time she popped over, she opened the back door and there was this gray furry lump under the patio table, screaming at her.

She called me right away and when I saw the number on the call display - my own home number - I was sure it was Hubs, home for one reason or another, giving me a call. When I heard her voice and those magical words - 'he's home!' - I started crying right then and there.

For my cat. But he's so worth it.

I got this wonderful call a few minutes after I'd returned to my office following a review appointment with my reproductive endocrinologist (fancy terminology for my infertility doctor). And surprise of surprises, that appointment actually went really well! I was quite pleased.

The doctor actually took the time to sit down with me, walk through the progress (or lack thereof) to date, and we chatted about what's next. So we're moving on to injectables which was my hope before the appointment even started, so that in itself is progress. She also gave me a prescription to get the next cycle moving along, and told me that if the cyst is still there at the start of the next cycle, they'll go in and aspirate it so I don't lose more time.

Oh wait - did I say cyst? My bad, I should have pluralized that. Because apparently, there are not one but two of the buggers squatting in my ovaries. Sheesh. One or two, no matter. They'll both be drained if need be. Good times! Looking forward to that little procedure! Blech.

But at least I know there will be progress in a few weeks time. We have a plan, and options designed to deal with any of the three potential outcomes. And that makes me smile.

I also smiled like a crazy person when I got back to my office and there was this incredible floral arrangement from the one and only JBJ. She gets the whole cat thing and knows Maxx quite well as she and her husband catsitted for me many a time whilst I was living in Kingston. They've got two cats of their own, so she just gets it.

And she knows me! Knows that I love flowers, and made sure that they were all pink. Beautiful, glorious pink! They even put some funky feathers in the arrangement - I couldn't have done a better job if I'd picked out all the flowers myself. And that's saying something, since I can make me a mean bouquet.

Work was busy today which always makes the day fly but fortunately it was good busy, not psycho stressful busy. Left at the regular time, and was overjoyed to pick up Maxx and just squish the poor guy when I finally walked in the door. So good to see him.

Since we missed our gym visit last night and Maxx was now home safe and sound, there was really no excuse to not go tonight. Damn. So we went and it's amazing how fast it all comes back to you. I wouldn't say it was fun, but it wasn't terrible either and I felt great for having done it so that has to count for something.

And can I just say it's amazing how far you can 'go' when you're riding a stationary bike for a half hour. 10.7 miles to be exact. And boy do those miles just fly by when you have a tv built right into the machine! Got some good cardio in AND got to watch an episode of Flip That House. Hubs hates all the home decor shows (Sludge is/was a fan and had them on incessantly, apparently) while I enjoy them, so I must admit it was nice to get a dose of the good stuff in while I pedaled away.

So that's pretty much it. Now I'm tired and a bit stiff, ready to hit the hay and very grateful that tomorrow is Friday. I love it when the clouds part and a few rays of sunshine beam my way.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

When it rains, it pours...

So in addition to all my cyst-y woes and 'cause I'm not already fragile enough, this morning I get a phone call from Hubs with the following question: "When was the last time you saw Maxx?"

Never a good question to be asked.

Maxx, for those not in the know, is one of my cats. He's the mac daddy cat, really, the coolest cat that ever walked the face of the earth. 11 years ago he picked me while I was looking for a kitten at the Humane Society. I was getting ready to go to grad school and wanted a wee fuzzy companion to come along for the ride.

As it happens, Maxx came home with me three days before I was diagnosed with mono. I spent a lot of time in my room that summer, and Maxx was right there with me, the entire time. We did some serious bonding, that cat and I.

And it's just gotten more involved since then. He's been with me through the vast majority of my adult life. He's more dog than cat - comes when he's called, 'talks' back when you talk to him, loves to be rubbed and spoiled and is just a real character.

And we can't find him.

My cats (we have three) are indoor cats. They've never been outdoor cats, despite what they might want. Maxx is known as a dasher - makes a break for the door every time it opens - but because he's such a chunky kitty he doesn't really get all that far.

We see him, we grab him, we bring him back into the house.

But this time, we didn't see him. Didn't even notice he wasn't here last night when we got home. What a bad cat mom I am - how did I not even realize he didn't come to greet me when we came home? He always does - always! Especially if there's a chance he'll get some food out of the deal.

We're not sure if he got out in the morning when we left or later on that day when Hubs made a quick stop at home to change before his dinner thingie. Either way, he's gone. And we just can't find him.

We've called the Humane Society, Animal Control, and the vet across the street. We've got posters up in the neighbourhood. We've gone to all the subdivisions near our house over and over again, calling his name, looking between houses, and nothing. Not a sign of him.

There's a bowl of food sitting on our front porch - hopefully that will entice him to return.

Everywhere I turn in my house I expect to see him. Lying on the floor by the dining room table, soaking up the morning's rays. Sitting with me here on the couch. Upstairs napping on my bed. But he's nowhere to be found.

One of my other cats seems lost too, like he can't figure it out. He keeps looking up at the door and of course I jump up every time, just in case his kitty senses are that much better than my human ones. And still...no Maxx.

I cried like I haven't cried in a long, long time. I was full on sobbing, just thinking about never seeing him again. Even with all the fertility challenges we've faced, I don't think I've ever cried over that like I'm sobbing over my cat. Messed up or what?

Then again, since we don't have kids my cats are my babies. Not in that creepy dress them up in baby clothes kinda way, but they're members of my family all the same. And Maxx...he's the favourite. And I'm not willing to give him up just yet.

A few years ago he spent a week outside (not on purpose!) and he was fine. I had left to go up north for Christmas and the little bugger must have slipped outside while we were loading up the car. Eight days later I came back and I couldn't find him. I tore the house apart, freaking out that I'd locked him in a closet and he'd shriveled away to nothing (or pissed all over everything) in the time I was away. I went to the front door and called for him - nothing. I went to the back door and called for him - and heard this plaintive cry from the backyard.

Poor bugger had been outside the entire time and was hiding at the basement apartment's entry way. I was very happy to see him. He was very happy to see his food bowl. The other two cats hissed and spit 'cause he didn't smell right anymore. But in no time at all he was back to good and life went on.

So I know he can survive out there and still come home. I know he's outside somewhere 'cause there are paw prints in the front garden. I still expect to open the front door and see him. But I'm terrified that he's lying in a ditch somewhere, run over by a car that just didn't see him in time.

Now I'm crying again.

Hopefully all this stressing will be for nothing and he'll return safe and sound - hungry, dirty, but alive. Because right now, the alternatives are just too sad to contemplate. And I just don't know if I can take any more sad.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Attempting to get back to good..

It's been an interesting few days.

Friday was a number of things. It was the third anniversary of my first date with Hubs. Kinda cool. It was Friday, which in and of itself was inherently a good thing. And it was also day three of my latest cycle, so I headed off to the clinic for my blood work and ultrasound.

Funny that history has a habit of repeating itself. My very first cycle with the clinic, I didn't respond to the dosage of the drugs I was given. The next cycle I was ready for a fresh start, and was blindsided by that stupid cyst. So you'll never guess what...

Last cycle, as you well know, was canceled 'cause I didn't respond to the drugs. And wouldn't you know it - Friday I found out I have yet another cyst. And a nice, big, fat, juicy one too! Lucky me. So yeah, Friday sucked.

I burst into tears right there in the ultrasound room. As soon as I heard the technician say cyst, that was it. I knew it was over. Even though they told me to wait for the blood to come back, that it might not be producing estrogen, I knew it. History all too often repeats itself, and it sure as hell did this time.

So needless to say, despite the anniversary that we should have been celebrating, Hubs spent the night picking my pieces up and worrying about me. Poor guy - here we go again. I took this one super hard (as always) and I'm still attempting to recover from the news. I have lots of time to do so apparently, because thanks to this cyst, the earliest chance we have to conceive is the end of November. And that's IF the stupid cyst decides to fuck off at some point in the near future.

In the meantime and since we seem to have nothing pressing to do with our time, Hubs and I have decided to join a gym. So there, anonymous poster who told me I needed to lose weight to get pregnant! Are you happy now? :p

We're going to go three times a week and hopefully that will take my mind off all this infertility stuff and I can put my energies, as low as they may be at times, towards something more productive. I'm feeling quite righteous at this very moment - we'll see if that wears off once I actually get in there and actually start doing the real work!

At least this means I get to do some shopping. I think a virginal gym membership calls for a few new pairs of workout pants (I already have t shirts coming out the wazoo). Gotta keep an eye on the budget too!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the incredible weekend. We took it easy, had dinner with my father and stepmother (always a pleasure - that's sarcasm) on Saturday night, then went out to a Pumpkinfest with Hubs, DeeDee, Hubs' mom, my sister, brother in law and nephew. It was an incredible day outside - who could believe we'd be in shorts and a t shirt on the 21st of October?! Insane!

Snapped some great pictures, got our pumpkin, and we were home by 2. All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday. Only way it could have been better was if it had lasted all the way through Monday!

Hope you've all had a good weekend, and sorry again for not posting for a few days. I just knew, given my mood at the time, nothing good would come of it and all that would be left behind was a super negative post. And since I'm trying to stay more on the positive side, that just wouldn't do! Because my dear readers, you all deserve so much more!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Hump day...yippee

Is anyone else feeling like this week is dragging by, like super slo mo? Shouldn't it be Friday by now? I feel like time she ticks backwards. What the hell is up with that?

Argh. Apologies again for not being around the past few days. I've been fighting this insane cold for what feels like forever, but alas, has only been a week or so. It's like the cold was coming at me with the same glacial speed this week is has assumed...the very weirdest thing.

Fortunately I'm starting to feel a bit better now. I've managed to get lots of sleep (hence the lack of blogging) and I think that's really helping.

That, and the fact that I have three beautiful new pairs of pants (purchased during the uber-successful Buffalo trip) finally back from the tailors so I can actually wear them. I am styling, if I do say so myself. I also picked up two pairs of swank shoes to go with them and zowie...what a mental pick me up.

Clothes don't usually do it for me, really. I rarely feel great in anything I wear...I see all the flaws (and there are many) that each piece of clothing simply can't hide. But every once in a while, I feel good. Not fantastic (only day I felt fantastic was my wedding day - thank god!) but at least good.

So forget chicken soup - sleep and new clothes seem to be the recipe for my path back to wellness. Add Coachie, my lovely bag, and dag yo - I love it when an outfit comes together.

I have one new pair of pants left (the fourth pair didn't need to be altered) so I will sport them happily tomorrow. After I get some more much needed sleep.

I managed to squeeze a nice nap in this afternoon after I fled work early. I was just feeling so blah, so sick, so tired, and the morning at the office was absolutely craptastic, so I knew that if I wanted to be productive for the rest of the work, I had to make my way home - and soon.

I ran into an old friend from high school while waiting for the GO train. Weirdest thing. I'd reconnected with her via Facebook so I had a rough idea of what she was doing with her life, etc, but we haven't seen each other since high school. We were all in a huge, close circle of friends until, as it inevitably does, it all went terribly wrong and she kissed my date at the semi formal after party.

Some scars, they simply do not heal. :)

Fortunately, this one has healed rather well, considering it's had 16 or so years to do so. But weird upon weird to see her at the train!

And of course...she was there with her six month old baby girl. They'd just come back from a doctor's appointment and she was heading home with her little girl, her second, who's very cute by the way.

Of course. Just what I need to see these days. Sigh.

But alas, what can I do. Babies are a part of life and the world all around me, regardless of whether they're mine or not. I actually did quite well, but will admit breathing the smallest sigh of relief once she rolled that baby off the train. Such is life, I suppose.

For now, I'm just sitting here, watching Private Practice (man, how this one cuts close to home) and trying to keep Hubs from going insane. Yep, Sludge is up to no good again, and DeeDee's caught in the middle. Again. Le plus ca change...

So I'll watch the end of my show then head upstairs to bed with Hubs, trying to make him feel better. We'll fall asleep in each other's arms and I'll have lovely dreams of all the things I'd say to Sludge were there no consequence. Then I'll wake up with a smile on my face, hopefully feeling a bit better, and slip into that last pair of new pants. Best of all - I'll be one day closer to the weekend.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Three Fetes and a Funeral

That pretty much sums up my weekend.

What a busy one it's been! Friday night Hubs and I headed out to a swank event for work. I'm always so tired at the end of the week that it's a wonder we even made it there. But we did. Got all dressed up (in the bathroom of a Shoeless Joe's, no less - nothing but class) and made our way to the venue.

Sigh. So many of these things are an absolute blast and this one had all the right pieces, but it took them forever to get the evening under way! Everyone was a bit crabby by the time they put the freakin dinner on the table and the problem is the food wasn't all that much up my alley to begin with. But I managed to hold out until the steak hit my plate, and was thankful for those wings Hubs and I split at Joe's!

We left shortly after dinner - just too tired to keep partying, open bar and all! As it was we got home after midnight, and I felt terrible for falling asleep in the car on the way home. But I did. And it was good.

Saturday morning came way too early, but at least I managed to get up for a good cause. Around 10:30 am Hubs dropped me off at a friend's place, and from there we caravaned to beautiful downtown Bowmanville for Applefest! Yes, you read that right! The diva was woot wooting it up at Applefest with her WB gal pals.

We had a blast! It was cold, it was windy, and the local firefighters didn't quite live up to their GTA counterparts (so sad - such high expectations dashed on the rocks) but we still had a fantastic day. We shopped, we ate hot dogs and french fries and apples with caramel sauce (as Nat says, sex in a bowl). I brought home apple pie, apple crumble, candy apples, cranberry loaf, fudge, some Halloween decorations, a beautiful pottery bowl that is supposed to be a Christmas gift but I don't know if I can make myself part with it, and a folk art-y pumpkin thing to put on our front door.

By the time we got back to the car, I had those permanent bag indentations in my fingers and my fellow fest'ers were equally happy to put my purchases down and deal with their own stuff. Yes, I bought so much I had to enlist the aid of my friends. What great gals they were to haul my stuff!

We made it home around four and an hour later, Hubs and I met up with Nat, her hubby and a bunch of their friends for dinner and drinkies at a local Irish pub. They (the pub, that is) made the mistake of having a Keith's night among other things, and so each time you purchased a Keith's, you got a Nevada ticket like card that could win you a prize.

Well...you never saw a more dejected group of drinkers than us last night. Beer after beer, card after card, we kept losing. It was almost impossible really - to have that many pints and cards and to never win.

Finally - finally! - we had a winner in our midst. Of course it was the guy who showed up late and was on his second pint. I thought our alpha drinker boys were going to jump out of their skin they were so ticked off at the injustice of it all!

The tide finally turned later in the night when we finally hit the part of the pile where all the winners are. Soon there were mugs being handed out left, right and centre. I left with two myself. Delightful!

After five pints of the India pale ale, we decided it was time to shuffle on home. Hubs' butt was sore from sitting on those fancy pub chairs - you know, the wooden ones with no ass padding whatsoever - and the appearance of the regional pipe band in the pub (to come on stage later) gave the poor boy palpitations (he hates bagpipes. Hates. Big time.) was therefore a clear signal to him that it was time to depart.

It was 9:30.

Yes, our Saturday night ended at 9:30. And I was perfectly okay with that. Especially since I had a five pint buzz going on.

Aw come on, there have to be some benefits to this nature imposed break in baby making. Sometime's a girl's just gotta drink, ya know?

So. Home by 9:40 (ah, I love a pub in close proximity) and in bed around midnight. Just to wake up early-ish again to go to that funeral I mentioned.

Yeah, not a fun way to spend a Sunday, but it was something I most certainly needed to do. Someone I worked closely with in a client-type relationship passed away last week, and even though it wasn't necessarily expected of me to go (professionally speaking), there was no way I was missing it.

This individual was one of the kindest, most unassuming, gentle and generous people I've ever had the pleasure to work with. He was one of my favourites, and he's gone all too soon. I got to know his family and his friends over the years, and was honoured to sit amongst them and hear stories told of this wonderful man. Many tears were shed, and when one of his closest friends hugged me tightly and thanked me for coming, I knew the early morning wake up and cross GTA trek was more than worth it. You'll be missed Al - you'll be missed.

On my way home I spotted a Starbucks and headed in for my caffeine fix. As I didn't know how long it would take me to get to the funeral home and I most certainly didn't want to be late, I didn't press my luck and stop for coffee at our local Tim's. So by the time the service was over, I was in major caffeine withdrawl.

Once my grande non-fat sugar free vanilla latte had been safely procured, it seemed my senses were heightened and I became acutely aware of my surroundings. Including the clothing store I like to frequent and the Shoe Company.

Yeesh.

The last thing I needed was to spend money. But I did need new shoes. And a fall trench coat. So while I was in the neighbourhood, I decided to check in and see what they had.

I didn't find a trench coat, but I did get a new top, a pair of pants, a comfy nightie, and some sexy underwears. You know those boy cut panties? Yeah, I like them a lot and Hubs is quite a fan, so a nice pink and green pair came home with me. Fortunately I had a gift certificate from my sister/mother in law so that took a lot of the sting out of the purchases.

Great - now when Hubs' sister reads this, she's gonna know I spent part of her money on undies. There's a mental image she probably didn't need!

I also managed to score two great pairs of shoes, two bottles from the new OPI Russian collection - Siberian Nights, which I'm wearing right now, and An Affair in Red Square - pick my pants up at the dry cleaners, and get Hubs some pop.

When I got home, Hubs was already in the process of completing the most dreaded task on this afternoon's to do list - putting down the black earth all over our aerated lawn. What a wonderful guy. He did it because he knew how much I didn't want to do it. Gotta love him.

That task completed, we decorated the outside of the house for Halloween, then it was relaxation time. He watched one of the Star Wars flicks, I played around on the computer and we both ate apple pie.

Just another weekend in the suburbs. Hope you had a great one too!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Puking sucks

Yeah, today wasn't the best day. I woke up feeling like complete ass and spent most of the early morning utilizing multiple facets of our ensuite bath.

Not a good way to start a Tuesday.

As much as I didn't want to (things to do, people to see) I called in sick - well, Hubs called for me, truth be told - and I went back to bed. And I didn't move, at all. For fear of more puking. Blech.

What made matters worse is that as I was washing my hands in the still dark early morning that is my commuter hell wake up time, I didn't realize that our regular fragrance free soap, found in our Jonathan Adler light blue soap dispenser, had secretly been replaced by a passionfruit and something scented soap from Bath and Body Works.

Ever notice how, when you're already feeling really gross, a strong smell can just push you over the edge? Yeah. I did. Fabu. I have now glimpsed what morning sickness looks, smells and tastes like. And she ain't pretty. Ah, so much to look forward to if this pregnancy thing ever works out for us.

So despite being at home sick, I still managed to respond to well over 25 emails and participate in two conference calls. Working in my pj's ain't too bad! Even though I technically didn't have to be working. Oh well - at least I got to get stuff done in my jammies while eating toast and drinking tea. By the time the calls rolled around I was feeling a bit better. I could at least move around, which was an improvement from those waking hours.

Got caught up on some tv that I'd pvr'd. Still lots left to watch, but progress is progress, yes?

The rest of the day passed with little of interest happening. The stomach flips came and went, but generally speaking and barring anything unforeseen, I'll be back on that GO train first thing in the morning. Hands smelling of passionfruit and all.

Before I forget, I did promise to tell you the fire department story. You WB gals may have seen this already, so bare with me if this is all old news.

So I have this completely irrational love of firemen. Can't explain it, never have been able to, but here we are.

Saturday night after our big Thanksgiving dinner we were sitting around and our carbon monoxide detector went off. Even though I didn't want to, Hubs called 911 and they dispatched the fire department to check it out. (Note - as much as I thought it didn't warrant a 911 call, we were told when we called and by the firemen that came that it is important to get them to come and do a reading right away - I felt better after that. I hate the thought of wasting emergency personnel's time!)

So the truck shows up to our house and three firemen bounce out. Not in the boots and gear and stuff, but in uniforms...the kind that make you glance at their hands for the ghetto blaster .

One of the guys was older, shorter and won't grace any firefighter calendar in a community near you. Totally nice guy, but no beefcake.

Then there were the other two...

Oh

Mi

Gawd.

Poor Hubs. He knows of my weakness, and as much as I was trying desperately to keep myself composed and contained, all he had to do was look at me to know I was ga ga for these two beautiful men in uniform. What's worse - the CO detector is just outside of our bedroom, so for all intents and purposes, there were bona fide hot firemen this close from my bed.

What is it about firemen that makes us ladies weak in the knees? I can't ever put my finger on it...any insight?

I think the biggest lessons learned from this experience are a) call the fire department if your CO detector goes off, b) CO detectors have an average 5 year life span before they go caput (which is what happened with ours - no CO in the house, everything was just fine) and c) Hubs will be making his way to a costume shop in the very near future to pick himself up a firefighter's uniform.

I'll take trick over treat any day this Hallowe'en!

So there you go. Details of my pukey day and a little firefighter story to try to get the pukiness out of your head.

Guess putting the pukey word in the previous sentence not once but twice negates all that firefighter story's good work. For shame.

I'll try to do better tomorrow.

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Don't know about you, but I'm all turkeyed out

Okay, okay. Yes, it's been a week since my last post, but you have no flipping idea how insane this week has been!

As I'm sure you all have read in an earlier post, we were hosting Thanksgiving with my family at my house on Saturday. And my stepsister and her family were staying here overnight. Which meant that all the little things we'd wanted to do to the house all of the sudden had to get done within the span of a week or two, 'cause company was coming and we needed the place to be purdy.

Hence not being around to post for an entire week! We'd get home from work, shop for what we needed, clean/install/paint/touch up/hang/ - and then we'd drop. Exhausted. But only after we'd made the list of what had to be bought/cleaned/installed/painted/touched up/hung the next day.

Insanity. We changed even more doorknobs, got rid of all those pesky roller marks you make on the ceiling when you're painting a room while you're tired, got rid of all the leftover orange paint on the window sills and sides in the spare room, bought and assembled a table for the tv in the guest room...you name it, we did it. Oh yeah - and we also had to finish the job that Molly Maid didn't quite complete.

Yep, that's right. We actually bit the bullet and hired them to come in and clean our home once a month. The cleaning they did quite well, but the dusting of the place left a lot to be desired. I'm following up with them tomorrow and I'm confident they'll make it right - I'm not here to bash them or anything, just telling it like it is. So Hubs and I were running all over the house with Swiffer cloths, madly trying to determine what had and hadn't been done and making up for it.

The worst? Our flipping blinds. The house came with fantastic white California shutters on every window in the house. Every one. And those little bastards get unbelievably dusty. Not cool, especially when your soon-to-be-arriving houseguests have serious allergy issues. Nope, not cool.

So yeah, it was a crazy week, and I have to say - dinner went off really well, food was great, and man oh man am I happy it's over. It was a lot of work for about 30 minutes of eating time.

I had a bit of fun setting the table though. We were 13 in total, and since my three year old nephew didn't really need a formal placesetting, we were able to use my great-grandmother's china. First time since I inherited it years ago.

I's all growed up now!

I found a decent table cloth and used some fake gourds I found at Homesense to make placecards. Yep, I done Martha'ed the place up good!! You can't see the design on the plates too well, but still...just assume that they're gorgeous. As they well are.


And of course I had to find the perfect centrepiece - that balance of pretty and abundant without taking up too much of the valuable table real estate. Those mashed potatoes have to go somewhere! I managed to find a nice candle and holder, again from Homesense, then placed another ring of berries around it. Wanna see? Of course you do! I'll indulge that curiosity.


I know, I know. I like it too. It still sits on our dining room table, even though Thanksgiving dinner is all over but the leftovers.

Speaking of which, I don't know how much more turkey one human being can ingest. Seriously. If you are what you eat, then gobble gobble baby, 'cause I'm full stuffed up. Stick a fork in me - I'm done! Well, except maybe for the turkey sandwich I'll have for lunch tomorrow.

So that's pretty much a rundown of why I've been absent and what I've been up to. I'm looking forward to a slightly less hectic week to come, and even more importantly - the weekend! Have a few things planned thus far, but more than anything, I've just come to love weekends so damned much that I'll take whatever comes our way!

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend and aren't too bummed about heading back to the office tomorrow. Just think - Monday's already over and you're one day closer to Friday! Woot woot!

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about our adventures with the fire department...

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

Heloooooooo October

Wow. October already. Hard to believe! Especially with this beautiful weather we're having - I love watching the trees turn in 22 degree weather!

Here's hoping October turns out a bit better than September was. Spent the last two days doing stuff around the house and going to the clinic. Yeah, that's fun. So much for my sleeping in! I went to my appointment at 8am on Saturday and you can imagine my chagrin when they called me back that afternoon and told me to return for blood work on Sunday. Bah! I was not pleased, not pleased at all! One sleep in, is that too much to ask for? I thought not, but alas. 'Twas not to be.

And to make matters worse, it was all for nothing, just like I thought it would be. In some respects it was good - at least I followed it through and there were no doubts that this cycle was a bust. There's something positive in that. But what a shitty way to have to prove myself right. Blech.

We got lots done around the house this weekend, though. All in preparation for the Thanksgiving feast to come here on Saturday. My stepsister and her family will be staying with us and it's the first time they've been to the house, so we're kickin the prep into high gear! We've replaced four doorknobs, changed the deadbolt on the garage door, replaced the front door lock with one of those keypad thingies, changed the handle on the front door, fixed the trim in the staircase, then we painted the front door and the garage door. Man, I'm tired just typing it all out!

Funny, even with all that accomplished, there's still a hell of a lot on our to do list before Thursday rolls around. So much that I had to cancel tomorrow's Tuesday Night Distraction Club to get everything done. The sacrifices we make to impress!

At least I don't have to worry about cleaning the place. No, Hubs and I finally wised up and hired Molly Maid to do the work for us. I hate the deep cleaning, so I consider every penny of it money well spent. And hey, I'm supporting the local economy. Yeah, that's it!! So they're coming on Wednesday and will ensure we have a spotless home before the hordes arrive.

In other news, I finally got the prescription I need to move forward and try to get another cycle underway. That's another thing the clinic messed up - getting the flippin prescription right. Wrong dosage for the wrong number of days - and they didn't even put my name on the stupid thing! Argh...what a nightmare. So the pharmacy calls them and asks for clarification, and since there was no doctor around they said I could start it tomorrow after they called back with doctor's orders. No big deal.

No big deal to them maybe, but to me, every day counts! Especially since I could have started this medication on Friday after we knew everything wasn't looking right on Thursday. But no, now I'm three days behind where I could have been. And that sucks.

At least I have the meds now and can finally get back on track. Here's hoping it doesn't take too long to kick in.

I'm pretty darned tired now, so I think I'll sign off and head up to bed with Hubs. We had a busy night tonight too - installed two new outdoor light fixtures and yet another doorknob. Wild life indeed. Hope your Monday was equally exciting. If October continues the way it began, watch out world! This thrill-a-minute pace is dizzying!!!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?