Moving Boxes

Greetings from the other side of 35.

Yeesh.

Yes, it's official. I can no longer, in good conscience, put a check beside the 25-34 box on the most basic of demographic surveys.

Boo-urns.

I didn't even have much of a reprieve from my first earth shattering box click either. Hubs, bless his wonderful soul, got me the pink iPod nano I'd had my eye on for months. I was soooo excited - I'd dreamed of finally getting back into iPod land for eons, but given everything else going on, dropping the cash for a luxury item wasn't in the cards.

And then came my birthday!

So yes, I open the package and there she was, all pink and shiny. Beautiful! I immediately rush to my laptop, plug her in, and begin the synch-ing process. At which point Apple asks me to register my iPod. I of course agree, and am subsequently confronted with the first kick in my old pants - Apple wants to know how old I am.

And there it is. I hover over the 35-44 box and, grudgingly, click.

It's 11:32 am. And so it begins, nary a few waking hours into my day of birth.

What a wonderful weekend though.

Hubs made a totally yummy breakfast of waffles, homemade homefries, scrambled eggs and maple bacon. My good friend L stayed over the night before 'cause we were celebrating Kristine's birthday, and the festivities continued!

Then I got to play with my iPod, received a few phone calls from family and friends, and just lazed around in my pj's for a few hours. Then it was off to Nat's a for a pre-pub pool party!

We actually had decent weather, so it was a real treat to feel the sun on my (now aged) skin.

After a nice soak and some delish appies (Nat does know how to buy some mean finger foods) we returned home for a quick change, then it was off for all you can eat sushi. Which I actually do adore, despite my deep dislike for anything that swims. Good thing there's more to Japanese food than just fish!

Totally stuffed, we caravaned down to the Irish pub for the final round of the evening's festivities. I was delighted to have a wonderful turnout, friends from all different circles and phases of life. Everyone was so generous and kind - for an exceedingly non-religious person, the best word I can think of to describe the feeling of that day was blessed.

Blessed to have a wonderful husband who went out of his way time after time to make sure I had a fantastic day. Blessed to have friends who hosted parties, travelled to the 'burbs from downtown, gave up a Saturday night in the summer to come to celebrate with me. Blessed that those same friends, even though I told them not to, spoiled me rotten with so many gift cards that I can't close my wallet, and other gifts that required both Hubs' and my arms to get them to the car. Blessed that Hubs' mom and sister made the trek to party with us - I truly am so fortunate in the in law department.

Yep - plain ole blessed. And it was an incredible feeling.

I delight in being overwhelmed by the kindness of the people in my life. The friends that I have made, be they long suffering (aka since high school) or relatively new to my fray, and my crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-and-chewy-on-the-inside husband who'd do pretty much anything to make me happy.

How much luckier can a gal get?

Kinda makes moving boxes seem like a pretty petty thing after all.

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

A matter of taste

Scads of apologies for my absence. But this time I have an excuse, really!

I've been sick.

Yes, sick. Argh. Stupid summer. And I'd managed to go sooooo long too! Not since March had I experienced the mucous madness...and alas, here we are again.

Not sure if it was my boss that passed along the yuckies or if I snagged them off some public transit railing. Regardless, last week I got sick. Knock you on your ass sick.

Before I could say echinacea, it felt like I was swallowing razor blades. Quite the auspicious beginning. Blessed me.

The next day I was a huge diva bag of poo. Felt awful. Came home from work early and just crashed on the couch. Snotty mess. Wicked headache. Terrible fatigue.

Blech.

Friday I woke up and there was no. way. on. earth. I was leaving my house to go to work. I somehow managed to pull myself together and Hubs shuttled me over to the walk-in clinic for some medical attention as colds never just stay colds with me.

The verdict? Bronchitis and an ear infection.

Lovely.

The doctor whipped out her prescription pad and within seconds I had the ticket to feeling better in my hot little hands. Ten days of biaxin. Good times, good times.

Not sure if you've ever taken biaxin, but it's one of those annoying drugs. It works fantastically well - you start to feel better incredibly quickly - but you must contest with a nasty side effect.

The worst freaking taste in your mouth. For ten salivatingly long days. Every morning I wake up, and it hits me like a tidal wave of disgusting. Nice way to start the day.

For the first few days, it wasn't even that big a deal. The difference from how I felt Friday to Saturday was nothing short of transformational. Friday I simply laid about and moaned a lot....Saturday I was up and about, making a cheesecake for celtic_kitten's birthday fete later that afternoon.

God bless thee, Alexander Fleming.

Now yes, I was feeling better, but still not fantastic. I did decide to go to that afternoon's pool party because a) it was super close by, b) I thought the nice fresh air would do me some good, c) I felt I was being good by electing not to go in the pool, and d) I just darned well felt like being there. So I went, had a lovely time, enjoyed simply sitting outside on a summer day.

Somedays it's important to just be.

My biggest fear of the day was not how I was going to feel, it was how my cheesecake was going to turn out. I'd used a brand new recipe as I know she's partial to the New York style cheesecake. And then the panic set in.

What if the recipe didn't turn out? What if I was about to serve everyone a slice of eek on a plate!? I mean yeah, it'd be eek topped with your choice of cherry or fresh strawberry topping, but eek nonetheless! And lets face it, no one wants to mow down on eek in the middle of a sunny afternoon.

So we all sit down, have a lovely dinner, and the cheesecake is served. I take my first bite....

...and I can't taste a thing.

I'm so stuffed up that I register no taste, none whatsoever. I look around me and see smiling happy cheesecake faces, but these are all such nice people that there's no way in hell they'd ever tell me if it was crap, ya know? Celtic_kitten had a delighted grin which reassured me somewhat, but I was not going to know for sure until I had cleared up enough to taste it for myself.

Fortunately there were two pieces left over, and the next day I got my taste. It was worth the wait, in my most humble of opinions. This is one recipe that will make its way into permanent rotation.

Oh yeah...Hubs liked it too.

Sunday I awoke feeling pretty much the same, but there was work to be done - it was off to Brampton to explore the sight of my sister in laws' forthcoming nuptuals. We spent the afternoon discussing all sorts of wedding minutia and by 6 I was spent. Home to bed we went.

I'm still feeling rather nasty. The worst part now is the coughing that keeps me up at night. I have to sleep sitting up, four pillows stacked behind me. Humph. All I want is a good night's sleep - is that too much to ask? I mean really!?

Alas. Only a day and a half more to get through this week, then I'm off Thursday afternoon and Friday. I plan on enjoying my final few days as a 34 year old in style - out for lunch with friends, the EX with Hubs, and a spa morning with my fabulous sister in law.

Doesn't sound too bad, does it? Now if only I can get back to my somewhat healthy diva self, I'll be delighted! 'Cause I don't want to miss a mouthful of my Japanese with the girls or the spa lunch on Friday!

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

I'm sprouting fungus

Hi. It's August, right? Summer?

And I live in Ontario, right? Not the freakin Costa Rican rain forest?

What is with this weather?

Seriously. (That's my fave word lately. Seriously.)

I truly feel as though I am sprouting fungus. Spawning 'shrooms. This is nothing short of ridiculous.

Spring and summer are supposed to be my reward for making it through winter alive. I'm not a fan of winter, as I'm sure you're well aware, and this past icy season was particularly heinous.

So you can imagine (and in fact likely shared in) my delight when April sprung to life with gorgeous warm temps. Positively balmy. Away went the coats, out came the sunscreen.

What a tease.

The rest of the spring/summer has been abject crap.

I can't remember a rainier summer. It's rained something like 45 of the last 70 days in my little corner of the world. WTF?

Hell, if I wanted weather like that, I'd move to BC. At least I'd have pretty mountains to look at.

Tonight was a doozy, that's for sure. Massive fork lightning and house shaking thunder. We've had all kinds of storms this summer but this time the thunder was so close I felt the shudder all the way down in my pancreas.

Seriously.

Hell, a few weeks ago Nat and I had to go to the flower place (also known to many as the nursery but I'm not the biggest fan of that word these days given our circumstances) because I needed new hanging baskets. Thanks to all the rain, my pretty yellow pansies had actually started growing mold.

Never in mine almost 35 years have I ever seen anything like it.

At least the weeds are thriving. I'm pretty sure that if I spent enough time in my backyard I'd discover a never-before-seen tribe of pygmies or something. Lord knows there's enough foliage of every variety back there for them to thrive in.

My backyard depresses the hell outta me. I call it ghetto fabulous. Without the fabulous.

Thank goodness no one can see it. Except my neighbours if they look down from their bedroom windows. But I've got the goods on them, so they can't say too much. And it's not like my backyard is affecting their curb appeal....I could say plenty a word about their patch of weeds, dirt, and the strangest little pansie weeds that have taken over their entire lawn.

Dirt, lawns, weeds and fungi aside, I just want to see the sun, ya know?

I mean, this morning started off rather well. Cool, but at least the sun was out. I saw that heretofore painfully shy blue sky that I crave so desperately, and for a moment, all was good.

Fast forward to the trip home and the heavens open just in time for me to disembark from the GO train.

I love the smell of wet diva in the afternoon.

Seems to have stopped now for the time being. The odd flash of light still streaks the night sky, but it's noticeably further away now.

Any bets on how long this latest respite shall last?

Meh. Guess I'll just put that umbrella back in my purse.

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

Back to work I go.

Yep. Mini break over.

Five and a half long days away from all things work has been surprisingly wonderful.

We went to my sister's new place in Waterloo over the weekend and had a great time. Pool was more hot tub than pool, and we all swam until we pruned up something fierce. Then we drank, and ate, and celebrated my brother in law's 50th birthday. We hit the St Jacob's Market, procured some very yummy fudge and jam, and all in all had a fantastic time away from home.

A much appreciated diversion from all the things we should have been doing this weekend had we not been cancelled just a week ago. But I digress.

We returned home late Sunday and I was delighted to have three more days of precisely nothing to do ahead of me.

You'll be happy to know that Hubs and I found a plethora of wee tasks to keep us busy. First on the list was a trip to Canadian Tire on Monday to finally, FINALLY! procure the coveted chandelier for our master bathroom that I'd blogged about all those months ago.

Thanks to a birthday cheque from my mom kindly dated for now as opposed to the birthday proper (later this month), I was delighted to throw caution to the wind and secure my shiny new fixture. A few hours of swearing (on Hubs' and my part) and manicure destruction (all mine) from trying to get all the danged crystals into place, she was finally all assembled in her new home.

First, a reminder of what we were working with below. Big globe-y blobness.


And here she is, in all her ensuite glory! Unlit by day....



And lit by night! Pretttttty. She throws some great light, nice and warm without being overpowering. Much better than the before, I'm sure you'd agree!


Thanks for all your assistance in helping me find the perfect new addition! Now for your next challenge...the fixture above the massive mirror. Same bathroom, same colour scheme, all that jazz....but sweet jeebus we need something more stylish to replace this nastiness!

As always, any and all suggestions will be warmly welcomed! Thanks in advance.


As for the rest of my time off, I finally took the plunge and spent a bit more of that birthday money on some new clothes. It had been ages since I'd shopped for myself so it was a real treat. I managed to get some shop-tastic end of season (sigh - since when is now the end of the summer season?) bargoons, including a dress that I luuuuurve to wear to my sister in law's wedding at the beginning of September. Excellent trip, all things considered.

Tuesday we slept in a bit, then embarked on a trip to Costco and Chapters. I'd decided that my sister wasn't reading her copy of Breaking Dawn, the one she was going to lend to me, fast enough for my liking, so I needed my own. Got home around 3 and I started reading. Hubs went off to play his silly boy games, leaving me home alone with my book. In about seven hours, I made dinner, cleaned out our entire pantry, and read that book from cover to cover.

All 754 pages of it.

Perhaps needless to say, today was a non-reading day for me. My eyes needed the break!

After a super yummy breakfast of french toast and maple bacon (have I waxed poetic about the virtues of maple bacon yet? OMG - best stuff on the planet, I swear it) we finally got our acts in gear and took in a matinee of The Dark Knight.

I hadn't really been all that interested, but Hubs went last week and loved it, so I decided to bite the bullet. But before we did, we popped in Batman Begins (which neither of us had seen) as a prep course for what was to come.

All in all I liked the movie. Good action, lots of drama, and lots of talking from Gramps and his hippie grandkid sitting behind us.

Someday, as gawd is my witness, I'll be able to go to a movie and not hear the cacophony of stupid people talking as I try to watch a flick I paid some serious money for. If you want to talk, rent the fucking movie and stay home. Makes me truly mental.

And here we are, back at home again. DeeDee's with us tonight. We had a great dinner, watched the Hannah Montana/Miley Cirus Best of Both Worlds in 3D concert thingie that DeeDee had PVR'd a few weeks ago, and now we're all watching Back to the Future.

My very PG13 Wednesday night.

Shortly it'll be off to bed, then back up and on the GO train in to work. I suppose I really can't complain too much. A two day workweek AND new clothes to wear? Why, that's a diva's dream come true!

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