Cannibalism is alive and well

Well...not literally. I don't think, anyway. Then again what do I know about people's disgusting predilections?

No, I'm not talking about literally eating one another...I'm talking emotional cannibalism.

It's been quite a day in my little online world. There's nothing to be gained by delving into the actual subject matter that was discussed, but suffice it to say there were two camps...mine and the other one.

:) If only life were that simple.

But it's true - one camp firmly believed x while the other, the viewpoint I also maintain, feels totally differently. And since the issue at hand was emotionally charged, hot sweet hell did it get nasty fast.

Removing my personal thoughts from the situation, it was fascinating to stand back and watch what was happening as the proverbial fur flew. I think it's something that only women can truly do to one another - we don't punch with fists, but we can deliver a verbal bitch slap that'll drop you to your knees without too much provocation. And that's when said cannibalism sets in...we just start devouring one another.

Okay, I realize that I'm making this all sound so very melodramatic, but whether you know the particulars I'm referring to or not, I'm sure you can think back to some interaction you've had with girls/gals/women at some point in your life that has followed a similar trajectory. All is rosy, everyone sees eye to eye, then things start to slip and before you know it you're walking down the street snapping your fingers alongside your fellow Jet or Shark.

Happened to me a lot in grade school. And high school. Woooo eeeee! I remember one time Kim heard I said something about Lara (who I shared a locker with) even though I didn't, so she and Tammy and Lara ripped up all the cool stuff I had up in my (our) locker and decided that they didn't want to be friends anymore. We went from bff's to mortal enemies within milliseconds, and I was left standing there, mouth gaping, surveying the damage - both literally and figuratively.

Why is it we as women do this to one another? Is it simply an extension of our emotions, letting our passion about one topic/person/issue get the best of us? 'Cause correct me if I'm wrong, but guys don't really do this kinda thing. Their punch is of the fist-y kind...it's why there are wars and armies and all that stuff. If women ran the world, there'd likely be a lot less combat - but a lot more seriously worded emails.

It's amazing how these kinds of rifts can both damage and build relationships. There's power in sharing viewpoints - knowing that someone else gets you, shares your thoughts and feelings, has your back. And there's the potential for great destruction when things go off the rails. All of the sudden, people you THOUGHT you knew, women you never expected in a million years to turn on you with such vitriol, do just that. Sad. Sad indeed. I know I'm not alone in experiencing this kinda stuff....I'd be sincerely interested in any insight you might wish to share on the topic.

The final fascinating aspect of these girl squabbles (in my most humble of opinions, that is) is the gal pal equivalent of make up sex. It's watching what happens when someone says enough - the dust settles, and everyone starts to feel a bit sheepish about things they may have said or done in anger or out of frustration.

If we're lucky, apologies follow. Someone grows a set of fem-balls and steps up. Takes responsibility for letting emotions get the best of them. Sorry for chewing your cheek off.

And if we're luckier still, the people apologizing are the ones that actually did or said something worth apologizing for.

For the record, if you're reading this and you were involved in today's skirmish, please don't take offense to this entry, regardless of what side you may have been on. I find the entire process fascinating and if it wasn't today's back and forth that provoked this entry, it would have come another day when inspired by another issue, of that I can be sure.

Because I don't think this dynamic is on its way out anytime soon. Maybe it's ingrained in our DNA. Maybe it's part of our social programming. But you and I both know that as long as we women feel passionate about an issue that has more than one viewpoint, there's gonna be a figurative body count.

Hmmm..... so that's my biting (hahahaha - get it? cannibalism? biting?) social commentary for the day.

I'll do my best to get back to something light and fluffy tomorrow, once I've had some sleep and a nice warm bath.

Ah, the simple girlie pleasures...

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

Laundry list of items to be covered - get ready!

Dag.

This'll teach me not to go so long without posting.

Sigh.

So much to tell you, so much promised! I figured the best way to do it was to simply follow my trusty list format, so bare with me as you get pinballed around this post. And I may make even less sense than normal thanks to the fact that Hubs is having karaoke hour around his computer. Yep, he opened up his iTunes and is rocking out. A few minutes ago it was a string of Journey songs and we ended up dancing to Open Arms in our dining room (I recorded that song for him and played it as one of our dances at the wedding). That alone is enough to distract me.

And now he's switched to Metallica. Full voice. Giv'er buddy. You're soooo bad ass (one of our jokes - he told a friend once something was 'bad ass' and I nearly doubled over in hysterics. He's so not the bad ass type).

Anyway, without further ado, here's a list of things I either promised to tell you about or I have since decided is worth blogging about. Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then we'll begin.

Puzzles - I'm reverting to my childhood. Either that, or I'm fast forwarding through middle age and have arrived safely in my golden years. Yes, I'm talking about jigsaw puzzles. We used to do them a lot as a family when I was younger, and something triggered that memory and I mentioned to Hubs that I wanted to do a puzzle again.

My lovely husband listens to these and other cues so well. So what did I find in my stocking? A 1000 piece puzzle with lots of pink in it.

Lots of pink. And purple. And pretty much nothing else. Yes, my husband bought me one of the most challenging puzzles I've ever tackled in my life.

Not exactly the most stress-free re-entry into puzzledom. So I took manners into my own hands and procured some new ones. Both 1000 pieces still, but with more discernible features. Like more than purple mountains/sky and pink flowers. Sheesh.

My addictive personality took over and I became rooted to my chair for hours on end. I got the first one done in a day and a half. The second one was a smidge more challenging, and as we were having company for New Year's Eve, had to be dismantled and removed from our dining room table before its completion.

What a great excuse to put it away. I was not so secretly relieved. :)

I've just bought a new one and have begun the sorting process. So if you're up at 3am call me - you won't wake me. I'll be puzzling.

The Hills - speaking of addictive personalities...I'd never watched this show before. I'd heard about it, but knew that as with all shows I haven't seen since its inception, you must start at the beginning if you want to understand the present. My great friend wannabefrenchie was over for NYE and she and Taco started talking a bit about it.

Shocked and chagrined that I'd never watched it (their reaction) wannabefrenchie advised me that seasons one and two were available via Rogers on Demand for free. Season three could be viewed on mtv.ca. It was all there, ripe for the picking.

So I'm sure you can guess where my past few days have gone. Yes, that's right, I watched all 40 episodes to date in a day and a half. Now before you wonder about my sanity fret not - each episode is only about 20 minutes long, so I can bang through three in an hour. So I basically pissed away 13 and a bit hours over two days getting caught up on the drama that is the life of Lauren, Heidi, Spencer, Brody, Audrina, Whitney, and all those other tertiary characters that show up every once in a while.

I won't bore the non watchers with an in depth (as deep as you can get with these girls) analysis of the show and my thoughts on the whole Heidi/Spencer thing, but just know that if you ever want to chat about The Hills, I'm soooooo your gal.

Fabulous Presents (and photographic renditions) - a few days ago, someone asked me about the presents I received for Christmas, and mused aloud as to whether I received anything pink or any bling. My answer then, as now - but of course!

I managed to snap some photos for your viewing pleasure, so in no particular order here are a few of the wonderful gifts my thoughtful friends and family elected to give me this year:

This beauty is a gift from Hubs. When asked what I wanted, I mentioned that a ring with some purple bling would be great. Nothing too fancy, but I do wear a good deal of purple so it would be nice to have a ring that matches. Of course the guy goes and buys me this amethyst in white gold. Have I mentioned how spoiled I am? It needed to be sized, but should be ready by mid-Feb.

And while we're on the subject of rings, I totally dig this new pink bling ring given to my by my sister. Beautiful! On my left hand for illustration purposes only - it's hard to take a picture with your left hand! So I just didn't. And I couldn't find a picture of it on any website, so you're stuck with my massive paws to show it off.









Carrying on with our pink theme, this beautiful baby is the cashmere throw I referenced in yesterday's post. Seriously, how beautiful is she? All fringed out and ready to keep me warm. I love, love, love her! Can't wait to put her to good use!



















STILL continuing with the pink theme is my gift from the lovely CJ. I lurve Aqualina Pink Sugar perfume, so imagine my delight when I opened this incredible gift pack. And I was just running out, too! Impeccable timing and taste. How divine.

















And now for something completely different:

I tried on this very pretty top as an option for Hubs' Christmas party, but decided I needed something a bit more festive. I loved it nonetheless, so Hubs insisted on buying it for me. Being able to wear it makes going back to work next week bearable!

I just love the pattern and the tie behind the back. I actually have a waist, so it's nice to be able to feature it every once in a while instead of hiding behind some box-ily constructed garment.




In addition to everything you see here, I was very fortunate to also receive two pairs of boots, an incredible artist's reproduction of a photo of Hubs and I (amazing), 600 thread count sheets (heaven!) and a homemade scarf and hat from Hubs' mom, all of the colours I mentioned ages ago on this very blog from the OPI Hollywood collection lovingly procured by my fabu sister-in-law, gift cards for clothes and Sephora, comfy pjs, calendars, a Wii game, Scrabble, Connect 4...

I'll stop now, 'cause the more I write the more I realized just how truly spoiled/fortunate I am.


New Year's Eve - in an effort to become more fiscally responsible, Hubs and I cancelled our reservations at a Niagara on the Lake swanky hotel and decided to host a few people here at our house. DeeDee was still with us, so our party options were always bound to be a bit more subdued.

So we hit M&M Meats, bought the party favours, and had Taco and his wife (and their puppy Charlie) and wannabefrenchie out for the night. We chatted, ate (we were sure to make our own veggie dip this time), drank, played some Wii, and counted down at midnight. Shortly thereafter my sister and her family dropped by to say hello. My poor nephew was desperately trying to remain civil at 12:30 in the morning.

He's three. Trying only gets you so far.

We did get to show off my new niece to the gang, though. And just 'cause I'm such a proud (yet fiercely jealous) auntie, here's a pic that I snapped of her that night in her martian hat.

I mean seriously. How fucking cute is she? No wonder I want one of these little things so badly...

So there's my rundown on some key happenings of the past little while. I'd write even more, but this post has been a serious pain in the butt to put together, so I'm spent! To be fair, I also spent the day shopping at Yorkdale with my 20 year old sister who heads back to BC tomorrow for school.

No matter how you slice it, her 20 will always have more energy than my 34.

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

Back by popular demand

Well, well, well. You missed me - you really missed me! How cute. I'm touched, I truly am!

It's always so exciting to get those emails letting me know there's a new comment on my wee bloggie. I will admit my pulse races a bit faster when I see it's from Anonymous ('cause sometimes she's right mean to me) but of course I realize that not each and every one of you is going to create an entire account just to leave a word or two behind for me. But the stress never fully leaves until I've had a chance to read the entire comment and either breathe a sigh of relief or start huffing and puffing and drafting my nasty retort. Thankfully the need for the latter has been rare as of late. Phew!

Okay. A few things. First, since I know you're all waiting on pins and needles, yes...the calendars did arrive. What drama.

Hubs called me late on the afternoon of the 21st - the last day of work for me - and told me a package had just come to the house.

I was stunned. Speechless. Yes, it does happen. 'Cause it happened that day! Once I got home I took a look at the stupid thing, completely in awe of how it could have possibly made it from Texas to Ontario OVERNIGHT! (Remember order number three was shipped to me on Thursday with the hope of making it to me Christmas Eve). But no - this was order number two. My Suburbia, NY address had been crossed out and Suburbia, ON was penciled in.

Hmmm...thought I asked them if they could do that and they told me it was impossible....

But no mind, no complaints here. The danged calendars arrived, the recipients loved them, and all was right with the world. A true Christmas miracle indeed.

Now I'll be interested to see if the original shipment ever arrived at my office...'cause it looks like the third package finally arrived here at my house. Yep, a neighbour dropped off a failed delivery notice from Canada Post, one of those door knocker things, that she'd found in HER mailbox. My name, my address...her mailbox. And we have those pesky Superbox things, so it's like our lovely postie didn't even try to put it on my door - just stuck it in my poor neighbours box and went home to drink some more.

Let's all take a moment to applaud Canada Post, shall we?

Especially our carrier. We only get mail every few days and lately, we haven't been getting our bills, bills that we KNOW (unfortunately) are coming. In the past two days we've received two bills saying we didn't pay last month...we never saw a freaking bill! If that's one thing I'm religious about it's making sure bills get paid on time. I've played the bad credit board game and I have no interest in opening up that box ever again, ya know? Sheesh!

Methinks a well phrased telephone call to customer service is on my horizon....

But enough about Canada Post and the calendars. Lemme tell you what else is exciting. This is the one year anniversary of my blog! Agog!

Can you believe it? Looking back it's hard to believe it's been a year since I set up my little venting forum and sucked you all into my cyber vortex. Although I will admit that I haven't been all that good at the whole 'daily dash' thing as I'd intended to be. Let's see, one year today, and this is only post number 180. I was told there would be no math, but anyone with a preschool brain knows that a full year has more than 180 days. Bad diva.

I considered dropping the tagline but it's kind become a part of the deal, no? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as to whether or not it's important to keep the reference to the daily dash, or if my ending question alone will suffice. Do tell, do tell.

Let's see, what else....

Oh yeah, the holidays! Silly diva. I've taken down all the Christmas decorations, so it's like the entire thing was a blip on the radar. Insanity I tell you.

So...finished on the 21st at noon, headed down to my Ministry of Health to finally get my health card changed over to my married name. I figured it was about time, and seeing as the health card was the last public acknowledgment of my maiden name, I will admit it was a bit strange to see it go. But it also made me feel that much more complete as Diva S, you know? Like the final piece of the puzzle had been snapped into place (more on puzzles and my new addiction to The Hills tomorrow if I remember) or the circle was finally complete. Ahhhhh...

The first weekend was spent shopping, cleaning and baking in preparation for the arrival of my sister's family. Great people, and we were really looking forward to having them. They showed up Sunday afternoon, and we had a great time catching up, hanging out, and just dishing the proverbial dirt.

Monday was not only Christmas Eve, but my poor now 11 year old nephew's birthday. We always make sure to have a separate birthday celebration so he doesn't feel shortchanged, and Monday was no exception.

I spent the morning in the kitchen making sugar cookies. You see, I was attempting to channel my inner domestic diva, and thought I would bake and decorate individual sugar cookies to use as placeholders at our Christmas Eve dinner table since we were hosting. My sister and her fam went to do some last minute shopping, Hubs went all the way across town to pick up DeeDee for the holidays, so I had the place to myself.

The tunes were blaring, I was still in my pj's and it took for-freakin-ever, but my tiny masterpieces were finally done as everyone arrived home. I was feeling kinda crappy since I hadn't really eaten much that morning, so when my sister got home with all sorts of small plattery things from the grocery store, I decided it would be best for me and my blood sugar to devour the vegetables and not the sweet stuff.

So I feasted like a maniac on the veggies and dip, then headed upstairs for a much needed shower in preparation for the arrival of the clan.

An hour or two later I wasn't feeling 'on' so I had some scrambled eggs and toast with peanut butter. I figured I just needed some protein and that would help straighten me out.

Excellent idea in theory, but it just fueled the fire that was raging within.

The family showed up, we were chatting, my sister hands me the baby, and three minutes later I hand it over to my other sister. Suddenly, I'm not feeling well. At all.

Lemme just say, I haven't puked in years. It's not something I'm completely unaccustomed to - I did my fair of post-drinking-4-am-chinese-food-recycling - but man...it's been a while. I may catch every mucus inducing virus known to man, but one thing I generally have is an iron clad stomach.

Not this Christmas Eve, apparently.

I went upstairs to our ensuite, grabbed the garbage can, and waited.

I didn't have to wait long.

It wasn't much, but it was something. I brushed my teeth and headed downstairs to chat with my guests and help my poor husband cook dinner for 13 people.

I made it half way down before my mother took one look at me and sent me to bed. For once, I didn't argue. Sigh.

I passed out. I heard Hubs announce dinner was ready (poor guy did it all by himself) so I decided another attempt was warranted. I made it to my seat and watched as everyone served themselves. I took one look at the sugar cookie placeholders and that was it - I had to go back upstairs. To this day I still can't look at those sugar cookies...

I won't bore you with any more gritty details, but suffice it to say I didn't have any dinner that night, and I spent the entire evening and night in bed, praying to feel better in time for Christmas morning.

Which, thankfully, I did. I woke up rather early still feeling a bit queasy but nothing as bad as it had been the night before. Hubs slipped downstairs to make me some toast and stumbled upon my sister, who had been puking since 3am.

She and I were the only ones in the entire house that ate the veggie dip. Coincidence? I think not. She's now embroiled in a feud with Superstore....

Christmas morning came, we opened our presents, then headed over to my other sister's place for round two and our Christmas breakfast. We all squished into their living room, now full of toys, etc, and completed the ritual. Not much longer afterwards it was back to our place so my sister could once again hit the bed for much needed rest. I wasn't too far behind her - but at least I got breakfast down!

I know at least one of you asked what I got for Christmas and if there was anything pink and I'll simply say - of course! for now. This entry is already long enough, and I'd love to show you some pics of my new bling and gorgeous cashmere wrap, but patience my lovelies. This shall come to you tomorrow. As well as updates on the remainder of the holiday and our new year's eve celebrations.

Baited breath - I can smell it from here. :)

For now, I'll close by saying this. I know that over this past year I've slogged Sludge for her behaviour, but I also have to give credit where credit is due. She sacrificed a lot this year so that DeeDee could have a good, family (in her words) Christmas with Hubs and I. It can't have been easy, especially since her daughter is her entire world and she doesn't really speak to her family, so I give her props.

Despite all the crap she pulled around the wedding and the holidays last year, this year she and Hubs made a plan, and she stuck to it. She never wavered, never questioned, just followed along. It couldn't have been easy, but I'm so grateful to her for not causing extra drama at an already stressful time. It honestly was one of the best Christmas gifts I received this year.

Well, that and a beautiful white gold and amethyst ring, but I'm trying to be kind here.

So it just goes to show you that you never know. People can change. People can surprise you. And there really are Christmas miracles.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and here's to fan-fucking-tastic things to come for us all in 2008!

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