Dick flicks, pet peeves and other random thoughts

Finally got around to watching "I Love You, Man" last night and it was OK, not the greatest film but it had its cute moments - what struck me (and will no doubt stick with me for a long time) was that I'd never seen a dick flick before (man's response to the chick flick, obviously - get yer heads out of the gutters!).

Usually guy movies are testosterone-laden, loud obnoxious affairs so this one came as a bit of a surprise.

Anyone else seen it and know what I mean?

*pauses to admire Vegas being a man, ie playing xbox soccer*

One of my pet peeves is to never have understood the term. There are no pets involved, why is it called a pet peeve anyways? I don't get it. It makes me feel dumb and that, my friend, is a major pet peeve.

Roar.

More of these, in no particular order:

• Losing socks in the laundry process.
• Being stuck with the last three drops of milk and having to change the bag.
• Getting chicken poop on my gloves and only noticing it after I've wiped my nose (laugh, and you shall die).
• Stale cereal a week after the box has been opened. 
• A snag or a stain on my new, favorite sweater.
• Dry, limp, frizzy winter "hat hair".
• Getting TWO bags of flyers in the mailbox every damn week - wtf, dudes!
• My favorite hair product never, ever being on sale.

I'm sure you can add a few to this list?

Um, it's late and I'm rambling and I have to get to bed soon, long day tomorrow... The next couple of weeks should be interesting as Vegas isn't here and I won't know what to do with myself. Sniff.

Visitors welcome - hint, hint!

PS: Have you cast your votes on the poll yet? Multi-choice, so GO!

/end of Is It Really Another Monday? post/

Feathered

I found him lying near the tree;
I folded up his wings.
Oh, little bird,
You never heard
The song the summer sings.
I wrapped him in a shirt I wore in winter;
it was blue.
Oh, little bird,
You never heard
The song I sang to you.

Myra Cohn Livingstone

Meet Solaris and Luna

In the blur of the past few days, I forgot to post photos of my latest arrivals... I know, I know - the chicken lady strikes again! But please bare with me just for this post ;-)

Here are Solaris and Luna, two 14-mth old ameraucanas:

Luna has gorgeous lacing and supposedly lays blue eggs (still waiting to see...):

Solaris has the blue egg gene and is a gorgeous, HUGE boy!

In fact both birds are really plump and healthy, they make the rest of the flock look a little ratty, LOL! They're still a bit stressed from all the travelling and new adventures they've had last week but they're slowly getting used to being here. At some point I hope they'll be less flighty and realise that when mama comes in the coop, treats follow ;-)

Happy Saturdaying, peeps!

The other beauty

I often think that the night is more alive
and more richly colored than the day.
~Vincent Van Gogh

And so it starts!

Yesterday was a mad dash to coordinate the cleaning and staging of 4,200 sqf of house for the real-estate photographer - not a big deal unless there are three sheddy, slobby dogs in the house that leave drool and footprints everywhere...

So yeah, it got done and it turned out pretty OK, the ad is now online and the "for sale" sign is on the front yard - it's official and there is no turning back!

Speaking of back, we needed a bit of staging in the big naked master bedroom so as I reached to get the plant on the back ledge of the corner tub I stretched a bit too much and Oh! Snap! something tore in my upper back. Awesome. Just turned 40 and so it starts. Wonder what I have to look forwards to when I turn 50?!

The evening was pretty agonizing, I had to take one of Vegas' prescription muscle relaxants to get through the night so now I'm both stoned off my rack AND still in pain - the string of cause and effect to all of this is that I have to miss my birthday dinner in the city with long-lost friends tonight, hubby had planned it a long time ago and oh, it just breaks my heart :(

If anyone's reading this, I'm so sorry!! I really, really wanted to spend some time with you guys tonight, eating sushi and not talking about chickens!

*cries*

Shitty day, stuck going braindead on the couch, watching TV and trying not to breathe too deeply (ow). No bonbons in the house and -31C outside with the windchill (that's -24F for you Americans) - woo!

I need to go chip the ice out of the water bowls in the coop again after putting on three layers of clothing, lord hep meh. The poor flock doesn't understand why they can't get out to dust bathe today, they're not a happy bunch... To top it all off there were only six eggs this morning, one of which was cracked, one broken because fat-ass Pepper keeps trying to go broody so there was messy egg yolk all over the nest, and one silkie egg too small to sell. Grrr.

There are good days, there are bad days, and there are days like this: sunny, on the cusp of the weekend and this self-imposed rest day is quite the novelty so I will try to make the best of it. Yey for HGTV! lol

This post turned into a rant, sorry about that.

I send you lots of sunshine and if you take a bit of the siberian cold with that, you're a hero in my book! Happy Friday, peeps.

/end of Steady, Easy Does It post/

40's is the new 30's because the 20's suck anyways!

*stretches and yawns*

The ground is white with fresh snow again and another week-long deep freeze is on its way, but it was still nice to get a little break from mama winter - makes you realize how awesome and powerful the season changes really are.

The change of decades, however, aren't all that awesome but what can ya do? Time marches on, might as well stretch, boot up and get movin'.

Or put on some heels, a ho-outfit and take a photo
to commemorate the first day of being 40:

Yeah, very practical for farm upkeep - NOT.

Don't ask why I even own such things. I won't tell you.

Today is for making spaghetti sauce, baking cookies, cleaning the house and measuring all the rooms to finish the online real-estate file. The photographer is coming by tomorrow so everything needs to be super tidy and shiny... yeah, not gonna happen with 3 slobbering dogs! *rolls eyes*

Kay, time to go find my mojo and get this carcass moving - soooo tired, can't seem to wake up today. I should blame Vegas for keeping me up so late.

/end of Happy Hump Day, Peeps! post/

On this very special day :-)

First, I'd like everyone for the lovely birthday wishes - you've warmed my frozen-in-fear-of-forties heart and I have to say that I'm OK! Today is just another day, really, I certainly don't feel any different, just fulfilled, happy and blessed :-)

However, I've never seen January weather like this before and I'd like to share some sights with you as I am in awe!

As you read from yesterday's post, we had a helluva storm mixed with really mild temps and it's mind-boggling how much snow is just GONE in less than two days! I looked out the window this morning and saw this:

So I had to go out and make sure:

The flock hadn't been out free-ranging since mid-November when the snow first fell! Oh my, were they ever happy... Oh my, will they ever find it tough to be locked up again for another two months as the cold temps are coming back, as is the normal winter snow... Sigh.

Still, it feels awesome to "taste" spring, even for just a moment. I just hope it won't make the second winter twice as hard...

Oh, we also had awesome fog last night:

This is how much snow there was on the ground 3 days ago:

See what I mean? :-o
Not a blade of grass in sight!

The horses are galloping around in the field like spring colts, it's a sight for sore eyes.

A most perfect day!

Vegas is taking me out for lunch and then we're finally getting my birthday present, the famous incubator - woo! It's just a box to hatch eggs in, nothing shiny or exciting so posting a photo will surely lead to perplexed expressions, but let's just say it's the only thing I wanted and I must thank my hubby and family for contributing to this dream. I'm so spoiled!

Not sure what's up this evening, probably nothing much (movie? bubble bath? massage? OooOooOO!) and that's just perfect for moi.

Do check back in tomorrow as I will finally post pics of my two new amazing flock members, Solaris and Luna. If you follow me on Facebook you've already seen them but really, don't you want to see more anyways? *wink*

/end of Embracing A New Decade With Grace(?) post/

The sum of our parts

Funny, it's my last day of "being in my 30's" and the windstorm is keeping my mind off any troubles besides "OMG is that tree going to snap and take down the power lines? Was that a roof shingle? Will the old roof on the chicken coop hold? OMG look at all those broken bits of tree flying across the lawn!"

You get the idea.

January 25th, 2009: 14C (57F) with a raging sky battling clouds against sun. I've never seen anything like it, this is nuts.

I just pray that nothing will happen when Vegas is gone cuz little old me will be stuck all alone in this huge place with no way to shovel any big amounts of snow or lift broken trees out of shattered windows. Yeah, hubby has to travel for most of February and a huge chunk of March - sucks, but in a way it's good to break the routine once in a while.

Who wants to come visit me? :-D

So yeah, tomorrow is the big 4-0. I think I'm getting over the night terrors, it's just another day on the calendar right? I don't feel any different, still bugged by the same old aches and pains, still wearing the same old clothes and smelly farm boots. *shrug*

Lookie what I got this morning! I thought to try and grow alfalfa sprouts for the flock since greens cost a fortune this time of year, I remember my mom growing them in jars when we were little (blecch, sprouts taste like soap) and that inspired me to give it a go. It took 5 days:

Grew about $10 worth for less than 50 cents, it's amazing!
And it was SUPER easy, too!

I'm starting another batch tonight so that I have some on hand pretty much all the time until spring, when they can free-range again. I'll also try to grow some wheat-grass for the heck of it.

So. We get to this bit:

10 things I wanted to accomplish before turning 40 (in no particular order) and that I am proud to say are DONE!

Buy my first house
Quit the rat race and find a job I loved
Start my own business
Move out of the city
Not get pregnant
Travel some more and smell the sea
Discover new hobbies and passions
Learn to love who I am
Buy a bread machine
Make new friends and disengage from emotional drains

5 awesome, unexpected things that happened (in no particular order):

Fell in love for real and got married to the best man evar!
Got a third doggy, aka "meathead"
Became a stepmom as well as an auntie
Found inner strength I didn't know I had
Fell into a life more wonderful than I had ever imagined possible

Weather update:

The sun is gone and has been replaced by torrential rains slapping against the house, ripping shingles off the roof (we went out and checked) - we nearly lost a one of the barn doors, good thing Vegas saw that in the nick of time, we secured it with giant rocks and hope it'll hold until this crazy storm passes. The giant rabbit hutch that was buried in the snow yesterday got flipped upside down and blown across the yard. Holy shit. So dark and scary, I can only imagine what a monsoon must feel like :-o

/end of What's With The Insanity! post/

This is your life!

Life is a great big canvas,
and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
~Danny Kaye

Balloons, cake and celebrations

I got through Friday, landed into Saturday to deal with more frustrations and disappointments (real-estate headache - hate dealing with incompetents and aggravation), hadn't slept well so was dragging my crusty, red-eyed carcass with heavy feet and just wanted to crash into bed...

But there was my pre-birthday dinner to attend at my brother's, so off we went and WOW, it was so lovely!! My sister-in-law went all out and had set up a beautiful table complete with floating balloons, she had prepared lots of yummy food, there was wine, my bro was Super Chef taking care of everyone... Then my mom and stepdad, my other brother and his gf also brought lots of food - we ended up eating fondue and stuffing our faces for over two hours :-D

Then there was caaaaaaaaake!

And sweet, thoughtful prezzies, too - how spoiled am I??

My real birthday's only on Tuesday but it was the only time the family could get together to celebrate - this just makes the party last a whole week since there's also a shindig with friends next Friday and on Tuesday, Vegas is taking me to the poultry specialty store to get my much-coveted incubator (my family participated in financing it).

The cherry on the cake came in the form of a phone call from my dear chicken breeder friend, who through his contacts, many phone calls and a loooong road trip found me my dream pair of very rare, show quality, adult Ameraucanas - very, very rare birds (only about 4% of "ameraucanas" sold in North America truly are the real deal, the rest are mutts called "easter eggers"). I'm going to get them from him in a couple of hours, am soooo excited! He wouldn't tell me what they looked like, he wanted to keep it a surprise (there are 8 APA accepted colors).

Why are these birds important to me? They lay pure blue eggs, and only blue eggs. With a pair, I can then incubate and breed more - some for me, some to sell to other enthusiasts. The male can breed with my brown egg-layers to produce hens that lay olive eggs - how cool is that?

So yeah, very important for my future breeding plans!

WoooHoooo!

I leave you with a giggle and wish you all an excellent weekend :)

10 Games For Old Age

1 - Sag, You're it!
2 - Pin the Toupee on the bald guy
3 - 20 questions shouted into your good ear
4 - Kick the bucket
5 - Red Rover, Red Rover, the nurse says Bend Over
6 - Doc Goose
7 - Simon says something incoherent
8 - Hide and go pee
9 - Spin the Bottle of Mylanta
10 - Musical recliners

On gratitude

We can only be said to be alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
~Thornton Wilder

Cement pretzel in my heart

Argh. I messed up again.

By being me.

Tomorrow's birthday celebration got complicated, the whole family is making a big effort to clear their busy schedules to drive all the way here for a fondue dinner because they care, because they love me.

And I freaked out.

My poor mom worked so hard to organize everything and I just had a meltdown, I just can't handle it. Too much chaos, too much stress, I panicked. I felt suffocated and pushed into a corner. I'm not ready, I'm not prepared, it's not how I envisioned things - GAAAH!

So I hurt her feelings, it's understandable. In her words, it appears I'm just like my father... Rigid, set in my ways, remote and unyielding. Incapable of letting people in my world, unwilling to take a detour once my path is set.

I guess I'm absolved then, since it's not my fault - it's my DNA?

She wasn't being mean, just connecting the dots. She works too much, she's tired and has a huge weekend ahead of her, she didn't need this. I've given her grief pretty much all my life... and yet she's surprised that I haven't changed. And now I feel like utter garbage.

I'm having enough of a hard time turning 40 (don't ask, it's just a personal nightmare), I didn't need this.

We're still having the dinner tomorrow night, only we'll be meeting up at my brother's house instead. And it's a huge relief. I was not comfortable having him and his very pregnant (34 weeks) wife and 2 year old son do a 3-hour round trip in the dark between work shifts just for a dinner here.

Yet, I'm the cold one.

That must explain the giant rock lodged in my chest instead of a heart.

(comments off)

Don't ask if you can't handle it?

So I just posted a status on Facebook that says "describe me in one word using the third letter in your name - fun stuff!" - I should have known that I was asking for an ass kicking...

The answers?

• ambitious (ok, I can see that)
• imaginationy (what?)
• unique (yey!)
• aged (way to kick an old lady in the nuts there)
• rooster-philiac (makes me sound like a chicken rapist)
• insane (sigh)
• ridiculous (is that a compliment?)

I guess the good stuff's for other people and not for me... Bah who needs to be kind, sweet, funny and pretty when you have 6 bathrooms in your house. So nerr!

Still don't believe I attract the kooks? Take a look at the search terms people use to end up on this blog and see for yourself (pic clicks bigger):

I'm thisclose to questioning my life!

You're lucky I'm posting at all tonight, I can hardly move a muscle. I must have sprained every single one of them and their brothers today cleaning out the shitty chicken coop. It's a job for quasimodo, not a stick-armed sway-backed girl like me - who the hell builds a room with a 4'11" ceiling?! Mofos. I'd like to see how they shoveled out 12 huge garbage bags of heavy dirty bedding, hauled the crap over awkward doorjambs with nails sticking out and then dragged the two-ton bags over knee-high crusty snow to the dumping ground 50 feet away! All this in a snowsuit, too.

Ow. Ow ow ow.

But you know, it's rewarding in the end to see the flock appreciating their dry, clean home and to know I did good by them.

OH! I forgot to tell you! Remember the complaint I lodged with the minister of agriculture against the asshole who sold me the sick chickens? Well the lady called back yesterday to say they had gone to investigate - wow! It's confidential so I don't have any details but it feels really, really good to know that someone did something - and it was fast, too.

Dinner was a shrimp and veggie stir-fry (tasty) and now it's time for House.

I bid ye goodnight!

/end of Advil Is My Friend post/

Hump day drive-by ramblies

Just another mild, grey day that's perfect for "getting things done"... Yesterday was lost in a flurry of errands and driving and a bunch of small crap that just vaporized the hours - it's terrible!

I vowed to do better today and so far, so good... Running on java, wooo! We're hosting a family dinner here on Saturday to pre-celebrate my bday (which lands smack-dab in the middle of the week, durrr) so I'm scrambling to finish cleaning and painting while juggling dog-and-chicken chores. Sounds like a circus!

Lookie what I found in the coop this morning...
Doesn't look like much, right?

Now put it in perspective...

Now what do you think? Besides "ouchie!", LOL!

I love my morning loot, collecting little treasures is such a thrill you can't imagine :)

Apologies for the short dull post, I have to fetch the dogs from the park before they get too sticky wet (it's mild out and Maika got a bath last night, plus after all the grooming and brushing I had to do this morning I'd hate to see it all mucked up so soon... but eh, they're dogs - it's what they do). Then laundry to finish and an entrance to paint. Fun!

At some point I'll get a life that allows me time to chill out, read, eat bonbons while watching soap operas on TV. Like, when I'm 85 or something. Yeah.

/end of Whacking The Hot Iron post/

Good morning

The moment when you first wake up in the morning
is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours.
No matter how weary or dreary you may feel,
you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you,
absolutely anything may happen.
And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot.
The possibility is always there.
~Monica Baldwin

Starting the week with appreciation :)

Mondays are always hard thanks to the law of inertia bundled with heavy grey weather... I can't seem to get going this morning, hope the caffeine makes its way through my system soon cuz I have a ton of things to do!

I'm so very grateful for this lifestyle though, you've no idea.

I feel like I am finally living, as opposed to just existing. I go to bed happy at night from a wonderful day, not stressed and anxious about the next morning - how awesome is that?

When I look around I see a LOT of things to be grateful for...
Mainly my gorgeous husband, my rock, my best friend and inspiration
(even if I want to punch him in the arm sometimes but oh, he makes me laugh):

Cake, always have to be grateful for cake!

A coop full of happy, healthy birds that gift us with perfect eggs every day:

The best alarm system a steak can buy:

Watching pure joy on a sunny winter day:

Observing silliness that comes in all forms, furs and teethies:

...and a gratuitous shot of pseudo-serious doggies waiting for their daddy:

OK the mojo's back, I've got lots of cleaning and tidying up on my list for today and then some painting for the rest of the week. The house should be up for sale next week, neat and presentable - aaaaaaaaaaaah! Scary mary!

PS: new poll is up, go cast yer votes ;-)

/end of Happy Monday, Peeps! post/

What I did today

I saw one of the best movies of my life:

Thank you hubby for the awesome date,
thank you technology for the gift of 3D,
thank you James Cameron for yet another WIN!

I expected to hate it or be indifferent (9/10 times I don't like movies that others rave about) but I fell head over heels in love with this masterpiece... The story isn't the best in the world but it's there, the visuals are stunning and left me choked up in a few places, the action is packed and the characters grab you by the heart.

I can't stop smiling and can't wait to see it again :)

/end of Bows To Avatar post/

The shy girls

As promised, a photo of my two new girls - Heritage Bronze turkeys:

Darla is the bigger girl, she's about three months old.
Loulou, her sister, is about two months old.

They're both very human-shy right now and I can't get anywhere near them but over time, hopefully, they will chill out and become the sweet, endearing pets everyone says turkeys can be. They get along super well with the chickens they are penned with and are very, very quiet so it's all good.

Come summer, they should be laying some mighty fine eggs! :-)

More bits and bobs

~Woo! We finally got a number from the property evaluator, the complete file will come early next week but at least we have something to work with for now. The value is bang-on with our expectations so that's a relief.

~Another gunmetal grey week in store for us here, but it comes with really, really mild temps for this time of year so no complaints from me! Am happy when I don't have to hammer crusts of ice out of the water bowls in the coop, plus some snow is melting so maybe we'll have access to the woods in the back of our property again - woo!

I'm all about the woos.

~I have a big birthday in 10 days and it's freaking me out.

I never wanted to start another decade :(

~Do you know how easy it is to make meatloaf? Really! Cheap and delicious, too! My basic recipe, which I'm making for dinner tonight:

• Soak some plain oatmeal flakes in boiling water
• Add to ground meat in a big bowl (I use lean pork)
• Mix in bread crumbs (home-made is best), a couple eggs, some seasonings
• Dump in meatloaf pans, top with some cream of tomato soup straight from the can
• Bake in a hot oven until done

I always make two loaves and freeze one, since my motto is "cook once, eat twice" - yey leftovers!

~I'm going to have to buy some new "production reds" from the feed store in a couple of months... The hens arrive almost ready to lay and they are from an "egg machine" laying line, which means they lay big brown eggs like crazy.

I hate doing this as I was hoping to take my flock in another direction (only purebreds) but so far the hens I got from breeders - both pure and mixed - only lay small pale eggs :( While the girls are gorgeous and I love them and will continue to add various breeds to the flock, I do need working hens that lay enough big dark eggs to help pay for everyone's food and care through egg sales.

Oh, the irony of life!

Are you sick and tired of reading about my chickens yet?

*blushes*

~I wonder how little I'll manage to do this weekend. Am a bit moody with not much mojo going on, the kind of haze that lures you to stuff your face with Burger King, stare at the walls in a daze and drink coffee to stay afloat. What chores? :-o

We'll see what happens...

/end of Gimme A Rainbow In My Head post/

Fleeing the flock

To be a genuine individualist requires a great deal of strength and courage.
It is never easy to chart new territory, to cross new frontiers,
or to introduce subtle shadings to an established color.
~Toller Cranston

...and now what?

I finally got my camera back!! Wooo!! It took Nikon over 5 weeks to clean and recalibrate my D40x but what the hell, the long wait is over now :)

Only... What's next?

I have no studio here and no equipment to do interior photography, nevermind the lacking skills (which will get better thanks to Vegas' awesome Christmas gift of "how-to" photo books, if only I can get my ass in gear and read them). Forget about outside photography until the snow is gone and the sun comes out, it's beyond crappy outside.

So, how do I earn money with photography?

*stumped*

(long pause for running errands, unpacking, inhaling a bowl of cereal, doing an unscheduled flock treatment that killed my lungs, OH the joy of surprises)

I have a headache.

Now time to finish some laundry, make a loaf of bread, give the dogs their walk and start the veggie stew for dinner. All I want to do is crunch some painkillers, have a coffee and sleep... No matter how I do the math, the two situations just don't add up!

Stupid house evaluator hasn't delivered our file after 5 long weeks. It was due today. I called this morning, they said the guy was out and would call back. Still waiting.

I'm pissed and calling them again, they're going get a piece of my mind.

The bitchy one.

/end of Happy Friday, Be Good, But Not That Good! post/

Be the snowflake

Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
~Christopher Morley

Got turkey?

No? Well... I do! :-D

I'm not sure how it happened but after re-homing Arthur yesterday (one of my young roosters), I ended up coming home with two young heritage bronze turkeys, of all things! Ha ha!

I had been thinking of venturing into the turkey egg business at some point, maybe after we'd moved, but apparently life has other plans for me (ie, not waiting and just going for it). Am very pleased as these two girls come from an excellent line and should begin laying in June or July.

Chicken egg on top, two turkey eggs on the bottom:

Turkey eggs apparently taste almost like chicken eggs,
perhaps a bit more rich and flavorful.

Right now the girls are small and just starting to feather in, they're very human-shy but in a few weeks they should come around and grow up to be big, beautiful and friendly girls. People say to be careful because you can get really attached to turkeys as they have great personalities and are very endearing - guess we'll see, eh?

What an adventure!

I'm finally getting my camera back today so I'll post a few pics of Darla and Loulou by this weekend :)

In other news, our contractor is finishing up the basement and making a few repairs around the house this week, it's shaping up really nice. Soon time to take that plunge and put up the "For Sale" sign...

I don't know why this makes me sad, but it does. :(

It'll be nice to finally settle down somewhere, put down some roots and really feel like it's home and not some other temporary arrangement. I guess we've just put soooo much into this place, it's a bit hard to let go you know? Plus where-ever we move to will be a downgrade so that's blah.

*takes deep breath*

OK, time to change into work clothes and get dirty.

Wooo!

*end of Feel My Rough Worker Hands! post/

Women in art

Women are always beautiful.
~Ville Valo

If you don't do it, who will?

Yesterday I placed a call with the local gov'ment's agricultural SPCA chapter to lodge a formal complaint against the creep who sold me four under-aged, sick chickens last November.

He's exploiting animals in dirty conditions and sells sick, suffering animals to unsuspecting people and that's just not acceptable.

If nobody says anything, what will make him change?

The gov'ment lady called me back this morning and she was brilliant.

We spent 20 minutes chatting, she got all the details and by law has to visit the place at some point during the next month, unannounced of course, and make recommendations to the guy depending on what she sees when she's there. Then she has to report back to me, the guy has an open file and if anyone else complains then he's in serious trouble.

It's all anonymous but I wouldn't care even if it wasn't.

Asshole.

I just wish there were laws in place that would slap such mill operators with a fine right then and there, that they would need paying permits with regular inspections to hold them in line, etc... But unfortunately this province runs with the bare minimum in animal protection rights, it's so sad.

At least I saved four birds, at least that.

If you witness a case of animal abuse, please don't sit there idle and think someone else will take care of it... To others, you are the "someone else". These creatures depend on us for their care, comfort and security. Be their voice, their strength, their hero.

It's all about karma, kindness and compassion.

/end of Breaking Heart post/

And now the fun starts!

Oooooooooof... Monday.

The holidays are over and the hamster wheel starts turning again.

Yey!

We should get our house evaluation report by Friday, and our contractor is coming by this week to do some minor repairs and updates before we put it the property up for sale. Oh and I need to do some painting and major cleaning up too...

Ack! So exciting, so scary - this makes everything official, the calm before the storm.

I'm so scared we won't find a new, ideal house in time and we'll end up settling, not liking where we move to as it'll feel like a downgrade. I'm equally scared we won't be able to sell this property before our money runs out and then we'll be royally screwed. We set a bare minimum we need to walk away with and I don't know how lucky we'll be.

I guess I have my work cut out for me, eh?

*takes deep breath*

So to recap yesterday... it was quiet, our tummies were still acting up so we couldn't do the romantic dinner thing and it was too cold for outside activities but we did good anyways!

Vegas had a gorgeous bouquet of fresh flowers delivered to me in the morning:

I know, I'm a spoiled wifey!
And I never take it for granted :)

In the afternoon we went to Walmart to find some stuff to play with (hey, we live in a small town now!) and came home with some weird magic play-dough of sorts... Time for tea, arts and crafts and lotsa laughs!

Vegas totally impressed me with his mad skillz - I kid you not!

Don't you just love it? :)

Only I remembered, halfway through, that I stink at sculpting
and only managed to come up with a snake and some marbles. Crap!

Ah well, I have other talents.
*ahem*

Then I made a warm butter cake while Vegas kept me company in the kitchen, click here for the recipe. Trust me, you want this recipe. At least go see the photo, LOL!

We're a simple kinda folk. I don't want diamond rings or vacations in the south of France, I want a cuddle of the couch with my husband, a good movie, a solid pair of work boots and vacations by the sea within driving distance. With the dogs included. I don't like hoity-toity fancy restaurants, I'm happy with a burger and fries although a good thai meal or some sushi once in a while goes a long way to keeping me happy. Clothing is for function more than for form, I love the smell of a good sale and the feeling of having done good. Oh, and the perfume of a freshly-baked loaf of bread.

Gotta have the bread.

Wishing you all a happy Monday, while you're cozy in offices or where-ever you work, think of me shoveling heavy poop-laden bedding from the chicken coop and all that jazz.

Ah, for the love of life!

/end of Not Sure What The Point Was post/

One year ago...

One year ago, I married the love of my life,
the most awesome man I could have ever hoped for
to walk with me on this journey called life.
I am proud to call him my muse and my best friend,
my angel and my devil.
Two peas, two pods, one plate :)

(photo credit: Prin Boo)

Happy Anniversary, Vegas!

I love thee.

A shameful confession

I am a chip addict.

There, it's out - go on, point your finger and laugh but it's the truth. Always have been and always will be unless some horrible health condition forbids me to have any, in which case I will promptly keel over and die of sadness and deprivation.

Let me shout it out again!

Never met one I didn't like - EVER. I remember being 5 years old and stealing some other kid's lunch chips, unfortunately the kindergarten teacher caught me by trying to smell my breath so I had to smack her on the forehead with a block of wood. Ooops.

Then in first and second grade there were the daily bags of sour cream and onion chips during recess... There was a little convenience store a couple blocks from the school, chips were a quarter back then and I imagine I found enough change laying around to feed my addiction.

Oh and those onion ring thingies? Heaven!

Wasn't kissing nobody so who cared?

In my dreams, every morning would start like this (after coffee, of course):

Only you'd see me reaching for the weird wasabi chippies and whatnot.
Oh yeah, baby!

This would be my idea of heaven, if heaven existed and if so then it would surely be up there in the sky, right? That 'stronot is dead btw, he froze that way after thinking dirty thoughts about McD or sumtin:

What actually stops me from indulging, besides the obvious attention to my high blood pressure, kidneys and arteries? Society. Yep. Society keeps me from killing myself with salt and fat.

See how it goes?Plus, I don't think that Vegas would be too impressed if his wife looked like this:

I have some Pringles in the cupboard whispering my name, whispering all sorts of dirty things and after suffering 3 days on the toilet earlier this week, I just might cave in. Might.

OK, we all know the Pringles are history, just a matter of minutes.

I am an addict.

/end of What's A Girl To Do? post/

On reality

Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?
~M.C. Escher

Ramblings

It's amazing what one little pill can do to make life bearable again.

Haaa, not that kind of pill - just one that finally eased the stomach cramps so that I could eat a bit and keep the food long enough in my body to get some kind of nutrition. Seriously. I lost 3 pounds in 3 days thanks to some kind of random bug - if I want to lose weight I'll go on a freaking diet, now give me my life back!

*shakes fist at gastros*

Sitting in the clinic's waiting room yesterday did give me a good opportunity to people-watch.

Among the old grey souls and snuffling kids sat a young man with Down's Syndrome, drool flowing down his chin as he thumbed through a magazine, a few seats over you had "the" red-neck family outfitted in cheap stained clothes entertaining everyone with their all-important talk about which color wine was better (red's better for your heart! well white you can drink in the afternoon, red you need food, bla bla bla), while the fat clueless teenage daughter with "working girl" blue eye shadow worked furiously at her Nintendo DS.

I don't think any of them had seen shampoo in ages.

So, so sad.

Hey, I managed to get a load of laundry done today! Woo! Biggest accomplishment in days! Must take baby steps though, can't go too fast and get ill again.

I've just discovered a new tea and it is fabulous: a fair-trade chocolate spice by Four O'Clock, it's like sex in a cup! Best tea I've had in ages.

Hey, I did name this post "ramblings", you were warned.

Yesterday, Big Bertha arrived! She was all assembled and ready to go, so here she is with Vegas showing off her skillz - yes, she gives a great blow-job and no, I'm not jealous :-D

Go Bertha, go!

Too bad it snowed so much overnight that everything needs to be redone again. Sigh. Did I mention most snow since 1951?? Well let me mention it again cuz I'm sure that now we're going back another half-century, just for good measure.

This mess is a place.

I really need to dust, hoover, scrub and tidy up.

Crap.

I've started Sunshine and Rosie, my two with bronchitis, on a new med today and it better work because there is nothing else after that. $53 for a bottle of powder, how's that for being a crazy chicken mama. Sigh. I do love them so.

Right, time to check on the laundry and let the dogs out in the park, I have a ginger meathead just sitting there and drilling holes in the back of my head with his eyes. Ow.

/end of Really Really Ramblings post/

Do Not Disturb

This is the sign hanging from my neck.
The back says "sick as a dog, do not disturb".
Apologies for the blog silence, will be back soon...

It's unbearable!

I really don't mean to bitch and moan about the weather so much, but it's really getting to me. This has been our forecast the past week, what you're looking at is the coming week.

Yes it's winter, I get that. But where's the sun, even for an hour? Snow for 14 straight days? We've already shattered the record set in 1951 for snowfall in this place, what's next?

The dogs have nowhere to go, they have snow past their chests and the top layer is a hard crust of ice. We can't walk anywhere and forget about driving or hauling the garbage cans to the street. Getting the mail is an expedition.

Snowplow arrives Wednesday, I have a feeling it's going to get a LOT of use those first few days... Vegas, are you flexing those biceps yet?

/end of Fcuk's Sake This Is Ridiculous post/