Got Zen

Midwife home visit is happening today! I'm looking forward to it, even though I know that she has to give us the 'serious talk' about circumstances that would likely lead to transfer of care to a physician. In the past two weeks I've had some doubting thoughts about being able to go into the deep relaxation of hypnobirthing (fueled by not practicing enough), but in the last few days I have given myself a check-up from the neck up and adjusted my attitude. I'm once again grooving with the positive birthing vibes.

I think a turning point for me happened on Sunday after a couple of days of running around trying to agree on some finishing details for a few projects in the house. I'd been feeling quite miserable after some *ahem* serious 'trying to agree' moments on Friday and realized that all this pressure to get things done before the Babe arrives is just not worth it. The stress was getting in the way of me enjoying these last couple of weeks with Hubby before Babe arrives. After all, her nursery is ready, our bedroom only needs a minor clean-up and we are good to go for bringing her home to at least have a place to lay her little head. Plus we scored a cool retro rocker off Craig's List for $50 on Saturday! So now I even have a place to breastfeed her upstairs!

On Sunday, I just slipped into a Zen place about the nesting, renovating, and finishing up my paperwork at the office. None of it really matters. It will be what it is and it doesn't mean her start in our family will be anything less than what it is meant to be - a joyful time.

So, today I look forward to our midwife and her new student coming to check us out in our home. I've already taken the banana muffins out of the freezer (made on Saturday). Post home-visit, I'm going for a pre-natal massage just around the corner. Lovely.

Post-script:

My folks have been off on a little road trip holiday in the States since last week. I can tell they are excited about the third grandchild's imminent arrival, as they've called us twice since they left. Our family never, ever calls each other while on holiday. Perhaps an email update here or there, but never, ever a phone call, let alone TWO phone calls.

Also, I rode my bike yesterday! While on my way to work, who should start to pass me but an old roommate. We peddled along together until the next traffic light. She told me she biked until she went into labour with her first baby! I can only hope!

Awake again. This time with nesting fury.

I can't sleep. I get up for my first pee of the night and that's that. No more sleep for Mommy-to-be. Sigh. Sometimes my hypnobirthing relaxation recording helps. Not tonight. I have a couple of other tricks up my naked sleeve for encouraging more shut-eye, but I just didn't have the patience tonight. Thanks to my clenched up jaw, I realized quite quickly that I am preoccupied with nesting.

Well, it is more than nesting. I'm preoccupied with getting my freaking house back into a vague semblance of order. Every time a room gets tidied up, it gets cluttered up with crap from another room that is undergoing a 'transformation'. A couple of weeks ago the nursery had a crib and some hastily stored baby related items in it. Now it is a mess of coats from our hallway (recently painted), painters' equipment (don't ask me why they think this room is their personal storage unit), the vacuum cleaner (needed for the entire upper floor post-painting clean up job), washed and unfolded hand-me-down baby clothes (2 laundry bins full :) !!), our bathroom supplies and medicine cabinet (recently mudded, sanded, and painted), baby gifts, unhung blinds, unhung curtains, clothing from the master bedroom (where a closet was just installed), and goodness knows what else that I can't remember.

My head is spinning. I can't get the now unneeded dresser from the master bedroom into the nursery, where it is needed, until the crap gets sorted and taken out of the nursery. Can I take all of our coats back downstairs to our hallway hooks? Will they be a nuisance to our contractor who is still working on our main floor? Will they get covered in saw dust? Do I vacuum first, or sort coats first? Do any of the coats need to be laundered?

Oh! I forgot! I can't move the dresser out of the master bedroom, until I move our old, 'temporary' linen cupboard out of its path. I can't move the linen cupboard out of the way and into our old clothing closet (upper hallway closet) until I remove the box of toiletries out of the closet and vacuum out the closet. I can't bend down to move the box because my belly is too big and I can't nudge it with my feet because this motion makes my crotch scream at me. When you are pregnant you quickly learn how all of your joints, ligaments, muscles, and bones are connected and work together to help you do the simplest of tasks... or hinder you from doing the simplest of tasks.

And, I wish I could do some of these chores when I have the freakin' energy at 3am! But, this would disturb Hubby and neighbours. I did manage to tidy up the dining room table and half of the coffee table before writing this entry.

I can't do all the things I used to do in one day or one weekend anymore. Yesterday I managed to get to a yarn sale in the morning after doing the dishes. The sale took up the entire morning because I walk slowly now AND I was careful to pare down my yarn pickings before cashing out. I came home and did one load of laundry and ate some lunch (lovingly prepared by Hubby). The closet installers arrived, so I took a break and sat on the couch with some knitting. Post-closet installation, I sorted and transferred clothing from the upper hall closet into the new closet. By 3pm I was spent! Achy and tired. More couch sitting. Ate dinner (thanks, Hubby!). Made dessert. Ate dessert. Did dishes. Ate dessert again. Watched The Cole Miner's Daughter on TVO. Went to bed. Woke up at 2:30am, which brings us to the present.

Rainy Sunday

So, we were up early today. That is normal for us. I'm always conscious of not making a lot of noise when we are up and around in the wee hours of the morning because we have a tenant in the basement and we live in a semi. So, I had to find something productive yet puttery to do to kill time until I can really make some domestic noise.

I finally cleaned up my email! Organized my folders. Saved or deleted messages. Even went through my 'sent' folder! Email nice and neat now!

So, plans for today include: sand and mud a few holes in a couple of the master bedroom walls; prime one wall and around the window; write some thank you cards; friend over for dinner.

Yesterday we saw Cabaret at Stratford! It rocked! We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Foster's Inn across the street from the Avon Theatre and then drove home. Good day trip!

I'm hoping to set up my Ravelry page this weekend. I am off work tomorrow, so perhaps I will get that done.

Baby update: she is moving A LOT! I tend to notice when she curls up in a specific area of my uterus. You can even see my belly bulged out where she's squished herself. I like to rub her when she squished up somewhere, because I can feel her body all hard and round where by belly is bulged out.

Tomorrow I have a midwife appointment. I'm taking the dreaded pregnancy diabetes test - yucky orange pop drink followed by a blood test.

A Saturday morning

I woke up at 3am and haven't really slept since. Maybe a few winks around 6am, but was out of bed by 7 anyway.

I'm hoping to get my legs and bikini waxed this morning. I want to try out the outdoor pool in our neighbourhood tomorrow night. I have two maternity bathing suits that keep taunting me.

Other plans for today:

make brownies for girls' movie night at T's (started)
knitomatic trip (long overdue)
wrap some baby shower gifts for mailing to friends
laundry
girls' movie night!

Amateur green thumb

When we bought our house last Winter we knew the yard would need work. When Spring arrived I felt beaten down by the jungle of weeds and overgrowth that appeared back there. I did a bit of research online and decided to solarize the entire yard to kill the jungle. I covered all the growth with sheets of heavy black plastic that I found in the roofing aisle of Rona.

Here's a picture from this Spring. The plastic is still there covered up by the leaves.



Here's a shot looking towards the back of the house. Not so pretty.



Last summer we met with a landscaper and told her our dream for the yard. She drew up some plans and quoted us a price. We postponed the project. Since Hubby had a great year with his show, we booked our landscaper for her first outdoor spot this season. While we waited for the date to arrive, Hubby entered us into a Home Depot contest for a new back yard. The winner hasn't been announced yet.

Here is the result of our landscaper and her crew's hard work. That's Lynn, our landscaper, in the first two shots:






We picked up the great teak patio furniture off of Kijiji! It rocks!

So, here's what I did today:





Me working on the shade garden. Check out the milk jugs and belly!





The shade garden:



The sun garden:



It's my first garden! I've given myself permission to make mistakes this year. I figure it can only improve as I learn. I read some bits of a few books tnat I took out of the library and prepared a list of shade and sun plants before we went to the local garden centre. Thanks to Hubby for helping with the selections.

After two hours of bending, digging, watering and cleaning up (I missed my pre-natal yoga class) I was exhausted! My shower felt great!

Another listy post

It's been almost half a month since I've posted. I've been busy I suppose, but I am not too inspired to recap it in detail. One of my popular lists will have to do:

narrowed down colour options for baby's room (final decision this week)
picked up a copy of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' at a garage sale (loving it!)
saw preview of The Stone Angel (it was ok)
volunteered at AIDWYC's annual fundraiser (fun & felt good to do good)
cleaned up renovation garbage & mess
made a brilliant lemon poppyseed cake (simple & delicious!)
finished knitting top secret project (learning casting off tomorrow from co-worker)
started on a cute gender neutral baby vest (light blue with white trim)
made delicious beans & rice tonight, with side of roasted cauliflower! Yum!
traveled to Mom & Dad's for Dad's 70th! (Nice family time & did Mother's Day a week early)
Enjoyed two episodes of House
started a Monday night yoga class that I missed tonight (long story related to renovation hell)

I'm too lazy to take pics of the baby vest tonight. Watch for photos of that and the top secret project in a week or two. I'll likely have an updated photo of the baby belly too - week 18 this week!

Tired post

I am tired. I think I am learning slowly that I cannot maintain my previous level of activity. This sucks because I like to get things done in order to 'earn' my down time. Now that I have recorded this possibly twisted sense (theory?) of responsibility and productivity on my blog I am wondering if it warrants a tune-up with my lovely therapist (it's been years since I last saw her). I digress.

I find I have to lay down more often than I would like. Immediately following this post, I am headed for the couch. My ribs hurt. I can feel ligaments stretching under my belly. My toochis muscles are stiff! I feel sort of pooped in general.

I think I did a lot this weekend. Here is a list of the stuff I can actually remember:

bundled and bagged renovation garbage ready for Tuesday morning (my porch looks a lot better now!)
road my bike with Hubby to/from Kensington Market for our beloved market shop
laundry, laundry, laundry
changed the sheets on the bed
hand washing
cleaned the damn tub (this required more stretching than I am comfortable with)
dishes, dishes, dishes (no dishwasher)
walked over 3 miles with Hubby last night (this was enjoyable and tiring)
tidied up the dining room post-tax hell (it was a hellish mess)
scraped and swept old leaves and renovation mess off our driveway
wrote six long over due letters (snail mail!)
caught up on emails & phone calls
found 2006 tax info needed to apply for day care (That's right! We are getting on wait lists now because nos amis avec les enfants have warned us not to wait. Fingers crossed for the day care across the street.)

Things I still want to do:

bake cookies
sand door frame
finish laundry
make my own dinner (Hubby's at poker)

It is likely all about the second trimester and my deep rooted characteristics coming through, but I am finding it a bit more challenging to deal with clutter and disorganization. Hubby and I have very different levels of tolerance in this area. I have relaxed A LOT in this area over the past five years, but I notice myself fantasizing about how the renovations (mostly related to storage issues) are going to make my home a beautiful & well organized place to live.

On a warmer, fiber related topic, I am re-learning to knit! I can't show you my progress since I am working on a top secret project (ie. gift for a regular blog reader). The gals that have seen it have given me very positive feedback.

I am off to the couch.

Avoidance 101

Blogging, reading blogs, calling your friends and family on Skype, landlines, and cells, are all great ways to avoid sorting out the dreaded home office.

Busy = piles

How does it happen that I find myself in the middle of two weeks with absolutely every evening jammed packed with things to do and places to be? Mostly it is pleasure and some of it is obligation. No matter what is scheduled the result is the same - I get behind in ALL my domestic needs (making nutritious lunches, washing dishes, ironing, doing minor cleaning, keeping up with the mail). Things start to pile up. I end up eating out more and more because I am never home to prepare a meal. Then I stop feeling like I want to go home because there is so much bloody crap to get done before I can allow myself to sit and rest.

Strategy: get up a little bit early tomorrow and get a few things done.

Easier written than done, but I shall try my best.

ho hum

I'm not really sure what this post is about. This morning I've been feeling ho hum one minute and optimistic and energetic in the next minute. My weekend seems like it will be nice a mix of chores and socializing, which is good. I like getting domestic things done, but it is so much work. It's good to break up the chores with fun stuff, little rewards.

It just occurred to me that perhaps my ho hum feeling comes from only having had a cup of coffee so far this morning. My cook, my favourite person, my Hubby is out of town for many months. I have to rely on my Self getting me fed now. If I don't eat regularly, I develop ho hum-ness.

[pause for nourishment break]

I just realized that I may have started choosing my meals based on what concoction uses the least amount of dishes. You see, we don't have a dishwasher. Dishes, dishes, dishes, every day, even after a simple snack. This everyday chore starts becoming a bore, especially when more than half of your house is still waiting to be cleaned up from the insulation installation that happened over a week ago. (Some clean up already has taken place, only to become covered in insulation dust all over again - sigh.) I feel sometimes I can barely keep up with the everyday chores, never mind the big jobs like cleaning up after a renovation type project.

On a brighter note, another baby has arrived in the world and I'll be packaging up a handmade blanket and card to send off to my friend, the new mother! I know she will love it and that her little ladybug will look gorgeous wrapped up nice in Italian cotton. I chose the catherine wheel design from a book and developed the pattern for the blanket myself (thanks to some Stitch N' Bitch women for their ideas and tips). I'm already working on a second blanket and getting the kinks out of the pattern. Sorry no picture just yet. It's too early on a Saturday morning to figure that out!

Progress has been made on the turtle baby; the tummy and shell are complete and the first little leg is started. Not sure if it will be together for next weekend, but I'll try.

Weird homeowner stuff

I have lots of really fun things to blog about, but first I have to get a rant out of the way.

When I thought of being a homeowner again, I never expected I'd have to deal with a sick (or possibly just lazy) pigeon hanging out in the entry way to our tenant's basement apartment. I found the pigeon there last night around seven o'clock. I heard something scuffling about and, knowing our tenant is out of town, went to check it out. At first I thought it was a skunk. At closer inspection I realized it was a fat pigeon. It seemed injured or a little sick. It didn't even flinch with Hubby tossed a pebble close to it to see if it would move along on its own. It just sat in the corner and added to its dung pile.

I called the Humane Society and they directed me to the City. I called the City and was told they'd only send someone after-hours if it was a real emergency. I wasn't willing to get close enough to the bird to assess for a 'real emergency'. I was told that even if it was a real emergency I'd have to put the bird in a box before anyone would be dispatched to get it. That's right, Folks. I would have to corner the pigeon, pick it up, and put it in a box myself. No thanks. (At this point I'm thank the Universe that it's not a skunk)! She couldn't tell me if the shelter would expect me to handle the bird in the morning. I was told to call back at 8:30am.

I call at 8:30am. I was told the shelter doesn't open until 10:30 on Sundays.

I call back at 11am. I get dispatch again and begin protesting a bit about being told the shelter would be open to help me with a sick pigeon on my property. I'm told I don't need the shelter, that I need dispatch and please go ahead and describe the issue. I describe. I am asked if the bird is in a box and ready for pick-up. I protest again and tell a white lie (that I am pregnant and can't handle the bird for risk of disease). (Hubby and I are trying to conceive, but no bun in the oven yet). I am told that I don't have to handle the bird, I just have to cover it with a box, for example a Blue Box and that once I do that I should call back and they'll send someone. I tell them to send someone now because I am going to go outside immediately and put a Blue Box over the bird. I am told to call back when the bird is under the box.

I place a Blue Box over the bird on the second try. I call the City and am told someone will be there within an hour.

That was at 11:05am. It is now 1:40pm.

I just called the City again. My pigeon is the 'next' call.

I'm not holding my breath.

toooooooo hot

It is just toooooooo bloody hot to come up with anything interesting to write!

I have settled on a list to you all informed.

* Making peach preserves with lovely co-worker/friend this Saturday. This idea was inspired by my small success with pears last weekend.

* Getting the Volkswagon Bug from Mom & Dad on Sunday while they go off to England and Scotland.

* Wonderful Hubby is planning wonderful brunch as a nice send off for Mom & Dad.

* Hair trim took place last night. My hair dresser told me that if someone had bet him that he'd ever see my hair this long, he would have lost the bet. I would have lost the bet too. For years I forced Joe to keep my hair in a funky, butchy short cut. Hubby inspired me to let it grow. THANKS, HUB!

* I'm all about thick yogurt these days. Yogurt cheese that I eat with fruit and honey or my pear preserves. I just keeping buying containers of yogurt and letting it sit in the fridge in cheese cloth and a sieve.

* It is Friday of a long weekend and I am thankful.

* Going to hang out with a friend on Sunday who has access to a fancy house in Guelph this weekend. A/C and swimming pool, here we come!

Oh! I almost forgot this:

* I ate ice cream from Madeleines for lunch yesterday (the hottest day of the summer so far)! Watermelon sherbert with chocolate covered toasted oats that looked like watermelon seeds. It was heaven!

Last weekend of July in Toronto

Look what we were gifted this weekend! My mom and dad brought us their old bbq, all reconditioned and freshened up! We've already given it a couple of test drives. Above is a picture of lovely bok choy that hit the grill first. Shortly followed by:



Burgers! Yummy! We tried a simple recipe from Foodtv.ca. Delicious!

On Sundays when we have access to a car, we get ourselves to the Beaches (I know the area is officially known as the Beach, but it doesn't roll off my tongue or fingertips as easily as Beaches does) to enjoy Konditor. Our favourite pastry place in Toronto. There is a lot more to Konditor than their pastries; they have quiches, salads and sandwiches that are all amazing. The house coffee is to die for! We partake in little bit of everything, plus the Sunday New York Times.

Here is a picture of Hubby and our friend who also worships the Viennese pastries:



The last few times we've gone to Konditor, we've headed to the Liberty Village Farmers' Market before going home. We discovered some kick ass pickled garlic here. We've had the regular and the spicy pickled garlic, as well as the garlic relish. Incredible! I served the pickled garlic at my sister's party earlier this month and it was big hit.

Today we kept to our ritual and headed to Liberty Village. Lucky thing, too, since the garlic people won't be back in Toronto until the Cabbagetown festival. I loaded up with two kinds of relish and pickled garlic ends (they are not called ends, but I don't want to go downstairs to look at the jar right now).

A kind merchant pointed me in the right direction for pears. I've been waiting for the Ontario pears to be ready so that I could make some pear reserves. One of the farmers had lovely little sugar pears. I bought about five pounds.

Here's me after working for three hours on Gingered Pear Preserves:



A labour of love. My feet are aching and my back hurts, but I yielded eleven 250ml jars and a few taste tests to share with Hubby and friend. Not bad for being without most of my fancy canning equipment. I improvised and did quite well - no burns or scalds, only delicious preserves.

KR was right & other updates

My friend, KR, told me weeks ago that the only way to really get your boxes unpacked after a move is to set a date for a party. I've been beating myself up for the never-ending mess in the house: boxes, tools, clothing not put away, baseboards missing. The list goes on and on. I've struggled with feeling incredibly lazy and just trying to keep up with our regular life - eating, laundry, making a lunch for work.

My nephews are coming to stay with us on the first weekend in June. I want them to have a room to sleep in. Finally I have a deadline to get that second bedroom organized. I made a really good dent in it this weekend. I think I got rid of about 7 more boxes. I can probably do three more before we eat dinner.

KR was right; you need a deadline to force yourself to face the boxes.

I'm already feeling a lot better about the house than I did last week. It gets depressing living in clutter and disorganization. I just have to keep doing a little bit every chance I get.

Other updates:

I'm making good progress on a secret crochet project. I can't tell you anymore than that, hence the name 'secret crochet project'.

I'm almost done with the purse kit that Haley 'donated' to my crochet cause. Once all the crochet is done Haley will finish it up with a bit of sewing that I don't have the patience for. I think the finished project will be really nice.

I've picked out 5 skeins of Berry Red Cotton Fleece to make a camisole/T-shirt for myself. I'll start this once the secret project is done. It's going to look great!

I went to a very sexy wedding reception on the weekend at The Sultan's Tent on Front Street. The food and wine were fantastic! The decor is beautiful, red, golds, and dark wood (set up as Moroccan tents). The belly dancing was the sexiest wedding entertainment I've ever seen! It was really very nice.

Fate:

Hubby and I have been together for over four years now. In all those years. We have not had one summer vacation together. His work tends to pick up right around March or April and is going strong by June, July and August. I need to take a summer vacation every year to cope with burn out symptoms.

This year Hubby started a gig in April and told me that there would be a hiatus in June. My vacation was booked for the last two weeks of June; the hiatus, of course, was scheduled for the first two weeks. I was actually successful in getting one of my weeks rescheduled so that Hubby and I could take a week together. I made him promise to get out of town with me for a night or two. I even started researching some road trip ideas.

Happily, a week or so ago, Hubby found out that his television project is going to make it to camera! He gave notice at his job and started to have meetings about his own project. It only took me a couple of days to figure out that our vacation plans were mostly down the toilet. It seems like Hubby will actually be in Winnipeg the week that we planned to go on a little road trip.

Fate is against us. Shall I go to Winnipeg? Shall I crash the business trip, be the tag-along wife? I have mixed feelings. I can hang with Hubby's sister, whom I like very much. I'll get to go to my favourite breakfast joint The Falafel Place on Corydon Avenue and my favourite steak house Rae and Jerry's (50s flashback extraordinaire). The major problem would be the 'industry talk'. I am not exaggerating when I say that the industry talk will likely be 24-7. There's only so much a girl can take.

(If you are ever in Winnipeg, you MUST get to Rae and Jerry's. The waitresses still wear red polyester dresses and serve tomato juice in a glass on a saucer. The decor is new, but reminiscent of the original - wood paneling and red vinyl, with carpet throughout.)

A break from unpacking

This is my little break from unpacking and doing house stuff. We've been up since 5am (I know, I know!) just because that is when we woke up. I lay in bed for awhile and got up just before 6. We've been working on Hubby's office since about 9:30. We're just taking a coffee break and then it is back to the work, work, work.

I make it sound like we are busting our butts unpacking and setting up the house. Honestly, I feel we are taking our sweet ass time. It is hard living regular life with work, cooking, cleaning, laundry, socializing and also setting up the house. We've sort of become used to getting by without all of our stuff accessible.

Truth by told, I would rather read the paper or crochet when I have free time. I've noticed that I'm thinking more and more about baking again, making granola and scones and cakes. If I'm going to bake I have to get the kitchen fully set up.

Now that we are living in the house and we've emptied our storage locker, I notice how much stuff we have that we A) don't have room for, B) have not used, C) will likely never use. One problem we have is that our basement is an apartment for a tenant, so things that other people keep in their basements (large Rubbermaid containers filled with gift wrap, winter clothes, extra dishes for parties, wigs and boas for occasional dress up fun) we just don't have room for.

Well, Hubby is making some lunch and then we are off to the big Duff Mall (on a Saturday - YIKES!) to update our health cards and licenses at the convenient kiosk. I might may a pit stop at Reitmans for some pants for work. Hopefully we'll order the blinds for the apartment on our way home.

First day alone with the house

Today I was alone in the house for the first time. I had the luxury of puttering at my own pace, doing this and that, talking out loud to myself and then going out to do errands. It may not sound like much, but I LOVE being at home alone. Hubby often works from home or keeps house when he is between contracts, which means most of the time I spend at home is spent with him.

There is something about puttering on my own that motivates me. I even made a quick stop at Yorkdale to pick up one more curtain panel. I would never have done this on a holiday Monday if Hubby was with me... well, maybe not never, but it would have happened with a bit of stress - the jam packed parking lot, the crowds roaming the mall; he would have hated it.

Crochet - 1 Xbox - 0

Once in awhile Hubby sees an Xbox commercial and says that we should invite my nephews (9 & 6 yrs old) for a sleep over and rent the Xbox for them. Sure, sure, the Xbox would be for the nephews... sure.

Since the beginning of December, the video game commercials have been in high gear and Hubby's shtick has gone up a few notches. He has this cute little boy thing going on and even though he is mostly joking about wanting Xbox, there is a part of him that really wants this big boy toy. He likes to see how far he can push the joking around; he's watching for the first signs that I'm breaking, wearing down under his charming little boy routine.

About a week ago Hubby said something that made me think that he's really getting serious about buying an Xbox. My blood started to boil a wee bit. I turned to him and said, "The only way you are getting an Xbox is if you go on a weekly chore schedule! I am not going to be the one keeping this place together while you are sitting around playing Xbox!" Hubby laughed so hard that I started laughing.

(Looking back, I am a little scared at how quickly my internal nag came out to play. I don't want to become that kind of wife).

Last night Hubby was taking note of a few groceries that we need, bread being one of them. I said that I had planned on making bread (in the bread machine), but I got distracted putting fringe on scarves.

Hubby turns to me, cocks his eyebrow, and says, "Ummm, excuse me, is your crochet like an Xbox?"

For about a millisecond I thought, "Shit! He's got me!".

But then my logical mind kicked in.

"Uh, no. My crochet is not like an Xbox, because today I did laundry, dishes, and errands for us. I took the recycling out, cleaned the bathroom and tidied up! I got all those things done before I even started on the fringe."

So there.

Crochet - 1 Xbox - 0

Dreadful errands (CAUTION: whiny post)

I have a busy day that is starting out with a massage and chiropractic appointment. Normally I would look forward to these ‘treats’. I think I am dreading what comes after the treats: queuing up to get my driver’s license and health card renewed. I am DREADING the transit, the long (I imagine) queues, feeling hot in my winter layers and likely hungry. If I didn’t have the massage at 10am, I would already be on my way to the Ministry of Transportation office to be the first in line when the door opens.

I have another complaint. I never know what to wear when the weather is like this: cold in the morning and warmish in the afternoon. I have figured out that if I take the fleece lining out of my coat and wear a thinish cardigan under the shell I can hit a nice balance. Leaving my beautiful Joy Ripple scarf at home is probably best too.

Enough whining! I shall charge up the iPod, get my crochet ready (something easy for travel), and grab my grammar book (I’m working on tense agreement and commas) to help me enjoy my torture errands. Perhaps a stop in Kensington Market at Ideal Coffee for a latte will curb my crankiness.

Note about commas: confirming my suspicions, I have learned this week that there is a literary trend toward using fewer commas. For example, it is no longer correct to place a comma before the word ‘too’ (see paragraph #2). I don’t like it. It just feels wrong to me.

Other things I should do today: laundry, buy hook and eye at Fabricland (for the finishing touch on the Luscious Stole!), buy a few groceries. The laundry chore also makes me cranky. We live in a low rise, walk-up apartment. We take our laundry across the street to a nice laundry mat with beautiful front loaders. The heaving back and forth across the street is a huge drag (ha ha). But really, it is a drag and I can’t wait to have a house with our own front loaders. I imagine lovely evenings at home doing laundry in my underwear and slippers. No more heaving across the street. Good for me; too bad for my chiropractor.

I feel like I should balance the universe with a little appreciation of what is good about today. Here goes... I do not have to work; I have Hubby's Metro Pass; I can get around the city on my own; something fun and unexpected could happen while I stand in the torture queues; I can crochet while I wait or sit on the streetcar.

Enough blogging. Must go on a wee search for the paperwork for my dreaded renewal errands and then get out of the house.

Unstuffing stuff

I was going to stuff envelopes for Habitat for Humanity on Friday. Their envelopes, it turns out, were fully stuffed, so my shift was cancelled. What to do? What to do?

Well, I did a lot of sorting and purging of our 'stuff'. I've felt a pull to do this for many weeks. It feels like something inside of me is telling me to get ready, prepare our home, pare down our belongings to make room for something new. I don't know what that something new actually is. I like to think that I am simply getting ready for our eventual move when we get around to buying a house (I hope in the next four or five months). But, I have also been experiencing more and more 'MUST HAVE A BABY' feelings (a topic for another blog), so maybe my purging need is related to that. Whatever the reason, I just had to get into some drawers and see what was lurking.

Last week I cleaned out a closet and went through our books. We now have a growing pile of stuff on our dining room table that will eventually be donated to the Diabetes Association. It's an impressive pile.

Yesterday I faced my art supplies & stationary stash, as well as a junk drawer. I had envelopes in three different places, scraps of paper waiting in vain to be collaged into a brilliant expression of my mood, and four partially filled sketch books. I found old pagers, swim googles (Hubby's), keys for unknown locks, luggage tags, string and a Gustav Klimt address book. Six drawers of stuff were sorted into five categories: keep it; give to child who will appreciate it; donate it; recycle; garbage.

I feel like I have satiated the purging need for the time being. I know it is a only matter of a week or two before I get itchy to peak into another dark drawer. The gift wrapping drawer and office supplies are the likely next victims. Then there is the storage unit and other scary things like my filing cabinet.

Go Go Laundry Girl!

This little video has me all excited to do some laundry!



Simple, practical things like this really get me going. It may make my life sound small, but I just appreciate the efficiency.

Not only can I tell you in sign language how high our laundry pile is every week, but I can fluff & fold it a little faster now.

This little laundry tip gets me going in the same way that having creativity around me gets me going. I can't explain how it is similar, but I get the same excited feeling from being with Marvin when he is writing, or seeing a new quilt that Tanya has made.

Creativity is a fuel for my life. It pumps me up and keeps my heart singing. When I get a whiff of others' creative juices, my own juices start flowing. Doing one small creative act gets my head all whirling and churning and then it seems like there is not enough time in the world to do all the creating that I feel inspired to do.

This little bit of creativity has been brought to you by a t-shirt folding demo.