2 more sleeps

one of the small problems with maintaining the mindset of an 8 year old is the inability to NOT get excited about one's birthday. at 46 I have alot of friends in denial and defferal modes. me, I want to celebrate. turn on the music and dance, dress up and be outrageous, be the center of attention, have cake & candles, party with my friends and have all of them have a good time too! LUCKY FOR ME that i also have a bunch of friends that love to have a good excuse for a party and several friends with birthdays close to mine, so we are planning a multibirthdaycostumehalloweenbash and abby is even breaking out the disco ball! dance hall fame is bright in our future - so me and all of my other single digit minded confederates will be hootin' and a howlin' saturday night, S_A_ T_U_R D_A_Y_ NIGHT (the denial & deferral crowd will recognize that song heh heh heh) I'm sure by sunday that my knee will hate me, too bad!

i figure that it is another year survived, and if i'm doing it right, lived well. i didn't break too many toys. i lost a few friends and made a double handful of new ones. i've been in the "new" job a year and half now, and i think i enjoy it more than when i started if that is humanly possible. i've kicked the sugar addiction and replaced it with crackbook. i exercize more and managed to lose some weight, though that is a constant bloody struggle that occasionally puts even my persistance to the mat. i haven't quit smoking, but i used to smoke at least a pack a day and for almost 2 years now, a pack of smokes generally lasts me about 4 days - so long as i don't go to the patio. my back is in much better shape since i started taking belly dancing classes (and practicing at home) however now my knee is buggered, there's a "foreign object" floating around getting stuck in the most excruciatingly inconvenient places - waiting for an appointment with Dr. Babar (remember the books - really that's his name!) gotta love it.

my grandkids are terrific and they keep me on the ball. i got my first emails from them since before summer and it just made my freakin' day (we do spelling and since they are in french immersion the dk makes struggling attempts at remembering her french grammar and says thank you when corrected by the children). i say with pride that my family has made great strides in actually being a family this year. my daughter started having SUNDAY DINNER, and my son started going over every week - for a whole year!!! I think they may have only missed 1 or 2 sundays (mom's heart growing bigger than grinch's - but don't tell). Chris (Amanda's man) has become a regular part of the family, he's pretty hilarious actually. Amanda & Murray have managed a truce from the dysfunctional remains of their earlier lives. the kids get to visit with the uncle they just adore (Seth is convinced that uncle Murray is really a NINJA) and dk pops in about once a month to share the wealth and not interfere too much (stop laughing - i work really hard at that - and it's hard). dad & viv's health is stable and Mikey is doing well. the seesters and their families have aslo gained a little stability this year - YAY!!!

and it's thursday and though i'm not completely caught up i am not behind either - it's about the balance sister.

almost a week ..

i just realized this morning that I have not posted a thing since last wednesday. social buterfly that i am, I have been quite busy flitting here and there. Last Wednesday saw an out of town visitor, my friend Jo (abigail's mom) join us down at the pub which is always a good time (see the pics on crackbook) and as fate would have it the last of the deck days (now we know for sure that winter will be arriving shortly). a fairly huge chunk of the crew showed up some time during the evening and silliness ans smiles were the order of the evening. Thursday I had a lunch date with some friends that don't get together very often and it was like all the time between, just didn't happen except that sassyB is better than his hotness from 10 years ago and Liberty Boy is now an old married man. Thusday nite was a catch up at home, watch Ugly Betty, and deal with the sad revelation that iI have not been able to lay my hands on an essential part of my planned hallowe'en costume (it'll have to be next year I guess), so it was get the alternative ready to go and a knotting and a sewing the dreads we be... and of course catch up on my scrabulous games while sorting pictures and doing backups from the laptop. up quite late on the computer since my DO was Friday.

Friday was clean my room, do my laundry, charge the camera, get a bday card and get my ass down to the pub by 4 to save a table for my nephew Mason's 19th bday party. with no deck (took down on thursday when we weren't looking) i had forgotten how full the pub would be. I found one little table fr 4 way off inthe back where i cannot see who is coming in but managed within about 20 minutes a move to the front of the pub with a table for 6, 8 if we crowd the chairs. the problem started when more people than i had originally anticipated showed up - like 5 more - and I had sort of known they might be coming but never had confirmation - but it's our pub and a lovelier bunch of people you've simply not met. there were 2 gents sitting at the big lugnut table (seats 12-20 depending on how tight we squish 'em) so I asked them if they would mind switching and just like that - problem solved. it was quite the party, by 10 i sat midpoint in table and there was my family on the right side and my friends on the left and me, in proverbial pint heaven. i took scads of pics, some of which I haveposted on crackbook already, most of which are processed.

and then it was Saturday morning, and i was starting to drag my but a bit but it was up and at em nonetheless. finish the laundry clean the bathroom, touch up the graffiti covering, Peter and an unmotivated Deb came over after lunch and Peter installed the new office light fixture for me - though I did not have the correct lightbulbs - of course. then we realized that the fixture that I had picked out for the kitchen (second one) had the wrong sized base - so much for that, and Deb decided that she wants to put her fixture up in the bedroom so there was nothing to do there either. I will be making another to trip to HD to return, replace and pick up alternates and a new dimmer switch some time this week. then it was call the girls I haven't seen all week and chat with the grands, grab a quick bite to eat and get ready for a little karaoke at Bubba's with Kory and crew. too funny - Bren runs the karaoke and most of us are too chicken to sing, but we have a great time together and when the dance music comes on we're shakers and movers.

Sunday Steph and Hayden came and picked me up for a java at the Orange Cafe. ye gods but Hayden is one happy bouncy little bundle of joy! the perpetual motion machine with a giggle that lights up the whole room! he gets this one look - just the most mischievious little devil, and looks just like his dad. then we went for groceries at the local Safeway. I was absolutely ecstatic that I got out of there for under $150 and Steph was a doll and gave me a hand hauling the goods up the stairs since Mur had to go to work waaaay early that morning. clena the fridge, etc put stuff away, cook up some basa poi and get ready for supper with the grands, but that got cancelled so I tracked down some other people I hadn't been in touch with for a week or so and caught up with them and decided it was time to wash the bedding etc. finished up sewing the belly dancing veils, gathered up the library books to return tomorrow and attemted to go to bed early. hah! sstupid freakin nightmares... ah well.

and then it was Monday and happy to be back at work (sounds crazy I know - but really) only to find that the usual weekend influx had slowed to a trickle giving me a chance to catch up on a few other things! talked to the grands, caught up with the daughter, ratted on one of my best friend's son, tasty supper, dancin with the stars and slept like a baby last night YAYAYAYAYA! up at 5am today. in early to work, doctor tomorrow to see about the knee and my birthday is in 4 more sleeps.

running with scissors

very fast - love y'all. fighting with knee. busy at work. trying to get the house together for Deb's move and my halloween costume for the bday bash, and the belly dancing veils made for next monday and and and ... gotta go

huzzah!

for fraturday nights to sweep the blues away!

damn ...

step clickety, step click clik, step ceerack clik, step clickety, step crackle crunch - CRUNCH? what the hell was that? my knee cracked so loud the 2 girls already on the elevator heard it and peered at me with a sort of bemused "holy crap did that sound come from her knee-it must hurt- why is she even walking on it - man she should lose 100 pounds" amused expression.

no shit sherlock. and yes it does hurt. even the xray technician could hear it and when she did her eyebrows hit her hairline - results next tuesday.

so it has been an exasperatingly long week considering there were only 4 work days and whew! am i glad it's over! plagued by little or no sleep and that interupted by subconcious panic attacks where i am trapped by criminals or at the least, VERY nasty people with personal violence soon to follow, which i find myself helpless to do anything about followed by running away as fast as i can - into a dead end. jolting into reality sweating ans shaking and in fear for my life at 3 am, or generally 2.5 hours after i fell asleep. petrified to go back to sleep. and after the 3rd night in a row, too apathetic to even try. I just find something to do until it's time to go to work. but i apparently have no trouble at all falling asleep at my desk - while i'm typing - or reading ...

my son asked me if my knee hurt while i was running away ....

now i am usually competent at determining what the source of my fear is. it is a challenge to be ound and dealt with. usually something beyond my control, however my life is fairly together these days so i am at a loss. unless it is just a build up of those few things that i seem to be unable to stop or start myself from doing, even though i REALLY want to accomplish those tasks. quit smoking, lose weight, get fit, manage my money better. i have certainly improved on all counts over the last year - no question. NONE of them is uber-pressing. damn .. it must be something else - what is it?

this is my crazy. knowing that there is some underlying source of tension within myself and not being able to find it, though i am sure the lack of REM sleep is not particularily helpful. and i end up in all kinds of circular analysis and simply cannot find the key to the maze/labyrinth/dead end trap. then the doubt spreads and i start questioning little decisions and then it's my judgement at work, and next i am SURE that i start inventing things, and as karma wills, those invented little oppositions start to become reality ..... and the hamster wheel kepps spinning.

so my knee is buggered and i have to WAIT for results, my living room is full of boxes, i have several home improvement tasks i haven't gotten round to and 2 sewing projects. i missed going for a pint with my friend sam before she goes back to jtown. 2 teeth broke off my upper plate last nite when i bit into a chicken breast, i cannot stop sneezing and i am angry and nasty and bitchy as all get out. oh yes and the doctor told me that everyone's breasts are 2 different sizes (which i knew) and that though i think the difference is huge - it really isn't and that the hormonal changes that begin when you are pre-mantalpausal can cause some fairly strange things to happen, the hyper sensitivity of a woman who doesn't really want to deal with that crap makes everything seem worse. thank you docter frankenstein - you fucker.

but it's friday. and the denturist fixed my plate for free before 9:30 this am. for an hour this afternoon my knee didn't click. i got all of the articles for the newsletter done (a month ahead of time) and approved even with my second guessing myself STOP! - aha! - that's why i am doing so shitty on the crackbook friend quizzes - apart from the questions that i truly don't know - carrying on... my son is packed and has assured me that there is no problem with his move. my grandson is fine after is gatorpult on sunday. and my other 2 kids Chris and Amanda paid me back some extra money I hadn't planned on.

aarrrggghhh! pint time

the name meme

from la diva (i started this Oct 1 - and forgot to post it ;)

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following... They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
Your Name: donna kay
Famous Artist/Band/Musician: donovan
4 letter word: diet
Vehicle: don't got nada
TV Show: dancing with the stars
City: donnybrook, western australia
Boy Name: driscoll
Girl Name: druscilla
Alcoholic drink: down the hatch
Occupation: desktop publisher
Flower: delphinium
Something you wear: dolce & gabanna
Something you do: dance the night away
Something that you like: diamonds
Celebrity: donatello (the best TMNT)
Food: Das Hagen
something found in a kitchen: dishcloth
Reason for Being Late: don't have a clock
Cartoon Character: donkey kong

Each one teach one

i was reading an interview by Latifah today and came across those words. so simple and clean. no obfuscation, no attempt to mystify, making everything ever clear.

she was talking about female MCs but it goes SO much farther than that. past gender race creed or culture. we all have skills/ethics/values that other people may not have heard/embraced/known. and as adults it is our duty/role/responsibility to pass them on. your life evolves from a single set of experiences to a fractally expansive life-experience with each person you teach.

love, patience, persistence, self control, self worth, humour, honour, basic human decency - all things i try and share with everyone i know and in the process i hope that they will pick up what they need. teach by example. and that's just the ethereal, then there are all the practical skills we can pass along to others: cooking, sewing, painting, furniture refinishing, basic plumbing and how to wire a light fixture, musical instrumentation, computer skills, relationship building, not to mention the all important correct usage of the comma.

my mom was a teacher. she taught me by doing things with me not for me. she was great and i miss her every day. my dad was a banker and never taught me anything about financial planning except that i had to save my own money for the rainy days, i should always pay my bills on time, and I should not overuse any line of credit. all good advice, but what about GICs RRSPs and pension planning etc. he lives in moose jaw and i miss him everyday too, but in a totally different way ;) i learned the lessons, i just have trouble with consistent practical application.

each one teach one, that's how you reach one. make a new friend, help an old one

"To be compassionate is not enough. You must act." Dalai Lama

monday off

a festive fraturday night to catch up with the fraterfamilia with many toasts to Alexander Keith's 212th birthday. much frivolity, some really tasty canapes ond horse doovers, green antlers and glow in the dark necklaces, a walking camo-man and a portable kissing booth care of smilin joe.

saturday was a quick trip to the pub to retrieve my elephant only to find that someone also found a hippopotamus by the bar. a quick pint with the boyos and back to the house to do laundry and spend waaay too much time on the crackbook. watch a movie, run the antivirus, charge the camera battery - you know ...

so the trip to moose jaw went well except for the faceplant my 6 year old grandson did from the back of the gator. they hit a bump in grasshopper lane and seth was launched like a piece of popcorn out of a popper. glad they were on the grass and not the tarmac. it was heart in mouth time - let me tell you. he must of hit with the shoulder and chest then bounced sort of somersaulty to head and tailbone. picked the grass out of his hair then a trip to the hospital to be sure nothing was broken with, a refreshingly quick response by the emergency team - less than 2 hours - REALLY. nothing broken, but bruising all down his right side, a small bump on his head and some minor scrapes and abrasions none worth a bandaid, but he's going to be sore for a couple of days poor little bugger. not quite as scary as when my son fell out of the back of his grandma's moving station wagon (about the same age) and into 9th avenue north. the difference being that my son opened the back door of the wagon himself - and just happened to be driving the gator.

so it's back to the regular weekend chores today and brunch with my friend PJ shortly.

happy turkey lurkey day

past & passed

mongol brought his new (last october) wife over for a java last night. she's wonderful and he's a very lucky man. he has 26 guns now and wants to buy a harley which the voice of reason has kiboshed until the little niggles are all caught up (brilliant girl). i missed my little brother - heartwise - we've known each other for 20 years and he is amazed that little amanda has 2 schoolage children. he remembers my phone number without having used it in 3 or 4 years and he came bearing gifts - snow goose - mmmm nummy.

time passed but the connections are timeless - here - now. we looked at pictures to try and make sense of who the crew were and how they got to who they are now. i forgot to take one of them. they seem comfortable and happy. we spoke of the past, and people who had passed through our lives, leaving impressions and continuing on their way. it raised some ghosts for me.

sheila what happened to you? curtis are you still hermitizing in some spitandyoumissit flatlands burgh? brotherB are you still breathing? fortney - answer your thrice bedamned phone. keppel i lost your number in quebec and i have no idea what name your number is registered under. cora lynn you got married and i don't know your married name. brenda did you ever have any kids? shelley p - how are you and the baby girl/toddler doin? sweet cherry, how many grandkids do you have now and are you still in brandon? jen-girl, out on the coast i so hope you are happy. yvonne i hope you stayed out of jail this time. glen did you stay in the forces? mr. sinclair i hope you ended up married to someone you deserved. sugarman i still miss you. mike i release you and dave i forgive you, you poor bastard.

thurs am

i was sick - i have not been on the computer. i missed the celebration for a really great friend. i missed mofo delurk day. i missed meeting la Diva. life sucks.

on the other hand, my son has packed all his stuff and all he needs now is an address.

WTF - it's monday already?

after a 5 day week that was just go gadget go - it really shouldn't have surprised me that there was a fraturday nite abourning in this last weekend of September. the ladies auxilliary was out in full force - and some of the members we hadn't seen in a while also arrived: like crazy d and madame cucaracha (they have had WAY too much to deal with for frivolity lately) whom I've missed the past 2 weeks. I hadn't seen miss engaged and handsfull Joe for awhile either and palinode was looking almost happy (he finally has a date for his back surgery - light at the end of the tunnel) and the schmutz was the camera meister for the evening. the sheriff had his happy on and 4degreedan got in his share of riposites. darjill were discussing shrek possibilities for hallowed eve costumes. debpet stopped by for a pint before the fafard opening & pocket buddha and knuckletoes are always good for an anecdote or two. so many of the crew stopped by for a hug and a kiss or a giggle or two ~ boisterous behaviour and many many belly laughs filled the autumnal air and the weather was just freakin great! we patio partied into the wee hours until abby, the heinman, prettygirl and myself decided to top the night off with the traditional sidetrip to Trif's and munchout before crashtime.
saturday morning and 7 am and why the hell am i up and at 'em already? oh yeah right - it's cleaning day. blechhh - meh - fah - ptui (all not considered words in scrabulous) but it needed to be done. oh and laundry too (joy joy joy joy down in my heart). home d'kockaleekie soup (add real chicken celery onions garlic & potatoes to Lipton's chicken noodle) a quick trip to the store and it was a stay at home day but I did spend close to 5 hours playing scrabble with many many people, finished 2 books, caught up on Ugly Betty and Dancing with the Stars and finally watched the Bourne Ultimatum.
sunday - i was awake before 7 - but pushed angus bodhi cat off my head (he licks my eyelid to wake me up when HE thinks he should be fed) and decided to try and stay asleep a little longer. then the phone rang around 8 - a wake up call for the boy - and i pulled the blankies over my head and tried to ignore the world. bah humbug. not more than 45 minutes later i was up and moving. puttering and muttering, phone calls and family thanksgiving arrangements and then it was off to visit the grands (my daughter Amanda makes family dinner every sunday and I try and be there at least once a month) i took my much vaunted favorite Dr Sueuss books the library had ordered for me "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins", and Bartholomew & the Oobleck." the grands were not as impressed as i was. devi(7) enjoyed them far more than seth (6) and we played the piano and dinner was scrumptious roast chicken with smashed potatoes and kernel corn and REAL gravy.... treats for dk. then the chris whomped me at scrabble - twice. and of course it was then the "let's kick dk's ass realtime" evening in scrabulous because Chedly took me out 3 times and Ach'tung just slayed me twice - yet did i give up - of course not - for me it's all about the playing - remember - i will always be 8 years old :)

a la schmutz

several friends of mine have voiced a concern intrinsic to writers everywhere. who are my readers and what do they think? do they care? why don't they say hello? i know there's alot of paranoia out there, and some of it for a damn fine reason or to but really - most of us are relatively harmless and in the virtual world we don't even have teeth! so join us in

The Great Mofo Delurk
leave a comment on every blog you visit October 3, 2007

5 on the 27th #1

BE BRAVE
"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." Anais Nin

So la schmutzimo is doing the 5ox365 thing where she writes 50 words about someone whose fullname she remembers who influenced her life baji naji. like the great abigail, i will not commit myself to doing this everyday because sometimes social butterflies don't get near a computer for days on end. we could, but we don't ~ like camping trips and folkfestivals and week long patio parties which require 3 entire days worrth of sleep just to catch up from. so Abby, she had a great idea - once a month on a particular day she will write to 5 people of personal influence and keep it as vague as required in order not to stir the curent crew's drama stew should any of them be involved. i thought about it and this works for me too. SO ... I will do my 5 people paragraphs on the 27th of each month (MY BIRTHDAY NUMBER), though I tend to be a little more pointed than the world traveller ;)

1. In 1968 my grade two teacher Mrs. Flom used to make errors in pronouncing my last name. It's not hard, there are no silent letters and an even proprtion of cvowels and consanants. nordquist. she would call me southeast and northwest nordtwist ... get the picture. then the kids would ride me mercilessly and i was forced to bloody several noses and shred the knees of several promising pugilists in defending my family honour. Thanks for the help teacher.

2. Cora Lynne Olsen used to live 3 houses down from me on Beaverbrook Street in Winnipeg. She was by bestest friend from kindergarten until halfay through grade 3. I have lsot her in all our frequest childhood moves. i have pictures though. Brownies, guides, swimming lessons, the production of "There was an Old Woman" at Rainbow Stage for summer theatre. sleepovers princess hallowe'ens and playing doctor with the three muskateers in kindergarten. her mom wove on a loom. we were both auburn and her sister Anna Marie had the most gorgeous long blonde hair ... You made my life happy Cora Lynne. I wish I could find you.

3. Uncle Fred Debrecen. you were cool and urban and oozed style and rejoiced in me being me. you let me explore and deal with my own consequences. you were one of the first to notice that i was an old soul who only needed to be allowed to seek out opportunity to grasp it. the semi transparent human profiles painted onyour living room wall interested me in real art. thanks for taking Les and rollerskating and to the movies and letting us go to polo park with hmmmm - Randy and Brian? theytaught me how to play "george of the jungle on the drums" which i learned to play properly much later. You are wonderful and Leslie is lucky.

4. Thank you for marrying me in grade 5/6 Tommy. I wish my mom had not made me give you the ring back. your kiss made me weak in the knees and your dad was HOT!

5. mtg you didn't just break my heart you spent years shredding it. that's why it seems I get angry whenever i see your name. it's not anger it's pain.

hump day

my sudden realization that next wednesday will be in october (not like it should be a surprise but the end of deck days always does that to me) hit me last night as some of the crew shared a few pints and a toast to one of the best summers many of us had enjoyed in years. though there were many detractors concerning the high temps and humidity, most of us wallowed in it like sneetches on beaches. the whole payoff for the seemingly endless flatlands winters is the extreme heat in the summer. soak up enough of it and you might stay warm through the long cold night that is always just around the corner.

this year we even get a real autumn! the trees started turning about a week or so ago and the rain that has fallen was not accompanied by whirlwinds so the wooded avenues are capped by flaming banners of red, gold and umber, glowing against the deep green of conifers or against a sky that can't decide whether to shuffle along in dirty sheepskin slippers or make us shiny happy people with it's endless cerulean expanse.

crispy mornings and lazy just warm enough for a few pints on the deck afternoons, with evenings greatly suited to a fire in the backyard pit with cocoa and toasted marshmallows. not quite cold enough to start up the indoor fireplaces though the rads in my condo are occasionally practicing there distinctly out of tune chorus as they kick in in the wee hours of the morning. clunk clunk crank hiss splutter warble clunk. each rad has its own anti-rhythmic voice and I have at least come up with an idea to reduce the splutter hissing noises.

plans for the hallowe'en costumes are aborning. i am blessed with a bunch of crazy talents for friends who jump in whole heartedly to the madness of creation for the best holiday of the year! the house of pain has been booked for the costume party which will also serve as a celebratory platform for several birthdays, mine included on the 27th (which is actually my birthday), so I am quite looking forward to the hoopla. abby is even going to get the disco ball out! oh happy day!

my only problem now is to decide what i want to be this year - I already have 3 or 4 costumes i could use but it's startin' to feel like some added effort might be required ... and my twisty brain has ALL these ideas popping in and out. we'll see. i was into the tickle trunk (actually my old kitchen cupboards now employed as extra storage in my room) earlier this week for material to make a veil for belly dancing - which turned out smashing by the way - i wonder if i can find an old men's black suit jacket? ... and a skinny tie maybe ... and off the imagination springs down another creative path ...

well off to work we go ... hope everyone has a great day!

Daaaaaaay - O

de dayay de dayay de day ay ay O
daylight come and I don't wa - a - anna go.

another bright bright bright ... sun shiny day

ah feel good! whooo like I knew that I would now ...( little jazz feets)

belly dancing and belly laughs - cures the ills, at least for this morning - and that's all good ;)

thanks bob

and schmutzie, savia and abby .... too hilarious and a great idea

the Top 5 : la diva meme

for la diva and her homesick sister: we've started a meme for Kristen, each one is another flatlands hug :)

Who are your TOP FIVE FUCKABLE CELEBRITIES? (and it has to be celebs only, musicians are another species altogether) these are mine: in no particular order

1. Djimon Honsou
2. Sean Connery
3. Angelina Jolie&BradPitt ( if the diva can double up so can i)
4. Johnny Depp
5. Samual L Jackson

only 5 - that's just sooo limiting. now, what to wear .......

another week

hmpf! , apparently I've been rather less involved with my digital life this week. i didn't answer my emails for like 4 days, or go on crack book more than twice and I haven't said hi here since last tuesday.

my humblest apologies.

i have been crazy busy at work, had visitors from out of town, friends with problems that needed my assistance, belly dancing classes, bronchitis, the hilly billy patio party, a friend's dad passed away, one of the adopted tribe is off to costa rica for 4 months so there was extended family supper, a son that should be moving out next week but i have no idea what the plan is and a distinct and recurring urge to curl up in my nice warm bed and sleep.

but today i am wide awake and bushy tailed and off on a journey once again... wish me luck.

catch up

busy busy - everything went well till sunday morning. which sucked. long story, suffice it to say that there is a certain person who has let himself in for a freakin' whack of bad karma - though it was not related directly to me.

note: do not piss off a mom.

1st belly dancing class monday night. amazing - had so much fun, though i did scare myself when we started shimmying - there were parts of me moving that i didn't even know were there! quite hilarious with such a wide assortment of women. there are a couple of girls 16 or 17 right up to a grandma of 68. so when we started doing chest thrusts and hip circles the resultant movements were not exactly synchronized. oh, and lordy the arm circles almost set me on a flight path - there's enough chicken wing on me to graduate to a great eagle. YUCK! but that is one of the points, or blobs of taking the class. i did last the whole class and for such slow movements it's quite the workout on concentrated muscle isolations and you work up a good heat. i was exultant that this morning did not begin with my imitation of "the crooked little man with a crooked little house". my knee was kind of twitchy but not really any worse than normal. let us all pray to the hundred little gods that this works to shove me off the plateau i've been stuck on for a few months. i absolutely detest being obese. (lovely word - the doctor tells me it means weighing over 200 pounds - thanks doc, i think i prefer hefty)

then of course there was the power outage last night. i woke up at 3 am to spooky black darkness and could not for the life of me figure out why if the power was out did i keep hearing this beep beep beep beep beep, silence ..... and again .... and again . i grabbed my handy dandy kinetic flashlight and started searching - after 15 minutes i realized it was the alarm on my UPS (pc back up power supply). so i had a smoke and went back to bed sure that i would as usual wake up sometime between 6:30 and 7.

HAH! not after having a completely restless sleep from the damn power supply warning every 15 minutes - and you don't really want to turn it off now do you? needless to say i woke up with my alarm clock reading 12:47 and it was about 7:45. i did make it to work by 8:15, but I've been dragging my ass all day.

Letter to the American Power tower that got blown over:

I just wanted to thank you for my uninterrupted sleep last night. it was so restfule. i am jubliant that even though we supply your country with power at criminally cheap rates, damages to your own power grid result in interruptions in ours. Thank you oh brilliant canadians in charge of signing the Free Trade Act. this is really helpful.

finish what you start!

friday is here, finally. what a long week! work work work - but i was pretty damned productive even in my off hours. i managed to get "to done" most of what i could finish on my own from my "to do" list. you know those nagging little tasks that seem to fit so well into the "round tuit" category. sort the umpteen million tshirts that you haven't worn for 2 years and probably won't fit for another 2 years and give them away: done (i now have 2 empty shelves in the closet) finish deb's dress: done (she will be over to check the length tonight after work) sort & label the artsy craftsy stuff: done ( now i might be able to find what i am looking for) register for belly dancing class: done ( you got move it move it ) start the xmas list: in progress (it is only September, but I'm usually 3/4 done this by this date) go to the doctor and get some antibiotics for the incipient fall season bronchitis: done ( went tuesday & feeling much better now) get the photos i took for people resized, formatted and burned: done (with extra copies even) get all the interior plants moved inside before the frost: done (HAH! fie on you autumn) pick up cards and presents for September birthdays: done (that's actually a fun thing!) fix the computer: %$#@! - not done yet but not for lack of effort ( it appears it is format time) make arrangements to paint Murray's soon to be Deb's room: done (paint from Chris and Murray to do the labour) send out invitations for Darrell & Jill's last patio party: done (gotta love facebook) talk to the manchild to see what i can do to help with the move: done (will lend him my tower until he can get a new PC of his own - now THAT surprised him) make sure the daughter knows i love her: done call my dad: doing that tonight ( why do i always put that off? ) return the library books: doing today (i have to finish the last of them at lunchtime and they aren't even overdue yet) deal with the door with the missing panel: improvised ( switching office door for bedroom door and then when i can rub to fifties together get coloured glass cut to replace missing panel) catch up on my blog reading: twill be my evening enjoyment after supper

whew! what's really cool about all this is that i managed to read 3 books too.

and now the get rid of the round tuits list:
clean the self cleaning oven: this weekend (like that's hard - sheesh), make new steam caps for rads: next week (to muffle noise) paint the bisected living room wall and rad cover (have the paint just need to do the work) clean and organize the hall closet (on saturday's agenda before deck-a-dance) get the cat carrier from the sister: next thursday, do the seasonal change of wardrobe : 1st week of october ( it will be nice until then) lift a corner of the sawdust board in the kitchen to determine just exactly what kind of shape the 100 year old hardwood in the kitchen is in: by the end of september, fix my bedroom door knob: next week (need to get the hardware) oh YEAH! have a life!

so the weekend looks to be another busy one ~ Deb's birthday, Jaime & Curits engagement potluck, brunch with the family sunday and all the tasks already assigned. wish me luck :)