Photo update... GO!

My mom was here visiting over the weekend so I have a bunch of photos to post. We did the master bedroom "reno" on Saturday/Sunday as well, so I have some pics of that to share. Paul and my mom painted the whole room while I was at work on Sunday night, then Paul and I put the room back together slowly - after my mom and I did paint touch-ups on Monday. It's back together and looks awesome now, but I have no working camera until the battery charges. Pictures of the finished room will be posted tomorrow.

It's +17 C right now, and I just got back from walking the dogs for 45 minutes, in flip flops and a t-shirt and jeans. Amazing. It's supposed to be +23 the next couple days. Tomorrow's my birthday, but it doesn't feel like it. I don't feel 24. It's going to be warm outside, but I have to work. :(

Pictures from Sunday/Monday:

The new kitchen garbage can my mom bought me for my birthday!


Me and my mom


Ruby and Olivia sitting on my mom's lap!



Our master bedroom, after it was painted and some of the stuff is put back together.


My mom and I made cookies - they are amazing.




Our wedding collage, at the top of the stairs.


I miss my mom already.

I have to find the point-and-shoot Canon today (or soon) before Paul tears the house apart looking for it. It disapeared the day of (or around) our friends' wedding reception, three weeks ago. I thought I packed it in the bag I was taking with me, but it wasn't there. Now it's MIA.

My belly is grumbling - I haven't had lunch yet. I have to leave for work in 25 minutes. Too much to do, not enough time.

You cut me up and I keep bleeding... love.

It's one week til my birthday. Well, actually, in one week my birthday will be all over. I don't feel 24. Often I still have to sit back and take in the fact that I'm grown up - I've been living on my own for four years, and in Kitchener for just about three years. Sometimes I wonder what my mom thinks about me living here, building my life so far away from her and my roots. I miss her pretty much every day and wish she could live here, so we could see each other whenever we wanted. Good thing she'll be here in 1.5 days - I sure do need a my mommy-fix.

I haven't been feeling well the past couple of days. I think it has to do with the fact that I went rock climbing on Tuesday (for the first time in awhile) and possibly strained myself too hard. My chest hurts, my head hurts, I'm kind of short of breath, most of the time. My arms are sore and my back is aching - I hope it goes away soon. I need to be at my best while my mom's here this weekend (even though the weather is promsing to suck).

I think I'll go play Bioshock 2 until Paul gets home from work, even though I should go take the pups for a walk. It's dark out now, and I don't know long I'd even make it. My chest is starting to hurt again pretty bad. I think I should just lay down and play video games all night. Yep, sounds good to me.

There's a good chance I won't post again until after my mom's gone next Tuesday - since I'd rather be out doing stuff and hanging out with her than sitting in front of the laptop. Though I'll be pretty deprived if I stay away for four days. We'll see what happens.

Have a great weekend everyone. :D

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours first.

I feel like I can't catch up. Just generally speaking, I mean. I can't catch up on sleep (today I feel like a coffee-drinking zombie), on housework (the kitchen is a disaster and the laundry needs to be put away)... and I don't think I'll ever catch up on posting on my blog.

On the plus side, the housewarming party went awesome. There was probably about 20 people here at one point, and almost everyone we invited showed up! We had drinks (me, mostly wine) and lots of good food and we loved having our friends together! We also had our very fire fire in the new firepit. It was a great night.

Some shots from the evening:









And here's a link to a youtube video that Paul's dad put together from pictures and video of the party.

I'm a little bummed that I didn't take the time to get pictures of all the food I made and how they turned out. The cookies were gone in minutes and once I pulled out the cheesecake, well, it didn't last long either. I'm going to have to make the cheesecake again so Paul and I can have more than a sliver of it. It was SO good.

Mmmm, chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies:



The countdown is on til my mom arrives, and I'm very excited, yet sad at the same time. I haven't seen her since the beginning of December, but a four-day (3 and a half, actually) visit isn't nearly long enough. She's arriving on Saturday, and we have full day planned which includes the Farmer's Market, Ikea and dinner at Mongolian Grill. Sunday we don't have anything planned, but I have to work in the evening. Monday will be just me and her all day - don't even care what we will do. And she leaves Tuesday evening. :( It's going to go by too fast.

The other sad part is that I never know when I'll see her again. It's only March and we might not even go to Thunder Bay this year... who knows. If I get pregnant this year, we won't go. But even if I don't, we won't be able to afford to go anyway. I miss my brother and my sister and my Katie and the girls. I want to see them without having to go to Thunder Bay. Wouldn't it be nice if I could just teleport them here to be with me?

I'm going to lay down as I now have a killer headache. I don't want to waste away my day off, but it's not unlikely that will happen. Oh well.

There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard.

Today is a day for lists (as if not every day is a day for lists).

List 1 - What I learned about taking my dogs for long walks in our new neighbourhood:

- Ruby get tired out after half an hour, then wants me to pick her up
- Olivia pulls and jumps and barks at everything for the first ten minutes, then settles down and walks good
- Breaking a sweat while walking for an hour, wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip-flops is great, but in March? Weird.
- Both of the pups fall asleep for hours when we get back from a long walk, giving me time to myself to read, write or whatever
- Long walks in the spring are wonderful

List 2 - Things I can't find since we moved (but I know they are here somewhere):

- Paul's sanders (like, for sanding things). He wants to refinish these cool, old end table that his mom gave us, but the sanders are no where to be found. Guess we have to buy new ones.
- The sensor bar for my Wii. I refuge to buy a new one for $25 when I know that mine is here somewhere, but I really can't find it. But not being able to use the Wii for well over a month hasn't be fun. :(
- The double-leash extender for the dogs. I bought it a long time ago, thinking I would try it and see how it worked. It wasn't expensive. But it was amazing. Olivia loves to walk right beside Ruby and she doesn't pull or anything. I searched high and low for it yesterday. Of course I've been walking the dogs without it, but it's not the same.
- One of my fancy summer-y sandals, that I bought for a friend's wedding last year. I found one. The other is missing.

List 3 - Reasons I don't care (and don't like) that it' St. Patrick's Day:

- I'm not Irish
- I don't drink stupid amounts of alcohol and then puke and pass out, just to forget the whole thing the next day
- I don't really drink, at all (besides wine with dinner, sometimes)
- I have to work tonight. At an IRISH pub. I'm probably going to want to kill myself.

List 4 - Why I can't wait til this weekend:

- It's our housewarming party!
- I am very excited to make spinach dip for the first time, hummus (which I make all the time), cookies and cheesecake. The baking starts tommorrow!
- We love having friends over, and this Saturday we're having all our friends over at once.
- We are hopefully having a fire in the backyard for the first time!
- It'll be less than two weeks til my birthday!

Annnnnd List 5 - What I want for my birthday:

- A hug and kiss from my mom (I'm getting that in a week and a half!)
- The whole weekend off (don't think I'll get this)
- Get my ears cut to an inch and a quarter (Paul promised!)


Happy Wednesday-and-two-days-away-from-the-weekend!

Well she never was the best at following the trends.

I haven't posted in a week or so - which is totally unlike me. Last week kind of sucked and flew by, as well. I'm glad that week is over and we can move on and start getting the house ready or the housewarming party this weekend!

Saturday was Cookie and Ashley's wedding reception. It was a long day, but everything turned out great and fun was had by all. I forgot my point-and-shoot, so I only had my Blackberry to take pictures with. But I managed to get a few good ones, including these two:





Now, as I tore apart the office and bedroom last night looking for the point-and-shoot, it appears to be lost. I was sure that I had changed the battery and put it somewhere "safe" to bring to the reception, but now it's missing. Crap.

Today is my only day off this week, until Saturday. I plan to clean the office, the bedroom and the kitchen today. I need to vacuum (I feel like I'm always vacuuming), dust, and mop the kitchen floor. I might put off the mopping, since I'll have to do it again before the party anyway. I also plan to get some of the food ready, since I won't have much time the rest of the week.

What I'm making:

Antijitos (a random picture from the internet, but mine look pretty similar)



Spinach Dip (and buying Pumpernickel bread)

Chocolate Chip cookies (with butterscotch bits)

Chocolate Cheesecake

Plus, we are getting a fruit and veggie tray and I'm going to make this broccoli dip.

Cross your fingers all the food I'm making turns out good, please.

Speaking of food, last night I decided to make a package of vanilla pudding I had in the cupboard, for dessert. I bought a box of Oreos on the weekend (for the above cheesecake) and realized I didn't need the whole box - so I crumbled some up and put them in the pudding. SO good and so simple.





To end this post (and just before I go take the pups for long walk on this beautiful day), I'll let you see a couple good pictures that I took of said pups. I told them they could have a treat if they sat nice for some pictures... so they are waiting, for their treats.

We'll never have to listen to anyone, about anything.

I feel very negative today. I hate my job. I basically got told to either quit now or my boss will find some way to have me fired. He wants to hire new people for the summer (and I'm one of the only "old" staff left), and he wants to train them himself and have them kiss his ass and bow down to him. He knows I won't do this. I've been with the company for two years and he comes in and wants to change everything, and has, alot, so far. I guess the staff is next to be changed.

So I'm applying for a new job today. Sending out lots of resumes online, as well as heading across the street to the plaza to apply at those store. Cross your fingers I can get something soon.

There's alot to do before our party in 1.5 weeks. I made a list. Most of it includes Paul hanging shelves/picture frames and some of it involves doing laundry and baking/cooking. Today, I don't feel like doing anything.

It's just me and Ruby home today, since Liv is at the vet, getting spayed. Well, her spay is finished, but they keep them overnight and we can pick her up in the morning. I called to check up on her and they said she is doing good. I'm angry that it costs nearly $400 to get her fixed, but glad she won't go into heat or ever have to have a c-section, if she got pregnant. But, really? $400?!

I'm in a bad mood and I feel like going back to bed. I hate this feeling.

If I could live anywhere...

Hands down, it would be Ikea.

We had a great weekend, although of course it went by too fast. On Saturday morning, I went to the dress fitting with the bride. My dress was good, no further alterations needed. It's this dress, or something very similar:



There will be plenty of pictures of me in it, after this weekend coming up.

Then I had a haircut appointment - which went awesome. I hadn't gotten a cut since early December and it was much needed. Now it's short and light and I love it. No pictures yet, hopefully next post.

Paul and I planned to head to Ikea (about an hour drive) this weekend. He wanted our friends to come, so we were going to go Sunday. Then they said they couldn't go anymore - so I decided to go Saturday! We headed out right after my haircut and got there around 4:30pm.

We had a list. We knew we wanted nightstands, lamps, a piece of artwork and a bedframe, plus all the little stuff that we always find when we go there. We left with two nightstands, two lamps, two waste baskets and a new kitchen table and chairs! The bedframe wouldn't fit in the car - we are going again when my mom comes to visit and we'll rent a van for the trip, so we can buy our bedframe.

Ikea, I love you. But please don't ever move to Kitchener or we will go broke. Kthanx.

Our nightstands and lamps:





And our perfect-for-us kitchen/dining room table:



Paul put the table and chairs together last night when I was at work, and decided to set it up all fancy for when I got home. It looked great, with our serving platter and fancy-pants place settings from the wedding!




Yesterday was a bit of a rushed day. We had to run over to Walmart to grab some stuff for Paul's lunch for the week, and I had to drop into La Vie En Rose to get a new strapless bra for this weekend. Walmart took for-ever. The line we (Paul) chose was long, and was moving so slow. When we got to the front (second in line) it took at least 15 min. for the people in front of us to get through and pay. The lady working the til was old and slow, and I was hungry and annoyed. We then had to rush home, I ate lunch, then we hurried over to Paul's parents' house to drop off our taxes stuff - then we had to rush me to work. Rush, rush, rush.

I hope this week goes by fast - though with my current schedule it's bound to do the complete opposite. I am off Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday this week - so once again I'm working every other day. SO annoying. But at least I'm off Saturday - though it'll be a busy, wedding-filled day.

Here's a cute picture of Ruby and Olivia to end this Monday post - Olivia is going to the vet to get spayed tomorrow morning, and she'll be there all day and over night. We are going to miss her!

We looked like giants, in the back of my gray sub-compact.

I had such a wonky day on Monday. Getting up at 7:30am is really not my thing, but doing so after I worked until midnight Sunday night... not fun. I, of course, stayed up til 2:30am to spend time with Paul, and only got five hours of sleep, if that. I was on the bus by 8:30am and started work at 9am. At least I got in 8 hours of work, and was home again before six... that never happens. I was off yesterday, which was really all that mattered.

Yesterday was my baking day. It was so much fun. I just blasted my music and made super delicious sugar cookies, and coffee flavoured icing. I used my stand mixer (obviously) and my cookie press, that Paul bought me for Christmas.

My cookie press:





I made cookies in the shapes of hearts, flowers and... whatever that third one is. :P







I wasn't sure about the icing I made (it wasnt thickening) so I only iced a few cookies and put them in the fridge to see if it would get better. It ended up tasting really good, but still runny. Oh well.



In the end, after doing about five trays of cookies (I'll cut in the recipes in half next time), I ended up with over 60 cookies! I brought some for our friends to eat last night when they picked me up for climbing, and Paul ate a whole lot when he got home from work. I also put a bunch in his lunch for today.



~~~~~

I need a haircut so bad. I've needed one since the beginning of February, but aparantly a $60 haircut wasn't in the budget (though, we did have to put out $1500 for appliances before we moved in here...). Plus, my hairdresser changed salons in January and I finally tracked her down and made an appointment for this Saturday... following my final dress fitting for the bridesmaid dress. I wish tomrrow was Saturday. Three more days... three more days...

I'm pretty excited for my mom to come visit in one month. We are already planning an Ikea trip, and a visit to the Farmer's Market, amoung other things. I love when my mom's here. But four days is never enough :( I wish she lived here.

I am starting to make lists for the Housewarming Party, which is in 2.5 weeks! We got our fire pit for the backyard, some things for the downstairs bathroom and a new shower curtain for the upstairs bathroom. We need alot more before the house is ready for the party.

- New kitchen table that seats more than two (four, probably, I wish we could get one that seats six)
- Bedroom furniture (night stands, dresser, bed frame, all from Ikea)





- We need to put up the frames we bought last weekend
- Need to go grocery shopping for food-related stuff for the party

Ugh, off to work I go - only after going for a quick walk with the dogs and running over to Sobey's to buy bus tickets. Happy Wednesday!