Work and the Season are Getting in the Way

To all my wonderful dear blog friends I just wanted to say that I am so frikken busy with the season and work that I am not blogging (hmm what is this called??) and worst yet I am not reading.  I miss reading all the blogs most of all.  As I have mentioned I am pleased that I have the Christmas spirit back in my life but right now its taking up a lot of my time.  I also believe I complained outloud to one too many people that I was slow at work (I dislike being slow but its the nature of the beast here).  Well I received a HUGE task that is due by the end of the year.  Honestly I am pleased for the task - I love solving problems, digging up information and creating spreadsheets - but its keeping me from fun online time.

As soon as I am finished I will be back -- just know I adore you all and miss you terribly.

Fashion Disasters and Awards Ceremonies

Alright I am not talking about the red carpet for the Oscars or the Grammys, I am talking about the Award's Ceremony I just attended here on campus.  First - who are all these people??  I thought it was only about me - moving on.

I guess I have watched one too many episodes of What Not to Wear but if either Stacy or Clinton were here on campus we would have to bring out the portable defibrillator.  In no particular order (and what I can remember) here are the worst of the worst. 

First to the gentleman that got on stage with his winter jacket on - there is a reason we had a coat rack at the reception area.  You looked like some homeless guy that wandered in off the street - no offense to any homeless people.

Second, I am not sure who told you that brown pirate boots are cool but they aren't and they are especially awful when you have grey flannel slacks tucked inside.

Third - sweetie Value Village just called and they are missing a midnight blue crushed velvet top and matching ankle length skirt.

Fourth -I am not sure who told you that wearing a paisley chiffon handkerchief skirt and clunky boots looks good but it doesn't!!

I guess by now you can tell that I was bored and had nothing better to do that figure out blog fodder. 

I also have two honorable mentions. First to the manager that wore the short skirt with dark hose, actually short skirts shouldn't be worn when you are over 50 (and your legs aren't that great). And if you do, best when you are standing like that on a podium to keep your legs together somewhat. The other is to the female that received her 25 years of service -- frankly for the whole time I have known you its more like 25 years of sullen miserable bitchiness and would it kill you to smile for the camera.

Now for the sake of being honest I looked (I really looked) to find any pictures of me in a fashion disaster and there are none because I destroyed them all dress to perfection at all times.

Oh and for interest sake it was for my 15 years of service - Cue Applause!!

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Best part of this is that I can go all over the map with my thoughts.  Sort of like if you hung out in my brain - sometimes I can't even keep up with myself. 

Frustration on a few levels.  I am dealing with losing some weight (not a bad thing) but as I wrote in my other blog I am frustrated with the sizing of clothes and I am in the fabulous conundrum of being between sizes.  I know I am not alone in my frustration but we just wish the clothing manufacturers would get their act together and figure out what are the real sizes and who invented size 0??

My son is frustrated this week and I can't help but laugh at him.  He grew up skiing on Whistler Mountain its one of his favourite play grounds mountain biking in the summer and skiing in the winter.  Of course that was before he became a home owner in the middle of huge renovations.  I was over checking the progress on the weekend and he was lamenting that he has to go to Whistler for four days for work.  Of course he is doubly frustrated.  First because its taking him away from all the work at home and he will be working during play time at Whistler so all he can do is sit around at night by himself.  With any luck some of his friends will be up there.  I honestly never thought I would see the day that my son would dread "having" to go to Whistler.

Good things - I have totally relaxed about our new basement.  The room is finished and I LOVE it!!  I made good choices and I have completely relaxed that its a catch-all for our orphaned furniture.  The contractor that was doing the finishing work had done the painting a couple of months ago (sky blue) so when he was painting the baseboards a chocolate brown he called his boss to check if he made a mistake.  Our main contractor Ty (yes I have a cute contractor named Ty) said he was doing the correct colour - the poor kid was so confused until he started to install the baseboards and then he saw my vision.  It was shades of every home decorating show I have seen where the designer says "just stick with me until you see the final look".  But at the end of the day I accomplished what I was really aiming for - a totally function extremely comfortable and inviting room and yes my dad's burgundy leather Lazy Boy recliner has a place of honour (thanks Dad!!)

Christmas season - yes its coming faster than I ever want.  We spent the last two days moving stuff up and downstairs - and put up the tree.  All I have to do is decorate.  By the time we had finished all our other chores doing the tree was just not in the cards.  I keep my decorating to a minimum but there is always something each year I want to purchase.  I should have bought them the other day when I saw them.  When will I learn that lesson.

Hostess gifts -- who invented that deal?  We are going to my husband's work function party on Friday.  Its a potluck dinner (things are low key this year) and one of the other physio's is hosting.  So I love to take a little something to my hostess (yes I fell for that years ago).  Its even tougher when you really don't know the person and getting info from my husband is next to impossible (he should have been a spy).  To top it off my usual go to items (chocolates or cookies) is out because her husband has a severe nut allergy.  EVERYTHING I looked at in the store had "traces of nuts".  I need to make this simple but the thought of risking someone's life is just not pleasant.

Ok I could ramble on about a few other subjects but time to get on with the day (I am at work you know).  Sometimes I dislike working at a job that has slow times (just sometimes).  Right now so close to the end of the term no one wants or needs me.

Infidelity

And no this isn't about celebrities. All of them including our latest applicant into the horn dog hall of fame have been discussed to death on the air, in print and over the internet.  All these people were humans first so obviously ready and able to fall with the rest of the population.

What this is about is my feelings over this insiduous affliction throughout the marriages all across this planet.

Back many many -- many years ago I was a young 20 year old and I fell for this gorgeous Kiwi (New Zealander).  We worked together - he was married (and NO I did NOT break up the marriage) so totally untouchable in my mind.  I watched as some of the other married ladies I worked with lusted after him, one even left her husband in hopes that he would notice her.  We rarely talked at work, but it didn't stop me from admiring from afar.  About six months after we first started to work together we were at one of our endless parties after work (it was the 70's).  He asked me to dance and then proceeded to flirt with me.  I wouldn't have any part of it, and he kept assuring me that he was separated from his wife  -- ya right.   That didn't stop me from getting to know him a bit better at the party and giving him my phone number.  I thought (oh I was so smart - not) that if he was truly separated he could take me out on Good Friday - no married man would be allowed out that night - right??  Well as it turns out he was totally separated - it was the third and final separation within their very short marriage - he left her the first time six weeks into the marriage.

So here we are late 1978 he is now divorced our wedding date was set and we were going to live happily ever after.   One thing I had from the beginning was trust - I trusted him completely.  I would watch as other women would flirt with him and honestly he seemed oblivious to their flirting - no matter what he was mine and came home with me.  Never once did I feel jealous.  It was actually a wonderful way to be married.  As far as my feelings for infidelity it was something that happened with other people.  Not too many people within our circle and I just basically shrugged and felt sorry for everyone involved.

My feelings about infidelity changed dramatically in 2001 after my husband passed away.  I experienced the sort of loss that just rips your soul apart.  At that point I became even less tolerant for infidelity.  If you have been given a chance to love someone for the rest of your life - that is an amazing gift and should never ever be thrown away.  A few years later my best friend's marriage began to deteriorate.  I loved this couple - they held me up during my darkest days and I was shattered that they of all the couples had problems.  He cheated on her and I was her biggest ally during that time.  The night she called me that she found absolute proof of what was happening was a long miserable day and night.  He was out of town on business and she called for support.  We then packed up all his belongings and put them out on the front in trash bags.  She attached a note saying if he needed a place to stay to call  "The Bitch you are screwing at such and such an address".    I told him that night that if things were bad in the marriage (we had no idea) that he should have left before he screwed around.  This is my biggest thing - you took vows - LIVE BY THEM!!!

I am now married to another man that I trust inside out.  He doesn't dazzle the women like my first husband did - but it wouldn't matter to me if he did - we both trust each other.  One of the reasons I fell so totally in love with this man is that several months after we started dating and were in the middle of moving in together he encouraged me to fly to New York to be at the side of my previous boy friend.  He had suffered a life changing stroke and my darling sweetie knew how important it was for me to see him - even though the relationship had ended several months before.  Now that is complete and utter trust.  He also went with me a few months later when we were both in New York - we took the train upstate so that I could visit this friend again. 

I enjoy the fact that I see so many wonderful marriages here with my blog friends.  Cherish every moment you have together.  Trust and love each other every day.

Christmas Meme

Christmas Meme




I came across this fun little Christmas meme over at Alas 3 Lads and I thought I would play along... Lori E did such a good job on hers I thought I would do this slightly different questionaire.





1. Have you started your Christmas shopping? Yes for the last couple of years I start looking for the perfect gifts about August and store them in a special Christmas to come box



2. Tell me about one of your special traditions. We set aside one evening to decorate the tree and do it together - each of our ornaments has a story



3. When do you put up your Tree? First week of December



4. Are you a Black Friday shopper? No Black Friday in Canada - we have Boxing Day (Dec 26th) and I avoid it as much as possible - I hate malls at the best of times but crowded stores just give me panic attacks.



5. Do you travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home - I have been away twice for Christmas and disliked both times.  My family lives close.



6. What is your funniest Christmas memory? The year my son was three or four and he decorated the tree for me while I was at work.  His dad "supervised" when I got home the tree was decorated from the bottom up to about the three foot level. The entire top of the tree was empty.  Took me about a week to secretly move the ornaments - didn't want to let on that he didn't do it correctly.  That memory still makes me smile.



7. What is your favorite Christmas movie of all time? Its a Wonderful Life



8. Do you do your own Christmas baking, what’s your favorite treat? No baking whatsoever, no one to eat it except me (my husband only likes chocolate chip cookies and nothing Christmasy about them).  Has to be the fully decorated sugar cookies, my mom's best friend did those every Christmas and I loved doing them when my son was younger.



9. Fake or Real Tree? Fake tree fully lit - I also love real trees but hate, loath and can't stand the messy cleanup after. I put evergreen boughs around for the scent



10. What day (as a mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done? No panic - I actually kind of like doing my wrapping on Christmas eve.



11. Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve? Yes - see #10



12. What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas? Any time spent as a family, enjoying each other - we do it all year but its nice that days are set aside and committments made.



13. What Christmas craft do you like the best? I used to like doing cross-stich ornaments for gift-wrapping, but since the eyes have started to go bad (or are my arms too short) I don't do much cross-stitch.


14. Christmas music? (Yes or No) If yes, what is your favorite song? Yes absolutely.  My husband makes a new Christmas mix every year.  Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea and So this is Christmas by John Lennon traditional song - Silver Bells



15. When do you plan to finish all of your shopping? Date should be Dec 13 (is that ominous?)
 
If you would like to play along just leave a comment and let me know.

Manners - Where are They ??

Every day I do battle in the hallways at school - no one has any idea of how to keep the halls clear and yes your backpack sticks out quite a distance!!  As I was going out of the elevator at my chiropractor's last night my other pet peeve just had me boiling.  I have to fight to get off the elevator - the kids that are in the learning centre down the hall have no concept that they should wait until the person on the elevator exits.  So I had this whole wonderful rant ready to rock and roll today.  Then of course last night we are watching one of our favourite shows.  Each week Rick Mercer does a Rant - I have never seen him do a rant that wasn't political until last night. He lets loose with this Rant and of course was a thousand times better than what I would have done -- so with no further delay I bring you Rick's latest Rant.  Take it away Rick.....

Please Pass the Cheese to go with my Whine!!

Happy December 1st to everyone out there and this will be my first and last (hopefully) Christmas Whine.  Backtracking a bit - I have always enjoyed finding and buying just the right gift for people.  I am a people person and like to pay attention to people - this is part of being able to seek out the right gift.  My family is really good at this also.  My mom stumbles a bit and tends to buy people what she would like but her heart is in the right place.  Now I am in this new family (ok almost 5 years) and I still can't get used to telling them what I want for Christmas.  If you don't know and can't be bothered in listening and paying attention then just give me a gift card or nothing.  So that is my first Whine for this post.  Now for my second.

Now that I have to tell people what I want I am doing my best to figure out small items that I really want to receive as gifts.  I need a new stainless steel travel mug.  I would like a large shallow cast iron pan.  So there are two easy things.  Now for the one that is bothering me the most.  I got married the first time 30 years ago (YIKES!! I am too young for that - shhhh about my 29 year old baby) and at that time a few of my friends decided that I wanted the brown corning wear mixing bowls and matching cook ware.  So its functional and unbreakable - yes it could break but I am very careful with all my stuff so its lasted over 30 years and I use them almost daily.  So for over 30 years - everyday-I -use- these-brown-bowls.  Lets just say I am tired of them and for the last few years I have lusted after those gorgeous heavy ceramic mixing bowls - I see them on all the cooking shows.  So now I make up my mind its time to semi-retire the brown bowls and move to some beautiful primary colour ceramic bowls.  Easy? Nope!!  Closest I can find - now that I want them is these ones from Le Crueset nice eh??

Wrong they are silicone and actually I really like the ones that are coloured outside and white inside.  I can find them in single colours which I guess is what I have to settle for. And I will tell you aside from cobalt blue the colours for 2009/2010 are rather muddy and ugly (in my opinion).

Does this happen to you?  Do you see something over and over and when you decide this is what you want that item or something similar no longer seems to exist.  Damn you Martha for showing me what gorgeous cookware can really look like.

So that's my Christmas Whine for 2009 (cool it rhymes).

***UPDATE*** - thanks to Lou I can visually see exactly what I want - only problem they are NOT AVAILABLE any more - sighs  but here they are in full ceramic colourful glory.