eye time

white chocolate, chocolate cookies
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Today was one of the brightest days I've seen in a long time. It was just gorgeous outside, sparkly, clean, beautiful. The day was also cold but not booger freezing in your nose cold so it was tolerable if you were dressed for it.

This morning I had an appointment with my eye doctor. I see her every two years and this year, I knew I'd need new glasses. I've ordered some but because the doctor's office is closing for the holidays, I won't get them until after I'm back to work in January. I can't wait to get them. This time, I've noticed a big change in my vision, mostly for distances, and will be really happy to be able to see better!

Last night, we had call from other driver on Mark's cab. The cab had died (fortunately enough) right near the cab office. There is a garage there so it was towed in for the guys to look at this morning. Mark called them when they opened but unfortunately, the car wasn't ready until after 3 p.m. This left Mark with an unplanned day off. It worked out really well though. He was able to drive me to my appointment and when he picked me up, we did some errands.

Shopping, this close to Christmas, when you aren't in a hurry or a crush to finish up anything is really interesting. Watching folks in a panic, rushing, seeming a little stressed, I felt a little bad for them. I do realize though that for some folks, this is all part of the holiday experience. Odd thing to want to experience but then some folks are odd. We had four or five stops to make, had lunch along the way (nothing fancy, just hot dogs at Costco) and were home by early afternoon.

I did a little bit more baking this afternoon but tomorrow I'll do my "bake-a-thon." I have everything I need right here and I have no plans or any need to go anywhere tomorrow so I'll just putter away at it all day long. The dogs are getting used to me being in the kitchen. They spend their days in the kitchen so it is sort of like I'm invading their domain, I understand. They've both been really good the past few days. Right now, they are both sleep in the doorway to my office. They are snuggled up against each other and it's just the cutest thing.

long weekend

living room lamp
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We're enjoying a long weekend here in Canada this weekend. It's Thanksgiving tomorrow. We're going to be celebrating later today with my parents. It'll be the first time in a couple of days that I've been out of the house actually.

I took Friday off as a lieu day for working the other weekend and I just hung out around the house with Sam and did very little. Yesterday, Mark was home with us and while we had a long list of things we wanted to get to (continuation of winterizing the yard) it didn't happen. We just vegged out, watched TV and did very little.

Honestly, this cold we've both got is just hanging on and on. This morning I've been coughing almost non-stop. I say almost because I haven't coughed in about 30 minutes now and I'm trying not to talk because I'm afraid if I do talk, I'll start coughing again. Two weeks now we've been sick. I'm actually sick of complaining about it if you can imagine.

Hopefully, getting out into the sunshine and wandering further than the back yard will perk us up a bit.

Teddy

Teddy
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Today has been a very good day.

Right now, as I type this, I've got Abbey Road on the stereo and a sleeping puppy at my feet. LIfe is good.

I think it's pretty much a given that my posts will be a little puppy-centric for a while.

We had a pretty full day and it was full of firsts for Sam. Since we got him home, he's not met any new folks (although he did bark at a lady who came to the door yesterday trying to sell us a little bit of religion - it was hard to discourage him but we did).

This afternoon, my parents came over for Easter lunch. My mum always does the holiday meals but we thought that it would be a nice change for her to not have to cook or to clean up. When they arrived, Sam was really a good boy. He didn't bark too much, although he wanted to. We have been using some of the Cesar Millan tips we picked up from his show and they are working rather well. I was able to calm him down after Mark got him to sit. He was pretty nervous when they came into the house but eventually he settled down.

For whatever reason, he never really warmed up to my dad. He would go to my mum, very cautiously but even when my dad was offering him a cookie, he wouldn't go near him. I'm sure that the next time we see them, it'll be easier. Sam has had a lot of changes to experience this weekend.

He was pretty well behaved all through dinner. I gave him his kong bone with some peanut butter in it when we sat down and when he was tired of that, he had a nap on the floor in the kitchen (where we were eating).

After mum and dad left, Mark cleaned up the kitchen. We had decided that we should go out for an hour again today, like we did yesterday. I put the crate in the hallway, in, I thought, the same spot Mark and done yesterday. Sam whimpered a bit when we left but he stopped it by the time we were in the driveway. When we pulled into the driveway an hour later, guess who was smiling at us from the living room window? Yeah, Sam. He was pretty happy to see us and we realized that he had been able to get himself between the crate and the wall and therefore out of the kitchen and into the living room.

We didn't have any accidents so, no harm done this time, right? When I walked into the kitchen, Mark was holding a plate in his hand. "How many eggs were on this plate?" I looked and realized that two halves of a hard-boiled egg were missing. Mark had left them on the table. Sam also ate about a cup of cooked potato which was on the table as well. So yeah, no holistic puppy food for him tonight.

This photo is of another puppy. His name was Teddy and he was my aunt's puppy. He was a spitz pekinese and looks a lot like Sam. My mum kindly scanned her Teddy photos and I posted them with our pet photos on flickr.

new year's snow storm

new year's snow storm
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Once again, we are buried under a thick blanket snow. At least the weather has been having the good sense to dump on us when there are holidays and weekends. Storms on non-traditional work days does help to keep the number of serious accidents down.

We had a quiet little new years here at home. I spent almost all day yesterday packing up christmas and doing housework. Mark worked all day and had planned to work early this morning (going out at 3 a.m. to catch the end of the party rush) but last night when we saw the weather forecast, he changed his mind.

I'm so glad that he didn't work. I don't know what the main roads are like but it's been snowing here all day (and the snowfall warning has been extended so goodness only knows how much longer it'll continue) and the plow has not been down our street yet. I've only seen one or two vehicles go up the street all day. Our driveway is in pretty good shape - our neighbour plowed it out early this afternoon. Tomorrow morning it shouldn't take us long to clean up the rest.

Last night, we watched some season 3 episodes of the Office and then saw Dick Clark and the whole ball drop shebang from New York. Dick looks good considering all he's been through but watching him was a little sad all the same.

Anyway, we're trying to get back on schedule tonight so I will be heading off to bed soon. Hope you all had a happy new year's eve and wish you the very very best for 2008!!

decking the halls

decking the halls
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I have a disease. Well, it may not actually be a disease but I think it's a pretty serious seasonal disorder.

Unlike some folks who suffer when the days grow longer and the sun's rays are fewer and further between, I have an uncontrollable need to listen to "Christmas Wrapping" (either by the Waitresses or the Spice Girls) or "Last Christmas" (either by Wham! or Savage Garden - it matters not which). It's like I need Christmas cheese. Now, my all time favourite Holiday tune is definitely "Fairytale of New York" but there is something about "last christmas" especially that just makes me need to listen to it over and over again. I'm not sure if it's a sickness or not but it seems a little disturbing to me anyway.

Over the weekend, we were very busy. Our house was a filthy mess after two weeks of dog sitting and general lazy behaviour on our parts. On Saturday, I spent the entire day cleaning while Mark did running around for us. Yesterday, we went out and finished up almost all of our holiday shopping. I now have a tonne of gifts to finish (we got stuff for making presents with) and wrapping to do but with any luck, a lot of it will be done by the end of next weekend. The house is decorated now. I cut back a lot on what I usually do and I quite like it. Our theme, if we have one is cartoons (sponge bob and simpsons mostly) and snowmen.

Baking is something I need to do too but I tend to put that off until closer to the end and do a marathon session. I have a little bit to sort out this week, gifts for my office mates before I leave them for the year (and for my new job in the new year).

It's been busy but I like this kind of busy... well I will like it a lot more when I have my office type of work done (our last event of the year is tomorrow!). It feels good to be ending a year on a high note for a change!

bag o'eyes

bag o'eyes
Originally uploaded by Julep67

my halloween treat bags are ready to go.

I made up about 160 of them, there is candy leftover and I'm taking it to work tomorrow.

This year, we bought only stuff that we didn't really like, gum and jawbreakers and sour skittles and rockets.

the nice thing about this is that I won't be tempted to eat them. Mini-m&m's would not have a chance around here but skittles? I'm not worried.

I found my giant glittery door frankenstein yesterday so I think I'm ready for the "big day" now!

on long weekends

the long weekend hasn't exactly been jam packed with excitement so far.

yesterday, I went into the office for a little while. I thought I'd be there about 2 hours and it was closer to 5. After that, Mark and I dragged ourselves around the shoppes with crazy holiday weekend shoppers so that we could get groceries. no fun, although coming home and putting our feet up felt good.

today, so far, I've napped a lot and am contemplating laundry currently. I think I may have a cold but it could be a combination of allergies and a lack of sleep.

I can't tell. It's not overly fun, this much I do know.

Oh well, in keeping with the holiday weekend theme, we did have turkey sausage for breakfast this morning, that was good.

our street has a fancy porta-john

our street has a fancy porta-john
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I am up way past my bedtime.

Now, you might ask me why I still have a bedtime when I'm on holidays. Well, I have been sticking to my routine as much as possible (as far as bedtime and awake time goes) because Mark's still working and it wouldn't do me any good to stay up late because I'd not be hanging out with him and that's no fun, is it?

Tonight I've been scanning photos for a friend. I'm helping her make a slideshow for her wedding. Our old flat bed scanner actually chugged along pretty good tonight. I scanned about 90 photos in about 90 minutes. Not terrible huh?? Of course, my eyeballs are about ready to fall out at the mo so I think I'm heading to bed.

Other than that, today was a pretty lazy day. I watched a couple of movies (Sherry Baby and Fuck). They were both really good although Sherry Baby was a bit of a downer, an excellent film but not exactly a comedy. The lazy days are good, I'm enjoying them and I think I'll actually feel rested up when I head back to work next week.

I saw the ship come sailing in

I saw the ship come sailing in
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Happy Canada Day to you all of you hosers and hoser wannabees out there!!

I hope you either had or are having a really great day today.

We've had a good one so far. For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, we were both up very early this morning. We ended up going out for breakfast in Napanee and then took a nice drive back into town via the lakeshore. The morning sunshine on the lake was gorgeous this morning, it felt like a very Canadian thing to see.

We're not going downtown to see the fireworks tonight. I can already hear the kids in the neighbourhood letting firecrackers go off so I'm sure that we'll be able to see lots of colour from our porch later on and it doesn't quite get much better than that!

strawberries

strawberries
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Have you had your fill of fresh local strawberries yet?

Oh my goodness but they're good this year. I think that they are better than last year but it's entirely possible that they were just as good last year. I think you forget actually. Over time, you forget how good they were last year and just focus on the goodness of spring and the juicy berries.

It's an awesome time of the year.

Soon, we'll have fresh local asparagus (if we don't already - I haven't been to the store yet this week). You just have to love this time of the year. We're so lucky that we live in this particular part of the country and that we have access to such delicious produce.

So, I'm officially on vacation. I was scheduled to work this afternoon but took it off. Honestly, I'm feeling rather beaten up and I just wanted to get home as quickly as I could. I've done very little since I've been home, had some lunch, typed a little, that's it.

It feels good, I need a break, I know I do. I fully intend to enjoy doing very little for the remainder of my holiday. Mark will start his in a little while too and I'm pretty sure he plans to do very little as well!

H2O for Pink Floyd?

H2O for Pink Floyd?
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We this truck fairly often, usually when we're visiting the big metropolis of Napanee, Ontario.

Ordinarily, we see it in traffic, on Sunday, it was parked, in the parking lot of the mall we were stopping at for groceries. It always makes us laugh because of Roger Waters and it says "Rogers Water" and we're simple. At times anyway. Water trucks amuse us, but not to death, if yanno what I mean.

So it's almost the long weekend here in Kingston, just like it's almost the long weekend all across this gorgeous nation of ours. As an added bonus for us, Mark and I are starting a little mini-vacation tomorrow too. Mark is taking off Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, I'll be off all of next week. I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to be out of town for a couple of days in the middle of it but other than that, we play to kick back and do not too much.

I really love just hanging out at home these days. I have a few chores to get done at some point but seriously, the majority of my time will be spent outside. I cannot wait. I know that I must wait but it'll be tough. I can do it though!

roger and chocolate

roger and chocolate
Originally uploaded by Julep67

at the moment, we're on a little mini-holiday. yay!

we've both booked the next couple of days off so that we can go to Ottawa and see Roger Waters.

Mark's very excited and I'm curious about the show. I'm not a fan of big, huge, expensive productions. I prefer to see bands in clubs but I'm sure it'll be an experience to remember. My personal philosophy is that the music should be enough, that it shouldn't require all the extra stuff, videos and large screens and the like.

I'm also looking forward to my little break from work. The past couple of days have been really hectic for me, partly because it's just busy right now and partly because I've been trying to clear my desk off before my mini-holiday. Right now, my desk is as clear as it's going to be and I'm looking forward to taking it very easy!

a tip to the neighbours

saturday night fireworks
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

hey!

It's officially the long weekend here in Ontario. Actually, it's a long weekend across the whole darned country. Happy Birthday Queen Victoria, folks are drinking beer and opening their cottages in your honour!

Others will light fireworks over the course of this weekend. Usually, one would expect that this would happen at night, when it's dark. Not in our neighbourhood, no way!

About an hour ago, Mark was outside barbecuing and he heard fireworks going off. All through our dinner, we could hear them. Of course, the sun was shining so we couldn't see where they were coming from.

A little tip from me to the neighbourhood kids, no charge: Fireworks are actually better seen in the dark.

Goodness.

Happy weekend 24 weekend folks!

chill-eee

mum's garden
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

happy cinco de mayo people!!

My brother informs me that it's to commemorate a jar of helman's falling overboard but I really know what the holiday is about. I also know that it's been userped by folks who sell tequila and sombreros and I suppose that later this evening, we'll fall victim to that whole thing. Not the sombreros so much but I do plan to make margaritas later.

yum.

we're also barbecuing. a neighbour couple are coming over for dinner. should be fun although, the wind is sort of cool right now so I'm doubtful that we'll be spending much time outside.

Today's been busy so far. Up early doing some chores around the house, a quick dash to the grocery store (we were at Costco last night but you can't ever really get everything you need at Costco) and then some dinner prep. It's a good thing that the fun times and nice visits always make you forget about all the hustle and bustle that impending company always brings.

good friday

I love a long weekend.

today is a holiday here. I have booked off Monday as well so yay, four-day weekend for me!

we didn't really sleep in this morning, although we totally could have. I'm glad that I got up relatively early.

already this morning I have changed the bed, done a load of laundry, dusted knick-knacks in the kitchen and read a whole bunch of emails.

I am trying really hard not to care that it is supposed to snow all weekend, I'm just happy to have a whole day off with nowhere to go.

yay!

desperation is...

...middle-aged men, glassy eyed, frantic. wandering around in costco tonight...bunches of cut flowers in one hand, way too big boxes of candy bars in the other...trying to make the right decision. trying to pick a gift that won't look too much like they left it until literally the last minute.

aah, valentine's day...doesn't it just make you feel all tingly inside?

fuzzy lights

fuzzy lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

it's the last official day of my christmas vacation.

I have the weekend off too but this is the last week-day that I'm off, how did that go by so quickly?

I did a bunch of stuff today though, made the most of my last day off. I got all of my errands done early (like really early), puttered around the house, cleaning up and doing some laundry...

Mark and I even went out to mum & dad's to fix something on her computer. Not an overly exciting day but it was a good day for getting things done.

one little weird thing that we did see today, well, weird for January anyway, when we were walking up the front walk at my mum's, there were all of these tiny little bugs (a bit bigger than midges) flying around her flower bed. how is that even possible, in Ontario, in JANUARY?

on visiting

Fairfield Park Lights
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

today I went a-visiting

last week, lots of visiting was planned but the plans were shelved when Mark got sick

it's nice to see people and to visit and get all caught up on stuff and drink lots of tea

it makes me sad though, that it so hard to find time to do all of this visiting during the rest of the year

I want to visit more in 2007.

packed up

2007 punk rock calendar
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

packing up christmas takes a long time.

at least it takes a long time if you do it very carefully and neatly, which is what I tried to do.

yesterday was sort of funny, in a weather kind of way anyway...to me at least. on Sunday morning, we went out to do a couple of errands before all of the New Years Eve crazy people were out and about and I wore my boots, snowboots, because there was still some ice and snow on the ground from Saturday's storm. Yesterday, in the afternoon, I went outside to take down the lights from our porch and from the tree on the lawn. I actually wore flip-flops on the grass while I did this! It was that warm and dry and spring like. I didn't even have a coat on, just a fleece hoodie.

too strange. I don't really mind but it's very strange for this time of the year. I'm glad I took advantage of the mild temperatures to dismantle the outside lights. Once it freezes, it's almost impossible to get them down. Of course, I don't know that freezing is going to be a problem for us this year!!

Today, all I had left to take down and put away was the tree. All of the other ornaments were packed up yesterday. The tree is kind of piddly to do but I put on the first disk of the Freaks & Geeks DVD set and watched 3 episodes while I packed. Oh my goodness, I forgot how funny it was. Particularly, I forgot how wonderful Joe Flaherty's character was, very very dad-like and authentic I thought.

Well, now that Christmas is packed up and put away, and the living room is cleaned up (and the furniture all re-arranged), I think I shall go enjoy the sunshine that is shining in through the living room window. My goodness but it's been a gorgeous day!!

it's a new year

pile o'cards
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

The top of James McAvoy's head resembles the top of Rufus Wainwright's head. At least the photo on the main page of imdb did this morning. I thought that it was Rufus in the birthday box but alas, it was James.

Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully, you're not all nursing big fuzzy hangovers this morning. I was so sleepy last night that I didn't even make it to midnight. I fell asleep watching Family Guy at around 11:30 p.m. I woke up briefly at 12:24 a.m. but it was all over. There's not much to miss though, is there? It's kind of a one-minute holiday.

Mark was scheduled (or so he thought) to work last night. He even went in but there was a communication breakdown along the line somewhere and in the end he didn't. We were both kind of pissed about it at first but in the end, it was for the best because he wasn't out on the streets last night with all of the crazy drunk drivers.

Deciding what will be the first music you listen to of a new year is not an easy decision, at least not for me. This morning, I decided that this year's first listen would be "Dusty in Memphis" because it's lovely and I love it and I wanted to hear something lovely while wait for the Tournament of Roses Parade to begin. The countdown show is on right now, on KTLA but I'm dvr'ing it so we can zip through it just before the parade starts. I hate football but I do loves me a parade.

Speaking of watching, we did end up watching Thank You For Smoking the other night. I thought it was very good. I like the way it was written. It wasn't so much about smoking as it was about "influencing outcomes." It's a very funny film.

Last night, when Mark got home, we watched "Little Miss Sunshine." Another winner, in my opinion. The cast was excellent and it made us laugh out loud a lot. I particularly thought that Paul Dano was outstanding in the role of Dwayne.

Today, I hope to get the holiday decorations at least partially taken down. Even if I can get the storage boxes upstairs and start sorting things out today, that would be nice. Once that's done, actually putting stuff away tomorrow won't take long at all.

However you spend your first day of 2007, I hope you have fun and relax a bit before the post-holiday madness begins again!

santa's big fall

I realized tonight, although it's something I've been thinking about for a few days now, that when one of your illuminated Santa's fall down from the window, it's officially time to take the decorations down.

I think I'll get a start on that tomorrow. That seems like a good "new years-y" thing to do.

Happy New Year gang. Have a fun and safe night!