Thursday, June 30, 2011

Camping

No comments on my last blog... oh well, who cares. Time for another list. I am in PEI right now, and it is hot and sticky. People told me it wasn't really summer here yet- they lied. So while I sit here and sweat, and watch "A Few Good Men" (BORING), I will blog another list about fun things that happened on our camping trip.

1. Setting up camp before hubby arrived with huge rumbles of thunder going on for an hour. (Yes I'm weird, but that was FUN!)
2. Playing scrabble with W at the picnic table in the rain while holding the golf umbrella over our heads to stay dry so we could finish.
3. Listening to the rain on our tent.
4. Waking up (relatively) dry.
5. Insisting all day Saturday that it wasn't going to rain, and showing all the doubters that I was RIGHT.
6. Corn on the cob. Everything tastes better outside.
7. Sleeping in and waking up to the sound of birds.
8. Having the best camping neighbours one could want.
9. Watching W enjoy the freedom of being able to go anywhere in the whole park on his bike.
10. Fishing
11. Swimming
12. Dinner with the M's
13. Coolers by the campfire
14. S'mores
15. Raccoon hunting
16. NO schedule.
17. No computer
18. No phone
19. No emails
20. No work
21. No facebook
22. No electronics of any kind
23. Bacon. Did I mention everything tastes better outside?
24. Flush toilets- I appreciate them a whole lot more when I'm camping
25. We will be going for a week next year.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Kittens and endorphins

About 2 weeks ago we got J a late birthday present. A new kitten. He had asked for one last December for his birthday. We took him to Disney World instead. But a few weeks ago, friends of ours were giving away kittens that they had, and the lone female caught our eye. She is a mottled little girl, and Jon absolutely adores her. We all do- except our other cat. He has moved on from loathing and now tolerates her.

I have never had a kitten before. Max (recently renamed "Gigantor") was 6 months old when we got him, and not very kitten-like anymore. I have had a few puppies, and while they are as fun as kittens in their own way, kittens are decidedly more low-maintenance and even a little more fun. Here, for your reading pleasure, is a list of things that are more fun when a kitten is involved:

1. Hanging birthday streamers. (They are surprisingly resistant to claws)
2. Blowing up balloons (Not so resistant)
3. Putting on socks. You must be sitting on the side of the bed and the kitten must be under the bed for full attack potential.
4. Playing with a yo-yo.
5. Crocheting. Yarn must be wound into a ball and laying on the floor.
6. Watching the dog wag her tail. This fairly throws the kitten into a frenzy
7. Turning on the ceiling fan. I don't know if kittens have trouble with depth perception, but she honestly seems to think that she can jump high enough to grab one of the fan blades.
8. Typing on the computer. She always seems to know just when to walk across the keyboard.
9. Moving the computer mouse. Depending on kitten's position, the fun can be in the chasing of the mouse cord, or following the arrow on the screen and trying to figure out why she can't get it with her paw.
10. Having a daughter with several braids. These provide surprisingly good grip for claws.
11. Vacuuming. hee hee
12. Opening any cupboard. Kitten must always be fished out before closing door.
13. Playing the piano. She often does this all by herself.
14. Taking clothes out of the dryer. Note to self- always locate kitten before turning on dryer.
15. Working on the pool pump- this requires some explanation, but our pump is under the deck, and when kitten, who was watching me through the window, saw me disappear under the deck, she freaked. Apparently the deck eats people.
16. Watching kitten figure out where the food in the automatic dispenser comes from. Efforts alternated between attempting to pry lid off and reaching up inside hopper trying to fish food out.
17. Reading a book. Must involve a bookmark with a tassle.
18. Drinking a latte.
19. Wiggling toes while laying in bed. This is fun when the comforter is on top of them. When it's just the sheet, and claws and teeth can penetrate, not so fun.
20. Folding laundry. Apparently it's a big game.
21. Hanging dish clothes on the holder. And picking them up off the floor once kitten has pulled them down. Repeat as needed.
22. Flushing the toilet. No cats overboard... yet.


That's all I can think of for now. The little furball is asleep on my lap as I type this. She has been for a while, and that can only mean one thing. At some point between 3 and 4 am, I will be facing the wrath of crazy kitten.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

adventures and hippos

So I feel a bit like Avis from Julie and Julia this weekend. I hopped on a plane yesterday (thanks to my wonderful hubby who told me he and the kids would survive quite nicely for a few days without me) and have flown to Calgary to meet my Julia, aka, L, with whom I have been a pen pal for months now. And this weekend we met. Since being picked up at the airport yesterday evening, I have been whisked off to Banff for two nights of complete relaxation. It is a lovely clear and crips day here, and we are neslted in a beautiful little town in the middle of the mountains. I am in heaven. The only improvement would be to have the hubby and kids here too. Next time.

We spent the morning having breakfast across the street from our lovely hotel, and then we visited nearly every quaint little shop on the main street. I have fallen in love with the Christmas shop here, bought several little treasures there for our Christmas tree, and drooled over several other items.

In an hour or so, we are going to go horseback riding in the mountains. I plan for it to be more successful than the last time I rode in the mountains, when the first horse of the day decided to go running after a deer and nearly lost its saddle (and me with it), and the second horse tripped over his own feet and fell with me under him. I have been riding several time since then, but this will be my chance to redeem myself on a mountain ride.

After that it's off to Banff springs for tea, and tomorrow they are taking me to Lake Louise. What have I done to deserve to be this spoiled, I wonder?

Amongst all the sight seeing, we are taking and laughing and taking pictures and L is chatting with complete strangers and we are generally getting to know each other. Any worries I had of not knowing what to talk about have been washed away. It's more a matter of not having enough time to talk about it all. Ah well, that's what letters are for.

Time to go and finish my latte... mmmmm

Friday, October 15, 2010

Blogging is not facebook

Thought I should blog today. It's been a few days, and I said I was going to start blogging again, so here I am. I always try to do what I say I will do, no matter how small. Dependable people in this world are too few and far between, so I want to be one of those rare folks. I mean, who knows? There might be some pathetic soul out there who, for reasons beyond my comprehension, is just waiting for Bee's blog to make their day. I doubt such a person exists, but if you do, a special hello to you. How are ya? Hope you're enjoying a coffee while reading this, because the blog certainly isn't going to wake you up this morning.

It has occurred to me that every time I blog, I check the next several days to see if there were any comments (No, I am not fishing for comments here- just a statement). I rarely get any. Now I said in my last post that I was blogging for myself and my new BFF, L. So if that's true, why do I care about comments... then it occurred to me. I expect blogging to be like facebook. On facebook you post a status, sometime pretty mundane, but always tried to be done in a witty way. Because, although no one will admit it, it's a bit of a continual contest. Successful posts get a lot of comments, encite a large chain of "likes" and silly comments, that sometimes morph into a conversation all their own. I don't know why this is- it just is. So when a blog fails to get comments, we somehow think it wasn't good enough, that no ones likes it. I am here to officially say- who cares? I will write whatever drivel I like, because it seems to please some of my closest friends. I really don't know why you care to read my thoughts- to me they are very ordinary and uneventful. Sometimes witty, I grant you, but not enough for a real, authentic LOL (admit it- how many times do you type that to someone, and you're aren't really laughing out loud? That's lying, you know. Except for L- she makes me LOL so many times in a conversation that E has stopped asking what I'm laughing at. I think part of the reason is that most of the time he just doesn't get our silly conversations.)

Don't expect anything profound most days. It's not that I don't have profound thoughts, but I just can't be bothered to put them into words. They just kind of swirl around in my head, and when I have had either enough provocation, or sleep deprivation, they will come out. But usually they just take up space in there. Good thing I'm great at organizing and packing. Too bad I can't have a yard sale of deep and profound thoughts. People who enjoy that sort of thing could get some real bargains and claim them for their own, and I would make a little cash. Spend it on a manicure or something. How's that for non-profound?

And now for the long awaited basement update. Well, probably not, but I'm sure someone out there is mildly interested. Trim is all painted. A couple of the doors need another coat, but after that it's just touchups from where the walls got banged by the carpet guys. W has been in his new room and is enjoying his man-cave immensely. There are hockey and clubhouse posters all over the walls (so much so that I am almost wondering why I bothered painting in there). I have to trim his closet door down to size and paint it, but that's all that's left in there. The den is completely done. The tiling is done in the bathroom, and if I get enough gumption today, I shall grout. Then it's install sink and toilet, finish a wee bit of plumbing, and finish trim in the bathroom. Then all I have to do it get uber-electrician friend to come over and help me finish up the wiring (right now it's all still on one switch and only 1/2 of the plugs work- the 1/2 that the builders installed- mine are all still dead). Once that is done, we will move the TV down there and have a major family movie night and I will go to get my nails done. The kinds on the end of your fingers, not the kinds I have been hammering into things in the basement for the last year.

Alright then. You have your blog. Hope you're happy with it- but don't bother commenting, because frankly my dear... :)

Friday, October 1, 2010

Time

Last night, while working a midnight shift, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the store I was in had full internet, so I proceeded to check my e-mail. An even more pleasant surprise awatied me when I found that my dear friend, L, was on e-mail too, and so we proceeded to have a lovely chat. It was that chat that inspired me to pick up my blog again and write whatever thoughts I may have. No one may find them interesting, but I will write for me (and you, L- you seem to find all my funny little thoughts interesting!)

Upon bringing up my blog again, I noticed that I haven't posted anything since last November. Wow, that's a long time to be silent. So here we go- it got me thinking about time.

Time is a funny thing. I don't think as a kid I appreciated this at all. And it seems the older I get, the more I am baffled by time. As I sit and look out at my world of sugar maples (which are a very interesting orangey-gold this year), I am mesmerized by the falling leaves. I love this time of year here. Doesn't seem like a year since last fall, and yet so much has happened since then. Time is weird.

Last week, on Sunday, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the life of my dear nephew, who we shall see on the other side. All day long, in the midst of the happy memories and the sad ones, I kept thinking to myself, "Seven years. How can it be SEVEN years?" No matter how I did the math, it was always the same. 7 years. It can't have been that long, and yet it seems like forever at the same time. Time was weird that day, and I didn't like it.

My L wrote me a letter that arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I enjoyed reading the whole thing, but one sentence fairly jumped off the page at me. "A year isn't long for forever friends." Time is weird, but this time I like it. A year seems like such a long time sometimes, but she's right. It's not long at all. Not when you think of forever- now THAT'S a long time. Got me thinking of how much time I will spend with J someday... all this time will seem like the blink of an eye. Hang on to that, B. Happy thought indeed.

The older I get, the faster time goes. Yesterday it was funny. I worked a midnight shift, so I went to work in September, and finished my shift in October. Time is weird.

Well, there you have it. Don't expect them all to be this profound. Tomorrow I'll probably talk about something completely inane.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

In lieu of...

Well, since no one submitted any sort of suggestion for another on of my "list" blogs, I will subject anyone who reads this to the details of my big exam yesterday. Oh wait, I can't. I signed a confidentiality agreement. Apparently the use the same cases over and over again, so we are not allowed to tell anyone what they were. Suffice it to say I think I did well, but I won't know for sure until Jan 11. That is when I can call for the results, not a day sooner. Apparently it takes 8 weeks to mark a multiple choice test and figure out how I did on my patient interviews. Sigh.

However, I had a lovely 10 1/2 hour sleep in the hotel last night (aaahhh), and on the ride home today, it officially clicked in that I am DONE. I mentally checked it off my list while driving home, and was thinking of what I have to do next. Then I thought, "Oh wait! I don't have to do ANYTHING next- I'm DONE!" It was a lovely moment.

So, me being me, I came home and started to draw up plans for my basement reno. I plan to go to the store on Monday and buy stuff to frame walls and make a bathroom. I have enough tiles left over from the house construction for the whole bathroom, so for that room I just have to buy lights and fixtures. I can hardly wait to get at it. I think once it's done, I will move the TV back into the basement and have the upstairs living room as I originally wanted it. A place to sit and read, talk etc, but no big huge TV in the middle of it. Hubby may overrule me, we shall have to see.

I am also planning on decorating for Christmas next week. It is tradition to do it the day after my birthday, but this year I have to work that day, so I will fit it in when I can. Maybe when I get home from buying sink and toilet. Or at 11 pm... I am a single mom all next week, so I can do it when I like. Speaking of 11 pm, that's what it is now, and I'm tired. Time for bed.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Friday the 13th

How ironic is that. Of all the days in the whole entire year, all 365 of them, how many are actually Friday the 13th. Even the least superstitious among us know that it is believed to be a day of bad luck. Now, I don't believe in luck, good or bad, yet I find it highly amusing that the most stressful part of this little journey that I am now on would fall on that particular day.

Tomorrow, Friday the 13th, I am leaving at 5:30 am, and driving to the big city of TO to write an exam. From 12:15 - 6 pm I will be doing a variety of things, from presenting and defending my learning portfolio, to doing multiple choice tests, to (GULP) simulated patient interviews. That is the part where I walk into a room and meet with a "patient" (a paid actor who is pretending to be a patient) and have the kind of interaction with them that I would have with any patient at work. Sounds easy enough. It's even open book. But the thing that is nagging at me is the fact that I will be being timed. And watched. There will be a third person in the room. A person with a clipboard and pencil. And I know that every time they write something down, I will be wondering what it was. Was it a good point? A bad point? Did I miss something crucial? Would my advice just have killed a real person? OK, so maybe I'm taking it a bit far, but it is stressful. I take comfort in the fact that in the real world, at work the other day, myself and the other pharmacist on duty caught a doctor's mistake that would have killed an 8 year old girl had it gone unchecked. The girl and her parents will never know about it, as the mistake was corrected before they came for their prescription, but we done good.

I did this kind of thing in university. It was easier then. First of all, it hadn't been 13 years since I'd written any kind of test. Secondly, my knowledge was all fresh. Thirdly, the material I was tested on had just been covered in a course. I knew what to study, I knew where to focus my efforts. I have been studying all week knowing darn well that I will never be able to cover everything a pharmacist needs to know. They can throw anything they want at me. It may be a drug that I have never seen in my life. It may be an AIDS patient. Anyone who knows anything about medicine knows that their meds are the most complicated ones out there. And we so rarely see them. But they could throw that at me.

I will be so glad when this is over. It is step three in an 8 week process that I am almost done. The internship is over- got the official call from the college that it's done and all my assignments have been approved. Haven't heard back about the jurisprudence exam yet. Would have been nice to know that it was a pass going in to this exam, but this just means I'll have two things to wait for and bite my nails over for a few weeks. The Lord is going to teach me patience one way or another, I fear.