Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Good Timing

I have high cholesterol. It’s the “familial” kind which means it’s hereditary. Diet and exercise impacts my levels but it will always be high because my body just doesn’t process fat properly. My dad and his two brothers have it along with at least five or six of my cousins.

It was diagnosed when I was about 12 and I’ve been on medication for the last few years. I was on track to finish up my current prescription while I was on vacation so I went to the doctor to refill it and get my annual test ordered. I’ve been back from vacation for a few weeks and today I finally went for the test. (You have to fast for 10 hours before and I tend to not be good at that).

The funny thing was, after putting it off for that long, guess who was in the blood lab when I arrived? My dad! Talk about “familial” LOL

Three Cheers for Inspiration!

I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend. Friday I had an impromptu picnic with my parents. Saturday Mere and I hung out and relaxed. Sunday was more of the same with a bunch of friends at Chris & Leah's. Today is Monday and inspriation struck. I finally got my act together and pulled my bed out of the bedroom and back into my "scrap room" so that Robert can move his bed in this weekend. I have more stuff I need to pull out of that bedroom but the bed was the big thing. I also re-arranged my scrap room/bedroom to accomodate my desk(s) and bed. It actually all fits surprisingly well. The table and desk are going to my friend's house but I'll use them for a few more weeks. I also took a bunch of boxes over to my parents house. I'm tired now but it feels good to have this done. I feel like I know what's next, finally!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Toy Story

So after waking up so blinking early Thursday I broke down and hung the blanket back over my window to block out the light. It worked. I slept in until 7:39 on Friday…yes I’m supposed to be at work at 8:00 :P No I wasn’t on time. I wasn’t too late though.

One of the reasons I slept so long, other than actually being ABLE to sleep, was because I was out late. I joined a group of friends to go see Toy Story 3 at the drive-in theatre. Of course the movie can’t start until it’s mostly dark out so it was a late night. Well worth it though. This was my first time at the drive-in and I loved it.

The movie though? It hit a little too close to home. I grew up with these characters. The first movie came out when I was 14 and I seem to remember "taking my dad" to see it as a Christmas present. Obviously it was a pretty self serving gift :P but we still had fun...even if we were a bit late and had to sit practically in the front row!

The second one came out the year I graduated. Both movies were ground breaking as far as animation goes and I remember being in awe of Pixar. Heck, I'm still in awe of them! I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the other day while scrapbooking and I had to remember that 80 years ago, this was a pivitol movie! Now it seems to play out more like a thirties horror flick :P but the animation is still awesome. Anyways, I'm off track. Back to Toy Story.

The premise of the third movie is that Andy's moving off to college and the toys have to come to terms with that. Wow. After growing up with these characters, including, Andy, and even though I'm about ten years older/slower than him, I could really relate to having boxes everywhere. To taking stuff off walls and boxing up/giving away my childhood. I'm not afraid to admit that I cried. Just a little, but that shows how good Pixar is, and what happens when life imitates art so closely!

Good luck at school Andy! I'll be right there with you!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Oooookay!

I woke up in a great mood this morning. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping…and then I realized it was five freaking o’clock in the morning! Not cool. Not cool at all, especially since I was late falling asleep last night. I briefly considered just getting up but then I realized if I went back to sleep I could probably get in almost two hours. Of course I didn’t fall asleep right away so it was closer to only one hour but still, better than nothing, even if I wasn’t in as great a mood when I finally did roll out of bed :P

In other news, I’m getting a roommate. Here’s the short version of the story.
February-ish: My brother Robert decided he wanted to look into moving back as his girlfriend is here and he was never meant for Alberta in the first place. I told him he was more than welcome to move in with me if he chose to. The “drop dead date” for letting me know is June 30th because I had to give notice if I was moving out.
March-ish: he decided that the jobs in BC didn’t pay enough so he couldn’t afford to move
April: spring slow down started and he was hardly getting ANY hours.
May: I started mentally preparing myself for clearing out my apartment. I had friends who are furnishing their basement suite for students in and we made a list of things they were planning on taking with them.
June 1st: since it didn’t look like Rob would be moving, and I ran into my landlord in the hallway three days in a row, I gave my formal notice and signed the move out paperwork.
June 1st (that evning): Robert called to say he had an interview.
June 2nd: Called my landlord to say “hold those papers, they may not be valid”
June 7th: Robert interviewed with a local company
June 11th: Robert got the job
June 15th: Called my landlord and cancelled the move out request
June 19th: Robert showed up with his first load of stuff
June 21st: Talked to my landlord about a tenant down the hall that had moved out and left over $3,000 worth of damage to her unit. I mentioned that I had saved them the trouble of finding a new tenant for my unit. My landlord said “yes, and I appreciate it. I don’t ‘owe you’, but I appreciate it” ;)

Actual move in date for Robert is slightly up in the air depending on when he can officially give up his other place. It’s looking like the long weekend but we’ll see. It’s been an interesting ride. The best parts are that a) Rob get’s a nice place at a great rate, b) it comes mostly furnished because I won’t be getting rid of as much stuff now.

The yes/no/yes thing was kind of crazy and his schedule’s still really up in the air, but bottom line is, by the time I’m ready to move, he’ll be fully in. Works for me!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Take away my favourite DJ and I’ll stop listening to your station!

Okay, so maybe I’m not that malicious but that’s what has happened. My favourite radio station let my favourite DJ go. They told him his “sound” wasn’t right for the future of the station. Whatever. The good news is it’s given me an excuse to stop listening in the mornings. I’ve wanted to stop for awhile because really, who needs noise like that, but it’s hard when it was my friend on air. The guy that’s filling in is fine. He’s a nice guy and everything but I don’t feel guilty for not listening to him…and I won’t feel guilty when I move away.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Father's Day

I meant to write this entry yesterday but I was spending time with my dad instead ;)

Friday marked exactly two months until my estimated departure date from this province. Sunday was Father’s Day and as I was reading all the posts in my feed on Facebook about how awesome people’s dads are, how much they appreciate them and, for some who have lost their fathers, how much they miss them, I admit I was struck by a serious case of self doubt. Am I doing the right thing? Why am I moving so far away from family? Am I crazy? Not that I’m about to change my mind now but the emotion that welled up surprised me. I feel like I’ll have more of that as my time gets shorter.

As far as Father’s Day goes, after church I went over to Mom and Dad’s for a light lunch and then sat and visited with them for awhile. Around 3:30 I went home and had a nap (I had planned something more productive but sleep won out) and at 6 I met them, Aaron, Rob, Robbie and her son for dinner at a local restaurant. We were celebrating both Father’s Day and Aaron’s high school graduation. We had a wonderful time.

Afterwards (really from the sublime to the ridiculous because it was a NICE restaurant) we went to McDonald’s for dessert. Rob and Robbie are on a caramel sundae kick and the kid needed a place to run around for awhile :)

It’s times like these that I will definitely miss. I know that, but I’m excited for the adventure available to me in Ontario.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Perfect

Today is an perfect almost summer day. It's warm with a slight breeze and big puffy clouds floating across the sky. I walked down to the farmers' market this morning and got some big beautiful bell peppers, fresh strawberries, tomatoes, green onions, carrots and mushrooms. I'm planning on spending the day in packing and re-arranging stuff, which on one hand is kind of a waste of a beautiful day, but I have the windows wide open and I'm just relaxing and enjoying the day. I love Saturdays like this!

Friday, June 18, 2010

My Reading List

I am feeling some pressure to get through the books on my current reading list. They're all so interesting that it's difficult to chose which to work on though!
1. "Jane Eyre" by Emily Bronte - at the top of the list because I need to have it read for our next book club meeting on Tuesday. It's been a struggle because it's SUCH a long book but the end is in sight.
2. "Twilight & History" edited by Nancy R. Reagin - This one is a series of essays on the characters in Twilight and how their personal histories were shaped based on when they were turned. It's a fascinating read but I borrowed it from on of the book club members. I'd love to give it back to her on Tuesday but I kind of doubt that's going to happen.
3. "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett - This is on my list of 100 books and was actually the one I read most while on vacation. I borrowed it from Meredith so I have to have it read before I leave in mid-August. That's lots of time but I'm halfway done and I just want to keep reading!
4. "I Think She's Trying to Tell Me Something" by Dan Graziano - I haven't even started this one but it's got a great title and it's borrowed as well so I'd like to get through it.
5. "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" by Stephanie Meyer - Not a must read but it's our book club selection for July. We moved our meeting date up to July 6th so we can all see the movie sooner rather than later. I've already read this book twice but it was my favourite of the four so I'd love to read it again before the movie comes out.

Those are the ones on my "active" list. There are tons of other books lying around here that I either need to read, pack or get rid of before I move, not to mention the library books that I take out and return without even cracking :( Anyways, having too many books to read is a good problem to have :) I'd take it over many others any day!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mine to Discover

Maybe this will inspire me to get back into blogging. I miss it. I really do. I have lots to say but no discipline to sit down and say it. Work has been really busy with the audit, home is crazy because I’m either packing or just vegging and avoiding packing, and last week I was on vacation anyways. Every time I try to start a blog entry I get bogged down by everything I HAVEN’T blogged yet, and then nothing gets posted.

So I’m hoping a fresh new look will entice me to get back to blogging. Blogspot offered up some new templates and this one is pretty much exactly what I had envisioned for a new look. I like the coffee coloured brown and I have a thing for maps so this is perfect. The new title is a play on the tag line for the province of Ontario: Yours to Discover.

According to the countdown made for me by Deb, I only have about 62 days before I leave BC and head East, across this great country, to my new home province. There’s tons to do before then but I’m excited for the adventure, and I really want to try and record it all here!

Friday, June 04, 2010

Lemons out of lemonade

The shoes I am wearing today have a very slippery sole. I also have a new chair mat in my office and the combination of the two just landed me on my butt and gave me a pretty purple bruise on my shin.

While I was on the floor trying not to feel like an idiot, I cleaned up the files that the auditor abandoned there earlier. I’ve been meaning to get to them and while falling wasn’t exactly how I wanted to “get to them”, it worked!

And please. No comments on my less than stellar sense of balance :rolleyes:

Oooh, I just noticed that I scraped my hand a bit too…on carpet. Now THAT takes talent!