march theme song

Had a different song queued up but then Karen sent me this. Believe me, I'm a lot less cheerful than Olaf. -30 windchill on my walk to work this morning... freakin' blizzard on the walk home. Singing In Summer through clenched teeth.

When life gets rough, I like to hold onto my dream
Of relaxing in the summer sun...

holy crap

Hard to believe that just one month ago I was happily kicking 2013 out the door and welcoming 2014. Sitting cozily at home, eating chips, making resolutions, and thinking that the new year just had to be better. Silly me.

Let's get the weather out of the way first. Bloody hell. So... second coldest December / January on record. In those two months, we've had 21 days below -30 (not including the windchill). Almost 50% more snow than average. It's making everything else so much harder and I've turned into a very grouchy bear. And February is supposed to be cold and snowy. Ugh.

Then there's the job situation. Too much of a good thing. I start a new job at Deer Lodge Hospital library next week. Super happy to get the position but really, really sorry to be leaving Children's. So sorry that I'm going to stay on one day a weekend until my term is up at the end of April. And I'm staying at Silver Lotus. Not giving up that job until I have a permanent position (and maybe not even then because I really like it too!). So basically, overworking. Which under normal circumstances would be fine, but then...

The broken jaw. This picture really doesn't convey how much of a mess Rufus is. You can tell that his mouth is wired in a slightly open position. You can sort of tell that the left side is swollen. He's also drooling excessively and grooming his legs and chest like crazy to try and deal with it, which is making his skin raw. He won't eat so he had to be syringe fed this morning. And this is day four of a six week process. He's clearly miserable and there is only so much I can do to make things better. Going to pick up a couple of preemie t-shirts today and see if wearing one will help with the grooming. Picking up some chicken or turkey on the way home and will make some broth so mix with his food. Hopefully it will be more enticing. Other than that.... lots of love.

*sigh*

So.... 2014.... not really diggin' you so far...

more freakin' snow

I'm going to change the name of this blog to Catherine Complains About the Weather. Jeez, man. More snow!!! I can't take it!!!!

Maybe it should just be Catherine Complains.... leave things open for mosquito season, should it ever arrive.

In any case, we didn't get hit as bad as Dauphin. They had 20 cm as of 10 a.m. with snow continuing throughout the day and overnight.  Hehheh. Always some small joy in someone else having it worse than you.

Tomorrow (that's May 1st, folks) is the 5-year anniversary of O and I moving into our house. We celebrate every year by taking a picture of ourselves in front of our humble abode. The weather is supposed to be *sigh* snow and a high of -1. I'm going to try my very best not to look miserable. Don't want to give the impression that our home is anything but happy. Because it really, truly is the place where my heart is.

flowers

Flowers at Jumilla Stories. Flowers in my inbox from Kana. These are my poor flowers but I'm not complaining.

Dianthus, doing their best.

Oh wait.... yes I am.

Winnipeg has apparently set another weather record. We've never gone this far into April without hitting +5. Go Winnipeg!!! Forecast for tomorrow is +1 with snow overnight, turning to snow/rain on Wednesday. But after that things start to look up. Which is great because our community clean-up is on Saturday. And I'm getting mighty sick of looking out the window at this...

Lexi's little buddy, Linus, wondering WTF?!?

vernal equinox

I'm stalling. It is gorgeously sunny and as long as I stay inside, drinking the amazing coffee my sister brought back from Costa Rica, I can pretend that it is actually a nice day. And not minus 33 with the wind chill. With a big pile of snow to shovel. *sigh*

I can only stall for so long because my pooch really does need a walk. *sigh*

I have so many things to do indoors that it is easy to stay in my jammies drinking coffee. Like applying for more jobs, putting together a feedback form for the workshop last Friday, cleaning the house, eating cookies (thanks Mama!), listening to Q and trying to figure out how the new Ikea bathroom cupboard goes together.

But then there is this....

takemeouttakemeouttakemeouttakemeout

One more cup of coffee, then I'll put on long johns, parka, scarf, big mitts, toque, Sorels and we'll go. Happy spring, everyone! *sigh*

july theme song

On Wednesday, O drove me to Urgent Care at Mis because I had a sudden severe headache, nausea, chills, muscle weakness and a stiff neck. 9 hours, a CT scan, blood tests and a spinal tap later, I was diagnosed with viral meningitis. Which is bad but not anywhere near as bad as bacterial meningitis or a ruptured artery in my brain (the other things I was being tested for).

At home feeling somewhat okay as long as I lay flat. Even sitting up a bit makes me feel super queasy and gets my head pounding. Fever is gone, so I'm on the mend, but I think it will take a week or two to feel more or less normal.

My old pal Iggy pretty much sums things up...

I Hate Shaw

I started receiving biweekly junk mail (addressed to my name) from Shaw trying to convince me to switch to their awesome cable/cell phone/internet package. I'm not interested in switching since it isn't really more awesome than what I'm already using, and I'm definitely not interested in continuing to receive junk mail. I call them and ask to be taken off their mailing list. They agree. I get more junk mail. I phone again. They say they can't do it over the phone and that I have to send a fax. They provide a fax number. I'm like, "Wha--?!? Why?" Why is it up to me to spend my time and money to get them to stop wasting paper and bugging me?

I do not send a fax. I begin returning the junk mail with a note asking to be taken off their mailing list. They continue to send me mail. I continue to return the letters. Finally I add a note that says something like, "The longer you disregard my explicit request to be taken off your mailing list and continue to send me junk mail, the less likely it becomes that I will EVER have ANYTHING to do with ANY Shaw product."

And now I'm receiving the same junk mail addressed to Current Occupant.

"Well played, Shaw" you might think. Except the chance of me being their customer has dropped to zero. And them ain't just words. I hold long and deep consumer grudges. Right The Brick?

crappy day

Every have one of those days?

O. left this morning for Charlottetown, so I'm on my own until August 23rd. Okay and not okay with this. Bummer that he's gone for the best time of the year. Happy that he has the work. But regardless of my mixed feelings, was sad to see him off at the airport.

Came home and consoled myself with coffee and a good book, watched the second half of the Slovenia/Algeria game, then headed out to the yard to do some gardening (finally a sunny day!). Went to the garage to get tools, and pretty much immediately thought, "where the hell is my bike?". Yep. Garage was broken into via the overhead door. Bike is gone. My three year old, $600 can't-afford-to-replace-it bike is gone. My main form of transportation... gone. Crap. Though in fact, crap is  not the expletive I used. Talked to my neighbour, and her garage door was open on Saturday morning, so I guess it happened Friday night.

First I had a good cry, which is much more useful than it sounds. Then I called the police and filed a report.

Then I called Robert (my hero!) who came over and closed the broken garage door and screwed it shut for the summer, since we don't have the car on the road anyway.

Then I called my sister to ask her to put my ratty old Trek on the bus. She's also my hero. She and her husband loaded it up in their car, and then drove to Portage. I thankfully have my mom's car, so I met them there. The dogs had a good play, Glen put the bike in my mom's car. I drove home, feeling ever so slightly better.

Going to prowl the local pawn shops tomorrow after work and see what I can find, but basically holding out no hope that I'll get my bike back.

yet another reason why not having summer is great!

Three words... Fried. Green. Tomatoes.

Have had one ripe tomato this summer, but none of the rest of 'em are even blushing thanks to the lack of heat and sunlight. So may as well take advantage of what's currently available... i.e. many green tomatoes.

Recipe I made was okay. But Karen has provided a better one:

Slice tomato about 1/2 inch thick. Dip in buttermilk, dip in beaten egg, coat with a mix of flour, cornmeal, salt and cayenne. Fry on medium heat for 4ish minutes a side. Enjoy!

And then make pancakes with the leftover buttermilk. Yum.

one more reason why not having summer is great!

Veggie pot pie, anyone? Definitely not too hot to have the oven at 400 for 30 minutes.

But pie aside, I'm super grouchy about the weather. I can see that being a snowbird is in my future.

so desperate for spring...

The weather is still shitty (sorry 'bout the language Ma). Yesterday was almost the coldest June 5th on record. We missed it by .7 degrees. (dang?). But just so this doesn't turn into another post where I bitch about the weather, I've been trying to think about all the things that are great about being permanently stuck in late fall.

1. I look great in turtlenecks.
2. I'm getting to wear my favorite fall coat for much more of the year than usual.
3. I don't get too hot and sweaty when I'm working out in the yard.
4. Omar looks super cute wearing a toque and mitts in the house (we are not turning the furnace back on!).
5. The cats are more keen to cuddle.
6. Cold and rainy is the perfect weather for sitting in front of the tv watching British costume dramas.
7. I'm inspired to make curried parsnip soup.
8. At least it's not snowing (right, Calgary?)
9. I don't really need to shave my legs or think about how truly white they are.
10. And finally, I'm having a great time knitting warm, wooly socks.

See? Not bitching.

T - two words of advice for your upcoming trip from California to Manitoba: Bring. Sweaters.

so done with winter...

Went for a lovely walk this evening in the fresh fallen snow. Admired the Christmas lights, breathed deeply of the scent of wood burning in a fireplace somewhere. *sigh*

(My neighbor's house, picture taken an hour ago)

Except that it's flippin' April 1st today, and I'm so sick of winter that I could cry. Or scream. Or spit. All of which would be equally ineffective and useless. Much more practical to go and shovel the snow away from the foundation so we don't have water in the basement. Did I say *sigh* yet?!?

Happy Spring, Everyone!