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...

january theme song

My favorite song off their latest album, which I've been listening too ALL THE TIME since the beginning of December. As usual, I haven't bothered to find out much about this band or listen to their other album but I do know that they're playing in Winnipeg on April 7th. Thinking I might go if the budget allows. Haven't been to see live music in ages.

ten books

To help keep Resolution #1 on track, I came up with a list of books I'd like to read this year. In no particular order...

1. Anna Karenina. Started in October and it got put aside over the holidays. Loving it and will finish. 500 pages from now.
2. Vimy. On loan from my sister. Have had it quite a while.
3. Quiet. Um.... because I'm an introvert?
4. A Scanner Darkly. I don't read much science fiction and don't know the genre very well. But I've really like what I have read (Bradbury and Gibson mainly) and think that Dick is the next logical step. 
5. Pippi Longstocking. Okay, fine, not exactly keeping with my resolution but we just got this in at work and I adored it as a kid. I totally wanted to live in an old house with a monkey and a horse. Got the old house...
6. Wolf Hall. Recommended by Elizabeth but also referenced in a Vanity Fair article about the King James Bible. Piqued my interest.
7. North and South. As a change from reading Pride and Prejudice over and over.
8. Burial Rites. Just sounds interesting. I like historical fiction. With murder. Set in Iceland. 
9. Tombstone Blues. Totally looking forward to local author Chadwick Ginter's follow-up to Thunder Road. 
10. At least one of the Smiley novels. Want to read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy because it's such a classic but feel like I should start at the beginning.

I'm happy with my list. Have a couple of Canadians, nice mix of genres, something old, something new. I'm sure I'll be reading more than 10 books in 2014 so please send recommendations!

38 degrees below zero (with the wind chill)

My shift at Silver Lotus was cancelled today due to the blizzard that blasted through the last couple of days. Loads of snow + frigid temps = no customers. I love working there but I'm very happy to have the day at home. Have spent an hour and a half shoveling and have at least another hour to go. Following the new NY mayor's advice.... getting low, using my knees. May have heard that advice a time or two before (right, mom?).

This afternoon is a Downton Abbey-a-thon. Re-watching the first three seasons (while knitting, doing laundry and drinking even more coffee) in eager anticipation of the start of season 4. Two more days!

Then noodles for dinner and back out to shovel. Possibly followed by a hot bath. Actually kind of a lovely day.

Here are a few random pics from the last couple of weeks....

Christmas Eve with O. and his family.

Downy woodpecker at my mom's feeder.

How the cats are spending the winter.

George Harrison, who goes home tomorrow.
Waiting for his person to fly in from NYC.

6 weeks into winter... 10 more to go?!?

six resolutions

1. Read more adult books. Goodreads sent me my 2013 year in books by email. Apparently I read 33, which seems pretty good. But 13 of these were young adult novels and 5 were graphic novels. Not being dismissive of these books, they're just fairly easy reads (Maggot Moon excepted). As were the 7 Ian Rankin books that I couldn't put down. Feel like now that I have my brain (mostly) back, I should be taking on something more challenging.

2. Clean up my email accounts. All FIVE of them. Yeesh. Student account, work account, Hotmail and gmail, and the account I give out to organizations when they insist. Every one full of junk.

3. Get back on the budget bandwagon. Totally fell off the wagon since getting a job in April. Kind of ironic. Spend an hour today setting up a spreadsheet for 2014 and since I've kept a budget diligently from 2005 to 2011, this resolution is more of a reboot.

4. Eat healthy and exercise bla bla. Ditto for this one. Didn't fall off this bandwagon; more like I was shoved. Knock on the head in August really set me back but now that I'm feeling well again I need to get going. Our crappy December (coldest in 80 years, twice as much snow as usual...) has been a convenient excuse for staying cozy in the house and eating carbs but no longer! Going to walk at least one way to work every day, swimming on Sunday mornings (once I wax my legs!) and weights twice a week. Which is not up to where I was before but it's a start.

5. Make a decision about school. My decision is mostly made.... just need to think on it a bit more. And then, you know, actually act on it.

6. Write letters. Since Canada Post announced major changes to its service, I've been fondly remembering all the letters I've received and kept over the years. I love, every once in a while, digging them out and reading them. I also have a stack of blank cards and paper that I've been moving from apartment to apartment and house to house since working at Smithbooks in the early 90s. Even though there's a good chance anything I say in a letter will be said in an email before the letter arrives, I still plan to do some writing. So check your mailboxes!

winter solstice

Solstice Fantasy
We wake up at 7 a.m. in our old farm house in the country. Omar gets a fire going in the big stone fireplace while I make coffee. We snuggle in front of the fire drinking coffee and watching the sun come up on a crisp winter day. Then we have a big brunch.... eggs, pancakes, hashbrowns and more coffee. Around 4 p.m. we strap on snowshoes and take the dog out for a long walk as the sun sets. Then back to the house, stoke up the fire and enjoy pot pie and red wine. Then early to bed (heh heh). The whole day would be a break from the hectic Christmas season and frankly, day to day life. I love the idea of Solstice. I love winter but I love summer more and I feel like the turning point to spring should be celebrated. Someday maybe this will be how it happens but in the meantime...

Solstice Reality
Up at 6 a.m. Walk the dog by myself in the dark in -28 (-39 with the wind chill) weather. Shovel the driveway by myself in the dark in -28 (-39 with the wind chill) weather. Make coffee, eggs and toast. Spend the morning cleaning the house and getting mentally prepared for 6 hours of working in retail on the last Saturday before Christmas. Work those 6 hours with a smile on my face (it's the most wonderful time of the year, after all). Pick up Christina's dog and car. Scrounge up something to eat. Finish cleaning and then (the highlight of the day!) pick up Danette at the airport. Tick off another day in the countdown to my Christmas break. 3 more to go!

december theme song

Totally missed my November theme song. Probably because I was so tired that my soundtrack for the month was just a constant buzzing in my brain.

December is shaping up to be much better, although it is stupidly busy. Have solved the Cleo 4 a.m. meowing problem (lock her in the back room and put in ear plugs), I'm on a sleep schedule, I'm getting exercise and eating well. Things are going good. Despite extra hours at Children's and an extra job at Silver Lotus and no time to have any fun....

Anyway, onto this month's theme. The death of Nelson Mandela has been all over the news with pretty much everyone commenting on what he meant to them. For me, other than obviously acknowledging that he was one of those rare people who make an enormous positive impact on the world, Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid movement marked my political awakening. And this is the song that kicked me in the butt....

It was released when I was 15 and unlike all those crappy famine relief Christmas songs, this was a protest song. It wasn't a song about feeling sorry for people over there while we sat smugly over here. It was a song about action. And so, the following year when I got my driver's license, I took action and boycotted Shell. Take that evil oil company! Clearly I still had lots to learn but it was a beginning.

This video also happens to be filled with amazingly cool artists like Run DMC, Lou Reed (!), Joey Ramone (!!!), George freakin' Clinton, Miles Davis, Jimmy Cliff..... like, the coolest of the cool (not including Bono and his mullet on this list). So it wasn't just my introduction to world politics, it was also my introduction to the big, wide world of music.

Plus, it's still a really great song. So thhhhppppp Do They Know It's Christmas.

ten for ten

Ten things I love about O...

1. He's honest. He will tell me if my butt looks big in those jeans.
2. He'll be nice about it.
3. He's pretty funny.
4. Even when he's not (ahem, pie joke), he's still amusing.
5. After all this time, his quirks are endearing. I won't start listing them here...
6. As far as I can tell, he generally finds my quirks endearing as well.
7. I definitely don't feel smothered.
8. He's handsome (those eyes.... the smoulder...).
9. I'm ridiculously fond of his teeth.
10. I learn new things from him all the time.

I could go on (and on) but since we're celebrating ten years today, I'll leave it at that. Happy anniversary, darling!

october theme song

First it was little Cleo, waking me up at 5ish all summer, 'cause, like, the sun is up and the birds are up and she's up so I should be up. Then I got bonked in the head mid-August I have been in a state of constant fatigue ever since. Now winter is looming, the days are darker and all I want to do is hibernate. And then wake up refreshed.... but alas...

crooked mountain

7:30 a.m. Saturday

6:30 p.m. Sunday

And oh, I did not want to come home...

september theme song

10 days and counting until Omar is back for Thanksgiving (unless, of course, he gets work).

Can't believe how September just disappeared. So much going on this month. New roommate moved in,  some minor house renos (which could lead to even more minor house renos), have started applying for jobs again, have started my couch to 5k program again, trying to deal with the garden bounty. Work is really great but also busy. I'm doing a full-time job in part-time hours so there is no catching up.

That's actually how the whole month has felt... like I'm constantly trying to catch up.

Which is part of the reason why I'm super excited about Omar's arrival. It means four days of a whole lotta nothing at the cabin. I can't wait!

august theme song

Have been listening to this recording pretty much nonstop since seeing Whitehorse at the Folk Fest in July. The whole album seems made especially for me, with song like Cold July, Jane, Mismatched Eyes.... but this is the song I love the best. Dig it, man, dig it.

happy birthday to me!

july theme song

And plenty more coming in the weeks and months ahead. Though I guess that's always the case...

purple

sangria peppers

eggplant flowers 

and ready to eat

creeping thyme

my very first blueberry!

june theme song

Living my country dream for two whole days. Oh, there will be car wheels on a gravel road.

birthdays

Took Ayva to Brush Fire yesterday for a very belated birthday date. Was way more fun than I expected and I now understand why painting ceramics was all the rage back in the what... 60s? 70s? My kitchen scrubby frog definitely seems of a 70s vintage. I painted a new water bowl for the cats, O painted a bulls eye dish and Ayva did a frog. But not a scrubby frog....

This was followed by a trip to Dairy Queen, so a pretty darn good evening. Looking forward to next week when we get to pick up our ceramic masterpieces. But in the meantime...

My beautiful sister and I are heading to our cabin at Crooked Mountain this weekend for some birthday celebrating of our own. We're about half way between each of our birthdays so we'll make some toasts, eat some birthday cookies and engage in some highly competitive Aggravation playing. Can't wait!!!

"spring" has sprung-ish

Since I've been bitching so much about the weather lately, I thought I'd post a few pics to show that all is not horrible (even if it isn't as awesome as it could be)...

Garlic I planted last fall is coming up!

Ditto the fancy heirloom rhubarb.

The kitchen window is open for business.

Oh ya.... and Cleo has shed about half her body weight in fur, so it must be spring!

may theme song

Feels totally wrong to use a commercial as my theme song but:

1. This is what I have in my head all the freakin' time these days and it is totally catchy;
2. A quick internet search reveals that I'm not the only person who wishes this was a real song and not a jingle;
3. I have been watching a ton of hockey this winter (and by watching I mean, knitting and listening, and then watching the replays when anything exciting happens). Go, Sens, Go!

H-O-C-K-E-Y!

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.