Daycare gossip

One more thing...today, while Victor opened the door at the daycare, Maya, one of Bella's little daycare buddies (who is much much older), said to Victor "You know that Bella just has to touch everything around here". I guess she decided to "tell" on Bella thinking that we would get mad at her. Victor found it pretty amusing. I didn't.

But I do find this amusing:

mmmm....cat tail.

crackalackin'

So you'll never guess what happened this weekend. We went to Sechelt on Saturday to clean out the rest of my grandma's storage unit (shock!). No that's not the surprise. It's coming. We dumped and donated the rest of her stuff, minus all the sentimental doodads like writing, letters, and handmade things. Habitat for Humanity received a pretty good score when it comes to furniture. My grandma was a crafty woman and even built her own kitchen chairs, among other things like two houses* (all by herself)!

With the help of my grandma's friends, we finally got the storage cleaned out and were on our way back to Vancouver on the 4:30pm ferry. Banana Boat baby had a good time running on the ferry and I had a *great* time running after her. We made it home in good time and I thought to myself "what a good day...but it's not over yet"  as we still had to unpack the car, feed and put B to bed and clean up since we left our place a mess after a week of work. I got out of the car, opened the back door and leaned in to take Bella out of her carseat. Then CRACK. MY BACK. All of a sudden it felt like someone stabbed a knife in my back, but no. It was just these creaky old bones of mine. I stood there in tears, completely immobile for fear of moving and making it worse. Victor's eyes were as wide as saucers and wanted to take me to Emergency. I told him I was okay (I wasn't) and told him to bring all of our stuff upstairs while I waited with Bella. Bella didn't like the idea of me just standing there while she struggled with the carseat straps. And I couldn't do anything! Not even calm her down. I just stood there. She thought I was super weird and continued to struggle until Victor came running out.

The rest of the night involved more tears, tiger balm, heating pads, advil (wishing it was Tylenol 3's) and sweet sweet massages. (love you Victor). The next day, I felt better but still had a sore shoulder muscle. Then Monday came. I took B to daycare in her stroller. Lifted her up, brought her inside. Then picked up her stroller to drop it off under the back patio. CRACKALACKIN**. Tears. Hysterics actually. Another knife to the back. So I sidled home and called work to say I couldn't make it. I could barely breathe and was getting a little worried for myself. But I made it home and called a massage therapist across the street from my place (at 7:30 in the morning, and she answered!). I got an appointment for that day and dear Hesus, I feel a thousand times better today because of it. I'm still stiff and could use my shoulders as ear muffs because they are so tense, but much better than the knife in the back situation on Saturday and Monday.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. Bet ya can't top that.

* The two houses for which I have the plans (blueprints...are they called this anymore?) for if Victor and I ever decide to build an A-frame in our spare time on our Never Never Land fantasy island.

** did you know that "Crackalackin'" means "How are you doing?" in urban dialect? Did you also know that "ballin'" means someone who has money? Do you like my nerdy tone while writing this? I have a couple of friends who are in their mid twenties and actually use these terms. Who knew?

Things are good

My melancholy mood has lifted and I'm feeling super good lately. I think it's for these reasons:

• I've been able to do a bit of shopping and it feels so good to put on my new clothes (that fit me properly)
• The daycare drop-off has become easier - Bella no longer cries nor does she feel the need to carry around her blanket (which all the other kids, including her, were tripping over)
• Work has been smooth. Despite some stressful days last week, it's been pretty stellar. Work life balance, check!
• Victor's making pork and clams, my favourite out of his repertoire of recipes
• My boobs are getting a little smaller (boob shrinkage is a good thing in Linda-land)
• Snowy days
• My mom for rushing in to help whenever I need it

That's about it for now. In other news, I thought I saw Justin Bieber on the bus today but realized he's probably not ever going to ride the Victoria bus, and then realized further that all 12 year old boys now look like Justin Bieber.

Crazy Cat Lady

Hi, me again. I'm feeling much better today. After being back at work today, I realized that work really isn't that stressful if you "just breathe" (with inhaler in hand). Friday was just an overwhelming day but I got a lot of work done in order to meet a deadline...with all the robot-like work out of the way (Friday's to do list), I was able to get quite a bit of writing done today and felt good about it. I feel like I'm approaching my job with fresh eyes and my writing is less stale than it used to be...I feel a little more jazzy (*jazz hands* to no one in particular). And who knows, I may get edited down to stale city but at least I tried to liven things up!

--------------------------------------------------

So the at home life is lively as usual...meet my crazy cat lady in the making:

No matter where Lola is hiding, Bella will find her and fall head first into her. The reason? Because Lola will lick her head and pat it lightly. See below for the crazy pair:

I can't get enough of it. Check out that little tongue!

And for the first time in my life, I'm prepared over a month in advance for a holiday (vs. the day before). We bought a cute little Charlie Brown Christmas tree (a little bigger than our hand-sized tree that I put up and decorate every year) and Bella got to put on (and then quickly take off) the first few ornaments.



Discoball on.



Discoball off. It went on like this for the next half hour. And Lola joined in thank goodness, because we needed more ball offingness (not a word? well it should be).

That's it for news from the homefront.

Jerk Store

I feel like a total jerk for being so down on Remembrance Day in my last post. I think I just like to be a contrarian sometimes and Victor kept asking me why I didn't want to be "thankful" by watching boring war movies. And so I protested which resulted in my post.

Anyways, we were in Sechelt cleaning out my grandma's storage unit (visit #2), and at 11, decided to go to the Remembrance Day gathering downtown. It was a somber day and I felt the gratitude of the crowd. Amongst the gratitude, I was on crack for not being cognizant of the sacrifices made for our "freedom". Although sceptical of that word (hence the quotes), I totally get it.

I also had a not so good day at work yesterday. I felt completely lost in my work and didn't even take a lunch break - worked straight through 8.5 hours on maybe 5 hours sleep total. I was a complete mess to say the least and had a breakdown after work. A minor breakdown but a breakdown nonetheless. Thanks to Victor and my mom, I'm feeling much better now. The first three days of work went well and felt good actually, but that fourth day was a killer. And I've been told that it's going to take some adjustment and some breakdowns before I feel completely confident in the fact that I know what I'm doing (work-wise, and for that matter, mom-wise, wife-wise and friend-wise).

Sorry about the intense posts - I'm just going through a weird time right now!

How many Ferrero Rocher's can I eat in 10 minutes?

I guess since tomorrow is Remembrance Day, I should be doing things a little more retrospective than having a chocolate eating competition with myself. But I am and so there.

Victor keeps asking me to watch these war movies on tv to which I say "no thanks" very matter-of-factly. It's not that I don't respect what was done for us but I guess growing up with uber-liberal (meaning: communist), anti-war parents has, in the past, led me to non-chalantly shrug off Remembrance Day. I'm also a product of my apathetic generation. And I've never felt the realities of wartime.What we're experiencing in Iraq and Afghanistan just seems so far removed from my life.

But really, as the years have passed, and my opinions have matured, I think I've come to realize that we without question owe a lot to our soldiers. Some may go to war to unleash their violent tendencies, whereas there are those who fight for altruistic reasons. It's the altruism and that unbelievable loss of life that I want to remember.

Can you believe that the death toll in Iraq is 107,235 (according to Wikipedia)? I think I'll put down my Ferrero Rocher's and take a minute to remember tomorrow. Maybe that'll appease Victor as well, as he's now put on "The Mexican" (gag) because I won't watch any war movies.

Work Live Play

Or should I say "Live Work Play"? I think the emphasis should sit on the work as that is where my emphasis is right now.

My mat leave is over and I will no longer be a SAHM. Back to office coffee and uncomfie shoes, water coolers and photocopiers. Oh and back to 8 hours of staring at a screen instead of my beautiful baby's face. But I must see the positive. I am going back to a job where I know I am valued.


I really wish I was going back to a job where Dwight works.

I recently applied for a job with another company (cue the shock!) and was offered quite a bit more money than I was currently making. And so...counter-offers ensued and I am back at my old job. My reasons for looking elsewhere were two-fold: money and time. I now have additional expenses (baby boots), therefore money is a big issue for me. It feels good to be valued monetarily...because no matter how many pats on the back or "good jobs" you get at work, being handed a few thousand more on your paycheque always feels a million times better.

I love my work environment, and love my co-workers (shout-out to Rawbean even though you're on a completely different floor) so applying for this new job had nothing to do with that. I applied for this other job because I didn't think I could ask for a raise after coming off of maternity leave. And apparently I was wrong. And simply put, I hadn't had a raise in over 2.5 years. That's a long time considering inflation. I mean, 2.5 years ago, I used to be able to buy a loaf of bread for $2.50 and now it's 5 FREAKIN dollars!

BUT...there's a big but here. At this new job, I was offered a slightly more flexible schedule (9am - 4pm!) with overtime to be done at home after hours when possible. So even though I took the counter-offer by my current company, I still feel like kicking myself in the shins for not negotiating a more flexible work schedule. Because time is precious...even more precious now. I can't afford to come home at 9pm meanwhile having to be at work at 7:30am the next day. I made mention of this during the negotiations but nothing concrete was presented to me. So I hope with all my might that it works out in the end and that my work life becomes much more balanced than it was before I went on mat leave. At least for the next year or two when I put my new "life plan" into action.

..............................................................................................

On a completely unrelated note, Victor and I are tasked with the job of cleaning out my grandma's storage unit on the Sunshine Coast. We spent a good part of Thursday rifling through boxes and unwrapping knik knaks that we had wrapped up only 3 years ago. As a writer, I knew that the only thing of value in those boxes (to me at least) was my grandma's writing. Letters, manuscripts, poems etc. now litter my living room. I just spent a few hours reading through old letters between my grandma and grandpa where my grandpa disguised himself as "G. Gray Hill". The two of them were so playful and total oddballs. The closing sentence on a large part of the letters was "So remember the motto and don't be a..." with a badly drawn picture of a sheep following. They really were in love even though they weren't together anymore. It makes me want to do something grand with these letters.

Here is a snippet from a letter written in January 1966, addressed to "Tubby":

Have you got your wedding ring fixed yet? That ring has a very sad-story well-suited to you. In a direct connection here, is the tale of a shrivelled turkey, which emerged from the oven no larger than a sparrow! This farcical exaggeration is known as one of "Gray's Specials" but it does make a nice conversation piece. The ring once belonged to a friend of mine. Now it belongs to another.

Believe it or not, I still love you, Tubby, a bit.

Signed,
G. Gray Hill

Anyways, I better get off to bedland (not before turning all the clocks back an hour...hint hint).

Sentimental Montage Alert

This may be super corny but truthfully, it brought tears to my eyes (and yes I put it together):

Warning: this may only be of interest to Bella's close personal entourage.

Have a party!

Somebody's 1 today!

Yep, that's me!

The coolest chick in town turned one on October 31st. We had a major blast (despite the mad rush to decorate, and cook and make sure everything was just so...sidenote: it wasn't).

We decided to dress up with a theme...we decided on "good and evil". Bella being the angel that she is was "good" and did so super cutely:

I was a a big bad devil and Victor, the mediator: a priest. It was good times - we had a gorilla, a monkey, a prisoner, a cop, ironman, spiderman, shrek, a cowboy, a vampire, two hippies, a punk rocker, a knight and a pumpkin. Food was in abundance, and pinatas were a rockin'.

Oh - someone doesn't look too happy.

We played pin the tail on the cat, tried out some pumpkin decorating (which no one was into), pinata smashing (which started out innocently enough with a plastic stick and ended with a metal cane) and a trophy award for the adults who actually had the cajones to dress up.

The pinata fallout.



Cake time!

Funky monkey cake by Tia Susieta! 

It's not a birthday without a little cake poke by cousin Jaiden.

Cake in the face, a family tradition.

Uhhh B, you have a little something on your nose.

The beginning of the awkward public present opening. This went on for 45 minutes and I probably said "cute" and "pretty" about a gazillion times.

The birthday girl with the most interesting gift. A simple birthday card.