It's official

We are now proud owners of a 2 story brick home. That is, of course, pending financing and insurance goodies!!

We get possession in three weeks!

Yowza... this is some crazy stuff, this home ownership thing!!

Finito.

It has been quite the week. I'm quite pleased that it is over.

Essentially I went to a sporting event last weekend with J and some friends. It was a good time. Lots of drinks (!!) and lots and lots and lots of laughs. I laughed so hard on Saturday night that my stomach hurt on Sunday. Those kinds of laughs do the body and soul good. Especially after the week I had.

Then I went to the meeting that I helped plan. It was held at a pretty cool venue. I was able to go for nice walks and even a snowshoe. I hate snowshoeing, but I went anyway. Froze my ass off. BUT, it was good. Someday, I might even use the snowshoes that J got me 6 years ago.

So, the meeting was a long'un but a good'un. I'm super happy that it's done with. Without getting into too much detail, I learned a lot.

I learned that we, as a society, have to start treating each other fairly and equally. I learned that what works for one person does not work for another. I learned that trust, respect and friendship will get you a long way. I learned that understanding one another is essentially what we need to do.

Sure, it seems like straight forward stuff, but sometimes it's this kind of stuff that warrants repeating often. It's only through understanding that we will be able to remedy the problems we see around us.

Relief

Well, we put an offer in on a house last night after three viewings... stayed up until 12:30 to hear the news... amended it today at lunch to increase our offer and deposit... and didn't get it.

Honestly? I feel relief more than anything.

Sure it's a bit of a disappointment, but... that's OK. The right place will find us.

I'm not quite sure why I was so strung out on Monday night, but it was just a bunch of things all mashed together and I was having such a hard time finding out which way was up!

The past 48 hours have really been hard. I've wanted to puke. I've wanted to cry. Above all else, I've wanted to sleep. It wasn't one thing in particular, just all of it at once. Work. House. Fatigue. All of it.

But now we've been through the house gauntlet once and we know what to expect. And now that the week is nearing it's end, I know that next week's meeting will be what it is and that's all we can do about that.

It's all about being philosophical.

brain. dowload.

My brain is so full right now that I can't hardly stand it! It's not full of useful things like facts and figures, but full of emotion and full of.... I don't know..... stuff. I'm feeling extremely teary right now, and I think it's all due to what's going on right now.

I feel almost at the breaking point. Nothing to be extremely worried about, but enough that I know I just need a break.

Work has been super busy for about two weeks now, and now we're looking at buying a house. I've put in 14 hours over overtime since January 2nd. Today, I drove 2.5 hours to a meeting and then drove right back after the 5 hour meeting. Stuff like this just isn't sustainable! I don't fully comprehend everything involved with buying this house... or another... (who really does the first time around?) and I'm finding it all very overwhelming.

Ugh. By next Friday, everything will be much better. That, I am sure of.

Love this!

I'm not usually the biggest fan of Feist (just ask J what happened when he bought the first CD), but this song? This song rocks my socks off.

What do you think? I would be interested to know your thoughts!

My moon, my man by Feist

The week that passed

Cool lamp my sister bought for me in Thailand... too bad the picture got screwed up when I saved it as a smaller pic!

It has been quite the week. I can hardly believe I was off for a week and a bit prior to this. I feel as if I've just been going and going and going since I got back to work on Jan 2nd. CRAZY!

Following a fairly busy three days back at work last week, J and I were back to the homeland (ie. my city of origin). My dad's mom took a real turn for the worse last week, so J and I decided that our much desired ski was nowhere near as important as spending time with my grandma. She has been in a home for two years, and so far she has loved it. You wouldn't believe how often she raves of the food and how well they care for her. It really is home to her now.

I guess last week sometime it was decided that she should head to the hospital. She was having trouble breathing and she was in some pain. In her 92 years, my grandma has only spent 6 times in a hospital. Three of those times were giving birth.

For her pain, my grandma was offered morphene. The first time she turned it down. The second time, she didn't. The third time, she said, "I don't want to become a junkie". How hilarious is that?

Apparently, my grandma was offered morphene several times a day for her pain. Another time, she said, "Just a little bit". My dad was there with her, and he piped up, "I'll take the rest!". My family is a bunch of cards...

Anyhow, my grandma is back at her home. She was extremely tired when we visited her ("They woke me up every 10 minutes!"), but she's doing well. She was happy to see us again, so soon after our Christmas visit.

Following our visit with my grandma, J and I made dinner for my dad and stepmom. We had a fun evening complete with great food and some wine. I had had a GREAT AWESOME FABULOUS visit with my sister the night before, but this evening... she really pissed me off. We won't chat about that.

What I really liked about this total affair is that we were able to pick up and go see my grandma. There were no flights that needed to be planned, we just had to hop in the car. It was so nice to be able to make that decision as soon as we heard my grandma wasn't doing so well.

This past week at work has been INSANE! Friday right before I was about to go home for the night, a manager asked me to attend a meeting in Toronto for Monday and Tuesday of this week. 10 minutes before I'm about to jet, I get this request. CRAZY!

I did attend the meeting, and it was actually very interesting. It wasn't the topic that had me guessing whether or not I should actually attend, but the sheer amount of work I need to do right now. Sheesh!

So anyhow, upon my return to work yesterday, I've just been completely swamped. All the stuff I want/need to do just keeps getting pushed further and further back. I'm one of two people from my work planning a 4 day, fairly large meeting with some other folks and it's all coming down two weeks from now. It's total crunch time. PLUS, the other person is gone for the week. EEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm getting tired just thinking about it! I've put in 8.5 hours of overtime in the past week. While this probably isn't that much, it's a lot for me. And I'll most likely be doing some overtime tomorrow night as well.

What else is going on... oh right, off to another meeting on Monday. So that takes up another entire day. My organizing partner is back Monday, but they will have to wait until Tuesday to get an update...

NEXT! We're checking out some houses this weekend. That's exciting. The picture to the right there is from a house we're really interested in. Not necessarily my decor, but whatever... It's also not in the most ideal neighbourhood, but... that can be overlooked for dreamy hardwood and a 16x12 master bedroom, don't you think? Then again, the kitchen is totally dinky, so we'll have to see.

Anyhow, big time adventures in the house hunting department. Cuz I don't have enough going on right now. COULD YOU IMAGINE IF WE ACTUALLY DECIDED TO PUT AN OFFER IN?? J would totally have to take that one on. Then again, is that even fair? Not so much.

In recent news, I have decided that my online pseudonym will be Maia. It can mean: "brave warrior" and "earth goddess of springtime". Describes me perfectly, don't you think?

OK, that's enough of a tiring update for now. Later gators!

Food, yummy food meme

Borrowed from Anna May who stole it from Running42K.

1. How do you like your eggs?
You know, I used to like my eggs very well cooked. BUT, a couple years ago I went to my cousin's place for breakfast and they didn't ask how I wanted my eggs done. Instead of asking for new ones, I ate the over easy eggs. Now... that's what I eat. If they're scrambled, however, they need to be dry.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?
I used to have one milk and one sugar in my tea, but lately I've been doing the stevia thing. I eat way too much sugar, so I thought this might be one way to cut back.

3. Favorite breakfast food?
I go in waves. Sometimes I'll do toast and peanut butter. Sometimes I'll do cereal. Lately, however, I've been having muesli and plain yogurt. Sometimes with honey and usually with extra raisins. I first had it in Germany while visiting family, but most recently I had it while visiting my aunt in Toronto. The thing is, though, that she had the ULTRA YUMMY Liberté Mediterranée Vanilla Yoghurt. Yeah, nothing like 50% of your daily saturated fats in one sitting. So. Good.

4. Peanut butter
Usually I like crunch, but we've been buying freshly ground PB and that only comes in one texture which I like to call coarsely ground smooth.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad?
Since we eat salad pretty much every day, there was a period there where J and I would go through a bottle of Kraft dressing in a week (or there abouts). #1 That's kind of gross. #2 Once I found out that Kraft is a division of Phillip Morris, I will no longer buy Kraft. So, lately we've been bouncing between Brianna's French Vinaigrette and a basic balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

6. Coke or Pepsi?
Pepsi, although I very seldom drink pop.

7. You’re feeling lazy, what do you make?
Burrito with homemade refrieds from the freezer.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
One of those vegetarian ones from down the road. Possibly with chicken. (Yes, I understand the irony)

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make?
Possibly something from one of our many cookbooks, but most likely something from epicurious.com.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories?
There are these wonderful buns that always show up at the gatherings held by my mom's family. Them and five cup salad (1 cup each of: mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, coconut, mini marshmallows and sour cream - it might sound disgusting... but I really like it... in small doses).

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories?
Hmmm, don't think so. Well, maybe HUGE pork roasts. Not really a bad memory, but it could have been. For a while when I was young, my mom really didn't have any money and my aunt, who worked at a grocery store, would grab all sorts of stuff they were going to throw away, and give it to my mom. We ended up with many pork roasts and green and yellow peppers. We got so sick and tired of pork roast (in all it's possible forms), but at least we had food, right?

12. Do any foods remind you of someone?
Does anyone remember those cheese wafer crackers? They looked like this, but were smaller and had a weird powdery cheese in them. They remind me of my grandma. She always had them.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat?
There is very little I won't try. I've tried oysters with lemon and tabasco sauce, but didn't really like them. Unless I was really hungry or needed the money, I most likely will NEVER EVER EVER try balut eggs. I understand that they are a cultural food, but the entire idea grosses me right out.

14. What was your favorite food as a child?
I don't necessarily think it was my favorite food, but I ate a lot of fresh produce from the garden as a kid. Carrots, peas, beans, etc. I have wonderful memories of eating peas from my grandma's garden. I can smell the sun warmed tomatoes just thinking about it.

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like?
I really didn't like shrimp as a kid. I think it was eventually a breaded shrimp that won me over.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate?
Don't think so.

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable:
I pretty much love all fruits and veggies, but here are some highlights
Fruit: Strawberries, mango, kiwi, raspberries
Veg: Broccoli, zucchini, Brussel sprouts, mushrooms

18. Favorite junk food:
Usually sweet stuff. Chocolate, candy, chewy caramels/toffees, hard candy, etc. You name it, I probably like it.

19. Favorite between meal snack:
I try to eat good stuff like a handful of almonds or a piece of fruit or something. If there's something sweet in the house, however, I generally go for that. That's why I try to avoid having nasties...I mean tasties.... in the house.

20. Do you have any weird food habits?
Don't think so. I don't like dunking cookies in milk. I like to eat my cereal fast so it doesn't get soggy. Are those weird?

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?
Fruit and veggies

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like?
Fruit and veggies... maybe some bad nibbly stuff.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?
Medium

24. Can I get you a drink?
Sure, water with no ice please.

25. Red wine or white?
Red please. They make white wine? Why ever for?

26. Favorite dessert?
Something with chocolate, whipped cream, sugar or butter... or all of the above.