work photo

today at work i got an email requesting that i (among a few others) let the guy who takes the pictures and puts them online know when i'm feeling particularly attractive so he can come around and take a picture for the online photo album.

i decided i'd send a wedding pic and see if that would fly. amazingly, he decided that, despite expecting emails complaining of favouritism, he would put it up. i now have the hottest picture in all of health link. :o)

hexmas card debate

i usually send out christmas cards. i like to get the unicef cards and send a bit of a note if i have time.

i feel like this year i do *want* to send out cards, but after the wedding and thank you cards, i'm wondering if i can get away with skipping them. what's the protocol on this? i guess i should just google it.

most people who know me, know that i do not like to do christmas shiz until after my birthday. this used to afford plenty of time to sort everything out, presents & cards, but lately i feel like i could really get started in the summer! leaving everything to the month before christmas is not doing anything for my organization or stress. but what about my birthday? do i skip the specialness? should i start to have a half-birthday so that i can really celebrate, without the christmas issue?

hawt

Yay housewarming party!

Great turn out and super fun. I am disappointed that Jeffy not only asked for an invite, but RSVP'd as a yes and then didn't bother to fly out from Ontario. Other than that, totally fun. Too much wine, too much food.

computer repair surrey / white rock / vancouver

TekBusters

Just in case anyone in the Surrey / White Rock / Langley / Vancouver area is looking for someone honest and trustworthy to fix their computer, buy a new one, set up a server or network.

Oh, and Gerry has a fun Irish accent too! Everybody wins!

our jack o' lanterns

we had a heap of trick-or-treaters last night. i actually started to get worried that we might run out of chocolate because gerry was giving out hand fulls of it.

in the end, we didn't run out, and we got lots of compliments on our jack-o'lanterns. commented on the most? gerry's brain one below on the right. but the one on the left (the big one is being eaten by the cannibalistic little ones) won the carving contest at work on friday. okay, so it was the only one entered, still... it's a winner.


ian and julie came over to play some games and eat some babequed food - since our barbeque just got hooked up (whoot!). good times all around.

back

i had a great day today. not one of those basking in the sun, reading and drinking a drink kind of days, but one of those: totally moving forward days.

one of my sisters is almost divorced - like super close. which is all over town exciting. the pre-trial sorted out some shiz for the estate and her, and now she is soon to be a divorcée. yahoo! (he is a dick, and not in the good way, so it's okay to be super-stoked).

also, got my hallowe'en costume sorted out (if you know me, you may know that i don't really get into dressing up for hallowe'en). we're going to a charity event on wednesday, so i needed something. so that's a huge relief.

we picked up some tools today at rona so i can carve the guts out of some pumpkins. now i just need to get some pumpkins. :o) i've got plans for an awesome pumpkin for the contest at work, and then i also want to have some pumpkins along out front porch. i suspect we're going to get a heap of kids because the neighbourhood is rife with them.

for my jewelry making project, i ordered some stuff online and hope to be ready to go on a mad jewelry making frenzy in a week or so. next year, i will be better prepared (she says every year).

and finally, gerry and i got to go to a movie! we haven't see one in a while, and we love going to see them, so it was a nice (if super late) treat. couples retreat was good. and it made me so crazy to get to jamaica! must work extra hard so i can get all of my projects done before we leave.

new blog - a year of pies

Follow me making 52 pies this year!

http://ayearofpies.blogspot.com/

another run

on monday, i had the best run yet.

4 minutes run x 5 with 1 minute walks in between.

oh, and i tried on pants that haven't fit me in ages, and while a bit tight, i actually got them on. whoot.

WAG taste test

just had the taste test for the veggie wedding option at the WAG.

OMG, so yum!

wedding wedding wedding

well, everything is coming together splendidly.

we have a schedule for the wedding day - ceremony's at 3.30 - you should have already received your email.

we have 2 honeymoons booked - and, if you can believe it, our travel agent has arranged for us to have business class flights, for free! it was supposed to be a surprise, but i guess she copied that part of the confirmation.

picked out wedding day jewelry after meeting up with Kari yesterday, and picked up some paper for wedding stuff in china town.

we are going for the taste test/final planning today and we are just going to sort out a few other things.

yay!

it's exactly one month away! okay, must prepare for the WAG... and have a shower. soooo sweaty.

hoefer on homes

we're renovating our bathroom. when i say we, i really do mean it.

gerry's been in charge of most of the stuff, but i've picked out and purchased all of the stuff, including a new toilet and backsplash thingy for the shower. i've also helped out with the painting - which i haven't done since yvonne and i got kicked off of it at my apartment in kits. apparently our skills weren't up to scratch. whatevs.

the bathtub guy is coming on tuesday morning (as long as the power being turned off from 10-11 doesn't make him reschedule). until then, i'll be showering at rachel's, as i did tonight, after the father day feast.

at least the toilet's back together now. and really, worse case scenerio, i could shower at work.

and so it continues (2)

i forgot, i also got a t-shirt for free

and so it continues

today i bought:
a shower backsplash
new taps
a toilet
paint
primer
glue
some cement product for the backsplash

for free, i got:
three free eyelashes

today i ..

got a massage
got my hair did
got a trial run of make-up done
helped gerry bottle beer
became a twit
ate one bagel, one boca burger, a smoothie, cheese and crackers. yup, i'm hungry.

run like the wind

for some crazy reason, i woke up one day and told gerry we should go for a run. for some other crazy reason, he took me seriously, and made me go.

we were on a pretty good roll there, for a while. i say 'we' not because gerry's learning to run or anything like that, but because i would not be running if gerry didn't 'make' me. by 'make' i do mostly mean that. :o)

i did get sick, so the running stopped for a bit, but i think i'm going to get back on it. mostly because alma, aka the devil, is going on vacation for like 3 weeks so then i won't be doing weights and stuff as much. instead, i am going to take the opportunity to really focus on running. i do hate it, but i guess i might as well do it. and it's not like my ass is getting any smaller on its own. unfortunately. it's somewhat depressing to know that i can just fit back into a skirt that was too big for me when i left for ireland. well, at least it's not too small anymore.

a catholic education

some time ago, gerry and i were laying in bed, and as usual, i was feeling around my body for abnormalities. i have a lot of things wrong with me, so i usually find something of interest.

this time it was below the left side of my rib cage. obviously i made gerry feel my yet unidentified 'issue'. he decided it was my extra rib. i seriously laughed at him. now, i'm no expert in biology, but i'm pretty sure i had the highest mark in my bi 11 class, so i felt confident enough to laugh again. he defended himself by saying that women have an extra rib on one side, and then decided that maybe it was the other way around.

here is a synopsis of the rest:

i 'kindly' explained to him that that was a bible story and a lie.
he said it's what they were taught at school.
i laughed again.
he googled it.
i remain victorious.

canada:1
ireland:0

dear sister

please do not call me to wish me a happy mother's day. i know what day it is, thanks.

ursula

to catch a kid

today gerry and i went for a run. i was extra sucky today because of my chest cold. surprisingly, that makes it extra hard to run. who knew?

*but* joy of joys! on the way home, just after some stretching, gerry said, 'A lamb'. obviously this was confusing to me, but as soon as a lamb was mentioned i got super excited! there, ahead of us was a baby goat! and it was sooooo cute! it was jumping around, trying to get away from this guy who was trying to catch him. so we helped the guy catch him (gerry more than me, to be honest). the goat was very fast, and sneaky! it was so much fun, especially since the guy managed to wrangled the baby after it had been cornered.

what a great day and so exciting - i hope this bodes well for the rest of the day!!!

go canucks go!!!

i was all by myself

gerry's living it up in LA this weekend - Mike Got Spiked are playing at Whisky A Go Go on friday. Mike Got Spiked are gerry's friends in a band from ireland. they've been traveling around the US for *ages* now, and are looking for a record deal.

basically, he's going to have a rockin' time going to fancy parties and hanging out with celebs while i'm sweat shopping away and living the commute. woe is me.

oh wait, i get to watch two play off games, and have plans to hang out with friends and even go sailing on saturday.

no rest for the wicked.

timeshare scams

i guess i entered my name in to win some stuff at a restaurant or somewhere like that because we got a call from a timeshare place in lynden, asking if we wanting to come to a tour/presentation thing. obviously, my initial reaction was, 'heck no!' but they lured me in with the promise of a gift certificate for free gas and a free trip. we knew it was probably a scam but thought we'd check it out in case at least the gas part was true.

so off we went.

here's the thing with timeshare. if you work the system, and have good enough properties, you can make it work for you. *but* you really do have to work the system. i am not interested in timeshare, and am especially not interested in RCI - possibly because i worked there, and mostly had to deal with customers who were confused about why they 'can't get a week in the UK on anything other than a canalboat' and why they have to go to florida, the canaries, or if they're lucky, costa del sol every year.

as well as that, the rates for exchange are crazy and then there's the maintenance fees, and of course the initial payment, oh and the cost of being a member so that you can do the exchange. so, as long as you know that, you have nothing to complain about. the problem is that the people selling the timeshare do not tell you that. our 'tour guide' really tried some moves on us, and they were exactly what people would complain to me about when they were trying to book a holiday.

anyway, no, i'm not interested in timeshare, and yes the gift certificates were bunk. there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and a lot of taxes and service fees to sort through before you see the cost of the 'free' stuff they give you.

also, while the suites seemed okay there, they weren't worth thousands of dollars for one week a year and what the heck is there to do in lynden?

moral of the story? don't expect the free gifts to be free or gifts if you get asked to a timeshare presentation in lynden. great links resorts and their gifts are a total scam. well done to Don, who tried his best moves on us, and made us laugh all the way home. his 'thing' was asking the manager for extra special rates and stuff for us. oh boy... thanks for the laughs, great links.

i don't know you, but i love you

today we were at london drugs and they had roombas on sale. we're talking supersale. 140 buckaroos sale. how could we resist? ruby is charging. we have 15 days to test her out and if she doesn't work as well as we would like, she will go back to the coal mine, i mean shop.

i will post my review.

my peeps

on friday, i julie came over for a n evening of foods, buffy (with gerry, while i did laundry) and some scrab action. good times. we met up with nicole for brunch and had a good gossip fest about my old work. oh, and the brunch was delicious!! YUMMY! guess i should blog about the cafe on eating out white rock.

saturday i got to watch the canucks beat the avalanche. it was a pretty boring game, but they did win, so now they've clinched the NW division title.

saturday night rachel, danielle and ian came over and we chatted, ate some food (i made pizza, and have to say, i was really impressed with the dough recipe i used. super easy) and had a quiet but nice evening.

now i have to work and then get ready for easter dinner at the stewart house! whoot!

found it!

last night gerry set up a surprise easter egg mystery hunt for me! how fun and surprising! also, how silly of him to think i would be able to wait until morning once i knew there were eggs hidden around the house and a big puzzle to solve at the end.

get it?

sent the invites today. well, most of them. please ignore the poor cutting. the time will be decided a bit later on.

Movie Review: The Watchmen

i thought this movie was boring and that it sucked. i also (oddly) didn't like that some people in the audience were laughing through the rape scene. oh, and that it's 3 hours of my life that i will not get back.

barf

today seymour barfed in gerry's office. twice. gerry doesn't know about it yet. :o)

i think poor seymour is sick-sick. he's getting old, and he's like an old man walking around the house, sleeping more than usual, and whining more than ever.

maybe he needs extra squishes.

a stitch in time

apparently (and maybe one of my doctor colleagues can comment on this) they don't give stitches anymore. they just tape that shiz up. well, i suspect the hole in my belly could have used some more tape, or a couple of stitches. it's not looking so hot to be honest... but it is kind of cool.

i am recovering well, despite some paranoia about the quack doctor not taking out enough infected organs. it's just that i still have some pain where my appendix was. gerry has interpreted this as meaning that i think i have more than one appendix, so in case anyone one else gets that idea, it's wrong. i just have some jabbing pain once in a while and it makes me think there's still some stuff going on. maybe if they'd shown me the CT scan.

anyway, yeah. i'm fine. working lots and working on wedding stuff. the invites are almost done, we just need some addresses to finish it up. and we have a meeting with the florist, the DJ and the restaurant this week. whoot!

my new job as a web officer starts in april. hopefully i like it and hopefully then it will be extended to a long-term position. i love the title, cause it sounds tough. however, the truth is that i will be working with two branches of a government health service. not so tough, but possibly super fun because the job is really diverse, and working with two departments means that i'll never be bored. whoot!

in fact, i can't believe my current job is ending soon. we'll be finished the project at the end of the month. i kind of hope i get a bit of OT before that, cause the $$ would be sweet. :o)

sam waterson really sells it

robot insurance

hurtin' for certain

i'm still sore. it's true. i thought i'd be healed by now, to be honest. but i really am not. i took some potatoes out of the oven, turned over the veggie dogs and picked up a paper from the floor. i'm exhausted. seriously.

oh, and i have a phantom pain where my appendix used to be. and a weird belly button to boot. i may post photos at a later date.

what happened?

well, here's the scoop (while i'm still lucid, ie. before i get into the T3 for the day):

tuesday morning, i woke up with a pain in my lower right hand abdomen. gerry suggested that i had pulled a muscle working out the day before. later that day, i had a nice little veggie dog vom... which in fact, was less fun than it sounds, partly because they were spicy chili dogs. the whole day was full of sharp pains, so i was a bit out of it, but managed through.

that night, i started having trouble catching my breath. i chock it down to being a bit anxious about the pain (it is Dr. Ursula, in case you've forgotten). anyway, i couldn't sleep because i couldn't breathe, so gerry was like: okay, this is nonsense. we're going to the hospital. now. i couldn't even argue, so i knew i was sick.

we got in fairly quickly. the doctor felt i probably had appendicitis. which is what Julie and i were discussing that afternoon... when i was saying that what i had probably wasn't contagious, but she may want to reconsider her visit... especially since i'd barfed.

anyway, the doctor wanted to keep me overnight, but i started to cry when she that, so she let me go home. with T3 and the promise that if i barfed again, got a fever, or the pain got worse i would come back and that i wouldn't eat or drink anything in the meantime (in case it was appendicitis and they had to operate on me). i quickly promised and went home. i was still tossing around the idea that it could be something else too... indigestion, blocked bowel, kidney stone... anything that would not require an operation.

the CT scan the next morning showed that it was appendicitis and things were quickly arranged for an operation that evening. the surgeon was an ass, but everyone else at the hospital was lovely. the nurses, the other doctors, the anesthesiologist. i was pretty nervous about the whole thing, so in fact, it was probably a good thing that it happened so quickly. i didn't even get a choice of if i wanted to be put to sleep, it was just like: sign here. blah blah blah (apparently when you're on morphine this is how people sound).

so i went to sleep. woke up (thank you, jeebus) a couple hours later, with a dry sore throat (breathing tube) and pain in my belly. the next morning i got to go home. it's better to suffer at home despite having kind nurses at the call of a button.

i'm still very sore. very very sore. and tired. and on liquids for now. but i've had visitors, and gerry's being very good to me. now i will sleep.

6 months & 2 days

to sum up my feelings about this: eek.

well, we've made some progress. and i'm hoping to make more today.

yesterday gerry and went to look at rings, but the shop we wanted to go to was closed. boo urns. we did go to some fabric stores to look for dress material, and i may have got suckered in by the beautiful materials, and made some changes to The Dress. *but* i'm going to consult with a couple of people and go from there... i have made a deadline for buying the material next weekend. while at the shop, i somehow let myself get caught up in the idea that it might actually matter if i picked one colour over the other. once i was back in the car and away from the situation, i got my shit together and remembered that it doesn't actually matter. it's fine if i pick x over y, because it's really not that important. and if anyone at the wedding feels i've made the wrong decision about it, it's really not my problem. i still would like a couple of opinions about which one will suit me better, but at the end of the day, i wouldn't mind a dress out of any of those colours, and i know i will be happy with my choice.

we also went to a craft store to check out some papers for the invitations. we're going to send some information with the invites, which we're hoping to get out within the next couple of weeks, so there's going to be a bit of effort involved in these. who wants to help with craft night?

after gerry and i figure out if we can do these ourselves, we'll be looking for volunteers. big time. :o)

the railway club bouncer is a cowcunt

ohmygosh.

we went to the railway club for ang's bday tonight. but got stopped at the door. the last time i got stopped at the door, it was in first year when we couldn't get into some place because we didn't have proper ID.

tonight, we stopped at the 7-11 to get money, but had to wait for these two women in line. we joked around a bit with them (as will happen to canadians standing in lines) and learned that the bank machine was broken. as we were following them out, one said, i hope they just let us in to use the bank machine, because i don't have money for cover.

we followed them up to the railway club, where the bouncer let them straight in. i was like: listen, we were just trying to use the bank machine at 7-11 too, but it didn't work, so can i use the one here and then come back to pay? he was like: no. it's broken here too; there are lots of other bank machines. and i replied: you just let those two women in - can i just tell my friend what's happened. and he's like: no, it's too full in there. and then he let the next two people in!!! and i was like: it's so full, but more people can come in? so, i tried to call ang, to let her know what was going on, but it was pretty loud in there... after the 3rd time, dalia came by! YAY! so i gave her ang's present, told her the bouncer was a dick and that we were leaving, please tell ang we were here. as i was leaving, i could hear him saying that i had misunderstood him, that the women that he let in, had been in before. but there is no f'ing way they had been, because they told me they needed money for cover, and that he'd have to let them in to use the bank machine.

my fury is strong and fierce.

oh, and i refuse to go to the railway club ever again. not that they'll miss my business... but it truly is the principle.

yummy

i've sort of gone off the cleanse. i mean... i'm still (or i was) mostly sticking to it. and there are still some things i'm avoiding. today, for example, instead of full-on bread, i chose a wrap. and until dessert last night i had an awesome cleanse friendly meal at the stewart house.

it was too long. and making me sad.

dead pixels

it's been a crazy busy week down here in the rock. i've been finishing up some contract work... turns out i have mad skills in the illustration department (the one that exists on a computer, not on paper with a pencil).

and i've been connected to a new contract position. it's only for 2 months, but it'll do for now.

i've also been thinking of flowers and such for the wedding. i saw some magazines with flowers in them today (i think they're the same ones that were being talked about last night at dinner - unless there are more than 2 $12 wedding flowers magazines out there). neither of which i bought, because that seems a bit steep for an f'ing flower magazine.

oh, and i've been busy trying to find my brother a place to move to. for those of you who don't know, he was decertified last November and (obviously) decided that he'd move out. mental health in misson basically did jack to help him find a place, so now he's living in this woman's living room. and clearly would not listen to me try to convince him otherwise. okay, there is a lot more to this story than i'm willing to get into right now. but i will simply say, some poor decisions were made on both his and mental health's parts, and now i'm left cleaning up the mess, without a broom and dustpan. so that didn't work out, and i'm basically waiting for him to go off his meds. i hope i'm wrong. in fact, i would love to be wrong.

today's title? i have a line of dead pixels on my screen. grrrr.

it's time!

in case you hadn't noticed, i haven't been much into blogging lately. i don't have a solid explanation, but i do have an idea of why... i've been busy. and when you're working an office job that's so boring and frustrating (and doesn't allow blogging) you don't really feel like sitting in front of the computer when you get home, unless it's to play scrabble. :o)

now that i'm working mostly from home, i will be more likely to share all the little things with you - my people, my fans, my voters... oh... right. well, whatever.

recently i've been looking for a new job, and doing some contract work. i've been mostly doing illustrations for product manuals. which is actually really cool, but not enough hours.

and of course The Wedding. oy. the good news is that things genuinely are coming along in that department. yay.

extra good news is that today i'm having a girly day with danielle. we are going to forget all of our woes (this includes my family, and being poor). can i get a whoot?

oh, the irony!

today i got hit by a van. multiple times.

i was walking from the hospital (VGH) to kits. busses should take interac... but that's another story. i decided to walk down arbutus, cause i like that road. i was crossing the road near an elementary school (it was the proper place to cross) when a blood services van stops at the corner (as it should). so i continued crossing and it inched forward, and hit me. then it did it again. i had to yell at him repeatedly but i'd say it's hard to hear a pedestrian when you're on your phone and only looking to your left.

i'm okay. but i'm pissed.