A Loss for Words

That would be the reason I haven't posted much lately. I'm not lacking for topics but I seem to be having trouble putting it to words.

That isn't going to stop me tonight, though.

It's No Whining Wednesday and true to form I had plenty of reason to whine today. But I tried not to. Mr. Sprite was promoted last year and because the Department of National Defense here in Canada takes the motto "hurry up and wait" very seriously, Mr. Sprite has only just been scheduled for his leadership training. He's scheduled to leave for 2 months of training two days after I return from Toronto. Sucks, no? But in the interest of adhering to the rules, I tried to look at the brighter side.

1. Queen size bed all to myself!
2. Lots of one on one time with my children (this can also be viewed as a bad thing).
3. Rent all the movies I wouldn't get to see when the hubby is home.
4. Eat the things the hubby doesn't like.
5. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and by that I mean we are guaranteed at least one week of really fantastic sex when he comes back!

See? Not so bad, right? Tomorrow I'll tell you all the reasons it sucks ass. That's gonna be a much longer list!

On the very bright side: I am going to Toronto in 43 days! You have no idea how much I am looking forward to 6 days of my cousin and my sister and very little responsibility. You may envy me, I don't mind. We've decided we're going to have dinner in the revolving restaurant at the top of the CN Tower, we may go skiing (I am hopelessly un-athletic, so this may prove to be dangerous, hilarious and pathetic all at once) and we are definitely going to drink more than our fair share. Expect drunken shenanigans.

That's all for tonight boys and girls. Stay outta trouble!

No Whining Wednesday, I Would Never Forget You!

I know I've been lax in my posting duties here lately and for that I apologize. Not that anyone has complained about my silence. I know you've missed my regular wit-filled wonders though, didn't you? Didn't you!?!

Guess what made my NWW just the bestest? I bought a plane ticket. To where, you ask? Well, let me tell you; I'm going home! I'm going home! -Home is Toronto, for those of you that haven't been paying attention. Now, smarten up! There will be a test!- Only for 6 days, but it is going to be 6 glorious days spent in the awesome company of my sister and my cousin. Both of whom I miss so much it causes me physical pain. Cause I'm needy like that. Oh, did I mention that it's for my birthday? And my sister's birthday is 8 days after mine, so it wouldn't be unacceptable if we celebrated both, simultaneously. Not to worry, we plan to warn the local authorities. I'm going to see my Mom, too and hopefully, Auntie and Mad Max. Everyone combined? The pressure has reached dangerous levels. I feel like I may explode. Also? The ticket was wicked cheap. I couldn't have justified the expense, otherwise. I have to admit though; I'm a wee bit apprehensive about flying in February. Please do not regale me with your extensive knowledge of anything air traffic related. In my case; ignorance is bliss.

Wanna know what else I got to be happy 'bout? Do ya? Do ya? Huh? I have managed to walk for at least 45 minutes a night regularly, for a month. If you know the potential for lazy I possess, then you understand this is a fantastic feat. AND for 4 days in a row I got out of bed at an ungodly hour and used the elliptical that has spent an alarming amount of time posing as a dust catcher. Amazing, right? Inspired by my seemingly endless will power, I also re-joined Weight Watchers. I kinda feel invincible right now.

That's just a little something to keep y'all hanging on. Cause I know you hang off my every word! I cannot be held solely responsible for my absence though (cause, I'm all about passing the buck). I have discovered so many wonderful blogs that by the time I catch up on all the writing you're doing, I haven't time to write anything myself. So really, who is to blame here?

Ta-ta for now!

And The Award Goes To......

...Me? Oh! Hey! Me! Yay!

Danica thinks I'm talented and for that I get to win an award! Thanks, Dani! Although, I have to say, whatever you've been told? It ain't true. None of it! Seriously, except for that one time.....Just kidding. So as penance for being award worthy I get to amaze y'all with 10 things you might not know about me. That's not really that easy to do without getting overly personal. But I'll give it my best shot.

1. My favourite colour is red. I very nearly shun all other colours except black which goes with red really well and pink, which is really Red's little sister.

2. I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. Then I realized law is interpretive and not absolute and knew better than to try to fix the world's problems that way. Then I decided I would become a writer. I sell mortgages. Go Figure.

3. I had my daughter when I was 18 years old and hate the look I get when people do the math and figure out a 31 year old woman has a 13 year old daughter. She is taken care of, well adjusted, lovely and spoiled within an inch of her life. I am with her father and have been since I was sixteen. Take your judgemental eyeballs and have a look in your own closet before you peg me with a stereo type. Yeah, a little passionate about this.

4. I have a growing obsession with all things fantasy. I used to think fantasy was the geekiest thing imaginable. Then my hubby introduced me to role playing computer games, a number of which lean heavily toward the type of D&D Fantasy I like. They lead to reading fantasy and Bam! I'm hooked. Now I proudly let my geek flag fly. Where the hell did you think Eyvi Sprite came from?

5. I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it. I wish I could. Because I love to sing. And do, much to the chagrin of my family, at the top of my lungs.

6. I am grossly weak willed but inherently stubborn. How does that happen?

7. I was raised with religion and have abandoned it. I cannot bring myself to rest my fate in the hands of a whatever, for which there is no substantial proof. My faith is broken. I wish it weren't, because the idea of religion is beautiful. Not the good, clean living, that's nice but not what I love. It's the ability to believe. I envy those who do. Those with the ability to free themselves enough to have faith. But I can't do it. I do however, allow my imagination free reign and frequently wonder at the existence of far stranger things than God. I haven't figured out how not to be a hypocrite.

8. I have been to every province east of Ontario except PEI and have never been west of Hamilton.

9. My nickname as a youngster was Piss Ass. Mad Max hated the name my parents chose and called me that instead. On my wedding day, when he told me he couldn't call me Piss Ass anymore, I cried.

10. I don't like fudge. I know, I should be tarred and feathered. Drug out into the street and shot. I can't help it. It feels gross in my mouth and the taste does not make up for that. Not even close.

Wow! That was hard! I hope I have lived up to each of your expectations. If not, I'll try not to lose any sleep (hmm, the sarcastic font is missing on my blog too!)

My nomination? Lainey Bobainey - because she makes me laugh everytime I read her blog and cause she started NWW. It takes alot of guts to tell people to quit their bitchin' even if just for a day.

I'm a wee bit tired now. Maybe I will write about Wednesday on Thursday.

Blogger is making me wonky because it won't leave the spaces I keep putting in! Argh!

No Whining! I'm Not!

As you are aware, my hubby is enjoying an all expenses paid trip to the big city, which makes me slightly busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

This is what made me smile today:

- I volunteered to be the fundraising coordinator for my daughter's hockey team (What was I thinking? Oh, that's right! I wasn't!). This is something I've never done but am attempting in the name of being a supportive parent (as if driving her all over god's country and paying for the most expensive recreational sport EVER isn't supportive). Today I booked one event and laid 3 more on the table. That should take care of things up until Christmas. Something ridiculous, like $5000 left!

- Being the ever attentive driver that I am, I nearly hit a car in one of only two intersections I have to navigate in a day. In my defense, I was turning left and she was running the red light (that was green and then changed to yellow while I waited). I should have waited though, to make sure she wasn't going to gun it before I did. But I was going fast and she braked hard and we didn't collide!

- There wasn't any snow last night. I adore the first snowfall, there are few things as beautiful, but not on October freaking 14th, thankyouverymuch!

- I slept poorly last night, I always do the first night my hubby is away and last night was no exception. The good news? I am bound to sleep like the dead tonight.

- I got my very first Halloween Party invitation as an adult! cough*loser*cough Yay for me! What am I gonna dress up as? I am so excited for all the possibilities.

- And finally, it feels like Tuesday because it's only the second day back to work but tomorrow is Thursday already. I love long weekends!

Wow! NWW, Again!

Hehe, I stole the picture from AvB and she stole it from Lainey, I think and I'm pretty sure I know where Lainey got it. And all this petty theft is making me a little giddy.

Little bit of bad news (it's taken me this long to gear up to tell y'all), I didn't get that job I applied for. Can one be too over-eager? If so, I was. Anyway, I'm not too upset about it, I think I've got something else cooking.

Speaking of cooking: The kids and I went to a local apple farm Sunday and picked a shit ton of apples (about 40lbs or 18.9 kgs (that's the official calculation of a shit ton, seriously, look it up)). I have already baked 9 (9!) apple crumbles. I am about to go bake Apple Streusel bread....mmm streusel...maaahhh....Oh! Sorry! and Apple Blueberry muffins with a crunchy topping. I want to make a Spoonerism of my muffins, like Mooberry Bluffins. Hmmm. How 'bout Mapple Bluffins? Maybe. Your turn! Think of a Spoonerism! It'll be fun!

Ok, I'm going. I know, I'm reaching.

Adios!

You Know What Today Is!

Let me start out by apologizing to anyone who was checking in to see how I did on Friday (I know there is at least one of you). I was in a bit of a funk this weekend that was preventing me from piecing together a coherent written sentence. But if you are still interested, it went well. I think. I hope. Anyway, I got some good advice from a friend and am going to follow up tomorrow (I would have sooner, but this week is flying by).

On to the festivities!

My reasons for being happy today are:

1. My daughter and I are getting along very well this week. She's thirteen and that seems to be about the age that young girls begin honing the devil in them (I remember nurturing mine), and her and I have been a little like a lit fuse and dynamite. We could only come together long enough to cause an explosion! This week though? Not so much. We've been talking, working together, and laughing! It's wonderful. I hope it lasts. It probably won't. Because like I said, 13 year old girls are all like Linda Blair in the Exorcist on occasion, but this is a welcome relief. Now that I have told people about this phenomenon, it will surely disappear and leave no trace of it's existence.

2. I seemed to have developed some sort of killer housewife skills over the summer. For those of you who don't know me, I try mighty hard but I am not Martha Stewart (the good Martha, not the criminal Martha). I would like so much to be organized, creative, happy when it comes to the stuff a wife and mother is responsible for. I rarely am. I have moments, I do, but no lasting power. Well, the kids went back to school last Wednesday and things are going smashingly! So far, all the dishes are done, everyone is getting a healthy lunch (it's usually the hubby that misses out), most of the laundry is clean (I would love for all of it to be done, but listen, I'm not Super-Mom).

3. I'm kind of happy about No Whining Wednesday. I woke up this morning ready to tear a strip off the first available mammal because I have developed trouble sleeping. Which in and of itself is making me nuckin' futs. My parents used to host the odd party at our house, where my father's speakers proved their worth: I slept through it. My parents went through a fairly vocal divorce: no trouble sleeping. My hubby and I separated for a year about 10 years ago, did I lose sleep over it? No. My point is nothing has kept me from getting a good night's sleep before now. Lately? On weeknights, you know, the nights before I have to go to work the next day, I sleep like shit. On the weekends, nooooo problemo, comatose. Which leads me to believe, despite my ability to sleep through all manner of noise previously and be unaffected by stress, my job has managed to cause me enough stinkin' stress to interrupt my sleep pattern. Anyhoo, I decided not to tear any one's head off cause I was poorly rested and tired because "It's No Whining Wednesday, so I can't bitch and moan".

4. I have gone for a walk 5 days in a row! Yay! A small step toward a healthier me (no pun intended).

And just for fun, my favourite dance from last nights SYTYCD Canada, Corynne and Austin (I couldn't find a shorter clip, they start around the 5:10 mark).




Oh and Mr. Sprite has taken to calling Austin Ponch Jr. Go ahead and look up Eric Estrada and tell me the resemblance doesn't exist.

Hmmmm.....

Hi! Happy No Whining Wednesday! What? I know it's Thursday, thanks for pointing out that I'm late, but I thought better late than never. Yesterday I was at home sick. I promise I didn't whine too much. Not anymore than was absolutely necessary to get the attention required to get all better. Other than that, NWW was pretty uneventful.

I'm not sure what to blog about tonight. My thoughts are all disjointed, no real train to them. Nothing really interesting has happened this week. Cause, you know, I'm all kinds of interesting every other week.

Things I would like to blog about but don't have attention span needed tonight:

1) Age inappropriate songs I would sing each and every word to as a youngster (the next edition of By Today's Standards)

2) Whether or not Canada should pull out of Afghanistan when our UN/NATO commitment is up in 2011. I read a newspaper article about a month ago that got me pretty riled up. And as the blog title would suggest, I have an opinion on the matter. Also, I'm a military spouse so, it's kind of a given.

3) A poem I wrote and have yet to finish (attention span) for NWW.

Oh! The kids started school yesterday. I'm not a parent who shoves my kids out the front door the first day of school and then thanks whatever brand of God I pray to that they are finally out of my hair. I like having my kids home. If I could afford it (and thought I was even close to being able to do them justice) I would home school them. So I'm always a little sad on the first day of school. So, my son gets off the school bus all long faced and glum yesterday afternoon. I ask him why the long face? Did he have a bad day? He tells me he got into trouble. I know my son. He's got the attention span of ....well a 9 year old boy (he leans a little toward 9 year old on chocolate, if I'm being honest, sweet, milky chocolate). He has to be engaged. He doesn't yet possess the will to concentrate on the task at hand without guidance. The other end of that is if he is interested, its hard to get him to notice anything else. I figured he got into trouble for goofing off. Not so much. He tells me they were asked to record a summer memory, but they can't use sentences. They have to use words and pictures (it took a number of questions before I got the gist of what he was told). He was having a hard time limiting himself to that. So there's a note in his agenda saying he didn't think he should have to follow instruction and I quote "Not a good start to grade 4". On the first day.

Last year, I tried to be super sweet. Last year, I tried to be nice. I wrote long notes spouting how much I agreed with the teachers point of view and how I thought it was important we communicate. I drilled my son every day. To no avail. My son got stressed, I got stressed and the teacher continued to be a bitch. Don't get me wrong, my son can be a challenge, and I can only imagine how much more challenging it becomes with 20 or so more very much like him. Fact is though, she teaches for a living. Is patience not listed as a job requirement? This year I said fuck it. I wrote a note back. I informed Mrs. Impatience that I thought she was being a little hasty with her judgement and requested she give the kids a chance to get back into a groove. I was not polite. What happened? She wrote a note back. It was full of butterflies and puppy kisses assuring me she wasn't judging.

So tell me this folks: why is it when I bend over backwards to be nice, I go out of my way trying to appease the unappeasable (hmm, not sure that's a word), I get jack for my efforts. I get a bit of a backbone, tell a person or two off and then people start treating me differently. With more respect. Ok, so let me see if I've got this straight: Nice Girl = Door Mat, Bitch = Respect? Nope, that ain't fucked up at all.

Well, I'm done spreading sunshine for this evening. I'll be back tomorrow cause I've got a job interview and I'm going to need someone to wallow in my pity with me or to help celebrate (let's hope for the latter). G'nite folks!

I Accept Your Challenge!

It's No Whining Wednesday again. Damn, time is just zooming by. At this rate, I'm going to be blogging from the old folks home in no time.

I've lots of things to talk about today but I had fallen a little behind on the blogs I follow and there were 6 (6!!!!) comments on yesterday's post that I had to reply to plus my family were hilariously distracting this evening (they were watching Wipeout and laughing like half-crazed hyenas), so I'm short on time.

To begin, I have a new follower! Yay! Welcome, Xtreme. Come in, sit down. Tea (or booze, there's some of that too)? Each new follower makes me ridiculously happy!

I let No Whining Wednesday slip to a sort-of co-worker last week, not that NWW is a big secret, but the blog I use to document my NWW's kind of is. So it's the blog that I let slip really, which I sort of hope she forgets about. NWW she hasn't forgotten about, though. Last week she tried to convince me I had to clean the cartridges on the photo copier just to see if I would whine about it. It seemed fishy from the beginning, but I was game. Trying my damnedest to be polite, I said I thought for a copier that looked like it could very well operate as mission control for NASA, you'd think it wouldn't require that sort of maintenance, but I'd do it, if it needed doing. She laughed at me and then let me in on the joke (oh yay! practical jokes on NWW to test my resolve). Today, she simply asked me how NWW was going so far. She said she was to busy to test me. Thank God for small mercies.

Little does she know, I hope the idea begins to manifest itself in the lives of others. Hopefully, without conscious effort on their part, kind of what happened to this blogger. Another co-worker has also begun to take notice of NWW and I hope that she too, will one day partake. Lainey should be proud, she's started a movement, an anti-massacre movement. If fifty people a day....sorry, bit of a tangent there. I'm a geek and if you aren't familiar with Arlo Guthrie that last bit made absolutely no sense to you. If you are familiar, then you are now fully aware of the depth of my geekdom. I have made peace with it.

Guess what I did today. Go ahead......Ok! Fine! I'll tell you! I had a phone interview for a new job! Which I think went very well. I expect an interview in my near future. Yipee! It's not my dream job, but it will get me away from the shit storm that is my current place of employment. It's something I've done before, so I know I can do it and will be content until the dream job does rear it's head.

Speaking of the Shit storm; one of the people that is responsible for attempting to drive me out of my ever lovin' mind while I am at work made a comment today while I was speaking to another co-worker that, combined with past comments, I took offence to. Rather than brood about it for the rest of the day, I decided to address it. I told him as professionally as I could muster that I thought his comments offensive and would appreciate if he would not attempt to make jokes at my expense because I thought his comments rude. I kind of want him to get the idea that I don't like him and that when he insists on listening to a conversation being had between two other people of which I am one, his comments are not welcome. It isn't really his fault, he's just that person. You know the one you can't stand, no matter how hard you try? The upside there: I didn't tell him to Fuck Off and save his asinine comments for someone else. Which would have been very unprofessional, something I am trying very hard not to become (which is hard to do in my current environment, I gotta tell ya). I hope I've staved off any further unwelcome comments/advice/speech from him.

Oh boy, it's late and this is much longer than I thought it would be. Coffee is gonna be my best friend tomorrow. Oh! Who am I trying to kid? Coffee is my BFF everyday!

It Ain't Happenin'

Well, it's No Whining Wednesday again. Helllllooooo! I know as a rule Wednesday follows Tuesday and so I really have no cause to complain but I've gotta say, Wednesday, you picked a hell of a day.

I told you a couple of weeks ago about my Auntie. Well, she was only one half of the fantastic whole that filled the void where grandparents on my Mom's side should have been (I do have a grandmother, but hers is a story better left untold). The other half is my Uncle, of course. We're going to call him Mad Max, not because he is in anyway like the character Mel Gibson portrayed all those years ago, but because it's an awesome name and he is an awesome dude and so that makes it all work in my mind. Don't question it.

Mad Max was diagnosed with Alzheimer's yesterday.

I'm not taking it so well.

I haven't done any research yet, so I'll have to beg your forgiveness if I make an erroneous statement.

I realize that Alzheimer's is a condition that worsens over time. Mad Max for the most part still has his wits about him and with medication, probably will for some time. He's 76 (I think) and so it is probably time I prepare to face his mortality anyway. But that's just it. Auntie and Mad Max were such an incredible influence in my life. I have yet to be able to face the fact that neither of them is likely to live forever without breaking down into tears. At just the thought of their eventual passing I'm a snotfaced, bleary-eyed mess.

To be honest, I should be better armed against this eventuality. Auntie has suffered from Scoliosis her entire life. As she ages it becomes increasingly worse. Where she used to be mobile and independent, she is now confined to a wheelchair and is entirely dependant on Mad Max to do most of the cooking, cleaning, shopping and so on. She also has a nurse come in regularly to help with the things my Uncle cannot. Her condition continues to worsen with age. Eventually, her spine will twist so much it will crush her internal organs. I know this. I haven't accepted it. I can't, I don't know how. And I don't know why that should be.

Now to add insult to injury, Mad Max is sick. If he worsens to the point of needing round the clock care and is put in a home, then Auntie will have to go to one too. I can't begin to tell how many different ways that sucks ass. These two deserve so much more.

It breaks my heart to know that Mad Max will digress daily to eventually become a measure of the man he once was, possibly not even that. That I am here in Nova Scotia and he is in Ontario and the memories I have, could be all I have left.

I'm sorry I've dragged you down here with me into my pit of grief and despair. I'm sorry I wasn't able to overcome the sadness for just today. Blame Tuesday, cause it came first.

NWW - It's Kinda Related

Today was a pretty decent day overall. I have things I would like to complain about, but I have promised to keep my negativity to myself today and the rest of my day was pretty meh, well, except my daughter is a superstar goalie in soccer and there is going to be a meteor shower tonight which I plan on watching in about 5 minutes with the kids. Other than that, meh. I thought I would share one of my favourite things with you instead (in a sort of poetic way, sort of):

As August grows, every morning seems filled with fog that is quickly burned off by the insistent summer sun. But....before the sun gets hold, before the cool of night retreats to allow the warmth of day, before the world fully awakens in that twilight: I stop and I breathe in a cool dew heavy breath. I sip my morning coffee while I watch little things that signal the coming of a new day. Another day in August. Where summer has begun to smell mature and the surrender to Autumn is on the edge of every sense. I love this summer. Not the blazing sun of mid-July, the sticky sleepless nights. But the quiet solitude of an August morning, one with September at her door and August whispers "Shhh, just one more....." And September waits, giving in for a little while before he lets Fall in.


Hehe, August makes me a little heady, slightly drunken. Less inhibited with my word creations. It's......lovely, the effect. I thought this this morning while standing on my deck. It's a little corny, maybe, but I tend to love corny! Be gentle.

No Complaints Here!

Hi! Guess what I did today. Go ahead......OK, fine, I'll tell you, we went to the beach! I am so excited because normally I am not a fan of natural bodies of water, nor do I like walking around in what equates to my underwear in front of strangers (or non-strangers, for that matter). I also don't like to venture too far from home. But I got a tip on a really nice beach here in Nova Scotia, checked it out online, ran it by my other half and planned an outing.

OK...so, I'm all impressed with myself because this is my definition of adventure. Shut up! 2 hour drive to a place I have never been to run around barely dressed. What do you call it?

Things didn't go exactly as I would have liked this morning before we left, but this is No Whining Wednesday and I'm a dedicated individual (surprise, surprise) to participating, so I turned my thoughts to the things that could have gone wrong but didn't. It's all about perspective.

Before we left our cooler bag blew a zipper (and the cooler had an unidentified object growing in it, eeewwww). Mr. Sprite suggests we hit the store to buy a new cooler before we leave town. Right on, let's do it! In the car Mr. Sprite suggests we buy a beach umbrella. Fucking Awesome! Lately, Mr. Sprite and I have not been seeing eye to eye. In fact we have been arguing about just about anything two people could find to argue about and some of the things they couldn't. The fact that we were thinking the same thing on two separate occasions today would've been enough to make my day. In the store my newly re-exalted hubby (word? Is now.) finds two beach chairs on sale. He bought them. How great is that? No sand in places sand has no business being (more on this later).

Purchases made, we hop back in the car and make our way to the beach. We made it door to door, so to speak, without one wrong turn. Which, in my world is a rarity.

The beach was everything promised. The sand was soft, white and sparkly. Yes, it sparkled. The water was crystal clear and a beautiful blue. The Atlantic ocean is not usually known for being welcoming 'round these parts so this was especially surprising.

Now, some of you may know that I am not a thin girl. And if you didn't, well, now you do. This is a never ending cause for anxiety for me, yet I have yet to find the catalyst that has actually given me the will to quit shoving food into my pie hole (just a quick side note, I quit smoking a few months ago and the food shoving has become alarmingly worse, inevitably so has the weight gain. TMI? Sorry, end side note) and get off my increasing arse and do something about it. My weight, of course contributes largely to the fact that I am not comfortable in a public place scantily clad. Today? I said fuck it. I wore a bathing suit. Yup, and I didn't care what little miss size two in the two-piece down the beach thought about it. Wait.....maybe....awww, shit! Well, I mostly didn't care.

I spent four and a half hours at the beach with the family and it was heavenly. The kids collected sand dollars, explored the beach, found a (dead) crab, rolled in the sand. I read and relaxed. We had a beach picnic. AWESOME.

Just a few notes on my beach experience that were less than awesome. I am not complaining, just including them for your amusement.

1) Deer Flies are nasty little buggers. Seriously, I must have donated (unwillingly) at least an ounce of my blood today to prevent hunger amongst deer flies. Oh and DEET? Yeah, I think it attracts these little blood suckers. "I take your fuckin' DEET" < --Overheard being said by one of the offending insects.

2) When applying sunscreen DO NOT forget to apply it to your face. Obvious, right? Apparently not. I look like a freakin' tomato! Also, not so obvious, if your bathing suit bottom is of the shorts variety, do not neglect to sunscreen the very tops of the back of your legs (aka, bottom of your bum cheeks) cause they will burn. Which makes sitting slightly uncomfortable.

3) Regardless of how inviting the Northern Atlantic appears to be, no matter how much it resembles those pictures of the Caribbean you've seen, it is not warm. Not at the beginning of August. The info I've found on the average temperature is sketchy, between 8 - 16 C (46 - 61 F) seems to cover it. Either way, that is not bloody warm enough to be swimming in, but swim my family did. Yeah, I was the only one too chicken to dive in. Screw that! My feet were cramping up just standing in it.

4) Remember that fantastic sand I had described? The sand I was hoping the beach chairs would prevent from getting in low places? No such luck. Not only is it where it has no business being but it's everywhere else too! Everywhere! It sure was purrrty, though.

I'm Not Whining!

I'm super late, but better late than never, right? But because I am so late you're gettin' point form:

-family rec room is a little better than half way painted. Yay!

- I am, surprisingly, lovin' the above mentioned paint (I was worried, Mr. Sprite picked the colours and I wasn't overly enthused by them). Whew!

- the a/c guy came into work today to look around, he'll be back next week to install a/c. Yay times two!

- I am going to be on vacation next week! Super Yay! The countdown is on, I have two full working days and then I am off for a week! We are going to travel around the lovely Nova Scotia and see what we can see. We've been here couple of years but we've yet to experience all that N.S. has to offer. We figured we better get crackin' before the military decides the hubby is needed elsewhere (Germany would be fantastic. Not likely, but a girl can dream).

Anyhoo, that's the breakdown of my happy thoughts today. Thanks go out to Lainey again for inspiring the rest of us to quit our bitchin' for the day!

Where does the time go?

Hi! Tomorrow is No Whining Wednesday, so I thought I'd pay a quick visit to purge my weekly complaints. First and foremost, last NWW was a doosie (sp? it's not in spell check!) and I hope this week is better. Already I've guaranteed it's going to be trying. The hubby decided he wanted to paint tonight, which of course is spilling into tomorrow and seeing as he's from Mars (or more likely a further planet, we've yet to figure out where, because he's unlike anything anyone has ever seen before) and I'm from Venus, we disagree on just about everything. Whenever we try to do something like this, we both have entirely different ideas on how to go about it and neither one of us is very adept at compromising most of the time, so inevitably we end up arguing. Neither of us is rational when we're angry. Well, you can see where this going. I'm determined though. Tonight I will let it all go, tomorrow I will be a clean slate!

1) We started the painting process, were actually having a pretty good time lovingly nagging one another, even had a drink. Bam! I have a migraine. It isn't bad yet, but I put my drink down, declared I wasn't going any further tonight and logged on here. I'm going to finish up here and hit the hay.
2) I sent my resume to two places today. Both are government positions but in different departments. I hate, with a green galvanized passion, writing cover letters and tweaking my resume so that it looks like I was made to do the position I am applying for. Hate it. The two of them took me better than an hour to get just right -no, I am not a perfectionist, why do you ask?-and I was wound tighter than a bloody spring when I was done. (the good news here is that I applied for two jobs though).
3) I have mentioned that I work in the seventh circle of hell presently, right? Well, I do. Normally though, the temperature inside the office doesn't reflect the level of hell I work in, but the past two days.....Oh Sweet Jesus, it has been hot! 29 and 30 degrees with 85% and 65% humidity (that's 84 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit for my American friends). Makes for a nice day at the beach. The office? Not so much.

This one isn't a complaint. My daughter is fantastic. While her Father and I were taping the family room in preparation for the paint, we were in all kinds of ridiculous positions, stretching over furniture, trying to get the hard to reach places (I would have moved all the furniture first) and she gets her camera. I told her to go right ahead and take a picture if she wanted, she could even post it to Facebook if she was prepared for my retaliation with 13 years of blackmail photos I have been saving up. I told her she would have to ask herself one question "Do you feel lucky punk?" (Of course I did). She didn't take any pictures, but then logs on to Facebook and updates her status. What does it say, you ask? "I was watching my parents getting ready to paint, was going to take pictures of it, but Mom might murder me in the face." Awesome, right?

Edit-It's Wednesday morning and I've just come back to check things out, only to discover this thing was rife with errors. I apologize for my lack of attention. And I will refrain from blogging with a migraine. It's better for everyone that way!

Smile! You're on Candid Camera!

I agreed to participate in No Whining Wednesdays with a fellow blogger, Lainey Bobainey , as I mentioned yesterday. I tried to purge myself of all negative thoughts last night by blogging. Much to my surprise, I had nothing negative to say. As fantastic as it is to have no complaints, it did not bode well for my No Whining commitment. It is rare for there to be two complaintless days in succession. I don't know what that says about me and my life and I don't really care, you aren't Freud and I ain't here to be judged. The fact remains. It is out of the norm. Well, boys and girls, Wednesday arrived and true to form, today was intent on testing the strength of my resolve. Walk with me, talk with me......



I woke up this morning much like every other morning. Aware that today was the day I wasn't going to complain, I put on my happy face, determined to succeed (I needed a little motivation, I have been too "Eeyore" for my own good here of late). For breakfast I chose my favourite cereal, Cranberries and Flakes (I don't know what kind of flakes, but they are nummy). About mid way though my bowl of cereal, I encountered something a little crunchier than normal. Hoping beyond hope it was perhaps a cranberry that skipped past dried, right on to crystallized -stay with me here- and not something nasty (like one of the ants that seems to have taken up permanent residence in my kitchen) but reluctant to actually spit it out and check it out. 'Cause if it had been the latter I would have tossed my cookies. Sometimes what you don't know, won't hurt you. I chewed the required amount and swallowed, washed it down with some coffee for good measure. The very next bite a dried cranberry managed to adhere itself to the inside of a number of my top molars, using my tongue to dislodge said cranberry I discovered one of the teeth involved was a little more jagged than usual, a little sharper than usual, a little less there than fucking usual! That crunchier crunch in my morning cereal was a filling! So I ran to the bathroom for a closer inspection and sure enough, my fucking filling was gone!



Okay, so last November I developed a bit of a tooth ache and after a visit to my regular dentist, I was informed I needed a root canal. Fine. Two trips to the specialist and one more trip to my regular dentist for a filling that my regular dentist informed me was only temporary because "that tooth is going to need a crown". Jesus wept! I could have had the darned thing pulled for four hundred bucks! At that point I had spent $1100 for the root canal and another couple of hundred for the regular visits. Damned tooth. Damned me for not taking better care of the damned tooth! *I am not complaining, I'm story telling, stick around.* So you can understand my hesitation to fork out yet more cash to have a crown put on the tooth.



I called the dentist's office expecting to beg and plead to get an appointment to fix my tooth today, they had an appointment right away! Woo Hoo! I finished my morning routine (ironically, I had to brush my teeth!) and prepared to leave. While I was brushing my teeth, Heaven decided to turn on the water works. Fantastic! These pictures were taken with my phone so the quality is not spectacular, but you get the point, this is what I drove to the dentist in.













Beauties, huh? Small bit of a torrential downpour, but hey! My flower garden is going to be luscious!



Upon arriving at the dentist the rain began to fall even harder and the 30 or so feet it was from my car to the door resulted in an thorough drenching. The dentist promptly began to admonish me for not coming in sooner. This is not a point that needed to be further driven home, in my opinion, but I figured I deserved it, so I accepted her scolding with as little contempt as possible, choosing to focus on how quickly I was given an appointment. Once the dentist decided I had learned my lesson she had a look at my tooth. Turns out the filling I was given after the root canal is still firmly in place (ha! temporary, my ass!), it was my tooth that fell out! Not all of it mind you, but a good portion of it. There is apparently enough left of it to affix the much needed crown to. Yay! Oh and when the tooth finally has it's elusive crown, I will have a tooth worth a little better than two grand. One tooth. I'm having that shit insured. Surely there is a company that wants to protect my pricey tooth from further damage or even theft!



I had been poked, prodded, drilled and filled when the hygienist came in to inform the dentist that she has had an opening this afternoon and could take another appointment. The dentist mentioned to me that I am due for a cleaning and offered me the slot. I figured work was a write off; the roof of my mouth felt like a pin cushion (still does) and my jaw felt like it was held open with a car jack for a cruel amount of time (still does), so why not suffer more abuse at the hands of my dentist! Sure! I tested my luck and asked if I could bring my kids in for a little torture *cough* cleaning as well. Why, of course! Score! It's a family outing, sans patriarch, outing nonetheless.



To prepare for the dentist, I had the kids brush their teeth real good, and then floss. Because you know, that's gonna make up for all the lazy dental hygiene since the last dentist visit. I was helping my son brush his teeth when he tells me he's going to sneeze. I told him to spit first (in an effort to avoid a toothpaste-y spray all over everyone). He hoists himself up on the vanity, he's short, and spits. Just in time, too. A sneeze immediately followed the spit; used toothpaste shower averted! Sadly, there wasn't enough time for him to avoid the hazards a sneeze and the bathroom sink present and he whacked his forehead off the faucet. I wish I could say I was a better mother. I wish I could say that I grabbed him as quickly as I could to kiss his boo boo better. I am not and I did not. What the hell did I do, you ask? I laughed. I laughed so hard I could barely breathe let alone ask him if he was okay. I would like to think if he were crying I wouldn't have laughed, at least not as hard as I did, but he wasn't and I was beyond control. I should add that his sister did not help the situation, she too laughed like she had never seen anything so funny. Once I regained my composure, I apologized and asked if he was OK. He was, obviously, but I'm sure it helps to know your mother cares enough to ask about your well being when she hasn't done such a stellar job of showing it. For the first time in my life, I wished there was a camera in the bathroom today, so I could share with you the unintentional comedy that occurred. Perhaps then you would understand why the loss of my Mother of The Year nomination was completely out of my hands. I was a slave to hilarious circumstance.


I could go on. My entire day followed a very specific set of rules, it would seem. Every situation seemed designed to break my resolve. The Whirling Maelstrom of Whining, as Spender so eloquently put it. I am happy to report; I didn't lose my cool, I didn't break down. I forced my self to find the good in each situation today and did. You know what? I think it might get easier too, next time it may not be so hard to be optimistic. Could I become an optimist? Will my pessimistic ways be a thing of the past? I am guardedly optimistic.

What? No Complaints? Hmph!

I thought "I'll post a complaint blog tonight, get it outta my system". I agreed to have a No Whining Wednesday (I think that's what it's called) because of a fellow blogger, Lainey. Guess what. I've got no complaints. Nuttin'. Ha! My day has been pretty good. Work was ok as far as work goes. When I got home, things here were pretty fantastic. I've worked out. Yup, this girl's got nothin' to whine about tonight. Which leads me to believe the shit is gonna hit the fan tomorrow. Optimistic, aren't I?