I've been writing a lot of blog posts lately, but they haven't made it out of my head and onto the computer.

I've had a horrible cough for a couple of weeks, and I went to the doctor on Monday morning. The appointment was made before I got the cough, but the subject of the cough did come up.

(To be clear, this cough sounds horrible, but isn't contagious.)

I got the proper medication, and the cough was getting better.

You see, I apparently have mild asthma, which tends to get worse when I exercise.

This annoys me. (Nothing is allowed to interfere with boxing, you know.) Anyway, since my problem is mostly with exercise, my doctor changed one of my inhalers. I picked it up on Monday, and the pharmacist explained how to use it and explained that it can result in a little coughing.

Tuesdays I don't usually go to the gym, so today was my first chance to use it.

I used the inhaler, and after a few minutes all was well. I got on the bike.

About ten minutes later, I started coughing.

And coughing.

And coughing.

People started looking at me in concern - not for me so much as concern that they might get whatever I had.

And I coughed.

Eventually I finished my workout and left (still coughing). It's four hours later and I still feel more congested than I did before I went to the gym.

Apparently, when a pharmacist warns you there might be a little coughing, you should believe her.

Ides of March Update

Wanda's wallet has been found.

Someone found it and got one of his employees to track her down. I picked it up at lunch today.

Apparently, it was hard to find her because there's nothing in the wallet with her address & phone number. Of course, if her wallet had had her driver's license in it, it would have been easier.

It's intact, although she said some bus tickets were missing. (The cash was still there.)

Beware the Ides of March

Wikipedia tells me that the ides was a day in the Roman calendar that marked the approximate middle of the month. (Good thing it's approximate, because the middle of March is the 16th). Personally, April 15th has been a worse day for me than March 15, but it doesn't have a catchy saying.

I started the day as usual - shower & breakfast-while-checking-twitter - and was still eating when Wanda got home from the gym.

She was having a bad day.

She had been in a (minor) car accident on the way home. She stopped (of course) to exchange insurance information. After they had done that, she pulled into a parking lot to put her driver's license away, and couldn't find her wallet.

She walked back to where they'd been - no wallet.

That's right, she'd worked until 6 a.m., went to the gym, got in a car accident, and lost her wallet. I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet.

She was pretty shaken, but had recovered somewhat by the time I went to work.

Before 9, she texted me - she'd also fallen down the stairs.

When I called her, I was literally laughing so hard I couldn't talk. Then she told me it was the ides of March.

She can't say she wasn't warned.

A handful of spinach counts as raw vegetables, right?

So the "eating raw vegetables every day" plan is still in effect ... if barely.

I have discovered that I don't mind spinach salads. I'm not a big fan of lettuce, but spinach is OK.

To be clear, if there's a salad bar, I'm there - it's just that my options are a lot more limited and thus boring at home.

Some days, working raw veggies into my diet is no problem at all. Other days, I completely forget until after I've already eaten.

Today would be one of those days - but a handful of spinach eaten directly from the fridge counts, so all is well.

Tomorrow night I will have to actually clean some additional veggies so that they're ready to go. That's half my problem.

Conversations with my niece

After my niece was born, she was in the hospital for a few days. On one of those days, she threw a temper tantrum. The nurse looked at my sister and said, "You're going to have fun with that one."


It didn't take long before she learned to communicate a little better, mastering the art of pointing.


Eventually, she learned that if she went and got her shoes and then went and got my shoes, we'd go for a walk. From there, it was a short step to leading us to the playground.

When she was first born, I called her "Squirmy" - for obvious reasons - but after her mom objected, I started calling her Monkey instead.


She insisted she was not a monkey.

Just before she turned two, we went out to the farm. There were a bunch of us in my mom's minivan, and we stopped for ice cream on the way back. My mom sat beside the monkey and fed her ice cream. I was in the front, and all I could hear was "num num num". I turned to my sister and said, "I think we have an ice cream monster."

It was quiet for a second, then I heard a very quiet "roar".

From then on, she'd roar at me on the phone. I, of course, had to say "Ah!".

Once I made the mistake of saying "Eek!", and was promptly told, "No, you not say eek. You say ah!"

When she was two, I was at my parents' house. We were eating fruit salad.
B: Auntie Colette, can I have your bananas?
Me: OK. *gives her my bananas*
B: Poppa, can I have your bananas?
Dad: OK.
B: Gramma, can I have your bananas?
Mom: OK.
B: Mommy, can I have your bananas?
K: OK.
B: (big grin) Only monkeys eat bananas.



Lying down to take a nap, B looks at her hand.
B: I can see my bones.
Me: Yup.
B: I don't like bones.
Me: Bones are important. They help you grow big and strong.
*silence for a minute, then*
Me: Why don't you like bones?
B: Because when the dog carries a bone in his mouth and then I carry it in my mouth, it's all stinky and slimy.



Me: "Hey, B, who's your favourite auntie?"
B: "Auntie Michelle and Auntie Camille and Auntie Wanda. Not you."

Today, she turns seven. (Seven! How did that happen?)

Happy birthday, monkey.

Love, your favourite auntie.

Wanda had a belly dance workshop this weekend. It was in a awkward spot to bus to, so she took the car.

That meant I was at home by myself.

It was one of my most productive weekends in recent memory. I made the quilt (above). I made barbie doll clothes for my friend's daughter. I made myself a flannel nightgown for my "nightwear that lives in the drawer while I wear the same pair of pajamas" collection. I sanded down the hole in the bathroom wall (but didn't get around to painting). I even cleaned the fridge.

There were a few things I didn't get to, one of which was cleaning vegetables. You see, I've decided on another challenge. Every day in March, I'm going to eat raw vegetables. I do eat vegetables normally, but they are usually cooked vegetables. It's time to stop being lazy get motivated and clean/eat raw veggies regularly.

Wish me luck ....

Thoughts while cleaning the fridge

1. Don't store a pickle jar on its side. Really. Don't do it.
2. Sure, it's an easy slide shelf for easier cleaning, but you must be able to remove it ... right? What if I ... how about ... never mind, I'll clean it while it's in the fridge.
3. What is that white stuff on top of the Italian dressing? It's not that old, it only expired in ... crap, 2009.
   
4. Is that strawberry jam left from a canoe trip in 2002? I think that's strawberry jam from that canoe trip in 2002.
   
5. Hmm. The vegetable crisper is dirtier than the fruit crisper. That can only be attributed to apples going bad, forcing more frequent cleaning of the fruit crisper.
6. Ew.
7. No one is ever going to drink that mango juice. *puts it back*
   
   

If my head weren't attached...

Back in November, I bought some fabric. I went to use it this weekend, and I have no idea where it is. I've looked everywhere (except wherever it actually is, of course).

Also back in November, I bought some badges for Sparks. They have also disappeared off the planet.

Every once in a while, I still look for the black sweater that I last saw in 2009.

This house is finite. How can things just disappear? I'm starting to think I'm the victim of a very specific burglar.

On the other hand, I have a collection of socks I never wear.

I could lose a few pig figurines and it would take months for me to notice.

I have light bulbs for a lamp that hasn't worked in over a year. Heck, I still have the lamp.

Why can't I lose that stuff?

Two weeks ago was "Team Week".

You see, most of my department is in Ottawa, but we have three colleagues in various places around the world. They all came to Ottawa for team week, and we spent the week in meetings sharing information and getting to know each other.

Unfortunately, one of my team mates had a cold. Because it was team week, she continued to come to work anyway.

Last Sunday, I woke up with a sore throat. As the day went on, I didn't get better, but I didn't get worse.

Monday morning was the same, so I packed my gym clothes and went to work.

I came home at noon, worked from home all afternoon, then fell asleep at 5.

I would have taken Tuesday off, but we had three people out of the office and three sick, so that wasn't really an option.

Again, I worked during the day and then fell asleep ridiculously early. Wednesday was the same.

Thursday was a bit better, and by Friday I was really feeling better.

I've never had a cold hit me so hard, so fast. I'm very glad it didn't last terribly long.

Since I'm now feeling better (and I did nothing constructive last week), it was a busy weekend. I got together with a friend yesterday. I finished my niece's birthday present. I did laundry (including things I don't wash every week, like the shower curtain). I started making a pinata for Sparks.

I even patched up the hole that has been in the bathroom wall since Thanksgiving.

There's only one thing I didn't do - register for boxing.

Looks like I'll be boxing on Saturdays again next session.

Hockey Day in Canada

Before Thursday night, I'd never heard of Hockey Day in Canada.

That's before my neighbour sent me an e-mail asking if I could help out.

You see, my local community centre was the rink for our ward, and a few volunteers had canceled on them. I agreed to help out.

As usual, I was helping out in the kitchen. The menu was simple - hamburgers, chili, hot dogs, and cold drinks. Rogers was there as well with hot chocolate, coffee, and TimBits.

Instead of serving food out of the kitchen, we had an area setup outside. Both rinks (one with boards, one without) were full of kids playing hockey.

The mayor was there for a while, as was our city councilor. Rogers filmed some of it, and CBC was scheduled to show up later.

It was a nice day, but as time went on it got colder. I was only there a couple of hours, but by the time I left I was pretty cold. Still, it looked like everyone was having a good time.

Things I've Learned From Boxing

1. Showing up is half the battle

No matter how tired I am, no matter how much I don't want to go, I always feel better by the time class is over.

2. Practice make perfect

I'm not good at skipping. I have hit myself with the rope hard enough to cause bruises. I have untied my shoe laces with the rope. I have gotten the rope tangled around the railing.

Skipping will never come easily for me.

But I'm a lot better than I was four years ago.

3. Learn the technique

Lately, my coach has been on my case, trying to get me to pay attention to how my legs are moving. You know what? It all becomes a lot easier when I listen.

4. Sometimes, you need another perspective

It amazes me how I can be hitting as fast as I can, as hard as I can, yet if the coach says something like "hit harder", I just ... do.

5. Make sure the lid is on your water bottle

There's nothing fun about dumping half a bottle of water down your shirt.

Now with more tentacle!

It never would have occurred to me to cook an octopus.

Never.

But, you see, I read this last week.

Still, I wasn't really intending to do it ... at first.

But it turned out that the grocery store had frozen octopus, so what could I do? (They didn't have couscous, but octopus was no problem.)

It thawed quite nicely in the fridge overnight.

And curled up nicely in the boiling water.

I left out the olives because I forgot to buy them and the fennel because I don't actually know what that is. Instead, I added mushrooms. Wanda doesn't actually like mushrooms, but I didn't really think that was going to be her biggest problem with this dish.

When it was ready, I popped it in the oven and watched half of a season of The Good Wife did very productive things.

Wanda had to gear herself up to eat it, but even she had to admit that it was good (once she picked out the tomatoes and mushrooms).

And today, for a change of pace, I made bread.

I need a bigger bowl.

Sleeping problems

I mentioned earlier that pretty much all I want to do in January is sleep. The interesting thing is that ... I'm not doing it very well.

I wear a night guard at night - it's a piece of plastic that fits over my upper teeth so that I don't grind my teeth in my sleep. I'm a little weird about it - for example, I can only have it in my mouth if I'm lying down. If I sit up, it has to come out of my mouth immediately. (My dentist laughs at me for it.)

Usually, it's not a problem. This month, I've woken up twice in the middle of the night with no night guard to be found. There's nothing more fun then tearing the bed apart in the middle of the night to find a piece of plastic.

And the dreams? I've had some odd dreams. I mean, dreams are always kind of strange, but I don't know where my head has been at. I can't really remember much about them, but I've woken up more than once wondering what on earth that was about.

How many days left until February?

Watch out for the giant sinkhole!

The big news in Ottawa today is the water main break that shut down one of the major roads. Specifically, one that I take to work. And live beside.

Wanda came home this morning and said, "I had to turn early because Woodroffe is closed. I don't know what's going on.".

I turned to twitter - as one does in these situations - to find out there was a water main break. It turns out that caused a giant sinkhole. (I assume that wasn't known until the City of Ottawa truck drove into it.) I resolved to leave for work early.

I got distracted.

When I realized I was late, I rushed around and got ready. That was successful - I left for work a whole minute earlier than usual.

After all of that, traffic was lighter than usual. I got to work in plenty of time.

I don't understand people who make New Year's resolutions of the "go to the gym every day" or "quit doing X" variety.

You see, I spend the first week or two of the year just trying to stay awake. All I want to do is sit on the couch and watch DVDs.

That's why I was so annoyed with myself when I remembered that I booked the Sparks sleepover for the Friday after New Year's.

Luckily, we had planned the schedule and menu back in December, but I still had to buy the groceries and pack.

After procrastinating all week, I managed to pull it together on Thursday night.

We all had a good time, and since the sleepover was over at ten on Saturday, I still had most of the weekend left. (Of course, I took a nap for a few hours on Saturday afternoon, but that was more because of the aforementioned beginning of the year exhaustion than the sleepover.)

This week I'm a little more awake. I'm starting to adjust to my normal schedule - making it to work on time, going to the gym, boxing. I even watered the plants today for the first time all year. (There's no Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Plants, is there? If there is, I'm in trouble.)

I'm giving myself one more week and then I'm going to start some of the projects that are waiting for attention.

Resolutions New and Old

Let's start by looking at my 2010 resolutions, shall we?

1. There are currently 4 different types of body lotion in my bathroom. By the end of the year, I want there to be no more than two.

>> Back in July, I said this was done, but the resolution says end of the year. You see, my remaining container of body butter was getting low, and it goes on sale after Christmas, so I bought another container (of a different scent). I opened the bag yesterday, and ... they gave me a sample size of a third scent. Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to use it all up yesterday, so this is a technical fail (but a pass on the spirit of the resolution, which was to stop using half a container of lotion, then changing to a new one).

2. Get a job. (This is actually more important that the lotion resolution.)

>> Done. I started my current job Feb. 23. OK, it's a contract, but it counts ... right? My contract was up Dec. 23, but I believe it has been renewed.

3. Make it to level 4 of boxing.

>> Done by the end of April.

4. Go on a road trip.

>> Kingston in September and Montreal in December.

5. Clean out my closet and get rid of clothes I don't wear anymore. Drop them off to a charity that will use them.

>> Six months after the last update, I still haven't taken the 20 minutes to drop off the clothes.

6. Take a first aid course.

>> Did not even make an attempt at this one. I really don't want to do it - but I want to have done it.

7. Go camping (not counting Spark camp).

>> Done. Rideau River Provincial Park in July.

8. Go cross-country skiing twice.

>> Done. Once in January, once in December.


Now for my 2011 resolutions:

1. Go to at least 3 social events at which I know fewer than 10% of the people.
2. Go on two bike rides. (Seriously, I haven't even taken my bike outside in three years.)
3. Patch the hole in the bathroom wall (from the plumbing debacle this fall).
4. Go through my closet (again) and actually donate the clothes I cull.
5. Make it to level 5 in boxing.
6. Do a first aid course. I need to just bite the bullet and give up a weekend to do this.

The Christmas Wrap-Up

I went back to Saskatchewan for Christmas. There were gifts . . . .
I repainted my mom's bathroom cabinet. (My niece helped.)


Two of my sisters bought new netbooks (which I configured).

I hung out with family . . . .
And the dog. (I'm her favourite auntie - but even I can't take her goose away from her.)


And, of course, games (some of which we remembered the rules to).

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.

In the past week, I've made three trips to Home Depot and three trips to Bulk Barn.

Project #1 was finishing the steps. You may recall that I started them back in the beginning of November. Yes, they're finally done. (Well, OK, I still need to paint the trim, but for all intents and purposes, they're done.)


Project #2 was Christmas gifts for my coworkers. (Also, chocolate sushi for our potluck tomorrow - two of the trips were sushi-related.) I made two different types of soup mixes. The total cost was around $20 for 7 jars of soup (including the cost of the jars).

Christmas shopping

On Saturday, I went to Montreal to go Christmas shopping. This was the trip that was postponed due to illness last week. Wanda and one of her friends went with me.

We walked through the underground malls downtown. We went to Old Montreal and looked through stores there.

I bought lunch ... and a mid-afternoon soft drink.

Yes, that would be a massive failure.

Wednesdays are my free night - I go to the gym, but only to use the machines, so I can do that any time.

I decided to go to the mall first, and then to go to the gym on my way home. I knew pretty much what I wanted to look at, so I figured I'd be done shopping and the gym and be home by 6:30.

I went to Carlingwood (because I have a credit at Sears I wanted to use). I walked through the mall. I went to Sears and actually bought stuff. I walked through the mall again (and bought more).

I looked at my watch. It was 6:30.

I didn't go to the gym.

(But I'm two books away from being done my shopping.)

Make up your own joke here

There is a possibility that I will be going out of town tomorrow, so I decided that I should check the oil in my car today.

In theory, this would be a good thing to do before I go to work, because it's light then and dark when I leave work, but in practice I'm always too late.

Luckily, I park in a parking garage at work. Obviously, the solution is to check the oil after work before going out into the dark, right?

After work, I walked to the car. I put my laptop bag in the trunk. I unlocked the car. I popped the hood.

And ... I couldn't find the dipstick.

Admittedly, it's been a while since I checked the oil.

I stood there for a minute looking foolish, then closed the hood and climbed into the car. I opened the glove compartment and found the owner's manual. I flipped through it and found the diagram of the engine compartment.

I located the dipstick on the drawing, then popped the hood, looked underneath it and ... still couldn't see it.

Fine.

I closed the hood, went back into the car, put everything back in the glove compartment, and started the car.

When I got to the exit, I reached for my badge (which is also my parking pass). It wasn't there.

I looked frantically for it. It was nowhere to be found.

I was blocking the exit, so I pulled over into a parking spot and stopped the car. I checked my jacket pockets, then tossed my jacket in the back seat. I checked the floor of the back seat.

No badge.

I pulled everything out of the area where I normally keep my badge.

No badge.

I pulled everything out of the glove compartment.

No badge.

I reached under the front seat.

No badge.

I opened the trunk.

No badge.

Finally, I got back in the car and drove back to where I'd parked. There was no tell-tale white plastic rectangle on the ground.

I stopped the car and went to get out to go report my badge missing, and ... there on the floor of the front seat was my badge.

That's why it took me a half an hour to leave work today.

And I still haven't checked my oil.