These are exciting times

This weekend was a busy one - started off quite crappy, but ended up just fine. I got lots done and managed to spend some time with J too...nice. J's Mom was in the hospital for a few days, but she is home now and is OK, so that is a relief. A sign that the weekend was to be a good one.
I had a tasty baked fish meal with Magnus on friday, and then visited with some family that were in town a tiny bit of time. That was nice. And on the weekend? Well, more tidying, and I volunteered at the CFCR art auction for most of Saturday...it was at a posh country club, but I was stuck at the money desk for the evening, so I didn't have as much fun pretending I was a wealthy heiress on holiday in Spain like I'd planned. We had a lot of nice pieces and most of them sold, and people were happy. Half the proceeds go to the local artists and the other half to CFCR, so that was good. There were some pieces there I would have loved to take home, but who am I kidding? They don't take bark and leaves as payment - I should know. I was the one taking the payments!
Sunday was attack the yard day. the snow we had briefly melted on saturday, so I took the chance to take out a borrowed rake and attack the yard and trim up the hedges. I love power tools. I didn't get to where the vines were, but after 3 solid hours in the yard, it's looking rather nice. The back and sides and around the steps and hedges are all done for winter. I'm glad, as I figured I wouldn't have been abler to get to it this year. I'm surprised I'm not stiff after all that, actually.
I've also gotten some primer and we've pretty much picked out the paint for the computer room...I have this week to patch holes and wash walls so I can start painting it this coming weekend - I'm very excited. Add to that that operation clean sweep is pretty much done except for the bookshelves near the computer (J's job) and the kitchen clutter (*sigh*) and it's pretty exciting. Instead of looking around and seeing lots of things to do, I'm seeing all the things I've gotten *done*.
THAT is a good feeling.
I also dusted some of the plants above the door and we put some plants back in the living room. We also picked up some frames for some stuff we've wanted to hang up for ages, so that is a step closer to being hung up too...
Exiting times at Casa Geo.
Moving on up we are. Yessirree.

Best of all?

I finally got to spend some of my birthday money and I picked up this:

Veganomicon. I've been eying it up for ages...it's set up like the Joy of Cooking (my cooking bible) with comments on how to cook and prepare all the grains and beans and other things mentioned in the book, and then 250 yummy looking vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, but I find a lot of vegan cooking is delicious, as they actually rely on the flavour of foods, and not just a slab of meat, for tastiness. So I have lots of things to try out and now I can learn how to cook all these things I've read about but have no idea what to do with...like quinoa.

I'm excited. Anything yummy will get posted on my foody blog.

Gotta go...busy day. Talk amongst yourselves :)

Happiness patrol

Another day, another cookie...

This morning I sincerely smiled at a stranger and he blinked, looked a bit taken back and then his eyes lit up and he smiled. His whole face lit up. I tried it again at the bus stop...and another smile.

Geo was curious.

I am going to do a smile survey today...anyone I do not know, I will look at them straight in the eye and smile sincerely and see how many people smile back VS look away or frown. Granted I don't work around a lot of people, so I don't know how many people I'll be able to inflict smiles upon, but I figure it can only be a good thing...the nerd in me may even make up graphs of results...I'll keep you posted.

Slowly but surely

The house is now 1/3 defurred, ubercleaned and dusted, and thanks to J, decluttered and reorganised as we go. Good god, you'd think the cats spent days at a time actively shedding their body weight in fluff...lucky they are so cute...
J and I have been going to town, and I'm trying to keep at it all ALL week, so that at the end of the week all will be organised and clean and we can start putting things on the walls, and arranging furniture in the living room. It's very invigorating...it's like we've been in limbo for months, and suddenly the house is being restored to an *actual* house...not just rooms full of stuff haphazardly placed in groups. You don't realise how mentally oppressive that is until it's fixed. It's time to get rid of lots of things we've found and went "WTF is this for?", and have giggled at finding things we thought were lost forever...
I feel like we should have people over at the end just to show it off somehow...Christmas party anyone? :)

Unfortunately, my allergies are going haywire...what with me being allergic to mold, dust and catfur, but if I can hold out a bit more, it'll all be over. It's the reason FOR all this...in the end I'll be much happier. And I'll have my house back.
Plus, at the end I get a reward of sorts. THEN I'm able to start to paint the old yellow craft room upstairs to turn it into a computer room, so J can finally set up his music gear downstairs...it's currently a tiny rubber duck yellow room with violent orange and pink trim (I'd like to state that I didn't do it, BTW, it came that way). I want to prime it and make it a nice lime green with white trim...THAT is my reward for cleaning the house. A redone computer room. I only planned it, oh, a year ago...he heh. By my standards that is a bit ahead of the game :)
And then... december and operation christmas...blinky light time.
Muaha!

Operation clean sweep

Whew...we're gearing up to clean the whole damn house top to bottom.
I am not looking forward to it, but being cooped up inside in the winter requires an anti-furring of the domicile to keep me well.
Plus, I'm feeling guilty about not having things all back together after the renos, so this will help get things back to a semblance of normal...and...um...find all the things I tucked away for "safe keeping" while we painted.
Wish me luck.

SNOW!

It's finally snowing...lots of big fluffy flakes.
It's not so bad actually...considering it's been this long before it came, I can't complain.
I'm more excited that J's shoot was cancelled tonight so he has the evening off!
Pizza and movies and me...oh my!
Oh, and yesterday I made the best pancakes ever.
Ever.
EVER.
Make some...you'll see...Check my food blog for the recipe.
I also made up a feta spinach stuffed chicken breast with oven roasted balsamic veggies for supper. It also was droolingly good...if I can remember how I made it I'll definitely do it again :) Yesterday was truly the day of deliciousness...

Gotta go...I'm off to the pet store to see what weird things I can find to get my cat to stop scratching the couch.
Bye...

Finally...

Thank god it's friday.
This has been what has seemed like the longest week ever. Lots do do...
FINALLY, J gets a day off tomorrow. Why is this significant? Well he hasn't had a day off since Oct 20...no kidding.
So it will be much napping and relaxing.
Tonight, the Fort Knox Five are in town along with Matt the Alien at the Odeon-this is a good thing. I do believe I will dance off some vibes by shaking my butt at the speed of sound to some great funk and breaks.
...and then veg out saturday...raking, trimming a hedge, making yummy food. Watching the new Futurama film. you know...live like normal people.

Because I'm too bleah and lame to do a full out friday favourites, let me just say that today, my brain has been stuck on the Cranberries ...an older album actually.
No Need to Argue is a great old album...and so, because the song has been in my head all morning...you can hear Zombie too. Go here. Universal is being a ponce and won't let me embed it...

Later tater..

The Gay Conspiracy

Just to poke a stick into things:

After discussions at work today, I am all fired up. The more I think about it the more I am angered: How can you annul someone's marraige with a vote?
It is bad enough that people feel that they can vote to disallow same sex unions. It's a whole giant leap backwards...
What supremely disturbs me about the whole thing is the fact that people who were already married, have had their marriages annulled. They, in essence, never existed. The vote cancels not only future marriages, but PAST ones. Vows at civil unions (not religious ones) that had already happened. I thought there was a separation of church and state? This is evidence to the contrary

This is so very wrong on so very many levels.

What if your community got together and told you they'd held a vote, and that you and your partner were deviants, not like them, and that your marriage was not real. That it had never happened. You're not allowed to be married to the person you love. And you should probably leave town too, as after all, you deviant, you don't live a socially acceptable relationship with the person you love...we won't allow you to, because it's easier to hate you when we can pretend you aren't like us.

Take any openly harsh statement against homosexuality and replace the sexual/gender references with racial ones. Go on...try it. If you said them at a pulpit or podium you would be strung out to dry and publicly condemned as a bigot and a racist. I'm not talking about agreeing to disagree, or your own private opinion...but public statements that inspire hatred and hate crimes on a regular daily basis. Grouping all homosexuals together as deviants or child molestors, out to corrupt your children and destroy your society. Do people honestly believe this stuff anymore?

Sadly, still, homosexual hatred and slander is still OK.
Why?
As for me, I just don't care, honestly, if you're gay or straight. It's a non-issue. Who you are, how you live your life and treat others is proof of your quality as an individual...that's it.

Well whaddaya know...

Hmmm...apparently optimism and hope do still exist on American soil.

I stayed up after class last night to watch the polls roll in and hear the speeches. McCain and Obama were both gracious and kind, but what really impressed me was seeing the lines of voters...the polar opposite of our Canadian election a few weeks ago. It really filled me with emotion to see so many different people from so many walks of life caring about their country...feeling like maybe there was a chance they could fix things... to see individuals feel like their voice counted and that they were a part of making their country better...it honestly brought tears to my eyes. It was inspiring to hear the end of Obama's speech and know he really realises what he's in for...that he is inspiring his whole country to change. Hearing him ask everyone to help...the very fact that his motto for the campaign was "yes we can" is a fundamental change in attitude for the American public.
My beef about modern man is his ability to isolate himself and put himself first. If we have any hope for our future and little ones like my new niece Zoe, there has to be a shift in attitude...a return to a sense of community and doing things for the greater good. We can't hole ourselves up and look after number one and hope it will get better...we did that. Look where it got us? Greed and selfishness built up faulty loans that fed our greed and resulted in the world economy falling to it's knees. We're all falling together...and I really believe that unless the whole world bands together to try and address our future we will fail. We have seen first hand what greed and selfish oppression gets us. We have to learn from our mistakes or we will burn like Rome, and those we have failed will delight in our fall...dooming themselves in the process.

In the past I heard songs like "the spark that bled" and would think "why don't we do things differently? When did apathy and the hunt fro an impossible selfish life become the accepted way to live? How did we become so resigned to things being a different way?"

I accidentally touched my head and noticed that I had been bleeding
For how long I didn't know
What was this, I thought, that struck me?
What kind of weapons have they got?
The softest bullet ever shot
I stood up and I said, yeah!
I stood up and I said, yeah!
I stood up and I said, hey! Yeah!
From this moment on blaring like a trumpet
Coming from above us and somewhere below
The confidence of knowing descending to relieve us of the struggle to believe it's so
I stood up and I said, yeah!
I spoke up and I said, hey!
I stood up and I said, hey! Yeah!
And it seemed to cause a chain reaction
It had momentum, it was gaining traction
It was all the rage, it was all the fashion
The outreached hands had resigned themselves to holding onto something that they never had...and that's too bad
'Cause in reality there was no reaction
(The spark that bled - Flaming Lips)

Like the 60s, there seems to be a resurgence in the need and desire for change - An unjust war on foreign soil...a younger generation questioning why thing are the way they are when they only benefit some. There is a whole generation coming up who've seen the bullshit of the baby boomer era and they want something different. My generation just sort of whined about how sucky it was and grunged our way into electronic distractions, expecting others to do the work for us.

This election gives me hope seeing the desire for change come up from a new generation and spreading out into the general population. What was a dream of the young and innocently optimistic has spread to the rest of us.

I feel we are all the better for it. I hope this will carry forward and everyone will feel the responsibility to work at change.

I sincerely believe this will not be a sound and fury signifying nothing. When people unite for a common cause and put each other before themselves, things will change. We may not *have* more, but we will be united. We will care for each other and the respect and dignity that will arise will make our lives and our communities better.

I have to believe this...it's how I live my life. I'm inspired to think that maybe, just maybe, other people think the same thing...and maybe it *will* get better...

Honey- Where is the rake...?

Would the person I leant my rake to please stand up?
I can't remember and I need to rake. I'm assuming I leant it out, as really...who steals a rake?
Seriously.
I know that as soon as I buy one it will be returned and then I'll have 2.
So...to save the hassle, could whomever I leant it to in a fit of generosity please bring it back?

Please?

Congratulations! It's a Zoe!

My little niece Zoe was born a few minutes ago. (8 Lb 12 oz for those of you who like to know that sort of thing...)
My sister in law Jen had a rough time of it - in labour since about 6 yesterday, and then after the baby being face up and not delivering they eventually gave her a c-section late this morning. Ouchy...but in the end, the safest thing for Zoe.
Zoe and Mom (and much relieved Dad) are doing much better now. I just popped up to say hello to them and say welcome to the little widget on my way to work...I'm so glad the maternity hospital is the one where I have my lab, so I can pop up and see them all while they are in the hospital recovery over the next few days...she has so much hair!!

Welcome little one! :)

New favourite

I had this.
Then a giraffe bought me a drink.
A good evening..