Ahhhh, Family Day

A view so lovely you would never
know it was the middle of February

When the Ontario government introduced the idea of a long weekend in February, I thought the idea was ridiculous, never mind the rant that ensued between myself and the T.V. about how unfair this was to the people that did not have a family, or those that did not subscribe to the idea of what is considered the 'traditional' model of a family. However, as a Canadian, who am I to throw away a long weekend given to me by the grace of the ever omniscient government?  Damn it, I was determined to make the best of it this year!

As all good family outings begin, I decided that Family Day was going to be the ideal day to look for dinning room chairs.  Nothing says family like dinning room, so hence, this was my rationale.  I convinced Dave that Stoney Creek Furniture was going to be the answer to our chairlessness. He agreed on the road trip and off we went in Dave's car (aka The Smartie).

As with every trip to the Hamilton area, we planned our schedule to include a trip to Hutch's on the beach. I was first introduced to Hutch's just prior to my moving to Hamilton (Ah, Hamilton; I can't say I was sad to leave)  when, as a right of passage you could say, Dave brought me to the hallowed location that serves the best fish and chips in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE.  Hutches was a tradition for Dave, his siblings, and his cousins when they were growing up.  Dave's Opa would bring the kids down to the beach on the weekend and inevitably end up at Hutch's. To say the very least, this is a very special place for Dave and, though it was the reason for serious weight gain while I lived down the street, it has become a very special place for me as well.

Same awesome sign with neon fries!

The ordering is simple at Hutch's.  You have a small fish and chips or you have a large.  The interior is straight from the original 50's when they first opened.  They wrap your order in newspaper and there is only one size of drink.  It is very easy to feel like you have traveled back in time and the comfort that comes from realizing that there really is somewhere in the world that has never changed is something that cannot be replaced.  The customers come from every walk of life and I always choose to sit at a booth that is next to a sweet old couple.  I like to think that they too came to this place when they were first married, then with their children and still now that they have grown old with one another.

I think I can hear my arteries crying.

The large fish and chips is bigger than one person can consume and always goes home with you.  Believe me, there are actually two giant pieces of fish below that pile of fries!

The very best part of any meal at Hutch's is the extra fries that are saved for seagulls that circle the beach outside the back door that leads to the beach. Though I know there is a very good chance that I might be crapped on,  I always throw some fries into the air to see the chaos that will ensue.  After all, tradition is tradition.

Hitchcock anyone?

Though we had some serious issues finding dinning room chairs, and came home empty handed (except for the leftovers) we found exactly what we were looking for at Hutch's. We found tradition and a chance to celebrate family. We had an amazing chance to celebrate Opa's life and memory on a beautiful day at one of his favourite places. If this isn't the point of family day, I don't know what is. 

Seriously, Like Really...Seriously?!?!

Being a secondary school teacher has eliminated some of my tendency to be surprised.  In fact, I think maybe, looking back on some of my childhood photos, I have always sported a bit of a bemused look.  I am often found saying to Dave, "seriously? Like really, seriously? Are you kidding me? " And it is always done with a sort of unimpressed look on my face.  


Lately, I have coined a few new personal catch phrases. The most important of which, is the product of my new phone.  Yes, that's right folks!  I finally gave in and purchased a new phone.  This is a really big deal because I was still using a cell phone that made me look like I should be in a re-run of Miami Vice.  My mantra was, "hell, all I need to do is call people.  What's the big deal?" And truly, it wasn't a big deal... until I started texting!!!!! Texting sucked me in and opened a new world to me.  It was EPIC!!! But, for those of you who are hip to the electronic world, I was using T9 to do so.  The result was frustration and messages that took aeons to send.  Total chaos I tell you. 


I would like to make an aside comment here...
Dave does not, and has never, had a cell phone.  This issue is something that really requires its own post.  However, he has made fun of my propensity for cell phone use since the beginning of time.  Dave helped encourage me to buy the new phone!!! 


So, as a Mac user I waited with baited breath for the new iPhone 4. That's right, the mother of all phones.  Sure it was going to be one billion dollars to purchase, but I figured that with the amount of time I kept a cell phone, this baby would pay for itself a million times over. So, after much waiting, I went to buy one.  And I was rejected. They were sold out!!!   I waited forever to finally get one and in September I finally managed to pick one up.  That was the day the world changed.  No longer was I just texting. No no, I had all the information in the world at my fingertips. Every time I started a sentence with, " I wonder who..." or "I wonder where..." I could find out the answer.  How? Well, with the help of my new awesome phone, and my new catch phrase - "TO THE APPLE!"


That's right. I am fighting the new Microsoft ad 'To the cloud' with my own gorilla tactics.  And it's working.  Now all the people I know who have the same phone have begun to repeat it. It's kind of what the guys who coined "who let the dogs out" must have felt like!


Now, awesome wordplay is not the only product from this wonderful invention.  I have started to have Dave stop and help me chronicle things for the blog.  We use to have the camera with us most of the time, but now we just use my phone. And thanks to the phone, you too can enjoy a segment of our lives we have begun calling... 

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING ME!

Entry #1
We decide we are going to enjoy a night with meat.  That's right, meat.  We have not purchased a new BBQ since moving and have no way of grilling up a steak.  We stupidly go to the local chain of sports bar and grills in our area.  They have a special, 5oz steak for some cheap price.  We laugh and give in (who really eats only 5oz of steak? We have to see it for ourselves). It comes out and looks like this:

Like really? You have got to be joking me.


Entry #1 B
Further on in our meal Dave empties a ramekin of tartar sauce from our appetizer (you have to have an appetizer if your steak is only going to be 5oz) into his potato.  Please don't ask me why you would put tartar on a potato. Then he hears a metal 'clink' from the bottom of the plastic ramekin. There is an American nickel in the sauce!!!!! My OCD goes through the roof, I almost barf. Dave continues to eat his meal as he believes there is nothing to be done at this point anyway. 

Like really?  You have got to be F***king joking me!!!!!!!!


Entry # 2
We decide to go on a very long drive to the surrounding towns in our area.  We are starving (it's starting to look like we eat out a lot) and we decide we cannot get to the next town.  We stop at a little family restaurant. We order French Onion soup and sandwiches.  Four sips into our soup our mouths start to decompose from the salt lick that is our soup.  Never mind the cheese slice that is not melted on the top.  "To The Apple" we check out a review and see that the food is rated 1 star by all five people who have rated it and that's because the website does not allow 'no star' ratings.  I recount this to Dave and he looks like this:

I believe his face is saying, you have got to be joking me!


Entry # 2B
We are leaving the town (with MSG poisoning and a hankering for a trough of water) and I have to stop to take a photo of the welcome sign into the town. The first descriptor has me killing myself laughing.  Please note, this town is by no means raised in elevation.  And, this might explain why the residents have only half a gun turret from a tank in their park and it might be why they are willing to eat just about anything...

This had me peeing my pants!  You have got to be joking me!

A little piece of light...

For  over a decade I have had the amazing opportunity to have one of the most fabulous women in the whole world as my best friend. Funny enough, we certainly did not start off as friends; rather, we were archrivals. 

When I was a bright eyed and eager student (please insert sarcasm), my high school had a very small population; 300 students at the very most when I was in grade 9. The reason being, we were to be the third graduating class from this newly formed secondary school that was created to serve the students of "the north" in the school board. This descriptor is ridiculous for so many reasons; one being that the school is 45 minutes from Toronto. However, I digress…

In grade 9 I was a sweet, mostly innocent, very neurotic girl who was very intelligent and very under motivated. I knew I was bright but I really couldn’t care less about academic achievement because I had discovered the glorious world of older boys! That was so much better to focus on than “Le Geographie du Monde” (I was in French Immersion).  Then I entered my English class… 

I remember that I sat in a group of six. At the time, the government was attempting a lame experiment in what they called “destreaming”.  Simply, the perceived academic level of students was mixed in one class. Though this "let’s hold hands and sing Kumbaya to warm the hearts of all the students" approach was delightful in theory, it didn’t last long. In retrospect it may have actually been some sort of provincial Darwinian experiment. The product being students who were willing to eat the weak for breakfast and make themselves feel better as they battled against their genius rivals. This was exactly the environment of my English class, and this fateful English class was where Kari Lyn and I eyed each other from afar and began our battle for supremacy in the pack.  I did not care to be top of my class, but I cared about being better than Kari Lyn. The same was true of her.  The problem was, we were both bright and the competition was stiff.

Now, not to get too far into the Magic Carpet Ride that was my high school career, but with the school being as small as it was, it was easy to know everyone; if not by name, than at least by face.  I was a bit of a social butterfly.  I hung out with almost every group of people really. I don’t remember them as cliques per say, but maybe they were. I had one group of friends I was closest to, but I really can say that I was lucky enough to be able to associate with most people.  When our senior classes came along the classes were very small. I was in class with Kari Lyn almost every period of the day. Then finally, in World Geography the worst happened… Mr. Bradley sat us together. 


We had gotten to know each other better over the years as we were both on Student Council, but there was still a rivalry.  We were there to outdo each other and that’s what we did. Until one day, we decided on a truce. We were both going to give in because by this time the teachers just gave us the same marks to keep us quiet. We realized that we were stronger together than we were apart… look out world!

Over the past years we have had our share of serious ups and downs, but we have always been there for one another.  When Kari Lyn and her husband had their first son I was chosen to be his godmother.  Whenever we have had the world deal us a crappy hand, we have known that the other was just a call away.  Then the worst happened, Kari Lyn’s mom got sick.

Kari Lyn’s mom, Karin, impressed me the moment I met her.  I remember it like yesterday. We were at school for some event hosted by the Student Council and Kari Lyn’s parents were in attendance. Her father walked in at a strapping 6 foot 8 inches following the cutest little thing you could imagine; a women, all of 5 foot tall in a wheelchair, that had a smile that lit up the room.  From that moment, both her parents took me on as their fourth child. They have treated me as such since that day. 

Karin had always been in a wheelchair.  She was born with Spina bifida and had never let it effect the way she looked at life.  She had an intense faith in God and believed that with his help, anything was possible.  The fact that she was in a chair never came into question. She gave birth to three children and took care of all of their needs as she raised them with her husband.  Though she was told at an early age that she would have a short life, she continued her whole life to defy medicine and the limitations that others put upon her.  She was a huge spirit in a little body. 


A little over two years ago she had not been feeing well and in a divine turn of events she and her husband were in a car accident.  The emergency surgery that followed the accident revealed that she had cancer.  To say the least, everyone was devastated. Following mind-blowing surgeries, Karin forced on and fought the disease. To be frank, I don’t think anyone was surprised. There was never a moment I ever saw Karin back down from any form of adversity. This Christmas Karin was feeling in better spirits.  She enjoyed the holiday with her family and shared quality time.  Then her body began to fight back.  After a courageous battle with cancer, her disease and the complications that come with it defeated the woman I considered to be like a second mom. She passed away last Saturday.

There is no amount of writing that could ever adequately express my respect and admiration for Karin. Though I must tell you that my best friend is an absolutely amazing depiction of the values and tenacity that her mother had.  At the risk of sounding cliché and pouring out platitudes, I will say that there is no replacement for any of us on this planet.  Each of us is a unique and divine creation that imprints upon the others we are blessed enough to meet. I am a better person for having known such an extraordinary woman, and it is my responsibility to carry on a piece of her light now that she cannot do it here on earth. I only hope I can do it half as well as she did it!

You May Feel A Little Spinning...

For a number of years now, I have suffered through a barrage of various strange maladies.  None, however, have been as crippling as my vertigo, balance, and motion sickness.  If fact, it has become so much a part of me that Father Bob actually mentioned it on our wedding day as he delivered the homily!

The proverbial ‘they’ say that motion sickness should become less frequent and severe, as a person gets older. The opposite has happened with me.  It has gotten progressively more aggressive with age (like ailment, like host?) and it has started to creep into my daily life in such an insidious way that I find myself wobbling at the blackboard as my students tease me about having too much to drink in order to deal with their zoo-like behaviour. Sure, sometimes it is laughable, but more than anything it has become a serious nuisance.  So finally my ENT specialist set me up for the penultimate of hearing and balance tests.  It took 3 months for Toronto General to find an appointment for me. Then two weeks ago, I finally set off for my tests. 

God bless my sister.  In recent years we have become medical support for each other.  She braved heading into the city with me at an ungodly hour in order to be on time for my 8:30am appointment. Thank goodness she did, because by the time I was exiting the hospital I felt like a child who had enjoyed one too many trips on the teacups at Disney!

I was the first to be tortured, I mean…tested that morning.  The quartet of tests that are performed at TGH are not available anywhere else in southern Ontario, so the waiting room began to fill with patients from all over the province.  My lovely but deadpan nurse was named Heather.  I am a joker by nature, and dear middle-aged Heather was a hard audience to crack. I had been warned that one of the four tests would make me ill, but I could never have been prepared for what was to come over the next four hours. First our host Heather escorted me to a chamber that, by the time I was finished, made me feel as though I might have been kin with the victims of Chinese water torture.

I took my seat on a raised bed with an inclined headrest. First, she shook my head in her hands.  That’s right, she literally took my head in her hands and shook it back and forth. That in itself was enough to get me spinning.  Then she sat me on the edge of the bed and tilted my head back over the bed rapidly and repeatedly.  Kill me now? No, no, there was more.

Perhaps I will change formats for this one, humor me would you?

Queen of the Torture Chamber: Now, lay back on the bed and we will start the test.

Me: Ha! And here I was thinking we had started.

Queen of the Torture Chamber:  Hum. Well, no. So, you are going to lie on your back and I am going to rush water into your ears to change the temperature of your inner ear. You will get a rush of warm water and then a rush of cold into your ear. I will do this in both ears. I am going to ask you some questions; don’t worry about the answers.  Just answer them to the best of your ability. You will feel as though the bed and/or the room is spinning. 

Holy shit! Are you kidding me?  She’s going to make me feel the spin? F**K Me! After that she rushed what felt like a million liters of water into my brain.  With each rush I tried to answer the questions; really, I did try.  However, by the fourth rush of water I became almost incoherent.  Questions like, “Name all the fruits you can think of” resulted in answers like, “Kumquat, Orange, Pickle, Hose… Oh, God….”. Then it all stopped.  The mistress of the fire hose that had been rinsing my brain was silent. Then, those fateful words came from her mouth, “Do you think you could handle one more? I’m getting some soft results from one of your ears and I’d like to see if they are correct”.

All I could do was nod. Then I agreed to the last blast to my ears as long as it meant I would never ever return to the torture chamber.  When she was done she helped me to my feet.  The whole world was spinning and I needed to be sick.  I practiced the controlled breath meditation that I have become so good at to control losing my stomach when the spins come.  Thank goodness I had had enough forethought to not ingest anything in the last 12 hours!

I exited the room with the help of Heather, and made my way down the hallway toward the waiting room.  The look on my sister’s face was priceless.  “What the hell happened in there?”, she asked.  I couldn’t answer for fear of opening my mouth.  I could not risk interrupting the breathing.  I could see the horror on the faces of the people in the waiting room. Then finally I mustered a few words. “I have never experienced anything so awful in all my life.  I need to go to the powder room.”

Once I returned from the ladies room I was exposed to a series of heinous hearing tests that lasted about three hours. I was force to tolerate repetitive ticking at brain shattering decibels. I was asked to repeat indiscernible words at ridiculous volume levels, and I even had the pressure of my ears tested by a machine that my have sucked out a portion of my freshly washed brain.

By the end of the testing I had cracked the hardened Heather. “Well, you made it!”, she said reassuringly. I replied, “My only solace about the way I feel is that I am sure I am not the worst you have seen”. She smiled and took a deep breath. Really? Was I really that bad? Good gracious.

As my sister helped me gather myself together to leave the hospital I had one final awful realization; I was going to have to take the elevator to the ground floor!  On a good day even a short elevator ride would make me woozy, but this was going to be one hell of a ride.  With residual water still sloshing around in my head, I braved the ride.  The elevator only stopped twice on the way down but the cardiologist we shared the ride with looked a bit concerned by my awesome pale gray colour. 

When I finally hit the cold breeze outside the hospital I began to feel a tiny bit better, but the truth is that it took me a few days to really get myself back together. I will see the specialist in two weeks to hear the results.  At this point, any news is good news; I am desperate to have some information and be able to move on with a plan of attack. Until then, it’s back to the homeopath and acupuncturist for my monthly tune-up!

Happy New Year!! Where Did 2010 Go?

Dave and I were recently discussing the paradox of how slowly and how quickly 2010 came and went.  Of course, it was a year of many changes; most notably we were married and we moved. Upon reflection, those around us had pretty intense years as well.  Some of our friends and family marked joyful milestones, while others were faced with life challenges. Regardless, we have all found ourselves right where we belong. 

ON MOVING...

Seriously? Did we really do it? After all the kind teasing and taunts by our friends and family, the property search that took almost three years finally resulted in our new home. It may not be perfect, but it’s perfect for now.  The months of August and September seemed to take forever to pass! October 1st was that illusive date that really seemed surreal. Once we changed the locks and made the place ours, we still had a hard time adjusting. Rather, we still HAVE a hard time adjusting.  Though we were lucky enough to manage purchasing our new home without selling the house in Waterloo, we still feel as though we are starting from square one.  I feel terribly for each of the people we encounter that needs to wait patently while we retrieve our postal code every single time we are asked for it. We are also having to adjust to the silence of a street where, for the most part, the residents begin to settle for the night at 6:00 pm. Don't get me wrong, I do not miss being awakened in the middle of the night by drunk 20-something males relieving themselves in the front yard after a night at the bar, but really the silence might be just as disturbing! How the hell did we end up in suburbia?

ON NEIGBOURS...

Both Dave and I have had our fair share of interesting neighbours. Shall we reflect? There was our beloved Ralph who took plants from the cemetery to build his garden collection. There were the drug-dealing Ginos who took to family brawls in the street. There was 'Timmy's Family' who was agoraphobic and did family property maintenance as a flash mob. There are the expletive screaming Neapolitans with their beloved ever-barking dog Louis; and who could forget Deb. Yes, Deb took on the entire city of Waterloo as the face of the Northdale Area Residents Coalition. That's right, NARC!!!! So aptly titled by acronym, since I am sure that Deb still knows what we are up to even though we live in a new town. Yes, we have had our fair share of interesting individuals as neighbours.

Now that we have moved, we are gearing up for a new set of fascinating individuals. We were 'lucky' enough to meet many of them when they just happened to end up at our front door all together on Halloween Night. Being hip to that jive I had prepared our house accordingly.  We were all decked out and ready to make our debut. Everyone seemed pleasant as they attempted a craned look at the interior of our house. We exchanged pleasantries as we felt the evaluative glances measure us up. We discovered that our closest neighbours Karri and Ryan have two small daughters, one of whom was dressed in the most fabulous Mr. Muggs outfit! Who couldn’t like people who dress their kids as retro literary characters?

For the most part, everyone we have met has been really friendly, and now that we have moved into winter and neighbourly exchanges have slowed down, we look forward to meeting more people in the spring.  As an aside, we have had to make major adjustments with regard to the weather. In fact, we now do believe that we have moved to the ninth circle of hell, as the wind never stops blowing, the snow never stops falling, and it’s cold as, well…hell. Our neighbour Ryan was kind enough to snow blow the end of our driveway after the first big storm brought us two million feet of snow.  He joked with Dave that when he moved to town he didn’t think he would need a snow blower either.  Something tells me we might just have to look into the possibility of something more brawny than our shovels.

ON HOME IMPROVEMENT…

Our new dining room table. Still no chairs though!

After we lovingly renovated much of the house in Waterloo, I really thought I had had my fill of home improvements for the new house. Alas, just as I cannot resist a good home magazine, I cannot resist repainting. Now luckily, the new house needs no major work accept finishing the basement (a walk in the park as far as we are concerned), but there is always cleaning and personalizing to do. First on the list was the dining room.  The former owners were using this space as a main floor home office complete with their children’s growth chart drawn directly on the wall with permanent marker. In short, this room with its white walls sucked.  It was, therefore, the first to be dealt with.

         First I picked two possible paint colours from my Benjamin Moore Designer Paint Chip Collection; a gift I am sure Dave has regretted buying me for the past five years ago. We tried the colours out and they were both vetoed. Then my sister, Max, who happens to be my hero in the design world, helped us out.  The verdict? Herbes de Provence; that’s fancy talk for green.  Dave went to work and painted the room for us.  In two days we had a real dining room, albeit with no furniture, but hey, baby steps right? My only complaint, because of course I do need one, the colour looks exactly like the foyer colour! They are not the same colour by any means of the imagination. However, because the colour of our foyer changes depending on where you are in the house, if you stand between the two rooms they look remarkably similar. Is it possible we went from being home colour trendsetters to neutral nobodies? I might be doomed to a monochromatic life if I am not careful!

BEFORE: Unlawful wall assault 

AFTER: Hello there handsome

       Then there was the powder room on the main floor.  The proud former homeowner informed me that she had once been an interior designer. Lord help us all if this is what passes for interior decorating in Dufferin County! She had textured all the walls and ceiling surfaces by adding drywall compound to the walls and scraping it in different directions. Then to enhance this ‘cutting edge’ technique, she painted over it to form a bond much like that of Kryptonite! I spent four days sanding the walls down and preparing them for the 21^st century.  This resulted in a house that was frosted in drywall dust and walls as smooth as butter. For the time being, I am too frugal to get a new countertop, so I went with a paint colour (Stardust)  that would take the focus away from it.  

A new non Greco-Roman-throwback light fixture, and voila! I think I am beginning to realize that our house is determining its own style, one that is new for both of us. We’ll see how that goes.  Next stop, the study.

ON CHRISTMAS…

This foyer could be in a magazine!

I have really never been one for Christmas.  I am not a killjoy by any means, I have just never really been utterly intoxicated by the mirth that some people get so caught up in at holiday time.  Dave has been after me for years to be more spirited at Christmas and I have tried. Really, I have tried.  However, I just couldn’t do it.  This year I tried to change.  I decked out our house with as many decorations as I could find and unpack.  I decorated the banister and the tree, and I dolled up the exterior of the house with 110 feet of beautiful B.C. Cedar garland and killer urns.  Yes, people, this year I tried.  The result?  I got the flu for Christmas. Oh, yah, the stomach flu.  We postponed all Christmas festivities, and filled the rest of our time off together making up for missed family events by traveling Southern Ontario.  

Sexy Tree

Dave took off the two weeks I had off, and thank goodness for that, or else we would have been traveling every weekend until Easter to make up for all those folks we missed. Joyeux Noel, I don’t think so.

ON BABIES…

         Slow down your reading folks.  There is no bun in the oven here at the Olden’s. Humphery likes being a spoiled only child! However, there was very much a need for an honourable mention that goes out to Dave’s cousin Jen and her husband Jason.  They were blessed with baby Lucas this fall and the family couldn’t be more happy for them.  Jen and Jason had been looking forward to building their family and met with a few bumps on the way to the birth of Lucas.  The wait was well worth it as everyone is happy, healthy and doing well. 

This a very serious only child

         One of my closest friends in the whole wide world is also expecting her third baby and I am so super excited! Mel is on bed rest, which is a fate worse than childbirth for my girl on the go. Her husband Tony and her sons are having to care for her and I think it will be well worth it. The reason being, I think that this is just the start of years worth of grief that a new baby girl would bring!  Here’s to hoping for a new sister for Atlin and Eli!

         Finally, my friend Graciamaria is expecting in February.  She is my favourite baby mama lately because she is the most hilariously bitter. She and her husband John are having another baby girl and if the birth of Daniella is any indicator, Gracia is in for yet another gorgeous baby.

ON THE NEW YEAR…

         As far as New Year resolutions go, I am going to attempt to start P90X again.  Let’s see if I can’t get to at least day 10 shall we?  But seriously, I think we have both decided that after an intensely hurried last year, we are going to attempt to take time to smell the roses this year.  As my father in law says, “It’s not living if you are just planning for the next thing to happen”. So we are going to make a concerted effort to really be present in our life together.  Sure, I am going to be as busy as usual. In fact, I enrolled in another Dance additional qualification course that starts in eleven days, but I really do want to start enjoying life rather than simply trying to get through the day. I have been lucky enough to reconnect with some amazing friends that I have not seen in years, and as adults we have been able to come to our friendships freely and without the pressures and drama that once clouded our judgment with the issues of youth.  Dave and I are so incredibly blessed, and we thank God everyday that we live the life we do.  We have tremendous family and friends and we want to share more of our life with them. Let 2011 be the year of re-birth, joy and happiness. Life’s too short to put it off any longer. We start to live with joyful abandon today…

Sunday Widow

For years now I have had to come to grips with the fact that as soon as the American football season begins, I become what I have aptly termed a Sunday Window.  To be honest, it has never been something that really got under my skin.  In fact, I embraced the fact that every weekend I had a day when I could make plans and do whatever I wanted.  Dave was more than content to see the back of me as I left to do my own thing. Or so I thought.


This was the beauty of the Sunday Widow lifestyle.  That is, until this season.  You see, for whatever reason, Dave entered me into the football pool that he participates in every year. In order to humor him, I gracefully participated and made my picks after being brought up to speed on what "the spread" meant.  Frankly, my modus operandi was to use my third eye and psychic powers to define a winner, then place my bets on how strongly the universe called the winners out to me.  The result... The first week I was # 1 out of 70 some-odd participants. Thank you Sylvia Browne.


Now, you would think that my husband would be joyful, nay, maybe proud?  But no, I was told that he was just happy we didn't share the same last name!  How sour one can become when one places poorly!


Alas, the weeks of the 2010/2011 NFL season are passing and I have begun to take this darn thing seriously.  In fact, I find myself yelling at the television set and making sarcastic comments towards the players as they fumble and punt their ways to my victories and my losses.  This week I am doing poorly and Dave has finally passed me in the standings. His wins now grate on my nerves and his hourly status reports have become a toxic fume that invades my once glorious Sunday Widow euphoria.


Today, I caught him smiling as I criticized a play by one of my chosen teams.  Then it hit me!  I've been bamboozled! This was his plan all along; lure me with my fierce need for competition. Without knowing it, my beloved husband has managed to have me spend my Sunday Window time with him! Don't get me wrong, I am glad to spend this time with him.  I love him with all my heart and I think it is lovely that we can carve out time to simply enjoy a lazy day together. However, mark my words... if he finishes in this pool ahead of me there will be hell to pay.  I just need to decide on a fitting revenge; ballroom dancing... here we come!

And Now We Begin....

A Curb Appeal Shot at Sunset

Before I start this blog entry, I would like to thank our friends Daniel and Lisa who, by proving me right and going to our blog as soon as they got their change of address card before I updated my entries, have given me a wonderful chance to say "I told you so" to my husband!!!


Welcome Friends and Family!!!


By now I hope that you have received your lovely change of address cards that were my excuse to feed my lust for stationary and 'snail mail'.  It has been a month now since we have moved in and we are finally starting to get our home in order.  Though we managed to get ourselves relatively unpack at a brisk pace, the act of actual organization was, and still is, a nightmare.

Oh that's right... navy blue!

To add to our woes was the fact that our washer, dryer and fridge turned out to be lemons!  The fact that we were lured into thinking that they were part of our final sign-back purchase amount kills me even now! However, boy oh boy, do we have new appliances that would make even the most non-domestic person drool!!  Dave even had the audacity to say we were turning into  Yuppies!  Can you imagine?  I went to the closet and broke out my Converse as a protest!


The most important addition to our family was made a week after moving. Humphery 'Le Fluff' McNiece was picked up after a week of setting up the house.  She made the longest car ride (40 mins) of her 18 years in my lap.  Many of you have asked about her, and we thank you for your concern.  She is doing incredibly well with the change, especially considering she has never before been in any other home!   It helps she is with two of her favorite humans in the whole wide world.

Miss Le Fluff having a nap

As the threat of snow looms here in the snow belt, we have managed to weed and turn our front garden, set up our office (somewhat) and scrub away most of the heinousness that the former owners left behind.  And let me tell you, I have had many an eye-opening moment into the standards of the general public's cleanliness in the past few months!!  We look forward to having a house warming / Christmas party in the near future so that we can finally share our home with those who mean so much to us.


So, without boring you with the details... which I aim to do in the coming months, welcome to our new home.  Though we miss our old lives, this one is shaping up well. We thank God everyday for how blessed we are and that we can share it with those we love!