Oh so tired

Admittedly, I have spent a fair amount of my spare time over the past couple of weeks playing Bloons Tower Defense 4. There are a few maps I can't beat on Hard, so I keep trying and trying to no avail. I have been learning a fair amount about insects for this display I'm doing at the Zoo, namely that spiders are not insects at all. They are related but not actually insects. Knowledge has made the cockroaches slightly less replusive, at least behind glass, so I even watched the Hissing Cockroaches do their cockroach thing for a few minutes today. The baby cockroaches even made me think 'oh, that's cute...for a cockroach'. I did get the uber heebee geebees (sp?) the other day flipping through this book all about insects and spiders, so I'm not immune to their bugginess completely. I am just growing in my appreciation and understanding for all the world's creatures, in baby steps. I am heading to the annual Snowball ballroom competition tomorrow for the amateur event with some of my co-workers again this year. I am looking forward to it but thinking about being out all day again tomorrow is making me feel even more tired. I need a vacation which is ridiculous since it's ony been a few weeks. Luckily I am off in February for a week when Janet B. is here for the Olympics so I just have to focus and keep it together until then.


Here are some of my new arthropod friends:

Crack

Okay, so a few weeks before I left for the Peg I got my windshield replaced. The day before I left I got hit by a rock and there was a chip - which by the way PISSED me off. But, I couldn't take it in 'cause I was leaving. When I got back and drove it on Monday there was a crack. The crack is lengthening. This is very upsetting. I get $10 off or something like that for fixing my first chip, but it's not my fault the chip turned into a crack before I could take it in. Do I wait for it to spread across my windshield and then get into an accident and have my face cut up by giant shards of glass? Or do I take it in and have them tell me they can't repair and I must get my 4th windshield?FOURTH! F-ing hell.

Oops

Apparently it's 'Oddjob' not 'Oddball'...per Cousin Mikie. This is like 'Greg' vs. 'Craig'. All names should be written down, name tags, so on.

I forgot Oddball!

I forgot our new family memeber Oddball, a pug - hilarious nutball and a welcome addition! She loves me, she's a great cuddler and runs around in circles like a maniac when she's excited.

The elusive Darla - this is the only picture of her I could get, she is terrified of the camera and actually stayed out of the living room until I put it away...cute as a button.

Elwood in his winter t-shirt, no booties...

Tori looking all cute - she's the calm mature one.


Bowling score for Cousin Mikie.

Gail boozing it up. Don't tell her I posted this...she'll disown me.

Long time no post update

Sorry for the long hiatus - between Bloons Tower Defense 4 coming out and re-reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series I didn't have much time or energy for communication. I also cleaned my junk room finally and some other areas in my place which took a lot of time and effort. I was in the Peg for 16 days over the holidays and wanted to get as much tidied up as I could before I left, so I could come home to a reasonably clean and organized home. A good start to the new year, which it was. I even unpacked already - if you know me you know this is a f-ing miracle. Normally I leave my luggage half unpacked for weeks...or longer. Anyways, I am glad I went home for a couple of weeks because it gave me time to totally relax there and visit with people at leisure. For the past few years it's been crazy hectic as soon as I get in - breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks sometimes with different people or doubling up to get everyone in. This time I spent a few days in my pj's, I cleaned up Mom's basement (8+ boxes of stuff to give away/sell, 5+ bags of rubbish, now sitting in the backlane), I went to Cathy's Yoga class (Bikram Yoga - I almost puked but survived and plan to do it again), I played Bingo (and LOST). I still went to breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks but not usually in the same day and I only had to double up once with Julie & Sharon (but it worked out and yummy East India Company buffet can't really go wrong - I did end up taking some weird unidentifiable meat thing which I left on the plate, but everything else was delicious).

I went to see Men Who Stare at Goats with Brenda, and Avatar with the Geography boys. Avatar was amazing to watch though a bit cheesy at times(typical for James Cameron) so I highly recommend seeing it in the theatre. Unless you have a 52" widescreen T.V. at home you won't get the full experience. Men Who Stare at Goats was interesting but not a laugh a minute. I am glad I saw it and doubly glad it was in the cheap theatre. I also made it to Dim Sum this year with the old Geography crowd and it was delicious except for a weird deep fried thing - it was kind of like a mix between marshmallow and chicken nugget inside and it kind of grossed me out. That's dim sum though - you have to try it to find out which is fun, as long as you don't gag. I had a great time visiting with all my friends and family.

Mom was petsitting so I also got to play with Darla and Tori (a mom and daughter wee poodle something or others) and actually started balling my eyes out when I was leaving. I mean I love my Mom and miss my friends and fam but leaving the dogs actually broke my heart. It was kind of funny, and my Mom took it well 'cause she knows me enough to not take it personally. I just really enjoyed living with dogs again, and will miss them terribly. I was ready to go home and missed Hal but the dogs were very charming. I am a self-professed dog slut, meaning I love every dog I meet and tell every dog I meet that I love them and that they're the most awesome dog and so on. I don't think it's a bad thing, I think it's important to make the dog feel special. And, they are the most awesome dog, just not the only most awesome dog. Elwood, Cousin Mikie's dog, for example is AWESOME and cute as hell in his winter t-shirt and booties, but so are Darla and Tori, and so is the dog Coco I met at Auntie Fiorina's (a Shitzu? and Pomeranian cross - kind of Ewok-like) and so is Charlie that I met at the Kennel, and so on and so on. I can't help myself.

Moving on, the flight home was ok and I spent only about 2 1/2 - 3 hours in the Calgary airport so I can't really complain. My cousin Victor lent me the first 4 House of Night books so I finished reading the first one before the flight from Calgary to Abby. I should have packed the second one in my carry on but I was very limited for space - what with the 10 million tins of clod hoppers, shortbread, chocolates and so on I packed as much in as I could in every nook and cranny. I had a pretty good haul this year so my bags were stuffed. And, of course, I had to bring Auntie Mary's cabbage buns back ('parishky' is how it sounds in Ukrainian but I'm not sure how to spell that). I had to set aside certain things to take next time I visit but I have mad packing skills thanks to my Dad so managed to get in almost everything I wanted to bring.

Hal was ecstatic to see me and was following me around the rest of the night. He woke me up at 6 am to be pet so I pet him once and told him to leave me alone for a few more hours - however Hal has never been a good listener so he proceeded to try every hour to hour 1/2. I stayed in bed till 9:30 (11:30 MB time) and then made my coffee, went online and proceeded to have a typical Jennifer Sunday. It's great to be home, though I had to eat some of Auntie Mary's chocolate peanut things for breakfast because I have no bread or milk. Sleeping in my own, not-Twin, comfy bed makes up for lack of proper food though. I think I need to buy a new mattress when I'm at Mom's again for that damn bed - no wonder I have back problems. It's total crap.

My hands are cramping from all this typing - what with the 16 days away I guess they're not used to it anymore. I'll upload some photos for you to enjoy. Happy New Year, etc.!