BOO



Our Barrier Bay weekend was fabulous, everything we hoped it would be and more. Curtis has posted pictures and narrative of our Barrier Bay weekend on his blog; let me just add that I had NO idea how much more sudsy bubble bath got from the agitation of the jets in a whirlpool bath. We came very close to mimicking a Lucy episode....

I will tell you all about meeting the Bells as soon as I choose from among the 60-plus photos that Curtis took. I'm just too tired tonight, so much so that I can't sleep from overtiredness. Just took half a Gravol and plan to give sleep another go.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Have a Good Weekend, Everyone



Well, it's off to our luxurious weekend getaway for Curtis and me. Sunday we meet the Bells as they stop over in Winnipeg enroute to their polar bear expedition in Churchill. We'll both be back with photos.

Lunch With Mel



Today I spent 3 1/2 hours with one of my all-time favourite humans, my friend Sharon, about whom I wrote on March 4/05 (See the link at right beginning with 03/01/2005; it's near the bottom of the page - can't get the darn hyperlink to take you there.) We enjoyed the savoury soup and other delights at a Vietnamese restaurant that serves great food. (I even brought take-home for dinner tonight.) More than that, we enjoyed each other's company, laughing and cuttin up like we used to in the old days when we were colleagues at Tec-Voc High School.

I hope that all of you are fortunate enough to, at some point in your lifetime, make the kind of connection that Shar-Bear and I have. We share a quirky and often irreverant sense of humour, as well as the ability to cry together and express our deepest feelings. And ya just can't put a price tag on that.

I love you, Sharon.

I've Been Struck By Hurricane Zoe



Zoe tagged me to post twenty random facts about me. Well, I've been called a lot of things, but this is the first time I've been accused of being "interesting." So for those of you suffering from insomnia, read on....

1. I am desperately right-handed, my left hand serving the function of jewellery valet; however, I hold my fork in my right hand and cut my food with my left. I suspect that's mainly due to gluttony.

2. I HATE mimes. Despise em. I'd like to smash in their stupid white faces, strangle them with their imaginary tug of war ropes, and lock them up in their invisible boxes. So there.

3. I laugh at my own jokes. Hard. And repeatedly.

4. I have the kind of laugh that turns heads in Wal-Mart. Those heads sometimes look shocked, but they often relax into a smile.

5. I was once kicked out of French lab for switching headphone jacks and gettin caught telling an off-colour joke to a classmate.

6. I cannot draw, yet I will KICK YOUR BUTT in a game of Win, Lose or Draw (Pictionary).

7. I snapped the tip off of my right middle finger once, closing an overhead garage door. The ER doctor repositioned the bone and put 4 stitches in my finger and now it looks all Frankenstein-ish. (Oh well, Halloween is just around the corner.)

8. I have never been able to run fast, but learned in high school that I could jump like a gazelle. Made my hurdles races very interesting to watch.

9. I have an enormous goiter on my left thyroid gland. It doesn't bother me unless I wear a tight turtleneck.

10. I can play Hawaiian music on my nose, something else that cracks ME up every time.

11. I confess that I once farted in front of one of my grade 12 students. To my credit, it was because I leapt across my sailboat, concerned that he'd just chipped his tooth on its gunwale. He was surprised; I was even more so.

12. Looking directly into sunlight or a lightbulb makes me sneeze.

13. I can do this....Cool, huh?

14. I have never been chubby...erm, skinny dipping.

15. I was born with my left ear folded over. My mom used to put me on that side to flatten it out. It worked, although it still sticks out some, which earned me sugar bowl comparisons from my loving brother Fred.

16. I have very poor reading comprehension, and even worse recall of details. This causes me to rent the same movies over and over, which isn't too bad since viewing them is pretty much a first-time experience for me, every time. It's more of a problem to me as an English teacher.

17. I also have trouble sequencing multi-digit numbers, which is a real pain when someone sells foot-long draw tickets and then reads out the winning numbers.

18. My greatest dream is to cruise along the coast of Alaska. I reached a very satisfying compromise when I went whale-watching off the coast of British Columbia with my husband this past June.

19. Nothing drives me buggier than people writing the words "a lot" as one word. Don't worry; I won't say anything if you do it on your blog, but I will twitch for several hours.

20. Well now, I didn't think I could come up with 20 random facts about moi, but I've done it.

I tag Wanda.

Just Checkin In



Not much to report, but I didn't want to worry people, so I thought I'd just touch base....

I've been culling my wardrobe and packing clothes into giveaway boxes, as I've become the incredible shrinking woman. So far the weight loss looks good on me, and I'm able to fit into some nice clothes that have been hanging idly for some time now. Most of my pants now fit me like M.C. Hammer's fit him, and since I'm not planning on becoming a gang-banger anytime soon, they've gotta go. I gave up the crotch-down-at-the-knees look when I switched to control-top panty hose.

I have been completely addicted to that National Geographic wildcam lately; yesterday I delighted in a herd of elephants bathing and drinking at the pond, two of the younger ones lyin on their sides, kickin and splashin each other like a couple of kids. The camera was down today, but there was a 36 minute "best-of" video to enjoy.

Although it's cloudy and showery today, we are having a lovely Fall, unlike the previous two years when we went straight from summer to winter. Makes me miss havin a dog to take for walks, although I'd probably tire quickly.

Some of my angels have been helping me prepare a surprise for a certain someone, but I can't post about it until after it has happened, so stay tuned until the end of the month....

Priorities


THIS?

OR


THIS?

As many of you know, I have a pleural effusion, which means fluid surrounding my (right) lung. It makes me short of breath and prone to bad coughing fits. Today I saw a thoracic surgeon about the possibility of getting a pleurodesis done, in which the fluid is drained and talcum powder blown into the lung that creates an irritation which causes the lung lining and lung wall to stick together, preventing further fluid accumulation. After noting a slight increase in the volume of fluid surrounding my lung in my last x-ray taken a month ago, he wanted to schedule the surgery in a couple of weeks. I didn't want to mess up our weekend getaway at the end of October, so he agreed to reschedule tentatively to November 25, but he will probably bump that up earlier in the month once he gets his OR schedule. He plans to do a thoracoscopy in addition to the pleurodesis, which is a little more invasive as it entails making several small incisions to insert a scope and snoop around. This will enable him to more accurately determine where the fluid is and how much he can drain. Therefore, I will be under total anaesthesia and will likely have an overnight hospital stay.

I am totally focussing on the relief this will give me from the shortness of breath and coughing. What's a little pain in exchange for that?

Some people might question my decision to postpone the surgery, rather than the weekend at Barrier Bay. For me, it's all about quality of life; and although both events will contribute to that ideal, my hedonistic impulses overpowered me.

So I'm weak. Shoot me.

A Productive Day



Even after a late night at my brother's last night (I was pleased to have so much stamina), I awoke feelin good today. Windexed the entire kitchen, vacuumed and washed floors. Curtis did his part, too, tidying and reorganizing our basement storage room so that I hardly recognize it. There's plenty of room now for our golf club bags, which creates a little more space in the garage, too.

I've always been nuts about Halloween, really into dressing up and decorating; but the past few years we've spent the evening of Oct. 31 at Louise's (our friend Marina's mom's) celebrating her birthday; so we haven't been home to shell out to the neighbourhood kids. I left all the classroom-decorating stuff I had at school, bequeathing my scary posters, cobwebs, big ugly rubber rat and realistic human skull to colleagues. Anyhoo, I decided to give my plastic cauldron and four boxes of theatrical makeup, decorations, sound effects, costumes, hats, masks and accessories to my friend and former colleague Maria. She and her husband like to go to Halloween costume parties, and I figure their two girls will have a blast with all that stuff. Maria eagerly accepted my offer, and I'm happy to have it go to a good home. This purging, by the way, is what led to our nice organized storage room downstairs.

For dinner we have Thanksgiving leftovers (turkey yummmmm), and I am gonna make corn muffins to go with. I have appointments the next three days (tomorrow with the thoracic surgeon), so I need to do these domestic chores when I have the time and the energy.

It just feels sooooooo good to feel good, and for this I am truly thankful.

Happy Birthday, Hunny Bunny



I'm so glad that you were born, Curtis. You are the love of my life.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving



This weekend, those of us dwelling north of the 49th parallel celebrate Thanksgiving. I know you Murricans think that's weird; could be it's a metric thing. Anyhoo, it's a long weekend, so I get to spend an extra day with my favourite hillbilly.

I will be meeting with a thoracic surgeon on Tuesday, so hopefully, I'll have the pleurodesis done soon (although I hope it doesn't mess up the fabulous Barrier Bay weekend we have planned). Wednesday, I have a teeth cleaning scheduled (I don't want to postpone again, as I had to before due to breathing problems), and Wednesday Curtis and I have a lunch meeting with our financial adviser just to make a last few crosses and dots. T'will be a busy week.

Our snowstorm, merely an annoying temper tantrum in Winnipeg, has come and gone, as has the snow. The southwestern part of the province did not get off as easily, with accumulations up to 45 cms (that's 17.5 inches). Highways were closed and snowplow crews were working round the clock to clean up the wet, heavy mess. I'm glad it's over in time for the many Manitobans who will be on the road this weekend.

Tonight Curtis and I will be racking our wine (which means siphoning it from the primary fermenter - a bucket - to the glass carboy). We make a really nice chablis from a kit that produces 28-30 one liter bottles. Home wine-making is very popular up here in these parts because booze, including wine, is so costly, due to taxes that pay for stuff like "free" medical care. We made our own wine for our renewal of wedding vows almost two years ago, and the friendly owners of the restaurant where we held the dinner, allowed us to bring it in. People still talk about how good the meal and the wine were. We have a dozen or so bottles left, and plan to celebrate with a couple when we are luxuriating at our cottage rental at the end of the month.

I have so much for which to be thankful. My gratitude is expressed every day in my prayers. This weekend, I look forward to the fellowship that I will share with friends and family.

And the turkey. Let's not forget the turkey. Yum.

This Rocks My World



I borrowed this from Zoe's comments (thank you, Emma). It's a link to a live webcam where you can watch animals drinking, bathing and frolicking at Pete's Pond in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana. If you don't get there during one of the peak viewing times, be sure to click on the video highlights. I KNOW, Leslie, that you will delight in the elephants leisurely slurping.

Enjoy: Wildlife Webcam

(For those of you who've been here before, the link above now works - thanks Penny P.)

I Loves Me Some Bling



I have a weakness for sparkly things, especially diamonds and emeralds. For my birthday, Curtis bought me a beautiful pinky ring with channel set diamonds and emeralds, as a companion piece to the ring I once bought myself with casino winnings.

Sparkle sparkle.

Lost and Found



Today I had a bad scare. Either at 8:30-ish am, when I wrestled some unweildy cardboard out to the recycling bin, or at 10-ish, when my hospital bed was delivered, our Duffy cat managed to squirt out the door. I noticed his absence and began searching for him around noon. Tore the entire house apart, looked in all his favourite hiding places, but no Duffy. I walked up and down our block three times, twice in the rain; and on my final search, at just after 2 pm, found him curled up, wet and miserable, on the stoop of a similar house two doors down. He recognized me immediately and leapt into my arms, purring madly and snuggling with joy.

What a relief: Our cats are indoor cats, with no life skills and no claws with which to protect themselves. Had we lost him, I would have been wild with worry for a long time to come.

Of course, like an idiot, I had phoned Curtis at work to report that Duffy was missing - as if the poor man could do anything but worry. He called back a minute after I got Duffy, whose face was happily in his food as if he'd been gone for days, back into the house. I reported that Duffy was safe and sound and then got all quavery and said, "I'm gonna cry now." Curtis was glad they were tears of happiness, for a change.

Whew.