Tag Archives: Choobie

Shocking.

I think I haven’t had a proper, you know, blog post, for more than a month.

And what a momentous month it’s been, too!

The MD and I had our actual one-year anniversary, versus all the monthaversaries we’d celebrated heretofore. It was swell. We checked Choobie in to the daycare for the weekend, and went to the Planetarium, and stayed at a little B&B in the West End so we could do stuff in the city and wander home after on foot or a cheap cab. We went to dinner at the place we first had dinner together, and then we went to see a friend’s band, which was fun.

Next morning we got up for breakfast, which I can’t remember at all what it was. We went to the Art Gallery and saw lots of Art. We went to the movies and saw Duplicity, which wasn’t really very good. We went back to the room and relaxed for a bit and then got dressed and went to The Sylvia to watch the sunset from the bar and have a delicious cocktail. Then we went to l’Altro Buca, which is the replacement restaurant for Parkside’s location, and that was extremely good, of course. Then we stumbled home…no, we took a cab, my shoes of extreme cuteness were not suitable for drunken stumbling.

Next day was gorgeous and sunny and we went to Science World on the way back to the homestead. it was a v nice weekend, we both enjoyed it :)

Since then, the MD’s Stuff has arrived. There has been a lot of moving of stuff, throwing out of stuff, taking stuff to the storage, and related stuff.

This past weekend (13 monthaversary!) we went to Seattle, to see the long-awaited My Bloody Valentine show (YES! it was AWES!). We also got to have dinner with Peter and Cecilie and their friend Richard, and it was lots of fun. We may be heading south again to see Metric next month, depends on a couple of things.

So aside from absorbing stuff and stuff like that, the MD’s parents are coming to town for a visit in just over a week. Concurrently, my parents will be down for a weekend (OH NOES! PARENTAL SUMMIT!) We have restaurant reservations already although we haven’t decided everything that will be going on. They’ll be staying with us so there is some amount of cleaning/arranging of stuff. this weekend we’re organizing the laundry room. Which excites me more than I would have thought it would.

So OK

Just over two weeks to go till Christmas, and I expect I’ll have even less time upcoming than of late, so I figured I’d better update a bit.

The Main Distractor made it through a few weeks ago, no drama. Two-year permit. The job title was a bit off but close enough for jazz and the nice lady who processed the paperwork. My dad was around that weekend and we all went to Parkside to celebrate and it was marvelous. He’ll be arriving in 16 days. I’m beside myself :D .

One of the internet friends the boy met last year in France is also moving to Canada, arriving Tuesday. He’ll be staying in the (recently relocated) spare room till he finds a suitable apartment for himself and his wife, who will arrive later in the month. Looking forward to having him here as well.

Had lunch with Shanny on Friday and she and Nic will be over for brunch tomorrow (oh, must buy OJ) for general holiday get-together and keep-in-touch. Lise and Carey and Metta passed through town last week also, and I got to see them briefly and meet the gorgeous babe. The Dude will be through en route to and from New Jersey for work in the next week as well. We all know what all this company means: lots of cuddles for Choobie! :D .

I put up a small and somewhat wonky little Christmas tree, since the Main Distractor will be spending a few nights here before we head up to Sun Peaks. We’ll have our own tiny tree :D .

In moving the spare bedroom upstairs (for two reasons: one, comfort of guests in colder weather if not in hotter; and two, creation of a Man Cave space for the MD to keep his stuff and have a space of his own in the alien landscape), I have lost my study, and now have my computer desk out in the living room to the increased squishiness of furniture. In a way I don’t like it because it’s out in the middle of everything, but having a more streamlined setup at the moment, with the powerbook instead of the desktop, and a USB hub that I got for a really good price to keep everything humming along, is working. I’ve also set up my wireless keyboard and mouse, which is a relief indeed after the laptop keyboard and track pad thing, On the other hand, it’s so…plugged in that it’s functioning not at all like a laptop. But that’s OK.

My microbusiness got a query from a big company, like BIG company, that would have conceivably had enough steady business for me to, like, buy some new clothes or go out to dinner or something. But they seem to have lost interest, as I haven’t heard from the guy in a couple of days. I think he thought I did that full time, but of course lacking lots of nice big corporate clients, I don’t. Oh well, it’s his/their loss as much as mine, I suppose. He may come to realize that the 24-hour type of turnaround I can offer is not impossible to work with, it’s just a small mental adjustment.

Today’s agenda includes some Christmas and grocery shopping, hair appointment, and more vacuuming (welcome my friends to the chore that never ends).

Happy holidays and whatnot, everyone!

And back to waiting.

Much to cover! not sure if I’ll get through it all as I’m a tired girl and could use some good shuteye tonight, long day at work tomorrow.

So the rest of the birthday: good brunch at De Dutch Pannekoek House, followed by some not too exciting shopping; I did get this darling cute monkey purse though!

Monkey Purse

Monkey Purse

(Looking it up it seems it’s a lunch bag, not a purse, but whatever. It’s adorable!)

Then an incredible Parkside dinner, of course. Lovely meal, which we both enjoyed.

Monday was dedicated to even more shopping (! I know!); I had a budget to work with and worked it, baby; got him a nice dress shirt; got me a Peter Nygard silk, lace, tulle, cutwork skirt; a grownup patterned silk skirt; and three tops to go with; as well as an iPod case for mine and a laptop case for the new laptop! so I’m set for any fancy dinners anyone wants to take me to :D

Monday evening we met up with a diverse bunch at Chill Winston: an ateaser who was in town early for the Tuesday show, several of my favourite food geeks (many of whom were also going to see Radiohead), and Seancouver.

Tuesday was spent cooking and running around a little to hook up with a friend who was buying another friend’s spare Radiohead tickets, and preparing a supper for my dad, who stopped in en route to NJ to walk my Choobie and have a non-airport-food supper; and a picnic for the Main Distractor and me to eat in the Radiohead lineup, as well as a chocolate cake to share with the kids. The concert I’ll talk about separately, it was pretty cool in spite of pouring rain.

Yesterday I had to head back to work, and the boy and I had a quiet evening in and finished watching Withnail & I, which if you haven’t seen I strongly, strongly recommend. Thanks, Dignan, for loving this movie so much that I was spurred to get it myself.

Today, another day of work, and another trip to YVR.

Sigh.

Still no definite date. Keep up the well wishes, this apartness really sucks.

Home again, home again.

So there’s good news, there’s bad news, there are pictures, and whatever.

Good news is I seem to have fixed my broken blog. I’m home in one piece, and I think I managed to stave off bankruptcy :p

Bad news is kinda myriad (will that word always make me think of the movie Heathers? probably). There was staff upheaval in my absence, and we’re stuck with an astonishing, condescending temp who is so sweet to the Men in Charge that they don’t understand why our jaws are constantly on the floor and our eyebrows at our hairlines. She is either unclear on who her immediate supervisor is (that would be me), or uncomfortable taking instruction (not orders, instruction) from a younger female. Apparently the even younger female who was here while I was away had even more serious issues. It’s always really great when someone new comes in and totally reorganizes someone else’s desk, decides what is the right way to do something, and who she ought to listen to. Never mind actual permanent staff and established procedures.

One more week! please, no more! Unfortunately I don’t seem to have the kind of backup that will allow me to say THANK YOU AND GOODBYE for a morale-boost for the actual admin staff. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it.

The worse news is that my Main Distractor had some kind of bureaucratic snafu and will not be arriving permanently as of next week, after all. I heard that in Berlin the night my laptop finally, definitively exploded, and it was quite a blow :( It’s not forever, of course; Plan B has him arriving in August instead, and he’s committed to coming for my birthday and the Radiohead concert here, that’s set, so I guess we’ll take the next steps as they come. It’s funny, because when I was emailing with Rodrigo before the trip, he exclaimed about the difficulties in getting a work permit: when Rainbirds came, way back when, they had work permits and social insurance numbers as easy as pie. How times change.

I’m happy to be home with my cats and dog, and they seem fairly content to have me back, although Choobie obviously wishes he could have me AND go swimming every day. Sorry, Choobs.

OK I will try to get photos to post properly and do the Travelogue now. :D

Day of Rodents

This morning, reading my email, checking my boards, Ziggy was meowing all ovah. Loudly, repeatedly, staring at hidden places and closets. YOW! YOW! YOW!

No apparent reason,  moved around the study, OK, STFU, Zig.

I got ready for work, walk teh Choob, unlock Enzo, and lo and behold by the backdoor is a dead wee mouse or vole. Not sure who’s responsible for it, Ziggy or Ilya, but pretty definitely one of mine. Don’t know who to praise for not bringing it to me in bed at 3 a.m. :p

Later, on the way to work, Enzo and I dodged a rather large rat’s corpse in the middle of the lane.

So, that’s two.

Remind me not to order Chinese for dinner…

And

Happy damn Leap Year Day. Werchter announcement aside, I definitely got out of bed on the wrong side this morning. No particular reason (aside from Choobie pawing me awake with his stupid-ass claws that he won’t let me clip, SCREW YOU, CHOOB), but fairly grumpy.

Saturday night.

I just spent another Saturday night with Ralph Fiennes and Africa. Sometimes it’s The English Patient, and sometimes it’s The Constant Gardener, but it seems to fit, often enough.

It was an OK day! I woke up early (for a Saturday), around 7. Coffee, dog-walking, cleaned up a bit here and there. The Wallpaper Man came and hung my wallpaper in the dining room (only 18 months since the room has been done) and completed the finishing work on the replacement back door (only…14 months lag on that). My dining room is ready for guests!

dining room

Little things make me happy :) sometimes!

What else, this week…the Punk Rock Boy™ came over for a rather good beef stew the other day. We had a nice evening.

I got square with the Tax Man over a few anomalies. That’s a relief. Not that I was feeling like Al Capone or anything.

My little wee iBook has periodic convulsions that do not make me happy, and I’m trying hard not to spend vacation money on a new MacBook (no, not the Air, it’s not really a useful second machine for me. I’m looking at a small MacBook that I can easily travel with and watch movies on and such.). You know, someone wins the lottery basically once each week, I don’t know why I can’t be numbered among those chosen! it’s not like I’m not buying the tickets…

Enzo needs service, and I need to remember this at a time when I can call the Vespa people, since my other option seems to be an option no longer. (OH THE DRAMA. NEVER MIND.)

Not much else springs to mind, other than the fact that I’ve eaten breakfast for dinner (no, not toothpaste) twice in a row, and I like that. Also, at this very moment, Choobie is having some very exciting dream, and squealing in his sleep, bless his little heart. He makes much more noise asleep than awake, Mysterious Dog that he is.

Enjoy your weekend!

It’s all about the feet, babe.

So dropped the dog at the groomer. He has a good rep there :D

Went again to Costco, Mummy got some stuff.

Went to the grocery store, went to Winners. Wah-oh. A blouse either for work or for under my black tuxedo jacket, grey with embroidered flowers. A lavender (?! I know!) fuzzy sweater. and these shoes, which of course I will wear all the time…

plaid heels

I also share with you the Christmas slippers, because I don’t think I have the words to describe them:

slippers

They are totally toasty though.

So also today: picked up a very shiny and fluffy Choobinator, had some quasi-Indian food, and watched Casino Royale with the Dude. (Daniel Craig, rrroooowwwrrrrrrr.)

And that’s about it. The new Yokos are nice on the road, yesirree.

And again, to town.

This time with Mummy.

Choobie has a grooming appointment, la la la, and the bipeds will likely mall-crawl. Yawn. J’ai mal au dos…I wonder if we’re taking the RAV and its shiny tires, or the Wange Wovah.

Choobs and I have already been on an excellent walk this morning, the only sunny day as yet, when I could be skiing, and noOOOOooo, must take the dog to town. Ah well.

I will add more later if there’s anything remotely interesting. Yesterday I did some work online, from bed, in my PJs. Too bad I can’t work like that all the time! and if we get back at a decent hour tonight I may put in another hour or so.

Hasta la vista, queridos.