Christmas Past

There goes another year. Yesterday was pretty good, I won't lie. It was nice to get up on my own (though the cats wanted food as early as 8 am so I didn't really sleep in) and make a tea. The family I'm living with right now bought me a gift of pjs with an adorable print of owls on them. They're so cute. :3

And I also got some chocolate. What's Christmas without chocolate? After tea and presents, my sister picked me up and we went to my mom's house for more presents and Christmas dinner. Which, in my family, is traditionally eaten about 1 in the afternoon. Weird, right? It's always been that way, ever since my Gran was a little girl. That's how my mom was raised, and that's how we've always had it. I think I'll continue it with my own children in the future. It's kind of a unique tradtion passed down from the women in my family.

Long story short, it was a lvoely day, and afterwards my family and I played a couple rounds of Crokenhole (I don't think that's how you spell it). It's a game with a specially shaped board with circles with different points, and a hole cut in the middle worth twenty. Essentially, you use these "pips", which look like checkers pieces, and you line them up on the base line, then flick with your finger and send them across the board, aiming for the hole in the middle. You can play with up to four people, as there's four sections on the board. Once someone from another team (or another player) is on the board, your goal is to use your "pip" to knock theirs off. At the end of the round (each player has 12 pieces, therefore 12 shots) you add up the points. There's a ton of different ways you can do this - the simplest way is to just add up all the points you got and write them down. We've been playing ever since we were kids at my grandparent's house, and we use the "cancelling" method - if two markers of different players are in the same point space, they cancel out, and you don't get any points. So you cancel all the matching, then if there's two fives on one team and one 10 on another, those cancel, and so forth. At the end, whoever has points still on the board, they write those down. The points denominations are 5, 10, 15, and the middle "pot" is 20. The points get higher the closer you get to the middle, and of course the circles are smaller. Essentially, this is what the board looks like:

Anyway, after that and our turkey comas subsided, I went home and relaxed for a bit more. My sister came over and we watched a chill movie - Julie and Julia, one of my favourites. My roommate was working on a new puzzle on the floor, so I had my two kitties on my lap while watching the movie. It was a nice way to spend Christmas evening. What a nice day.

And now, a lovely picture roll.

Pic before work one morning. I love the blue in my eyes here. It's almost opaque.

Ahh, the Christmas kitties. <3 I bought another collar so they could both be festive. They're so happy about it, can't you tell?

Meet Emmett the giraffe, a needle-felted creation my sister made for me for Christmas. I love him!

My family dog Timbit, Christmas morning at the house. She looks really unimpressed (she doesn't photograph well when she knows I have a camera in my hand), but in truth she was very excited and all grins. I wish she'd be better at smiling at the camera for me. She's got a great smile. <3

Me and my roommate wearing hats from the Christmas crackers at her house. :)

My new mug - a Christmas present from my roommate. Very touching, as I broke my favourite one that night I cut my toe open. Smartiepants. Thankfully I now have a new favourite mug. <3

And another pic with the mug.

Okay, I think that's it!

So Cold

Yeah, it's Christmas Eve. My sister and roommate and I were up till 2 am last night giggling and getting slowly and steadily more and more buzzed. I think if I'd had more than I did I might be hungover right now. I'm not, I'm just really tired, and I have a wee headache coming on. Alcohol just makes me really giddy. And makes me sleep. A lot. We didn't get out of bed for almost eleven hours. Whoa.

Anyway, now that it's past noon and I haven't done anything with my day yet, I'm feeling pretty sedetary (is that the right word?) and really, really bored. I have a tea that I'm drinking as it cools, and now am posting what will most likely be a longer post than usual. In other words, more than two paragraphs cut off after I get distracted by something else.

Come Boxing Day I will be alone in the house for about a week. My roommate and her family are going to the mainland to visit family after Christmas so I'll have the big house to myself, plus three cats. I've got my two babies in my basement and the cat that lives upstairs as well. Phoenix and Anubis have been real buggers lately, I think it's because they know everyone's stressed and ready for the initial break that comes with Christmas being over. It requires way too much planning to be considered a holiday, I think. The few days after are always calmer and more peaceful. It'll be that way for me this year - quiet, and lonely. At least they'll be here for Christmas itself. Though I'll be spending most of the day at my parent's house, it should be a good time. I'm hoping, anyway. You never know what will happen when me and my siblings get together over a turkey coma and presents. This will be the first year I don't live at home, so I will actually get to sleep in (thank goodness), but even so, I'll probably be over there before noon.

There's lots going on right now...I've put my headphones on and am listening to crappy pop music that I can't get out of my head. Ah well. There's so much pounding in the house already...someone's working on something and keeps banging. I don't much care for it. So I'm sitting on my futon, complaining to my non-readers, under two blankets cause I'm FROZEN, drinking tea and blocking it out with Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger.

I've been thinking lately that I have lots to get accomplished this coming year. Closer to the date I'll do an evaluation and resolution post, but right now I'm just thinking about lots of things. Mostly my weight. I have to get rid of this massive problem. I can't seem to get rid of any of the excess I clearly don't need. I'm using Just Dance to my advantage, and my new goal is to play it for an hour at least three times per week. Right now I'm doing more than an hour, but only on the weekends, with my roommate or sister, or both. It's a fun way to sweat it out. And the music is not too bad on the new game (Just Dance 3). I miss some of the songs I liked on the second one, but eventually I plan to buy it anyway. And I'm working on diet, but it's hard when during this season chocolate is everywhere and thousand calorie Christmas dinners are on the horizon. It'll be easier when all that crap is outta here!

Okay, I lied. I'm now listening to PomplamooseMusic on Youtube. I am in love with this artist. The vocalist's name is Nataly, and she's incredible. Her band uses unconventional methods (shaker eggs, chimes, electronic sounds, etc) to create covers and original music. They're awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xMCNmUaGko&feature=bf_next&list=PLF125407272F3C1A4&lf=plcp

Seriously. Click the link. They're doing a "super useful dongle" as well, which is an engraved USB drive with their music on it, that I desperately want, cause it would be so neat to have. Her voice is incredible. Seriously. It's so unique. Makes me think of a woman in the 30's or something.

"It's not easy to say, but I'd like to get over, I'd like to get over you." - Expiration Date, Pomplamoose

I guess that's it. Haha, I said I wouldn't get distracted, but now I'm hooked on watching Pomplamoose videos. :)

Slower Than Molasses In January

That would be me, getting into this "Christmas spirit" business. Yes, I had a short shift at work today which allowed me to spend the late afternoon finishing up my wrapping. Is it weird that I'm actually more excited for my family to open the things I've given them than for my own gifts? I'm also so excited for a three day weekend, and could care less what days it actually falls on. I'm also super excited for boxing day shopping.

Sorry, right now I'm watching "Dance Moms", and it's truly amazing what those kids can do. They're also distracting me.

Also my cat is chewing on my knee. Ugh...

Yup, Another Picture Roll

Okay, here's some of the pictures I was talking about yesterday. I'll do a real post tonight after the Christmas party, but this will do for now.

To start, here's my boys all harnessed (and leashed) up before their visit to my work. They decided they were going to stretch as far apart as they could, and both try to chew on the string. Smartasses. XD

Phoenix making a funny face on the couch at my work.

Nuubie looks scared in this picture, but he really did settle down after about ten minutes of crazed running around.

After the visit, we came home and Phoenix slept on my lap for about three hours - what a tiring excursion! NOTE: I did not take this picture, my roommate did. I don't intend to infringe any copyright.

Now, a pic of one of the ornaments on my mini tree, after we redid it (the cats practically knocked all of them off). It's a bit blurry since it was dark (I wanted to see the tree's lights on it) and I was using my crappy point-and-shoot (I couldn't find my good camera), but even so, I feel like I should post it.

Here's a bit nicer picture of another ornament. I turned the lights on a bit for this so you can't really see the tree lights, but it came out better. Again, crappy point-and-shoot. :P

Then I got this odd idea that it might look cool to take a picture of myself, with tree branches in front so it looked like I was looking out from inside the tree. With dim, indoor lighting and prickly branches, it wasn't so easy, and it doesn't look great since my hair is dirty and I only had remnants of makeup on, but this is the one that came out least blurred. And I think my eyes kind of captivate in this. I know -I- can't stop looking at them, beacuse they kind of look deranged. I don't know. All the others had more tree in them, but came out blurry cause I was trying to get different angles, which isn't so easy when you're the one taking the picture. Anyway, here it is.

There's my picture roll. I'll post a better entry tonight when I get home. And finish wrapping presents. Maybe I'll take a picture of all the gifts I'm giving to people. I'm sure it'll look like quite a lot, since for all my family I did a medley of small things, so everyone has a few things to open. Yes, I individually wrapped them all. Except for the stuff I was waiting for...which I will carefully wrap tonight. Anyway. That's enough for now...I'll go on a better ramble later.



Just A Kiss

The song is completely untrue (meaning the lyrics and message don't apply to me or my life right now), but it's so beautiful and I can't stop listening to it. Lady Antebellum, you've done it again. I normally don't like this kind of one dimension pop music, especially slow stuff, but their voices are so lovely. They remind me of a watered-down Hush Sound. When I say that, I mean their voice combinations remind me of the style the Hush Sound vocals used to be in. The Hush Sound is since broken up, but that's not the point. And when I say "watered down", I mean that their lyrics and message are so completely obvious that there's no mystery to it at all.

Now, however, I'm relaxing after dinner and a day of wandering around. I started with harnessing the kittens up and taking them to my work to visit with some of my coworkers. I learned, happily, that they are right on par with their weight. How lovely! And I got some cute pictures (which I'll upload tomorrow, since my camera is hiding and I can't seem to find it at the moment) of them on the couch.

Then we went downtown to pick up some grocery items for the Christmas party tomorrow. I settled on a veggie platter (celery, baby carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, and snap peas) comprised of fresh vegetables, as well as a meat/cheese/cracker platter, with ham, turkey breast, 6 different kinds of crackers, and marbled cheddar cheese. Oh yes. I think I'm quite prepared. Of course, while in the store, I wasn't too happy and I've actually been off all day. But my roommate (and chauffer, haha) spruced me up with coffee (that I bought, ironically) and positive reinforcement (the promise of sushi afterwards). Unfortunately, the car was having trouble starting so we never ended up getting sushi. But we did have couscous with tomato/spinach sauce and turkey meatballs. Yum.

I guess that's it for today. I'm distracted by The Big Bang Theory.

Recap

Here's a quick recap of my Friday before we go out to visit my work and weigh the kittens to see how much they've grown since their neuter three months ago.

Work was tiring, we had an emergency at the end of the day and a walk-in before that. Both cats were okay, went home quickly, and I was glad for that. My coworker and I got our close done on time and were out on time. It was fabulous. I love evenings like that. I confirmed with my other coworker when her Christmas party this weekend was, and she gave me her address, so that's where I'll be Sunday afternoon. Sounds good. I have to make some food for it, but I think I'll just do a cheese/cracker, veggies/dip platter or something. I'll make it myself, of course. I don't agree with prepackaged veggies/dip and whatnot. So we're going to go to the store today. And visit my work. :)

Anyway, Friday, after work I went home to shower and change, then my sister picked me up and we got a couple movies, then went home to gorge ourselves on junk food and watch movies till midnight or so. It's a tradition in my family that we've done for years before Christmas - a late movie night and junk food, usually the week before the holiday. Since we were usually out of school by then, it didn't matter that as young children we were up till midnight. Haha. My childhood is so drab, but we decided to continue the tradition even though I don't live at home anymore. We watched Sweeny Todd (from my collection), since my brother had never seen it, and then Rio from the movie store, since I said it was adorable. Pretty chill night.

Okay. Now that you know that, I gotta run, and get ready to go. I'm sure I'll do another post tonight. I'm prepared for boredom. And maybe vodka. Who knows?

Something So Simple

Long post. Prepare ye selves.

I'll start off easy. Here's a snapshot of our mini Christmas tree, which we decorated the night before this was taken. Okay, it doesn't look like this anymore - the damn cats decided it'd be a great idea to play with the ribbon (I bought sparkly gold ribbon in lieu of garland or tinsel as those two items make cats sick), bat the shiny balls off, and chew on a sparkly snowflake (causing one of them, I'm not sure who, to roll in panic and get glitter all over the carpet, which I then had to vacuum up). Geniuses. But the point is, we have a little Christmas tree, and it's beautiful. It makes the place smell like pine. Or fir. Whatever it is.

Okay. Down to business.

I'll start by explaining that all week, at work, we have had hardly anything to do. I've spent the time stuffing, stamping, and sealing envelopes for our year end newsletter. I've also hand written every address for our Christmas cards for our biggest contributors to the clinic. I don't know if I've finished them all yet, but I finished the list my office manager gave me, and it was easily 50 envelopes. There may be more for me to do tomorrow. I've also finished some more purge boxes from the storage room, and we'll be tossing more old files from 2005 and earlier tomorrow. Sounds good. There have been moments of busyness. The other day, we had many appointments and there was one woman in particular who spent a good part of the afternoon getting diagnostics done on her large husky dog. The dog hadn't eaten in four days, was drinking a bit, and had a high fever. Our dr's ran blood tests and urine tests, and while they didn't find anything unusual, they suggested she come back the next day to run the same tests and see if a trend explained what was happening with the dog. She flipped her lid. I'm serious. She had a 30+ minute conversation with the dr treating her dog (who also happens to be the boss, and owner of the business and building) in the exam room, displaying her frustration with the care we were trying to provide to her and her pet.

Afterwards, she came out to pay her bill, and expressed more anger, frustration, and kept on and on about how unfair and unjust our business was, as well as how we "didn't know" what we were doing, how because "he's a vet" he should "just know what to do", etc, etc. This was the first time I'd ever had to deal with a complaint this big. I let her run her mouth for a little bit. I explained that she was paying for DIAGNOSTICS, which MAY provide answers, and if she same back, we may be able to find the problem. All problems are not solved immediately, and while she was given options, she refused them all. At some point, the dr that was seeing her overheard her displeasure and came to rescue me, standing behind me and hashing it out with her for another 20+ minutes. Meanwhile, time is ticking and I'm supposed to be doing my close. The phone hadn't rung yet, so I sneakily turned it over so no one would call. I sat very carefully, wringing my hands nervously while the dr and the client argued with each other. Her arguement was, as a dr, he should automatically know that the dog is sick and know how to cure it. His arguement was that without diagnostics, he isn't able to cure the root of the problem, and while he could prescribe something to mask the symptoms, it wouldn't matter in the long run, as the problem would still exist and the dog really wouldn't be getting any better. She wouldn't hear any of it. In the end, the dr told her that clearly she wasn't happy with our service, she wouldn't have to pay, and she should seek another practice as she clearly was not getting what she wanted from our clinic. In a huff, she left with anger and tears. It was one of the most awkward situations I've had to sit through. As I finished locking the doors, the dr came to me and said, "Sorry, was she really hard on you?" and I replied, a little shakily, "No, it was just a little weird." He nodded and then went home.

It was so hard, so awkward, so nerveracking. By the time I'd finished my close my nerves were shot; when I got to the car I broke down. Of course, in my frame of mind, knowing that her dog was suffering and she wasn't willing to help it using our hospital's options for care, made me so upset. It's the highest form of cruelty to be handed options and toss them away because they were "unjust", "cruel", or "potentially harmful". The next day I checked her file, saw that her files had been transfered to the holistic/homeopathic hospital about thirty minutes down the highway. I kind of saw it coming. Where else would she go?

Now that that's over with, here's a cute picture of Phoenix wearing his new Christmas collar, and exploring my wrapping paper-littered living room. I was wrapping up all the presents, and he really wanted to check it all out. It's not so easy to wrap things when there's a curious kitten batting at everything that moves.

Last night my roommate and I went to see the latest Twilight movie. I know, I know. I completely disagree with the Twilight franchise, the fanbase, the actors, etc. Well, that's not entirely true. I adore Robert Pattinson, though in the Twilight movies he looks so miserable it just makes me laugh. But in other movies, such as Little Ashes (in which he plays Salvador Dali), Remember Me, Water For Elephants...he's magical. And GORGEOUS. The best part about Breaking Dawn was those sex scenes where they (thankfully) focused on his pouty lips and rippling back muscles. Yum.

Anyway, the rest of the movie was a little bit confused for me. I was trying to compare with the book, while I hadn't actually read the book since it came out, and didn't really remember all the nuances of it. There were parts that I definitely knew weren't in the book. I don't like it when movies do that. And the ending was so anti-climactic and overly dramatic, it really killed it.

Because my roommate has her licence now, we then wandered Wal Mart once the movie was over, and she handed me something I've been looking for forever - MirrorMask on DVD!! Overjoyed, I happily purchased it and we went home. It was a good night.

To finish this rather long entry, here's a better picture of my baby kitty Phoenix with his Christmas collar on again. There's actually a red bell on there that you can't really see (since it's been turned around to the back of his neck so he doesn't chew on it). So yeah. There's my entry. Sorry I've been slacking so much.

Ev'ry Day I'm Shuff'lin

Just finished playing Just Dance 3 and now "Party Rock Anthem" is stuck in my head. "Party rockin' in the house tonight, ev'rybody just have a good time. And we gon' make you lose your mind, ev'ry day I'm shuff'lin."

And my roommate decided it'd be a great idea to watch "Labyrinth", with David Bowie, as if I didn't have enough fucked up dreams already. This is bound to make them really special. :/ I actually have never seen this movie before so I can't form an opinion on it until I've watched it, but just judging by the "menu" reel of clips, this is going to be weird. -Sigh- Ah well. I guess if I'm going to be writing this I can ignore it for the most part. My roommate's little sister is here too so it's not like I'm the most comfortable I can be anyway. Whatever. I try my best.

Today I spent entirely too much money on groceries etc, mostly because I picked up some things for my coworkers for Christmas too. And I finished all my Christmas shopping yesterday - just waiting on my Avon order now, and then I can start wrapping! Oh yes. It shall be a fun filled afternoon tomorrow, between wrapping presents and building a gingerbread house. We already set up our tree - and the kittens enjoyed the bright, shiny ornaments that went onto it. And the lights! Anyway, I guess that's all for this entry. My life sure is boring!

Quote: "A labyrinth! Doesn't look that hard! Well, come on, feet!" - Sara, Labyrinth (yes, I literally took my quote of the day right off what I was watching)

Picture: Just playing with some light before work one morning. :P

Something Special

I don't think I make enough money to fuel my dreams.

I get paid tomorrow and I already have plans for more than will be written on the check. All I can hope for is longer hours, or a raise. :/

Yeah, I guess maybe I don't need to buy so many Christmas presents. Or such high quality groceries (not the "no name" brands), or premium cat food for my two boys. Maybe I don't need Facebook or Twitter on my Blackberry, therefore making my $60 phone bill unnecessary. I mean, I have to pay rent, I have to make sure I have enough for my bi-weekly loan payment (on a scooter I haven't used in months and eventually hope to sell), I have to eat, and my cats have to eat. I could cut corners but I figure when I'm making $11 an hour and could afford (somehow) to buy all the same things, pay all the same bills, while paying at least $300 more a month to live in the apartment, I don't know why I'm hemorraging money. Plus, when I was paying all that for the apartment, I was only making $9 an hour. And I was lucky if I got 60 hours per pay period. Maybe I'm going too wild on this Christmas stuff? All of  my family members are capped. They have to be, or I'd go nuts.

Blueberry Cat

Um num num. Nuubie enjoyed his nibble of blueberry. Now Phoenix is tossing around a grape like it's a ball. My boys are idiots :)

My favorite girl lost America's Next Top Model. ):

Allison Harvard, in my opinion, should have won the competition. She's beautiful, and unique. And her eyes? Forget about it. They make average people's eyes look like nothing in comparison. She's like a doe. So beautiful, so elegant, so quirky. I wish she had won.

Anyway, life has been okay lately. I get paid this Friday and I already have plans for the money. I have to get the rest of the Christmas presents, pay for the order that should be arriving this week, pay rent, pay my cell phone bill, and buy my kittens their Christmas presents. I have several ideas in the works for them - I found these beautiful green and red rounded beds with gold designs on them in Walmart today and I know they'll be perfect. Phoenix loves the bumper bed I got him from work forever ago, but it's small and he fills it. If I get them each a special fluffier, larger, nicer one, and one for his brother Nuubie, I think it'll be really nice! I'm also going to get them stockings and fill them with tons of toys. Some of them I'll withold for later in the year when they wear out the first ones, and of course I'm working on getting a second crinkly tunnel. Phoenix loves to sleep in the zebra one I got for them, and Walmart has a cheetah print one that I want to try them with as well. I will probably also buy my family dog, Timbit, something special.

This is the two family dogs, Munroe (in loving memory) on the left, and Timbit on the right. <3 This is one of my absolute favourite pictures of these two. I took it at my mom's request under the shade of the willow tree in our backyard.

Yesterday at work I became deeply infuriated. A man called in for his cat, stated it was an emergency, and was rushed in immediately. When the cat arrived (we'll call her "Goldie"), she was heaving, struggling to breathe, and wasn't eating. She was in pretty bad shape. We assessed her, determined that diagnostics were necessary to find out what was wrong with her. The owner was adamant that he didn't want blood drawn, he didn't want radiographs, he didn't even want IV fluids, but we did that much at least. It was infuriating to watch this poor animal suffering on the exam table in the treatment room and know that we could help her get better and we aren't able to without his permission.

So after all that ignorance, the bastard comes in today too. He says he tried to surrender "Goldie" to the SPCA and they wouldn't take her. Probably because she was near death and they really can't afford to treat her. So they suggested she be taken to a vet for some medication. And hallelujah, the man decided maybe she should get some treatment. Gee, what a revelation. The doctor sees "Goldie" again and after a few minutes the man comes back out. Following my usual routine, I asked how the appointment went. Snidely, the man replies "Oh, he's putting her down now." Shocked, all I could do was put on my receptionist face and say, "I'm so sorry." He scoffs and sits down on the couch, cracks open a newspaper and mutters, "It's just an animal." I was in utter disbelief of the words that had just come out of his mouth. I exchanged glances with my coworker, who gave me the same terrified expression. We then realized that there was another client in the reception area cradling their very old, very ill cat in their arms. Mortified, I do my best to remain composed and start chatting up the other client while working my way around the desk to care for the SPCA kittens we have available for adoption out front. Later, the dr brings the cat back to the owner in her burial box, as he's elected a home burial. Jeez. What a nightmare. I was just glad to get him out of my reception.

Enough for now, I suppose. :/

I'm Cold

"Seeing the sunrise over the sea of Japan? Priceless. Plus, in space, I had plenty of time to rub one out. Which is great, but after a while it feels a little like living in a snowglobe." - Family Guy

So last night my sister came over and we had some blended drinks with probably too much vodka in them, and my roommate ended up projectile vomitting all over the bathroom, which I then had to clean up, while tending to her shaking form. It was so delightful. Just kidding. I felt like a boring "mother hen", who spent the whole night taking care of other people who had too much vodka, while never getting to finish my own drink, since I was instead cleaning up puke, refreshing cold compresses, and filling cups with water. I realized that I would probably hate picking up after and caring for a kid like that, so it's a good thing I don't have one (and probably never will, since my attractiveness level is at absolute zero right now). And then, they just wanted to go to sleep, so I kept them up for an hour to monitor them and then went to bed. All in all, we were in bed by midnight. And then slept till 10 - well, the kittens pawed at the door at 7 am, so we let them in and Phoenix curled up on my chest to sleep for another three hours until we all got up at 10.

I then called the clinic where I work and made sure it was okay if I came in to get my stitches taken out. They said it was, so I quickly got dressed and made my way down there. My lovely coworkers took the stiches out and I bought some cat food for the boys, then my mom came to get me and we all went down to Courtenay to do a little shopping. After we got home I helped my mom put away her groceries and then she took me home. Now I'm just sitting here, watching Family Guy, and writing this slowly progressing blog entry. I hope the new Sensitivity food I bought for the boys will do well for them.

-sigh- I guess that's all for now. I don't know what else to say, really. :/