Can You Hear Me Now?

It’s a lovely Sunday evening. The weather isn’t the shits, I went swimming today, my apartment is nice and tidy, clean sheets are on the bed, I made a lasagna, had my $5 latte (with soy now, no tummy troubles since that switch), and I’ve got Million Dollar Baby waiting for me to watch. Life is pretty good.

Last night was a BLAST. An absolute hoot.

First, Michelle came over for dinner. Yes, you heard me. I had a guest for dinner, and I cooked. I wrapped noodles around cheese to make tortellini and picked tomatoes from my garden for fresh tomato garlic sauce and kneaded dough for freshly baked bagels to use for garlic toast. Then I milked a skinny cow to make fat free ice cream and called it dessert.

Now, before Oprah gets all James Frey on my ass, I better admit that I embellished that a little bit.

After dinner (and I cleaned up most of it before we left too, I am so ON THE BALL these days) we headed to the Loose Moose Theatre. The 8:00 show was Guerilla Theater, where several improv comedy players make up a variety of scenes based on direction from another player and suggestions from the audience. They turn it into a bit of a competition among the directors too. I love improv, I have been a fan since the old days at the now defunct Jester’s Comedy Club when old timers like Graeme Davies and Roman Danylo performed there (oh, I just looked at Roman’s resume, that was 1989-92! Yikes I’m old).

Anyway, it was a riot. The special guest improv player last night was Terra Hazelton, who was singing later on. It turns out her background is Loose Moose theatre, having joined when she was just 14 years old. Now she’s a big time (to me) jazz singer with Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards and lives in Toronto. Anyway, she was very funny and added a lot to the show.

So after the improv was over, everyone cleared out except Michelle and I because we already had our (front row) tickets for Terra’s show with Jason and Sheldon from the Polyjesters. The guys came in to set up and I got my hugshugshugs and their parents were there too, more hugshugshugs and kisses.

They started at 10:30 and their first set was over an hour long. It was fantastic. Old time jazz tunes from the 30’s and 40’s and fun stuff like that. The banter among them was hilarious… Terra has been staying out at Jason’s house in Carstairs for a couple weeks, and they were just full of stories and teasing. “Terra, you’re going to have to clean up all those wet kleenexes on the floor beside your bed before you leave. What, you think we don’t hear you?” My favourite was when Jason was imitating her and he just yelled “AHHHHH AHAHAHAH REALLY LOUD NOISES!!” into the mic. Hee! Maybe you had to be there…

During intermission I picked up Terra’s CD. She has a MySpace page with only two songs on it and not much else. She told me I am more than welcome to take it over and fix it up, so I hope to be doing that very soon (whenever she sends me her password!)

They played until about 1:00 a.m. and were having a little too much fun on that stage. It was insane. We had such a good time. Michelle was just groovin’ in her seat, it was so cute The PolyDad even went up and played trumpet during one song, giving Jason and his amazing trumpet sound effects a break.

After the show it was too late to hang around (for me, anyway, I was le tired) so we just said our goodbyes, got hugs and Michelle drove me home. I told her I was going straight to bed, but she reminded me I had to upload my entry in my daily Gratitude Journal first. Argh! I will never be able to take a vacation again, until I get a laptop with wireless internet!

Oh man did I ever have a weird dream last night.

I wandered into this salon, asking if they do bikini waxes, and was told yes. Then I said I’d actually rather have a full Brazilian wax done if I could. The staff hemmed and hawed and told me that since they’ve only ever done two Brazilian waxes before, I’d be better off going somewhere else, because they weren’t very experienced in that. So I settled for the bikini wax, but was told I’d have to wait. It was 1:00 and I knew I had to be home by 3:30 because Access Calgary was picking me up at 3:40 to take me I don’t know where.

So anyway, I wait forever and then I finally get taken into this huge back room and told to lie on this bed with my legs up in the air (okay, I’ve never actually had a bikini wax, but I’m pretty sure there is no legs up in the air involved). So I am lying there, totally exposed, with my legs up in the air, while the aesthetician prepares the wax. All of a sudden a TON of people, all men, come flying into the room and are milling about as if they’re having a party. I quickly cover myself up and scream “get out of here! Every man in this room, leave immediately!!” After they leave, the aesthetician tells me that was very rude of me, and I didn’t need to do that. I reminded her that I had been waiting for two hours, it is now almost 3:30 and I have to go, so this better be quick!

So I am back in position with my legs up in the air, and she starts pouring the wax on me, carefully using a paint brush to get the wax in the right places. As she is painting away, Matt Dillon leans over and says “ouch, that’s gonna hurt”. Matt frickin’ DILLON?? Then the aesthetician puts the wax strips in place and I place my hands over my mouth to muffle my impending scream and start deep breathing to prepare for the big riiiiiiiip. Just as she’s placing her hands on the strips to rip them off, I wake up.

Analyze that, Lisa!!

I went to see my doctor today. I told him about my recent tummy troubles, and he set me up for an ultrasound next week to find out if I have gall stones. He did say though, that even if I do, we will hold off on surgery for at least a year and see how I’m doing then. He rolled his chair over to me, placed his hands on my knees, looked me in the eyes and said: “we want you to eat better, so it’s a good thing if greasy food is making you sick”. Hehe I love my doctor. LOVE him. He also told me I look like I’ve lost a bit of weight since he last saw me and that I’m looking great. The medication changes he made for me at the end of December have played a huge role in how great I’m feeling these days. I don’t know if it’s the medication, the fact I am keeping a daily gratitude journal, the Psych-K therapy I am doing (very cool), the great weather we’re having or everything combined, and I don’t really care!! I just want it to continue.

On a sad note, I found out my doctor’s nurse, who has been with him forever and is the greatest, (I’ve been going there about 17 years and she has always been there) is battling breast cancer. I noticed her hair looked a little shorter and she was all dressed up today, so I commented about how nice she looked. She told me she was taking off at noon to go away with some friends for a few days, right after she gets her medication from the cancer clinic. I was shocked – “you have cancer?!?” She has had breast cancer for over a year and I had no clue, she’s always there when I call or visit and looks great. She’s had many rounds of chemo and radiation and now she’s taking some new “miracle drug” every three weeks. She has lost all her hair and toe nails and the whole bit. I just can’t even imagine what this past year has been like for her. When I told her that, she responded with “oh, you have had your own fair share of rough times the past few years”. That may be true, but even my worst days with MS have got to be better than chemo.

To put my own situation into even more perspective, when I went down to the lobby to wait for my ride, there was a man sitting there with no legs from the knee down. He had two prosthetic legs standing up beside him, which he put back on shortly after I sat down. I asked him how long it took him to get used to those, and he said “a couple months”. I asked him how long he’d had them, and he said “about 10 years” and then he wandered off. I guess not everyone likes to talk about it. I’m never afraid to ask someone about their disability, because I’d rather someone ask me why I have a cane, walker or scooter, than stand there and stare at me wondering. I should probably stop doing that though, because a lot of people are very sensitive or filled with bad memories they’d rather not be reminded of. This one guy in my building had a car accident when he was driving drunk, hit someone and killed them, and ended up brain damaged and disabled himself. Not the greatest memory for him. We share Access rides a lot, so when I innocently asked him once “what happened?”, he probably wanted to punt me upside the head. Oops.

So, yeah, I guess I can understand why most people just stare.

I came home to a $400 cheque in my mailbox from our provincial government. “This $400 per-person rebate is being provided as a non-taxable, one-time bonus to all Albertans in recognition of their role in building this province”. I think that just rocks. And so does my chiropractor, because he’s the one getting mine. Yay for being an Albertan!

So my stomach acted up again yesterday. Really badly. And this happened shortly after I got home from brunch with my parents, in which we all ingested bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, and buttered toast. I spent the rest of the day in horrible pain and my mom diagnosed me with gall stones. Looking up all the symptoms on the internet, I’d have to agree. I fall into the ideal category too, with my weight and age. I’ll have to call my doctor tomorrow and get in for X-rays to find out for sure. In the meantime, I need to watch what I eat and no more Vanilla Bean half sweet with skim lattes!

Maybe this is what the ghost was trying to tell me a few weeks ago.

If I have gall stones, do I take the easy way out and have my gall bladder removed? I know lots of people do it. But I don’t ever want to go in for surgery again unless I absolutely have to. And there are many ways to get rid of the stones naturally… it’s just not very fun or easy. And then you risk the chance of them coming back, if you don’t watch what you eat. But… I need to watch what I eat anyway, so maybe that would be further incentive? I dunno. I guess I should actually wait and see if that’s what I’ve got before I start analyzing my options. Drinking Epsom salts, olive oil and grapefruit juice sounds so appealing, though, doesn’t it?

Today I still felt uneasy most of the day and was afraid to eat. By 4:30 I felt okay and decided to make myself dinner and I cooked for myself! Woo hoo, real food! Chicken fajitas (but with mild salsa, didn’t want to take my chances). I’m extremely proud of myself. Tomorrow I think I’ll be making tortellini with garlic toast bagels. Who wants to come for dinner? I haven’t been able to find fat free ricotta cheese (two grocery stores have failed me so far) but when I can get to Safeway and buy some, I’ll be making my Weight Watcher’s lasagna. I’ve also got a couple easy chicken recipes my mom sent me. Oh, and the broccoli… I need to make this chicken and broccoli with garlic sauce recipe I found. Look out! Donna’s in the kitchen!! I know it sounds silly, because most people I know cook on a regular basis, and how hard is it to boil some pasta and heat some sauce, but even that is not something I normally do. Never mind the freshly grated parmesan and garlic bread.

Tomorrow we vote. Go Green! (Notice the sunflower on their website. It’s the little things that count). I’m scared about what is going to happen. Although maybe all I should be pissed off about is that Corner Gas and Medium won’t be on tomorrow night because of election coverage. The rest will play out as it will.

Ahahahahaha I just found out that the Green Party candidate in my riding is the clean-living herbalist that co-owns the toxic-elimination holistic clinic where I get my colonics (his wife has seen more of me than most). He’s a bit of a pompous holier-than-thou twathead, but he knows of what he speaks. Hehe. That makes me laugh. Next time he rants to me about the toxins I have put in my body being the cause of my health problems (he’s probably right, but SHUT UP) and making me feel bad because I don’t live off juiced organic vegetables, I’ll remind him that I voted for him and he better be nice to me.

It’s Friday! I was hoping for a real day off tomorrow, a day that I didn’t have to be up early to dress and be somewhere, but that’s not happening. I’ll be going to the chiropractor in the morning, and hopefully getting some grocery shopping done at the same time. Did I mention that I feel like cooking? ‘tis true. I have recipes lined up that I want to make and everything. Simple stuff, but it’s real food that will take a bit of effort on my part to prepare, and that in itself is an accomplishment for me. I’ve always used the “oh, I live alone, and it’s not worth it to go through all this trouble to cook just for myself…” excuse. Well, I have decided that I AM worth it, dammit! And there is still lots you can cook with one good hand.

I may feel differently when I see how much work the clean-up part is.

On Tuesday morning when I got home from swimming, I grabbed a trail mix bar for breakfast and decided to make myself a cup of that instant Nescafe French Vanilla cappuccino stuff. By the time I finished the cappuccino I was experiencing major pain in my belly and by 11:00 a.m. I was in the bathroom throwing it all up. I don’t know what happened… that’s twice in a matter of weeks that I’ve been intimate with the Porcelain God. And before that, at least a year or more! Anyway, I spent the day in bed, in pain and crampy and sick. The rest of the day and evening I polished off a sleeve of soda crackers and a can of gingerale to keep it safe. I felt and looked great the next day, no sign of the problems from the day before. Hmmm. I thought it may be something in the cappuccino powder, (who can pronounce half those ingredients?) because it’s something I don’t normally have around, so I’m afraid to try it again. Which is unfortunate for me, because French Vanilla cappuccino mixed with regular coffee is one of my favourite things, and making that at home could very well save me a lot of money. It would keep me from the $5 Vanilla Bean lattes.

And what do you want to bet, that it’s the milk in the lattes that is causing my tummy troubles. I bet it was just waiting for something to set it off, and just the right mix of chemical additives in the cappuccino mix was the final blow it needed. I’ve never been a milk person… I don’t eat a lot of dairy (cheese and ice cream aside, but that’s not every day!) and never use milk on my cereal… so maybe my body is revolting to the recent milk overdoses.

Argh.

Oh! I’ve never reacted badly to Tim Horton’s French Vanilla cappuccino mix. Where there is a will, there is a way.

I have nothing else exciting to report; my week consisted of swimming and work. My weekend will consist of swimming and work. Add the chiro, grocery shopping and housework in there, and STAND BACK, we don’t know how big this is gonna get!!

I saw AH briefly today as he dropped off a movie and returned my cookie tins from the Christmas baking I gave him. When I talked to him earlier, he mentioned that it is tradition to never return tins or containers empty… so his mom put “a little something in there” for me. I got all excited… his mom is always cooking, and usually Middle Eastern food… I bet I’m getting homemade falafels or hummus or something! Yum! When I opened the tin in anticipation, there was a box of Nature Valley trail mix bars inside. I laughed my head off. I don’t know why I found that so funny… I guess I’ve always thought of his mother as some sort of perfect homemaker Goddess who always has homemade everything just laying about, ready to serve the multitude of children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews that come traipsing into her house at any given time. That buying a box of granola bars from the store would be unheard of when you can sow your own oats and tend to the bees out back for honey and make your own from scratch. So this suddenly made her seem more real and human to me. Apparently, his mom was a little upset that AH didn’t give her any notice that he was returning the tins today. Damn him, I bet I WOULD have gotten falafels if he had!! Hehe

Now, when I finish the granola bars, do I have to return the box, filled with something else? Hmmm…

Lynne was looking for volunteers to tag for this Meme. Since I like doing this kind of stuff, I’m just going ahead and taking it!

Four jobs I’ve had in my life:

• Babysitter extraordinaire
• Souvenir sales at the Calgary Stampede
• Sales clerk in a shoe store
• Office Manager/Administrative stuff to death

Four movies I would watch over and over:

• When Harry Met Sally
• Cinema Paradiso
• This is Spinal Tap
• The Sound of Music

Four places I have lived:

• Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Calgary, Alberta
• Toronto, Ontario
• Mississauga, Ontario

Four TV shows I love to watch:

• Sex and the City (Yes, I watch the re-runs over and over!)
• Desperate Housewives
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Medium

Four places I’ve been on vacation:

• New Zealand
• Long Beach, California
• Toronto
• Montreal

Four of my favorite foods:

• Pizza
• Falafels (depends who makes them, though!)
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Dairy Queen soft serve

Four places I’d rather be right now:

• In a mud bath in New Zealand
• At the pub (any pub) watching some good live music and having a beer and a few laughs
• Hanging out with Jason and his family at their house eating dumplings
• Curled up in the arms of The Perfect Man, watching a movie. Or something

Four sites I visit daily:

• Myspace
• There’s quite a few blogs I visit everyday
• Go Fug Yourself
• The PolyForum

Four bloggers I am tagging:

• Lisa
• Michelle
• Emma
• Russ

(I know they read this so they’ll see it, no excuses! Muahahaha!)

Well, my busy week is over, just in time to rest and start another one! I am so happy to be feeling good again that I could just burst. I am really excited about stuff these days (nothing special, just life), and pretty damn happy. It’s so nice to have energy and a positive outlook again, and hopefully this feeling will stay for a good long time.

Part of my happy endorphins may have to do with the fact that I am back into my swimming again, after a bit of a break over surgery and holidays and just plain feeling lousy. I’ve been 3 times this week, and realized I am in DESPERATE need of a new bathing suit. I have never completely worn out a swimsuit before, but this one bit the dust. There is not one ounce of elasticity left in that thing, and I’m afraid it won’t last through even one more wear. So this afternoon’s project is to find a new one pronto because I swim again on Tuesday!

On Thursday night, Michelle and I went to the Ironwood to see Heather Blush. I have heard her name a lot, both because Michelle knows her through work, and because she plays at the Pub I work at a lot. Although since I’m there during the day, I just see her name on the chalk board. So, I finally had the pleasure of seeing/hearing her live, and she was awesome. She has such a cool vibe, great voice, original style, and the eye candy on guitar only added to the experience (HOT! I did need my glasses, dammit!) I’ll definitely be taking in another one of her shows when I can.

Yesterday I took in more music when I met my buddy Aaron at the Ship & Anchor for their open jam. It was being hosted this week by Jenny Allen, whom I absolutely love, and her band members included my old friends Pete and Mel, so it was a fabulous day. Pete turned FORTY last week. What the… how?? We were roommates in our 20’s. And I’ve known Mel even longer. That’s scary.

Aaron is a riot. I had so much fun. So.Much.Fun. I haven’t seen him in 6 months and I told him, “I don’t want it to be that long again, you’re too much fun!” I have had a couple CDs sitting here for him for months but all we ever seem to do is email each other that we’ll “meet up one of these days”. I really, really will not let it go that long again. He knows where I live now, so he is going to have to come over one day so I can see pictures from his trip to India and play him a couple new Lindy songs that I promised I would never let out of my possession. I think it’s okay if I play them here for someone, as long as I don’t actually send them to anyone or burn them. Aaron and I met because of our mutual Lindy love, so I think it’s only right.

The Ship has really good burgers.

Today I learned that there are some conversations you just don’t need to start. On my ride to swimming, we stopped to pick someone up from an apartment building I moved into with my mom when I was 16. That’s 21 years ago, if you suck at math. Since then, the building has become a condo residence for seniors. This woman gets in the car, and I commented “I used to live in this building!” and she asked my why I would ever leave… it’s so hard to get into and such a great place. I said, oh, I was 16 and with my mom. No need to explain that my mom met Bob, they bought a house, etc. etc. but this woman flipped on me – “that’s impossible! 16 year olds can’t live here! It’s seniors only!” and I explained that it was over 20 years ago, back when they were regular rental units. But she would not.let.up. Never mind the fact that at 37 I in no way look like a senior now either. She made my brain spasm. “No, no, no, you couldn’t have lived here at 16, this is a seniors building!” for a good 10 minutes. Ohhh why did I even say anything in the first place!? Damn me and my need to be friendly and make conversation. Heh.

Well, I’m off to find the perfect bathing suit and the perfect Vanilla Bean Half Sweet with Skim latte. Ciao!

I think I may need to file for bankruptcy soon. The cause? This afternoon I asked the Second Cup to make my Vanilla Bean Latte half as sweet as they normally would (I looooove vanilla bean coffee stuffs, but don’t get them very often because they are TOO sweet, even for me). They made it half as sweet as usual, and it was the best EVER. I am about to become a slave to the $5 cup of coffee. I may have spent a fortune on Body Shop lip butters I will no longer buy, but at least I didn’t do that every day. I can’t make any promises with this one.

Oprah is on in the background as I type this (a repeat, so I don’t need to be there watching). It’s a show about looking younger. There is a doctor on right now talking about the healthy fat and healthy flavonoids in dark chocolate. The higher the percentage of cocoa, the better (in other words, not your ordinary milk chocolate). An ounce a day will do ya. The best dark chocolate I have ever had in my life is Green & Black’s Maya Gold (totally organic… it is HEALTH FOOD, people) but it’s not available in Canada. I splurged once to get a box of 10 shipped up to me here a couple years ago and portioned it to last me a long, long time. I may have to do that again one day soon.

Yup, coffee and chocolate shall lead me to the bankruptcy line. But at least I’ll have a smile on my face when I get there!

Speaking of shopping, when I was at the mall today, it was the first time in I-can’t-remember-how-long that I was able to ride my scooter with both eyes open most of the time and not see double. I’m usually the one squinting with my right eye closed. My eye isn’t moving around as badly as it was before, and I attribute that to one of the changes I made in my medication. I’m thrilled to pieces and hope it will improve even more.

Anyone watch the debates last night? Geez. There are several parties to vote for, but we are left thinking our only choices are Liberal or Conservative. It’s like we need to vote against the guy we don’t want in by simply voting for the other one. The lesser of two evils, whichever yours may be. I don’t want either of those men in power and will be voting another way entirely (my party is too small to even get in on the debates, but I continue to hope that they will get a few more votes every time and eventually make it there). Jack Layton is a very well spoken and reasonable man… however, he spends more time talking about what is wrong with the Liberal and Conservative platforms than he does talking about what is right with the NDP’s. I do like him better than the others, though.

OH so sorry, I got all political on you there, and that’s not like me. *Yawn*. I just believe it is important to vote… you can’t bitch if you don’t vote.

To end on a lighter note, I’m waiting to hear if AH went to the Hilary Duff concert last night hahahahaha! He bought tickets to take his 16 year old niece, but then she decided she didn’t want to go. He called me desperately looking for a buyer, but I generally don’t have a supply of 14 year old girls at my disposal. I have a feeling he may have just wasted $120 on that one.

A female singer who is not a waste of money, Serena Ryder, is on E-Talk in a couple minutes so I’m outta here.

I feel the need to update, even though I have nothing particularly exciting to talk about. Lucky you!

I pay into a variety of mutual funds every month. Not much, but a small amount that I hope to be able to increase someday. Yesterday I received a letter telling me that on June 30, 2005 the Ontario Securities Commission approved the plans for the distribution by five mutual fund companies of amounts that those companies agreed to distribute to “affected investors”. There was a lot of other blah blah blah legal babble, with the bottom line being, I am one of these “affected investors” and therefore entitled to a settlement:

(Click picture for full size).

Woo hoo!! Don’t look for me around these parts for awhile, I’m packing for New Zealand.

My new year is off to a slow start, but will be picking up speed very soon. I will be getting out of the house every day for one reason or another this coming week, (starting tomorrow with lunch out and live music, my favourite things!) which I have not done for quite some time. My mind is in a much better state than it was a couple weeks ago, and my body is starting to follow. I’m really excited about some of the things I have planned for myself over the next month. I’ll go into more detail after I have tried them, because you know if they work and help me, I will want to share!

And share I do. I found the most wonderful lip balms. Who needs to spend $8 on a lip butter from the Body Shop when you can spend $1.67 on Labello Active lip balm (mainly for men, apparently) with its cool one handed slide mechanism? I also bought some Labello Pearl & Shine for about $1 more. I’ve never used Labello products before, and I am telling you, my lips have never been softer. This coming from the woman who applies lip butter several times/day. No more, no more!

So I guess I know what I’ll be spending my big cheque on!