Can You Hear Me Now?

HEY! I have a blog! Maybe I should write in it sometime.

Frequent updater or not, I was given an award recently, from Weeble Girl.

The rules of the award are that I am then supposed to pass it on to at least 10 other bloggers that show great attitude or gratitude. Well, that ain’t gonna happen, because I don’t read as many blogs as I used to, and the ones I do don’t exactly fit that description most of the time! I will definitely pass it on to three people:

Maggie

Sylvie

and Sandee.

Those three ladies show amazing courage and gratitude when faced with difficult obstacles, and their positive attitudes are inspiring.

I, on the other hand, am not so sure I deserve such an award at the moment! My attitude has sucked as of late, which is one reason why I haven’t updated. I hate whining in here.

The past month has been a difficult one. I have been quite sick, alternating between diarrhea and constipation and nausea and gas pains and all that stuff. My digestive system is quite upset with me. I started feeling sick on Tuesday, Nov. 4 and by Thursday night the diarrhea hit so bad I had to go to the hospital after 6 hours of making a mess and not being able to control it! I stayed there for about 8 days until I could no longer take it there. Plus test results showed nothing major. So I was home sick for another week, getting sick within hours of putting anything in my mouth. Back in to the hospital the following Saturday, where they just gave me IV fluids and Gravol before sending me home. The conclusion was that I had some sort of “bug” that was taking it’s time leaving. Finally my Chiropractor/Naturopath came home from his holidays and I was able to talk to him. He told me doctors will say it’s some sort of “bug” or virus when they don’t know what else it is. The fact is, my GI tract is not happy with how I’ve been treating it over the years, so it’s fighting back. I’m on homeopathic drops and a strict diet for now (no wheat, dairy, raw veggies, nuts, soy, peas, beans) at least until this improves and my future will need to consist of no (or VERY little) wheat and dairy. I’ve always known that, right? I just never stuck to it for long. I always learn the hard way.

I missed several of my musician friends who passed through town while I was out of commission. Rob Szabo was here on November 7. He was able to come visit me in the hospital on Nov. 12 when he was passing through to go to a house concert (at my friend Kim’s) near Red Deer. Him and Revival Dear came into my room, closed the door (I was in a private room!) and played a couple of songs for me Soooo sweet. Then, Royal Wood was here on the 14th, whom I have never met, but I LOVE him and own all his CDs and was really hoping to see him. Plus, my friend Adam Warner was on tour with him. So, missing them sucked!! Then, Peter Katz was here the weekend I made my second hospital visit. I was home resting on the Sunday, so he popped over before his show for a quick visit, which was super sweet.

Luckily, Rob and Peter tour regularly so hopefully it won’t be long before they are here again.

Being sick and weak with no energy, unable to sleep and a shitty attitude has lead to another major depression for me. I cry at the drop of a hat over everything and nothing. I never go out. I can barely walk, and certainly not up the hall and out the door, so I’ve been home bound, since I can’t set up and operate my wheelchair by myself. And depressed, did I mention that? Both my Home Care Nurse and my doctor have talked to me about going on a type of medication that is part anti-depressant/part sedative, to take at bedtime to help me sleep as well as help the depression. I always fought it off and said “no, I’m not depressed I’m just going through a rough time”. That was months ago. I think I AM depressed now, and still not sleeping well, so when I saw my doctor on Wednesday I asked him about that medication. He wrote a script for one month and then told me to come back and see him to let him know how it’s going before he gave me more. My dad and brother were with me that day and we filled the script that night.

So, right before bed, I take ONE pill. Within half an hour, my left side started jerking uncontrollably, and my right side became COMPLETELY PARALYZED. I mean, completely! I was freaking out. In denial that I could actually be totally paralyzed, I tried to get out of bed. As soon as I tried to stand up, I hit the floor. Did you know that when you are paralyzed, you cannot weight bear? I learned that the hard way. I couldn’t even put weight on my right arm to try and roll myself over. Just… FLOP. I managed to sit up on the floor, and actually tried to get myself up, but obviously that did not work. I guess I was making more noise than I thought (perhaps swearing and HELP! and stuff) because I heard a neighbour outside my door calling to me. I have no idea who it was, but I called out that I had fallen and am disabled and unable to get up. Because I was on the floor near my bed, I could hit the speaker button on my phone and I called my dad. “I fell down!” and he said he’d be right over. All my family has keys to my apartment now, for such exciting occasions.

I guess my neighbour called 911, because suddenly the Police were knocking at my door. I called out that I could not let them in, because I was on the floor, paralyzed and unable to get up. And that my dad was on his way. They asked me if there was someone else they could call with a key that might be faster, and I yelled out the rental office phone number and that there is a manager who lives in the building they may be able to contact. So they did that, as EMS also arrived. So outside my door there were 2 police officers and 4 paramedics. Unreal. I am a BIG DEAL, people.

The resident manager finally unlocked my door, moments before my dad and brother arrived. The 4 paramedics came in and started doing the usual blood pressure/oxygen/temperature/blood sugar etc. as I swore up and down I was fine, it was simply a bad side effect from a new medication and I was sure it would wear off by morning. I did not want to go to the hospital, I just needed help to get up and back in bed. So they did that, and I signed a waiver confirming I didn’t want to go to the hospital. My dad and brother, bless their souls, offered to stay the night just in case the medication didn’t wear off by morning and I needed help.

So, I won’t be taking THAT medication again. The next morning my leg and arm were okay, pretty much back to how they were before, so my dad and brother left to go about their lives. My home care came as usual and an old high school friend came by for coffee. I faxed my doctor a letter teling him what happened, and he faxed me back another prescription for a similar medication at a much lower dose. I filled that later and took one that night. It had absolutely no effect on me, and since I can'’t mix these meds with anything else, I couldn’t even take something else to help me sleep, and literally laid awake all night.

By morning, I had just about had it. I have already lost so much of my abilities over this past year, and then the diarrhea and stuff started, taking every last bit of my strength, energy and Will left in me, and on top of that, I can’t sleep. I’m just a little bit pissed off. I don’t want to go on anti-depressants again, even if this one isn’t an SSRI and apparently not addictive. I just want to sleep and use my chi machine and drink lots of water and eat fairly healthy and get out more/socialize and listen to my Louise Hay CDs and GET BETTER. I think all of that will help more than another anti-depressant, and I do have people in my life offering to help. Two old friends from high school are actually taking me out for shopping and lunch on Friday, and another couple friends are going to arrange times to help me get to the pool and stuff. My friend Andrea even wants to take me out to the Saskatoon Farm for lunch soon! So, decision made. No more new drugs. Back to what I was doing before I got sick a month ago and enough with the shitty attitude. And I’m going to read this book. That doctor was on PBS today and had a lot of great things to say, that pertain to me.

**********************************************

And finally, another Meme-type thing from Maggie.

The rulz:

1. Go to your pictures file.
2. Go to the 4th file.
3. Go to the 4th picture.
4. Post it and tell the story.
5. Tag 4 more people

I know Maggie was hoping for a cute kitty pic, but my cat pictures file is called “Pita and Pepper” and is way further down than 4th. The 4th file is “Donna’s Stuff” and the 4th picture is:

I tore that page out of the Air New Zealand magazine when I was on my way to Auckland in November, 2001. I’ve always enjoyed a bellini, and was quite excited to find out The Hilton in Auckland has an actual bar called The Bellini, where they apparently make the best ones in the world. Well, The Hilton on Prince’s Wharf in Auckland, NZ sells a bellini for $28 (a mini muffin is $8 and I think fries were $15) and it wasn’t even that GOOD! I much prefer the cheaper restaurants here. But the experience was worth it, and we made sure to visit the gorgeous washrooms on the way out and steal a couple of lovely Hilton white face clothes.

As for tagging? If you read this and have a blog, consider yourself tagged

*Sung to the tune of “I’m Sorry” by Brenda Lee.

I have sooooo much to talk about since my last entry. Like, 5 entries worth! But of course I have no time. It’s my 40th birthday and I’ve got lots of plans the next few days!

So, for the time being, here are some cat pictures to tide you over.

Pita caught at the end of a yawn.

Snugglemuffin.

Invisible Teddy Bear

Please vote (5 cheezburgers!) for Pepper’s LOL pic at I Can Has Cheezburger to get her on the main page!! Thanks!!

Mandatory daily stretching exercises

I got myself some hot pink streaks for my birthday. I am 40, after all! Heh

Jason and Sheldon just left. I asked them to try and interpret things for Dietgirl’s Scavenger Hunt, 3rd Installment by me, just because it’s fun. They didn’t think they could do a wedding dress or Greek Yogurt, but here are the others. Videos are short because I started laughing too hard. Photos are blurry from shaking with laughter. Just the usual, when these guys are around…

BICYCLE

BALD MAN

Jason portrays a bald man.

ELVIS

Jason portrays Elvis, alive.

Sheldon portrays Elvis, dead. “Wait! His pants were down!” I am DYING FROM LAUGHTER here…

THE LETTER “D”

THE LETTER “G”

Sigh… I love those guys.

Today, because my vision has not improved (still seeing double - doctors are so helpful when it comes to shit like this, you know? “Well, you have MS” *shoulder shrug* In other words, learn to live with it) and I’ve been feeling rather down about the whole thing, I decided to spend today doing ONLY things that make me happy. That means drinking lattes, reading a good book (with one eye closed… I do need to be grateful that my left eye is normal), listening to music, going to the mall… and you know, making a decision to be happy today brought happiness back to me TENFOLD! When I opened my mailbox, inside was an envelope from “Cooking For You“. I thought… it looks like a Christmas card… I’ve been to their website a few times (drooling and dreaming) but I’m positive I never left any personal information… hmmmm. I open it, and it is… drumroll please… a $350 gift certificate!!! A combined gift from 7 amazing woman, including my good friends Kim and Carolyn, as well as a few woman I haven’t even seen since HIGH SCHOOL, and a couple that I just met up with for coffee recently after not having seen them since HIGH SCHOOL. I guess you could say it was the work of Facebook Elves. Un-fricking-believable. Nancy masterminded the plan, and what a genius plan it was, because that is about the best gift I could ever receive (besides a live-in personal chef… so keep that in mind for next year). Thank you Nancy, Carolyn, Michelle, Stephanie, Lise, Paula and Kim… y’all ROCK.

Earlier, before all the excitement in my mailbox, I went out to the mall. I wanted a) a latte I didn’t have to make myself, and b) to take pictures. I enjoyed putting together my last entry for Dietgirl’s Scavenger Hunt, but I didn’t take any of those pictures myself. Today I thought I’d hit the mall and see if I could fill the requirements of the hunt over there! Here are the results:

BICYCLE

BALD MAN

Everybody’s favourite bald guy, Mr. Clean

ELVIS

2008 Calendars are everywhere!

GREEK YOGURT

I have never seen Greek Yogurt in stores here. So, I took a picture of the yogurt section, and the Greek fast food place in the Food Court!

WEDDING DRESS

Wedding magazines = wedding dresses

THE LETTER “D”

D is for Downy

THE LETTER “G”

G is for Gain. How appropriate for a Dietgirl, huh? Hee

I’m actually expecting my friends Jason and Sheldon to drop by for a bit this afternoon. I may make them pose for Scavenger Hunt photos and create another set, because it’s fun. Jason does a GREAT Elvis impersonation. And this day is all about making me happy! So they must do as I say.

One of my favourite people and bloggers, Shauna a.k.a. Dietgirl, is having a contest (I could win her book! Wahoo! And if when I do, I’m still keeping the one I pre-ordered as my reading/page-folding/highlighting copy) and all we have to do is take some/upload pictures. So, this entry is for Shauna and anyone else interested!

BICYCLE

This is how my old friend Paul does it!

BALD MAN

ELVIS

My friend Janet is Marilyn, and sometimes she hangs out with these guys.

GREEK YOGURT

Changing of the Guards at the Greek Parliament Buildings… and Yogurt.

A WEDDING DRESS

Okay, so, it’s me in a Flower Girl’s dress… but I’m in white, lace, at a wedding AND going down the aisle, and it may be the only time that ever happens.

THE LETTER “D”

THE LETTER “G”

(Please see previous entries for Pay It Forward updates! )

I’ve seen so many of these “day in the life” entries with pictures and I always wanted to do one too, when I got myself a digital camera. So it could be “today” and not “a couple weeks ago, I hope I can remember…”.

So here it goes. LOTS of photos and videos to follow!!

I woke up just before 9:00 a.m. to my phone ringing.

Imagine that phone ringing.

It was AH. “Were you asleep?” “Yes. What’s up?” “Oh… I’m trying to paint my car (he got a little scratch on it the other day). I can’t remember the paint ratio. I thought there might be something on the internet…”

Okay, here’s the thing. AH and I have a balanced relationship in that he helps me out by driving me places, taking me to the bank, dropping movies off for me to watch, and stuff like that, and I help him out with anything that has to do with being good at English. I even make the odd phone call on his behalf, because “you always know what to say”.

I told him to give me a minute and hung up. To be honest, my alarm was set to go off in two minutes anyway because I needed to get up and give myself plenty of time to get ready for a baby shower I was going to. So his wake-up call wasn’t too much of an inconvenience.

I then spent the next 20 minutes on the internet and on the phone with him trying to find the information he wanted.

Help me Google , help help me Google!

I didn’t have much luck, but hopefully he’ll have a flashback and remember that he painted his entire car himself in the first place and should know. “The shop isn’t open today so I can’t ask them.” Yes, I know. Not EVERYONE works 7 days a week.

After that I crawled back into bed for a few minutes, because my body was resisting the rush to “get up and go” I had just forced upon it. So I went back to bed to do the slooowly getting up and stretching routine I usually do. (Yes, I will go back to bed just to get up again properly. Do not judge). While in bed, my kitties joined me to hang out as usual, and I was lucky enough to catch this:

This is the sort of cuteness you can capture when your camera never leaves your hand! (please ignore me and my bedhead in the mirror).

I finally got up and made my way to the kitchen to make a latte.

And I don’t know what went wrong! I had opened a new container of Rice Dream, maybe that was the problem. Bad batch or something? Because I got NO FOAM and the first container I had been using this past week foamed up like mad, it was beautiful. Anyway, I ended up with this:

Which tasted fine, but… you know. Foam. When I was trying to foam the milk, my machine sounded like a cow dying. Maybe I have already broken the machine?

So I had to try again. Cleaned everything, and started over.

Much better.

I sipped my latte while surfing the net and catching up on a few blogs

This is how I know everything that needs to be known by mankind. Who needs “How Stuff Works” or Google News when you’ve got Perez to dish out the real important stuff?

Next up I showered and dressed and got ready to go out for a few hours. The only part of that you get to see is my skin care routine:

Pretty simple stuff.

I can’t forget the gifts:

The bottle of wine is for the Hostess, not the mom-to-be!

Or the food:

At 12:30 I had my coat and shoes on and started waiting for my Access ride. I kept an eye out for the car at my patio windows,

This snow is why Access is so late these days

While Pita kept an eye out for him through my bedroom window:

At 12:49ish I was on my way. The Access driver wouldn’t let me take a picture of him or his van, the party pooper. So I took some out my window.

Wow, a clear road… from traffic wearing it down, or a snow plough? You decide.

Welcome to Alberta!

We stopped to pick up a woman from Church first, then I was dropped off.

How many baby showers have you been to at a bar? Hehe.

Christine (who owns the Pub with her hubby) was going to host it at her house, but decided at the last minute to switch it to the Pub because it’s bigger. And closed on Sundays, so it would be private. Dez, a long-time waitress at the Pub, is the one having the baby.

NOT your typical Mother.

I had to get a picture of Dez’s boots. Again, not your typical Mother.

How many baby showers have you been to with live music? The Pub’s main bartender, Jen, on the right, sings some tunes. I don’t know the guys she was playing with.

Christine signs the card on my behalf, after I attempted my left-handed signature.

Present opening time!

The main gift that we all pitched in for was a bassinet. No picture because she was too close to me to get a good one.

The shower went until 4:00, and of course my ride was late picking me up, but by 4:30 I was on my way home. I was in the back seat this time.

Friday’s paper was still in the back. If I was Anna Nicole, I’d be mighty upset to see my name anywhere near a picture of Karla Homolka.

When I got home, I adjusted my camera back to a normal setting after having it on a non-conspicuous “available light” setting in the cab. As I passed the “self-portrait” setting, I wondered, how does this work?

Then I grabbed a bottle of water from my stash

I prefer room temperature water these days

and headed into my office to check messages and emails. I wish I could play you the message that was in my voice mail, but since it involves full names and a phone number I cannot. Anyway, it was that Brenda lady, calling me because “my phone has been cut off, my utilities, everything… I’m just using this phone I have use of on the weekends… I need the phone number for AISH, I can’t find it anywhere. When you get home can you call me with it? This number is 543… no, 435-6759*… no, 435-6597… no, wait a minute… oh, it’s 543-6597… no, wait, 9767? Oh wait, hang on… okay, it’s 543-6759. Yes, 453-uh, 543-6749. 59. 543-6759. Thanks”.

*All numbers have been changed!

I am a mean and horrible person, because I didn’t call her back right away. I decided to work on transferring pictures and uploading video and writing this entry for awhile. It’s not like she can call AISH on a Sunday, anyway. Then I forgot, because I received a phone call from a woman who has a mobile pet grooming business, and yakked with her forever. I helped this woman with her business plan 7 years ago. She’s doing great, but she doesn’t do anything with cats. I need someone to come over and help me clip their claws… I just can’t do it on my own with only one strong hand, and I’m getting a little tired of this:

Leave them at home alone as kittens for 9 weeks while you are in the hospital, and any chance of training them NOT to do this is shot. And no, I will not get them de-clawed, never ever ever ever.

She said she’d call around and see if she can find someone who works with cats, and she also might hire me to do her bookkeeping from now on.

I also want to get soft paws, but I’ll need help putting those on as well. So having someone I can call that is good with the whole pet-grooming thing would be good.

I worked on this here entry until almost 7:00. Then I decided I needed to eat something. It was going to be pretty simple, because that’s how I roll most of the time. Lucky for me, mom came by yesterday and left this in my fridge:

Beef, vegetables and mashed potatoes… yum!

I heated up my Shepherd’s pie and watched Love Monkey. I love that show. When that was over, I came back in here and finished this up.

Which is where I am at now. This took me forever!! At 10:00 I’ll be watching Desperate Housewives, and then I’ll be heading here:

Thanks for hanging out with me today. Good night!

Taking a break from family updates, (I’ll be shopping a bit more later tonight), I’m doing this MeMe that is circling around the internet.

I think I’ve added to this thing about 6 times since I first posted it. I need to stop picking at it!!

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
Invite a musician I only knew from MySpace to spend a couple days at my place when he was coming through Calgary in June. Smartest thing I think I’ve ever done.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t think I actually made any, although I probably started the year promising myself I’d stick to a healthy diet and exercise, and then not do it. I’ll have to check my archives lol. I’m definitely not making any for 2007, I’m just going to do my best.

Update later - Oh! I remember now, my resolution for 2006 was to keep a Daily Gratitude journal. I kept it up pretty good for awhile there, but recently got bored with it… I may give it another go at some point, but I didn’t notice anything life-changing about it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin, a client’s wife, an old friend (in her car! On the side of the road!), and Angelina Jolie.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
I didn’t leave the country.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More money/less debt, and better health!

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 29, the day I brought Pita and Pepper home!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I did a lot of things I’m proud of, come to think of it… but cutting out wheat, dairy and refined sugar since Nov. 18 is definitely one of the biggest. Taking a trip to Montreal only a month after all my hospital stuff was quite an achievement as well.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not committing to and doing daily exercises that will only HELP ME.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Uh… yeah!! I’d say so. Breaking my (good) wrist June 9, the subsequent 7 week stay in a care facility, only to come out and go back to the hospital to have my gall bladder removed, and due to MS-related complications not come home for another 2 weeks. 9 weeks of not walking/moving much really compromised my mobility, and I’m still trying to get it back to at least the way it was. It’s been a rough year in that regard.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
T-shirt sheets. Ticket to Montreal. And all the things I’m buying now for the Pay it Forward Family.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My mom’s. With everything I was going through over the summer, as my mother she feels it worse than me I think. But she only showed me strength and positivity, and never complained when I needed help doing everything from wiping my butt to feeding myself. (I guess that doesn’t really go in the same sentence. Oh well).

Also, all the friends who visited me in the hospital and took care of my cats for me. All the running around Shawna did for me when she was here. And, I can’t forget Rob, particularly when he happened to be here and stayed with me for a couple days after I got home from the hospital.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People that were supposed to meet me places or made other plans with me, and never showed up or called or anything. Grrrrr!!!!

14. Where did most of your money go?
RENT. Up to $925 now and my AISH disability support is $1,000. The extra I make bookkeeping went to bills, food, and lattes. And a little trip to Montreal.

15.What made you really really really excited?
Getting my kittens!!!! And going to Montreal!!

16.What song will forever remind you of 2006?
Lindy’s version of “Fast Car” live at the Yellow Door in Montreal.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? Hmmm… a little happier I think, thanks to the great friends I have and made. b) thinner or fatter? Fatter. c) richer or poorer? A little poorer, but pretty much the same. Just more debt!

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercising, meditating

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At my mom’s! I’ve given her recipes for wheat free etc. baking so we can have some goodies. No cheese ball (my mom makes the BEST cheese balls), shortbread or chocolate for me this year. Wah!!

21. How will you be spending New Year’s?
I’d like to go to the Pub’s NYE bash because I really like the band playing, but with the shortage of cabs in this city right now, and NYE is bad enough without that added problem, I’d never get home. I’ll probably just stay in like I did last year, unless AH can come get me.

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?
Madly, with Pita and Pepper.

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What were your favorite TV programs?
The Office, Scrubs, Desperate Housewives, Corner Gas, Arrested Development (I watched the DVDs)

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don’t believe so, no.

26. What was the best book you read?
I have sooooooooo many books that I haven’t read yet and I rarely seem to get through any, I’m so bad with the reading… maybe that will be my new year’s resolution. Less time at the computeer, more time reading! Anyway, my favourite that I actually read all the way through was You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs (which I won through Robyn’s Giveaways. Yay!)

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
ROB SZABO. Well, actually, I believe I discovered him in late 2005 but didn’t see/meet him and truly appreciate his greatness until 2006. So I’m sticking with that.

28. What did you want and get?
Kittens!

29. What did you want and not get?
Zero balance on my credit cards, a slim and fit body, an amazing boyfriend. There is always next year.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I didn’t actually go to a movie theatre ONCE. I haven’t seen any recent movies. I did, however, buy What is Indie and that is really good.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 38. I got my kitties and went out for dinner with my birthday partner AH.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Winning the lottery. And if AH hadn’t taken his wife back. There, I said it.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Easy to pull on elastic waist pants and baggy shirts. Between broken bones and stuff, dressing has not been the easiest thing, so Keep It Simple Stupid was my 2006 fashion concept. You’re Welcome.

34. What kept you sane?
My cats, my mom, Emma, Rob, AH and other friends. In the Care Facility, my room mate the last couple weeks, and the night nurse Karen.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny Depp, always and forever

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
The war in Iraq and Gay Marriage. I’m against the first and pro the second, FYI.

37. Who did you miss?
Rob. Emma. Lobelia. Shawna. My kitties when I was in the hospital. Jason and Sheldon who were on the road so much. Some friends around here I don’t get to see much, like Lisa and Kim.

38. Who was the best new person(s) you met?
Rob and Lobelia!

38. Side question…who would you like to get to know better?
Too many people to list.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Getting old is not for sissies. Take care of yourself and your health. I spent 7 weeks with a lot of old people who hadn’t, and it was NOT pretty.

40. Favorite Memory of 2006?
I need more than one. Everything to do with Pita and Pepper, Rob, and my trip to Montreal!

Yes, my little babies, you totally made my year.

As did Monsieur Szabo.

I came across this MySpace profile because he hotlinked to a picture of Calgary I have in my blog. Of course, now he hotlinks to this, but whatever.

Anyway, I think it’s worth a laugh. I don’t generally make fun of people, but… he’s just asking for it in my books. Don’t you agree?

I sort of lied when I said I would start shopping for the family on Wednesday. I did not realize that it takes PayPal a few days to transfer funds into your bank account. Oops! I want to get another $40 or so in there before I transfer it anyway, so that it’s a free transfer. So whatcha waiting for??

I did do a bit of shopping today with my own money anyway, and I expect to have more by the weekend to continue. Today I went to Winners and picked up a few things for the girls:

• 6 year old girl - pink sweater, Bratz Sportz doll, a big box of 5,700 cute stickers (yes, fifty-seven hundred! And they’re so cute!)
• 10 year old girl - pink sweater/hoodie, a craft kit with beads and flowers to make rings and bracelets, and a porcelain tea set.

That all cost $57.19. I’m a good shopper. I want to get lots for the kids first (eeeee! Shopping for little girls is so fun!), although I saw a great make-up kit recently that I’ll get the mom if there are any left. Although I don’t know her skin tone or colour, so that part could be tricky.

I actually really want to shop for the mom because I could go NUTS with that. A 30 year old woman that doesn’t have everything? Sooooo easy to buy for. Got that, men who are with 30 year old women and don’t know what to buy them?? Email me, I’ll tell you.

Oh, here’s a good one for me!!

Today my friend Kim came in to town from Red Deer to get her passport. After spending her morning waiting around the Government offices to get that done, she came by. She gave me a Christmas present, and yes, I opened it because I like opening them with the person who gave it to me, and it was a framed picture of a sunflower field!! Oh, and she got me a Hummingbird, as mentioned in these comments. Not a sex toy, people. My gift for Kim is in the mail. When I orderd two (one for me) they only sent one, so the other isn’t here yet (and I didn’t know when I was seeing Kim, otherwise I would have saved mine for her). But I showed her what I got her anyway, and no she can’t have mine, because it’s a book and I started reading it and folding over pages and everything.

Then we went for lunch. I have been craving Vietnamese food, because I love it and also because there are rice noodles involved and I can HAVE THOSE, and it has been ages since I’ve been to my favourite place where I order “#50, satay”. So we did that, thankyoukim. Then we hit a bank machine so I could deposit a cheque and go shopping. We went to Winners and shopped, and then to Second Cup for lattes, and now I’m home. I need to head out again because I want to pick up that make up kit before they’re sold out, and I need transit tickets before I go out tomorrow.

Sorry, no cat pictures today! I’m all out, and was waiting for the cheque I got today to buy more film, but I’m not sure I can now because I’d rather Family Shop hehe. I still need to get myself a digital camera I can use with one hand, the left one. If I had one I would take pictures of the goodies I’m buying for the family and upload them every day! Argh! That would be great. I will, however, take pictures and upload them another day, the old fashioned way.

Anyway, more Family Updates to follow! Keep the contributions coming, I want to spend your money!

Oh, and props to Robyn for sending tons of traffic my way!

Another update on my lying, 8:00 pm: I just got back from shopping a bit for the Mom and Dad. I bought a make-up kit for mom (lots of lipsticks, lip glosses, eye shadows, blushes, nail polishes) and a full make-up brush set. For dad, 5 pairs of socks (beige, navy, black) and a dark blue sort of cordury buttoned shirt. Total cost, $52.89. That means I spent about $110 today. Not bad, and something for everyone. We’ve only just begun!

Oh, oh, oh, and GUESS what happened to me on my way home?? Here I am, doing a good deed, shopping for a needy family. And how does Karma kick me in the ass?? My scooter died in the middle of the parking lot. Seriously. Just… stopped. I had to push it home, which was not fun or easy. The battery has been acting a little freaky on me lately, so I guess it was coming. But after talking to my Stepdad he seems to think the battery may just be loose, so hopefully my brother can take a look at it when he comes by this week. I shall prevail!! You cannot keep me from shopping!!