Saturday Night

Well, here I sit wondering what people are doing on a Saturday night. There was a time when I was studying nursing and all the girls in the dorm kept playing the Saturday Night Fever album. An album, can you remember those? Never had the 3 Gibb brothers put so many women to shame with their glorious, flowing hair. All of them sopranos. Who could sing that high?


As for my Saturday night - I'm doing laundry. It's now or never.

I'm trying to decide what sort of art project I should be working on. I said at the last Holly Jolly Christmas sale that I'd never make another fabric box. I was beyond saturated. And guess what I started to do. The dreaded fabric box. I'm not really into it because my collage choices are ugly and I'm not sure whether I should toss it or just keep going. I'm at the attaching the lining phase. All aspects of this work is very labour intensive. I shall probably keep going or just stuff it all into a plastic bag and start on something else. Nothing like leaving things unfinished to ensure that they will never be finished.

I see that Carmi has achieved a complete success in the weight loss pledge. I've had a dreadful week of eating rice crispie squares, real fruit gummies with real sugar, mocha almond fudge ice cream and I'm sure there are several other choice snacks that I've forgotten about. I deserve to gain weight with this behaviour. Funny thing is I had no idea that I was doing this until I looked down and saw the bags. Amnesia? Denial? Morphing into a piglet? Oh well, Monday is weigh in. Funny thing is, I have my cats on a diet and they're not doing too well either. The whining gets to me and so I give in and add the crunchy stuff to their bowls (this is pure carbs. Cats are better off eating wet food (grain free) to loose weight). So all three of us are sporting jaunty little bellies.

Please help me I'm falling...

I can't believe how much time it's been since posting. Even doing nothing adds up. I had a really mean fall on the sidewalk while walking to the gym on Tuesday. I seem to average a fall of once a month. Last month I fell while exiting the bus by the rear door and into an ice drift. I can't believe that in the line up to get on the bus, not a person saw me. They all wanted to secure an empty seat. I kept trying to get up and kept slipping away from the sidewalk. Then the bus engine started and I was right in the line of the rear wheels which instilled enough terror in me that I managed to roll away into the snow/ice drift.

This time I seemed to have been launched into space and landed on both knees and then to slide forward on my face. My glasses are ruined, I had a good gash beside my eye and nose - good visual effect of bleeding unbeknownst to me. I think I broke a tooth because of the gritty feeling inside my mouth but I couldn't identify which tooth. I noticed that I didn't have my shoes on. Sure enough, my trustworthy Danskos had indeed launched me (Dansko makes the best clogs that are totally comfortable and great for walking - now I can add great for falling- They were about 4 feet away from me and I had to crawl over to get them. Several people passed by me and didn't offer to lend a hand. I did manage to get up on my own by some miracle. This fall is beyond me since there was no snow or ice at this point on the roads or sidewalks. I'm now terrified to go outside especially since the snow and ice started started again on Wednesday. Looks nice out - depends on the wind. Maybe I will go out for my usual summer walk, this time wearing boots.

Death of an Ipod

Yesterday morning I went to disconnect my Ipod from the charger. It was completely dead - no turning it on or off, no CPR. I thought they were indestructible. I started to panic since I've spent the last 2 and a half years hiding behind a personal space that only the Ipod could furnish. It provided a beat for walking, some mellow tunes while sipping a Starbucks, day dreamy imaginings that I am actually singing the songs. In other words, I had to get another one RIGHT AWAY! The Future Shop was having a great sale (at least $100 less than I paid for the first one). So, I bought one and once I got home I struggled for hours to get the music from my on line library into the Ipod to no avail and that includes following the 'Help' directions that didn't seem to apply to my device. Maybe it's too new. I was going to throw in the towel until I decided to drag the 'Music' into the image for the 'device' and, dammit, it worked. So now I can take my stroll while listening to tunes. Yay!

Also went to the orchid show at Edwards Gardens. Last year it was so bitter cold
(-30C)and my dad managed to lock the keys in the car. We took an extra effort to make sure that he had the keys on him. There were so many people milling about that it was difficult to photograph anything. It was the first time I really used my camera and I had to throw out most of the pics because the lighting was bad or the images out of focus. Let's see if I can find a good one.

Happy Valentine's Day

To all of those who have a sweetheart, may you celebrate your union in style. For those of us who are not in a relationship, embrace your pets (not really possible with an aquarium full of fish), maybe have some chocolate (unless you're on the 10lb weight loss pledge),watch a movie and rest assured that it will all be over by midnight.

Australian bushfire survivor

In the face of so much tragedy from the Australian bushfires, a small, tender moment is captured on film. A fire fighter discovered a baby koala who calmly sat down, waiting for help. He fed her 2 bottles of spring water to rehydrate her. And she didn't shy away from holding her rescuer's hand. Although it's not apparent from the video, the evening news had reported that Sam, the baby female, was taken to a wildlife rescue and that she'd been paired with Bob, a male koala who also survived the fires.

Nora the musical cat

It was a lovely spring-like day today and one that beckoned me to the the pet food store at Bayview Village. But it started raining and was windy as hell and my umbrella turned inside out about a thousand times. No, I'm not exagerating. Now I feel so frustrated. Maybe I should do some laundry. So I turned on the tv to fill up the void in the background - the Animal Planet. Some scientists were analyzing why Nora loves to play the piano. The researcher postulates that Nora is trying to cover up her owner's voice which is reminiscent of the koochie koo, high pitched nonsense. Apparently babies and animals hate that kind of voice and just want a normal speaking voice.

And Sharon tries to cook

So last night I attempted to boil up squash. I've done it a million times - bring water to a boil and then lower the temperature for cooking. I forgot all about the squash until I smelled the unmistaken aroma of burnt stainless steel. I got involved with the computer and, sure enough, the water boiled off and what was left were big blobs of charred something or other. I've been scrubbing for a day to no avail. I think I shall have to toss this pot but it happens to be my favourite. I had to throw out the steamer basket because it was too far gone to save. Because there was so much smoke, I had all the fans on and the balcony door open. Meanwhile, I was terrified that the smoke alarm would go off and the fire trucks would arrive with hatchets, scuba tanks and hard hats. So I stood under the alarm and waved a piece of cardboard back and forth for a good half hour.
Disaster number 2 - a failed attempt at pouring resin. At Carmi's suggestion, I coated all the images with ModPodge (sp)and then proceded to pour the resin. The images all turned dark and muddy. So, in attempt to salvage my little frames, I am started to removed the images. With a steak knife. Very dangerous and very difficult to release the resin from the frame. I'm thinking: I'm about to filet my finger. I've done that before but at least it was trying to open a champagne bottle. Can't get stitches for filet-ing. I think you would need a slicing action.
The final aggravation came when trying to put together a copper necklace. I couldn't figure out the wiring. And I tried about 7 or 8 times. Waaaaah. I packed it up and I'm moving on to something else. A fabric box. I hope this will go smoothly but I'm not about to bet on it.

In search of the perfect drill

Those in the knowing are aware of my issues with drilling. When it was 'fashionable' a few years ago to have drilling equipment, I bought a dremel. My first experience with this device was to start a fire while using it on a wooden house from the dollar store. Then I tried to drill a hole in metal and I let go of the metal plate out of sheer terror at the first start of the 3500 rpm (slow) speed. Or was it 35,000... This is stupid of course because I'm so much bigger than the drill (this is the fear of insects analogy courtesy of my father). Then recently I found what looked like a suitable device on ebay - a Toronto Police auction. This thing weighed so much that I could barely lift it. But it was at least slower of revoluti0ns. This was referred to as a screwdriver. I imagine that if it's a screwdriver it should also be a drill but there were no drill bits, just screwdriver heads. A couple of days ago I received a newsletter from Lee Valley offering a lightweight screw driver with about 15 screw driver heads but also 2 drilling heads. It's as light as a feather and operates at 250 rpm. I tried drilling a metal plate and it worked. The only negative is that it takes forever to plow through and uses up a full charge and must be recharged. (It's a cordless). It even comes with a holster so you can dress up as a cowboy and play the 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'. Quick, get me a cigarillo.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=oEvLE89LoyA

Another bird video

I know that some will find my obsession with the animals boardering on obnoxious. Never mind. I know Susan will like this.
Who knows what these 2 are saying to each other. I hear a lot of 'koochie koos' and kissing.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=uYgC1bN02MI

What would you say to your younger self

This post is inspired by Irene. Oh boy, this is tough. It seems that I spent my entire youth wandering around, looking for some sort of meaning in life. Took comparative religion at university and this did not speak to me at all. Tried to be a hippy but I was too conservative for that.
Instead of the dreaded baby oil for sun tanning, we used to venture out in the snow filled backyards of Ottawa with cardboard covered in tin foil from my father's professionally laundered shirts. A great burn. Instead of moisturizing all these years, I should have saved the money to have a face lift. Particularly now when moisturizer is so expensive.
Be very careful what you wish for and include all related clauses that could potentially cause you grief.
Should have learned to swim, to drive.
I'm sure that's enough for now.