True Blue

Good: As of today, the days will be getting longer. I hadn't even noticed the vast psychological difference between this year and last year - leaving for work at 7:45 in the morning versus 6:45 in morning is the difference between daylight and none. I was so itchy for the solstice last year because leaving for work in the dark and returning home in the dark was oppressive. More reasons why a ten-minute commute and sane employers are lovely.

Also, the Polish police found the sign.

Bad: My Christmas presents for my family aren't finished yet and the one present I purchased hasn't arrived in the mail. My lab book is way behind. The report I was supposed to submit on Friday is late because of it. My experiments still aren't working. I am getting my teeth cleaned on Dec.23rd at 8:30 in the morning. But at least I have insurance (that apparently only becomes active six months into my new job..ie Feb.1st...ugh...fuzzy teeth).

Oh, and I forgot how lovely this score is:

(shh) shoo shoo caribou...

...the ball is always in your court. So busy I stayed - insulating the in-laws place with loose fill fibre insulation (ack in my ears/lungs/nose/heart). Re-watched Fellowship of the Ring, drank some organic honeybrew beer, bought a book. That was Saturday.

Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned on Sunday. Behind the moveable kitchen counter. Behind the toilet. Around the cat dish (raw food = big job). Re-arranged the corkboard contents, swept the dresser tops, threw away the bits & pieces of life (old receipts, old business cards, old mail). Fed the plants. Cooked ribs, some squash soup, some tuna cakes with salad. Cut carrot and apples from the yard. Made some soppy apple crisp, had a bath, did the dishes. Started another pair of socks.

Wondered when I would learn the skills to make these nifty things:
1. mosaic tiled tree, hopefully on the bathroom floor.

2. metal work staircases. To where, I don't know.


3. stained glass windows. Whimsy via sunlight.

4. compass rose in wood. Smack in the hallway, so one can always find their way back.



I think I'm getting the itch to travel. Make good use of that intended compass rose.

It has been a constant dance party in my head these past few days. I like it when the students leave.

Handmade harnesses of biological proportions

This is what Venutians wear to formal parties.

Oy.

This song is lovely.

Teehee.

Lost and Found

My mom asked me if I had plans to go to Hometown anytime soon. The implication is that I haven't been down to visit often, which is true. I visited more often when I lived in the big city 3 hours away compared to now, only a 40 minute jaunt. But I had to apologize and explain that "I love being home. It is difficult to leave". What a priviledge! (And it goes without saying she has visited me more often in the last two months than she did combined when we were in the city. It isn't just me who enjoys breathing Bay air). Over the past month we've hosted a Halloween party, acquired a second-hand washing machine/dryer/dishwasher/bread machine/deep freeze, rescued a sad looking but adorable barn kitten (then found him a home!), planted garlic, tried (and failed) to dry batches of cranberries from the field, and I've re-acquainted myself with proper food.

The last one is a biggie.

In the rush to build, stage and sell a house in a year I completely lost my focus on proper food. I was eating bags of chips from the vending machine for lunch and BigMacs for supper. I was unabashed about it too - I seriously had no energy left to make menus, do the shopping and cook everyday. We were lucky when we could get home before 8 pm most days (on the days we weren't feverishly varnishing/hanging/cleaning). Two things changed when we moved to the village - 1. there is no vending machine or coffee shop in my building or anywhere near me on campus. As such, in order to acquire a snack, it is a 5 minute walk into town. The health food shop (selling dried fruit, vegan muffins and almond milk) is closer than the grocery store or junk-food selling stores. And more importantly: 2. our friends here are heavily vested in the local food movement. Our current house guest is studying for her LSATs but tended the community garden over the summer. Another good friend heads the local organic farmers organization. They drool over our fertile land and compel us to use it to grow bountiful harvests of proper food. I have learned ways to use locally sourced foods in recipes, tried out herbs and spices I had never cooked with before, and now take time in preparing meals. It isn't completely fool-proof, as we do find ourselves at fast food places as "a treat". But overall the change is being integrated into out daily lives in a way that makes me very happy.

Well. It seems my blog died sometime in October. Coincidentally when we moved into our house. I think they are related, but maybe not. It doesn't much matter. I'll update again someday. For now I'll stick to the silent kind of navel-gazing, learning how to knit socks and solidifying new friendships. And worshipping Rose Cousins.

I keep running around in circles. 'Till I stop:

The definition of "borrow"

On Monday, on a day I suspect was fraught with nervous first-time mid-term writings all over the building, a random guy stuck his head in my lab.

Him: "excuse me Miss, may I borrow a pencil?"
Me: "Sorry? A pencil?"
Him: "Yes, a pencil."
Me: hands him my only pencil, kept very sharp and ready-for-use, thinking he was going to write something down, then immediately pass it back.
Him: "Thank you". Proceeds to leave, never to be seen again.

I hope he accidentally skips one question on his bubble sheet answer form, making all answers off.

Harvest Time

This weekend was very productive. Wonderful music, friends & food.

1 SPCA doggie vetted for adoption
2 whole chickens cooked and soup stock made
3 friends visited to help roof
4 hours driving to Old Hometown for a concert, the market and some sushi
5 L of berries picked by the ocean

I slept like a log last night for the first time in three weeks.

Success on a Friday Afternoon:

Is finding one brilliant program to handle all the data you struggled for several hours on Thursday evening to amalgamate using four piss-poor programs/demos.

Also, getting a first author paper accepted for publication pending very minor reviews, and hearing a wholly positive update on that failed project and its chances for future publication.

AND getting a shipment notification saying my new eyeglasses are on their way. 2 pairs. Snazzy.

Proof the "recession money" has filtered down to us pleebs working at the university: Quilted, double ply TP in the washrooms. I'm not even joking.

welcome welcome

Since the students arrived on Thursday of the last week, I've had multiple queries for directions. I've started to keep track on the blackboard: 23 students. That includes the one who was looking for my boss but couldn't remember her name ("uhh...could you help me find, uh...Mc..Ca...I don't remember her name. But she's the biochemistry professor...?") and the one with wide-eyes that asked me where "Intro to English - I can't remember the class number" was. I asked her what room it was in, but she just stared. Deer in headlights. I may have seen the beginning of a quivering lip. So I lead her to my computer, where she was able to check her class schedule on line, tell me which room it was and get on her way.

There are only ~2300 students at the school. That means about 1% of the student population has asked me where their class is this week.

Thats why they pay me the big bucks.

yesterday I spent an entire months paycheck on roofing supplies, and then found a mouse eating my left-overs at the temporary dining area we set up in the house. At least he was cute.

The music gods, they love me.

Proof #1: this weekend, Hey Rosetta plays a free show.

Proof #2: next week Hawksley Workman with Jenn Grant opening (!)

Proof #3: just heard on the radio today that in December, Mother Mother opens for Matt Good (!!).

Thankyouthabkyouthankyouthankyou.

Feminity in a dress

New York Fashion Week, Jill Stuart collection.

What. The. Fuck. ?



All of them look like this. What is the world trying to tell me here? That I must not worry about those ten pounds I've re-acquired? Gah. Puke. Gross.

Aspirations

Me: Guilty of online shopping while at work.

Smart Set: Guilty of picking the most BORING person ever for a pick-a-reader-"IT"-girl-makeover contest that I didn't know was happening until I got to their homepage.



If I ever start bleaching my hair, publicly announcing my love for Jennifer Aniston without sarcasm and sprouting made-up words like "resto-bar", come over here and hit me. Bitch please, the best thing about LIFE is undoubtedly fishnet stockings. Glad to know the store where I buy my clothes has their target-market so down-pat. *eyeroll*

By the Belt

Today I put feathers in my hair and shivered in the sun. I dug out four splinters from the palm of my right hand, lodged there since yesterday's roof stripping session where I removed old cedar shingles from a formidably slanted roof (13/12 if anyone is keeping track). I like suspended disbelief, and would rather be spending my day in bed. My lab book is two weeks behind, my pay sheet only one. I've booked my trip to San Diego for October, and decided my teeth were yellowing unflatteringly. Found out the Hey Rosetta show on Friday is free, and ate an entire bag of Rice Crisps. So it goes, this Monday afternoon.

weekend warrior and waning enthusiasms

The long weekend got off to a great start: we hosted a BBQ for colleagues, family and friends. I was nervous about the odd mismatch of guests. But the mosquitoes targeted everyone equally and thus all was well. The bonfire stayed lit until 2 am, when we stumbled to our tent (set up in the front yard). I had lovely dreams starring a dashing Don Draper - must have been the wine. But as the last of the summer sun beat down on us this weekend, it got more and more difficult to cross off the list of things we wanted to do: strip the vinyl cladding around the foundation of the house, remove the remnant linoleum in the upstairs bedrooms and remove shingles. We realized it was so lovely there that all we wanted to do was "hang out". So that's what we did: as of now, I have neither the available funds or burning desire to work ourselves as hard as we did last time around. Take it easy, we have forever. I'll be bitching and complaining come February and we still don't have appliances, but for right now sleeping on the bare floor in sleeping bags and hunting mushrooms in the forest is way more fun.

Aside: classes have started. I've given directions to 7 students in the last two days (keeping score on the blackboard in my lab). Last night, I dreamt of returning to class, arriving at the right classroom at the wrong time. The teacher singled me out, pointed out I was daft for arriving ten minutes early and asked me if I could tell time. Instead of being embarrassed, I was pissed, and didn't go anywhere. Wonder what that means.

PS: A nosy neighbour called the cops regarding an "empty vehicle left at a vacant lot". Too bad it was our extra car in our driveway. I called the selling agent to not-so-politely inform her the two-week old realty sign left out at the end of the road (sans SOLD! sign) was leading to confusion among our neighbours. It was gone later that day.

Sex sells

Even mini-prep kits, apparently:

all scientists look just like this.

(For the full effect, flip through all three pictures.)

As per request

We spent the weekend ripping up old linoleum and carpet from the house. The unfinished softwood floorboards in the living room allow a peak into the basement on the particularly spread out beams. No wonder it costs an arm and a leg to heat in the winter. We priced out shingles for the 2600 sq. ft roof ($2500 materials) and metal roofing ($9500 materials). I hate asphalt shingles, with their crapy lifespan (especially here by the water and heavy wind) and non-environmentally conscious production but I don't think we could afford metal. Sigh.

Since my camera met its demise in Ireland, I have gone without. But I wanted to document the "before", "during" and "after" renovations so I picked up the cheapest digital camera I could on Saturday : a no-name $39 jobby and started snapping away. There is no hand-steadying opton nor flash, so apologies if these are blurry.
A documentation of our decrepit "mansion":

The front (a reminder):


Circular driveway leading to the road and the Bay


View of the house from one end of the driveway


View of the barn from the road

The neighbours. heehee. (Our house is on the right, with realtor sign still up)

View of the Bay from the road (and the front step, though obscured by trees)




The front entry, complete with ornate carpet, exposed ducting and hardwood.


The trash left behind in the front den + gross carpet.



The dart board in the back den (?!?)


The dining room (our pizza), where we tore apart the built-in looking for old treasures. All we found were tacky vinyl placemats with Christmas kittens on them (pictured left corner).


View of the pantry off the kitchen.


Storage behind the kitchen



View from the front porch, out to the barn.

Stairwell to upstairs.

Top of the stairs, looking down the hall.


Nice furniture left behind :)

View from the little room with dresser drawers out onto the barn and driveway.


Second bedroom, sunny window, hardwood floors in decent shape.

Third bedroom, sunny window, vinyl floor in gross shape.

Fourth bedroom with okay hardwood. Pictured through the doorway is one of three large closets, all exterior to the bedrooms.

The tiny room with a balcony, separating the bathroom from the stairwell landing. It will be the upstairs bathroom and laundry once we are done renovating.

View from the balcony, side garden (that is no more, but will be once again) next to the rabbit house (cute rabbits all the time hanging out around here) and the white picket fence (hahaha!!)

Into the dark bathroom (only one in the house). My least favorite place in the house. It does have a nice claw-foot tub though.

Close-up of the outside of the barn. The inside was too dark to photograph, unfortunately.

>

Something Happened...

...when I got a real job. I work the same amount as I did in grad school, but now I feel guilty when I blog at work. And my personal computer (which I use at the apartment to steal wireless internet) has been held hostage by BigBox Store for repair (today ends week 3). Before I was stealing from a big, nebulous funding agency when I goofed at work. Now I'm stealing from my bosses. My feelings are stupid, because I:
1. Still surf as much inane internet content as before
2. Don't log all my hours in an attempt to make up for my non-productiveness.

Bad cycle. Made worse by the weird exception I've made in my head about blogging.

On the other hand, it seems it was only this past Monday where I was able to catch my breath a little. I had traveled to multiple out-of-province conferences and meetings that kept me running, and wore myself out teaching little (and big) kids at two different science outreach camps. I became much more self-reliant at work, and found an increase in requests as a result. Everything culminated in a wedding she-bang for a good friend of mine this past weekend. I was the de-facto wedding-day organizer, stepping in for the bride (as she rushed around town getting hair/nails/pictures done) troubleshooting the flower arrangements, seating, decorations and food preparation. Then I MC'd her reception and made sure nothing went terribly awry during the celebrations. We managed to beat the hurricane headed up the coast by a measly 12 hours- but that was good enough. The 2:30 wedding rehearsal on Friday lead to a fun session of go-carting, lead directly to a massive (and delicious) family BBQ, that lead to staying overnight in her bridal suite (where Queen Elizabeth stayed the year of my birth!), that lead to rushing around in preparation for her afternoon wedding, that then lead into her evening reception meal and finally to an outdoor party where we drank until the wee hours and passed out in a tent. (A soggy tent by the morning).

I woke up on Monday with precious little to do. The wedding was over, the requests from the bosses had been fulfilled in the lab, the house buying ordeal was moving forward and the apartment was clean.

So I rented Season I of Mad Men.

I also borrowed ThisOldHouse magazines from the library. I keep day-dreaming about houses that look like these (which looks just like ours if our front porches were not enclosed):



And of course, thinking how much it will cost. Sigh.

Hubby and I have already narrowed down the style and colour of the new roof, the exact colour of the exterior paint and the types of windows we prefer. So far, the planning has been conflict-free.


Tomorrow morning we do our walk-through for the closing. Our landlord in town was hoping for a months notice, so we will probably stick around the apartment for awhile still. The bulk of our furniture, still in storage, will be moved at a later date. I don't think we will get around to fixing much of the interior until the spring, so we can live in it as it is currently and start building back up our savings account (our bank appraised the hose at 120 K instead of the 130 K we paid - they don't account for the 134 acres of land we also purchased along with the house. As a result, they would only fund 80% of the assessed price and we needed to come up with 8 K extra right quick. It happened but we don't have money for shingles anymore. Boo.)

Off to read about the pros and cons of keeping versus replacing old windows. :)

New Deal

This morning we can to an agreement with the sellers. Our closing will be pushed back to Aug.28th. In the case of a further deadline change, they will knock off our rent price from the asking price. They must pay for the survey-less severing of the land. We will eat the cost of the power being changed (again), the mortgage (which is in repayment for a house we don't own), and the increased legal fees associated with this ridiculousness.

I am still pissed but also want the house. It'll happen eventually.

On the upside we had a lovely dinner last night with young people from the town. The night ended at 1 am, after having consumed some Port while playing cards. I am officially an old person now.

Uh-oh. This week is gonna suck.

Yesterday was supposed to be the closing date for our house. At 4:30 pm, the sellers lawyer send us the official letter of extension, with the points that: they are granted until mid September for a new closing date, we could "rent" the premises starting Aug. 28th for $1 to "accommodate our need to find new living space" (we are on month-to-month lease and were prepared to move out at the end of the month. Our landlord is nice so we can probably extend our stay no problem, but the sellers don't know that), but we would be required to pay an additional $1000 deposit. If we didn't want to wait that long, we could poney up $100 to have the land severed in a non-survey dependent way (even though the original contract stipulates that severing costs are the sellers responsibility).


So basically, even though we are out another months rent (which they didn't offer to pay for) as well as the connection fee for the power bill which had already been changed by 4:30 pm yesterday, they want us to pay $1101 because they weren't ready for the closing when they said they would be ten days ago. And they sent us this at the end of the business day last night.

Fucking wankers. I am super pissed.

My boss is starting to treat me like I know what I'm doing. This is starting to freak me out, as I obviously don't. Her reasoning is that since she is away this week (to another conference in Montreal which she says is very scientifically stimulating. Looks like I went to the wrong one), it will actually be less stressful, as she won't be hovering. But this week we have two high school students who are attending a science camp (that they paid for) and who were assigned to me. My boss informed of this early last week, whereas I was told mid last week. Day one just finished and I'm already beat.

My inbox just chimed-an additional test to be done by weeks end, please.

I guess the bad news is that I'm not going to Sweden anymore...a distinct lack of enthusiasm on my part (it would be a lovely vacation, but of what worth scientifically?? I couldn't justify the expense) and piling bills on my employers end fueled the apathy to get tickets booked. I want to celebrate my friends wedding properly, not be rushed out in time to prepare for a red-eye to London. The good news is that it may have been replaced by a trip to a real science conference in San Diego in October. Both bosses will be teaching, so October is no good for them, and I will be able to follow up on some of the (scarce) science buddies I made in Montreal.

The forever house

After a defeating appointment with a structural engineer last week regarding the little blue bank re-po house in Hometown, we decided that maybe a full-haul renovation for profit was not our first choice anymore. Several factors, most notably the impending changing of seasons, swayed our decision. The other was a visit to an old farmstead about 10 minutes from town centre here in our village. I had just happened upon the listing, as it didn't stand out too much from other listings in price nor scale of home. The thing that almost slipped by was that this house had 135 acres attached to it, which surprisingly was not reflected in the asking price. Thinking it was too good to be true, we visited the exterior this past weekend. Memories dawned on me as I had already visited the house when it was previously occupied by a tenant, and so I knew the place was far from uninhabitable. A further stroll around the grounds yielded discovery after discovery; a charming circular grassy driveway, a lawn surrounded by giant spruce trees and decorated with impressive elms, a creek that runs just behind the house that may be large enough to harness hydro-power (at least for part of the year), multiple out-buildings including a gigantic barn with impressively straight roof lines and tons of old barn beams, a 100-year-old orchard, a blueberry field beyond that, raspberry bushes, a bunny rabbit or two (seriously!) and a peaceful view out the front porch to the Bay. Seriously. So we called up the listing agent, fully expecting a "sorry, just sold it last week, haven't been out to remove the sign yet" (which has happened on three different occasions already) BUT we were in luck. Still for sale. So we called up our realtor and she let us in later that night - basically it is a huge old farmhouse that was built in three stages. The first stage had a front den, formal dining room and kitchen with stairs leading to four bedrooms. This was prior to indoor plumbing, so when that modern luxury was introduced, a second phase was built which created an extra-large kitchen/pantry/sunporch off the existing smaller kitchen, turning it into the formal dining room and creating a front den/back den out of the former dining area and den area. Then upstairs, a walk-through room was added that lead to a small & awkward bathroom. Finally a third phase, which we suspect started out as a stable of some sort, created a further bedroom/storage area at the back. All in all, 2400 square feet, 6 bedroom, 1 bathroom house. About the exact opposite of a tiny 500 square foot home. I suspect there will be some disagreements between my husband and I in the coming months about what should stay and what should go: I would be in favour of sacrificing historical aspects of the house in order to reduce the foorprint into a more liveable (and clean-able!) house. This may include moving the gigantic kitchen back into the smaller room, consistent with original footprint of the house. This would reduce the amount of dens from two to one, and still provide a formal dining room (which I would also prefer to open up to the kitchen as a single flowing room- again, not very historically accurate but more in keeping with our preferred way of living). He would like to keep the first and second phase of the house with minimal re-arrangements (perhaps bringing the upstairs bath to a more central location or adding a half-bath downstairs somewhere).

This of course is all contigent on money. We were able to get the sellers to agree to 130 K instead of 150 K. But the plaster walls, crumbling shingles (overlaid onto old-school cedar shingles), thermal pane windows and oil heating system will all have to go eventually. Hubby and I talked about living in the gigantic house for one season (winter, unfortunately) to decide how best to re-arrange for our lifestyles. I've also been educating myself about the energy rebates for retro-fits, which I notice tend to be much more generous than the incentives offered to new-home builders.

And the bunnies! I'm excited about the land as well. Considering acreage tends to sell for +/- $1000 an acre around here, paying 130K for 135 acres PLUS a useable house is fine by me. I should buy my realtor some flowers. (Update: makes it seem like there will be something seriously flawed with this structure. I'm optimistic though- the listing agent AND the seller are from away...plus my agent is good. That doesn't mean we won't spend an arm and a leg fixing up, but I'm prepared for that part. Especially if the large repairs can be paid for by the savings).

So now the next journey of home-owning will happen: how to transfer our skill set form building
a new house to fixing up an old house. I heart Bob Villa!?!

The front of the house as seen from the drive-way:


The side (creek along the left-hand side of this picture):


Den #2 window


Big "phase two" kitchen:


Den #1 fireplace:


Stairwell:


Massive barn:

Grand Slam

Asking 149 K

We offered 126 K

They countered 138.5 K

We countered 128.5 K

They countered 130 K

WE ACEEPTED!

I'll post the details shortly.

sunshine and lollipops

After a two-day jaunt to my old haunting grounds for a quick conference, I'm back home frantically cleaning to keep two steps (well, okay, one step) ahead of the fruit flies. Its that time of year. The biggest news is that we may have found our "forever house", but I don't want to jinx it until the papers are signed. There have been so many start-and-stops that it is wearing on my nerves. Suffice to say it checks all the boxes, including a tree-lined grassy driveway, acreage, fruit trees and ocean view, within a 10 km radius of town. This is why I like living in a village. We can actually afford this house here, and I'm pretty freaking excited.

Life is kicking my ass lately. I'm house sitting for a new colleague (living out of a suitcase has been my life for >2 months) where a big ass brown lab dog slobers all over the place and wants to be walked every single day. ha! Didn't someone let him know I'm too self-absorbed for such things? Speaking of which, I have been failing in general at mastering the motorbike (as can be witnessed by the biggest mother-effen bruise I've ever giving myself...it covers mostly my entire left knee area). This week I've bought a new car (upgraded from a '99 Tercel to a '99 Corolla), trying to buy a new house (structural engineer appointment tomorrow afternoon), teach little snots about science for three days (again) and going to both a local (awesome indie) music festival AND a conference in a city about 300 km away. That's before Sunday of this week.

Last week I was in Montreal at another conference for three days, and found out I'll be going to Sweden at the end of the summer. Which is great. The bad part is that I need to make the full-day trip the day after a good friends' wedding. And be ready for serious meetings the day I arrive. I guess I won't be drinking much...which I suppose makes sense as I'm the MC of the event. Ask me if I've done a thing to prepare yet. Ugh. Guilt. There is always tomorrow.

Half off sale at the thrift store.

See? This is how I can afford a scooter, and a motorcycle, and a new macbook, and a trip overseas. I know all the tricks...
I picked up Guns, Germs and Steel at Salvation Army for a dollar. Also, my third copy of Poisonwood Bible for 50 cents, which I promptly gave to the undergrad student I'm overseeing as I was just recommending the book to her last week. How fortuitous.

Such savings! I could even consider a trip to Toronto just to see Underworld. Maybe.

Best thing since sliced bread

Eat Green

I forgot how long it took to prepare actual food. I was half an hour late to work this morning, because I was planning out the next two weeks of healthy eating (recipes from a wonky "woo" book on detoxing - but hey, at least they are healthy) and making buckwheat pancakes (with blueberries! and pumpkin-seed butter!) as well as my lunch. Drumroll please....

A spinach and dulse cold soup.



Sounds good eh? Ever eaten dulse? If you licked a beach stone and then chewed on some seaweed, it would give you a good idea. Luckily, the soup (which I made this morning to bring to work) is zucchini and avocado-based, so the spinach and dulse are nutrient-packed flavour afterthoughts.

Quite a different menu then Gobstoppers for breakfast, Pringles for lunch and Rolo icecream for supper.

It's all downhill from here...

I have spent the last two hours trying to get this thing to print labels. The Bane:



...I can't believe I spent six+ years of post-secondary for this.

As if they don't do this on purpose:



Sigh.

My life today

I was preparing my salad and tuna this morning for my lunch when the bag of pre-packaged salad blew up all over the kitchen floor. This kitchen floor is sketchy, as the "furnished" apartment was lacking a broom, and a mop (well, to be fair, there is one mop. I just can't make myself pick it up. So gross. It'll sit in the lonely corner until I get the guts to chuck it). Much like the cutlery, and the tub, and carpets...I really must wash everything in the apartment. So I had to throw out all my brand new salad. Sadness.

Keeping up in the sleepy village

The first week here has been busy, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Our apartment in still musty and old, but it is starting to become personalized and thus a bit more cozy. I decided that my eating habits while on extended vacation sucked so bad I needed a re-haul, so I picked up a "detox-your-life" sorta book, and plan to start that tomorrow (many items on the "please eat" list are unavailable here in the village, so I'll need to drive to the next town over to get my kale).

Hubby is busy working all day here, and then frantically trying to complete a job he agreed to do way back when he was still jobless. The timing was wonky, but he made the commitment (to someone he is related to) and now he has to juggle to two. It means frequent visits to Hometown. Last night I went with, and was able to catch up with a old friend who has been in Ireland all year doing her medicine degree. It was fun to catch up and drink steamed milk.

The best part of the job so far has been riding my scooter around. So cute! I need to get a new helmet though, as the full face black one that came with the scooter lacks the fashionable pizazz I require in all my accessories :)

Like this, in grey so it matches my scooter?


With rose coloured glasses, to match my mood. Although really, I feel completely boring lately. Nothing to write about - no travels, no house, no plans. Boring. I'll be leaving for Montreal on Sunday afternoon, and shortly after getting back I'll be writing my test for the motorcycle license. Sigh. Life is certainly slower here in the village :)

Schmoozing...

(Part) of my new job looks like this, which is wayyyyy different than the nerdy-geeky-drinking-excessively conferences that I'm used to attending:





I ordered business cards on Monday (essential!) AND a few pieces of clothing with the company logo (I got to pick from a catalog - fun because I got to choose clothing without having to pay for it). I went with a beige collared button up shirt for a "professional" look (small company logo on left pocket area) and a white, stretchy T-shirt for the "booth babe" part of the job :) I was tempted by a pair of hot looking yoga pants (maybe with the logo emblazoned on the ass?) but decided I probably didn't need to advertise non-model organism anti-bodies during workouts. Huzzah! I'm looking forward to the conference next week.