Frustration and Bling

Today I had a multitude of things on my plate that needed to get done but the universe had it in order that I was supposed to have the most difficult time completing all my tasks. First off I managed to lose two pairs of yoga pants in a 900sf suit at 5:30am this morning. How does that even happen? It pissed rain nearly the whole time I was walking dogs and only let up as I walked up the stairs to give the dog back. Getting Corey’s car back from the shop went well but the errand running afterwards was quite unsuccessful at first.

I had a few items on my list that I needed to get today so we could bring them as housewarming gifts on our trip to Alberta this weekend. One of them didn’t seem to exist in any of the shops I searched at. I got detoured by some sales and ended up picking up some quality jeans for once and some nice dressier outfits for fall.

I stopped off at walmart in search of this computer mic that I had such trouble finding. It was jam packed and the people at the desk looked at me like I was an idiot when I told them what I was looking for. Finally it was determined that they didn’t have it but I stopped off at the jewelry counter to find something that I have been meaning to do for an Experience Challenge.

Rings. I have always gotten all freaky about rings and never wore them because some part of me flips out and panics if I struggled to pull them off. I don’t know if I’m afraid to lose a finger or what but today I was determined to find one and wear it. I scour through all the cheap jewelry and find the only pretty one in my size (about two sizes too large but I was making progress I thought). The lines for the tills were the longest I’ve seen since Christmas and I ended up waiting ages to purchase this 8 dollar ring. Once I get up to the counter and hand over my purchase the woman asks if I want her to cut the security tag off. I say sure. Big mistake. The cashier drops the ring and it falls into the abyss between the till and some counters. We search for a while but at this point im super frustrated and leave. I then find the damn mike after checking two more stores but my mind is still on about that ring. I go back and look back at their tiny selection or rings. I originally picked up a 9 but there was an 8 there even though I really should only be a 7.5. I grab the 8 and give that a half dozen attempts on my finger before I feel comfortable. Thankfully this time the lines are much shorter and I pay for my ring but say that I’ll cut off the tags myself. The cheap metal bent while I was trying to rip this thing apart but a quick stomping in the parking lot wedged it back into shape. I wore it all the way home and guess what, I’m still wearing it! 23 and I have a ring on my finger!! Granted it’s not the ring I’m hoping for but maybe he’ll get the hint ;)

I had to rush back to work to attend a dog applicant that I needed to screen before his entry into the daycare. I wait and wait and wait but he never shows. At my co-workers prompt I shoot him a text. This was his reply.

Really? I’m glad your time was so valuable that you couldn’t call to cancel your booking. Sheesh.  Oh well. I made it back home in one piece and the BF is cooking me dinner. That’s right. HES COOKING. Yay!!

Ghosts

Since childhood, I loved, loved, loved Calvin and Hobbes comics. My dad had a soft cover Essential Calvin and Hobbes edition that I read religiously. Even today, Calvin is so relatable and his imagination seems just as wild and expansive as mine. I’ve been wanting the collection of books for a while now so I’ve made little notes for Christmas (It’s getting close, I swear!). Not wanting to wait to dive into some nostalgic (Why do I have such trouble with that word) memories, I surfed some of the older comic strips online and came across this one:

Ha. This sums up a great deal of my childhood for me.

This made me laugh and remember countless sleepovers with a fellow blogger, Nicole. Now I’m not exactly sure where I stand on the paranormal but my over active imagination coupled with anxiety turn me into a paranoid mess when it comes to creepy things like that.

Nicole must have been the same way for every time we got together for a sleepover or hung out alone, one or the other (Nicole, I’m going to blame mostly you here) would hear something from down the hall or outside. Commence the freaking out.

I think we were in grade 9 or ten when we were hanging out at my parents place alone and she swore she heard something down the hall in my room. Damnit. We arm ourselves with brooms and creep down the hall slowly. A picture frame gets caught on the end of her broom handle and breaks, we freak but survive. I didn’t tell my mom until years later.

 Another year we slept outside on her deck and stayed up for hours looking at this bizarre light in the sky right above the horizon line. We creeped ourselves out so bad that we slept inside. Our minds go to worst case scenario and imagine some sort of demon ghosts out for our souls. Just the mention of ‘Did you hear that?’ gives me the heebie jeebies.

Imagine these things happening every time we got together. I don’t know how many times I’ve been armed with a broom handle or stick or some sort and she’s convinced me to ‘go check things out’. Hah. Tables turned one summer when we were camping at Aloutte lake. Midnight we were in the bathrooms alone washing our hands in the near dark and all of a sudden the stall door at the far end of the building slams shut ALL ON ITS GODAMN OWN. I don’t think I’ve ever ran that fast before or since that day. My frantic escape lead to me nearly bowling Nicole over and running a what felt like a quarter km back to camp in flipflops on a gravel road, leaving her in the dust with the shit demon in the bathroom. Sorry Nicole. I wasn’t my day to be the brave one bahahah.

My fear of the unknown made me avoid scary movies like the plague. Recently my group of friends have been having scary movie nights. I drag myself to them because I want to be a part of the get together but I usually end up curled on the couch with my eyes glued to my phone or else I just wouldn’t be able to handle it. Once we get home and into bed, Corey is asleep before his head even hits the pillow as I am left awake thinking about demon children in my closet after my mortal soul or a mutant killer that wants to rip my innards from out of my armpits. Yikes. 

Brain, shut up!

Caught up in the Catty

This post has a high potential to not make any sense whatsoever.

I’ve been a little too caught up in the stressful things of life lately. Too easily, I’ve been swept up in other people’s emotions or biases and I just need to step back and take a breath and remember that I have my own thoughts and opinions too.

I’m empathetic and compassionate to a fault sometimes. I want people to know I care about their concerns but lately I have found myself being caught up in someone’s issues and finding myself riding their ‘anger train’ with them.

I caught myself last week realizing that I didn’t like how I was acting or the things I was saying. That wasn’t me and that’s definitely not how I want to be or be seen to be.

As we get older I find that I need to take a lot more of these ‘breathers’. Stepping back and realizing the whole picture and not just one persons attitude to the subject. I hate getting immersed like that.

Exerience Challenge #8 Community Clean Up

This is part two of one of my previous experience challenges. My 3rd challenge saw that I made steps to volunteer in my community. Well over this past weekend by garbage bin and supplies were delivered and set up down by the route I take for my daily dog walking adventures.I was stoked to see the bin and today I got busy and picked up about a pound or two worth of garbage along the trail. I'm going to go for a more extensive clean tomorrow as I won't be so rushed to get to work.

I'm really looking forward to being able to walk my route with minimal garbage ruining this small bit of paradise that's left in a speedily expanding community. It's always so frustrating walking down by the river and seeing bags of dog crap tossed into the bushes, food wrappers all over the ground and poop on the trail. Hopefully with a bin in site, these lazy people will be more inclined to clean up the park they enjoy.

In addition to my little moments of green  I have been riding my bike to work (Ok, things got a little messed up today and I ended up driving) and this is not exactly a challenge for me, but for Zoey. She's scared of pretty much damn near everything so running next to a bike would have been a terrible thing to do only a year ago. This summer, while camping, she ran beside the bike off leash with pretty good success. I've tried before on leash and she simply shuts down and shies away from the bike so I was a wasn't hoping for a miracle but I got one.
After our dog walk on Monday I hooked her up to her leash and just started peddling. Without a backwards glance she trotted along side me all the way to work. I thought our very busy morning would have tired her out completely but she was ready to go play once we pulled up to the daycare. Way to go Zoey!

Experience Challenge #7 Bakers Dozen

Sooooo I just downloaded the blogger app and it allows you to do basic posting on your blog. Seems cool right? We shall see how this goes.

Last night I channeled my in we baker and baked bread for the first time last night. I was dying for some focaccia dipped in balsamic olive oil dip. Ooh so tasty! After begging for my moms bread maker I soon toted it home and got cooking. To my surprise it was fairly easy with a machine that kneads it for you. 

I let it rise ( my patience level when it comes to food is dangerously low) for the suggested half hour before popping it into the oven. It looked like a football by the time it was done but omg was it ever delicious.

 I made a pork roast and oven roasted spaghetti squash and grilled asparagus to go with it. Yum! 

Winter Is Coming

This morning I smelled it. It’s the smell you used to dread as a kid when you woke up on one of the last days of summer vacation. It’s a crisp clean scent that lets you know that the golden days of sun dresses and beach trips are over. In my youth I kind of dreaded that smell but couldn’t help but to take in a deep breath of it when I stepped outside in the morning. It smells of frost and fallen leaves.

This morning I stepped outside to go to work and immediately felt it; that odd twinge of cold. It’s not as bright out anymore when I get up for work. I already start to miss the heat, the warm mornings and all the wonderful things that come with my favorite season. I get this strange sense of longing that I can’t help but feel sad about.

That said, fall isn’t all dreadful. Sure it’s cold and raining and dark but with it comes little joys. I love scarves and take every opportunity to wear a brightly colored one to take a break from the dullness of autumn. Some of my favorite scents are fall and winter oriented. Pumpkin pie, cinnamon and nutmeg spice, apple cider. That said, fall has some pretty tasty seasonal food as well. So, it’s not all bad. I just wish summer would last a little longer seeing as fall and winter seem to take up the majority of the Canadian year (Sept- March).

Experience Challenge #6 -All the Little Things

Guys, I kinda crashed and burned this week for my experience challenge. It was just too busy to get out and do much let alone anything that I’ve never done before. I did a bunch of little things so maybe together they can add up to something big enough to qualify crossing this week off my list.

1.      Made a broccoli salad.

Good god this thing was tasty. Why have I never made this before? It’s pretty much a ‘garbage’ salad, meaning you can put whatever you like in it. My recipe included, broccoli, celery, cherry tomatoes,  bell peppers, sesame and sunflower seeds. So good and so easy to prep.

2.      Made Pumpkin Pie fruit dip

Omg this was so yummy but goodness it’s not very healthy. I found it on Pinterest a while ago but didn’t get around to making it until this week. It’s a mix of cool whip, pureed pumpkin, dry vanilla pudding mix, cinnamon and nutmeg. After mixing it all together Corey and I ate it with slices of apple and it makes a fantastc beginning of fall treat.

3.      Bought $98 dollar pants

This isn’t really on my bucket list as much as it was on Corey’s. I don’t know if Lulu Lemon Athletica is big anywhere else but here in Canada it seems to be a right of passage for most girls. I’m pretty frugal when it comes to spending money on clothes so spending a hundred bucks on a pair of yoga pants is just ridiculous to me. Apparently these pants make anyone’s rear look heavenly. So Corey and I went to metrotown and bought some of these silly pants. Granted they are really comfy and don’t ride up or fall down but my butt isn’t quite impressed. Not worth the money in my opinion but whatever, they were a gift. What I did really enjoy was the uber comfy sports top I bought. Hopefully it will inspire me enough to do crunches.

4.      Survived dumping a client

Because it made no business sense to pay two people an extra half hour each to drive 19k to pick up a dog in another city to bring to daycare. We endured almost a year of it and I’m glad it’s over. I was super hesitant because I was afraid of dealing with the client once we told them we were stopping our shuttle service but today was the first day I didn’t have to pick her up. I got to sleep in an extra 35 minutes and go straight to work (After a Timmies stop of course). Now without that responsibility I am looking forward to riding my bike to and from work every day.

So all that counts enough right? I certainly hope so!