Ramblings…

Today, I feel like I’ve began to feel that thin but pesky depression veil lift. I honnestly hadn’t even considered it’s existence in my life. Perhaps I had mistaken depression for a married (broke) couple’s routine? Are there other married people out there who think that they’re stuck in a rut, but are really just a tad depressed?

What has made me happy again and restored my mana? Friends and family, I think. Seriously, how total cornball does that sound? But it’s true. In January when my grandmother passed away, we drove up home for her funeral. It had been 2 years at least since our last trip up home. It’s embarrassing to realize and admit. Life just gets in the way. I mean, when you get sucked into your work-eat-shit-sleep-clean–REPEAT routine, and that you become convinced that THAT is life. You begin to think that spending time with your friends and your family is a luxury. My daiy coffees are also a luxury; a financial luxury. Somehow, it’s sadly often easier to sacrifice time luxuries rather than financial luxuries. Credit card debt, anyone?

I hadn’t seen my uncles, aunts and cousins since our wedding in June 2003. Shameful. Since the funeral, we have been talking online on a weekly basis! How cool is it that we are living in our generation? Then we went to the Blue Carpet Treatment VIP Snoop Dogg concert with some of Steph’s coworkers and their spouses. We had a friggin Blast!! I mean, when normally the highlight of your week is on Sunday night when you’re finally done washing all your laundry… 5 minutes before bed time. That’s when it started to happen. Around 7h30pm, on January 31st 2007, in a freakin’ stretched limousine driving around Moncton. It felt so unreal. So unreal. Lik an out of coolness bracket experience. As opposed to an out of body experience.

Two weeks ago, we went over to Tina and Shane’s for a small party. We met Sophie and Tim for the first time. I was already considering Sophie a good friend by then, as we had been talking online on a regular basis for months by then. Thankfully, we get along as well in person as online. Especially considering my crippling shyness. Well it helps that both times that we hung out in person so far involved alcohol… heh Last night, Sophie and Tim invited us to attend Tim’s birthday party in the Blue Room at Dooly’s. (Is Blue my lucky color in 2007? That would be great because blue is my favorite colour. Well besides black which is in theory lack of… ) After the mandatory first 10 minutes of total awkwardness/shyness… OR is it the mandatory wait time before alcohol kicks in? Anyway, after that it was fine! It was fun! We immediately felt at ease in that friendly group of people. Although everyone was so good looking, it felt like an out of beauty bracket experience.

Or are we just getting more wealthy and better looking? And that we’ll just have to get used to it? LOL Hmmm.

Today, Steph’s parents called to say that they were on their way for a surprise visit. Surprise! At first I got all nasty with Steph and began whining about having to spend 4 precious Sunday hours cleaning and getting the house and making it perfect for the never-ending daughter in law’s quest for signs of their mother in law’s approval. My wonderful husband immediately began helping me around the house and I apparently got a burst of energy because I went all gung ho on his ass. We’re talking even taking out the nice bedding and putting it on our bed and removing it and replacing it with our mismatched favorite blanket as soon as they leave. We also planted our seeds! I can’t wait for them to sprout! I feel like an expecting mother.. expecting sprouts. lol. Again, after a few minutes we were flapping our pie holes joyously. We ordered St-Hubert chicken and salad. No fries, we were good

Not long after they left, all of a sudden, it hit me how happy I am. I feel like although I’m jam-packing my weekends with activities and to-do lists, they seem like they last 3 times longer. All of a sudden, although my house needs a few fix-ups, it looks beautiful to me again. Instead of feeling drained after having cleaned like a maniac daughter in law for 4 hours, I feel proud of what I have accomplished this weekend.

I don’t know why, but I’m writing this on paper, by hand. Obviously if you’re reading this, I’ve decided to type and blog it hehe. I guess I don’t really have a conclusion… it was just my weekend in ramblings :)

What have you done today to make yourself proud ?

You might want to skip this if you’re not following Heather’s Wednesday Challenges. You might think that I’m incredibly pretentious if you don’t know that last Wednesday’s Challenge (Definition of procrastination : Nancy) was about listing 75 reasons why you’re proud of yourself. Yeah that’s part of why I’m this late… It took me this long to conjure up a list and I can’t even get to 75 hehe.

1. Graduated high school
2. Graduated college
3. Volunteered in Africa
4. My home decoration choices
5. My landscaping design
6. Quitting Smoking Jan 1st
7. Lost 20lbs since Jan 1st
8. Being a loving daughter & sister
9. Being a faithful wife
10. Being a good doggy mom
11. Visited 4 countries
12. Being computer literate
13. Being a voracious reader
14. Being smart
15. Being a good organizer
15. Being anti-clutter
16. Clearing Wario Smooth Moves myself!
17. Doing good on my debt diet so far
18. Having cut restaurants down significantly
19. Going back to my natural hair colour
20. My passion for music
21. My love of arts
22. Being fluent in french & english
23. I just vacuumed and washed all my floors :P
24. My beginner gardenner skills
25. I think that I sing better than the general population, and I sing with passion
26. Financially helping my friends and family when I can
27. Having okay grammar
28. Never got in an accident. I think I’m a safe driver. (digging…)
29. I’m almost always on top of my laundry… (okay this is beginning to sound too pathetic LOL)
30. I always keep my tupperware bowls organized. (Okay… I’m done for now LOL)

Happy First Day of SPRING!!!!!!!

I started to write this yesterday and I’m just getting around to finishing it now… so happy belated 1st day of spring :)

I’m soooo exited that Spring is finally here!!!! I’m going to be an exclamation point abuser all day long and I don’t care!!! :P I really want to enjoy and make the most out of spring, summer and fall this year. It seems like last year I didn’t and when winter came it really brought me down. I was so not ready. So, I’ve decided to come up with a list of things that I want to do before the next winter comes :) Hopefully I’ll have crossed a few items off the list by next December.. I’ll keep you posted! (But if I don’t, you’ll have to remind me heh)

• Walk the NB trail from the St-Alselm church (near my house) to Memramcook. (or at least, going in that direction of the trail until I’m too tired. Then we’ll call Steph to come and pick us up. Because Steph won’t go for all this ‘pointless’ walking. Tina or Sophie, you’ll have to come with me :P)
• Walk the NB trail from the St-Anselm church to Riverview. (Last year I did from the church to the Bore park with Guylaine. I could barely walk the next day my feet were so sore! Must buy new walking shoes.)
• Buy a new GPS and go geocaching!! Lori, wanna come ?
• Fix the things that need fixing on the house… like the walkway and patch walls, replace baseboards that Loki chewed when he was a pup.
• Build a garden and grow veggies.
• Lose 50lbs. eek. (That’s 50lbs from mid-march to december.. doable for someone my size.. but doable for me? Stay tuned to find out :P)
• Go to Toronto and meet Lisa and then we’ll all go to Windsor and meet Rebecca and Lori. (All of you will have to work your 2007 summer activity lists in accordance ok? ok.)
• Go to New York city and meet Heather, Amanda, Kelsie, Justine, Lisa, and buy knock off stuff that no one around here can tell the difference hehe. But actually touch with my own hands a pair of Jimmy Choos. Does anyone know if they actually sell Jimmy Choo shoes anywhere in NB?
• Walk in the Irishtown nature park
• Go to Parlee beach at least 3 times.
• Go share a beer pitcher at the Doc Dylan’s outdoor patio at least 3 times.
• Go to Wiseguyz once or twice.
• Go visit Chantal & Andy in the boonies :P
• Go see the Tidal Bore (aka Total bore LOL) at Bore Park (I’ve never even seen it on person, but I did see it on youtube LOL)
• Have a pic nic with friends and their kids at Centennial Park
• Make a fire in the outside firepit in the garden every week. With friends sometimes. Definitely with marshmallows.
• Go pick my own apples during apple season.
• Make my own preserves at harvest time.
• Go park on top of the mountain and watch the Moncton city lights. (And make out like old times hehehe)
• Maybe I’ll add to this list once the warm weather arrives and that we come out of hibernation :)

A random glimpse at a random work day conversation.

Coworker – So Mizz Nancy, what are you thinking?
Me – Hmmm about what?
Coworker – Oooh, everything.
Me – er… I don’t know?
Coworker – What, you’ve stopped thinking ?
Me – mmm mumble..too broad.. mumble…answer too long… mumble.
Coworker – *rolls eyes at my unpleasantness and walks away*

It was a good weekend :)

I had a pretty good weekend… Here’s what happened, Kelsie style (in bullets :P). In no particular order :

• We set-up the hanging (for easy lowering and elevating) fluorescent light fixtures and set up the seed growing operation.
• I had a pretty good cleaning session yesterday… vacuumed and mopped the floors and stairs. Dusted.. did laundry…
• Steph and I played “Who can get the dog to wag his tail the fastest without touching him”. Steph won. The dog was kinda freaked out in the end. LOL
• Watched October Road
• Watched that new Andy Richter show. Meh.
• I asked Steph the question : What if you have a disease that gives you a distorted sense of how dirty the house is. As in you always think that it’s clean when in fact, it’s NOT. It’s a pig sty and I need help to clean it up. To which in turn he posed this question : What if YOU have a disease that gives you a distorted sense of how clean the house really is? It IS clean. It doesn’t need cleaning. Relax! The dog wouldn’t give us his opinion.
• I had a huge craving for Donairs (What some of you call Gyros..), made some Friday night, and they tasted better in memory. They weren’t that good. Maybe I should have went for greasy restaurant ones instead. I also had a huge craving for pancakes, and Steph and I made some, and we didn’t have any baking powder so they were pretty dense.. but both cravings are gone hehe.
• This has nothing to do with my weekend, but I’m hoping that Sophie will read this and remember to ask her man for that curry dip that I fell in love with. Must eat it again soon!
• I have a non-food craving. I’m craving “Guitar Hero II”. I’ve been wanting to play it since last week, but I always feel like “I should be doing something more productive” when I’m playing a game. I don’t know why I feel this way, because I never feel this way while watching TV. lol! It’s like I can’t have TOO much fun if I’m not cleaning like I should.

October Road <3

Have you seen the new ABC show “October Road” that premiered last week ? There’s Donna (Laura Prepon) from “That 70’s Show” in it. I admit, I ONLY tuned in to the premiere because of her. But only about 10 minutes into the show, I told Steph that this just might be my new favorite show LOL! I just LOVE the soundtrack!!! And I love the characters and the storyline. I fell in love at first sight with a tv show :P

Of course this new show is on Thursday, right after Grey’s Anatomy. Of course of course. Just because all my other favorite tv shows have always been on Thursdays. Almost always anyway. (Wow a tripple A sentence.)

ABC’s new drama series centers on a young, acclaimed novelist/screenwriter Nick Garret (played by “One Tree Hill” star Bryan Greenberg). Nick’s best-selling novel is based on his hometown friends. He is at a crossroads in his life when he returns to his hometown to teach at the local university, and faces the family and friends he left behind. To the literary world he is a genius, but to his hometown he is a coward who betrayed their trust and their secrets. Now that he found a new job, Nick will have to deal with the past and try to move on with his life.

If you missed it, you can watch the show online here! You know you waaaaant it! You’ll love it!

I know that I already watch too much tv *blush* But I really really love this how and hope it does really well! I might drop another show to make room for this one hehe.

I’m Back!

From period-induced funkytown! If you’ve been following the Adventures of Nancy’s uterus, you’ll be shocked to learn that I’m just ending what was baptized as the period of the century. Period of the century was of course accompanied by PMS of the century hehe. Hallmark should make cards that say “Thank you for enduring me during my PMS this month”.

In other news, I now have a brand spankin’ new time consuming addiction : Facebook.com. Holy eff that crap is addictive. hehe. I still don’t really get Myspace, but Facebook rocks! hehe. Don’t you hate how when I haven’t blogged in a week I have so much to say that I’m all over the place? Yeah sorry about that… I got all the stuff to start my vegetable garden seeds indoors! Tomorrow we’re going to set-up the area and start planting hehe. We have to set-up the fluorescent lights in a way that they can be lowered and raised easily. Also, if I want to have money for the materials to build the raised garden beds and to stain the deck, our social life will have to continue to revolve around free activities for a while hehe. At least I’ll be able to feed my guests some home grown veggies! Oh speaking about that… Steph went to Home Hardware to buy the chains and hooks and other little bits we needed to fix the fluorescent light set-up, and the salesperson asked him if this was for a weed-growing set-up. WTF? hehe Do they ask that to anyone who puts fluorescent lights up, or does Steph just look like a pothead?

Hmm what else? Oh I’ve decided to try and go to bed no later than 11pm every night starting Sunday, which would give me 7 hours of sleep a night, which would be awesome! I know that’s too many whiches… Now that my period of the century pms cravings are fading away, I’m ready to get back on the effing wagon. I had kind of fell off it a little bit. The good news is that I haven’t gained any weight, but now I need to start losing again. I don’t particularly care for summer clothes, but it would be great to go down a couple of sizes for fall clothes! My favorite clothing season hehe.

I know I’m a little late, but I think that I’m ready to join in Wednesday’s challenge.

Saigon Thai

At lunch we went to try that new Vietnamese-Thai restaurant next to The Pump House. It used to be called Vina Thai but it changed ownership recently. My coworker M knows the owner, who is actually Korean, like M’s wife. Apparently the new owner wants to start gravitating little by little into Korean cuisine, integrating one dish at a time in the Vietnamese-Thai menu and might totally go Korean if it picks up. So we were the first tasters of her Korean cuisine! M had made arrangements with her and ordered 2 traditional Korean dishes which aren’t on the menu yet. I think that she will have absolutely no problems marketing those at all! It was delish!! Especially for spicy food lovers like us.

So I had a mix of Vietnamese and Korean things on my plate, it was SO good. It would be great if she kept my favorite items on the current menu like the imperial rolls and Tonkinese soup hehe. I have to bring Steph to try it. I should bring him there tonight, would that be weird of me to go eat at the same restaurant twice in a day ? LOL

The Secret

Ever since Oprah had a show about “The Secret”, it’s on fire. I haven’t even watched the movie yet, but just having it in my posession is helping great things manifest into my life I think. I’m kidding hehe. But since that recent trip to head office for the re-org meeting aka the night I came home and had a meltdown, things are looking up!

First of all, since 2 days after that meeting, I’ve been relatively busy here at work, taking on more responsibilities and being trusted to do more tasks. It’s been great! I’ve even actually been complimented by 2 different people on a project I did which is nothing short of a miracle around here! Of course I didn’t tell them that Steph was the one who added the pizzaz to it, which I’m sure is what impressed them lol!

There’s that whole New York City possibility…. which has sparked other possibilities… like meeting a few of my very favorite bloggers, long time internet friends, friends that know me better than most of my real life friends hehe. If The Today show flies me to NYC, I’ll be meeting Heather, Amanda, Justine and Kelsie doesn’t know this yet, but we’re forcing her to come :) And
Tina said she wanted to come along too, I can’t HELP but get my hopes up. So much so that I want to talk to Tina and coax my husband into “letting me” go either way! It’d be TOO awesome for words.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I was vegging too much during the weekends. I Love to vegge around, but I’ve started to feel like my social meter was in the red. I think I have those invisible little meters over my head like in The Sims. Well all kinds of opportunities came up lately! Tonight is date night with Steph… we may stay in and do what we normally do on a Friday night and call it a date night just because it sounds like we did something interesting.. or we might go see Bridge to Tarabethia. Saturday I’m going to something that’s going to be very fun!! But I can’t talk about it yet because it’s a secret ‘party’. Sunday my mom and aunt are coming in town and we’re going shopping at Costco. They don’t have Costcos in Bathurst, to them it’s a marvelous thing. But I think I’ll definitely restock on those Kirkland miracle wipes hehe. (The miracle soap scum shower door remover I blogged about previously.) Sunday night Guylaine and I are either going out to eat or cooking something at her place and then we’re playing a game of Trivial Pursuit DVD edition.

Not bad for an anti-social person huh ? hehe Maybe by the time Monday morning rolls around I’ll have had my share of socializing for a month. :P Or maybe it’ll get me craving even more socializing… who knows. I’ll keep you posted :P

My First Kiss

FYI – This post is for Healther’s brilliant idea of a Wednesday challenge…. I know it’s Thursday :P The idea is that each wednesday (I think? A wednesday anyway…) we’re given a theme or a word or an image that we’ll each blog about. It’ll be interesting to see how everyone’s interpretation differs and relates to each other’s. What’s funny is that another blog that I read came out with the same idea yesterday, only that blog group is french so I think I might start a 3rd blog, this one in french. I often feel like my french is beginning to rust. My spoken english is not that great either. What do I speak then ? The typical Moncton Chiac.

My very first kiss.

Growing up, my father was and still is a long haul truck driver. He would typically be gone 2 weeks at a time. My mother was a workoholic and an avid bowler. She arrived home after supper, changed into her bowling clothes and off she went again. She was president of the bowling league and she was president of Les Dames D’Acadie, and she was also involved with the Bingo committee. My brother and I have basically been raised by babysitters and relatives. For a summer, my mom drove us to one of my brother’s kindergarden friend’s house and his mother took care of us every week day that summer. Sometimes weekends too. Her name is Rita and she has 3 children : Steve (1 year younger than me), Sebastien (my brother’s friend), and Martine (the baby).

I was in the summer between 3rd and 4th grade, about 9 years old. I thought Steve was so cute with his dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. All summer long I tried to look cute in my potato sack pants and my vuarnet t-shirts. LOL!! Remember those drawstring sugar/potato/budweiser sack pants ? He never noticed me. He was too busy playing in the dirt with other neighborhood boys. One day, I got fed up of being unoticed by him so I wore ALL of my best stuff. My potato sack pants, my vuarnet t-shirt, 2 pairs of neon colored socks so that the roll would be a different colour neon. My big black plastic watch, teal plastic dangling earings, 3-4 hair barrettes, 2-3 neon plastic necklaces and some strawberry shortcake strawberry-scented chapstick.

My attempt at looking fashionable backfired. Badly. I was in the living room playing with Martine when I overheard Steve say to one of his friends “Isn’t Nancy pretty? She’s normally pretty everyday, but not today!”. OMG I was so crushed! The next day I gave up and went to Rita’s as my normal self. After lunch, Steve asked me if I wanted to go for a walk in woods with him. OMG yes! Up home, almost every house has little trails in the woods that’ll take you to other houses around the area hehe. When we entered the woods, he told me : I think we should kiss, do you want to ?

Beet faced, I told him “Hmmm maybe, let’s walk further from your house in case one of the other kids sees us and tattles on us”. He said ok and we walked until we were well hidden. Every 10 feet or so he kept asking “Now can we kiss? What about now? Are we far enough?”. Finally I agreed that we were far enough. I asked him “have you ever kissed another girl?” He said “pfft of course, I kissed Cynthia and Nathalie” (The other day I saw an add in the paper and there was Cynthia opening an optometrist office, I was insanely jealous of her succes. She kissed Steve first AND she’s a doctor now ? pffft :P)

“Okay… we can kiss if you SWEAR that you’ll never tell anyone that we did it. I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Ok I swear”
“Do you swear to never tell even your brother and sister?”
“Yes, can we kiss now?”
“AND you’re not allowed to tell your dog either”
“My dog? He won’t tell anyone!!”
“No, but someone might overhear you say it to him..”
“Right… I swear I won’t tell anyone ever. Besides you.”
“DON’T even tell me! Someone could hear… My mother would kill me!”

Then before I had the chance to make up another rule, he leans in really really quick, pecks my lips before I even have time to stop talking, I think… and off he ran away. LOL! But the next day I couldn’t keep it in any longer and I told my mother that Steve had asked me to kiss him, and she nearly drove the car in the ditch. I told her that of course I had said no. hehe. Steve however, broke his promise of secrecy even quicker. When Rita called us in for supper, Steve came in skipping and hopping and announced to the whole house “Guess who’s my new girlfriend?” I think the week after that mom found us a new babysitter.