I Love Adam

This morning, Adam asked me for my camera.

After reading yesterday's post, he didn't like

that the shot of him & Crockett looked like he has

thinning hair on top of his head.

My hubby has a thing about his hair.

He has great hair.

Thick, soft, salt & pepper and it always smells great.

I took these 2 pictures to assure him

that his hair is in fact not thinning and it is just

that his hair is more grey on top by his part.



New Years Eve

 Tonight, we are both exhausted and just lazing about.

We had tentative plans of having our friend Bill come over

 but his visit has been postponed.

We didn't discuss alternate plans if we'd go out or not, we are both homebodies. 

Spending time at home together is Heaven.

Although, I have always wanted to go to a New Years Eve gala like

the one in the movie When Harry Met Sally.

Wear an evening gown, have a multiple course meal in

a large banquet hall filled with twinkle lights. Dance to a Lawrence Welk-ish band.

Run out onto the balcony on the strike of midnight for the perfect kiss.

Very Disney actually, all that is missing is the tiara.

I do have my Prince and I will get the perfect midnight kiss

and the Happily Ever After.

As I sit here, with a Big Bang Theory DVD on, both Adam & Crockett are

laying down behind me falling in and out of sleep between

the live audience laughter.

Looking back over 2010, it wasn't a bad year but it also wasn't a great year.

It was up, down, happy, sad, stressful and what I will most likely

refer to when looking back as the  "Year of the Tension Headache".

I started this blog back in August for a few reasons.

 I felt as though I was losing my ability to write.
In my job, I primarily communicate via e-mail to my counterparts working
in factories in China.  My writing has had to become very basic,
clear, straightforward, and the fewer words the better.

Time seemed to be going by so fast & it started to feel like Groundhog Day. 
The same day over & over & over.  I needed somewhere
to write down what was happening so that I could review it when I wasn't so in it.

I live a very small life. By small I mean close to home.
When I'm not at work I am most likely within a 5km radius of where we live.
Since I no longer have a vehicle, I don't get out to
Mississauga to see my parents as much as I'd like.
Sure we talk on the phone everyday, but sometimes it just about what's
troubling us or the important news of the day.

I don't have a huge social circle.
I have a few very close friends that live far away and a few very close friends
that live nearby and I don't see either group as much as I should.

I wanted to find  a way to share my life with the people I care about
so they can see that, although times are tough, I am really lucky and blessed.
That I realize I am lucky and blessed and that I am grateful.
I have a husband who loves me, who makes me laugh, who I have fun with.
I have a dog that is adorable who gets me outside walking, breathing fresh air
and discovering the parks and green spaces in my neighbourhood.
I have a camera that has made me really stop and look at the details.

About that dog....he is now sprawled out on the middle of our bed
snoring, dreaming, feet twitching and completely relaxed.

The clock is about to strike twelve so I must shut off this computer
and go get that kiss from my Prince Charming.

Happy New Year to All!

Love,
Joanne

Dirty Cutlery and Not So Bright Whites.

As previously posted, Adam and I are currently in a Role Reversal.

I am out at work, he is at home holding the title of Domestic Engineer.

When it comes to the cleanliness and tidiness of our mutual living spaces,

he has kept up his part of the deal.  He makes me very happy.

Adam and I do have very different levels of tolerance when it comes

to tidiness and clutter.

His office/fortress of solitude is his space.

I have come to be able to walk past the door and not see the chaos.

As long as Adam has access to his keyboard and a clear view of his monitor,

all is good.  Add in a few dirty dishes and he's still ok.

There have been times when answering the phone has caused a wave of empty and

partially empty diet coke cans on his desk to go crashing to the floor.

Don't even get me started on how the phone cord is always twisted.

I don't know what his trigger or his breaking point is but when it gets too much,

he doesn't just tidy, he does a full on, top to bottom clean.

For me, clutter = chaos.

It shuts me down.

Especially in our small kitchen.

I need clean counters and a clean sink.

This has resulted in me placing a Tupperware container on the

counter next  to the sink for all the dirty cutlery. 

This drives Adam insane.

Why?

I don't know why. He explained it to me once but I wasn't listening.

Off topic:  Since our role reversal, I've learned some male habits.

He can talk to me, I can respond and when all is said and done,

I have no idea what he said. I just wasn't listening.

This is what he looks like when he tells me to stop putting the cutlery in the tub:

Again, I will be 100% honest. I would love to switch positions with

him and I know one day I will.

I want to be a Domestic Engineer.

I want to have a schedule on the fridge for my chores and clipped coupons.

I want to wear an apron.

I want to make bread from scratch.

I want to my family to know what they are going to have

for dinner based on the night of the week.

Believe it or not, I really enjoy doing the laundry.

Right now it sucks because we are in a building that

has 16 Apartments and we share one washer & dryer.

$1.50 load.

30 minute wash.

60 minute dry - that doesn't completely dry or dries so much it's too hot to handle.

This has resulted in our inability to do more than 2 loads at a time.

Yesterday we did a grubby load.

T-shirts, socks, skivvies, dish towels.

We threw in a new white hand towel and look....

It came out grey.

One never knows what the previous load consisted of.

Scary.

As 2010 Comes To An End....

I find myself making lists in my head.

Lists of books I want to read.

Items I want to knit.

Places I want to go.

Things I want to see.

It might have something to do with the fact that I've spent the last 4 days

pretty much in bed napping, drinking tea, taking cold medication and alternating between

watching The Big Bang Theory on DVD and Harry Potter films.

Tomorrow I go back into the world of the living.

It's just a half day at work tomorrow, then a full day Thursday.

I'll then have another 4 day weekend where, I hope, my

cold will have gone through its cycle & be gone.

Cold - Inside My Respiratory System and Outside With The Wind Chill

My cold is still ruling my world.

Boxing Day was spent in bed dozing off

 between coughing fits, nose blowing

and doses of Buckley's.

I pulled my lifeless body out of bed at 5:00pm to put the

Turkey in the oven & make my husband his Christmas Feast.

Mission accomplished.

He made yummy noises, had second helpings and

said it was the best Turkey ever.

I had a tiny bit with some cranberry sauce,

mashed potatoes & stuffing.

I could taste that it was moist, but that's about it.

Even the sage in the stuffing wasn't strong enough

to awaken my taste buds.

Today my cold is trying to take up residence in my chest.

Not good.

No doubt I'll spend the day trying to rid myself of phlegm bunnies.

I need to really rest & take care of this cold so that

my Sarcoidosis doesn't flare up.

I have gone outside to take Crockett for his walks.

Wrapped up well in multiple layers with hat, hoodie, scarf and mittens.

It doesn't feel like Christmas outside, in that it didn't snow.

I am NOT complaining.

I love that we have snow on the ground and dry clear

streets and sidewalks.

I fear the day the storms of Europe and the Eastern

Seaboard hit Toronto. 

I'm looking forward to my lunch of chicken soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Crockett & my awesome new Ecco Boots.

They're super warm, water proof & have amazing grip.

Maybe I'll make it through a season without a tumble on my backside.

Very cold crisp Boxing Day.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had an enjoyable, safe and

Merry Christmas.

It was a relaxing day but one not spent as anticipated.

My cold got the better of me today.

I had a bad night last night that resulted in waking up foggy.

I made my husband his favorite breakfast and that was it,

every ounce of energy was zapped.

The thought of preparing our Christmas Feast made my bones ache.

Tomorrow is another day.

I had an afternoon nap and then planted myself on the

couch under a cozy blanket & watched

The A-Team ( love love love Liam Neeson)

and Wall Street Money Never Sleeps (terrifyingly scary, greed is bad)

I'm going to give myself a dose of night time Buckley's

and hopefully get a good nights sleep for tomorrow,

I must prepare our Christmas Feast.

Turkey

Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce

Mixed Veggies

and for dessert

Pumpkin Pie.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

I grew up in a bungalow that had a chimney but no fireplace.

I can't remember ever asking my Mother how Santa would get in.

I can't even remember when I stopped believing in Santa.

At this very moment, I wish I was 7 years old.

Or I wish I was the parent of a 7 year old.

Christmas concerts at school.

Festive Arts & Crafts.

Paper Snowflakes.

Making a Santa with a cotton ball beard.

I grew up in a very small family.

My parents emigrated to Canada from England.

We had no relatives close by.

My parents had alot of close friends that became their family, but

Christmas was just the 4 of us, my Mother, Father & older brother Phil.

Christmas Eve, my mother would stay up so late

wrapping all our gifts at the dining room table.

Christmas morning, we'd wake up with our stocking on our bedroom doorknob.

In it was usually a mandarin orange, a 50 cent piece, a bit of chocolate,

one of those small plastic games with silver balls in them that are

impossible to master and a *to do* project.

The *to do* kept us busy so my Mom could get another half hour of sleep.

Christmas morning was the ONLY day of the year that I would wake up before my Mom.

 (ouch!!! I just sneezed so hard it feels like my right eardrum burst)

My favorite *to do* was a bag with a little piece of wood, a small tube of white glue,

a few pieces of felt and a pattern.  Follow the pattern and voila - one year it was

a mouse another it was an elephants head.

When we were done we'd wake up my parents and open our presents.

I loved getting books and new pyjamas.  We would all get a book.

After presents were done, we all went our separate ways.

It was a day I remember as being very relaxing and warm.

I'd go outside to play in the snow or into my room to read my new book or

play with my new toys.

Mom would tidy everything up and then supper preparation began.

We'd have a traditional Christmas Turkey Supper at the dining room table

with a yummy Trifle for dessert.

I had the perfect childhood. Not just Christmas, everyday.

We were not rich, we were not poor, we were not spoiled

and I don't ever remember feeling as though I went without.

It wasn't even a thought.

I was fed, clothed, loved and nurtured.

I was allowed to play.

As a child in the 70's we had freedoms that kids today unfortunately

will never have. It was a different world.

I realize how lucky I was.

I wish that for every child.

Tonight as I sit here at home alone with a nasty cold, my husband with his family,

my parents with my brother and his family, I am hoping to be nestled all snug in my

bed and fast asleep so Santa can come in without the fear of being seen.

Tonight I am thinking about the people I love:

 MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Our awesome 70's Christmas.
My brother took this photo with his new
Polaroid Camera!

Cripes!

Today was the day I was going to get all my work and notes and to do

list updated  so I could enjoy the holiday break with peace of mind.

I've been fighting a cold since Sunday and this morning it has hit me like a ton o' bricks.

Sore scratchy throat, congested drippy nose, watering eyes, constant tickle in my throat

that makes you cough until you feel like you're going to hurl.

Cripes!

Today will be spent with my box of Santa tissues, a dose of Buckley's every

4 hours, Chap Stick and many cups of warm tea.

I bought this bell at Chapters as a joke. It might come in handy today.

Ding.....boy Adam.......tea please.



Merry Pugmas

I was given this ornament today from my boss for Christmas.

I've sat him on top of the tv.

He's even sitting with his back legs off to the side exactly like Crockett.

It is a Sandcast Ornament and it is lovely.

Very thoughtful.

This is a Sandcast Pug my Mother bought me a few years ago.

He stands 8" high and has a perfect Pug nose.

I am having a tough learning curve with my new camera and taking

photos indoors with the flash.

Everything comes out too bright.

I'll have to spend some time doing online tutorials over the holiday break.

It's A Beautiful Day

I am incredibly happy.

To understand why, I must go back more than a year.

This story starts with me being ever so upset.

One morning on my way out of the loo, I noticed that my diamond

had fallen out of my engagement ring.

I was beyond devastated.

It was 6:00am and I had to go to work when all I wanted to do was
cry, feel sorry for myself and hopefully find my diamond.

My ring is not the Hope Diamond but it is mine.

My most cherished possession.

Adam designed it and it is the perfect ring for me.

Had he taken me ring shopping, it would've been the ring I'd have picked.

I knew that it was somewhere between our bed & the bathroom

as it was fine when I went to sleep the night before.

When I got home from work we were down on hands and knees

in a grid pattern searching and searching.
No luck.

With Adam not working, any hope or thought of replacement
quickly left my mind.  It was something we'd fix "someday".
Maybe something nice for our 10th Anniversary.

8 months later, Adam was in the hall in front of the
bathroom and he said, " I found your diamond!"
I didn't believe him. Up to me he walked, his hand in a fist
and dropped my small square sparkly diamond in my hand.

AMAZING!

He said the light had reflected off something and caught his eye.
These are our floor boards:

It was down in between 2 floor boards.

My dear darling husband has been saving his galleons
and he went back to the Jeweller that made my ring & had it fixed
for me for Christmas.
He gave it to me this evening on bended knee.
It's a beautiful day.

As it is white gold, it is not as strong as yellow gold or platinum.
So, I must be mindful.
Before, I never took it off.
Now, it'll have to have a little place of its own
for safekeeping whilst I sleep and bathe.

Thank you Adam.
I love you.
Forever and always.

My ring!