thinning?

Last week while I dipped into a depressive state due to stress over the promotion, I stupidly stepped on a scale... which read more than 20 lbs over my presumed start-weight. As a result, I also didn't log anything on FitDay for the last four days (though at least I didn't throw the diet out the window).

However, today, since I was back on to FitDay, I thought I would brave the scale again and I am down a pound from last Wednesday. Yay! OK.. now no more scale for at least 2 weeks.

Overactive Sense of Morality

OK.. so a little over a year ago, I made a collage at work. It was made from much of the ephemera that had been tucked into books as page markers: postcards, stickers, notes, photos, commercial bookmarks, leaves, tickets, and other things. It was to commemorate moving into our newly rennovated digs and was part of my personal grieving process over the change. I got the "OK" from all the appropriate people... and soon after we moved, the art was hung where it could be seen by all.

Yesterday, I was heartbroken to find that someone felt the need to vandalize the art. One photo in particular had apparently offended someone. The photo shows four students, one guy in the forefront, shirtless, reclining on the lap of a woman, and two other women leaning into the photo. All the women are fully dressed, and all the subjects appear to be enjoying themselves at a party. First they placed heavy-duty stickers over the faces of the photo subjects and then they (or possibly someone else) pasted an entirely new picture (a photocopy of fluffy, doe-eyed kitties) over the defaced photo.

I don't know how long ago this happened, but it sure did tick me off... it was just the icing on the cake of a crappy, unsettling week at work. I took down the collage and it is currently somewhere safe until I can figure out how to properly restore it. Then I may have to take it home... or at least frame it behind glass.

chemically numbed

I spent my Friday afternoon in the dentist's chair. Yay me. I have had thousands of hours of dental and orthodontic work done on my teeth -- fillings, braces, extractions, root canals, and crowns -- but today I had a first. I had to have a filling on the front of one of my molars (usually it is the top). The tooth had become decalcified and though they had tried to seal it twice, the sealant was not enough... so today, a filling. In addition to this one, which required the dentist to stretch the gum away from the tooth in order to drill (!!), I was also having a crown prep on the next molar over. Once she had that tooth partly prepared, it exposed the next molar, which had a cavity hiding under an old filling (there was apparently a crack on the lingual) so that, too, had to be dealth with.

Normally, I require a lot of freezing -- usually double the average dose -- and today it took three doses. This got me thinking about what is in anesthetic and how exactly does it work? More important, what happens to it in my body? Is it possible to overdose? Will it build over time? Is there anything else I should know? Basically all of these questions were answered by the linked article from RxMed on Xylocaine® dental solutions. I still don't really understand how it works... but I am sure I can pull out some of this knowledge at a cocktail party....

In hindsight...

I should have accepted the tarot reading I got prior to applying and NOT applied. The cards basically predicted that I would be betrayed and suffer a fall from grace. Hmmm.

So I went back to the cards and asked, "Should I just get over it?" using a Three Fates spread of the Rider Waite Tarot. And the answer is more or less, "yes." My interpretation of the reading goes like this:

Past = Eight of Swords (interference) = You were screwed
Present = The High Priestess = In the big picture, this is insignificant
Future = Six of Pentacles (success) reversed = I am likely to be childish and petty about it.

The future element is already evident in the emails I have sent to friends but I will try to keep any pointing and laughing to myself. In the meantime, I can settle in and enjoy the next few weeks not being trained, not going to meeting upon meeting, and not getting in over my head.

pickle addendum

UPDATE on the pickles: I still haven't opened them... and I was getting worried about the floating aspect... so I started looking to the great oracle of the net.

I found a Pickling FAQ and by the sounds of the description, my pickles are of the brined/fermented variety which should take 3 weeks. It also says "Discard any cucumbers which "float"--they can make hollow pickles" but since I sliced them, I know they aren't hollow.... how confusing.

And of course now is when I think to type in "alton brown pickles" into Google. Duh. His recipe is more complex, but a refrigerator dill, which apparently are ready to eat in a week.

Job not mine...

Well, as I suspected, they offered the job to someone else. It was still a shock to hear it though, and it confirms that I have climbed as high as they will let me in this institution. And you know what? That's OK. Didn't stop me from bursting into tears, but I had wound myself up into such a knot today that I had no other way to react. And in fact by crying, I showed quite clearly why I shouldn't be a supervisor. But I still have a job, and the person I am going to be working with is someone with whom I get along very well, so that much will be easy to deal with. Now I am going to wander off from the area until the red in my eyes goes away...

stupid stupid stupid!

I spent two hours this afternoon moving furniture, cleaning, vacuuming and spraying the carpet and upholstery with the IGR spray... and despite all the info on the can, I did so without footwear. So now, the soles of my feet are red and tingly and I am sure it is a minor chemical burn. [pout]

torture by toddler

So it seems my day's plans are ruined because the child wouldn't go to sleep til after 11:00 last night then woke up around 5 a.m., hungry. So up I got at 5, back to bed at 6:30 (sleep at 7) then up again at 9. The child still sleeps, but rest assured I shall be waking her rudely very soon.

In other news, I had been merrily deleting all the notices from CafePress because I presumed they were all promo crap. However, I learned last night that someone actually BOUGHT something from my store! Who woulda' thought? I created the store a while ago, in a fit of (anti-American) Canadian patriotism. I took an image of a leaf I scanned and added the words "live by the leaf" in a funky urban tag script. Of course the item I sold went to an American and now I have a US$3 credit, and it's burning a hole in my virtual pocket.

Election delay memo

In this article, Memo: 'Terror' Election Barring Voters Could Stand - by Ritt Goldstein the author considers some of the options for the Executive Branch to manipulate the next election. Basically, by postponing the election and/or by disenfranchising a large number of voters, Bush and his supporters could easily and legally screw over the election.

Makes me shudder...

waiting is the hardest part

Still no word on the successful candidates. Makes me a bit worried because usually delay = another candidate has been offered the position and they are waiting for an answer before notifying all the other candidates. Sigh... maybe tomorrow.

My pickles are still, I think, not pickled. The slices are all floating at the top of the mixture, so I hope they will settle soon and be edible. At least all six jars sealed properly.

The flea control for the cats seems to be working now, so my task tomorrow will be cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and then spraying the whole place down with insecticide (specifically an IGR, insect growth regulator product). Gak. So much work. On the plus side, our cats seem happy again.

Plans for friday night are to let the little one sleepover at Granny's (she has been asking for weeks) so hubby and I can take in a couple of Fringe shows... the question becomes which ones. We are also planning on taking in Fringe Kids on Saturday -- should be mostly insane.

But of course, I have to get through the rest of this week... which promises to be a long one.... including dental work on Friday afternoon (ugh).

pickles in the rain

I finally got to make my dill pickles today! It was my first attempt, so we will have to wait a while to find out if I have pickles or soggy cucumbers.

Before I made the pickles, it rained. It rained and rained and rained. Then we went on a long walk to the grocery store to get pickling spice; we walked to be in the rain (ahhhhh) and so kiddo could splash along the way.

presto change-o

Aaaagh! Value Village has rearranged its floorplan! Don't they know I am a creature of habit? Now the floorplan looks more like it did when the place first opened, except that all the changerooms are still in the same place, which is the opposite corner to most of the clothing, and right now all of the Halloween crap is directly in between the regular clothes and the changerooms.

Tonight's $20 take consisted of: a new pair of winter clogs (Roots) to replace the pair which finally cracked last year, a new melamine tray, a small triangular Tupperware container (with a lid and without any residual stink), some hair accessories (still on their cards) plus a huge bag of blocks and a little traffic cone for the kid. Whee!

Herding cats

So today, my task was to get the cats to the vet. A long-postponed task for many reasons... but now done, though not as easy as I'd like. Take two cats who barely tolerate each other and place them in cat carriers; add 3 kids and toss liberally in minivan. Both cats were overdue for shots, and their basic checkup and are suffering from major flea problems (damned hot summer!), so they were cranky to start with. I got away with a single puncture wound on my shoulder and some light scratches. Not too bad. I am very proud of myself for getting this done without hubby (who would have liked to be there, but had things blow up at work, so couldn't escape). Anyway, $200 later, one cat is all dosed and done for a year, the other has antibiotics for 10 days to attempt to clear up some ugly gingivitis. Poor critter.

Once at work, I settled in for a quiet Thursday evening... but got cornered by a patron who regularly racks up overdue fines and tries to wiggle out of them. I wouldn't budge on his latest fines, and he got very cranky... so we'll see if this comes back to bite me later.

I still haven't heard about the job -- my interview was Monday -- but I have stopped freaking out about it; I expect to hear by next Monday.

Counting calories is sucking, but FitDay is helping to track things. Since I am at the computer several hours a day most days, I am more likely to do the food journal. I did walk to the grocery store earlier today, pulling the toddler in the wagon and on the way back, the groceries and the toddler. Basically I have cut my calories by a moderate amount and am working on better balancing my diet by reducing my fat (no wonder I have weight issues -- my first entry which was a typical day had over 50% of my calories from fat!! Ack!)

BetaVote.com

Wish you could vote in the upcoming US election? Cast your ballot and see the results at the highly unscientific BetaVote.com.

FitDay

Something I forgot to mention in my Brain Dump yesterday... I created an account on FitDay.com which is a way of tracking what you eat and what you do to burn off the calories! It's not perfect... but it is more convenient than other food diaries. Thanks go out to Kimsquit for pointing to the site. Hiis journal is publicly visible but there is no way mine is going to be.

I have set a goal to lose 50 lbs by my next birthday... it is do-able if I can actually put some activity into my days and watch all the "hidden calories" that sneak into my daily diet. Really though, I'd be excited by a loss of half that much!

brain dump

Ended up listening to JackFM instead of CBC at 5:00 (which I had flipped away from out of boredom over a long-winded discussion about Olympic legacies). I am so glad I did because I learned that Hudson Mack long-time face of CHEK6 (now just "CH") is moving to the re-tooled NewVI (not that it is NEW after 3 years!). I laughed out loud! Then I switched back to CBC to hear the world news.

I have been all angsty since my interview yesterday.. which is probably a sign that they won't offer it to me; which happened with the last two interviews I angsted and lost sleep over. It remains to be seen, since I won't know until next Monday likely.

If I don't get the offer, plan B may include a move north ... way north... like Whitehorse or Nunavut. It's all about the northern living allowance, baby. What other country pays people for living in otherwise inhospitable locations?

There actually is one Elvis song that I really like: In the Ghetto. I found it a few years back... I used think everything Elvis did was overrated, but that one really stands out. Sure the production on it is overblown, but it is a beautiful song. I transferred it to my MP3 drive today.

Twice now, I have seen the same person wearing a gi (karate or judo uniform), cycling down Shelbourne after dark with no helmet -- gee, hope they learned some moves to help when someone sideswipes their ass.

I found my T4!

Remember my missing T4 that sent me into that filing purging frenzy at home? I just found it. At work. It never made it home! It was tucked in between a couple of HR-related memos.... sigh.

Day trippin...

After a long morning of "what do you want to do today?" "I dunno. What do you want to do?" that went on before, during and after breakfast, I finally said "We could drive up to Duncan." So we did. We stopped at Whippletree Junction, then went to Just Jake's in Duncan for lunch, then went north to our favourite farm stand and bought $14 in produce (four bags! -- though two are corn) then filled the tank on the way home since gas is four cents a litre cheaper in Duncan.

We made a brief stop at Michael's before we came home for dinner where I got a few more basic kids craft supplies (pipe cleaners and googly eyes) and Mike got supplies to make Alice a birdcage (we saw some cheaply made ornamental ones at Whippletree and thought we could make one for less than $25).

Odd, sad news.

This is so sad.
480-pound woman dies after six years on couch

pigtails and the married girl

Is 35 too early for a mid-life crisis? I mean, we are supposed to live to 82 right.. so does that mean I am early or that I am going to die at 70? Because while I totally accepted 35 on my birthday, I am having a bit of trouble with it right now. Maybe because I am reading blogs of twenty-somethings and reminiscing... or maybe because my toddler is driving me insane... I mean when my Mom was 35, I was 14... a different brand of crazy-making... and she went back to University.

Anyway, today my crisis emerged in the form of pigtails and I think I will have to remember pigtails as a clever alternative to the goofy hat. You see, I learned a while ago in public service that when you wear a goofy hat (ie: Santa Hat, pumpkin deely bobbers, bunny ears or what have you) the level of guff goes down to almost zero. In fact, my interactions while wearing a goofy hat are much more upbeat; people tend to either chat with or step away from the crazy lady. Today has been just like that... so I will remember to break out the pigtails more often.

FlyLady.net

FlyLady.net: Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home

hmmm... I do love their pitch: "Are YOU living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)?" but seems a little bit much... will have to come back and check it out...

Vanity Bio

Too lazy to scrapbook? Too vain? Let Echo Memoirs interview you and "turn your memories and photographs into an exquisitely designed coffee table book..."
I'm sure they are fabulous for $5,000... and if I ever win the big lotto, I'll buy one.

At least the company is Canadian (Vancouver-based) so more power to 'em!

Quidnunc

Vocab-building time! Quidnunc literally translates into "What Now?" and means basically a gossip-monger. I came across it while taking one of those cheesy Quizilla quizzes (what kind of social entity are you?) -- incidentally, I came out as "the Hub" apparently a networker, which is not quite accurate.... but it's a cheesy ten-question quiz, so what'cha gonna do?

busy/lazy Saturday

My day started early with a trip to SilverCity to watch and review Yu-Gi-Oh! -- basically, I have seen a lot worse. It had an overview (so newbies weren't lost) and a relatively clear plot... but I felt really strange being pretty much the only adult there not herding 3 or 4 kids... oh for a fedora with a PRESS tag!

The afternoon began with a frustrating trip to McD's (plus side, got to try the new chicken strips, they aren't bad -- minus side, my kid climbed up inside the play area then woudn't/couldn't climb down unassisted) followed by a trip to the new Linens, Etc. where we got a new "mildew-resistant" shower curtain. (I know, my life is incredibly exciting isn't it?)

After dinner, we went out again... to Value Village. I was looking for a cheap camera, but ended up looking for clothes. My mistake. Thought I could actually still FIT into clothes that looked OK... but no. I am hopelessly out of shape, overweight and miserable. So naturally, we followed shopping with a movie (why be active?).

The movie we rented was the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, a modern homage to the great B-Movies of the 50's and 60's. It was a lot of fun with laugh out loud dialogue, crappy spray-painted cardboard models, a battle to the death between a skeleton and a mutant, and it was filmed in "skeletorama"! Who could ask for more? Simply brilliant.

Lifted lettering

Man, this would suck. In this post: RobotJohnny.com: Time for a Beer the artist/font designer laments that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (or the company they hired to do their promotions) has used a shareware font without payment to the designer. The promotion in question is used both in the stores and on the web.

Stuff like this really irks me because it means that one more designer may decide that posting shareware is no longer an option. Which ultimately means fewer options for the rest of us.

Of Dreams and Alarms

Alarm clocks are so anti-human... I was in mid-dream (and it was a good one -- filled with, erm, romance instead of freaks) when my dream self heard an insistent beep-beep and instinctively reached for my cell phone... next thing I know my real self is hammering on the alarm clock and staring at a cat.

Speaking of cats, one of ours just jumped through the pass-through window from the kitchen to the living room... which unfortunately means she had to jump on the counter. Ewww. Thank the gods for disinfectant wipes!

In other news, I just got offered a review pass for Yu-Gi-Oh tomorrow, so now I need to figure out what all the fuss is about before I go see it. Google, ahoy!

Hair must be changed....

I have grown tired of my hair. Really tired. Bored. I hate to even look at it, so every day it just goes up into a ponytail, and I clip in the stray bits on the side. Makes me look and feel frumpy.

So, I am going to change it. I will go for colour and cut care of Vanessa, who is at Martier School of Hair Design right now. I haven't made the appointment yet, though, because well, frumpy trumps freaky for a job interview.

Don't believe everything you read

A word on hoax blogs via the Globe and Mail.

I gotta say, there are some pretty odd blogs out there... though I have not run across any as referenced, I had at least heard about Plain Layne.

Basic Training

Oooh... since I bitched about it, I got enrolled in Dreamweaver: The Basics for work. The course was, alas, aimed at complete novices, which I am not. I suspect it would have taken me a couple of hours to find all the buttons, and scroll through the menu options anyway, so why not sit back and enjoy the tour?

(In case you are wondering, I hand code as a rule. I like it that way. I also like ancient early-80s Atari better than x-box, so perhaps I am a fossil. So sue me.)

So anyway, now I know how to do all sorts of basic web design stuff using the WYSIWIG standard for my workplace. Yay Me. Now I have to convince the Powers That Be to give me access to the program that doesn't involve moving all my physical notes and self to another deskspace (which is the best offer I have had so far).

Of course, in a few weeks time I may have a different job alltogether (I have applied for a new job in the same department. It's more money but fewer hours, so I'd come out close to even.) Fingers crossed.

little things...

Driving to work yesterday, I was waiting at a long traffic light and I noticed a little kid dancing around in a costume outside his (her?) front door... at first I thought it was a bird (it had wings), then I thought it was a horse (it had a mane and a tail), then I realized it must be a Pegasus costume! How clever. And the kid was really cute.

***

Landscaped part of our deck on Saturday... have to admit, it was fun to wander through the gravel mart and pick out just the right paving stones and rocks. Now we have a nice looking little weed-free area... that is covered in riding toys. Sigh.

We also painted our freezer which sits outside and had started to go rusty. So we used Tremclad, like the ad says "right over the rust." Yay!

***

Dug out some boxes from storage last night and found a box we had packed about six years ago. Inside were two decks of idea cards (52 Ways to Simplify Your Life and 52 Tokens of Affection), also in the box was my wedding plan binder, and a bunch of personal keepsakes, like my first welding project that the instructor said looked professional. Boxes like that are like little treasure troves and just make me smile... but then I think no one else would get it.... and I start thinking, that if I died suddenly, someone would have to clean out all those boxes... and how sad that they wouldn't understand the significance.... then I think I should write it all down, and document stuff... like scrapbooking... actually not a bad idea. I like the concept of scrapbooking, I just lack the time to do it! I have a bundle of stuff put aside for Alice's scrapbook... but have done nothing. Sigh.

from marmalade.ca

From one of my blogrolled sites, marmalade.ca, comes this wonderful found comedy from the DNC: Jesus! We need more balloons!... now if only TV funhouse would pick this for a "fun with real audio" SNL segment....