Dish Towel/Face Cloths

Today in the mail, I received a package from my cousin Jenn - (THANK YOU AGAIN JENN)

So she mailed me 3 samples of crochet dish towels/face cloths, whatever I want to make of them. She also linked me to the site where the patterns are (these are not complete full size of the pattern) but I plan on running out to Walmart tomorrow to get Cotton Bernat Yarn to make some more! I'm set out to make them! She made some for me, and didn't even make any for herself - that was very nice of her. I think I will make my first one for her then! This was such a cool idea - and it was sooooo much fun to get some mail.


I marinated chicken wings in tereyaki sauce (been really into tereyaki lately) and it was delicious for dinner.

Well - I am off to bed. It's getting late, and I have a LOT of things that I want to accomplish tomorrow. I haven't yet decided if I am going to go alone to the knitting meeting, maybe. I feel like I should get out of my house and meet new people, but I also would have felt more comfortable going with Jenn for my second meeting.

Exhausted. It's been a long day, and I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night (I couldn't sleep and didn't even attempt to go to sleep until 1 am last night).

No More Skim Milk?

Before class I had time to do an errand - so I went by Zellers and did my return there. I also decided to take a look to see if they had any nice women's winter driving gloves - and they did, so I went to go buy a pair, fully expecting to pay full price - $14.97 for a pair, and when I got to the cash, the cashier gave me my total - $8.61 - they were 50% off. So, because I have a bad habit of LOSING gloves or getting holes in them (both happened to my 2 good pairs this winter - one incident to one and the other to the other pair) and so I ran and picked up 2 more pairs, and now I have TWO pairs of extra gloves, (they're sexy driving gloves, I love them) and so I have BACKUP for the next hole, or the next lost glove. (Knock on wood!)

I swung by Starbucks on my way back to class, as I had a coupon from my friend Miriam for a free drink. I asked the guy at the cash what I could get with it - he said, anything, any size. PERFECT. So I had a venti Chai Latte with Soy. Pretty damn good. It was! And free! Thanks Miriam!


Class went by pretty good, I spent the entire time working on drawing the Canadian Government building, fun fun. This is what it looks like so far (not finished). But I'm very impressed with what I've come up with so far. Basically I have to create a coin for my Visual Communications class showing how I feel about the Canadian Economy. Well - do I have an idea! We'll see if I can realistically do it - and I'll post a picture of the final product.

On my way home I tried to pick up my green purse that I had in the shop to get fixed, but it was not ready. Was a little bit annoyed, because he said it would be ready by the end of last week. Why has everyone and everybody been off guard lately. Anyhow, he said it would be ready for tomorrow, so I'll swing by on my way home from class tomorrow, same time.

Did groceries after that, walked around the grocery store asking myself "WHAT DO WE NEED?" Uhm, everything! Our fridge was quite empty. We have non-perishable items, but it was starting to get to the point where there was nothing to have the non-perishable food items with. Some things you just can't eat alone, or just wouldn't.

Walking around the grocery store, I couldn't figure out where the skim milk had gone to. The last time I bought milk, I thought I was buying skim, but indeed it was 0.01%. Well - went to the spot where my skim milk used to be - same bottle, same colour, etc... but I guess that well - SKIM in the title doesn't exist anymore. It is now called 0.01%. What is that? Why change it all of a sudden - out of nowhere? Was there a poll? Do people perfer it being called 0.01%? I wonder.

I am so happy that I've now added the stationary bike into my routine at the gym. I now have between 20-30 minutes (depending on how long I choose to ride) to read. I love it. At least that's an hour and a half each week of reading. Hopefully more, as I'm trying to find more time in my life to sit down and read.

After getting home, I relaxed for a little bit and then made tacos for dinner, along with Jamie's help. They were delicious and really hit the spot. It's exactly what I wanted.

Jamie and I watched 24, which was REALLY GOOD once again, while I crochet a bit and worked on a blue/green shaded blanket/afghan that I'm working on, for a small child, or baby. Haven't decided yet.

So it's been confirmed. The girl from Brazil that is a goddaughert of my family there, is 21 years old - cool. I will email her tomorrow and let her know that she is more than welcome to stay with me, I just need to know further details on her travels. She speaks English and is coming to Toronto to do a 2 week English class to improve her English, and then she can't come to Canada without visiting Montreal and her godmother's wonderful family. I am the closest in age to her, that has the room to have her stay over, and so that's what the whole thing was the other. Yes - it was a little bit imposing, but it's cool - I'd love to meet her, and show her around the city.

So my sister's Canon Rebel XT came in, and she will have it first thing tomorrow, however mine didn't arrive, and so it will come tomorrow and she'll overnight it to me. And instead of a 512 meg card CF card that was coming with the auction, she upgraded the cards to 1 gig cards. (That's nice of her, and it will be much more useful with an 8mp camera! ) I can't wait to get my new toy. Oh, I can't wait! And I have someone lined up to purchase my camera, so I am really happy about that - let me tell you! It's always exciting to get a new toy!

The Pillow Fight

Baby-sitting last night was a lot of fun. I actually had a good time, so that's good. I got there around 7:15pm. After the parents left, the kids ate dinner, and then we watched a little of the hockey game, because that's what Lucas wanted to do. (He's 8 years old). And then we put in the movie Kicking & Screaming with Will Farrell. Very cute for kids. It's a soccer movie about a father and son competing against each other. I enjoyed it, as I love kids movies as well.
During the movie, I had brought my sewing kit with me, so I fixed my pink jacket, which most of the buttons had fallen off of. I also fixed my black sweater, a favourite one that had a hole by the neckline. I still need to fix the pockets in my black jacket and sew Jamie's pj pants, but otherwise, it's all good, and my sewing is getting accomplished.

After the movie, we had a pillow fight, which was a TON of fun. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and we were playfully throwing pillows around, there was no actual hitting involved, thank goodness. I was worn out by the end of that game!

After the pillow fight they insisted on playing hide and seek, so I'd count with one kid while the other hid, and since I kind of realize what direction they were going to go hide, I took the kid I was counting with to a complete opposite area of the house, to make the game last longer. I counted with each kid once, while the other kid hid, and that was the end of that game.

After hide and seek we watched the movie Lion King 1.5 while I worked on 2 necklaces my grandmother gave me to fix for her. I wanted to give them to her tonight at dinner as she's leaving Tuesday for Florida for 7 and a half weeks, and wanted to get them to her before she left. It didn't take me much time to do what she wanted me to. So, I was pretty happy about that. Another thing accomplished.

The kids went to bed pretty late, around 11:30pm, but Vanessa their 4 year old had napped for a couple of hours before I got there, so she was wide awake all evening. My parents best friends got home at about midnight, and I got paid pretty well for the time I was there. I ended up spending an extra hour there, talking with my parents best friends, it was kind of nice. Terri, sure knows how to yap for hours, so it was almost as if she didn't want to let me go home!

Today I slept in a bit, and this afternoon Jamie & I watched the movie Two For the Money with Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey. I enjoyed it, a sport betting movie. Jamie thought it was just okay, but then again he thinks ALL MOVIES are Just Okay. Lol.

Yesterday at the gym, I discovered a new favourite cardio machine, which allows me to read while using it (the other cardio machine I use makes me bounce around too much, that reading is very shaky. Not good). Anyhow, so this new machine, that I never noticed before, gives me half an hour of reading time. I like it! I have been lacking in reading time lately, and this way I get to kill 2 birds with one stone, by working out and reading at the same time.

My dad called me to ask me if a cousin from Brazil, that he not even sure who she is, or how old she is, or if she speaks English, but she's coming to Canada in February (which is like Wednesday - so who knows when in February), to Toronto for 2 weeks for some course, and then she's spending 5 days in Montreal. A cousin that I do know, asked if she could stay at my house. Thanks for imposing, I don't know the details, but I don't want someone who's like 50 years old staying at my house, and that I'd have to entertain. If it's someone who is liek 25 or 30, then that's a whole other story... but I still do have school and maybe even a job (if it works out) so who knows what's with that story. I guess I will find out.

Ok, I'm going to go shower, I have to be at dinner with my parents and grandparents at 6:30pm. I want to have enough time to do my hair!

Dress Shopping

Got up at 7:15 am this morning to go dress shopping for my cousin Jenn's wedding. I'm a bridesmaid and one of the bridesmaid's father-in-law owns a boutique called S.B. Soiree and was offering for us to come and take a look at what he had. Well, I found a dress today! After about 2 hours of trying stuff on. Jenn's sister Laura, was the one who actually found the dress. And I love it. It's actually going to be in a different color than in the picture below. This is all I could find on the internet (of course they weren't going to post the same dress in 10 different colours or whatever.
So this is the dress, and I ordered it in a dark chocolate brown colour called Espresso and where the hot pink is will be a light brown colour called Latte. It's going to be gorgeous, and I think I'm actually going to try to find gold shoes, since gold will go very well with dark brown.

Off to go eat dinner and babysit for my parent's best friends. They want to go out with my parents tonight, and had no sitter. They have 2 kids, 8 & 4 years old, and they like me, and know me, so it's all good. It was either sitting at home and crocheting while watching a movie, or going to their house and doing the same, but getting paid to do so! It's been years, but you can't really forget how to babysit. LOL.

Fun Stuff

A crafter friend online, Monica sent me some awesome stuff to collage with - stuff that I don't even know where I would even find here in my home town, and I love it. I need to find cool stuff like this. I plan on starting a new journal soon, (have the journal) just want to collect enough stuff first before beginning it - so I can hopefully accomplish a lot of it in one shot. I love creating and working on it - and I have these lovely brown recycled journals that I want to work with.

Monica's mail was pretty cool, on the outside of the envelope had this stamp on it:
So I emailed her to ask her where she got it. They are from Meer Image. I love stamps though! So much fun to play with.

I also saw this one (Do not attempt to open) but I don't send enough postcards to buy it, and also, I don't EVER have room on the backside of the postcard to even stamp that on - I always have a ton of writing and there would be no room. Oh well. It's pretty neat. I like a lot of the stamps they have on their site.

This afternoon I just chilled at home, did a few things around the house, including yet MORE laundry (which seems to never end) and cleaned up a bit around the house.

I also got a cute package in the mail today from my friend Sherrie in Boston. I got some watercolor paints (Crayola - love it!), some ouchless hair elastics, a magnet where you insert your own picture for my fridge, some birthday candles (not too sure why, it's not my birthday yet - but you can always be prepared with birthday candles), I also got some mints, chocolate chips cookies (bad bad Sherrie, she knows I'm on a diet - but I ate them anyhow! They were so soft and chewy! LOL). She also wrote me a card - and I can't wait to use the watercolors, as I have leftover postcards from the postcard swap - which are plain, (I collaged on top of them), and they are actually watercolor paper. Can't wait!) Oh, and she sent some Cat Nip for Zeus and Jazz.

Jazz is never photogenic I find. I am always disappointed when taking pictures of him. They never come out as I'd like, since he's all black. In this picture, I see his mouth, but it's hard to tell. The cat was lying on his back, after taking a whiff of the cat nip. I don't know what's in there, but it's certainly cat drugs!

Zeus is always photogenic.

I love this cat. He's so cute. And he went NUTS over the cat nip. I
can't believe my cats actually got mail. That's impressive!

I felt like it was my birthday or something today - getting the package from Sherrie.

This evening Jamie had his friends over to play poker, I decided NOT to play, so I opened a bottle of wine, and just relaxed. Feeling really good right now.

Today was a long day. Not feeling too good to start off with and it was just long, and started early. I got about 6 and a half hours of sleep last night, and my body is telling me that it's not enough. Not at all.

Today is Laura's birthday - my friend at school. I made her some blueberry muffins last night, she enjoyed them quite a bit today. I also gave her a birthday present.

I got my first post card in the mail today (above) from the postcard swap! Thanks mrlovink - came from somewhere in Canada... not too sure where. I really like the drawing, better than I could ever draw. Very cute. Can't wait to see what else I get.

I finished Jamie's scarf. He accidently saw it tonight, and he likes it. He saw it before it was even finished. He actually asked me if I would make him a pair of wool socks. Hmmm, I could certainly try! I've never made any kind of socks, but I definitely want to learn. I was going to make a pair for myself, maybe I'll make him a pair first. I've got to see what yarn in my stash would be good for a man's pair of socks!

This evening I wasn't feeling too well - took a little nap, and watched some TV with Jamie (the hockey game, CSI and then Without a Trace). We made white fish for dinner (marinated in teryaki sauce with a little bit of garlic) and with a side dish of rice - it was really good. I was really impressed. Simple to make and soooooo damn delicious! I loved it.

Well, I am off to bed. I am zonked and got an early day again tomorrow (9 am class).

Jamie's Scarf & First Postcard

The Job Interview

Today I saw that there was an ad still in the newspaper in the Classifieds section, for a job for a part time assistant dog trainer/walker. So, I emailed my CV. I had seen the ad on the weekend in the paper, and it seemed interesting, but I didn't think twice about it. Today, I saw it again, and said "what the heck".

Zoe, the owner, called me back this afternoon, and at 3:45pm I had an interview. It's a good thing that she lives around the corner from my house.

Her company's website states: "'Piloting your puppy' means opening up to a world of possibilities, making your desire for a happy, attentive, and playful canine companion take flight.

Our destination is always about improving your dog's life and behaviour. From your dog’s arrival and across their lifespan, PUP is by your side helping you every step, trek, and leap along the way.

With PUP at the helm, the very best in dog training and care is at your disposal.

The skies just got a lot friendlier. Welcome aboard."

Interesting.

This would be my job:

PUP Tours is a unique one-on-one dog walking service that takes dog outings to a whole new level of fun, exercise and learning.

PUP Tours provides your dog with essential cardio activity, while teaching road safety skills and positive leash training. PUP Tours addresses challenging walking behaviours (i.e. lunging, chasing, pulling, aggression, etc.), by using positive leadership and guided walking.

Tours with small groups of dogs are also available.

It would entail about one month worth of paid training, and then I could take the dogs out on my own. I would usually work with 1 dog at a time, and maybe get the 2 dog small group if I'm comfortable. I would only be working about 10 hours a week - which is great, considering I am in school and don't have much time. I'd do 6 hours on Wednesdays and 4 on Friday afternoons. Perfect! STILL HAVE MY WEEKENDS FREE! I love it.

I think the interview went great. I will find out on the weekend if I got the job or not - Zoe's still interviewing people all week. She's looking to hire 2 people.

Zoe requires atleast a 6 month commitment when she hires you, because what's the point of her training you and investing all her time in you, and then after like 2 months, you quit on her. Plus, also, the dogs get confused when trainers keep switching on them. If I get this job, I definitely plan on keeping it until I graduate, which is in 7 months, and it's always good to have back up until I start working in my field.


This is her dog Hakuin, who is featured all over her website. She was very well behaved when I was over today, and still young, at 3 years old, was so cute.

I'm crossing my fingers that I get this job - it means walking dogs and getting into shape, and a little dog poop won't harm me. Plus it means some income, and well, getting out of the house a little more. I really hope that I get it - but I'm not going to cry over it if I don't.

I made muffins tonight, for Laura, it's her birthday tomorrow. I had promised her cupcakes, but blueberry muffins will have to do.

I ran into Tara, an old friend at the gym today. It was really good seeing her, and we caught up a little bit while using the machines, and she gave me some advise on not to use a certain trainer at the gym (have been thinking about seeing one to get a schedule/routine for my workout).

My cousin Jenn called me tonight just after I finished watching American Idol (been watching the auditions, it makes me laugh!) and she told me that she was very proud of me, that I used the word FROG in one of my last posts - thanks Jenn - you made me laugh. Jenn & I have a date on Thursday night to go to the knitting meetup here in Montreal - I hope she comes with me more often, I plan on attending more - so much fun. Even though there wasn't that many people at the last one, I had a good time! It's nice to get out of the house every other week to see different people! That's for sure. I will see Jenn this Saturday morning at 8 am when we go to check out bridesmaids dresses as a group at one of the bridesmaid's father-in-law's bridal shop. 8 am! EEech!

WIP & Other Stuff

Last night I took apart the afghan that my grandmother helped me start, and I took it apart because there was a TON of errors on it. I could not continue on it, it was just not cool. It really bothered me. So, today, I restarted it, but for some reason, this time it curled up. (See below)

It should be flat, like the top row here (above), and the bottom row, is what it's doing (the curling). So I pinned it out, and it seems fine now. If it curls up again, then I'm going to try blocking it, but so far, so good. It was pinned out straight all night, on the bookshelf in my office.

This is the grey scarf (very plain) that I started for Jamie for V-day. It's not finished, I plan on making it thicker, it's not thick enough for him yet. It's right now a skein and a half. I can see it easily being between 2-3 full skeins. I hope he will like it. He likes things simple and plain and not busy. I was going to do it two colours, black and grey, but I thought eh would like the grey alone better. The grey is actually a little darker than this in real life - I guess the flash messed with the colour a little bit. (So picture it a little darker).

While I was watching TV this evening in the den, Zeus was sleeping next to me covering his eyes - boy was it adorable!

Watched the 2 hour American Idol today - SOOO FUNNY. I love Simon and the way he makes fun of people who can't sing. I love watching the people who can't sing. And I laugh. And I laugh some more.

So happy I have the day off tomorrow. Things I want to get done!

Post Card Swap & Canadian Elections

I slept in this morning longer than I wanted to - so I didn't get anything accomplished this morning at all. I had a bunch of things that I wanted to get done, but didn't. I did however get the chance to drop off my green purse at the repair shop, as the handle broke before the weekend, and the guy was closed all weekend, and I'm dying for my purse to be fixed. I don't understand why it broke, and it's going to cost me 15$. I don't know if that's plus taxes or including taxes, I guess I will see when I go back at the end of the week or next week to pick it up.

My teacher was all messed up in class this morning as the software that we need for class wasn't installed on the computers properly. (Quark Express). It was there, but locked. So none of us had access to it, and of course the 1 technician that the school has, wasn't there. So... we decided to do our Thursday Visual Communications class this morning, and then decided that it was a better idea to do them every Monday and switch our Monday class to Thursday. This way, I'm in classes only from 12-3pm on Mondays and Thursdays I'm in class from 8-12 instead of 8-11 and then have an hour and a half break before my 12:30-3:30pm class. This way, I only have a half an hour to kill, instead of longer! I liked this idea. It's with the same teacher, so why not?! I don't mind this at all.

When I got home, I started working on my postcards for the post card swap. I have been procrastinating doing them, because I haven't been in the creative mood to do them. For some reason I got inspired today, and started at them. Finished all 10, and will mail them out tomorrow. (BEFORE DEADLINE! I'm so proud of myself - Deadline is postmarked by Saturday, January 28th, 2006). I have scanned them all, and will post them up next week or something, after they've been received! I have swapped to: USA (6), Canada (1), Sweden (1), Australia (1), Northern Ireland (1). I have yet to receive a single postcard from people who have my name - but I am sure as of next week they will start arriving. I can't wait to see what I will receive - I've seen some blog's that I read - some people have posted what they've done, and I secretely hope that I am on their list! (LOL).

This evening I frogged the ripple afghan I was working on, and restarted it. I am MUCH happier with it now, that it's been FIXED! The mistakes were actually really driving me mad! I am a perfectionist, what can I say.

So it looks like Steven Harper of the Conservaties will be our new Prime Minister. So long Paul Martin. However, I don't think that Harper will be any better - he's corrupt. Apparently he's against abortion and wants to remove the same sex marriage law in Canada. That's conservative for you. As a married woman, I don't care about the abortion law, because if I should get pregnant, I won't be having an abortion. But, I am for abortion, it's a woman's right to choose, I wouldn't want to be 15 or 14 or even 18 or even 35, and pregnant, and not want to keep it, but not have the option. And, same sex marriage? My mother-in-law got married just over a year ago (November 27th, 2004) and if the law gets removed, that means she won't be recognized anymore by the government, and what does that mean for her and her wife? Ugh... why are the Canadian elections and politics so damn corrupt?

Well, I'm going to go shower and go to sleep. 8 am class tomorrow morning.

Baby Sitting Services Offered

Got up early again today - before 11 am. What's wrong with me? I am so used to sleeping in on the weekends! Oh well - maybe getting up early is a good thing. Then again - I also didn't go to bed last night late. I think just after midnight I was fast asleep.
I started to clean up from last night this morning. We didn't clean up anything last night, decided to just chill out after my parents left around 10:30pm. (Mom had to be home to take the dog out to pee - as he'd been left alone for over 4 hours (the longest he's been left alone apparently) and there was a huge mess in the dinning room as well as in the kitchen, by the time my parents left. Did a dishwasher load, and attempted to do some laundry (which actually got neglected - oops).

Organized my things for school tomorrow, but didn't work on a few of the items I should have. Ate a simple dinner (whole wheat pita with cold cuts) and just watched Desperate Housewives while working on the scarf I'm crocheting for Jamie.

Today I called my dad's best friend and spoke to his wife. I offered babysitting services to them for next weekend - and for whenever they are stuck. (My parents told me that they were stuck for next weekend, and they want to go out with my parents but couldn't find a sitter). I hestitated a little before calling - but you know what? I have no job - I can't really get a job as I don't have the hours to fullfill what a full time job would ask of me, and well I need some sort of money to come in - so I figured - why not babysit? The kids know me, they are comfortable with me, (I actually used to babysit the older one when he was younger - now there's 2 kids) and it should be cool. Saturday night's we usually stay home, chill, have people over, watch the hockey game, I crochet - whatever. If I sit at home and crochet, or I go to my dad's best friend's house and crochet - what's the difference? LOL.... Get paid to crochet. We'll see how Saturday night goes. It'll be a test to see for future babysitting times with them. If it goes well, then maybe I'll just do it until I graduate - no harm in that. I can't believe I'm going back to a job that I haven't done in YEARS!

Dinner With My Parents

Slept in a little bit today, but not as late as I would have liked to. I got up just after 10 am, which is early for me for a Saturday! In the morning I took my time doing my chores, cleaning up the house as my parents came over for dinner this evening. I did some laundry, I washed a lot of dishes (well, my dishwasher did) and organized my house a little better (office and bedroom).

I had a haircut apt with a friend of mine who does a cut and blowdry for 20$ (and I tip her 5$). I only got a trim though, because I am growing out my hair. Right now it's in the middle of my back - I am not too sure how much longer I am growing it - I guess until it's not manageable anymore?

When I got home I prepared dinner, (Cranberry Brisket takes 3 hours in the oven to bake) and then I walked over to the deli near our place to pick up a few items for dinner. It was so beautiful outside when I walked over to the deli, it had just stopped snowing and everything was just sooooo white. I wish I had my camera on me at that moment, but I didn't, and when I walked back home from the deli, it was dark out already. Too bad, maybe it'll still look as gorgeous tomorrow. It was just so white, and the way that the snow fell onto all the trees, it was so beautiful on our street.

I finally took out these towels out of the box that they were still sitting in. Aren't they very cute? I got them just after moving out - and well, just loved them too much to use them. But if I never take them out of the box, then what was the purpose of buying them in the first place? I took them out of the box, and put them out in the bathroom.

My parents came over for dinner, and it was nice. They brought us a bottle of wine, which we opened during dinner, and everyone enjoyed my brisket and we had a nice evening.

Well - I am going to go watch some TV in bed. Tired and still all happy from wine!

Shower Ring Invention

Class this morning was really good. I really love my Friday morning teacher. Her name is Madelaine and she's the one who had both her breasts recently removed due to breast cancer. She's truly an amazing person. And I love her class. She is such a great teacher, I think I am going to have a lot of fun in her class. I actually enjoy waking up on Friday morning's and going to her class and being there. Haven't really said that about any other class in a long time.

We actually told Madelaine about the problem with Benoit - the guy that we had yesterday for Typography, and she informed us that Benoit is actually Phillipe's cousin. Phillipe is the coordinator of our department in school. Phillipe actually told Tati (who complained about Benoit on Thursday after class) that he didn't appreciate that she spoke about Benoit in this fashion (saying that she doesn't like him as a teacher for this class). Well - now we know why he said this - they're related.

Madelaine assured us that if we have any further problems, to come to her, as it was her calss to begin with - but because of the breast cancer, the doctors only allowed her to come back this semester to teach only 1 day a week (so she's teaching Adobe Ilustrator Level 2 to us (the english group) and to the french group right after us).

We decided to give Benoit ONE more chance .... (next week). We'll see what happens.

After class, I went to pick up some shower curtain rings, but couldn't find anything that I liked, so I got this wild idea to use binder rings! (The last rings that we had were sooooo hard to use - and I was frustrated with them, so I threw them out this morning with our old shower curtain). As I was going into the dollar store near my house to pick up binder rings, this man stopped me as I was entering the store, asked me if I spoke English. I said yes, and he then started babling about he's a teacher at a school around the corner from where we were, and his student left on the metro (subway - which there is a station that is underground in the same shopping center where we were) and he can't get into his van, and ... I STOPPED HIM, told him I was in a rush, and had to go. He called me a b*tch, but you know what? I've heard this story before, for some reason.... and JUST KNEW he was trying to con me into something. Just had a hunch. He probably wanted to borrow money for a taxi or something to go meet up with his student, or something, and then I'd never see the money again. This guy looked too sketchy to be a teacher, first off.... he was missing a few front teeth, and just didn't look "teacher material to me". He looked more like a bum, or a con-artist. And you know what? The van that he was saying was his? When I walked out of the dollar store after purchasing my binder rings (pictured below incase you don't know what I'm talking about), a woman with her 2 kids got into that van and drove away.... so much for that being that guy's car! Loser! I saw the con right in him! Saved myself from whatever, but got called a b*tch as a result. He also said that he's never seen such a rude young lady before.

Installed the new shower curtain after getting home from the dollar store. The old one, the liner was finished, and the actual curtain was getting gross, and well, didn't REALLY match the bathroom.

This one goes soooooo much better. I love the blues on it. I love blue. I love PINK more, but I didn't think Jamie would appreciate pink in the bathroom! LOL. And, well, pink wouldn't really go anyhow. The liner inside the bathtub is a light blue. I think I did a good job picking them out!Goes well with the makeshift stick on tiles on the bathroom floor, until we can afford to re-do the tiling. I would love to re-do the tiling - it would make my day! The original tiles that came with the bathroom when we bought the house are from when the house was built in the 1950's. So hidious and gross and old. So, until we do something, we bought stick on tiles, and it works for now, but they are a pain to clean, as sometimes they shift. I got to get off my ass too - and go to the store and buy enough tiles to re-do the floor, a project for an upcoming weekend. Totally. I also have to get off my ass and paint above the tiles, I want to put a fresh coat of paint on the upper walls of my bathroom. I actually HAVE the paint! Just need to find the time. And enough time, where no one will need to shower - so it can dry properly. Oh - and the bathroom ceiling above the shower head - peeling. Starting falling apart 5 months after moving in. Of course, we realized that it was probably an old problem, that the previous owner just "patched up" to sell the house - and that the inspector missed upon inspecting our house. If there is mold there apparently our insurance company will pay to have it redone up to so and so dollars. My bathroom is so small I can't see it taking that long to re-tile the floor! No way!

This evening Jamie and I went to the gym for 5pm. Jamie had his second appointment with a trainer, for 1 hour. I did more cardio than I probably should have and am exhausted. But it felt good. I am not too sure how I am still awake, but the thought of going to sleep - I have people over right now (Friday night Poker night - but I didn't feel like playing tonight - wasn't in the mood).

I made chicken wings for dinner, but they were still a little frozen when we got in from the gym, so they took forever to be ready, after marinating them for 1 hour. (Boy they were tasty though - delicious!)

This evening I did a TON of cleaning in my office, as well as around the house - I am very impressed with the amount of things that I got accomplished. I wish I was motivated like this a lot more! My office floor is starting to appear again!

I started a scarf for Jamie for Valentine's Day. I will photograph it once it starts becoming something. I am doing it all in gray, Jamie likes solid colours. We decided that this year for Valentine's Day, we're going to not spend money. He's going to cook me dinner and I'm making him something. Sounds fair. Maybe I'll even get a back massage - lol... I think I am even going to make a him a card - that would be a fun project, unless I have one already in the house - but I think I only have Anniversary cards and a birthday (dear husband) card in the house - not a Valentine's Day card). I will be creative - that's all!

I decided that I'm going to have to frog half of my afghan that I'm working on. I made an error somewhere and well - I am annoyed with it. At least it's not a huge booboo - so I won't have to take apart too much. But, the little booboo bothers me, and even though I'm a new crocheter (just learned in November 2005) well - I just can't have errors. I'm a perfectionist. Can you tell? Anyhow, I think I will start undoing it over the weekend, and start fresh. I just have to. I also need to look for an accent colour for another stash of yarn that I have - I want to start something with some yarn that I recently got. So many projects to do! So little time - lol.

Well, I'm going to go crawl into bed with the scarf I'm working on for Jamie for V-day (via crochet). Hoping all these poker people will leave my house soon so I can go to sleep.

My First Knitting Meeting

Today I slept in and hit my snooze button a million times, or rather it seems like it was a million times. I woke up when I felt like waking up - that's what I love about Wednesday being my day off from school. I love that it's in the middle of the week - which is great. I was worried that I would sleep in too long, since I was supposed to go with my grandmother to my mother's house so they can look at my wedding photos, but with the freezing rain outside there was no way I was going.
After getting up I started a bit more laundry, had to wash my linens and towels today, that was pretty much all the laundry I have left to do right now, besides all the clothes we've worn since Sunday (when I did major laundry) and watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I had about 6 or so episodes left to watch from the batch that I downloaded and watched them all during the day today.

I went to do some cardio at the gym, (I ACTUALLY WENT ON MY OWN MOTIVATION!) headed home, showered, made dinner at at 7:30pm I was at the Second Cup near my house crocheting while attending this knitting group get together. It was a lot of fun, I treated myself to a Chai Latte (MMMMM delicious - with soy milk!) and worked on my afghan. There wasn't a large turnout - maybe the next one will be more people, but I plan on going back - it's a lot of fun. I had a good time. And my cousin Jenn brought her fiance Yannick and he was working on a blanket that he's making Jenn as a very belated gift. It was cute seeing him there - in public - knitting. I'll never forget. Wish I had taken my camera out of my purse and taken a photograph of it.

Well, I'm home now, just watched my last episode downloaded of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and it's time now to go straighten my hair that is still damp from my shower earlier, and then hit the sack, as I have to get up shortly after 6 am tomorrow for my 8 am class. I FORGOT TO FINISH READING THE PAMPHLET DUE TOMORROW. Going to do so now, or in the morning, I'm half way through it - and it's easy reading.

Material Inspiration

I started looking into Interior Design.... I figured that maybe I would go back to school, as I love to do interior design and decorating (loving Extreme Makeover: Home Edition & all the renovating shows on TLC!). I am willing to give up one more year of my life, but not two... when I looked it up on my school's website, as they offer an interior design program, but it's a 2 year program. What is even funnier, is a lot of the classes that they offer for that program I've taken already. Visual Language 1 and 2 I took when I was doing my Creative Arts degree - and Art History 1 and 2 as well as Observation Drawing I took as well - when doing my Professional Photography Degree - so I would have some classes that I would be exempt from, but I would still have to follow the 2 year program, as it's 6 semesters in 2 years, and there are classes like Interior Design that go number 1 through 6 - so you have it each semester.

I got inspired by this material today. I can't wait to pull out my sewing machine and see what I create. Hopefully sometime soon I will have time to do something with this material. Aren't they gorgeous?

I am so happy it's Friday tomorrow and the weekend. I have a lot more cleaning to do, as my parents are coming for dinner on Saturday night and this house needs to be TIDY.

I didn't end up going to the gym today as I thought I would - I only got hom from school at about 5pm (after making a stop for the material) and I had been out of the house since 7 am, just didn't feel like going today. I went Tuesday and yesterday. And I plan on going tomorrow with Jamie. That's 3 times this week - I feel good about that.

I think I decided that I am going to make Jamie a gray scarf (via crochet) for Valentine's Day. I don't really have money to spend and I don't think he should be spending money on me either. I think I am going to tell him that I want him to cook me dinner, and we'll hang out together, a quiet romantic evening. V-day is just another day of the year, but I enjoy one day of romance the entire year, lol (Jamie's quite the un-romantic kind! - but that's okay, I love him just the way he is). V-day is on a Tuesday this year (shitty day for being treated to dinner and wine - but whatever).

Ok - bed time. Have a 9 am class tomorrow and want to get up at a decent time and have a lot of cleaning to continue doing tomorrow.

Jewelry Organization Part #2

Class this morning was good, we worked more on learning the preferences of Adobe Photoshop, which I was NEVER taught when I did photography school. (Not too sure why not?)

In class I found out that the school rounds your mark up - in our favor, so my 85.5% that I got in that class from last semester, once it reflects on my transcript, will actually be an 86%. I like the sound of that!

At lunch we all went to this soup and noodle place down the street from the school and I ordered this Won Ton Special soup. It was the hugest thing I've ever seen. It was lunch, and then a snack later on. So, after NOT wanting to spend any money, I ended up going for lunch, and spending money, when I brought my lunchw ith me! I have to start convincing Laura to bring her lunch, so we stop spending money... Going out for lunch is bad. Very very bad. Especially going to lunch to these places that don't have food for my diet.

The afternoon class was such a joke, as we had our Web Page Design Class and we're still at the basics of HTML which I am familiar with, and so, class was kind of boring. I actually went to this site called HTML GOODIES and started finding harder stuff to add to the simple stuff we were working on, so that I could not be so bored.

I love these bracelet stands:

The first piece is this bracelet display. Isn't it GORGEOUS!? I love it so much. It would hold all my bracelets so nicely. I plan on reorganizing the dresser in my bedroom to make room for one. Gorgeous!

Then, the above picture, is something that I already own. It is supposed to hold 210 pairs of earrings, but the bottom rows only fit stud style earrings, as there is no place for earrings to hang, and well, I only wear dangly earrings, LOVE DANGLIES and well, needed a second display, since my first one is FULL and I seem to have aquired more earrings than that first display can handle. . I've never seen one like this before, in stores, nothing.... I absolutely love the look and how clean it keeps my earrings!

At 6pm I met Jamie at the gym. I wasn't going to go, but I felt guilty not going because when Jamie called to see if I was going - and I said I didn't know, he said to me "Well, if the end of your membership comes and you only went 12 times in the 7 months, then I will tell you I TOLD YOU SO..." so I met him at the gym. I forced myself to go. AND I FELT GREAT AFTERWARDS!

This evening we chilled at home and watched American Idol as tonight and tomorrow night are the BAD singers, lol, the tryouts. So funny. It made me laugh. So I worked on the blanket I'm crocheting, and had a funny time chilling with Jamie in our den by the fireplace. Oh do I love our fireplace. So glad we bought this house.

Belated Chanukah Presents

During class I finally got my FINAL mark on my final project from last semester for that class that my mark got messed up on. Well - good news, as I thought! I got 37.5/40 on that final project, which brings my mark from a 48%/60% to an 85.5%/100% as my final mark! WOOHOO! I am sooo impressed with myself. And with this mark, I total with just a little over 92% as my grade average, which is great, because I need to finish with above 90% overall (I'm pretty sure) to get a second certificate upon graduation, the certificate of excellence, which is what I am trying to achieve here.

After class Laura gave me a belated Chanukah present, all I can say is interesting.

What do you do when you get a gift you just don't want? Or like?

This evening I WANTED to get more laundry done, but we went over to Jamie's friend Adam's place for the second premiere night of the show 24. WHICH WAS FANTASTIC. Ahhh - it's going to be a good season... started off just great.

Laundry, Laundry, and more Laundry

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My Husband Is Creative!

I slept in again today, but that's because I stayed up late watching the movie Siblings. I had only started the movie after midnight at some point - so I didn't get to bed until after 2 am. I had a 2 or 2 and a half hour nap this afternoon, so that caused me to not be able to sleep at bed time. Siblings was not bad, but not fantastic either. I think it is a Canadian film.

After getting up, I did a few things here and there - organized the linen closet in the hallway - I figured out a way to fold the towels in there so that it doesn't take up so much room, and it worked! I have so much more space for things in there now, and I got rid of a ton of things that were just not supposed to be in the linen closet and have no idea how they ended up there in the first place.

I still have a lot of cleaning to do in my office, bedroom, etc... I just took a lazy day if you ask me. After finishing the baby blanket I was working on yesterday, I finished the pink and brown scarf that I was also working on. So from the 3 WIP's I had going on - I have 1 left - the afghan that I started with my grandmother's stash of yarn. I will photograph everything tomorrow - it's getting late now, and I'm starting to get tired. I still have to hide the ends from the colour changes in the scarf, before actually photographing it - but the actual scarf itself is done, and I love it.

Jamie was doing A LOT of banging this afternoon and I couldn't figure out what he was doing, so I went downstairs to see him banging nails into our wall and hanging this wooden display thing, that came with our house. We are not really too sure what it is for, but we think it may have been to go over the fireplace. We decided to keep it in our garage, but not use it right away, until we figured out what we wanted to do with it. Well, Jamie decided that he wanted to use it to diplay his million Star Wars figures from Revenge of the Sith. It actually looks pretty good, and fit perfectly on the section of the wall that he wanted it to go on. It's right on the wall as soon as you walk down the stairst to the basement. I am very disappointed that I had to use flash to take the picture, as I can't stand flash on close up items, as you can see, the flash is very prominent in the image, but I didn't have a choice - the light that is on the ceiling, if turned on, gives a glare on every single one of the boxes - by turning off the main light, there isn't enough light to photograph it - so I had to use flash. I used my on camera flash - but maybe if I play around with my flash unit and bounce the flash off the ceiling, it may work out best. Not tonight, no patience to play around with my flash, plus I don't think my batteries are charged for my flash unit. Maybe I'll play around with getting a better shot of this new masterpiece in my basement another time. For now, I will leave it at "My husband did something creative today - I am very impressed with what he came up with and the resources he used to do it!" (Before the figurines were sitting on top of our TV walunet in our basement, and well - no one could really see any of them, as you could only see the front row - of the ones on display).



After dinner Jamie & I watched the hockey game, the Montreal Canadiens were playing the San Jose Sharks. Tonight's game was really interesting seeing as though the GM Bob Gainey fired coach Claude Julien this morning (in my opinion it was about time), and so Bob Gainey will be taking over with Guy Carboneau until the end of the season and next season Guy Carboneau will be coach. Tonight's game - we were on fire. First period ended, we were down 0-1. Second period, we fired off 6 goals to end the period at 6-1. Third period I don't know what happened, but Jose Theodore let in one more goal and we still won the game at 6-2. I have NOT seen a game like this in a long time. Especially 6 goals in one period! CRAZY. I can't believe my mom missed this game - I think she'll be upset.

After the game, we decided on watching a movie which turned out to be very crappy but we watched it anyhow. It was the Dukes of Hazzard. First, Jessica Simpson calls that acting? She wears practically NOTHING the entire movie, and just shakes her ass. No wonder she split up from Nick. That was very skanky of her. Second, the movie was just plain shit. Crap. Garbage. Any other ways to say it? I definitely DO NOT recommend it. No way.

During the hockey game and the movie I worked on the afghan that I started with my gradmother's yarn. I have a hunch that it is going to take me a LONG TIME to finish this afghan. What a huge project a big afghan. Baby afghans are no problem at all - so easy to start and finish... but for someone 5 feet and over... well, that's a project in itself!

I think I'm going to grab another movie to watch and crawl into bed with my crochet... Goodnight.

I Love Naptime

Got up at 7:30 am this morning, and actually got a fantastic night's sleep. It's been a while since I've actually gotten enough sleep, and can say that I woke up refreshed for a change!

My teacher this morning - wow. All I can say is WOW. What an amazing person. I really like her. Her name is Madelaine and she's Cancer Free. She has one breast removed about 6 months ago, then she had a lot of chemo and then her 2nd breast removed only a month ago! I can't believe she's back to teaching already. She is super fragile, but so ready to get back into teaching, it's amazing. She really is a true inspiration, and she is actually a very good teacher and I love her methods and I love the way she teaches, and I think I am actually going to learn Adobe Illustrator the way it's meant to be learned.

What a beautiful day it was outside today. GORGEOUS. Haven't seen weather like this in a long time. It's just before midnight right now, and it's plus 5 degrees. That's fantastic. Nights have been below zero lately, so to see plus 5 after sundown - wow!

Came home, took a bath while attempting to read a book I started in September called Callie's Tally. It's just okay. That's why I am stuck at the end of the book. I plan on finishing it, then finishing off Girls' Poker Night, so that I can get onto reading all these millions of books that I want to read! I have so many good books to read - just got to sit down and finish what I've started first though! I tend to do that - start projects and not finish them.

I took a nap sometime late afternoon after putzing around for a while. After my bath I put on my new pink pj's and putzed around lazily. Sometimes you just need that. I napped probably from about 5pm until 7:30-8pm. That felt fantastic. And I never have any issues with falling asleep on our couch in the den. It's sooooo comfy and relaxing!

When I got up people were here already for poker. (I didn't play tonight, wasn't in the mood). I watched the movie Must Love Dogs with my mother-in-law after she got eliminated from the first poker game and we crochet. I finally finsihed the baby blanket for my friends who are having their first baby in March and I just need to sew in all the loose pieces. I'll do that tomorrow. The movie was really cute, but I don't think I'll ever watch it again.

I am zonked. Going to go crawl into bed, probably with a movie. Until I fall asleep. Plenty of chores and things to take care of tomorrow. Got a list filling up a cute notepad paper already!

(CHORES: Sew pink jacket buttons back on, sew black jacket holes in pockets, re-organize my clothes in my closet (nasty mess), finish laundry, clean kitchen blinds (finally?), clean up my office, unload dishwasher, eh, that's it for now!)

Relaxing Day

So today I started school at 8 am. Overslept a little bit - but still managed to get to school on time, since I had my stuff prepared from last night, so I didn't have to start looking for things today. Always better that way. Anyhow, class was actually fun this morning, it's a class called Visual Communication and what we produce is basically up to us - what software we'd like to use, what we do with it - etc. PERFECT! Finally some creative freedom! You know what I mean?
I watched some more Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I have slowly been watching the episodes I've downloaded off the internet. I've been getting a little bit of laundry done, and I did a dishwasher load or two in the kitchen, crochet a little bit too - felt like working on that baby blanket for my friends who are having a March baby, and watched Desperate Housewives which I had on tape from this past Sunday night, then the O.C., since it was the only thing that was all new tonight.

After O.C., I cleaned a bit in my kitchen and just finished 20 minutes of Yoga. I am going to try to do yoga on days that I don't go to the gym. Tomorrow Jamie & I will be going to the gym in the afternoon, so that will be nice. Back on the good track. I think I may try ONE MONTH no soda. I am thinking about doing it in the month of February, since it's only got 28 days, so it shouldn't be that bad. All I will be able to drink is water or milk (I generally only have milk in my cereal). I think it sounds like a good plan. And I need to start baking healthy snacks so that I stop munching on bad food.

We're probably having people over for poker tomorrow night, but I don't want to play. Jamie's dad is out of town, in Newfoundland on business, so I am not sure if Jamie's stepmom will come by. Vera won't be coming as a) she's sick of poker and b) she has a going away party for someoene at work). So if it's all going to be boys, then I'd rather plop myself on the couch in our den, crochet and watch a movie or two.

Well, I'm going to go make the bed (change the sheets) and then hop into bed. Possibly turn on the TV with my crochet and eventually fall asleep. Tomorrow I want to start writing my big TO DO CLEAN UP list for the weekend. I have the entire weekend free - no plans except Sunday night's 24 party at Jamie's friend's house (should be fun) and I have a ton more chores to get accomplished before teachers really start piling up homework and I have no time free at all...

Jewelry Organization - Part One

Today I organized my necklaces. I have a lot of them, and love them all dearly, and litterally had them all over my house. If I wanted to wear one, chances are I had no idea where to find it. That is not a good thing when in a rush and wanting to wear such and such necklace that would go totally with a certain outfit - you know? Anyhow, so while at the dollar store today, I found these lovely racks in plastic, that were perfect for the necklace organization job. For 2$ I solved my worries of having necklaces everywhere. Pretty good deal - I think! I have been trying to come up with something to use, and well, ran out of idea. I saw someone had something similar recently on their website, and well, saw these today and thought that they would be perfect. Came home, hammered them onto the back of my bedroom door (where a huge jumbo calendar used to call home (now it's on the front of my closet door) and I can now find all my necklaces very easily. (I am sure while doing this huge pre-spring cleaning I will find MORE necklaces that should be hanging here but for now, that's all I could find. Anyhow, next job - my bracelets! My earrings are already organized (except for new purchases - which there are a bunch) so my earrings I will arrange last after the bracelets are done.

I am really enjoying this organization of my life. I am finding that I am keeping junk less and less these days, because a lot of the stuff I was keeping - I am not too sure why I was keeping! But anyhow.

There are 2 crochet books I want on amazon.ca as well as a book that looks really good (fiction) and so I redeemed some points for some amazon money and am expecting an email with my gift certificate code tomorrow and then I will order the books. Oh - do I love books. (Need more time in the day to read them though!)

This evening Jamie & I went to see the premiere of the movie Hoodwinked. It was super cute. I loved it. It was in a theater (AMC) that I would never usually go to - because its soooo damn expensive. It was actually some movies passes that I won through the Gazette and it was valid for 4 people, so I invited Shel & Vera, 2 of our friends (a couple) and they met us there, and we all had good laughs and it was very entertaining. I probably would not have spent money to see this movie in theaters, but enjoyed it nonetheless. The animation was really well done, and I definitely recommend this movie. It was a really short movie too -I think just under an hour and a half. Flew by very fast, didn't even realize the time flew by! (The way any good movie should be!)

The rest of the evening tonight I worked on the slideshow freelance job that I am doing for my father, he needs it to be finished by Friday morning when he goes to the Franchise Show in Toronto. I am really impressed with my re-edit, and I will find out tomorrow what he thinks of it. Well - just watched a bit of the Montreal Canadiens game (sadly we lost to Colorado) and I'm off to bed. 8 am class tomorrow morning.

I Did Pass After All

Class this morning at 8 am was pretty good. We started on a photoshop project on turning images into paintings - it's pretty cool. Next week we have to bring in 5 images of our own and then we'll play around with them - I'll definitely post my creation. I think we need to bring in 5 images so that atleast we have a selection incase something doesn't work out - we have back up. We started on an exercise with an image that she gave us, and we used functions that allowed us to make the image to look like a painting. I think Photoshop 2 is going to be easy for me, but I can't use any more exemptions, or I won't really learn anything. Plus we may go over stuff in Photoshop this semester that I didn't learn while in Photography School. And anyhow, Photoshop for Graphic Design and Photoshop for a Photographer are used in different ways, so I will probably learn a whole other side to Photoshop that maybe I didn't already know.

While we were working on our exercise, Kathleen brought my last semester final assignment from our Illustrator course, and popped in my CD to show me that it didn't work at all and well - guess what? It worked! And she swears it didn't work in the teacher's lounge computer (oh so now there's a teacher's lounge? I had no idea? Does that mean they have a phone for us to reach them on? NO! Does that mean they have office hours? NO!) and it didn't work at her house either. Oh well, it works now, and I think she feels like an idiot.

The final project is worth 40% of my final mark, the class that I have 48% out of 60% already. So out of the 40% it's marked on 2 parts. Part 1 is worth 25% and Part 2 is worth 15% totallying 40%. She was able to mark Part 1 while in class, and I think if I saw correctly I got a 23.5/25. (Which now brings up my 48% out of 60% to a 71.5% out of 85%, and I'm still missing 15% of my final mark. But - I passed (60% is a passing grade out of 100%) so whatever I get more than 71.5% I don't care - because I passed. I WOULD like to see my mark in the 80's, seeing as though in my other 3 classes I got 94%, 94% and 95% so I would like to maintain an above 90% average to get a certificate of excellence upon graduation. I am going to work my butt off this semester to maintain that! Even if I don't get a full 15/15% on the second part of the assignment which she hasn't finished marking yet - I will still be able to maintain my above 90% average if I get 8/15 and above on the 2nd part of my project. Which I know I will get above that! She said she will finish marking the rest of my assignment on Thursday during my other class with her. Why she can't mark it on her own time? I don't know - but anyhow.

She also told me that I won't have to pay the 50$ fee to appeal my mark - since it was her mistake and not mine. The school has changed a lot of it's policies over winter break and now if you want to appeal a mark it will cost you. Apparently if the mark is better for you, then you get your money refunded, but if it turns out you're wrong, you lose the money. Kathleen told me NOT to worry about this.

Another rule that has been changed is EVERY class you miss - you will now automaticlaly lose 3% of your final grade. HARSH! Kathleen was the one who told us about this and she said that she thinks it's bullshit and if she sees that we're a good student and we're responsable for missed work, she will not count 1 or maybe even 2 absenses only if that's all we missed out on the entire semeseter.

Phew. I knew I didn't fail. There was no way that I would fail... No way. I know the kind of work that I do and I know I don't fail. Especially now that I am in a field that totally suits me and is creative and allows me to be creative.

In our afternoon class we had Web Site Design and we started on the basics of HTML which are easy for me, since I have a background in this subject already. I don't think I ever was taught how to do this properly, so it'll probably be a breeze for me, I am sure. I am really interested in how to do make a website from scratch just using Notepad the free software that Windows comes with! I can see it being a fun class. Today we learned how to change the background colour, how to change font size and type, and make rows of invisible boxes were information can be placed. It was a fun and easy class. I liked it. And I like our new teacher Sebastien.

Came home after school for a bit, and then met Jamie at the gym for about 6pm. I worked out in cardio for about half an hour and then that's all I felt like doing today. I was being lazy before even going to the gym, but it was Jamie this time who convinced me to go to the gym, so that was cute. I am really glad that I went though. Felt great.

Came home, showered and then made myself a really good salad. I threw in chick peas and baby corn and red pepper, onion, yellow cauliflower and shredded cheese. Made a mixed dressing with oil and vinegar as well as some pepper and it was actually really good!

Had a nice conversation with Miriam tonight on the phone, it has been a while since we've spoken on the phone - usually it's via MSN, email or letters. I miss her - didn't really get a chance to hang out with her the weekend of my wedding, but did meet her down at the bar of the hotel the night before my wedding for dinner, that was fun. But still - didn't really get to hang out with her. I would love to find some time to get down to Toronto - maybe for a weekend or something, sometime soon. I don't even care if it's with or without Jamie - I just don't really want to drive alone - that's the only problem.

My dad went over the slideshow today with Jamie and there were a few changes to be made - so I will work on those tomorrow. Small things like adding in more text, changing around a few fonts so they are all the same instead of all different, slowing down the pace of the images, that sort of thing. Nothing an hour or two can't fix! I definitely have the time tomorrow - day off from school. I think I may go check out one or 2 more stores to see if they have any of my favourite earrings left! I may just have to!

I watched a few episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and that was fun. I poured myself a glass of wine, and watched some TV. I think I'm going to go now, straighten my hair with the new hair straightner from my sister, and then crawl into bed with Jamie. That's the plan.

Ode To My Favourite Earring (Which is Lost)

Today I lost my favourite earring. I still have one - but I lost one. Let me tell you that I am very upset about it.

My day started out by waking up early, as I had some stuff to do, and worked a bit on the freelance project that I am working on for my father's company. I got a bit done in the morning, but I'm working with photographs that I took, "words" and any empty computer canvas .... wasn't sure where to start... so I started playing around with style and images for this slideshow that he wants me to put together, so he can take it with him when he goes to the Franchise Show in Toronto next weekend.

I thank god I bumped into Kathleen when I got to school today - the teacher that I had the mark mistake with. Anyhow, she said that "if she remembers correctly" my CD wouldn't open and she couldn't mark my final assignment. So I need to bring in another CD with my files tomorrow morning when I have her as a teacher.

While waiting for class to start - we were there a good half an hour already - another teacher (whom we have tomorrow for the first time ever) asks us why we were waiting because class was cancelled. CANCELLED? Why? Our teacher Lorraine (whom I was sooo excited to have this semester) broke her leg in a skiing accident over winter break and she's out for 2 months. They are not sure whom we will have as a teacher, so we have no classes this week for whatever classes we had Lorraine for. Classes will resume next week, and it will either be JP or Benoit (whom I don't know) as a teacher next week for all of Lorraine's classes. I really hope it's JP. I didn't get a chance to have him last semester because I got exempt from Intro to Computers and would really like to have him as a teacher - I hear he's really cool and easy going. Benoit - who knows who this guy is.... but I won't judge until I see what's going on. However I am VERY dissapointed that I don't have Lorraine this semester. I really wanted her as my teacher.

Since we had no class today - Laura and I went out for lunch to our favourite Souvlaki place near my house. When I got to the restaurant - I was showing the hostess (who grew up on Jamie's street) my wedding pictures (since I brought them to show Laura) and Erin the hostess said to me "You know you're only wearing 1 earring".... DAMN IT! I lost an earring? Frig!

After lunch, I searched my car. No luck. I then decided to run to the store that I got it at. They had none left. Then I went to another one of their store locations - none left. Since that store location was next to school - I retraced my steps in school, asked at the lost and found - but no luck. Then since I still had time, and there was one more store downtown, I decided to try one last time - no earrings of the same kind left. DAMN IT. And these weren't very expensive earrings either - they were 2 for 5$ or 3$ each. So the earrings cost me 2.50$. BUT - they were my favourite pair and I've been wearing them almost daily since I got them.

SO MAD.

Got home, still mad, and didn't feel like doing much.

Now I'm going to go crawl into bed, and maybe hope that someone found my earring at school and brought it to lost and found!

Getting Things Accomplished

I've been very good at getting things accomplished tonight. I cleaned out the food pantry in our kitchen, since when we got home from grocery shopping today, I kinda just "threw" stuff in there, but now it's clean. I also cleaned out our hall closet where we keep cleaning supplies and toilet paper and paper towel, kleenex boxes, etc. There was stuff that ended up in there - that shouldn't have been. I also tried on all the tshirts I got the other day at Walmart - need to do a return tomorrow - there was a bunch of shirts that did not fit. And a few that are super cute...
I need to get a knitting needle sizer, I wonder if they have that for crochet hooks too - that aren't marked - and there's one on ebay that I am watching. It's actually pretty cheap - but I have no idea how much they sell for in the stores, so I'm not sure if buying it on ebay and paying shipping is actually worth it or not? I am going to ask around or call around to see.

Anyhow, I'm not ready to go back to school tomorrow - but what can I do? I wish I had another week of vacation. When I was in photography school I had SIX weeks from the middle of December until the end of January practically for winter break... it was fantastic. 3 weeks was just NOT enough! Especially with plans for the holidays and such.

I should have gone to the gym yesterday, I should have gone to the gym today. TOMORROW I WILL GO TO THE GYM.

Where Did Winter Break Go?

Back to school tomorrow and I still have so much things to do before actually starting school. (It's 15 weeks, 1 week off and then 15 more weeks, and then I graduate on August 11th. The next 31 weeks are going to be intence and long! So I don't know how much of the "projects" that I want to do will actually happen, but there are weekends! And this semester I do have Wednesdays off - so that's good). So many things on my to do list that I wanted to accomplish over winter break - but just never happened. Time just flew by and nothing got accomplished. Well, some things did - but not everything on my to-do list got done.

Slept in today, even though I wanted to get up around 9:45 am to start my chores list. However, I turned off my alarm when it went on, and fell back asleep until about noon. Got up, and started doing a few things, then after Jamie quickly showered, we got ready and headed out to Loblaws to pick up the photo order (long over due picutres since the summer - there's a special now 2 for 1, so the picutres work out to .12 cents a piece). We also did groceries.

Since getting home I've: Vaccumed the bedroom (did the other 2 rooms yesterday), cleaned the foyer of the house, vaccumed up the cat hair in the hallway, put some pictures (from my overdue loblaws photo order) into an album, put together Laura's Chanukah present (we were supposed to celebrate & exchange chanukah presents over lunch over the winter break - but Laura's family decided to go to Thailand for 2 weeks and we didn't get the chance to get together, so I will bring it to school tomorrow to give to her), and I also cleared out emails in my inbox by responding to them.

I need to: a freelance job I'm working on, finish some laundry, hang up sweaters in my closet, organize the mess of my tshirts in my closet, clean up the kitchen cupboard (we kinda just put stuff in there when we got home and didn't arrange it properly), and I wanted to organize and go through my jewelry - it's a huge mess. Clean my office and also try on a bunch of shirts I got at Walmart to make sure they fit (if not I have to go back and do more returns tomorrow). And do 20 minutes of Yoga, since I didn't I think I can get this all accomplished tonight. And at 9pm it's an all new episode of Desperate Housewives.

At least school doesn't start until noon tomorrow. I think I'm going in a bit early though, I want to see if I can catch either the teacher that incorrectly marked me this semester, or the person in charge of our program department, so I can get some answers. I just don't understand what happened, and would like it corrected. I am sure you know what I mean.

Anyhow, I'm going to go get started on my list of things to do.

Movie Marathon

Slept in again today - until just after noon. Boy was I tired. I enjoy staying in bed as long as I possibly can - who wouldn't! Jamie had some friends over today in the afternoon, and while he did that - I started doing some cleaning. I clean up my office a lot - and start on my chores. I got 2 of the 3 rooms vaccumed and that is a huge accomplishment.
This evening, Jamie and I watched 2 movies in a row - Cinderella Man and then Four Brothers. Both were really good, Cinderella Man was even better. While watching the movies, I worked on the brown tone afghan (the ripple pattern one) and got a lot on it. I am very happy with the progress of it - but this is a huge project, due to the size of it. I need to photograph it...

Well, I'm off to watch some TV in bed and fall asleep... long day tomorrow with A LOT of stuff to get accomplished.

Bosco

Bosco walking towards the camera


Isn't he adorable?

He got hold of one of my books, thank god I was cutting it up for art...

If he's thirsty - he'll let you know - he'll jump up by the sink and bark at the faucet. Smart dog.

Bosco talking back.

Bosco likes anything that is wood. There is a lot of things in my
parents house that is chewed up because of him.

So cute... yet.... a little shithead!

He finally was quiet for about an hour when I gave him this ball toy -
and he let me have some peace and quiet for a little while.

Aww. He's so cute. Really is... just a pain in the buttox sometimes, as he's just a puppy.

So... today... was another day full of just dog entertaining. It really is a full time job living with a puppy. He was pretty good most of the day, he even let me have some time in the afternoon, while he slept, I went to Loblaws and picked up a digital photo order that I made over the internet last night, and then went to do a quick errand at Walmart (found the most awesome crochet hooks and knitting needles on sale as well as this gorgeous yarn (1 lb for 4.97$ - it was this big bag - and I love it - so I got it in 3 different colours - black, a beige with another colour in it as well as a grey with another colour in it). I also got some brown shades of yarn to work on the ripple afghan that I started. It is coming along very nice. I was using the same yarn that my grandmother gave me - which the colours don't exist anymore, so I had to find similar colours, and I'll just use the yarn my grandmother gave me to do the borders on both sides of the blanket - this way I don't run out and it doesn't look awful. I am so excited to start finishing up the afghan! So many projects that I want to work on - so little time.

I was so happy when my sister came home from work today, as Bosco was being a little bugger from about 4-5pm, but then from about 5-6pm, we napped on the upstairs carpeted landing - he using me as a pillow - it was cute and comforting. It also was great to take a nap - seeing as though I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night. I finally fell asleep close to 2:30pm and had to get up this morning at 7:30 am to let the dog out to pee and wake up my sister for work. So I'm zonked.

This evening after getting home I did a few things around the house, putting away my overnight bag and stuff, and then eventually people started coming for our poker night. We played, it was fun, and I made it further in the game than I usually do - and then I went into the other room and just did my own shtick. Since it was mainly Jamie's friends who were left and I was tired and didn't feel like hanging out anymore.

Sister Time

Bosco was just about getting up when I got there from his morning nap. My parents had fed him and let him out before leaving to the airport. I took him out when I got there, (apparently when he's up you need to take him out to pee every hour - he's not even 4 months old, so this is to avoid any accidents - which he hasn't had in months - he'll generally go to the back door when he has to pee - but if you play too long, he can forgot to ask - so you have to take him out). My mother left me a list TWO pages long on his schedule, routine, how to feed him, when to feed him, how to do this, how to do that...

Spoke to my parents, they're flight was delayed, my mom kept "checking in" on how the dog was doing.

During his afternoon nap I did some errands. I went to pick up the DVD of my wedding digital files from my wedding photographer's office, her assistant was holding fort while Wendy my wedding photographer is on vacation, as she apparently mailed my DVD weeks ago, but I still have no received it in the mail. Mail from the same city to the same city never takes more then 2 days. It's been since about December 13th, and still no mail from her. So, I picked up another copy, and went on my merry way. Watch, I'll get her DVD in the mail sometime next week. If not, it is very lost! After leaving there, I went to the yarn shop in the same area and picked up a stitch counter, a really cool yarn cutter that you can use on airlines (looks like a necklace pendant) as well as some stitch markers.

I headed home and had to play with Bosco for a couple of hours before dinner, as late afternoon is his "WILD" time of the day. Boy was he wild and a devil. After dinner he pretty much slept for a few hours in the den, while my sister and I watched a movie and I worked on the afghan that I'm crocheting for myself (I think).

It was really great hanging out with my sister tonight. We watched a movie called This Girls' Life and it was very interesting. Plot Outline: "Slice of life" take on life of international porn celebrity, Moon, and her musings on modern life, love and loss.

Just about to go into a shower and Amy will straighten my hair for me. It really was nice hanging out with her tonight, it's been a while since we've had a "sisters night".

Unbelievably Pissed Off Right Now

What a huge mistake.
I *FINALLY* got my marks today from last semester. 5 days before classes resume.

I am really happy with most of my marks...

Editions I (Quark Express)---------95%
Creativity -------------------------94%
Graphic Design---------------------94%
and then....
Basic Design------------------------48%???????????????????

HAS to be a mistake.

I did all assignments and tests, and she only gave me a final mark based on 3 of the 4 items. It was 20% one test, 20% one assignment, 20% another assignment and 40% the final project. My mark reflects assignment 1, 2 and 3, but not 4. So, because of this, I have a failing mark for her class. I handed in the final assignment on the date it was due, to her, in her hands. I have no idea how to get in touch with her before school resumes, and I would like resolve this. I am not sure what to do - so I emailed the head of the graphic department, he's handled stuff for me in the past.

I see this as being a problem as I've received a 94%, 94% and 95% in my other classes. I don't see how I would get a failing mark in one? It shouldn't be. What is horrible is that the teachers don't have an office, they don't have phone extentions for us to call them, they don't have email (or if they do - they don't check it) and the don't have office hours... so what are we to do?

I am furious right now. I need to go cool down. I will write more later about my adventures in dog sitting Bosco, that's where I am right now, at my parents place, dog sitting.

I Have Learned From My Mistake

First stop was the shopping center I was at yesterday, as Zellers overcharged me for 2 items that I purchased yesterday. While there I found some knitting needles that were more appropriate sized for the socks that I'm going to attempt to make, and picked up some bagels at the bagel shop in there (whole wheat - I cut them in half and freeze them so all I have to do is defrost and they're as good as fresh like the day you got them. On my way out of the parking lot, I decided to take Jamie's cards out of the huge box they were in and put them in my purse, they were in a plastic case - like 132 cards or something, and didn't want to carry huge boxes into the house. So I threw out the box in the garbage can outside of the shopping center.

Next I checked the pet store near my house for this special spot remover stuff that takes out anything. I have a spot on my office carpet from salad dressing and I can't get it out. I hope it's not too late. They didn't have the spot remover stuff, but I will check the pet store near my parents house when I'm dog-sitting tomorrow and Friday.

Next stop was at my Uncle's glasses shop. My cousin Jenn was working, and since her dad is out of town, she's keeping the store open for pick ups and drop offs, but she cant fix glasses or do stuff like that - so she's pretty bored there, or so it seemed to me. So I visited her, and got a starters lesson on knitting socks. I am going to start those hopefully tonight or tomorrow - I have to start my swatch first. This will be my first thing I'll really ever knit, besides scarves, which I've knitted in the past, but I've never knitted anything else. It was fun hanging out there with her, and one lady who came in to drop off her mother's broken glasses happened to be a cousin on Jamie's dad's side of the family. A relative that was at our wedding. Since I had my wedding photos with me, I showed her them, and it was nice to share them with people. It was really funny bumping into her there. I didn't recognize her at first, but when she said her name when leaving a phone number for the glasses, I asked her what her husband's name was - and when she told me, I said "You were at my wedding." She then said " I thought you looked familiar, you're Jamie's wife"... and then we started talking.

After parting from my cousin, I went straight to my grandmother's place, my dad's mom. I kinda self taught myself recently, because I wasn't sure when my grandmother would be free to show me, and then when she called me last night to tell me that her club was cancelled for this week too (holidays) and that I could come over, I agreed to go over and get a lesson from her - the expert! She also gave me a ton of started afghans (3 of them) to finish, as she said she's done with making them, as she has no patience anymore.

I met Jamie at the gym after leaving my grandmother's and I worked out on my new favourite machine for 30 minutes of cardio. That's all I felt like doing today, and then headed home. Jamie went through the 3 envelopes of cards he got - plus the package to realize that there were 4 cards missing from the box that I picked up at the post office. I swear I ruffled through the newspaper in that box to make sure that I got everything that was in there.

Back to the mall it was. Before Jamie got really upset and didn't know if I was to blame for throwing it out or if the seller on ebay was trying to fuck us over for the 4 cards. (Basically it was a complete set of cards, Jamie paid about 40$ includding shipping for it and 4 of the most valuable cards (were wrapped seperately in the package he sent) are worth 32$).

I ALMOST KISSED THE GARBAGE CAN after finding my box still in the top of the garbage, untouched, and I found a bubble envelope in the box, at the bottom (under the newspaper). I didn't see it, or feel it, as I put my hand in and it felt flat at the bottom.

Oh my god. I saved the day. And I saved Jamie from getting really mad! I don't think I will live this one down for a while, but boy did I learn my lesson! Don't throw anything out if it doesn't belong to me!

After ordering dinner, we watched the movie Wedding Crashers. HYSTERICAL. I loved it. Great. So funny. You should see it. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are hysterical together.

Alright, gotta go pack an overnight bag for my stay at my parents. Check ya later.

Do Yoga, Do Yoga, Do Yoga

Slept in today. Had to. Got the urge to clean up my crawl space last night, under my basement stairs and was up doing so until about 3 am, when I decided I still couldn't sleep so I watched 2 episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which I downloaded. So I finally went to bed around 4:30 am around.

Today I continued on the clean up of my office. Oh, I am trying to get things in order before the school semester starts on Monday. The next 31 weeks are going to be intense. 15 weeks of Semester 2, 1 week off, and then 15 weeks of Semester 3, which brings me to my August 11th, 2006 graduation from Graphic Design.

I rented Wedding Crashers today, Jamie & I are going to watch it tomorrow night. I heard it's good and it looks so funny. I will let you know how it is. As if my opinion counts for anything anyhow, lol.

I didn't work on anything craft related today, besides re-organizing my craft supplies, I finally bought some storage containers to keep everything organized. They can be used as storage containers or for food - either way. It was a packages of 17 containers - and whatever leftover I have (the smaller ones) will go into the tupperwear drawer in my kitchen. They will come in handy. I bought a few other items today at the same store, and I'm really pissed off, because now I have to go back as they forgot to give me the sale price on one of the items, so I have to run back to the store tomorrow to get refunded on the difference. Totally out of my way.

I will be learning how to knit socks tomorrow - visiting my cousin Jenn at her work - she works for her father, and he's out of town, so she's keeping the store open for pick ups and stuff and is said to be bored, so I'm going to go keep her company, and learn to make socks, and show her other projects I've been working on. I am also going to go by my grandmother's house. I told her I'd like to learn how to make the ripple (zig zag) afghan (like the one she gave me a few weeks back) and then figured out (kinda) how to make it - so now I am still going to go to her place and so I will spend some time with her.

I was SUPPOSED to do YOGA today, since I didn't go to the gym. The plan was to go to the gym every other day, and then do YOGA on opposite days.

New Years Resolution #1 - Check!

New Years Resolution #1: Join the gym. (check!)

After waking up today, I took a quick shower and then headed off to the gym. We met Marc & Kim there (Marc's the one who has been the shithead friend to us lately) and they invited us to a 24 party for the premiere on January 15th. I think we're going to go - no point in sitting at home and watching it alone when all of Jamie's friends will be at this party. I will try to make the most of it - at least it's an attempt to get out of the house. We don't get out of the house that often. Jamie joined on a free membership for 1 month, and since I bought 6 months (no freebies for me, since I 've already been a member there, bought a 1 year membership a couple of year back after moving out of my parents house - and never used it!) We worked out for about 45 minutes and then headed home. I ran over to the post office to weigh some items that need to be priced for shipping for ebay auctions, and then headed home for lunch, which we ordered, I was craving a greek salad and a whole wheat grilled cheese sandwich with low fat cheese.

I finished Season 5 of Six Feet Under today, concluding the entire series. I cried during the final episode when they showed where everyone's life took them. I guess I was very attached to the characters over the last 2 weeks, so it was touching. Took me 2 and a half weeks, but I've finally gotten through it. And I loved it. Now I just need to find time to watch Sopranos before March 12th (Season 6 premiere!) (TV junkie, I know I am!)

I am so happy that I made that batch of meat sauce a couple of weeks ago, and was able to just defrost some for dinner with some pasta, which is easy to make. Wasn't in the mood to cook for dinner this evening.

Numerous times this evening I started and took apart and re-started and took apart the zigzag scarf I was trying to make. Just WASN'T working out for me. I'm going to ask my cousin Jenn to help me on Wednesday when I go to visit her (I'm also going to start on a pair of socks). I can't find a pattern online for a simple small zigzag scarf for the thickness of the wool that I want to use for it. (See yesterday's entry for the 16 inch scarf that just won't work!) So because I was frustrated, I started on a simple double crochet scarf in the pink and the brown yarn that I got. It's coming out exactly how I want it - I'll photograph it tomorrow - when it's coming along better.

My sister invited me to sleep over on Thursday night at my parents house. I have to be there Thursday and Friday 9-6pm ish anyhow, as my folks are in Vegas and I'm dogsitting Bosco. I'm bringing my camera, and I'm hoping the little guy behaves himself and allows me to take pictures of him, maybe he'll even stand still and pose! Who knows. But, I think it will be nice to hang out with my sister for a little bit, but I'm not soo sure that I want to sleep over. We'll see. I will decide later. I definitely will stay for dinner and a movie - which she's invited me for, I just don't know about the sleeping over part. The last "sleepover" we had, was the night before my wedding in my hotel room at the Sheraton where I got married. I'll sleep on it. Goodnight.