Happy Eastern!

My Dad could never get it right...he always thought it was Happy Eastern (not Easter!) It's an on-going little joke now, but a nice way to remember him.

It's been a nice weekend. Saturday I cleaned up the backyard and got the vegetable garden area tidied up. It was a lot of work, but very satisfying. I am planning to plan what we are going to plant while we are away. This time next week, we will be in Lisbon! I am so excited, and can't wait to see new places. We are renting a car and driving up the coast from Lisbon to Porto. No plans in Portugal other than getting in the car and driving! We will go wherever the wind blows us. Our first 4 nights in Lisbon are busy with the conference I'm attending, but they have tours and dinner plans arranged for us every night, and Greg is included in those plans. I'm really looking forward to it. Last year, they held the conference at Hilton Head which was also really amazing.

We are ending our two week vacation with 3 nights in Paris and 1 night in Vienna. Those hotel rooms are booked already, and there are great reviews written up about them. I'm hoping that they will be as good as people say because the rooms were only $100 CDN a night, which is pretty cheap by European standards, I believe. The hotel we are staying in in Paris is in Montmarte and 100 metres from the Moulin Rouge. Expect to see a few pics of the windmill! I think we are going to splurge and go to the show while we are there. Why not?!

Today Greg and I took the dogs to the beach today for a long walk. OMG did they love it! They both went swimming Lake Ontario, in fact little Laila took her first little dog paddle all by herself! Needless to say, both dogs were soaked and smelled quite fragrant. They seemed to like the way they smelled, but I think both knew that they were in for a bath as they tried to hide under the coffee table the second we got home. Two dogs in the shower and a lot of shaking led to a very wet bathroom, but at least everyone smells better now. I found a pink rock that I will add to my garden edge, but it did look prettier when it was wet. Never mind, I will call it my Easter Rock.

We are heading over to Greg's Dad's place for Easter dinner. I'd much rather hang out at home, but that's not going to happen. We can't bring the dogs with us, because Greg's step-Nona has an artificial leg and is afraid the the dogs will knock it off! That would stir up some excitement, wouldn't it?! Amazing Audrey will dog-sit for us this afternoon, and may even stay at our place to make cards. I have turned our dining room table into a card making studio and we've been having fun just gabbing and making cards. I'll try to post some this week, because they really are quite pretty.

My brother is one person who actually buys items from infomercials. I don't know why he does this, but he has bought a Doctor Ho (electrical massage!) and breathalyzers, and a bunch of other stuff. His latest purchase was for my Mom's birthday: Smooth Away: Removes Hair Instantly and Pain Free! Discovered in Europe! (but made in China) Gently Exfoliate While Removing Hair! No Pain. No Chemical. No Razor Burn. "But wait!!!! Buy one now, and for absolutely free, you will get a second package. Ab-so-lu-tly Free!" So he bought it, and 8 packages arrived.

He gave me one, and, I have to tell you....it's phenomenal! No word of a lie. I have not shaved my legs all winter, and within a matter of minutes my legs are as smooth as anything! I went a little crazy and also attacked my upper lip, and my beard and also my peach-fuzzy cheeks. Hair....GONE! Who knows what will happen once the hair starts growing back, but for now, I am giving it a 10/10.

That's it. I wish you all a wonderful Easter Sunday. I hope you got out and enjoyed the day following old traditions, or inventing new ones.

Pupsie Doosie and Pupsie Doosie Twosie

It's been a while since I've posted any pictures of my babies. Remember how little Laila was when we first got her? She was all of 8lbs and smaller than the cats. She used to love to sleep in the cat baskets in the window and although she is now the same size as Buddy, she somehow still manages to sqeeze herself in! She is a funny little thing and has quirky ears...I guess it's her party-trick. One day her left ear will be pointing straight up, the next her right ear, and then she'll be in the mood where they are both up. Lately she prefers just to have her right ear at attention. We are lucky in that all of our pets get along so well. Buddy and Laila are best of friends and they are always side by side. Wherever Buddy goes, Laila is not too far behind. In fact, usually she is hanging on to his collar so we won't run too far ahead.

They have a ton of nicknames, but they often get Pupsie Doosie and Pupsie Doosie Twosie. No idea how I thought this up. It just happened.

For a bigger pic, click!

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day and my first outside cleaning up my front garden. I just love getting my hands all dirty. I worked up a sweat, and lobster-boy Greg got a slight burn on his face.
In the middle of the night I woke up because Mr. Mao wasn't in his usual spot under my right armpit. I'm so used to this sleep position and have never squished the little guy yet. Anyway, I woke up and thought it was strange that he wasn't there so I went looking for him. Poor little guy was outside on the kitchen window ledge and looking just a little cold. The weather had changed from a balmy spring day, to a freezing rain mess! I opened the kitchen door to let him in, but he didn't want to get any wetter than he already was. Rather than go out into the sleet myself, I spent 5 minutes figuring out how to get the screen out of the kitchen window. Mr. Mao was saved!
I brought him back to bed, and he snuggled under my arm, purring so loud it took me a while to get back to sleep.
This morning, the winter wonderland had returned.
That was the shortest summer EVER!

It's a grey, rainy day today and I'd like nothing better than to be at home in my jammies snuggling with a couple of furry creatures. Instead, I am at work, but with the door closed and have just finished a chicken club wrap and a gigantic serving of fries and am now looking at my blouse and admiring the stretch-satin across my belly---pulled to it's maximus maxim. Add to that a hot flash that is causing sweat to pool above and below my lips and at the nape of my neck, and you've got one hot lady. Not. Oh well....one of these years I will pull myself together. Maybe.
What's new here? Not much. Just the benign day to day stuff. One of our neighbours, who we called Chatty Cathy behind her back, has moved. And, I'm glad. Sometimes I think I'm not really as nice as I think I am, or other people might think I am. Chatty is the kind of woman who talks non-stop, and it's all about her and her job. What's gone on in her day, what one student said to the other student, how one of her boy needs to wear deodorant, blah blah blah. If ever I dared to mention something about my job, she'd immediately interrupt me and say "Oh ya, it's just like today when one of my kids...." About a year ago I stopped going for the evening dog walk with the ladies because I couldn't stand to listen to her. She has a Sheppard that would run up to people barking and snarling and then instead of disciplining her dog, she'd tell the person it was their fault because of their body language. Like...I think I'd be afraid if a big German Sheppard came running at me and my body language wouldn't exactly be warm and welcoming. One time we were in the middle of dinner, with guests over, so walking the dogs at the usual time was not on our agenda. She marched through the house with her dog and kid and hung out in the backyard while we ate. It was the middle of winter and pitch black outside. 10 minutes later she let herself back in, sat down on the couch and waited for us to finish eating, the whole while monopolizing the conversation. What kind of person does this?
Every evening I'd be thinking in my head : "shut up...just shut the F up!" I secretly wished that she would move....And my wish came true! The only thing, is now we have no more stories to tell about them, and there were sooooo many of them. It isn't just her who is annoying, but she is married to the ultimate Dufus who I'm sure can't even tie his own shoes. I'm pretty sure I noticed Velcro straps on his sneakers.

One of our other neighbours, J is an ex-Biker dude. They had a dog named Farley, a beautiful golden retriever and J would walk the dog up and down the street about 10 times a day. The whole neighbourhood knew him, and talked about him. See, J is a big guy and never, ever, and I mean NEVER! picked up after Farley. When the snow started melting a month ago, it was really noticeable, and you know...big dogs have big poos. I was ticked off too, but at the same time I knew that some of the littler poos might have belonged to my dogs because, lets face it, when you have 4 feet of snow you can't always find what the pups left behind. I took it upon myself to clean up all the street poo that I could see, and it filled an entire grocery bag. Just as I was finishing up, J's son-in-law came out of the house with Farley. Great timing! Very nicely I walked over to him and explained the situation, including that the neighbours were upset. I was told put the bag by J's door and that they would have a talk with him. Later that day, J's daughter came knocking at my door, very apologetic and embarrassed. I assured her that no one had a problem with J or Farley, but that it wasn't right that he wasn't cleaning up the mess. She then went on to tell me that she knew that it had been a problem and had spoken to him before, but that they were having so many issues with J's own cleanliness and behaviour in the house that she can't handle it anymore. She then told me that J had signed the house over to them with the agreement that he would live in the basement, rent-free. He has no other place to go. The things people I don't even know tell me!
Fast forward a few weeks and J is seen walking up and down the street 10 times a day, but with no Farley. He's also lost about 30 pounds. Turns out that his daughter decided the best thing to do would be do give Farley up for adoption, so she took him to a shelter. Luckily, the dog is fairly young and was adopted quickly. Initially I felt really, really guilty about this and thought it was my fault. I should have just kept my mouth shut and J would still have his dog. When I asked J what happened, he only said that his daughter thought it was the best thing to do.
Greg spoke to the daughter a few days ago. Turns out that there were a few reasons why they had to get rid of the dog. J wasn't taking proper care of him, but also Farley had bitten their young son a few times and they didn't trust the dog anymore.

My neighbour to the right of my house recently brought her 93 year old husband home from the hospital. He is a man who believes in naturopathy and up until this year, has never taken prescribed medication in his life. Now he is taking medication for atrial fibrillation and is convinced it will be the death of him! The other night, V knocked at our door and asked if I could come over to witness the signing of some legal documents. Turns out, that he never had a Power of Attorney nor a Will! Now that's positive thinking!
Poor V has had a hard time of it lately. She is a collector of anything and everything. She finds a use for it all. She collects clothing and arranges for it to be sent to Third World countries. She collects household wares, books, children's toys and saves it all for the Church Bazaar. Every time I had something to go to the Goodwill, all I had to do was bring it over to her carport. Needless to say, her house was chock a block full! Over the past few weeks, her children have been over and emptying out her house of all of this stuff they consider garbage. I have to admit, it was pretty hard talking to V (who is 81) while she had tears running down her face, thinking of all this good stuff going to waste. The truth was, her house was so full, that when the ambulance team came to get her husband to go to the hospital, they had to be careful to stay on the path between the living room and bedroom. It was pretty bad. I had only ever been over there once before, but it did look like hoarders lived there.
I hadn't intended for this to be all about my neighbours, and truthfully, maybe I'm even being a bit like Chatty....just going on and on.
But it has been nice hiding out in my office. I might even sneak out early today!