Our First road trip

We took our first road trip of 2008. We drove out to Kingston, Ontario to visit one of my oldest (and best) friend L. We not only got to visit L and see her beautiful new home. We were able to bring home the beautiful blanket that she had crocheted for us.

The day of our wedding she had included some yarn from a "project" that she was working on for our wedding. The colours were chosen especially to co-ordinate with the picture that hangs above our couch in the living room.

So now back home a week after the trip I curl up under the blanket almost every night while watching TV in the evenings. Even as I write this Blog Mikey has curled up on the blanket for a little afternoon nap.

We've visited L in Kingston before, so Andre chose to visit McBurney Park. We first visited the park a few years ago when L took us on a "Haunted Walk of Kingston". Andre and I enjoy a good ghost story so we really enjoyed the walk. We didn't have a camera the first time we visited the park, so Andre really wanted to snap a few pictures. It was a beautifully warm and sunny day when we visited the park.

We also went shopping in the downtown area and L took us in her favourite little tea shop, and we bought some herbal tea to bring home, along with some other interesting little stores that she's found on her travels. We had a great time while visiting, and the traffic wasn't even bad driving home that Sunday either!

My letter to Mother Nature.

Dear Mother Nature,

I would just like to inform you that I have now commenced spring cleaning. This involves cleaning of all windows, wiping of all window sills, ridding our house of cobwebs and dust, and more importantly ridding the entry of all traces of winter.

We are now winter boot, coat, mitt, and scarf free. I would appreciate it if you would keep the outside temperature above 8 degrees Celsius so I will not have to drag all winter garments out of their summer hiding places while kicking and screaming.

Your co-operation is greatly appreciated.

Yours truly,
Mrs M.

Reason #247...

...why I wish we owned our own home instead of renting a basement apartment.

I'm sitting here just after 11pm and our "neighbours" upstairs have company over. Now they're not a younger couple. They're middle aged. They're grandparents, and for some unknown reason they have a neighbour from down the street over. This neighbour is a very loud burly man and I can hear every word of their conversation through two doors and the floor.
I'm dreading going to bed because the bedroom is directly below the living room upstairs. The very room that they're in.

How I wish that Andre and I owned our own home, then I could go to bed and not have to worry about things like this.

On the bright side Andre has a driving test with a local transit company on Thursday. I am praying that everything works out and he gets the job. Not only would it be almost twice what he is making now, there would be benefits, it's something that he wants to do so badly. More than the money and benefits I just want him to have a job that he loves going to each and every day. I think this would be that job for him.

Fingers crossed!

Ah...This is the life....

I'm sitting here on a Saturday night, a glass of red wine beside me, my darling husband finishing the dishes in the kitchen. Does it get any better?

I have been neglectful of the blogging lately. I didn't think anyone (that is if anyone other than myself actually reads this) really wanted to listen to the lack luster description of my days over the last couple weeks. It's been pretty boring around here. Work has been busy, translating to quite a few late evenings. Andre has been unhappy with his job lately as well. He has been actively sprucing up his resume and handing it out, but when he gets stressed, it's like his goes into his own little world and is absent-minded. This drives me NUTS!

As a result of all this absent-mindedness we have been bickering a lot more than normal, which has stressed us both out even more. I have made a more conscious effort to control my (horrible) temper, and Andre has made an effort to try and be more organized around the house and be more "present". I guess all of our efforts have worked because we had a fabulous day today! We didn't get to go for our walk along the Bayfront, but we did get all of our errands done, have a great lunch and dinner together, and we haven't bickered at all!

Hopefully next week will be be even better, and we can get back on track.

Well Andre is done the last bit of the dishes, so I should go and tidy up the kitchen before we sit down to watch "I Am Legend".

So what's new?

As I logged on here this morning I realized that I have really been neglecting this blog. So much for trying to share my ramblings with the world, or well more accurately, just myself.

Part of the lack of bloggage (I know, I just made it up) is that there really hasn't been that much excitement going on here. No snow storms, nothing newsworthy. In fact, I realized during the course of my work week last week that I am quite boring. Or as I like to call it "stuck in a holding pattern". Sounds much better than plain old boring.

With my job I see a ton of people through the course of the week. And when I do see these people we're usually in the same room together for up to an hour at a time, so the regulars and I tend to get to know each other fairly well. All these people inevitably leads to the polite conversation that (hopefully) leads to the less boring conversation. "So what's new?" Not horrible a question really. But when countless times a day 5 days a week, it can be very annoying.

My answer you ask? Well it all depended on the person. How well I knew them, how well they knew me, and how in depth an answer they would expect. For most people the typical flip response was given: "Same stuff, different day." Which for the most part is true.

I mean, how many people want to know that I haven't really been feeling like myself lately? How many people want to know that every morning I wake up and do a mental calculation of how many hours will pass before I get to climb back into bed that night? How many people want to know that although I thank God everyday for my husband, my career, our small, but comfy apartment, my health, and my family and friends, I long for something more? I dream of the day when we will finally be ready to own our own home, the time when we will be ready to start a family of our own. Lately no matter how many times I remind myself of the blessings in my life (I have many) I just feel a hollowness, a void.

I wake up every morning and go through the motions. Unfortunately I've become very good at it. I know what to say to what person. I know when to call my family and friends so they won't suspect that I'm avoiding them, and more importantly what to say so they don't think anything is wrong. Only my darling Andre, knows about this void, and even he doesn't even know the extent of how deeply I feel it. My best friend I think has suspected something in moments of weakness on my part, but I *think* I was able to recover quickly enough.

Hopefully as the snow melts and flows away so will this discontentment that I have been feeling.

Now in the hopes of ending this blog on a slightly more upbeat note I will finish with a picture of our cat that Andre snapped earlier this month.