So, I live in a city that is comprised, like many cities, of various areas - let's call them 'communities within the city'.... Allow me to share with you some excitement that's going on here today.
My 'community' has been in lockdown since approximately 4pm this afternoon. There have been shootings and there are helicopters flying overhead and police cars everywhere. I just looked out my back window and there are police men with the dogs out.... We have been advised to stay locked in our houses. Our 'community' is up on a hill and the police have it barricaded so no one can enter or exit our area.
If this isn't bad enough, want to know what could be worse? Vaughn is on the other side. He can't make it home. Nothing like this has happened in our area before - it sucks even more knowing that half your family isn't with you when it does.
This is hitting way to close to home for us. I'm scared.
- My passport came in & Vaughn booked our holiday for Vegas in July!!!
- Adam's last final exam is today & then he's off for the summer!!!
- We've cut Porkchop's anxiety medication in half, so she not a 'coma dog' anymore!!!
- Amy & I got Backstreet Boys tickets!!!
- I'm drinking a 4 shot vanilla latte!!!
Have a great day, everyone! Peace.
Update: 5 minutes later. Okay, so I think I may have spoken too soon about Porkchop no longer being a 'coma dog'. No, people, this is not the same picture I posted last week - as you can see, her eyes are open. This was taken (with my stupid cell phone) just a few minutes ago:
23 June 2008
I read this book on my way back from Edmonton yesterday. I had seen Randy Pausch on 'Oprah'; as well, I watched the full video on YouTube. This man is truly inspiring. If you haven't seen the lecture, I will copy it below. When I finished it, my husband looked at me and asked, "Is it a book I should read?", all I could reply was, "It's a book everyone should read."
If you have about 45 minutes to spare, I strongly recommend watching this lecture. The man is an inspiration to us all. The book goes into a lot more detail regarding the lecture - things he was unable to say on stage.
Little Miss Porkchop didn't have a great day. It was her annual vet visit - as well, she was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. You see, my little girl is scared of everything. Her biggest fears are buzzing insects, planes, wind whistling through the house and thunder storms. We've always known it's been bad, but for the past few weeks we've been having terrible storms & between Vaughn and I, we've pretty much been on a constant vigil with her. She shakes and hyperventilates so badly, we've come to the fear that eventually she'll end up having a heart attack. So, my girl will now be on medication for the rest of her life. My heart breaks for her - we try to make her feel so safe & secure, but I hope that now she won't be so tormented by everything.
We are moving Amy to Edmonton in the morning, which is only 4 hours away. Looking forward to getting some shopping done! As well, Vaughn sold his boat & ordered a new one that we're picking up on Saturday. He's like a 10 year old before Christmas.
Tomorrow morning at 10am, tickets go on sale for the Backstreet Boys on 31 August. Amy & I are so excited! We'll be driving down the highway dialing Ticketmaster like two crazy people. I think I'll pee in my pants if we get good seats.
Has anyone seen this movie? I rented it about a month or so ago on a Friday evening. About half way through it Vaughn told me he was turning it off because I was crying. Okay, maybe crying isn't the appropriate word - I was wailing. You know that cry when you're hyperventilating, and you let out the occasional squeal? That was me. It was so sad, I was still crying on Sunday. I vowed never to watch it again.
Last week while Adam was at school, Amy expressed an interest in the movie, so I jumped up and popped it into the DVD player (I never learn)... I pretty much started crying instantly, but Amy was surprisingly quiet. After about 45 minutes, I asked her if she was enjoying the movie - and then the flood gates opened. She had been holding it in to try to make a point that I'm a big baby, but she just let go and screamed, "Oh my God, I want to DIE!!!"
I can't imagine anyone leaving this movie & not being touched in some way. *sigh* So romantic.
1) What's more painful than getting a tattoo? Getting a tattoo touch-up. Remember last September when I got Vaughn's initials tattooed on my wrist? Well, it was touched-up yesterday, and it hurt so bad. I even called my tattoo guy a bastard. I was told at that point that touch-ups are always more painful. Way to not send me THAT memo until it was too late.
2) Why haven't I won the lottery yet?
3) A few books I've read over the past month or so:
And the two I'm in the process of reading now:
4) I'm planning on going to that 'World Wide Knit in Public Day' with Kare tomorrow if she's still going... No, I don't knit, but I support knitters everywhere.... as well, I love reaping the benefits of having a best friend that's a knitter. I'll take pictures!
5) God Bless Bret Hart. Amen.
Have a great day, everyone. Peace.
11 June 2008
I loved this guy on American Idol. He was my favorite right from the auditions. Aside from looking like he was going to vomit, he did an absolutely amazing job with the national anthem last night.
Now, allow me to share a picture I took of Porkchop napping yesterday afternoon. Couldn't find my camera, so had to use the crappy one on my cell phone:
Anyone who knows me, knows my love for Miss Porkchop. I hate to be away from her, so these past months have been great in the sense that I'm off work and I can spend all this time with her.
Now it's boating season & Vaughn wants to be on the lake every chance he can get. I don't want to be leaving her every weekend, and it worries me that if I brought her on the boat, something would happen & she wouldn't be able to get to shore.
I mentioned to Kare that I wanted to find her a lifejacket. After an unnecessary amount of laughter (on her part), I think I made her see the light. Unlike her two dogs (whom I LOVE), Porkchop isn't as ummmm.... self sufficient. She's not the outdoorsy type at all, and she is purely for decorative purposes only.
When Kare was out of town a few weeks ago, she came home with a present for my little girl:
It took a lot of coaxing to get her into it, but once it was on, her tail started wagging. Just one problem, though. She wouldn't move. She just stood there. Frozen.
Either way, I'm going to make a sailor out of this girl. All she needs now is the little hat & we'll be set.
So, here I am - blogging for the 1st time in what seems like a million years. I guess the only reason I have for not keeping in touch is that when Amy left in September, I think I lost my mojo. Sure, she was 21 and God knows, I can completely understand that she needed to find her own way, but the selfish side of me just wasn't ready. So, I'm back - I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but I'll fill you in, somewhat, on the goings on of the past 7 months in the life of MadameZ:
- Amy came back for her 1st visit in December to see her brother perform in "Cats". He was AMAZING. The play was phenomenal. I wasn't sure what to expect when I found out that he had a solo - A few weeks before his show, this was the conversation that my husband & I had:
Me: Adam has a solo in this play. Vaughn: Are you serious? But, Adam can't sing. Me: I know Vaughn: Well, do you think the Drama teacher knows? Me: Well, honey, they've been rehearsing 15 hours a week for the past 3 months - I think she must have a clue. Vaughn: This could get ugly.
When Adam started singing, our mouths dropped. He was amazing. I cried and couldn't believe that was my little boy up there. He made me so proud.
Let's skip ahead a few months.... After all the problems I had with my stomach these past years, I wound up getting surgery again in April to remove my right ovary. This gave me a month off work, so I had lots of time to have coffee with Kare. It also gave me the chance to go visit Amy for awhile. By this time, she had come to visit 2 or 3 times, but it was so much fun to see where she worked, to meet her new friends & hang out on her turf for awhile. It was so amazing. We had the greatest time.
Forgive me for not adding captions to these pictures, but my darling husband bought me a MacBook for Christmas because I thought they were cute and it has intimidated me every day since. I'm still having issues with it.
So.....I come back from my holiday to return to work & cannot understand why I'm still not feeling better. I manage to make it through a 1/2 day and when I go back to the Doctor, it turns out that I have scar tissue that had wrapped itself around just about everything, including the nerves in my upper leg. So, a few weeks later, I'm back getting surgery again and, therefore, more time at home. It's been 12 days since my last operation & I can honestly say I'm feeling so much better.
Amy's up again for a visit & has decided to move closer - on Friday, she will be moving only 4 hours away, and I couldn't be happier.
Because I'm the queen of procrastination, I waited till only recently to apply for my passport, much to my husband's dismay. If it does happen to arrive in time, he & I will be in Vegas the same time as Kare & her family. How totally awesome is that???
I'm going to try my best to keep up with my life. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking around.
This book was given to me by a coworker for my birthday. I probably wouldn't have purchased it had I seen it in the book store. It's crude, raw, vulgar, odd and totally messed up. I'm about 1/2 way through it, and I must say, I'm really enjoying it.
I turned 40 on Monday - This in itself is enough to drive a woman to drink. After a very busy week, an unexpected surprise came in the mail today. When I noticed that the return address was the Starbucks Coffee Company, all I could think was, "Holy crap, am I that good of a customer?"
I opened it up & it was a Starbucks birthday card and a gift certificate from Nett! Thank you so much!!! You are definitely a woman who knows the way to my heart. This was so sweet and thoughtful of you!!!
Do you have 'driving music'? You know - music that you hear in your car, and you blast the stereo to bust and belt out the song like it's your job? Well, I actually have 2 songs at the moment. They vary from time to time, but for the past few weeks, it's been
1) "Shut up and Drive" by Rihanna - Okay, I seriously choreographed a complete dance number while driving and listening to this tune one day. This song is fun, hip and makes me want to shake my groove thing. When Adam's in the car with me and this song comes on, he automatically shuts up, rolls his eyes into the back of his head and pretends that I'm just a random stranger that picked him up on the side of the road.
2) "Rockstar" by Nickelback - Much to everyone's disgust, I have to admit that I have a little bit of a school girl crush on the lead singer of this band. Yes, kare, I know you think he looks like Jesus. But, it's not so much his looks as it is his voice and the complete and utter dirtiness of some of the lyrics. Many a time I've listened to their songs and thought "I'd strip to that". ANYWAY....back to my story..
So, yesterday morning after I dropped Adam off at school, I'm shuffling through XM radio looking for tunes and "Rockstar" came on - I instantly cranked the volume to teenage level & proceeded to sing for my supper. I love to sing - I suck like a vacuum, but in my car, I can transform from Mariah to Celene to Fergie to Kelly Clarkson to Rihanna, and yes, to the lead singer of Nickelback. I start singing to the top of my lungs. I have to add that I'm sure people look at me like I've lost it, but when I'm in the moment, I don't care who's watching.
So, here I am - sitting at a red light - music blaring, me keeping right in time with the tunes, and I look over at the car next to me. There's a guy, sitting in his car doing the exact same thing to the exact same song. He notices me noticing him - we both laugh, and continue singing while sitting in our cars.
Well, it's been quite a week - After much consideration, Amy has decided to move away, and she's leaving tomorrow morning. It's been a hard week - I don't think I'll ever stop crying. We fight like cats & dogs, but in a nutshell, we're basically the same person. I can't imagine not seeing her, not laughing with her, not fighting with her every day.
I decided that I would have a 'bon voyage' party for her last night, but because she's not going to be here for my 40th birthday next week, she & her friends actually gave me a surprise party. Such a great night.
This is a present Amy & her best friend, Jesse made me - it was a canvas with different memories written on it. As well, a quote from "for one more day" by Mitch Albom written on it:
"She wasn't easy on me, don't get me wrong. She smacked me. She scolded me. She punished me. But she loved me. She really did. She loved me falling off a swing set. She loved me stepping on her floors with muddy shoes. She loved me through vomit and snot, and bloody knees. She loved me coming and going - at my worst and at my best. She had a bottomless well. She had a bottomless well of love for me. Of love for me."
Once again Amy proved to give me a memorable present. I didn't think the tears would stop.
My girlfriend Jayne & her husband gave me a remarkable table with a lighthouse on it. It's absolutely beautiful. Her presents are always amazing. If you're noticing two girls dressed very '80s in the background, that's two friends I work with - Amanda & Laura. I always wanted an '80s themed party, so when they were invited to this, they decided to run with it. Needless to say, as soon as the gift opening was over, I ran upstairs & changed into some old clothes. I'm all about teasing the hair, wearing tacky jewellery and those shoulder pads! To top it all off - Vaughn got me another pair of uggs! Yay me!
Now, for your viewing pleasure, some pictures from last night's excitement. Amanda made me a cake with a penis on it - In my defense, I was drunk as a sailor, so, out of consideration, I won't post the pics of what I did with the cake later. BWAAHAHAH (Netter, you can see them all on facebook) ;o)
Happy trails, little miss. I love you everyday - and now I'll miss you every day.
So, kare phones me yesterday & asks me if I want to 'pay it forward' with the lawn demons that were left on her lawn a few weeks ago. Needless to say, I'm all about a good time. I'm all about wearing a hoodie in the dead of night, crawling over people's driveways and planting little evil goblins on lawns. But, hey - it was Schell. I knew she'd get a kick out if it. I didn't, however, think she'd figure out it was us so quickly. Here's how it went down.
I arrived at kare's to pick her & 'Satan's toys' up and pack them into my vehicle. Let me say that I'm not a big fan of these. The whole 'ornaments left on the lawn' thing did not amuse me one bit. It actually freaks me out to think they they mysteriously just showed up there. ANYWAY....here they are, being loaded up by a co-conspirator, kare's daughter, Tres:
So, away kare & I go....Like two hoodlums in the dark. We arrive and park a few houses down from Schell's and decide that this is a picture moment:
By this time, I'm thinking that because it's completely dark outside, people tucked away in their homes for the evening are going to see flashes going off and wonder what the heck is going on. This apparently doesn't enter kare's mind even once. So here is a pic of my bad influence:
Picture this, if you will....two hooded strangers crawling over people's driveways with garden ornaments in their arms. Cars are driving by and all I can think is "Holy shit, someone's gonna call the cops". I don't think I laughed so hard in my life. We finally make it to Schell's front lawn and we start to arrange them. They're falling all over the place and we can't stop laughing. We finally get them all standing up and kare poses for a pic:We then proceed to fly back to my car, and kare realizes that we didn't get a pic of me with them.
Me: It's too late! We can't run back now!
kare: We have to! We've come this far! That's part of the dare! Let's go!
So, there we are - crouched down, crawling over the driveways & lawns again - to get this:
I thought for sure we'd get caught! I can't remember running that fast in my life - or laughing that much!
Schell, when you're ready to 'pay it forward', let kare & I know. I'll drive the getaway vehicle.
I'm a fan of Mitch Albom - my daughter got me turned on to him years ago with the books "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven". They were definitely 'tug at your heartstrings' books and, like my daughter, I passed them on to many people.
I was at the bookstore a few weeks ago, and one of the workers mentioned that he had a newer book - "for one more day". I had it finished before I could even go to bed. If you haven't read it already, I'm urging you to. It was simply amazing. However, I actually didn't think I'd ever stop crying. Let me know what you think.
11 September 2007
Don't you just love it when you wake up for work and your day is going great? Your hair went perfect, you're not running behind, you don't get stuck in a traffic jam, there's no lineup at Starbucks....Everything is going absolutely swell.....And then there's that one person....every day, that just fucks it all up.
I have one of those people. Every morning, I stop at my work to pick up cash, paperwork, etc; and I make the lovely trip to head office to meet with the lady in Accounts Payable. Her job is to balance our previous day. That's it. If we've screwed up, or the cash doesn't jive, it's her job to get it back in the groove.
I'm a morning person. So, when I arrive at her office, my makeup is freshly done, my hair is great, and my clothes are wrinkle free (this doesn't last all day, but seeing it's the 1st thing in the morning, all is well.)
When I walk into her office, I'm chipper. When I greet someone in the morning saying, "Good morning - how are you today?", the correct response is, "Fine, thanks. How are you?" I don't care if your allergies are acting up. I don't care if your loser boyfriend won't pay his bills. I don't care if the company is trying to kill you by cutting off the heat in your office. And I certainly don't care if your six month flu is bringing you just that much closer to death. But I listen (as I'm checking messages on my cell phone) and I normally just let her have her rant. She then will proceed to complain about how whoever closed the store the night before should be tested for mental capability. How one of these days she's just going to stop doing our day end until someone actually gets it right. This burns my ass every day. This morning I had enough. I'll re-enact this morning's events....For privacy reasons, we'll call her "Swamp Thing".
Me: Good Morning all! How is everyone this fine morning? Why's your office door closed? Swamp Thing: Don't be talking! The mold in this building is killing me. My allergies are worse today than they've ever been. It's obvious that 'the powers that be' (she actually did the finger quotes) have no interest in the little people! Me: Well....that sucks...Hey, can we hurry this up? I've still gotta do a coffee run. Swamp Thing: You can hang on. God knows it takes me twice as long to do your store. When are they going to start training people right anyway? I've just about had it with your store! Me: Whatever. *rolls eyes* Swamp Thing: Do you have any idea what I have to do every day? Do you know how much extra work it is? ~~~Let me just say, in my defense, she was cutting into my coffee time~~~ Me: Extra work?? Extra work?? It's your goddamn job! Do you know how much work it is for me to drag my ass in here every morning to listen to this? Get the goddamn stick out of your ass and do your job! I'm not packing my fucking bags to go on your pity trip this morning! Now hurry up, you're clearly not worth missing coffee for. Not another word....The cash was done. I got my coffee. Life was good.
Wow - It's Sunday evening, and I'm exhausted! Friday evening, Vaughn, Amy & her friend & I went to the annual 'Kids Forever' fundraiser - a benefit for children with special needs. Amazingly, they raised $305 000.00 this year!!! It was a great night, as always:
Sorry - I can't be serious all the time....Who am I kidding - I can't even be serious half the time.
Saturday was my baby girl's 21st birthday! However, because she wasn't awake yet, my girlfriend, Jayne & I went and got our tattoos. Because we were so in love with Amy's, we actually both chose getting our husband's initials on our wrists. As panicky as I was, it was surprisingly not that bad.
Saturday evening Amy had a bunch of friends over for birthday cake and fancy slushie drinks. Her requested cake this year was fruit pizza, so, what my girl wants - my girl gets.
Adam's school's Drama Club is performing 'Cats' this winter and he auditioned this week and will be playing the role of Skimbleshanks, so, rehearsals started this afternoon. I dropped him off, and then proceeded to meet Kare at the dog park - lots of fun! Then the usual Sunday activity....grocery shopping. After getting home and finally getting everything put away, I slumped on the couch & went into a coma for about a half hour, until it was time to pick Adam up. I think it'll be an early night tonight. I'm only staying up long enough to see if Britney Spears makes a fool of herself on the VMAs tonight.
