I forgot to mention…

… my grace in small things has become daily and is now hosted at Grace In Small Things

I think you should go there too.

week of grace – #9

This week’s small things:

1. Learning to use the drill to screw in the million screws needed to keep the new ceiling in the garage from falling onto someone’s noggin. I helped! I HELPED!!!! YAY ME!!!!
2. +15 degrees Celsius
3. Gentle Leader Headcollars. The Dog, she loves the rabbits. The rabbits, they love my neighborhood. The sidewalk, she’s icy from the warm temps and likes to make me fall when The Dog tugs towards The Rabbits. Thus, the Gentle Leader. No more pulling! And The Dog is learning to like it because, once it’s on her head, it means we’re going to go for a walk and I’m going to ply her with food to learn her to like the headcollar. WIN WIN!
4. The phrase “learn you”. It makes me laugh. “I’m gonna learn you a lesson, young man!”  Hilarity, truly.
5. Paypal. I may have mentioned that one before but man oh man, I do love ordering things online and PayPal really makes that easy.
6. My northside neighbors (the others are great as well, but this week I”m focused on the north ones). I’m just so grateful for such wonderful people. As the dog and I walked on the weekend, we met them on our way and they just have a way of putting me at ease when I can be quite nervous around aquaintance-type relationships. I just love that about my neighbors. I can be such a dork but they’re still so LOVELY about it.
7. Smuckers caramel syrup. It turns a boring banana and apple salad into a PARTY! And it’s just so golden and pretty when drizzled over pale fruit. Mmm…

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things. I’m doing it every Sunday for 52 weeks.

tidbits for a friday

 

To the best of my knowledge, Denton owns a time machine.

To the best of my knowledge, Chad has accumulated a massive fanbase in Regina and will be continuing towards his end goal of Total and Complete World Domination. I’m sure this is why he hasn’t updated his blog since he moved to Regina.

To the best of my knowledge, The Dog is playing video games whenever I come to work and leave her loose in the house.

And why does my MSN web messenger always kack out in the afternoon? How can I avoid working if I am not able to freely discuss with Diamond D the custody schedules for future book purchases?!?

And why won’t someone write a novel that centers around me and my dog and our adventures travelling across Canada on the rails? (while leaving out the part where I’m such a clutz that I’ll probably fall and be decapitated the first time I try to jump into a train car)

my gimpy right foot

There are moments when everything goes well, but don’t be frightened. –Jules Renard

(that’s from Miserable Bliss via schmutzie)

My right foot is really heavy today. I was walking to the new cafe for a bite when it became apparent that my right foot weighed more than my left foot.  I was sure that this was a new thing since I do walk quite a bit in my daily life (usually to my coworkers cubicles and then back to my little cubicle, but still). I stared down and caught myself limping, trying to swing my foot out further to SEE if my right foot looked more swollen. I then spent my commute to and from the cafe pondering a life with one gigantic foot. Would Fluevog craft a special boot for my massive appendage? Would I start volunteering, fundraising and lobbying on behalf of Giant-Foot Affliction charities?  Is there even such a thing as giant footism?

On closer inspection, my right boot wasn’t laced as tight as my left – once the laces were evenly tightened, my feet regained equilibrium. Easy fix.

And that, my friends, has been the theme for 2009.

WCB Sask (don’t even get me started on those assholes) finally began sending wage loss benefits in late December for The Husband (5 months after his back surgery. Idiots.)  and coincidentally, the first cheque arrived on the day he went back to work on light duty. That was our only outstanding worry so thus began 2009, carefree and fancyfree!

And it’s continued that way. It’s creeping me out. I guess I’m a fatalist because I’m just on edge, waiting. I’m actually creating anxiety in myself because I have no anxiety. I’m now hyperaware yet all signs lead to happiness, prosperity and laughter these days. Projects on schedule, bills paid, house awesome, Husband nifty, dog cute. Everything checks out.

Totally freaking me out.

Cold breeze coming into the house? It’s not the furnace or structural problems or a sign we need to replace windows - the back window was open.  The dog staring out the back window growling? As much as I though a murderer was hiding in the yard, bunny tracks point to a local a jack rabbit that’s attempting to take up residence in our yard. A suspiciously large cheque arrives in the mail unexpectantly? A phone call to both parties involved reveal the $$ amount is true and ours. A purchase online hasn’t shown up? An email to the sender is zinged off but the package arrives that afternoon.

I’m either going to buy a lottery ticket or buy a bomb shelter because dudes, could this possibly continue for much longer? Could it?

(tell me yes)

week of grace – #8

This week’s small things:

1. Frozen blueberries with a layer of vanilla yogurt on top which is then left on my desk for a couple hours to thaw. The yogurt traps the blueberries and juice into an airtight compartment that is perfectly intact until my spoon digs through.
2. Relaxing on the couch with a friend that also knits
3. Yves Mexican Veggie Ground Round
4. The garage walls are now insulated, boarded and painted. It was 6.5 degrees Celsius in there last night while outside, it was much colder. YAY!
5. Mornings burrowed under the blankets with The Husband and The Dog
6. 2 socks knit at once on one long circular needle. So cool. I feel very clever every time I work on a pair of socks this way.
7. Playing video games with Da Boyz on a lazy Saturday instead of doing un-fun stuff.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things. I’m doing it every Sunday for 52 weeks.

I can’t believe I didn’t find this two weeks ago when I could have *followed* these directions!!!

Our December was cold and snowy and more snowy, then some more snowy.  It has since begun to melt.

I regret that I did not see this video until yesterday.

How to build an igloo, starring two people whose names I cannot spell

And does anyone else miss these National Film Board short documentaries just appearing between television shows?

week of grace – #7

This week’s small things:

1. I haven’t given The Husband the stomach bug that’s been lingering since Dec 30.
2. The Husband hasn’t given me his throat and chest plague that appeared on Saturday and stole his voice.
3. World of Warcraft.  We’ve been near addicts for years yet when I’m an orc, my mind is distracted from the urge to vomit.
4. Saskatoon berries available in frozen form at my local grocery store.
5. A new lovely painting is coming to a house near me (well, MY house). We ordered it. It’s freaking awesome. I’ll post photos when it arrives.
6. We picked up new chairs to go around our awesome and HUGE kitchen table (it’s really really old and I loves it). We braved Ikea during their big sale and dudes, it was a really good thing to do and now visitors to our den don’t have to sit on the dog-hair covered floor.
7. Drops sock yarn that’s knitting up so fast (2 socks on one circular) that it’s like crazy magic. 

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things. I’m doing it every Sunday for 52 weeks.

(except this week – I slept through Sunday and although I was grateful, I didn’t document accordingly until Wed.)

burglar alarm

The dog is standing at the back door, a low growl rumbling in her throat as she looks out into the darkness.

I just rechecked the door locks and the motion detector yard light and everything is secure. That should make me less on edge but having our laid back pooch sounding caution is giving me the heebie jeebies.

Last month a man rang the doorbell. I held the dog by her collar when I opened the door because my dog, she’s a love whore. I am well aware that a muscular black dog running at your face to coat you in french kisses isn’t always a welcome (or understood) thing.  When presented with humans, she dances and licks and dances until she’s in a frenzy. I held her collar so she’d stay put while I figured out what door guy wanted.

He started with  ”Do you have an alarm system, ma’am?” and my CSI-watching, paranoid imagination went into overdrive as I was responding “no”. My red flags were waving and alarm bells screaming – why are you telling a stranger that you have NO SECURITY SYSTEM?!? And out of my mouth came “no but…”  head nod toward dog “she bites.”  At that, the salesman’s eyes opened wide and he stepped back, staring hard at my pup who was straining against my hold to get at him to please please just let me give him a kiss, just one… oh my, his breath smells like chicken for the love of all things holy let me kiss him!

If he’d been a dog person, he would have noticed her tail wagging at top speed but instead, he quickly wrapped up the conversation and walked quickly to the next house.

Since then, we’ve arranged to have a system installed because really, we suspect that our dog would greet an intruder with slobbery, dancing love, following from room to room as he took our belongings. Ever since the salesman visited, I’ve felt a slice of guilt for even allowing someone to believe that she’s anything but an eager to please girl who loves to make out with strangers.

Now, as she stands in our dim kitchen, growling into the darkness, I wonder if I wasn’t lying to the salesman. Maybe she’s more than just love and naps and I’m not sure I’m willing to open the back door to investigate until the daylight arrives… just in case.

week of grace – #6

This week’s small things:

1. Clamato juice, oh how yee make holidays lovely.
2. That bite sized goodie that is chocolate and almond slices layered onto caramel layered onto saltine crackers. It shouldn’t be good but dudes, it’s AMAZING.
3. Home made perogies.
4. The Yarn Harlot and Knitters without Borders
5. Hearing my 2 year old nephew call my name to come play with him in his tent. He can’t quite pronounce my name yet and it’s so adorable.
6. My neighbors who take turns shovelling the sidewalk that runs down our block.  Especially the gentleman that saw me struggling during my turn yesterday, and he came out with his shovel to give me a hand. 
7. Christmas Day Naptime!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things. I’m doing it every Sunday for 52 weeks.

week of grace – #5

This week’s small things:

1. Rickard’s White with a slice of orange.
2. Designated drivers. 
3. Christmas shopping in a mall full of nice, friendly, happy, spirity people… it was enjoyable!
4. Double pointed needles
5. Wild mushroom soup
6. A full afternoon with no other activities other than knitting in the warm living room while watching trashy tv.
7. My dad’s shortbread cookies (drool)

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 days of Grace in Small Things. I’m doing it every Sunday for 52 weeks.