Happy Boxing Day!

Hey all... I had every intention of doing a few posts before Christmas, but you know how it goes... One thing leads to another and before you know it, Christmas Day has come and gone... And here we are at December 26, or Boxing Day in Canada.

We had a HUGE scare last week with one of Brad's nephews having a terrible accident while snowboarding. He fell and hit his head (sans helmet) and had to be rushed to the Regional Hospital in Saint John. He was within minutes of dying, according to the doctors, but they operated and removed a blood clot, and he was home in time for Christmas. A true Christmas miracle! One of his eyes is still not opening properly, but the docs are confident that it will basically heal itself and he'll be as good as new. He was a very lucky 17-year-old, and we are all lucky that he is still with us.

Other than that, we had a good holiday, going to Brad's dad's place on Christmas Eve and then to his sister's for the big dinner yesterday. Unfortunately, I developed a heck of a Christmas cold, and have not been feeling great, especially yesterday and today. We were supposed to go to mom's today, but I felt wretched when I got up (after an almost sleepless night), so we decided that Brad would go down on his own and deliver mom's gifts. I certainly did not want to expose her to the cold that I have. Don and Marlene had also invited us to their place today after visiting with mom, so Brad is going to keep up that end of the deal as well. He decided to take Jasper with him and do some snowshoeing out at Don and Mar's before returning here later this evening. Jasper will have a ball!

Brad gave me two new watches for Christmas - a very nice regular one to wear every day and a waterproof one that I can wear when I go swimming. The strap of my old waterproof watch broke a couple of weeks ago and I hate being without a timepiece on my wrist. I gave him all of the books on the Canada Reads selection this year as well as one entitled 24 Walks in Paris, which will hopefully come in handy when we are there next fall with Brad's sister and brother-in-law.

I have all of next week off, which I am very much looking forward to. Hopefully I will be able to ditch this awful cold very soon. I keep filling myself with vitamin C and Dristan. We are having some friends and neighbours over on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year.

2010 - Can you imagine! Just two more years to go until 2012!

More soon, I promise, including the long-awaited post on Brad's bike trip from Ottawa home.

Merry Christmas all, a bit belatedly, but better late than never! :)

Here's a little Regina Spektor. Wintry and a little melancholy, which fits my mood perfectly today ("and darkness spreads over the snow like ancient bruises"):

December madness...

December has to be busiest month of the year. So many things going on, so much to do. Gifts to buy, cards to send, parties to go to, parties to hold. Concerts, cooking, and generally running around like mad. That has been my December experience, anyway.

And the last few years I have had to do all of mom's stuff for her as well: cards and little gifts she buys for friends, family and the gals who look after her at the home. And after her move back in May, I finally got aorund, sometime in September or October, to changing her address with Canada Revenue (the tax guys). It wasn't all that big a deal, typing up a sheet with her relavant information on it, getting her to sign it, and then faxing it off to St. Johns, Newfoundland. I thought that was it. Then a few weeks ago, she received something in the mail, which she thought was from Revenue Canada, asking for her to update her address with them. When I finally get a hold of the sheet and call the number indicated, I realize that this one was from Service Canada (the ones from whom she gets her Old Age Security and Canada Pension). Argh... And the only way to change her address with them is for her to talk to them directly on the phone and answer a few skill testing questions so they can determine that she is indeed the person they are talking to. So to make a long story short, I have to take Friday morning off, go down to mom's get Service Canada on the line (it's a toll free number with something like 18 options to choose from, which she would never be able to do on her own), and then have her change her address with them. And hopefuly that will be it!

And then there's the snow to shovel and the slippery sidewalks and the dogs that get dirty and wet in the slush and the morons at work and the morons on the bus (hacking and coughing, and sneezing their heads off). And the short days, the line ups at the post office and grocery stores, and the list goes on and on...

I'm really starting not to like December very much. I'm counting the days down to the 23rd, after which I will at least be off work until January 4 (using just 4 vacation days!). And I did get to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas the other night. Why that Cindy-Lou Who could put a smile on the face of even the grumpiest of souls!

Happy Christmas!

Sorry, but I couldn't resist this over-the-top display of ... jeez... I don't know what it is a display of, but it totally cracks me up! Would have been nice if they could have used a Christmas hymn, tho!

Amazing Grace Techno - Computer Controlled Christmas Lights from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

Painting Woes

Hey all... Once again I apologize for not blogging much of late. We've just been incredibly busy and are now in the process of having the inside of our house painted, all save a few rooms. Everything is upside-down and dusty, but the finished produce will be worth it I think. Since we moved in here 5 and a half years ago, we've only painted the top floor master bedroom, which had been an awful burnt orange colour that neither of us could stand. So we had that done fairly quickly. The rest of the house was mostly a light beige colour, which we really didn't mind that much, so we left it ... until now. We're having the trim and the baseboards done in a white glossy oil-based paint and the rest in an off-white called Moroccan Sand. It's looking really good so far, with the den and Brad's office basically done, though I think the office might need another coat tomorrow. The guy who's doing it is very good, fast, and clean. It would take us forever and a day to get the job done. Hopefully, he'll be finished by the end of the coming weekend, if not before. Now we're going to have to get all new furniture and window treatments to match the new look!

In other news, we had a great potluck dinner party last Saturday at Don and Marlene's place in the country. There was a "Christmas in the Village" day going on the same day, with a lot of the shops and galleries putting on special selections of their wares and goods. Don and Mar also participated, setting up a stand to sell their honey and homemade soaps. It was a very nice time despite the rainy cool weather. And dinner was delish, as always.

On Sunday, after going down to visit mom, I went to a special public clinic and got my H1N1 shot. It didn't hurt a bit on Sunday, but yesterday, I really felt like crap - sore arm and every joint in my body aching. But today, everything is back to normal and I feel fit as a fiddle. I even went for a swim after work. Something I have to do more often as well as spending a lot more time in the basement on my stationary bike... Perhaps there's a reason my Skinny Saturdays have fallen by the wayside lately!

In any case, I'll leave you with a few motivational pics!

Cheers amigos!