The best laid plans of mice and men…

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Sherry

… often go awry. But sometimes there’s a happy ending nonetheless.

On Friday we hopped in the minivan and headed out to visit my parents for the day. Part of our visit was also to get my dad back online with a new-to-him computer. You could tell it was a holiday because there was traffic everywhere. On top of that, this idiotic province figured it was a good idea to close down tons of streets for construction on a long holiday weekend where people frequently travel about the city. Brilliant.

With all the stop and go and stop and go our van ended up overheating when we were 3/4 of the way there which was just effin’ perfect. Luckily we have a CAA membership and it proved to be worth every penny when George was able to call and ask for help. Unfortunately the trucks can really only accommodate two passengers so George had to call his dad to come pick up me and the two kids.

On the other hand it was the middle of the day, sunny, and quite warm so it wasn’t the end of the world. We had pulled in to the parking lot of a Petro Canada gas station which backed onto a McDonalds so I sat on the Mickey D’s terrace with the kids once the CAA truck showed up. George drove the van up onto the ramp, hopped in the truck, and left; ten minutes later his dad arrived and we headed for home, deciding to save our visit for another day.

When we were almost home George called and said his dad should just drop me off and take the kids over for supper because his sister was on her way for the weekend. That left just the two of us at home.

Back at Christmas my sister and her husband gave us a gift certificate for Boston Pizza to enjoy a night out together. We decided to call our friends and see if they’d care to join us (the restaurant isn’t too far so we could have gotten there anyway, we just wanted good company!) and indeed they did. We had a great time.

George had Jambalaya Linguine:

Meanwhile I tried their famous Spicy Perogie pizza which was delicious:

I love having a planned event or get-together to look forward to but honestly some of the best times have all been the spontaneous sort. There’s just something really fun about suddenly saying, “hey why don’t we…?” and then doing it.

So it wasn’t the Friday we had planned on, but at least it had a good save in the end!

Busy short week

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Sherry

This is going to be one of those fly-by weeks I think. First of all, Monday went by quickly even though I don’t really know why. I didn’t do anything in particular to move it along. I didn’t even pack anything since I’m running low on boxes. Still, I can’t believe that it’s almost time for bed.

On Tuesday I have a Governing Board meeting and I have no idea how long it will be; we missed our last meeting because it ended up canceled so we may have to catch up on a few extra items. Then I have a PPO meeting on Wednesday which is probably going to be short and sweet. Still, two meetings in a row this month!

As if I won’t spend enough time up at the school with those meetings, I then have Breakfast Club bright (dark) and early on Thursday morning. Whew!

I’m quite happy that at least Hayley’s off for Good Friday and Easter Monday so it’s just a four-day week, a nice four-day weekend, and another four-day week. I like that.

The weekend may be a blur too; on Friday we’re going to visit my parents to hook my dad up with a new-to-him computer since he’s been without a functioning PC for almost a year now. While we’re there I’m going to give him a lesson in how to use gmail, how to find both my blog and my sister’s blog, and remind him of how to use Facebook so he can get back into things online.

Then of course there’s Easter dinner at George’s parents’ house on Sunday and I don’t know if the kids will maybe be over there on Saturday as well, so it seems like it just might be busy busy. We’re picking up some boxes from a friend on the way home from seeing my parents so I’ll be able to get some more packing done at least!

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The good thing about getting my dad back online is that he and my mom will be able to go “ooh” and “ahh” over their newest granddaughter. My sister had her baby on April 9th and you can go read her birth story and see how beautiful my niece Claire is. I can’t wait to get out there and hold her for the first time! I wish I could see her in person now but she’ll only be about three months when I get there. That’s one of my favorite baby ages, really. At three months they’re still non-mobile so you can put them down in the middle of your living room floor, go get a drink of water, come back, and they’re still exactly where you left them. Meanwhile, they also becoming more and more interactive with the laughing and seeking out your face and it just a wonderful age. Auntie Sherry might need an intervention to put her down!

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On that note I should probably think about getting myself to bed since it’s almost 11 and I’m pretty tired.

Catching up

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Sherry

I remember once upon a time I updated regularly. Now I just don’t seem to find the time. It’s not that I’m so terribly busy that I can’t possibly sit down and type something, I just never seem to get around to it. I love to be able to read back and remember things that might have otherwise slipped out of my memory though, so I really need to commit to doing this more often.

This weekend has been a fairly soggy one, tons of rain yesterday and showers on and off today. It’s also been very cold compared to last week, and the dampness is hard to shake off. It’s definitely warm socks and sweaters weather. It was also apparently a weekend of rage-inducing moments.

First off there was yesterday. I was all out of contact solution, to the point that each lens was soaking in all of 2-3 drops of solution each. George was kind enough to offer to go out early to get me some since my glasses are so old that it’s uncomfortable to wear them for very long. When he came back he was beyond pissed off and at first I thought he had had a bad encounter with someone at the store but it turned out it was someone in this building, someone who lives in one of the six apartments on the third floor. Let’s put it this way; I had to actually go out into the stairwell and post this note:

Yes, really. Someone actually had their garbage bag of dirty cat litter break as they were coming through the door to the stairs, and it fell all the way down the stairwell to the second floor. And then they left it! At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt, saying that maybe it had just happened and they had returned to their apartment to get a broom and new bag. Hours later it was evident that this was not the case. By the time George returned home from working last night he said both the note and the disgusting litter were gone so I guess my outrage worked.

In related news I am so glad that we are moving out of here in 71 more days. God. How sad is it that you need an annoyed neighbor to point out you should clean up your mess in the stairs?! The cleaning people only come once a month, it would have sat there for ages otherwise!

The other moment of rage was something I witnessed this morning. I was coming up the back stairs from the parking lot with the dog and I brought her over to the grassy courtyard when I saw some people exiting the building so she wouldn’t jump on them. Much to my disbelief I saw a father carrying a large car seat while his son who looked to be about five or six years old carrying his baby sister who is approximately eight or nine months old, give or take, based on the last time I saw his mother still pregnant. Not 20 seconds later I saw the mother come out behind them and she had nothing in her hands other than a set of keys, so it’s not like there was no adult around to carry a baby.

I stood by the door, all tense with nerves as I watched that little boy descend the seven cement steps to the parking lot and sure enough as he made it to the second to last step he suddenly disappeared from sight; he had fallen forward into the parking lot, baby in his arms. The mother screamed in horror and ran down to pick the baby up. THEN, as if it wasn’t all bad enough anyway, she started YELLING at her son as though he was some terrible child for losing his balance and falling. Hey lady, if you hadn’t expected your young kid to carry a baby this never would have happened. The baby was wailing and the father ran over to see if she was okay, and I’m hoping she’s fine since she was quite bundled up with a hat and the hood of a very puffy snowsuit, but I don’t know.

I just… I don’t know, sometimes all you can do is clench your fists and walk away.

*******

Last weekend was much better. It was sunny and warm, and although the wind was a tad chilly we spent quite a bit of time outdoors on Saturday. Our friends invited us over for the first BBQ of the season – and with our upcoming move we have to enjoy those as much as possible – and we took the kids down to the river for a bit, then followed that up with some snacks out on the back deck in the sun.

It makes up for the fact that this weekend has been primarily spent indoors. The sun is actually out now but it’s still cold and damp, and the wind is really going to town out there. Ah well, the grass is turning green pretty quickly so I guess it’s a decent trade-off. Here’s hoping that the long Easter weekend will be nice though!

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In unrelated news, last night George and I were watching Rush Hour 2 on YTV or Teletoon, or one of those kids’ channels that plays more PG + movies later at night. During one of the commercial breaks they had one of the channel regulars talking about… something to do with the movie I think. I didn’t listen at all because I nearly choked on my chips in my geeky excitement when I saw he was wearing that said, “There are four lights.”

I hacked and coughed over my food and waved my hand wildly at the TV and choked out that I LOVED his shirt. Confused, George looked at me and asked why and what did it mean. Aghast, I told him it was from the 2-part episode of Star Trek:TNG when the Cardassians kidnap Picard and torture him, trying to make him admit there were three lights on the wall when in reality there were four. Anyone who was a fan of that show (hi, like me apparently) has always loved the moment at the end when the crew rescues Picard who had been very close to breaking and confirming the three lights; as he’s being helped out of the room he turns and snarls, “There. Are. FOUR. Lights!”

I just shook my head in sorrow that George had no recollection of this episode and didn’t realize the magnitude of such a shirt or why I would have a sudden burning need to find one of my own. Meanwhile I think George also shook his head in sorrow while wondering how on earth he had ever managed to get stuck with such an insufferable Trek geek.

We all have our cross to bear.

Higher and higher

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Sherry

When I first started doing yoga almost a year and a half ago I looked at all the inversions people were doing on YouTube and all over the Yoga Journal website and thought, “those are really cool, but not for me!” There was no way I was going to find myself upside down and I certainly wasn’t going to be able to balance my body on my own arms.

In the end it turns out that (other than headstand, my big nemesis) I love flipping myself upside down and balancing my body on my own arms. Who knew?

There are a few poses that are intermediate-to-advanced that I’m working on right now like compass pose:

This is not me

(I can get into it, I just haven’t been able to fully straighten my leg yet.)

And peacock pose:

This is also not me

(I scared the crap out of myself by tentatively kicking up into it and actually finding a split second of balance. I think I’ll be using a wall next time I try just because I never actually expected to get up there!)

But the one I’ve been working on the most lately is Flying Pigeon and as of recently I can get my back leg out. It’s not up as high as it should be, but it’s up!

This, however, is actually me!

I need to figure out my balance point a little better so that the leg can go right up in back. This is how it should look, if I was Kathryn Budig!

I’m looking forward to working on it again tonight. Maybe I’ll eventually even take the pillow away, but last night I face planted right into it when I overshot my balance so I think I’ll wait a bit longer for that!

Getting to the party a little late

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Sherry

I’m the sort of person who generally likes to be on time for things, although since having kids I find it harder to do that. When I only had to get myself ready it was much easier. Regardless, it would seem that I’m a bit late to the start of the 2011 Ultimate Blog Party. (I can’t blame the kids for my tardiness this time, I was simply under the weather.)

One of my friends participated this year and last and enjoyed it so I thought I’d go ahead and hop in as well. I’m supposed to do an introduction post. Those of you who have been reading for awhile will already know most of this stuff by now, but at the same time I’m now realizing how horribly out of date my “About me” page is so this will help bring things up to speed a little bit. I guess the best place to start with is with me.

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Photo by Paul Mason

My name is Sherry Osborne and I’m 36-year-old mom of two, wife of one. I currently live in Montreal, Quebec Canada but I’m thrilled to be able to say that as of today (April 4th) I have only 84 days left before we pack up and move to Halifax, Nova Scotia. That’s been a dream that is a long time coming and although I will be sad to leave many people that I care about I can not wait to start this next chapter. I mean, really. Who wouldn’t want to live there?

I’m a bit of an addict when it comes to two things (three if you count my obsession with the show Criminal Minds): Yoga and photography. I’ve been slowly learning and improving with photography since I got my first digital camera years (and years) ago and am completely in love with my Canon T1i DSLR. I have apparently morphed into a control freak who is unable to shoot in anything other than manual and I prefer RAW so that I can adjust everything to my liking. I try to remember to post photos regularly over on my Flickr account.

As for yoga, I started practicing in late January of 2010 for the sake of trying to ease the ache in my legs that I felt on a regular basis (stretching out those hamstrings has helped tremendously) and primarily to fight back against the panic attacks that I also dealt with almost daily. I often half-joke that yoga saved my life but it’s not that much of an exaggeration really. Lately I’ve been mildly obsessed with getting my body to do crazy things that shouldn’t even be possible.

George and I have been together for over 12 years and have managed to not get sick of each other yet so that’s a great sign. 😉 We met at work where I was the only female employee at the time, and our boss (a good friend) warned George and the other men in the office not to “go after” me lest it cause awkwardness of epic proportions. So much for that. The rest, as they say, is history.

We have two daughters, Hayley (8) and Breanna (5). They fight and bicker relentlessly but then they settle into playing together so well that I have hope for the future that they’ll actually be good friends when those three years of age difference stop mattering so much.

Other than that, we have two non-human members of the family. I’ve had a cat named Cricket for almost 12 years. She is neurotic, terrified of everyone but me, hides behind our washing machine and rarely leaves the bathroom because that’s her safe place. Moving her two provinces over with a 14+ hour drive to get there should be… interesting.

In early October 2010 we also added to our family by adopting a black lab/border collie mix that Breanna named Winnie. Winnie answers to “Winnie”, “Winston”, “Winklestein”, and “You big &%$#ing dummy” equally well. Last nickname aside, she is a great dog and I adore her.

I guess that’s about all that you need to know to get started, though feel free to ask if I’ve left anything out. By visiting my blog you’ll see that I most frequently write about family life, packing progress for Halifax (and I sure wish we were there already since my sister‘s due date for her very first baby is today and she could have my first niece any day now!), and yoga as well as the occasional curse-laden rant. I hope you’ll stop by again!

You can also find me on Twitter (where my nickname of Sherina apparently makes many people in Indonesia think that I’m some famous teen pop star of the same name, sigh), Flickr, YouTube, and I write professionally over at this celebrity blog. I have a pro site over here but I haven’t figured out what to do with it yet. And of course you can always email me by hitting the contact link up top! Thanks for dropping by!

Chocolate and Earth Hour

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Sherry

I nearly forgot about Earth Hour this year but Hayley reminded me after they discussed it at school and then it was mentioned quite a bit in my friends feed on Facebook. A lot of people like to complain about Earth Hour saying that it’s a useless observation. They say that it doesn’t make any sort of substantial change as far as energy conservation goes because as soon as the hour is over people turn their lights, computers, televisions, etc. back on and forget about it.

I disagree though. Yes, many people will go right back to their usual ways but if even a small percentage decide that it’s nice to not have everything lit up like you’re trying to land planes, well that’s a chance for a difference. It’s also about education. I can talk about energy conservation with the kids at any time but having a special day set aside (such as this one or Earth Day in April) makes it more interesting for them. Hayley liked knowing that people all around the world were shutting off their lights at a specific time.

Anyway, our Earth Hour was low-key, no big gathering or party although that would have been fun too. We simply shut everything off and lit candles in the living room, and I brought out the little candle fondue set. I put chocolate in the fondue, cut up bananas, apples, and strawberries, and we sat together as a family just enjoying ourselves.

At one point they both wanted to use their DSi and although they could have theoretically done that (since they were charged up and required no power) I told them that would sort of defeat the purpose anyway. I explained that part of Earth Hour is to conserve energy but part of it is also to remind ourselves that we don’t need electronics every second of the day (that’s a good reminder for me too, me being the person who uses my iPod Touch to check my email as soon as I wake up, often before I even roll out of bed).

We just talked and hung out, and at one point Hayley decided to do the before-bed yoga routine she’s been doing for about a month. It seemed like such a nice idea that I did a little bit of yoga myself. I think I may have to do candlelit yoga again soon.

Once 9:30 came around – actually it was almost 9:45 by the time we noticed the clock – we got the kids ready for bed and George and I did turn the TV back on for a movie. We didn’t turn all the lights back on though, just a little bit of light. We watched The Day After Tomorrow which, yes, is a ludicrous movie but it’s exciting and I thought it was kind of fitting to watch something that showed results of climate change after celebrating Earth Hour.

Next year I think it might be fun to invite some friends over for the evening; if our future home in Halifax has a fireplace (a lot of them do!) that would be nice too, to sit by the fire in the dark.

Did you celebrate Earth Hour? What did you do?

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One last thing – My sister (who has moved her blog to a new location) is 39 weeks along in her pregnancy today. She could go into labour at any moment (theoretically; she said that she doesn’t feel any signs that birth is imminent right now) and she put up a post asking for readers to guess when her baby will be born. If you could take a moment, please go take a guess and maybe you’ll be right! Breanna picked today, the 28th and Amanda’s father-in-law had a vivid dream that it would be today as well. I think Baby Guthrie will make an appearance on April 1st. What do you think?

Yoga update and recommendations

Posted on March 27, 2011 by Sherry

I had three people contact me last week one after the other asking about my yoga practice and if I had any suggestions for getting started. I guess my enthusiasm for doing yoga is very obvious! I still do it regularly; I don’t quite manage to do it every single day but I generally get in some sort of routine 5 or 6 days a week. If I go too many days without it I can definitely feel it. Not only do I physically find myself stiffening up and getting little aches and pains, I also feel it mentally. Yoga has been a huge factor in my ability to beat back the panic attack monster, but that’s a story for another day.

I’ve become mildly obsessed by inversions and balances. Above I’m halfway into Eka Pada Galavasana, or Flying Pigeon Pose. I can get this far easily. The challenge is trying to complete it. From my position in that photo I need to extend the back leg straight up behind me. Every time I try, my base collapses, the folded leg slides off my elbows, and I crash – laughing – to the floor. It’s okay, it will come. That’s another thing that yoga has taught me, that sometimes you just have to wait. Patience has never been easy for me but I’m learning.

Basically though, I’m having fun with learning how I can balance my own body. I’ve learned that aside from just needing to build enough arm and core strength to support arm balance poses, it’s mostly a combination of confidence (that still stands in the way of my headstand; I know I won’t succeed in that pose until I learn to stop being so afraid of being upside down like that) and basic physics. The pose above, Side Crow looks like it shouldn’t even be possible but once I found the center of gravity it became possible. It’s mind over matter a lot of the time, a physical meditation.

That’s why I love yoga. Meditation is amazing but I find it difficult to just sit and do it. Going through poses and sequences is moving meditation for me. Trust me, you can’t balance your own body weight on your arms in Crow (above) and keep yourself from face planting if you’re busy worrying about bills or work or whatever concerns are occupying your brain space. As long as you’re moving from one pose to the next you have to push everything else away and just be right here, right now. If I could do yoga 24 hours a day I would be the most relaxed person in the world.

As for the questions I’ve gotten about where to start, of course I have a few suggestions. I primarily use three online sources as teachers and each of them is great in similar and different ways at the same time. They all come from different styles of yoga originally but one thing they have in common is they teach a vinyasa flow style; while I am sure other styles are wonderful in their own way, vinyasa flow is the only thing I have patience for. I like to move when I do yoga!

Dashama Konah – Dashama was my first yoga teacher, and I still turn to her videos and her DVDs on a regular basis (this one for myself and this one when Hayley wants to do some too). If you want to study with someone who exudes complete passion for yoga every step of the way, you don’t need to look any further. She balances well between the physical side of yoga and the spiritual side. It was her guided meditation that made my once skeptical self believe fully in chakras; before her I would have rolled my eyes and now I know where each one is, what they do, and how to balance them. She has a great new program called Renew You that gives you 30 days of yoga videos as well as a complete lifestyle overhaul guide (with DVDs, books, and more). It’s not cheap, so you can also check out her free yoga videos on her YouTube channel to get a feel for her style first before taking the plunge. Not only is she my teacher, I’ve done work for her and feel lucky to consider her my friend.

Sadie Nardini – Sadie is incredible. I found out about her through a friend and have never looked back. If you want to approach yoga with the best possible alignment, she’ll get you there. Something that amazes me about Sadie is that she always knows when you’re about to screw up your pose by collapsing your elbows in or dropping your hips down too low, and she’ll give you a reminder just as you’re doing it. It’s the closest thing to having a teacher in person. She has a ton of great videos on YouTube that I’ve used; I also have one of her DVDs and I highly recommend trying out her 21 Day Yoga Body course where you pay whatever you can – as low as $1 or up to $100. It’s a great course that includes journaling exercises, lifestyle tips, and a yoga video every day for 21 days, and believe me it works.

Tara Stiles – Tara is a teacher that I don’t follow on a regular, consistent basis but she’s definitely someone I turn to when I want to do something a little different from my usual Dashama & Sadie rotation. If you’re someone who likes the idea of yoga but doesn’t want to deal with the spiritual side* or you’re put off by the Sanskrit names of poses, then Tara is a good start. She uses English names only and her approach has always been to make yoga accessible to the masses. Her slogan is “yoga anywhere” and although I do like some of the fluffier and spiritual sides of yoga, I appreciate her no-nonsense attitude. If I ever go to New York City I will take a class with her, but for now her YouTube videos and iTunes podcasts work just fine. I also own her book which is a great resource; on the other hand I bought one of her DVDs and while it’s beautiful to watch it’s not very helpful as an instructional resource. I think her new one with Jane Fonda is probably a lot better for learning.

*You may surprise yourself. I started yoga to deal with my anxiety issues and to get rid of the chronic ache I had in my legs. Like I said before, I used to roll my eyes at things like chakras and other similar “hippie-ish” concepts. Sometimes it sneaks up on you though. You might be taken aback by what you’ll get out of yoga besides the physical benefits. As for those physical benefits, yes they work too. Between Sadie’s course and Dashama’s Renew You program I officially have a six-pack, and I’m not talking about beer. Don’t believe anyone who tells you yoga can’t make a physical difference, because it absolutely can.

Other than the three teachers mentioned above, I’ve also been following Kathryn Budig when she writes over at Yoga Journal. I’m mostly a visual person for things like learning a pose so I rely on videos a lot but Kathryn has an incredible ability to perfectly describe what you need to do to get into a pose. I fully credit her for being able to get into Flying Pigeon at all.

Anyway, that’s my basic list of go-to people when it comes to yoga. Other than that though, it’s up to each person. More than once I’ve read that your greatest teacher is you and that’s true. The teachers will tell you how to do the poses but it’s up to you to devote yourself to learning and it’s up to you to listen to your body and learn when to keep pushing and when to back off. As long as you show up (whether showing up means in a class or in front of your TV/laptop), get on the mat, and put in the effort, the rest will come.

You can see my yoga progress in this set on Flickr. The difference between my early poses in January 2010 and now is huge.

Full disclosure: I am not being paid to promote anyone although the links to Amazon DVDs are affiliate links. The people I have mentioned here don’t know I’m writing this. I’m only listing them because people have been curious about what I do and who I recommend. If you have any suggestions of your own, please let me know in the comments!

Getting closer, one box at a time

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Sherry

Now that I’ve come forth and told the Internet that we’re moving to Halifax, I figured I could keep people up to speed on our progress (102 days to go, by the way!). We’ve lived in this same apartment for 12 years and as you can imagine that means accumulating a lot of flotsam and jetsam. When you’re staying put it’s easy to ignore the individual items taking up space even while you notice that you’re rapidly outgrowing your home. However when it comes time to actually pick things up and pack them in boxes to later be loaded on a truck and moved it’s much easier to stop and think about what you really need and/or love versus what you just have simply because it’s there.

With this being a bigger move than just heading to a different neighborhood I have to be careful and consider whether I *really* want to bring something with me. The truck we’ve rented is a 17′ cube truck from U-Haul and once it’s full that’s it. We can fit some things in the minivan but it’s a long-ass drive; we don’t want to be crammed and uncomfortable for all that time. If we were moving nearby we could do multiple trips but since it’s a 14-15 hour drive this is a one-shot deal. We’re not coming back for a second load.

I’ve done quite a bit of purging. Some stuff is going to the Salvation Army; I’m especially looking forward to unloading clothing that the kids have outgrown or that I no longer wear, as well as a ridiculous amount of books. The books will be a difficult purge, I’m kind of attached to them but I have to be realistic about how many I really need to keep.

Other stuff is being sold. We sold an insanely huge air conditioner and we also sold our dining set. The couple who bought it want to strip it and re-finish it so I’m really happy they were the ones to buy it. They have a small pickup truck at their disposal on the weekends so they’re taking it bit by bit, but so far they’ve taken the table and all the chairs (and now we eat in the living room, which is fine temporarily).

Still more things are just being pitched. This may sound petty but there are two people who are no longer friends of ours and it was just a really negative ending to a long-time friendship; over the years they gave us a lot of things and I just felt like I had a need to get rid of it all because of the now unhappy memories attached to those items. Thus, I pulled out a big garbage bag and wandered through the apartment pretty much tossing in everything that they gave us. Like I said, that initially sounds petty but it was very freeing for me.

Aside from purging, I’ve also packed several boxes up and put them in the spot where our table used to live.

Not only are they packed, but I’m trying my hardest to be organized with this. Since we’re staying with family to start off, we’ll be storing the vast majority of our boxes and furniture and there’s no way to know exactly how long it will be before we move into our own place. After all that time there’s no way I’ll remember what items are in which box so I’m numbering them, color coding them by room, and keeping a list of what’s in each one. That way if I find myself wondering where the hell I put “XYZ” I can open the document up, do a search, and know that it’s in box #17.

The only reason I’ve stopped packing for now is because I ran out of boxes. I had these ones leftover from our last move back in July 2000 (that was fun NOT, carrying stuff down from the second floor, walking across the courtyard, and then back up four flights of stairs!) but we only had five. I am dying to get more so I can continue packing up stuff we want but don’t necessarily need to keep out over the next three and a half months.

So much to do and even though that seems like a long time, it’s really not that far away. Busy busy! Meanwhile we’ve officially sent in a letter to the landlord letting him know that we aren’t renewing our lease for next year. He was hoping we’d be leaving early in the month of June. He told me he’d be willing to make an arrangement with us (meaning a lower rent for that last month) if that was the case because then he could come in and do some renovations and repairs before new tenants move in.

Um, yeah. Sorry. We can’t leave until after Hayley’s finished school (did he really think we’d pull her out of school a few weeks before the end of the year?!). Besides, he had plenty of time to renovate and repair every time that we complained about something. If he didn’t have the inclination to do it for us then he can bloody well wait and make arrangements with the new tenants.

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In completely unrelated news, I posted a review for some NAOT shoes over here. Spoiler: I love them.

And in more unrelated news, I can not possibly explain to you why this video makes me laugh so hard that I cry. It just does. Warning: One moment of swearing, just in case you’re not into that.

Fuckin’ Tea

On that note I think I’ll go do some more purging and some tidying up since I know Murphy’s Law says someone will want to see the apartment if it’s covered in toys.

How to change your life

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Sherry

I’ve been sitting on something for awhile and if you know me at all then you know how hard that is for me to do. If you tell me a secret I will keep it, but if there’s something going on in my own life I want to blablabla about it.

A blogger who likes to talk about stuff going on in her life. Imagine that.

Anyway, it’s very big news. Probably the biggest news I’ve had in years. It’s big enough that we had to tell some people offline before I could go and shout it from the rooftops to the masses.

No. I’m not pregnant. Seriously, no. But instead of spelling it all out right away, first let me give you all a hint.

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12 years and counting

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Sherry

On Tuesday, February 22nd, George and I celebrated 12 years together. What’s kind of funny is that this year I’m the same age that he was back then. I can’t imagine spending this much of my life with anyone else.

To commemorate the day I made a quick and easy supper for the kids and George’s dad came over to babysit them for a couple of hours while we went out for a grown-up meal. You know the kind, the sort of meal where you actually get to eat all of your food while it’s still hot without having to jump up to refill juice glasses, there’s no bickering over who gets which fork/plate/placemat tonight, etc. I had heard of such things but it had been awhile. Not only did we get to eat in peace, we got to enjoy uninterrupted conversation. It’s nice to know that we still remember how to do that!

We went to a restaurant called Table 51 to eat. It advertises itself as being “urban cuisine” and I’m still not 100% sure what that even means, but what I do know is that the food is good. I went there last year with the PPO and was eager to go back.

First up were the appetizers, mini tacos stuffed with delicious lobster. They are so good that I could easily just order a couple of platters and call that a meal in and of itself. Tasty!

Since we chose the pasta of the day for our entree, we also got the soup of the day included with the meal. It was a creamy corn soup and I was mildly skeptical since the only way I generally like corn is when it’s still on the cob and coated in butter and salt. It turned out to be so good that I was kind of wishing I could have a second helping.

The pasta of the day was penne tossed with sundried tomatoes and salmon. I love salmon so much but never make it for myself so I like to eat it as often as possible when I’m out. I had originally intended to try the veggie burger (which is reputed to be amazing and it’s made from lentils, brown rice, and oatmeal, yum!) but as soon as our waiter mentioned the salmon I was convinced to change my mind.

A nice glass of Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon accompanied my food (it was good but I’ll go with Pinot Noir next time) and I was so full by the time I finished my key lime pie for dessert (sadly I neglected to photograph it before eating it) that I couldn’t even finish my wine.

It was a really nice hour out of our day to spend together just enjoying an evening out. I didn’t want to rush straight home so we headed over to Indigo to check out some books which is kind of reminiscent of our first date which involved going to two secondhand bookstores before eating, heading to a movie, and a drink at a bar. I forget which book George got but I finally got myself this book – it’s about time, I’m dying to get started on it.

Since it was a school night we headed home after that and I manged to get the kids into bed only half an hour later than normal. I was far too full of food to do any yoga that evening so we watched a bit of television together and just relaxed. We may not be party animals anymore but it was a wonderful evening.

Seriously, 12 years, sometimes I still can’t believe it!