Let's see.  Today's headlines have to do with a Via Rail train quarantened in Northern Ontario (the Vancouver to Toronto run - it used to be called "The Canadian" and I've been on it 5 times and would do it another 5 times though it is now a luxury train I think).  There is a flu outbreak on it and one person has died.  Scary.

Next up, in downtown Toronto there is a measles outbreak.  Listen to me people.  As the mother of a child with an autistic spectrum disorder I can tell you that if you look at the studies, do some research on families and comorbidity with such things as OCD, manic depression, anxiety disorders and ASD, you will find there is a very strong genetic component, and a very weak measles vaccine link.  Please do not fear vaccinating yourself or your child against measles.  Death is NOT preferable over the faint unproven possibility of winding up with an autistic spectrum disorder.

I've started a Wordpress blog and set up a msySQL database on my computer so that I can run Comicpress.  All open souce, and pretty cool.  Plus I saw an ad for a programmer for this so I thought, hey, if I can put my comics up there, maybe start a new strip, then why not apply if it is still available as a contract work by the time I've got it up and running?  If not, well, it's still cool.  Oh, my Wordpress blog is at http://mrssauga.wordpress.com.  They're free and geared towards writers so you can see where I'm going with this idea as well .

I rewrote my written French exam on Wednesday.  How did I do?  I don't know, better I hope.  I sure the hell don't want to take it again.

The power of friends:  I was feeling somewhat depressed on Wednesday (yeah, good timing eh?) and nearly in tears while I answered a phone call by email (I do that a lot, I have an anxiety about telephones unless I know what I'm going to say.  You may or may not have known that).  Anyway, I poured my guts out and the answer was nice.  Yes, I will try to keep positive.  Yes I will not even think about the possible outcomes of things as a result of other people doing weird things to my credit rating based on long ago stuff, among other things.  And no, Jim is NOT the reason.  He is working two jobs like I am to deal with it.  Plus we have our business, though it is still in the red because of a couple small pieces of equipment we bought.  Hey, what can I say?  We've only brought in $60, but that is $60 for doing stuff we love doing.  And that's a good thing. Smile, Cathi.

LOL.  My friend Melissa is doing wonderfully these days, yay!  So is Scott and that's great too.  Cyndi, well, we're here for you, literally.  Poor thing stranded where we live for 8 weeks and now another 1.  Travelling is one thing, two months 500 km away from your family is another.  I do hope something works out soon for you guys.

I won't talk about Burma or the Olympic stuff.  Or the bees dying or wheat rust in Africa.  I won't.  It's Friday, it's time to smile, and that's exactly what I'm doing. 

There are days that I feel like crying from frustration, days that royally piss me off, days where I'm happy and content.  The last couple of weeks have been all of these, some in the same day.  Perimenopause?  LOL maybe, but more it's just, well, life.

My recent french exam turned out to be yet another friggin' A level (2 marks shy of a B which is what I need) and the astounding revelation that yes, telephone tutoring for written exams doesn't really work made me pretty angry.  After all, what is the point?  That was a waste of time.  I'm still trying to make sure that the year I spent doing this French training isn't wasted because one of the 3 Bs isn't. I'm just so very very frustrated because the difference between BBB and BBA is being able to apply for new jobs or not.  Almost all jobs now here in my beaucratic heaven are mandatory BBB so if you don't have it dear, you're stuck.  Unless you're a scientist or something techinical.  Which is where I guess being a computer scientist would definitely be better, though a good many of those jobs are B level as well.  So, again my personal desires, I am trying for the exam again, this time without bothering with the tutoring since I think it confused me more than helped me.  Oh well.

I've had the pleasure of a visit from Cyndi who was up here on business travel and it was great to spend an evening together again. 

For my birthday there was a new watch (not a fancy one but it's good to have second watch - my normal watch is a Timex Indiglo that's about 18 years old and I still love it), and a new cell phone. I got the Sony Eriksson W580i and it is a fun phone to have.  A little flimsy I think but we'll see, and when they transfered the SIM card everything on it was wiped out, but still, a neat phone.  A little more intuitive than the Nokias I've been using, and I'm enjoying the tracking feature that allows you to set a walking pace and then have it track your steps all day to see how far you've walked and also how many calories burned.  It's neat, and, if dog ever calms down enough to go for long walks or little jogs I can use that to see how far I've run as well.

Dog.  Dog is in obedience classes.  Dog is learning but so active he forgets.  So the command to stop him yanking my arm out of its socket when we walk ("Easy!") means he slows, sometimes stops and sits, I praise him and tell him "let's go" and ... he proceeds to yank my arm out again.  Eventually he'll get it but for now, it's a slow go and we only circle the house. 

So what else?  Talerocker~Dreamcat Creations is still in formation stages but we're thinking of things and setting up stuff so maybe soon we'll be transfering videos or albums for people, or helping with graphics or whatever and actually getting paid for it.  That'll be nice, but even if we do, to do our full vision means every cent goes back into equipment if we want to be really professional.

Other than that, not much else to say.  Little was supposed to start his ABC class on Saturday but it turned out it was at the wrong time so next fall I guess.  We're still looking for fun social type things he'd be interested in but right now, there's not much.  At least not in the time of year we have him.

Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of my dad's death, and I still miss him so much it hurts sometimes.  Like yesterday.  I was pretty weepy, but then I've been sick too with that bug that's going around.  Yes, there are some people in your life that you can talk to about anything, and he was one of the few that I could.  I really do miss him and his sense of humour. 

Again, oh well.  Beyond that, there's not much to say that won't get me in trouble for saying it so I'll stop now.

LOL, and send me something wonderful.

Okay, it's Tuesday and feels like a Monday because yesterday was holiday.  Today I had my written French exam re-write at 8:15 and this time I made sure I had coffee before and spent time studying last night.  Jim was a sweetie and did my cleaning last night. 

The weekend was fun with friends over for a bit on Saturday (including a nice dinner of Chicken Jambalaya that I made in the crock pot) and doing some spirit stuff.  Jim and I also worked on the graphic design of a CD for Nextage Mission that will be sold online and at an upcoming event.  Jim will likely attend but I'll see about me going since I have such busy weekends coming up with dog going to obedience classes on Sunday mornings and little guy taking his ABC classes (this time architectural drawing) on Saturday.  The graphic design stuff and video editing us trying to officially be Talerocker-Dreamcat Creations.  The universe seems to have deemed me (or more likely I have allowed it) to be the bottomless source of money for people who can't pay me back so we are hoping that we will get some money from the graphics/video/audio stuff.  I just have to remember we keep all relevant receipts and put half away for taxes.  Here's Jim's page about us (literally!) on his web site:  http://www.aerendel.ca/aboutus.html .

So that that is officially it for the French training, I am back at concentrating on my computer science degree and getting my two books editted and out there.  My poetry book at Cafe Press has sold only two copies to people other than my family so I'm not sure what to do about that, except that I would love to buy some copies to sell at events; if I have my two novels published too, wouldn't that be worthwhile having a booth at the next Ottawa Authors book sale?  Hmmm.  You see, I so much want to be doing my creative stuff and not what isn't really very much appreciated and so I am determined to go that route.

Anyway, that's where things are with me.  Hope your Easter holiday was fun, and here's to a much anticipated spring.

We had 56 cm of snow over the weekend, bringing it to very nearly the record (which was 444 cm in 1970-71) for this area for snowfall in one winter, but it is possible that it could be broken.  There's still a bit of winter left.  Anyway, I remember that big snow year and on my facebook my profile picture is me as a girl, standing in front of a snowbank.  Right now, our snowbanks are nearly as  high, in fact the one beside the garage is almost touching the roof.

Right now I am afraid of what is going to happen when all this melts.  I suspect there will be a flooded basement.  But I'll keep my fingers crossed anyway.

Just finished my taxes and sent them in.  I'm going to be in trouble for a couple of overdue bills, but what can you do?  I've thought of cashing in more of my pitifully small RRSP but I'll keep my fingers crossed I don't need to.  Thing is, Jim lost hours these past few weeks because they moved the studio in town so he wasn't doing much.  He couldn't.  Aside from not working enough hours for benefits, that's another thing about working part time, and that's you're at the mercy of hourly wages with no sick, no vacations, no pay if you aren't working. 

Ah well.  It is March break, I'm working most of it, but the kids are happy at least and all small things (except Domino and the birds) liked all that snow.  Moe has his own web page on Jim's web site that features him after a whump into a snow bank (ha ha that's what happens when you ask to go out, Mr Orange cat!), and we have an increasingly large black dog who adores digging into the snow and diving into snow banks.  He is trying to teach me to cross country ski when I am walking him.  Unfortunately, that involves yanking me over ice and snow in my boots.  Obedience training starts on Sunday and some day soon, we hope this guy will have some manners.

Well, back to lunch.

It never rains but it pours.  I just missed getting a B level on my written so that means if I want to make this year of French training useful, I'm going to have to restudy and rewrite the written exam.  Shit.  There goes any illusions I had of getting a C level on this one I guess, and it also means it's pointless to rewrite the reading one that I missed C level by one point.

I am so sick of so many things right now, and these exams and this training is some of it.

Friday I realized a had enough room on one of my credit cards to get Jassper some training, after the $10 off coupon.  So, we did go to Kanata and sign him up.  Starting mid-March, we're going to be giving this dog some manners!  LOL

I also thought I could upgrade both Jim and my phones now since ours are falling apart, but on closer examination, it requires too much up front for me to do this, and not worry about how to pay for the cellular charges this month as well as my vehicle licence renewal and two shots for Moe, whose vaccination expired without me realizing.  Sigh.

I want things to start looking up.  I mean it.  I am getting very fed up with this snarr.

Are you listening universe? 

Sigh.  Probably not.

Finally, my final French exam is over.  This one was the written version, and now on the other side of this, I am very very glad I was too sick to take this one as the first one like it was originally scheduled.  The reading one first gave me confidence, the oral made me feel like, hey I'm not too shabby at this, and this one, well, I have a headache lurking in my frontal lobe and a full day's work to do in 4 hours.  Thankfully tomorrow is my compressed day.

So, how did I do?  I don't know.  I'll find out tomorrow or Monday I guess.  I did finish all 80 questions, and with about 10 minutes to spare.  I could have used that time to go over my answers, but like with the reading one, my feeling was that my first gut feeling answer is usually right and any that I struggled over, going back isn't going to help.  So now I have no illusions that I will be a C on this one, but I do have high hopes I'll be a B level, which is fine.

Did you see the nice blood red eclipse full moon?  Pretty cool eh?  It was too cold last night for me to stand out watching it, but I did go out for a couple of minutes to see it. 

Now for the weekend.  My immediate plans are:  do the building cleaning as usual (and it's garbage night so a little longer), then, come home, turn on computer, flip around channels on the t.v., pour a glass of wine, and RELAX.  Tomorrow I hope to get the annoying groaning sound I get when I turn fixed (I read that it likely needs a lube or something like that) and I would like them to check the engine belts since there is one that is singing.  Might need belt dressing, might need replacement.  Hard to say.  Then, Saturday, thinking of doing the family yoga.  Perhaps a visit with Robert who is back in Canada?  Sunday, the ranch thing for the Autism group which will be great, love these outings.  Then, my Sunday builidng cleaning and the week begins again.  Also in this mix will be working on my university course some more (it's a lot of reading actually), and also trying to straighten out the mess in the living room.  Oh, and rig up better dog gates for the cats so they can come and go at will without being following by the dog.

Dog still needs to learn some manners.

Little guy, on the other hand, had a fabulous time skiing yesterday, and I can't thank Jim enough for taking the whole day and rearranging stuff with his boss so that he could go with little guy.  This was important, the school wasn't going to let him go if one of us wasn't there with him. Not a problem though, this fellow adores skiing, seems to take to it naturally so I will be looking into more lessons (mostly for me, lol, so I can join him) and equipment sales with a view of doing this seriously next year.   (lol, there's no skis of any kind in smilies so I picked this - that could be jassper pulling hee hee)

Oh, and there's a PG-4 position coming open in Moncton.  It is so very tempting to apply....hmm....need to think this one over a wee bit.  Wish this was coming open next year, I'd be applying for sure.  Oh well.  Maybe I will just to get on the list of PG 4s in the Atlantic region.  We'll see.  I'm too brain fried today to really think this one out.

À bientôt!

Cathi

So Valentine's Day wasn't all it was cracked up to be, since I woke up with a splitting headache.  I blame it on the stress of the French oral exam, but really I have a bunch of things weighing heavily on my shoulders.  I went back to bed, then later got up for a nice brunch a deux with Jim prior to joining him on his excursion of taking Moe to the vet's.  I did wake up to a very nice stuffed dragon with a heart in his hands (and on the tip of his tail) that was sitting on a heart shaped box of cherry chocolate kisses that was nice .

You see, Moe has been sneezing like crazy the last few days, lazing around not his usual perky self, and I even saw him with tears in his little eyes.  Poor thing.   Well, good news for Moe, it was just a cold so no pills needed, but bad news for Moe he's overdue on some shots and at 17 3/4 pounds is overweight so he will be getting needles in the future (also to be joined by Domino who is also overdue for shots) and they are now back to being sure they get only one cup of dry food each a day.  The endless bowl has to stop, unfortunately.  I'm glad they don't like people food, that would be a whole other issue if they did.  Moe was back strutting his stuff and trotting dangerously around the dog last night so I think just the going to the vets was enough for him to think, okay, better stop playing flop cat and be myself again.

Nothing says love like doing the janitorial stuff (including the garbage for the building) together.  LOL, yes we did that too.  No special dinner for us last night, but I did get chocolates for Jim and little guy to enjoy.  Then, just as I was about to go have a bath, a conversation with someone that had me in tears, mainly because it reminded me of the fact that I will forever be paying for trying to be nice, and by paying I mean emotionally.  I've missed a lot of a special person's life, and I'm likely not going to have a chance to ever be what I should be again, and that really really hurts.  But what can you do.  Choices are made, and if the whole world will never understand why I've done some of the things that I have, even though it was for the best, well, I guess I have to gritt my teeth and bare it.  Other people have much heavier burdens on their hearts than I do.  I guess I just don't like when it is thrown in my face how people feel about me, but yeah, that's life.  Anyway, that kind of ruined the night for me and poor Jim was left trying to understand why I was crying and me not wanting to say anything right away, I just went to my bath and let the water soothe me.  Didn't help much.  I'm glad it's the weekend, I just want to sleep for a month.  My headache came back and is now in "under control" mode with ibuprofen, and I do plan to zonk out when I get home.

As for my French oral exam?  I got my B level.  That means I'm bilingual, though not in a fully fluent can do and say anything level (that's a C) but bilingual enough to take on bilingual jobs if I see one I'm interested in.  Next up is my written exam (grammar) next week.  If it's a B, then I'll stay happily at a BBB level.  If it's a C, then I'll rewrite my comprehension one and try to get CBC.  I'm guessing it'll be a B though.  And that would be just fine.  At this point I am so burned out from trying to do everything that I don't want any more of this for a while.  I just want to work on my university course and do a little on my books.

C'est tous.  Oh, and hopefully try not to let ghosts from my past make me cry anymore.  Ce n'est pas simple, mais, qu'est-ce je doit faire?  C'est comme il est.

The dog has given up on me, he is asleep on the floor. Last night, in the beautiful quiet snow, me having given up on any more studying for my oral French exam, took le chion noir qui viens d'Aylmer and answers to French commands better than English (and you know, I'm really enjoying that, honestly) we went for a walk and the silence and snow covering ice, well, dog wanted down the street, went faster, I ran and we jogged together and I laughed, and thought, yeah, this is what this is all about. I've lost 14 pounds between the dog, the cleaning offices at night, and the stress of a bunch of things and at this point in time, that's good. I am perfect at 128 pounds. That's like 24 pounds to go. Realistically, when I get to about 145 (9 pounds) I am happily back in normal weight and that's fine. Not that I've been that much into heavy that doctors are worried, but I'm somebody that has spent the better part of my life on the edge of underweight simply due to my metabolism (I've never been on a diet, seriously) to be overweight was freaky. To have found the happy combination for me: yay! I'm beginning to love seeing how I look again and that is so nice. Spirits that be: I promise I won't take it for granted again, okay? No more extra weight please. Merci beaucoup.

For me, I'm busy doing studying for my French exams, after a year of part time study. A huge part of me just wants this over with, another part will miss the fun studying part, another, the people I got to know, but finally, I just want to get on with life. That's me. I'm an Aries. I've done two exams. One, comprehension - 1 point less than level C (which is fluent, and, which I had before). If I get another C I'll rewrite this. I slipped up somewhere is why I got this. Oral: had exam today. B, or C? Don't know. Honestly. Written: next week, let you know. On the other hand, doing reporting for fun has been very much that. Check this out:

So yeah, more later,

Cathi

So I'm feeling a little better right now, after what was a brutal week in many ways.  It started off with me extremely sick with a fever - it's been years something has hit me that hard; I couldn't even make it downstairs at all on Sunday with just enough energy to rush to the bathroom and crawl back into bed.  Anyway, come Wednesday I was back at work, a little shaky and tired but there none the less.  I had missed the first of my 3 exams, I had missed two hours of one-on-one practice for my oral exam, and I had so very much work that I had fully intented to be back at full speed ahead and wasn't.  I was able to do a tiny bit of work from home on Tuesday but not much, I knew if I tried I would have less energy the next day so I rested instead.  This worked fine because little guy, after coming home from school on Monday tired and upset, wound up going to bed feeling sick with a fever.  That would be the end of the school week for him, for Friday when he was finally feeling better was also a PD day.

Friday I had taken off, due to PD day and prior Jim commitments, and good thing too because this was a day a big storm hit.  Now had I been working I would have gone in and got there fine because the snow didn't start until around noon, but coming home would have been a slog.  But I wasn't so that was fine.  Instead I took the opportunity to get an oil change and have the car looked at for what was becoming an obviously loud exhaust system.  Worried this was going to cost a fortune, a call at noon reassured me that the work was done, it was a leaky gasket now nicely fixed and the car is considerably quieter.  For around $75 that was great.  I also had had a situation at work where I simply had to bear my soul on a disappointment and a dream, and in all it was a realization that my studies aren't really appreciated where I am (in the big sense, not the people I work with, they do appreciate me) and so yes, I need to look elsewhere eventually, and maybe that's what I'm meant to do.  With that in mind I chose to spend some of Friday like I did on Tuesday, happily reading my university course immersed in the pleasure of learning for my own sake, no one else's.

Today we went to the Health, Mind and Spirit show in Renfrew and that was great, I'm glad we went.  I got an Angelic Reiki energy session and for $10 it was well worth the visit.  I feel much more calm now.  I won't go into what it was about except that I do have issues from things from past lives creeping into this one, and it was very interesting clearing negative and unnecessary karmic stuff.  One thing to remember that is really important for me, and this is in relation to spiritual things:  there are many roads to home (heaven) and all are valid, there is no one right way.  I liked that!

Oh, and I pulled a spirit totem and got Bear, which really did describe me right now.  Jim got the Unicorn, little guy, the Griffin.

Well, on to more exams and stuff. 

Just flexing my German mind muscles.  Badly I might add.  Anyway, it's a weird weather day but at least I am finally at work.  You see, my last week ended with my usual compressed day on Friday and me ostensibly studying though not much because I was so very tired.  I have literally piles of work on my desk and I simply can't think for all the work.  It has also made it hard to concentrate on my French. 

Saturday was a yoga class that is a trial thing for families with ASD kids; a wonderful idea, it involves a class set up specially for these kids and their families to come and do yoga.  This is great because more than anything they need help with relaxing their muscles and they need exercise activities that allow them to improve at their own rate, not in a competitive environment.  Little guy and I went and we loved it.  Then, for him it was a sleep over at a friend's house while Jim and I did our cable t.v. shoot that was like a "most Haunted" at the Arnprior museum.  It was neat but not too much activity other than a few orbs and mysterious cold spots.  Still, it was fun and good for an initial attempt at a paranormal investigation.  I also did my first tv hosting thing where I introduced the guests and explained a little about the museum.  Whether any of that gets used at all is anyone's guess but hey, how often do you get to play tv reporter lady?  Our evening ended at a respectible 1:30 am and that was fine.

Sunday, 7:30 a.m. I awoke with the feeling of a rubber band tightening around my waist.  Shaking, I ran to the bathroom.  I haven't been that sick in years, I'm just not a queasy stomach person!  I was so sick in fact that I wound up with a fever of 102.5 (F, though it felt like C) and literally couldn't go beyond the bedroom and bathroom all day.  Monday was a fever of 101 and the brave return to the ground floor where I slept on the couch.  It was also the call from the school at 2:50 asking me to get my son because he was having issues and was now holed up in a room.  Now, we had arranged for his developmental worker to go get him that day because Jim was in a meeting 50 km away and I was supposed to be at the office taking my written French exam.  The exam part I didn't do, obviously, since I didn't think they wanted me throwing up on the computer.    Still, I was in no shape to be anywhere so the arrangement for the pick up at school made sense to leave it as it was.  No, the lady told me, it has to be you that picks him up and if not what about someone else.  I told her we had someone else coming and she was all worried that this would be okay for this other person to get him and really wanted me there anyway, even after I told her by the time I got dressed and got there the person who was supposed to be there would be.  She insisted so I went.  Yes, our person was there, and interestingly enough, the story she got was that they made sure with me it was okay for her and not me to deal with this.  Weird.  After a bit of an odd discussion that had me thinking the person I was talking was inferring he was just being stubborn (autistic people "dial out" when things get too much and become uncommunicative - does he understand what's said to him?  Who knows and it's moot because he is incapable of doing anything when his wires have shortcircuited).  Ah well, the end result was him going home with me and all of us napping on assorted living room furniture for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday was 100 and going down, able to eat, but son was sick.  I did some of my university course and finally handed in something!  Today I felt okay enought to come in.  Little guy is still sick, but that's fine, this bug is just plain nasty.  Nature's little way of saying you damn well will relax and slow down!

On the bright side, with all the dog walking I'm doing I am finally making a decent dent in the quitting smoking weight I put on.  I think I've lost 14 pounds and am now 5 pounds shy of being within normal again!  Yippee!  Of course for me, up until that time I've always been either underweight to close to it (naturally, that's my metabolism, I don't gain weight easily but I couldn't stop putting things in my mouth when I quit smoking), so that is still not my "me" comfortable weight.  I'd need to lose another 10 pounds to be back where I was when I was smoking believe it or not.  Ah well, not impossible with this feisty dog we have.

So that's it for me, and just letting people know I'm back to my usual ridiculously busy self, but not sad any more.

I try not to let things get to me but sometimes they just do.  Right now I am so very very busy and also trying to find time to study for 3 exams, and to top it off there was a lot of snow today so it was a slow slog in.  Just as I was finally enjoying my coffee and apple, I was told basically that so sad, too bad, we're rearranging things and you're not going to be doing web programming anymore.  I said something about having done this for 10 years and that I'm taking a Computer Science degree and of course it made no difference at all in a done deal.  How could I ever have that kind of influence?  I won't ever.

So all day I tried so very hard not to let it show how sad I felt about this.  I love doing this stuff, love it so much I am doing a degree in my spare time.  Now this isn't the first time something like this has happened, but it still hits just as hard.   Last time was being offered a job then being told in the interview, oh, you don't have a degree?  I said no, I have the equivalency test.  Nope.  Had to be a degree.  What degree?  Journalism?  Nope Just a degree, any degree.  That one angered me so much I did start getting my anything degree.  But here we are, not far from when I might be able get more opportunities in that area, my small portion of doing that is gone.  No chance of using what I know any more, no more creativity, no more fun intellectual challenge.

That was why, on my dark snowy road home, I did cry where no one could see me (I'm not a crier really) because I couldn't get beyond the 8 years later than the first slap, another slap in the head.  I'm beginning to believe that in my life, the closer I get to things the farther they go away.

Somebody tell me not to get depressed.  There just so many things that are eating at me, and now, given that I've seen an ugly side of where I live, lost something I dearly love doing, realized that moving home doesn't mean that people will be glad I'm here, and I thinking:  is this really where I should be at this point?  What is the meaning in all of this in the grand view of things?

I don't know but it does bring home yet again how much I give doesn't really matter to the people who make the decisions, so maybe I'm going to think about elsewhere where it's a little less expensive, a little less pressured, a place I can be a little more myself.  But if such a lovely place existed, where would it be?

Sigh.

And then, a not so little black lab puppy with his star toy in his mouth began making snow dog angels in the freshly fallen blanket in the back. That had me laughing again. 

On to another day.

So here we are, turkey eaten and eaten again, presents opened, boxing day come and gone, and now it's on the road again as we bring the kids for the 2nd half of their Christmas.  This time it's with the dog, freshly washed and checked over by a vet, booster vaccinations nicely done, life is good.  I haven't completely had my Christmas because there are still presents for my mother and my sister's family in a bag upstairs waiting for the opportune moment to deliver, but given our busy schedules a big part of me is thinking maybe I should just mail it.  Life was simpler somehow, when we just mailed things.  There were advantages to living too far to just drive for a dinner, and distance did make for la politesse.  Ah well.  When we drop off kids depends on the weather but certainly before I go back to work.  I'm taking a short vacation this year, partly because I've used more time than usual between school stuff and not having my day off every two weeks, and partly because I kind of owe it to my co-workers that they not worry about me being gone another two weeks.

My year of learning isn't done yet.  I have exams, and the course I just started, and some mandatory work 3 day things.  Beyond that though, it's back to my hobbies and doing what I love, hoping of course that I'm not still working part time on top of full time and studying.  I so want to finish editing my book and play with my new graphics tablet!  There are paintings to be painted, stories to be written and well, all in good time because I do love studying.  Therein lies my problem I guess.  I need to have 24 hours a day, in a 48 hour day.  Yup, that works.  LOL.

As I close out the year I think of my message (which I will post on my website and my blog here) and also of the two most recent losses, both very sad, one for which not too much was said but since he was from Mississauga, well, he was someone I heard a lot about and appreciated for a good number of years.  Farewell to Benazir Bhutto and to Oscar Peterson.  Both gone for very different reasons, but gone none the less.

Well, more later for New Years!  Happy holidays for those who are still on them...

me.

Oh dear it's been a while however with the spam attack I had and the very busy person I've been, well, it's hard to post right now.  As I take a moment at lunch, I was humming the Dan Fogelberg song, Leader of the Band.  I love that song.  It reminds me of my dad though he was no band leader, lol, and it brings a tear to my ear to hear it even 12 years after his death.  But what makes me remember today is the fact that Dan Fogelberg died yesterday.  A beautiful voice is silenced, and for your listening pleasure I bring you his song:

Now, in other matters, December 6th was the most incredible day!  Jim became a Canadian citizen, and, while he was waiting in line to sign his papers he received a call:  the dog we had our fingers crossed on adopting was all heathly and ready and waiting to go to his new home.  So after the ceremony we quickly drove off to the SPCA in Alymer to pick up our newest addition to the menagerie!  He is a 5 month old black lab mix (though looking at him I'm not sure where the mix part comes in, I see no sign of any other breed in there).  He is just a adorable, busy learning his training things and now can sit and shake a paw on command, and his crate training and cat acclimatisation is coming along nicely.  Soon he will go for obedience training because he will be a big big dog I think when he's grown (his paws are quite large and he's already up to about 24" tall).  So, welcome to Jassper (misspelled by accident, kept because it gives a "7" in numerology, lol).

It has been an unbelievably snowy December, already the snowbanks are higher than they were last year.  We ran out of wood for the wood stove a couple of weeks ago and now that we have all this snow, including yesterday's massive dump, I wish I had more but calling around proved that locally I don't know that there is any.  The ones advertising in the local papers are too far away to want to come and deliver 2 cords.  Sigh.  Anybody have a free utility trailer about 8 x 6 with sides to give away? 

My year of French training is completed as of last Friday, and now I just study for my exams which will be the second and third week of January.  Wish me luck, I'm supposed to be going for my "B" levels but I'm mentally preparing for a "C" (that's higher by the way).  You never know, I might just make it if I put my mind into it.  I'll miss my 4 weeks of learning every 2nd month, but you know, after all this time I am glad to be back in the office, working my compressed hours and now can start hunting down a parking spot as well.

Beyond that, I look forward to the visit from my daughter - it's been a while, we've all been busy (and broke!  I work an hour and a half every night as well now cleaning to keep ahead of things) but for her she is looking forward to a little down time with us.  It's been a fall of many projects at school, a new boyfriend, and the terrible murder of a girl in two of her classes - she was killed by her father over religious differences.  You know, it's great to be religious but for heaven's sake, when it comes to destroying your family over it, do you not think it's a gone a little too far?  It breaks my heart when I hear stuff like this, all the more so since that poor girl who just wanted to be a regular teenager was so brutally taken at the young age of 16.

Okay, this was supposed to be upbeat, so here's me signing off and wishing every one a safe and happy holiday season if I don't update before then.

Take care and drive safely please.

Cathi

After my last posting and getting fed up with the spam I've recently been hit with, I signed in to see if there were posts awaiting approval and there weren't.  However!  Something brand new was the spam filter for comments.  I just spent the last half hour clearing out the gazillions of spams from Dec. 2nd and all is good now!  So people, for those of you who haven't been posting or updating your own journals because of this, please do what I did and despam.  When you despam you are also reporting and blocking the number so there you go. 

My next post is going to be un-preapproved for Comments and we'll see how that goes.  I'm guessing it will be okay since the spam for me has been coming from only two addresses.

ALL COMMENTS POSTS ARE BEING APPROVED FIRST BEFORE POSTING, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.  I do not have the time or the energy to delete numerous spam messages posted all over my blog.

SNARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And to our Russian friends doing this:  get a friggin' life.