Friday 30 November 2012

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??

Alright people,

It's been a long time and I have a whole lot of crazy that's recently been bottled up.   To add fuel to that fire,  I'm two glasses of red wine in and I'm trapped at home because of a snow storm, instead of at a surprise birthday party for a friend and I'm feeling sorry for myself.

Long sigh....... Where to start....  For the last couple of weeks I've been submerging myself in the wonderful world of online dating yet again.  The holidays are approaching and I am feeling desperate and extra alone as I often do at this time of year.  Add to that, a slue of holiday events designed for couples, and the insecurity just mounts.  On top of that, a friend, who is the same age as me and, has long been on the single boat with me, has just met a wonderful guy and things are going well.  I am very happy for her, god knows she's had her fill of idiots.  Nevertheless, I find myself, ironically, alone at being alone, and it has pushed the panic button into nuclear meltdown mode.

So I started messaging a few people which quickly dwindled to two people, neither of which was ideal.  The first is a gentlemen close to my age who has a decent job and we seem to have common interest.  The down side is he is random with his messages, maybe 2-3 days before he responds, which leads me to believe is he not really that interested in anything real.  He made no attempt to ask me out or ask for my phone number, and when I finally did give him my cell so we could text, he simply said "sure I'll text you" and still there is no text.  If you really aren't that into it, don't string someone along.  Nobody wants to have their time wasted.

Which leads me to gentleman number two, or as I am now calling him, the worst date I ever had.  It was a gamble and I knew that going in.  He is a 24 year old smoker.  I was not crazy about the large age difference, and I was even less crazy about the smoking.  I figured it was worth a date, you never know.  It's like trying on a shirt at the store that you think is not your style and you'd never wear, but you try it anyway just to see.  Sometimes the shirt turns out to be unexpectedly perfect.  Other times you put it on and it turns out to be a straightjacket that's made out of steel wool.   As you can imagine from the tone of this blog, the latter was the result of my "outside the box" dating.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can be so seemingly normal online.  They can message back and forth and say the right things to make them seem so totally and utterly average, with an average job, average lifestyle and interests that compliment yours.  Then you meet them and its as though the person you've been talking too has been abducted and replaced by some clone from opposite world!  My 24 year old smoker turned out to be practically homeless.  I am not exaggerating.  He lives in boarding house with 6-8 other men at any given time.  He spent the majority of the date asking me how he could get a job with the company I work for and hoping he could use me as an in!  He actually couldn't even afford to buy a coffee, and I can only assume by his bodily odours, that the shower and soap situation at the boarding house was non-existent.  Not to mention his total and utter lack of social skills.

Now look it, don't get all high and mighty that I am picking on someone who is less fortunate them me. I didn't grow up a millionaire, my family had some major trials to over come when my dad lost his job and we had to rely on my mom's income while my dad went back to school.  These were not easy times and I have a great deal of sympathy for those who are struggling, especially in these difficult times.  I am grateful for what I have and because I have it I donate a lot of my time and my money to helping those who are in need.

The issue here is the dishonesty this person displayed blatantly in our messages back and forth.  So much so that I drove nearly an hour to meet him only to discover he had ulterior motives and totally misrepresented himself.  As if the date wasn't bad enough, when I got home he tried to message me again as though he thought there was nothing wrong with how things went.  When I politely told him that I wished him the best of luck with his career and to "take care."  He responded with "Take care, are you trying to say something by that?"  Well, no shit Sherlock!!!  Please re-evaluate your behaviour!

Now, as if that's not bad enough, tonight I got home to find a message waiting for me from a new guy.  I guy I had seen before and who, once again, seemed nice and normal and possibly a decent potential.  It quickly went of the rails when it became clear he was looking for someone to dominate him in a sexual manner.  There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, in my profile to suggest that I am looking to rein-act any scenes from 50 Shades of Grey in reversed role.  

It frightens me to no end that these are the guys I keep meeting.  Is it a reflection of me? Do I put out some kind of crazy signal, like the bat signal?  Is it just some giant test that I have to go through in order to meet the right person? Or worse, is this all that's left?

I don't know the answer, and I'm not sure how much longer I can keep looking for it.  Here is to hoping that 2013 will bring with it a cleansing of the crazies.

By the way, Rob Ford is a dirt bag idiot and should never have been elected mayor.  Sorry, I'm watching the news and I'm all fired up now...

Cheers,


Tuesday 20 November 2012

DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT THE CHICKEN CROSSING THE ROAD?

Well it has been a few days, as I predicted, since my last post.   It's been a somewhat eventful few days, and yet in spite of that, I find myself in a perplexing situation with very little to say.  It's not a situation I am accustomed to as many who know me would attest.

Saturday I attended a raw food workshop then hustled down the road to make it home in time to drop of food, grab a change of clothes and hurtle down the highway to the work Christmas party, new dress in tow.  The party was great, and I learned that dresses with sequins on them can cause armpit sequin-rash when dancing.

Last night I awoke in the onslaught of the man cold, my chest constricted, head pounding and nasal passages all but blocked.  This afternoon I am feeling that I am over the worst of it, and as I suspected, it was not the death sentence I was lead to believe.  Nevertheless, I could have done without it.  I missed my kick-boxing class last night and my trainer session at the gym tonight because of it.  If you're sick, just stay home people!  It's nice to share with your co-workers, but some things should be kept to ourselves.

I am proud to report that 98% of my Christmas shopping is done and 60% of the cookie dough/pastry has been made and frozen.  Things are seriously looking up for the Christmas rush.

You see, extremely unentertaining.  I doubt this blog was even necessary, but I wanted to post something so you knew I was still alive, and had not totally succumb to the man cold after all.

Here's hoping a more interesting calamity is soon to come may way.

FYI, the lemon cookies one the cookie poll and once I'm well enough to not be contagious, they will be the next cookie dough to be made, and I promise, I will post pictures and a few recipes.

Cheers,

Thursday 15 November 2012

THE MAN COLD

It is November, the beginning of the season of illness.  So far the flu has circulated the office and now the cold is slowly making its way through too.  I have been praying to the health and wellness gods to dodge that bullet, what with the intensely busy weekend I have coming up, I genuinely can not afford to be ill.  Sadly, Tuesday morning I awoke with a tickle in my throat and mildly stuffy sinuses.  This, I have been assured, is only the beginning.  Each morning has gotten progressively worse until tonight, when I feel like I could stick my toothbrush down my throat and scratch, it's so itchy.  Oh won't I be a site to see on Saturday at the Christmas party in my new black cocktail dress and heals with runny eyes, and a nose to match.  At least I can hope for sexy scratchy voice between fits of coughing.

My only hope is that it really isn't all that bad.  You see so far the only people I know who have survived the cold are men.   For many years now my friends and I have noted how the Man Cold is much more severe then the cold that anyone else gets.  Even as the very same virus circulates through the house, somehow when the men get it, it takes on new strength.  It becomes akin to the black plague in combination with small pox.  No one in the history of the world has ever suffered as deeply as the man under the influence of the Man Cold.  Now I'm an equal opportunist, and I can assure you that this phenomenon is not limited to the cold.  It stretches from the man flu, to the man fever, to the man headache.  It even reaches as far into the psyche as the man paper cut.  No one will ever know the agony that each of these inflictions can affect on a man.

Well that's not entirely true is it though?  I mean there is a silent victim here, and that is the women who live with the infirm or wounded.  Suddenly, these once invincible Herculean men (in their own minds) become weak and snively and act as though they've reverted into 5 year old children crying for their blankey.  Everything hurts, they can't sleep, no one understands them.  It's truly a remarkable display of pathos.

So now I sit on my couch, drinking hot water with lemon and honey to ease the scratchiness in my throat, reflecting on the very people who are forewarning me of the upcoming agony I am assured I'll experience.  The very people, who had they stayed at home and not infected everyone, and who surely claim this is the bubonic plague reincarnate.  Perhaps it won't be so bad after all...

Cheers!

Wednesday 14 November 2012

BAH BAH CAMO SHEEP?

Heres a little something funny I encountered at the fair and drafted last week.  I am pressed for time, but since this was sitting in my drafts I thought I'd share it for tonight's blog.




Sheep, what will they think of next...  I am afraid he's not fooling anyone with that outfit.

One other things, please vote for the cookie poll.  It only takes a second and it's valuable information.  One lucky friend will receive a package of assorted cookies, including the most popular cookie in the poll.

Thanks!

Tuesday 13 November 2012

GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, SOLD!

Do you ever have one of those grown up moments, a stark reminder that you are now an adult who is concerned with adult things?  Yesterday I was in line at the Canada Post outlet in the Shoppers Drug-mart, shipping back my broken PVR to Bell Canada (see earlier posts re technical unsupport for details) when I noticed that the Royal toilet paper was on sale.  $4.99 for a 12 pack of TP, and me without my wallet!  The first thing that came to mind when I looked over at the sign was "man, that's a steal."  When I went back to work I shared my good fortune with my co-workers.  We were all in agreement, $4.99 was an excellent bargain for Royal toilet paper.

I reflected on this experience tonight on my way to Walmart, to buy the scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner that I swear by.  It occurred to me how odd it was that this is what my life has come too.  Sales on toilet paper illicit raised eyebrows of fascination and wonder at my good luck.  How driving across town to get the shower cleaner I like is just a fact of life.  When I was 16 I never gave a second thought about the going cost of house hold cleaner/supplies.  Hell, when I was 21 I still didn't give a hoot!  I had other priorities.  I had dreams and passions and I believed I could change the world, or I believed that the world would change for me if I asked, pretty please??  My generation was going to save the whales, bring world peace, end oil pollution in the oceans all the while handing out wads of cash to everyone in our free and equal society.  We were going to use peaceful protest to change the world.  We'd write strongly worded letters to our political leaders & our media, and if that wasn't enough we'd be the political leaders and own the media.  Now, if there's a sale on Tide laundry detergent, it's enough to make my heart skip a beat.

So what happened?  Did the world beat that passion out of me?  Have a I actually become so jaded that it takes a bargain to breathe some life back into me?  I guess the reality of it is that a lot of our youthful ideals, while noble at heart, were far to big to have been accomplished in one generation.  I still believe we can get there (maybe not to the handing out wads of cash bit unfortunately).  Probably I could be doing more to help, though I have been known to write a letter or two to various politicians & media outlets.   I suppose our priorities change as we get older, and we realize that the world will not change for us just simply because we expect it to.  So we do what we can to make our lives, and the lives of those around us better, by purchasing satiny soft TP at a discount price.  

Still, I wish I could channel some of that youthful passion and optimism somedays, even if it was merely focussed on housework...  

Cheers,

Monday 12 November 2012

DECK THE HALLS...

It's here people, the holiday season is upon us.  On Saturday I sealed up my last free weekend from now until Christmas with another event (an art show being put on by a friend, who if she had a blog for her art I could plug here).  With that last nail in the weekend coffin, I find myself on the precipice of holiday insanity.  I took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and put my Christmas decorations out (will not be plugging lights in until closer to Dec 1) and I also started my Christmas shopping.

The largest of the endeavours is looming over head.  For some years now I have felt an uncontrollable urge to bake at this time of year.  It's like a built in baking necessity mode that I can't shut off.  Last year's baking extravaganza included 4 doz butter tarts, 3 doz shortbread cookes, 3 doz molasses cookies, 4 doz chocolate chip cookies, 3 doz Caramilk chocolate cheese cake squares, 3 doz sugar cookies & 2 doz banana chocolate chip muffins.  Its an insane amount of baking, but I just can't stop myself.  Now, with every Saturday ahead of me booked for the foreseeable, I find myself starting to plan for the inevitable mountain of baking that lies ahead of me.  I have so far established the list for this years baking, which differs only slightly from last years, in that, in place of the Caramilk chocolate cheese cake squares, I'll be making caramel apple cheesecake squares.   Also there may be a change up in the sugar cookies as well.   With that in mind, the baking will begin this Sunday, or rather the preparation of cookie dough and pastry for butter tarts.

What always amazes me, about myself, this time of year, is how I manage to get it all done.  The list of baking is a feat in itself, but there's still parties to attend, interior decorations to erect, cards to be written, gifts to be bought, gifts to be wrapped, gifts to be delivered.... It's a whirl wind of activity.  Ordinarily when I come home at the end of the day, I make lunch, make dinner, do the dishes (if it's a good night) go to the gym, and then head for the couch for some r&r before its time to get up and do it all over again.  Somehow at this time of year, I channel an energy level I never knew I had.   I chalk a lot of it up to the "all Christmas tunes, all the time" radio station.  It really puts the Christmas magic into everything I do.  I love that Mariah Carey song "All I want for Christmas is You."  I swear, it makes the butter tarts taste better.  If you cook angry, your food tastes angry, cook festive and you'll have a festive delicious treat tray.

So I will apologize in advance.  Because of all this holiday hullabaloo, I'm afraid something will end up taking a back seat, and most likely it will be this blog.  It's already started, as you've probably noticed. As a symbol of good faith, I promise to post some of my favourite, and most popular, recipes.  I will also post the various shenanigans that will inevitably ensue in the process of getting ready for the festive season.

Cheers,

Thursday 8 November 2012

WHAT AM I WEARING?

Here it is, the 8th of November, and already Christmas paraphernalia is popping up left right and centre. We are barely out of the clutches of candy riddled halloween, and now at every corner there are cookie recipes, and best pies ever books, and make a turkey that would convert even the most devout vegetarian magazine covers.  The ornaments and decorations are in full swing, including the festive coffee cups at both Tim Horton's and Starbucks.  Yes the season is truly bearing down on us like a freight train with no brakes.

Over the last week I've been bracing for the holiday throng.  I have three formal Christmas functions to attend, and three informal Christmas functions to attend.  All of this makes for busy times ahead, but more alarmingly, for the formal parties, I have nothing to wear.  Now ordinarily when I utter those words its more of an abstract statement.  I often do have something to wear, but have pooh-poohed all of the realistic options in favour of a shopping spree.  This time, however, is quite the opposite.  I legitimately do not own a thing to wear to a formal winter event.  I have many a dress for summer formal wear, but they will not suffice for this time of year.  I also have some dress pants upstairs in my closet, all of which are now several sizes too big, and, I fear, farm more suited to a job interview.  So here I find myself on quest for the dress 2012, the sequel to quest for the dress 2011 which revolved around a summer wedding and ended after weeks of fruitlessly searching high and low for something that didn't make me look like I was wearing a sack of potatoes.  I have been out once so far in QFTD 2012, and shockingly, found nothing.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I found one stunning dress that I very nearly fell in love with until I took it off and read the tag.  $230 for the dress alone, pre taxation, and I'd still need a pair of shoes to go with it.  That was way to steep for my budget of $150 all in.  I spent some time on the trusted Sears website and I have found a handful of dresses that may not be hideous.  Unfortunately, the two front runners are on back order and arrive one full week after my first function.  This weekend I am planning a pilgrimage to the Square One Mall in Mississauga in hopes of finding a, cost friendly but non-moo moo like, dress and shoes to match (I legitimately have no shoes either, everything I own for dress up is summer oriented).

I am dreading dress shopping.  There's never a lower point in ones self esteem then when you're standing face to face with your own reflection while wearing a dress that, in spite of how generous it looked on the hanger, makes you look as though you've encased yourself in sausage wrap.  It's as though the whole store is conspiring against you, the lightening makes your skin look sickly, the mirror has somehow added 40lbs, even your own clothes, that you swore looked appropriate when you left the house, begin to turn on you.  Your shirt gets all frumpy from being taken on and off at each shop you venture, hopefully into, your pants seem to get tighter and tighter making it look as though you're smuggling the big top around your thighs.   You leave the mall, dejected and debating about getting a mullet, you couldn't possibly look any worse! It's a down right disturbing time.

So I'm putting on a brave face, bolstering my self confidence, and trying to pretend all those food indiscretions at the fair the last few days didn't happen.  I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst and maybe I'll end up somewhere in the middle at pleasantly surprised.

Cheers,

Monday 5 November 2012

ROYAL WINTER GONG SHOW

Ahoy hoy!

Once again I apologize for the delayed blog, but I assure you there was good reason.  First there was a near death experience involving an allergic reaction and one of my parents dogs late on Saturday night. This led to a late night trip to the emergence vet clinic, which was an hour away, and a full on Costanza style freak out between my parents.  Consequently, no one got a lot of sleep on Saturday night, even with the extra hour we gained, and I was too tired to blog yesterday.

Today I had a rare privilege through work to spend the day at the Royal Winter Agricultural Fair in Toronto doing a safety presentation to children.   It was a lovely day, I met some lovely co-workers I had not met before and I got to do a bit of browsing around the fair grounds because it was a slow day.  I even won an insulated cheese carrier at a cheese testing demonstration.  All in all, the show was good.

There are of course some zany highlights which it is my obligation to share with you bloggies.  The first of which occurred very early in the day when an octogenarian walked by and informed me and the other female staff member I was with that we were the best looking duo he'd seen so far.  He was wearing a home made knit wool sweater and a Tilly hat, and he was strutting his stuff with is cane.   We took it in stride, it was a compliment after all.  If only it had come from a young hot farm stud, it would have been all the better, and this blog would probably be a lot more colourful tonight.  The next, and by far most bizarre incident, happened a little before high noon.  I was showing a little boy the safety demonstration when an older gentleman wandered into our booth.  He informed us, through writing on a piece of paper, that he had lost his voice beause of second hand smoke.  Fair enough.  Then he gave me a card saying "You are a special person."  Okay.  Next, after he had listened to the presentation, and asked, via paper, what would happen if a plane was hit by lightening (which had absolutely nothing to do with our presentation, he might as well have asked the square root of pi), he then handed me his "business card."  It was a hand written piece of paper with a link to his website called End of Days Prophecy.  This was all rather odd, but just to add to the bizarreness of it, he only gave myself and one other member of staff these business cards.  Which means, out of the 5 of us that were there, he only felt 2 of us were worthy.  The other staff member was a male by the way, so maybe he has a whole Noah's Ark thing going on... There are animals at the Royal...  That was the height of oddities.  We had a few exasperated parents ask us if we wanted to take their children and one lady got huffy with me when I was on my lunch break and she asked me where to find the horses.  I didn't know and she said "well don't you work here?" I don't think she really believed me when I said I was with the vendors and not staff at the fair, like I'm deliberately trying to sabotage her from seeing the damned horses!

What was less the pleasant was what transpired post Royal Winter Fair.  I decided to stay a bit later after work.  This was my first mistake.  My second, and what would prove to be most fatal mistake, was missing the exit for my ramp on the highway.  There is oodles and oodles of construction happening and once I missed the first ramp I could not find my way back to another ramp that was not marked in big bold lettering and with pylons as "closed for construction."  They might as well have just started posting large bill boards with the skull and cross bones at each corner.  After circling like a vulture for 20 minutes I finally broke down and used my phone a friend.  He got me directions to get out of the seventh circle of hell, but it turns out that Dante was wrong; there is an eighth circle of hell and it's called rush hour traffic on the Monday following the time change.  I spent hours crawling up one highway after another, only to find accidents after accident.  At one point I had to do a full u turn because the highway I was on had just been closed.  It should have taken me an hour to get home.  Instead, it took me nearly 2.5 hours after a long day of dealing with children who were wired on free fudge samples and a day off from school.

Now I sit blogging with a glass of wine and one noisy purring cat.  Home just in time to go to bed, get up and do it all over again!

FYI I'm going to check out the end of days prophecy, if there's anything good there I'll be sure to pass it along... But only to those who are worthy...

Cheers,

Friday 2 November 2012

TECHNICAL UNSUPPORT

Well once again I've been stymied by the powers that be at the satellite TV company.  Several weeks ago I lost the ability to order pay per view movies off my satellite receiver using the remote.  I keep getting an error message that says the phone line must be connected to the receiver in order for the purchase to be made.  I double checked the phone line, even went so far as to go get a phone from upstairs, or the main land as I like to call it, and plug it into the phone line down here just to make sure.  We had dial tone, which to me, is a good sign that the phone line is working.

As I said, the trouble first started several weeks ago, but I have been busy and its never been a real issue.  Now on the first day of flurries in the air, on the verge of winter, or what I like to call, hibernation, I am ready to deal with the problem in hopes of getting it corrected.  I called at 7pm because The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was starting at 8 and I finished my chores for tonight, even tackled some of the chores for tomorrow, and I felt I needed a reward.  Apparently it was ludicrous to expect that there would be any kind of resolution in an hour.  First I had to do the dance of a thousand buttons just to get to speak to a real live person.  Then I entered the 'hold' queue where upon I got to listen to the phone companies theme song for about 15 minutes, and will now permanently have it stuck in my brain, until Jim took me out of queue limbo.  Jim made several obvious suggestions, including such doozies as "have you checked to see if the phone line is plugged in?"  Why, no Jim, that had NEVER occurred to me because I am a simpleton who is new to the world of electronics and THINKING!  Next he asked me if I had tried testing the line with a phone.  Maybe that's a stretch for some people, but my job is some what technical and requires a certain degree of trouble shooting, so yes, I had tried that too.  Next Jim informs me that I need to perform a test on the phone line, but I can not be on the phone while I perform the test.  He waited to tell me that after he gave me the directions on where to find the test on the menu bar and which selection to push to run the test.  Too little to late Jim!  If you don't want me to push the button, then you need to tell me ahead of time!  We aborted the botched test and he informed me that he'd call me back in 5-10 minutes after I'd had time to run the test on unobstructed phone lines.  Nearly 30 minutes later, Jim was a no show.  So I called back again, went through the same button pushing bonanza, hummed along to the song and then I got through to Emily.  Now I have to start all over and explain everything to her and answer the same mundane questions, but this time I was smart!  I called from my cell phone so the phone line was not tied up for the "test."  While I'm on the cell phone with Emily, performing the test, guess who calls me on my home phone line?? Jim!  Thus ruining the phone line test that I was performing for the 2nd time.  Jim tells me he thinks I need a new receiver, but he'll have to call me back in 30 minutes to an hour.  What?  I hang up the phone from both Jim and Emily and decide to perform the test one last time.  The test, incidentally, does not seem to do anything.  It sits on a screen that says "test" for 5 minutes and then flips back to the last channel I was watching, giving me no test results whatsoever.   20 minutes pass, and Jim does call back, if only to inform me he'll call me back in another 30 minutes.  Jim is a very nervous sounding fellow and its possible I've frightened him in to making regular status update calls.  I would not be surprised if Jim called me again tomorrow, just to see if I had a good nights sleep.

Jim has just called again to inform me that they will in fact be sending me a new receiver.  The crux of the new receiver is this:  There are about 7 movies I've ordered and recorded with my PVR, but have not yet watched.  All these movies will be gone when the new receiver comes.  This can mean only one thing.  Pyjama Movie day on Sunday, woot woot!

Cheers!

Thursday 1 November 2012

HOUSE KEEPING...

I was hesitant to post tonight's blog.  It's a topic which could get me busted in certain circles, but I have long since been opposed to censorship of any kind and so I blog.  The reason I am so hesitant and concerned is the subject matter will undoubtedly be read by one particular follower who happens to be my mother.  Now she's no stranger to my ways, but what she doesn't see won't hurt her, though she probably won't be shocked.

My parents, who are both retired, are heading off for the winter soon and I have been left in charge of two plants and mail pick up.  So this weekend, 2 weeks before their estimated time of departure, they are coming down for a visit, to drop off the plants and to refresh my memory on how to run the snowblower.   With this visit looming there is a certain amount of panic I am dealing with.  To describe my house as chaotic at the moment, would be like describing the dessert and a touch on the dry side.  There are reasons for the insanity, largely I am never home, I'm away at their house, or visiting friends or organizing charity events and retirement parties.  And when I am here in the evenings after an 8 hour day of work, followed by an hour or so at the gym, followed by making dinner and preparing a lunch, and of course blogging, the last thing I feel like doing is grabbing the Swiffer and giving the house the once over.   I know I should, but its really just not my strong suit.  Admittedly the biggest problem is that we are just coming out of the summer and I have had some fairly busy event filled weekends.  I find my house is significantly cleaner and more organized in the winter months when its too cold to go outside and the weather is too unpredictable to be taking road trips.

Nevertheless, I fear I have let the state of the house slide into such disrepair that I have almost become too overwhelmed to deal with.  Just to be clear, it's not a pig stye, I don't wallow in my own filth, a thin layer of cat hair and dust maybe, but certainly not filth.  It's more a case of things that have accumulated or things that have been used, but not put away properly.  These things are slowly taking over my office to a point where its almost more of a disarrayed storage unit.  It's a bit like an ongoing yard sale collection,  ironing boards, plastic wine glasses for camping, some wall art from when I was a child, shoes of any variety, stuffed animals, books, a clock that no longer keeps time, an old stereo, a printer that no longer works.  The list could go on forever.  

And now here I find myself on the precipice of ridicule with no more then a mere 48 hours to control the chaos.  I took a big stab at things tonight and I have worked out an agenda for tomorrow and Saturday morning.  Tonight I tackled the main floor, which was by far the easiest to undertake.  Tomorrow the basement knows no mercy.  Saturday morning will see the upstairs taken down like a lame gazelle.  Clutter be ware!  I am on to you and no nook or cranny is safe.

I am realizing now, one other fatal flaw with this blog.  If she should happen to read it tonight or tomorrow and I don't quite climb that mountain to the summit, then she'll know I tried but failed...  It is a risk I'll just have to take.

Wish me luck, and if there's no blog tomorrow, you'll know the junk has won!

Cheers,