Good-bye Dr. Ling

Dr. Barry Ling lost his courageous battle with cancer today:

http://barryl.blogspot.com/2008/02/one-last-bear-hug.html

A well-loved man, who will be surely missed.

I saw Dr. Ling for my knee problems, and it was he who performed my knee surgery (scope). He was nothing but kind to me, and although I did not know him other than that, I empathize with his family at this very sad time, and wish them peace.

The Road Trip of Life

From a blog I've just discovered:

"...It’s true; you can’t just shrivel up and wail in a corner about stuff. Well, you can but you have about one hour and then you need to pull yourself together already. Take control of yourself. Stop berating yourself for having feelings. Quit feeling bad about every damn thing. Maybe in the road trip of life this is just a bad diner stop where the bathroom is filthy and has run out of toilet paper and everything you ordered looks wilted, not just the lettuce and your water glass has lipstick on it but it isn’t your shade. It’s like that. And the good news is you can get up out of that saggy pleather booth and haul ass on out of there. You’ve got free will and choice. Things will definitely improve from here.
It is a new day and I’m seeing things differently..."

Thanks Sizzle - I'm glad I happened upon your prose...you just might even inspire me.

I'm going to love myself today...

How can one possibly expect love back if one doesn't love onself?

It's a hard lesson to learn.

I'm going to take baby steps and hope that those around me are patient, and accepting.

This time of year is rough for me...at first, I thought it was just an excuse I allowed myself - to 'make up for' times where I just wasn't my 'sunshine-y' self... However, after experiencing "down" patches consistently, around the same time of year, for the past 5 years, it's time to really look at it...here are a few possibilities:

-it's the end part of winter -Christmas behind, cold temps, stuck inside for months, the better part of the time coming home from the work day in the dark ... I think I do better when it's sunny and a little warmer.
-speaking of Christmas - it's that time of year when the bills seem to do nothing but accumulate (not to mention the added oil bill that's only around this time of year for us, since we have electric hot water) ... and now left with trying to 'pay off' Christmas.
-tax season is around the corner - for those of us who experience stress over money, there's always the added worry about 'paying in' and another bill to add to the all-consuming pile...
-oh, and the anniversary of Dad's passing is approaching...while he never really leaves my thoughts, this time of year his memory seems to be a complete constant. And it's not the 'happy memories of time with Dad' that are the constant ...memories of the final days are so vivid... thinking back to the day where the sores in his mouth were so bad that you couldn't understand him - but I heard him say 'good bye' before his tears fell...the guilt of those silent car rides we had together - why didn't I talk more?...the guilt of going out to supper with friends that night - and not being there when he died...the guilt of not saying "I love you" one last time because I thought I had one more tomorrow...

Maybe I'm just making excuses...I'm searching...I'm needing...I'm really down on 'me' lately...

baby step #1....

A new breed of cowboy?

Meet Whiplash, the sheepherding monkey from Fort Worth, Texas:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eb6_1201729620

I can understand how he got his name.

Too cute.

Busy weekend

Chris' 30th birthday continued this weekend... I think I'm safe to say that we're finished the celebration! Friday night, I arranged to have a bunch of his friends join us at Ise's, in the private pool room. A lot of red beer was consumed by the birthday boy, along with a few shooters...and a lot of laughs were had by us all. Thank you, thank you to those who made it. To those that didn't, Chris really missed having you there.
After Ise's, we all landed back home, and had some munchies and talked. Bruce strummed the guitar for a bit, and I managed a make-shift birthday cake using two-bite brownies so I could use my special "30" candle I bought.









Saturday was a pretty 'lazy' day, on account of the consumables Friday. We made it to town at about 5pm, stopped for an unhealthy dose of McD's (sure cure for a hangover), and then grabbed a movie (Mr. Brooks -just fair) before calling it a night. Sunday, we got up and went to the "Shoppers Bazaar" (fancy name for flea market), grabbed a coffee, and then headed to Chris' mom's for the rest of the afternoon and supper.

I totally needed to organize/clean my craft room to prepare for this coming weekend's scrap retreat...*sigh*... but that didn't happen.

Driving down the Lost Highway...

A large percentage of my late morning/early afternoon today was totally engaging myself in the Bon Jovi "Lost Highway" DVD. The entire disc play-list, in sequence, comprises the DVD, with a few older favorites as encores. Thoroughly entertaining - extremely talented, thought-provoking awesomeness...not to mention that Jon Bon Bon is one fine piece of man to look at.

*sigh*

I *heart* Bon Jovi.

Where in the world...

...have I been?

Honestly, I haven't really been feeling 'bloggy' lately - but a proper update is long past due. Let's see if I can recall the whats, wheres and whens........

Here, in point form, is the quick 'n dirty of what I've been up to since my last "real post":

• Last Wednesday Mummy & I got out for supper, a quick stop at Hallmark, and then back to her place to relax and talk. It was lovely.
• Heath Ledger was found dead in his apt....wtf? So sad...so young and talented...I really feel for his wife and child...:(
• Last Friday, I met up with the Stampin'Up Club for nachos at BP and then on to Angela's for our January class. We made lovely cards, and another 2 pages for our 6x6 album. Many laughs ensued...and how refreshing is it when a group of gals can be that candid with each other? I totally love it. Oh, and Heidi, I totally want that shirt...:)
• Saturday, Chris & I joined Krissy & Marco for supper at Sim's - Chris' choice for his birthday supper. They all had the steak and said it was phenomenal - I don't eat a lot of red meat so I ordered the seafood chowder, and it was delicious. I must admit, that was the most 'high end' restaurant I have visited. After supper the 4 of us came back to our place for a few drinks, and the boys played with the birthday balloons. That's all that needs to be said for public reading :).
• Sunday was a day to do nothing - and I did just that. And I don't feel the least bit guilty.
• Monday I had booked off as a vacation day, and I was glad to have the option to go nowhere as I heard the freezing rain pinging against the window - all day....PEI was hit by a horrible ice storm...leaving much of the western part of the province out of power (as I type today there are still homes out of power)...with electric crews from other provinces being called in to assist, Red Cross setting up multiple emergency shelters, and even the army being placed on standby to aide. Trees broke with the weight of the layers of ice, taking power lines down, and power poles themselves were breaking. The image on this post is a borrowed image, taken somewhere in western PEI. Crazy, eh? Now this weekend, we have another freezing rain warning... Aside from the weather update - Monday night I made Chris his spaghetti birthday supper, and gave him his prezzies, which included a Canon hat (gf of the year, having to order from the UK to get one); a dock for his ipod, that unfortunately has to be returned; a really nice Bulova watch; some 'geek' gear (keychain and pen holder); a 1kg bag of Mini Eggs; and a capo for his guitar.
  
• Tuesday, dear Christopher FINALLY reached his 30's.
• The rest of the week, as I've been working an odd 10:30 - 7pm shift, I've basically came home from work, watched a bit of tv, and then crashed. Fun stuff.

Now you're up to date - what's the weekend have in store, you ask? Guess you'll have to tune in for the next post ;)