To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing*

I really think that I could make procrastination into a profession. Beforehand, I always look toward a few days off with such grandiose ideas of what I will, and shall accomplish...until I get into the moment and the thought of laying there, in bed, in comfort, under the warmth of the blankets for just a few minutes longer gets the better of me. Or, when I sit down at the laptop to just look at the recent pics and status updates on Facebook until the coffee is finished from my cup. Or, when I think, well I may as well see what's on TLC, only to be sucked into a few hours of "Say Yes to the Dress", whilst I consume yet another hot cup of coffee, snuggled up under my fluffy couch blankie, with my dear Zoe cuddled up in my lap. I then might fall asleep. I then might turn the channel to see what movie is on the Women's network. Oh, and I then have to move back to the laptop, because surely, there's been enough time lapse now that there ought to be dozens more status updates to view, chuckle over, and comment on.

*sigh*

Such has been my weekend.

The cat hair is tumbleweeding around my living room. Our bedroom looks like someone raided it looking for drug cash. There is evidence everywhere that Chris has been here and gone as he frantically readied himself for his last day of a photography workshop (even the trail of Island red dirt from his sneakers as he backtracked over to me (on the couch) to give me a good-bye kiss. And, we can't get mad at him for leaving a mess, because he did think to backtrack for a kiss, without prompting, right?) The laundry has finished it's cycle, and sits there, waiting for me...yet I can't seem to grab enough energy to get off my still-pajama'd arse to change it.

The saddest part? I'm not feeling overly guilty about it. We're so busy at work these days I think I really and truly need moments of do-nothing downtime to recharge. In between writing and posting this, I did get up and change the laundry to another load. I did fold the one that was waiting in the dryer, and I did start a rather lengthy post in drafts that I'm not sure the world is ready to read. I'm still in my jammies. The cat hair tumbleweeds are still passing by. I've already consumed two hot cups of coffee, and I'm all caught up on FB. Our bedroom is still in chaos. I didn't get into my craft room to straighten it up and start a few gifts like I'd planned. That can wait til tomorrow, right?

I think I'll go see what's on TLC.

*Quote by Eva Young

just a litttttttle more....

Dear adoring readers,

I've been a bad blogger. And for that, I'm deeply apologetic. I've let the summer (ie, life) get in the way. I've also been having "issues" with the program I store my photos on so I've been holding back some of my posting because I can't add a picture to go with the post.

Have patience with me...my return to normal blogging (ie, free of Big Brother rants) is on the horizon. I promise.

Love,

me

"...my brain is backstabbing me..."

I gotta say Hayden impressed the hell out of me when he won the veto - especially on the first try like that. I totally didn't see that coming. Lane, on the other hand, behaved in a predictably predictable manner, didn't he? I was never a fan of the brigade from the beginning, and I never dreamed they'd pull off scamming the entire house and staying as the final alliance. I had been pulling for Britney to make it to the final two. (Oh, and Brit, I know you were nervous tonight and all, but Jebus, STOP CHEWING YOUR NAILS! It's so not attractive!). While I won't be seeing her bring home the big cash, I do certainly look forward to her reunion with the jury members. And, with any luck, she may land the consolation prize with being voted the favourite houseguest? (though Ragan may just have that one in the bag).

Lane-ism of the night: "To see Britney hurting that bad...was like seeing one of my dog's died".

Chris-ism of the night, bemoaning the loss of the BB boobs: "Eff. Now it's just a sausage-fest"....followed by a heavy sigh.

"MEOW MEOW!!!!!"

Earl, huh? I never ever liked that name.

I love storms. I find them exciting. I had a big day planned of lazing, tv watching, even maybe a movie or two...

I was up early -- before 9am, possibly even before 8:30am. I wasn't quite ready for my morning coffee so when Chris had made his I didn't ask him to put one on for me. It was I dunno ....7 MINUTES from then and we had our first power outage. It came on after 4 minutes,...I quickly got up and raced to get a coffee....put the k-pack in, hit "brew"...and *poof* ...power out again*. I'm unhappy with you Earl. It's slightly windy out there, but you haven't even gotten here yet.

I haven't even showered.

It's going to be a long Saturday.

*Update: after about 20 mins we regained power again -- first coffee has been consumed, and I'm showered up. With the possibility of more power blips I can't possibly do laundry ;).... I do have two books on the go --reading may be my biggest priority today. I hope everyone weathers this storm safely..xo.

Chris Scott, meteorologist

Earl is still a very impressive storm on satellite and radar imagery as we are showing on-air at The Weather Network. This storm will not weaken much as it slams into the Nova Scotia shore this morning.

The centre of Earl will move quickly along the south shore of Nova Scotia this morning bringing very strong southeast winds to areas from Barrington to Halifax. Winds will quickly increase across the rest of Nova Scotia as Earl moves in this morning.

Based on the current track, it is a certainty that the strongest winds from this storm will be felt along the shore of Nova Scotia. Even the east shore and Cape Breton will see very strong winds based on the track that will take the centre of the storm just west of these areas.

You may have been wondering about the discrepancy between the Canadian Hurricane Centre and the U.S. National Hurricane Centre in calling Earl a hurricane vs. a tropical storm. Well, the fact is it is impossible to know without having anemometers in all parts of the storm, and later today, it will get even trickier to decide whether this system is still mainly tropical.

Bottom line – it doesn’t really matter what the storm has been called, or is called now. The winds are going to be strong enough to cause some damage along the shore today, most likely tree damage which will cause power outages.

We are lucky the storm isn’t stronger, but this is still a large and powerful tropical cyclone that is rolling through Atlantic Canada.

Source: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/?ref=topnav_news_logo

"Are you here to win it? Or are you here to give it away?"

Admit it -- you've missed it:

• The Pandora's Box punishments last night were awesome... The dancing was super fun. I almost hopped up and started dancing myself a few times! But, to quote Wham!, Hayden "ain't got no rhythm". Bahahahah! His sock puppet was the best one though.
• What's with the whole utensil thing? Did Britney throw all the forks and spoons out in her cleaning tirade? Last night and tonight she's been drinking out of a bowl...and Ragan was slurping up whatever he had with a ladle...wtf?
  
• I have to say that Ragan's desperate plea to Lane prior to the voting was extremely convincing...and I'm heartbroken that he's been voted out. His time to speak at the finale will be epic, no doubt.
• Rachel's voice is akin to, no make that worse than, nails on a chalkboard. Listening to her churns up an inner rage inside me that I thought no one could ever fill after Bob Saget.
• The reunion between Brachel was slightly lackluster, eh? Watching him waltz into the jury house in his flip flops, and the realization that the money wasn't coming with him was alllllllllll over her face, her embrace and her pitiful, "Breeeendaaaaaaaaaaaan".
• And yeah, Brendan does look like a penis. Thanks, Matt.
• Um. Did I just hear Lane right? He's bringing brains back?? Ooookay.
• Damn you BB for song-bombing me with a Christmas carol!
• GO BRITNEY! Can't wait for Sunday!
  

Stupid IS as stupid DOES

We're experiencing a mild "heat wave" round these here parts with the humidex-"feels like" temps into the high 30's and low 40's (Celcius, that is - that's just over 100 F for my American readers). I aim not to complain - because shortly I know that we'll be in the depths of winter and I won't be able to get my toes warm. And, let's be honest, we have an air conditioner...so aside from being a few dollars more in the hole to pay the electric bill, the heat hasn't had a chance to really 'bother' me a lot. *ducking*. Besides, I rarely complain about being cold. I can always don another sweater or a warmer pair of slippers. When this bodacious physique is hot though.....that's a whole other story.

Anyway. I digress. With the heat come fruit flies. I've been fairly diligent with my little fruit fly traps. There are many ways one can rid their home of fruit flies. I find that a small piece of fruit in a covered cup works really well (cover with a piece of saran, and then poke small holes in the saran so that the fruity stink entices the little effers inside. The trick is to make the holes small enough that they can't get themselves out, and they eventually die in the container).

Last night I learned two very important somethings. Something number 1: when constructing your own fruit fly trap, ensure that you use a cup that is DISPOSABLE. And, something number 2: never, ever, ever, EVER place your fruit fly trap inside a microwave oven and turn said oven on.

Oh the stank still haunts me.

See...last week's fly trap was made from one of my pretty Winnie-the-Pooh juice glasses...I wanted to salvage the glass....but, when I went to take a look I saw several fruit flies that had yet to reach their demise. Instead of leaving it be for a few more days and letting them die off I felt this need to clean the glass right away. I didn't want to tear off the saran wrap and risk the remaining 6-7 of them flying up into my face. I needed to kill them. I had a moment of "brilliance" just then, thinking, "I bet a few seconds in the microwave would do just fine".

And it did.

The flies died.

But that dank, rotting sliver of what used to be a banana when heated created a vomit-inducing-I-think-I'd-rather-have-something-defecate-in-my-mouth-than-smell-it-for-a-second-longer stink, that was worse than any other stink that I've ever, ever smelled. I think I truly may know what death smells like...why the CSI guys put smelly stuff under their noses. Oh.my.effing.merciful.Jebus. Never did I think I could ever experience anything that could rival the "incident"...but, I think it might have.

Yeah, so people, allow my blatant stupidity be YOUR guide. The only good thing? My house was just a-shining as I did my best efforts to rid it of the invading stench. I tried to microwave lemon juice. I then added vinegar. I then scoured and scrubbed every surface with pretty-smelling cleaner. I had every single scented candle burning. I'm happy to report that it seems my efforts have paid off. I am, however, a little afraid to open the microwave door.

Summer 2010

Well, now that Old Home Week has come and gone, we're all left to face the inevitable truth, and that is the end of summer. I've been a bad blogger -- barely scraping by with keeping this updated , and that's only thanks to a slight BB obsession. I would never normally say that I lead an overly exciting or busy life, but I guess these past few months have been pretty busy. I'm going to try to pinpoint the highlights - this blog serves as my journal, so there are a few moments that I don't want to forget! :)

• a great evening of entertainment & friendship thanks to the hospitality of Jo & Barry, and to Irish Mythen for lending her talent (as well as Andrew & Nikki). We had an opportunity to also meet Irish's parents, so that was super special. Irish is the spit of her momma!
• I was lucky enough to witness a live taping of the Live! with Regis and Kelly show when they took their crew on-site to PEI. It was an extremely successful endeavor by Tourism PEI -- and I don't think that any amount of money or any marketing scheme could have ever been as successful as how they promoted our Island for us.
• a successful baby shower for momma-to-be Tanya**! Julie R graciously offered up her new beautiful home to host a baby shower. She received so many beautiful gifts, and it was so, so nice to see her mom Vivien & her aunt Grace in attendance.
• I was able to waltz down memory lane a bit as Lana and I went thru the entire Degrassi High series in two get togethers. It was so fun :).
• I rode in a HOT AIR BALLOON!!
• Eating -- oh there was so much eating ;)....thanks to the Moshers, and to Matt & Nicole for your generous hospitality and hosting your bbq suppers for Chris and myself. The food was delish, and the company was even better!
• Speaking of eating, we had the opportunity to try out a few PEI restaurants that we'd not yet been to: Globe World Flavours, PEI Preserve Co, The Pearl Cafe, and the Doghouse (no website to link). Oh and ice cream. There's.been.SO.much.ice.cream. Soft serve cones, dilly bars, blizzards, flurries, oh my! I fear even the comfort fit waistbands might be a little tight for the next while...time to start eating like a rabbit *frown*.
• I was able to witness an evening of multiple shooting stars (it was a meteor shower, but, it was all shooting stars to me :)).
• Summer fun and friendship go hand in hand. I'm so glad that I had the chance to visit a few folks "from away", including an excellent supper out with a visiting Kelly and and the girls from work; a really fun evening at Carolyn's momma's house as she was home visiting from the big metropolis of Sturgis, SK *wink*; a quick chat with a visiting Kathleen and her granddaughter Elyse; and, a great chance to catch up with a few old Watts' alumni while a visiting Shawn was here for his annual trip home.
• I participated in the 7th Annual Corey Stevenson Memorial Tournament. By participating, I mean I sat in a fold-up chair for hours watching a far-away hole to witness the chance of giving away $10,000. The money didn't go, unfortunately, but I had a really great time, and I felt a sense of comfort knowing that I've finally participated in Corey's memory. Every year previous, the weather hasn't cooperated with the tourney. This year the sun shone bright and warm the whole time. I figure Corey was mad at me for not going previous years. I brought the sunshine. I'll be there from now on, Corey, and I hope to keep on bringing the sunshine. I miss you, buddy - so much, xo.
• On the forefront for this upcoming weekend, I have an end of summer gathering for work on Friday night; a party hosted by the lovely Bowlans that's sure to be a blast on Saturday night; and, a baby shower for Pam and her new little bundle, Ayden on Sunday afternoon. September looks a little slower...I'll blog more then, I promise :).

It's been a fantastic summer, filled with so many excellent memories. I'm so fortunate to have so many great friends in my life. Raising a glass to Summer '10 ;)


**Exciting update: This post has been in my drafts for a few days as I compose when I have a few free moments. I'm happy to report that Tanya gave birth to a healthy baby boy on August 26th at 9:34 am. Welcome to the world, little Jared "Ryder" Mason! Tanya, I'm SO proud of you! I cannot wait to meet your gorgeous boy! xoxoxo