Tonight's Grateful Moment

We went home to Canada for the weekend for friends' wedding. I'm so very glad we did, and the ceremony was lovely. We try to break the drive up into two parts each way, so after Kim's baby shower this afternoon we headed out. A little later on the road than we wanted, but not too bad. It was dinner time when we got to Buffalo. We strongly, strongly considered pushing on for Syracuse, but in the end decided to go for the early to bed, early to rise option. And for that, I am very grateful. The rain that was forecast to begin late tonight arrived early.
It has already turned to SNOW.
We would have still been on the road, and stuck with the crappy weather and trying to drive through snow to make it, late at night, to a hotel in Syracuse.
Yaaaay for deciding to go to bed early.
Which I am NOW going to go do.
Travel safe everyone.

Brian and Patches

Yesterday evening we arrived at our friends' house just as Laura was coming in from a trail ride. I'm still too gimpy, but she talked Brian into having a quick ride on Patches. And he had so much fun that he's over there again this afternoon riding. Yay!

Apparently this whole healthy eating thing might have stuck...

I cooked bacon tonight for the first time in literally years. YEARS. I know it's bad for you, and know it's high in fat, but every now and then, a little well cooked bacon as garnish is heaven. Heaven in each crunchy little bite. So I bought a package at the grocery store on a whim. Tonight I set out to cook the whole package planning to freeze it once cooked and use as needed.

I am so completely and utterly revolted by the amount of fat in the pan after cooking 10 slices, I can't eat ANY of it. None. Not a chance. Not one bite. I don't think I'll be having any of it any time soon, either. I packed up the rest of it and stuck it in the freezer rather than finish cooking it. I just couldn't do it. Maybe I'll pull it out in another 5 years or so...

This sign outside a local church says it all...

We have already had twice the normal total snowfall for a full winter. It's not yet quite the end of January. There are two months still to come this winter. We got more today, with more coming tomorrow. The banks at the edge of the driveway are taller than I am. And February is usually the snowiest month here...

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently my new iPod also has a sense of humour

When I pulled into work on Friday morning (last day before vacation, and I knew it was already looking to be a 10 hr day minimum), the song that started, literally as I turned into the parking lot, was "Hard Knock Life" from Annie

Hey Mom! And you too Becca!

I can honestly say I've had enough snow. That's our second storm with over 20 inches. In just over two weeks... The snow bank at the end of the driveway is taller than Brian. I took the photo on my way out to work this morning, so it's had two days of melt time as well... And work did NOT call a snow day. Delayed opening though, so I can't complain all that badly. And just in time for these, which I finished making last night. :)

I have not laughed this hard in a LONG time!

Birthday Report

For my birthday this year we had long planned to take the day off work and go into the city to see the King Tut exhibit. The delivery for the new bed (go Black Friday specials, wohoo!) was scheduled for the next day, however, and I couldn't really justify two days off that week since we were pretty busy. But the next weekend, we took the Sunday and went in. Our friend Randi came and joined us, and we had a really nice day.


There were no cameras allowed in the exhibit itself, unsurprisingly. This is the big mural out front.



Afterwards we went to linner/lupper at Bubba Gump's, one of our favourite restaurants. We hit the absolute sweet spot between lunch and dinner crowds. It was quiet, calm, and the service was excellent as usual.



Given all the walking, Brian was in a fair bit of pain by then. So Randi got treated to her own personal Adventures of Vicoden Man! :P



The next two photos are of each end of Times' Square. I'm sorry Bonnie, no matter how much you'd like to live vicariously through me, I WILL NOT go there for New Years. Nope, nut-uh, not happening. These are the closest you can get! :) Sometimes I still have to pinch myself and remember how amazing our life is when we can just "pop in to" places like this for an afternoon.







And a final reminder of why Becky is my best friend...



Okay, so I'll admit it, I'm cheating. I wrote all three of these on Boxing Day and just set them to post in sequence. :) I had the time while Brian was watching Jonas Hex, which I had seen earlier in the day.

Trip Home

Since I had the card reader out, I figured I should grab some other photos to post. These are from our trip home in October. They're just of my family, I had a fresh card in the camera from David and Brenda's wedding. And it ATE the photos. That'll teach me to try to be good and make sure I had lots of space. I was SOOOOOO mad. But Brian's mom sent us one of the ones of the full family (including us) with our Christmas present and it turned out wonderfully. I'll have to scan it at some point and post it.

Le Chateau Des Eberhardt est pret pour les reservations!

I finally have the downstairs bedroom set up as a guest room. I love the concept of having my own craft room/library, but the truth is, I rarely used it as such. I'd grab what supplies I need and bring them out to the living room to actually *do* whatever craft I was feeling like. And given the "delightfulness" of my crappy sleep habits, we were strongly considering putting a bed downstairs for me.

But book early, we're already filling up. No, seriously, April is already completely booked up for us!










And what's with all the bright white out that window you may be asking yourself? It's slightly late, but I'm getting a white Christmas after all. Better late than never! They're currently forecasting 15-20 inches (38-50cm) of snow by the time it ends tomorrow! Good thing I got myself that present two posts down, isn't it? And I liked mom's comment about it being a necessity and made Brian buy me another Christmas gift. Good thinking mom! Below are the photos from the snow in the last post, and I'll post photos of this snow from tomorrow. Ish.

Real Snow!!

We had a bunch of flakes last night while I was running errands after
physiotherapy, and that's all that was forecast, but hey, it was snow,
and I was happy. Hell, it was 55F/13C on Sunday, so at least it was
starting to feel like December with the flakes. So imagine my thrill
when I got up this morning and discovered about half an inch of the
fabulous white stuff. Photos will come once I get home tonight and
can download them.

What? Yes, I took photos, so Pssssbt!

I'm a very naughty girl

I just bought my own Christmas present, AGAIN. Brian's going to be mad at me for it because I have a bad habit of doing that. And in this case, I don't really care, because it's as much for me as it is for him! Click the title if you want to know what I got!

It's official

We had snow today! Just a slight flurry, not even a bare dusting, but
it counts. I saw snow!

Never mind the fact that it still caused multiple car accidents on
this morning's commute.
Really folks? It's not like we never get snow here. You shouldn't be
losing it over that.

Discussions with Vicoden Man

So Brian was given Vicoden for his hand. And he can only take it while home and not going to drive. It usually makes him pretty sleepy*, but also leads some interesting conversations. *After taking this mornings at about 5:30am when I got up for work, he proceeded to continue to sleep until after noon.

I think all who know him will agree he's had many odd conversations all on his own, drug free. This one was priceless:

Brian goes upstairs to work on laundry, and about 10 minutes later I realize I haven't heard anything...

H: "Brian, whatcha doing?"
B: "The bed got me"

All normal so far, that's a phrase we use to say we're just flaking out upstairs in the quiet for a little while.

10 more minutes pass and I go upstairs to see what he wants to do for dinner.
He has gotten undressed and fully tucked himself into bed.
Teddy bear and all.

H: "Really, the *bed* got *you*? It doesn't look that way to me..."
B: "My clothes conspired with the bed"

Brian's Newest Fashion Accessory

Is it wrong of me to laugh at him as he tries to tie his shoes? It was sporkworthy stupidity that caused it. And who knew? Brian-the-lefty apparently punches with his right.

My most adorable hour spend hand sewing EVER.

So, this happened, then that did, then the world turned upside down...

Or "Why I won't write any more final exams."

This latest course finishes the certificate, and I am REALLY wondering if the universe is threatening Brian to get me to just stop there and not get the full Master's. I don't know if I dare take any more, the next one might kill him.

First Final Exam: (December) Brian gets Bronchitis that week. Acts like a typical man. Doesn't take enough care of himself or time off work. Spends New Year's Eve coughing so hard he tore the cartilage in his lungs. Spending New Year's Day waiting to been seen by the doctor (who is wonderful, and was actually open!!!) followed by waiting for x-rays was not how I planned to start 2010.

Second Final Exam: (May) The day of my final, Brian has training at work. Calls me mid-afternoon, sounding odd. I finally get him to tell me what's going on. He got fired. From the job he loves, caring for people in group homes. Because he varyingly (depending on who was telling him what he'd done wrong and why he was being fired) both doesn't follow the rules enough, and is inflexible when dealing with the rules. He reports and documents found meds as per the rules. WRONG! He switches up breakfasts during the same week at the request of a client. WRONG!

Third Final Exam: (August) I had my final on Monday morning last week, and Brian knew it had to be turned in by noon. Which is why he waited until noon to call and tell me he'd been in a car accident at 5am on his way into work, and was in the ER. And he refused to tell the hospital my number so they could call me. I truly love that man, but sometimes I want to smack him upside the head. Just not right now. It's too tender.

Long story short (like I'm capable of that, ha!) he'll be okay in the long term. He was rear-ended when he was already stopped. The other driver got out, and asked if Brian was okay. When Brian said no, and he thought he should call for an ambulance, the driver who hit him said "Oh shit!" and booked it out of there. Brian didn't get the plates. The police were called (thankfully there was a witness) and reports taken, but we don't have much hope they'll actually catch the guy. Brian spent two very scary days in hospital, but is home and resting more or less comfortably. We've a lot of follow-up doctor visits to come, some PT, and it'll be a while before he's back at work again. But he will be fine in the medium-long term, and that's what matters most!

Just how good at customer service is my husband?

He had a regular customer come into the restaurant today who is so unimpressed they haven't promoted him* that she gave him her business card and told him to get her a resume...

:) :) :)

I've always said he loves helping people no matter what he's doing!

(*Their name badges have their titles on them, not that he was bitching to a customer about it. Though I've had a few private bitches to myself about it...)

This is why I now get up at 5:30am...

For all I am *so* not a morning person, I set a new best time into
work this morning. 25 minutes door to door. If I left at 8am, it
would take over an hour. I may hate the early mornings, and loathe
going to bed so early, but I'll take it to reclaim over an hour from
every day.

So it's been a while...

School ate my life, and I haven't really been doing much worth writing about. I have, however, been taking photos, and to that end, I've finally gotten around to starting to setup photo galleries. If you're interested, they can be found here, or by clicking on the title of this post. I hope eventually to get them captioned as needed, at the very least, but figure something is better than nothing!