chill weekend in rankin

haha, a weather pun.

but i'm not going to waste time talking about the weather. it's cold here. the end.

today i had a lovely relaxing day. i woke up and watched the american/russian hockey game while having coffee and a bagel. then i did a couple of crosswords with more coffee. finished off a puzzle with another coffee. not surprisingly after all the coffee, i felt a little antsy and needed to get out of the hotel. showered and bundled up and headed out to nowhere in particular.

i decided to go visit alice (aka: my mitten maker). yup, i just popped by. well first i popped by the wrong house, and was told that alice lived next door. oops. backtracked one house. her daughter and grandson were there too and we had a nice visit. i apologized for just showing up but they said that's how we do it here, and to come visit again.

wandered around town a bit. went into the two grocery stores. no, not to buy anything, just for something to do. but really, there's more than just groceries. the Northern is like a mini department store, with clothes and groceries and toiletries and sofas and washing machines all squeezed into the size of my normal safeway.

walked down to the edge of town and sat down on a snow mound for a while, just enjoying the peace and quiet. then headed to the arena for the raffle. talked to a few people as we waited for the draw. didn't win anything. oh well.

came back to the hotel and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich (which i burnt) and some sweet potato fries (which i also burnt). just watched Blackfish (about killer whales in captivity) and it was quite sad and disturbing. now for some red wine and my knitting. ahhhh...

i can't believe i still have a whole other day off!

things that make me happy

sometimes I like to complain. but today, for a change, I thought i'd share a few happy things. and i'll put it in bullet point form because bullet points also make me happy!

• I went to Stars on Ice last week (yay!) and at the end of the show Kurt Browning shook my hand (YAY!!!). i practically knocked over the two little old ladies next to me in my eagerness. I wanted to tell him that i'd been coming to the show for 20 years, but couldn't utter a single word; i just shook his hand frantically while grinning like an idiot. but maybe that's ok, because when i went through my collection of Stars on Ice programs from over the years (obsessive nerd), i realized that this was only year 19. so next year i'll have to tell him :) yes, i get just as giddy and awestruck now as i did in 1994.
• i'd been brushing up on my French lately so that i could take a "second language evaluation" at work. i was very stressed about the 45 minute oral test. I took it 2 weeks ago, on a day i was really sick, and.... I got the marks i needed, yippee! so now I've been upgraded to a bilingual employee, which means a teensy bit more money, and hopefully more opportunities. way to go, me.
• i am in love with ataulfo mangos. they are sooooooo delicious and less than a buck each at superstore. yumyumyum!
• we finally had some nice weather and the weekend was beautiful! i sat outside in our backyard for the first time since moving in 6 months ago, drinking a beer and reading a book in the sunshine. so content!
• my 3 year old niece came for a sleepover and we had tons of fun doing arts & crafts and baking. plus, she is just too adorable when she's asleep. when she cuddled up to me and held my hand, i thought my heart was going to explode.

that's it for now. nothing over the top exciting, no jaw-dropping updates, just some simple things that make me smile.

procrastination paid off

finally, something good came of my hesitation and indecision!

a couple of months ago, our washing machine broke down. it had left oily black smears on our sheets during a couple of loads. when i looked inside the machine, i could see oily streaks had dripped out of some of the holes in the drum. we described the predicament to several people and got the same response: sounds like the transmission; you'll need a new machine.

that was a bummer, but not the end of the world. just go buy a new washer, easy peasy. until we measured our old machine and found that they no longer made washing machines in those dimensions. which also wouldn't be much of a problem in most cases. unfortunately for us, the laundry room had basically been built around those machines, and there wasn't a hair's width of space to spare! so then we began talking about knocking down a wall, except that would also involve trying to rearrange the piping. or we could find a top loading machine that could fit sideways into that spot. it would be awkward to do laundry, but doable.

we looked several times at washers. we even came very close to buying one, except i decided to be stubborn (blah blah, i wanted to wheel and deal but the salesman wouldn't knock off the $50 delivery charge, so i tried the walk away bluff... but just ended up walking away). the whole ordeal gave me a headache and i didn't want to deal with it. so we kept putting it off. we did laundry at the parents', and at my sister's, and at the laundromat. we kept saying "next weekend, we really have to buy a washer".

but then in telling my washer woes to the laundromat owner, he gave me hope. said it didn't sound like the transmission if there was no oil leaking beneath the washer. ANYHOO, we popped the front off the machine and didn't see anything suspicious. we did a test load with grungy towels we don't use. no oil. test run number two on the dish towels: also fine. ramp up the testing to underwear, socks, and gym clothes. CLEAN! so finally tonight i did real clothes. everything looks a-okay!!

We just saved ourselves several hundred bucks and a whole lot of hassle! so of course the moral of the story is: always put off til another day, because it may never have to get done at all.

such a valuable lesson.

shh.... i'm working

oops, keep forgetting to blog. maybe because i keep forgetting to do anything blogworthy. unless you count getting bingos in scrabble as blogworthy. nah, didn't think so. unfortunately that's as exciting as it gets these days.

lemme see, what non-happenings can i try to put a spin on? i'm doing some training at work right now and it involves piles of reading. if my eyeballs could pop out of my head and run away, they'd be long gone. anyway, that's way too boring to discuss any further.

the whole airbnb thing is still going, although slowing down now that it's winter. i'm still shocked at how many people we've had though. and i'm glad for a little respite, i sort of get tired of having people. it's a good excuse to clean the house though.

oh, BIG upset - pub quiz night has moved from tuesdays to wednesdays. I KNOW! it's wreaking havoc on our team. or what's left of our team. we've all had tuesdays blocked off as quiz night for a few years now, they can't just go and change it on us! yup, life is tough.

my brother just told me that the shoppers drug mart in our area wants to expand and take over a little vietnamese restaurant and movie village. nooooooo!!! i will be so sad if movie village goes. we've been members since it opened and have the coveted "free movie a day for life" membership! it would be the end of an era! i don't care about stupid video downloads, i still want movie village :(

anyhoo, suppose i better get back to this riveting training now.

so busy, forgot to title

just a quick note to say i'm still alive. i realize i haven't written much lately, it's just that my life is so darned exciting that i simply don't have the time to jot down all of my shenanigans and adventures. yes, that is the reason. *shifty eyes*

so here it comes: point form update.

• i no longer work at the call centre, i took a permanent position at one of the public offices. yay for change!
• hotel amanda has been quite successful! We've had 6 sets of guests, who have all left rave reviews (we have 5 stars on the website, oooh!), and another 2 bookings coming up. fun fun.
• i'm taking a film class at the university, just for the hell of it. made me realize that my school days were sooo long ago.
• my sister is having another baby!! but don't worry, i'll still love the first one.
• i spent all week reading a book on French grammar in preparation for my "second language evaluation" testing i have tomorrow. Bleck.
• major household disaster with ceiling leaking in bedroom and floor boards buckling due to water damage. luckily only in our room, no impact on our little business venture.
  and finally....
• going to thailand for 3 weeks in march - woohoo!! 

there ya go - all good 'n updated.