So it goes

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

On Deceit

I inadvertently found out a pretty important fact today about someone I used to know but have lost touch with lately. I had my doubts about this fact and indirectly asked them about it a while back but they did not respond to my question. (It's a little too easy to do that in emails sometimes and this person is the master of avoidance!)

Anyhow, I don't know if I should be mad at this person for not being honest with me or sad because they might not think I can handle the truth.

But in reality, you know, I don't think I really care. Which is pretty sad in itself considering how important this person used to be to me.

Such is life. You move on and evolve and some things or people don't have a place in your life anymore. Sad maybe, but true!

(And, yes, I am avoiding giving specific details to protect the identity of the guilty party!)

Top o'the mornin' to you!

We started celebrating last night with an evening at the curling club, drinking Kilkenny, Irish coffee (and Labatt 50, it has a green label!) and music courtesy of Salty Dog.

And today? Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Baby news!

You'll have to excuse me if I get overly emotional in this post, I've been up at 5 o'clock the past 2 mornings and at work for 6:30...

So the big news is Tim has become an uncle!

And since no one else has said it (or almost), well, I will - I have become an aunt!

I can assume that title, right? Hey, after all, for all intents and purposes, I figure if I hadn't been married before, Tim and I would probably have gotten hitched by now, so there, I'm an aunt!

Catherine and Eric's bundle of joy arrived on Tuesday afternoon. That's Uncle Tim there holding Vanessa Anne. She is absolutely adorable. No bias here whatsoever! But what else would you expect from such great parents?!

It was well worth being stuck in traffic for a good hour and a half to get to the South Shore to go visit them at the hospital last night. Anyhow, my bad for leaving the West Island at 5 o'clock on a foggy and rainy evening.

Today's traffic escapade was only about 15 minutes long on the 40 just before Decarie to about Rockland. Yes, I do usually use public transportation to and fro work but I can't get to work for 6:30 by bus so Tim has been good enough to let me use the car and he gets my bus pass in exchange.

But I did go pick him up at work on both days. And today I took a side trip to L'Équipeur to see if they had the boots I wanted. And can you believe it, lo and behold, they did. In my size. And they fit. And they were regular $79.99, reduced to $39.99, further reduced to $29.99, less our 20% discount family card (Tim's cousin used to work there), less $10 on a purchase of $50 or more (I also bought socks, lots of socks!) So a true score!

What a week!

Boots, socks AND a niece! :P

Good Intentions

What better way to spend a snowy Friday evening but to meet up with your significant other and a few of his old co-workers for a "6 à 8."
On my way to McCarold's on Côte-des-Neiges, I figured 1/2 a pint would be my intake for the evening. Didn't happen.
Here's the catch...I ordered a Chouffe.
La Chouffe is an 8% blond, not so much a problem.
But little did I know that La Chouffe comes in 750 ml bottles.

Tee hee hee, and we had a pleasant evening!

Not as pleasant, I'm sure, as Steve who had at least 5 Maudites and a mistakenly ordered scotch which we didn't quite catch the name of but tasted like very bad disinfectant.

The pub is kewl and easily accessible by Metro. We will have to make a return trip there soon.

This, that and the other

Well, I seem to have been too busy to bother blogging lately. Busy with what? Nothing special, more or less just the regular routine.

Last Saturday we had a little outing to Ottawa. Steph & Olaf organized it to celebrate Steph's birthday which was the previous week. (Tim & I had also celebrated with them on the day of by having them over for pizza from Andalo's and then going to see Volver at the AMC.)

So a gang of us met up for lunch at the Royal Thai on Dalhousie and stuffed ourselves silly, as usual. I had the chicken pad thai, which was really yummy.

Then we eventually all made our way to Dow's Lake and skated for a good hour and a half. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time although not everyone was at the same level of ability.




Five of the gang of 11




After skating we all parted ways. Ysabel, Tim and I headed back to the Byward Market area and had a beer and dinner at The Olde Dubliner.

Sunday was supposed to be a productive day (no, the kitchen is not finished yet!)
but we got up late and then did a few messages on the Shore. By the time we had done groceries and headed home for lunch, I think it was almost 4 o'clock! We had a late-ish supper of really tender steaks and homemade baked fries which I got to enjoy all over again with leftovers at lunch on Monday!

I am Easy Rider

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I am Abraham Lincoln

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Today's interesting encounter

On the way home on this more than frigid evening, I encountered the nutjob of the week award winner. Said dude was wearing a warm looking hat with ear-flaps à la Elmer Fudd, a parka (not zipped up, mind you), SHORTS and BIRKENSTOCKS WITH NO SOCKS! I have nothing more to say...

Latest change

Oh boy, it's been already a week and I haven't shared...I got my hair cut! Woohoo! It just got too annoying. I had it tied up all the time to stay in the hairnet at work but then I had to have it down to fit my hat on my head to go outside and it would get half untucked out of my coat and I'd get hot in the metro with it on my neck. So it was time to get it chopped! Sorry, no pictures, you'll have to see it in person! It's about the same style I had three years ago, just above shoulder length. Nothing exciting.

I had the pleasure, as I will again this week, of starting work at 6:30 2 mornings last week as one of my co-workers is on vacation. So I got to drive in as I can't get there on time by bus at that hour. Too early! The upside of starting at that hour is I get to finish at 2:30. Or I'm supposed to anyhow. On Thursday it was just too busy so I ended up staying til 3:45. Needless to say I was asleep in front of the tv even before 8 o'clock rang!

I got closer to 50 blood donations this week too. That might have also contributed to my lack of energy. Although I did make it to the gym 3 times during the week.

I've been reading Nora Roberts' Key Trilogy as my public transit divertissement. Decent mindless reading, but man, I can really do without the smutty love parts. I actually skip the pages with those scenes. It's worse than Harlequin romances! Not that I've read any, but, like, totally gag me! I guess desperate housewives have to get it somewhere!

ALL THE BEST FOR 2007!

I count myself to be very lucky, this was the first year ever I've had to work between Christmas and New Year's. And it was pretty busy at work. Luckily on Friday we were allowed to leave by 2 o'clock and I did not have to do the usual Friday inspection. Normally on Fridays they stop production before lunch and then they spend the afternoon hosing down the production and packaging departments after which I have to make sure everything was cleaned properly. Since we only had 3 days of work last week, they forwent the big cleaning.
Tim left the office early, his last day at Montrusco, and came to get me at work. As of Wednesday, he'll still be working for his present employer, ConnecTalk but will no longer be permanently at the same client's office (which was Montrusco.) So he will now be driving to work in Ville St-Laurent instead of walking to the office downtown.
We then did some shopping for the weekend and dropped in at Tim's mom's.

This year we decided to do something different for New Year's as it would be falling on the weekend and various people would be away or unsure if they could make it to a dinner party due to pregnancies and other excuses!
So an ever-shrinking group of us, which was the perfect number in the end as no one had to sleep on the floor, ended up at my parents' cottage in New York state.
Ysabel also backed out on coming so Tim, Maya and I headed down early on Saturday morning in the blowing snow and made it to Mountain View by 11:30 or so after picking up some more groceries in Malone. It's such a pain to not be able to bring meat or fruit across the border. Luckily our dollar isn't at such a bad exchange rate these days.
We went out for a walk in the afternoon and showed Maya the hood and at some point Tim checked his phone and we had a message from Stephanie that Olaf was under the weather so they would only be showing up on Sunday. AAAAaaaaah! They were supposed to be bringing chocolate for fondue for Saturday evening's dessert! So I made the chocolate cake I had planned for Murielle's birthday (on the 1st) instead. Chocolate in any form is always a must!

Murielle & Paul showed up at suppertime and we had fajitas followed by watching Batman Begins. We had brought our projector and screen for the full movie experience.
Steph & Olaf showed up on a beautiful Sunday morning and we spent the afternoon walking in the woods towards "High Falls". As always, go to Tim's site for all the photos but here are a few for now...

Post-Christmas post

Note to self, when you have a instinctive feeling about something, give in to it...upon choosing which bottle of alcohol I was going to bring to a party on Saturady evening, I debated whether or not a bottle of Désirable was still good after being open for 2 years. Well, their webiste says 6 months to a year. And my stomach agreed. So, at 3:30 or so in the morning, my stomach let me know that said bottle of liqueur should have been dumped. I was pretty much out of commission on Sunday. Luckily we had nowhere to go and were not expecting any guests in our home. I was feeling well enough on Christmas day that I was able to eat a normal helping of turkey with all the trimmings at Tim's family celebration at his mom's but only managed one meal yesterday when my family came over and am still a bit queasy today. Not good when your job involves taste-testing!

Anyhow, other than that I had a very good Christmas, surrounded by loved ones. And I was spoiled as usual. Among other things, I got two very beautiful fresh water pearl necklaces, earrings, a belt, gift certificates and a food processor. (which has yet to arrive, I can't wait til it does!)
Today's return to work was made less brutal by getting up at 6:15 & driving in. No traffic today, that's for sure.

Christmas mysteries

How is it that we've already managed to end up with pine needles in our bathroom when all we did was bring our Christmas tree home today and put it on the back porch?!

Shopping is almost all done, yay!

I got most of my Christmas shopping done this weekend as Tim was away in Quebec City for another curling weekend. And I even wrapped everything. I also got a great idea from Catherine was to what to get my parents.

We finally got the front part of our roof done today. I now don't have to worry that I will wake up to our bedroom ceiling falling down on us anytime soon. I also take great solace in the fact that our neighbour's roof is in much worse shape than ours was...
THEIR ROOF

OUR ROOF

Totally Un-PC

Are all metro buskers mentally ill or what?! I made the mistake of walking through the tunnel from Atwater metro to Westmount Square again this evening. And he was there, the "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" dude. He plays this same damn tune over and over and over and over and, well you get my point. And he strums this little blue guitar. I can't even tell what language he's singing in, but I'll give him credit that the song is actually recognizable. I came this close (I'll let you decide how close it actually was) to asking him if that is the only song he ever plays. It's certainly the only song I've ever heard him play! And then it just gets stuck in my head. And why don't even ask me why I know this song! And he looks like Henry from the comics would like if he were a real person and in his 60's! Next time I think I will just grab his guitar and smash it to bits. Dare me?!
Rant over.

Crazy beginning to the weekend

Friday of all days, with freezing rain pouring down and gale force winds blowing, my 4:23 bus either showed up way early or not at all. Which meant I had to stand out there shivering and cursing for about 25 minutes. By the time the next bus showed, the back of my pant legs were sopping wet, my skin was stinging and my umbrella had literally exploded into pieces.

Then as I got home and turned the corner at the top of our street, this is what greeted me...



courtesy of Tim Colby [tcmp.net]

Apparently it made quite a noise and shook the house when it came down! Our neighbour Karina's car had its back end damaged.

So that was Friday night's excitement.

Last night was my work Christmas party at Terra Mare on Sources Blvd. The food was pretty good and all the employees got a door prize and a Loblaws gift certificate. And spouses were invited, all paid for. Not a bad time of year to have started working!

And I spent most of today cooking up what I had begun yesterday: tourtières, apple pie, chili & spaghetti sauce. Now we have to decide which one we're going to have for supper. It all smells so good!

Self portrait

Well, it's already been almost six weeks that I've been working now. And only one person (Stéphanie) has noticed or mentioned the fact that I no longer have my supercilium accessory. 10 points to Gryffindor on her behalf! The rest of you, you are so unobservant!

Regular paycheques

I get paid weekly so I've already got 2 paycheques which is mighty nice. I was trying to decide what I could splurge on after getting paid and figured one can't go wrong with shoes. So I ordered these online...and made Tim very jealous!

Keen Sonomas

My parents have a cottage in upper New York state so it makes it very convenient to ship things there when ordering online from American companies. And luckily my shoes arrived at the post office on the day my dad was heading back up to Montreal.
And luckily they are the right size. So no need to use the free return shipping.

This week's purchase was a few CDs. Feeling nostalgic for the 80's, I bought U2's The Unforgettable Fire, October and Boy along with The Police's Greatest Hits and The Pogues.

Next week I will be good and stick to groceries as my exciting purchase of the week!

Banana muffins à la Christine

Sometimes I get creative when I cook, even when baking.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (low-fat brownies that call for prune puree should not be instead made with tamarind!)

So here's this evening's variation on banana muffins...

3 large ripe bananas = 1 banana + 2/3 cup leftover pumpkin pie filling
1 egg = 1 egg
1 1/2 cups of flour = 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1/2 cup of Sugar Crisp cereal
3/4 cup sugar = completely omitted
1 tsp baking soda = same
1 tsp baking powder = same
3/4 tsp salt = same
1/3 cup butter melted = same
And I added about 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins.

Then I baked at 350 F for 25 minutes and they're not half bad. Maybe just a little salty. I didn't exactly measure out the salt precisely.

The Sugar Crisps were left here by Hang and there's no way I would eat them for breakfast but as I hate throwing food out, I thought I'd give it a try and it worked. Mini wheat crumbs also work well and give your muffins a nice crunch factor!

Work week 3 already!

I'm still going in to work for 7:30, trying to bank some hours to cover the time off I'll be taking in a couple of weeks.
One of my co-workers is on vacation this week so it's pretty busy all day. We have to try and schedule our breaks to coincide with the guys downstairs but it doesn't always work out. It's funny, come 4 o'clock, it seems like pretty much everyone has left the building. Production and packaging finish at 3:30 and the office staff must quit at 4, not a minute more, it seems, as there are no cars left in the parking lot when I make my way out to catch the 4:23 bus.

At one point yesterday, I was testing 6 samples at the same time, phewf! I have a system worked out now so it goes pretty smoothly. Though when you're doing 2 or 3 or 4 things at once and one of involves a sauce that needs to be cooked, you have to make sure you don't forget it there on the stove as it boils away!
When we're 3 people in the lab there's usually someone there to back you up when things get more hectic.

Next week should be pretty busy again as we have a production starting for a product that is exported to Japan. It sounds like that keeps one person busy for the duration. Fun, fun, fun!