First Off....

Merry Christmas!

This is what it looks like on my way to work lately:

I just like that image and thought I would share it with you all.

I started my holidays yesterday. It was 14h17 to be exact. I should have started them at noon, but I wanted to finish a project. It wouldn't make any sense to me when I returned. I don't have a lot planned for my holidays other than the major trip to my parents for Christmas.

So far though, I've enjoyed some nice wines:

Has some nice shoes on the label. How could I resist?

Today is going to be domestic day. I'm all ready.
I have on my domestic cleaning clothes:


I love this sweat shirt:


I have my giant coffee mug:


My laundry is all sorted:

Just have to wait for the elevator to come off service. I hate lugging laundry down five flights. I always lose something. Usually it's the most embarrassing thing I own.

My iPod is getting charged so I can reload some tunes on it:


Yarn to sort through:

Somewhere in that mess is some yarn for a few baby sweaters.

I have my partners in crime all pumped for action:


I think today will be a good day!

No Knitting :(

I think because my work space at work is not really ergonomically designed, I jacked up my shoulder. This is not a pleasant experience. I didn't even think I sat still long enough for my body to realize we were not supporting a correct posture. Oh well. Lesson learned. Tomorrow, I will carefully set up my desk to avoid this type of discomfort in the future. At the start of the work week, I feel normal. The more correct phrase is I feel very well, no discomfort. As the week progresses, I accumulate more stress and tension and then I notice my shoulder getting very tight. It almost feels like it used to during halftime when I played basketball in school. When Friday blessedly arrives, my shoulder is seized and I have to bribe it to make it through the day. After two weeks, I finally decided, something may not be right. What can I say, I'm a slow learner. At night, in the comfort of my home, watching television, I start to knit on one of the many projects I have on the go. The the shoulder wakes up and shouts stop. Like I said, I'm slow boat at times. So reluctantly, I'm on a knitting-free holiday. I never realized how difficult it was to just sit and watch television. I always have something in my hands to work on while the program plays out. It feels very abnormal. I don't really like this feeling. I have to be careful of the video games I select. I get right into some of them. They are so real it's unbelievable. My shoulders get all tense. I hold my breath. It's probably not very healthy. So, I will give it a rest for a week and see what happens. In the mean time, I'm surfing the net and trying to find some very different baby sweaters for when I'm back in full force. A lot of our associates seem to be expecting. I wonder if it has to the poor Leaf's season us Toronto fans are suffering through.
Enjoy the rest of the week end everyone. Only a few days left to prepare for Christmas Day.

Batty

Is finished.............

Welcome to Canada Eh :)

On my very interesting drive into work this morning, I have to question where their head is located. I live in a wonderful country. We experience two seasons, Winter and Construction. There might be some Autumn in the mix, but sometimes it passes by too quickly. Now that we are in the winter season, perhaps we should all band together and get on the same page. We all have different driving styles, some are professional, some are NASCAR wannabes, some are Sunday drivers, et cetera, et cetera. We should all be driving safely. There should be no argument with this safety. Not only are you driving for yourself and whoever your passengers may be, you should also take into account you are not the only ones on the road. Here are a few of my winter driving tips:

1. Washer fluid. Make sure you have some. Under the hood of your vehicle, there is a container specially designed to house this fluid. It comes in handy when someone passes you and sprays debris and snow onto your vehicle.

2. Wiper blades. Very good to have. Make sure they remove as much water from your windshield as possible. You do not need the extra challenge.

3. Windows. They have a purpose. They are meant to give you a view to the outside world. Before you leave your parking location, clear them. You should be able to see outside of all of them. Don't just use your debit card to clear off a little spy hole. Go big! Clear off the whole thing.

4. Snow removal. Clear all the snow off of your vehicle. Yes, the roof as well. For those of us vertically challenged, you can open your door, step onto the step and reach further along the roof. I do this after I get most of the snow cleared away. It works well for me. I only suggest this if are strong enough to support yourself.

5. Four wheel drive. Not all that great if you don't know how to operate them. There is that old adage, it's not the machine but the operator. Just because you have four wheel drive, it does not mean you can drive as you do during our Autumn or Spring month. I'm not sure about the Summer month. I'm always waiting for the friendly person to switch the sign so I may proceed slowly with caution. Four wheels will lose traction just as efficiently as rear or front wheel drive. You still must drive for the conditions of the road.

6. Reduce your speed. I cannot say this enough. If the old K car in front of you is doing a mere 30km/hr, there is a reason. I cannot tell you how many vehicles flew by me this morning, and then shortly up ahead were shiny side down. I don't know about you kind folks but I would rather arrive in one piece than in a bag on someone's table.

7. Space. I have a huge personal space bubble on a good day. It gets obscenely more in lousy weather conditions. When you think about braking, only a very small portion of your tire is making contact with the pavement (ice). The last thing you want to do is rely on that minute space when you apply your brakes. The more room you have in front of you, the more chances you have to react if you see someone ahead doing something irresponsible. Makes sense does it not?

8. Braking. This is not the only option you have to slow down your vehicle. You have all those other gears at your disposal. If you apply your brakes and they do not react, slip down a gear so your vehicle will start slow to a speed you can control. Neutral is also a good gear to become acquainted with. Do not hit your brakes hard or quickly when you start to slide. You many end up one of those unfortunate shiny side down people. If you refer to point 5, you probably will not have to worry about this point as much.

There are so many other points that I could go into, but these were the main ones I saw on my way into work today. The only thing i really want to stress is to be careful. You may not realize it, but you mean the world to someone. They will be absolutely miserable if you do something stupid that shortens your time here with us.

I've lectured enough for tonight. I'm going to put my soap box and work on my mittens. There is not much left to do with them. I plan to finish them tonight. If I do, I will be sure to post the pictures.
Have a good night everyone. Stay warm and safe.

My That Went By Quick

It is Sunday already. My week end just flew by. At least I have something to show for the quickness :)
My Gone Batty Mittens:


I also completed my Mauresque socks:

These are not my favourite pair, but I did enjoy some aspects of their creation. I like that part where you wrap the yarn around 5 stitches. I am not sure what it is called, but I do like the effect.

I also watched a lot of movies. I finally watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That is a great movie. I like that concept. What would it be like if our growth was reversed and we became younger as time moved on. I also watched Passchendale. I was a bit surprised by this one. It did not center on the war, but rather a love story that took place around that time. The war was a big part of the plot, but main story was very interesting to watch.

Well, tomorrow is another work day. I hope you all had a great week end.
Good night :)

I'm in a Better Frame of Mind

I am in a much better frame of mind. It all started with a little dinner at Denny's. There we were, sipping on our drinks and waiting for our hash browns when we heard this weird heavy breathing sound. Now, my mother always told me never to stare or point. So we continued to drink our drinks quietly and think the best route to take to peak around to see where the noise was coming from. We needn't of worried about making a spectacle of ourselves. I gave up on subtlety and quickly glanced over my shoulder. There to my surprise is an older couple........sleeping........in a restaurant! Move over People of Walmart for the People of Denny's. The older gentleman had fallen asleep reading the newspaper. His lovely wife had fallen asleep using her bewbs as a pillow. I dare you try that. I can rarely fall asleep if I'm not in my own bed, with my pillow, on my side; never mind the sleeping in public bit. I still am unsure how she managed that position. She did look really comfortable. I finally figured out the snoring noise was coming from her. She was suffocating herself in her chest. I felt sorry for the server. How do place the bill on the table? You might startle them. Then you have a whole new set of problems on hand.
Since we went out for supper, we didn't have left overs for my lunch. So, I thought I was being clever and bought a salad from the grocery section of the Walmart. It looked really nice. All the colours, crisp greens, bright red tomatoes. I was all excited about my lunch. So the next day, around lunch time, OK more like 10h30. I'm on the phone with a board member and I thought I would prep my salad. Tricky little lid. It said pop tab to open. OK. I can do that. OMG! It sounded like a shot. You could tell the neighbourhood I grew up in wasn't the friendliest. I sort of ducked down a bit. The smell thought. For the love of Pete. It was deadly. I thought the guys in the shop were doing some weird motor experiments again. Or maybe someone sadly ended the life of a skunk and the odour was clinging to their car. Finally, my blondness subsided and I realized it was my salad. I was quite embarrassed. I quickly dumped the remains in the trash can. Wasn't very effective. That odour was persistent. I doubled bagged it. Still not good enough. Finally, i found my little can glade odour hiding stuff. I emptied that little canister. Now we have a stinky office with a faint scent of mountain mist. Nope. Still pretty gross. Triple bagging that sucker now. OMG. It was too powerful. I had to travel outside with that bomb and toss it into the dumpster. I just hope animal control or environment Canada doesn't call. I don't really want to be responsible for some nuclear disaster.
Well now that I have provided you all some details about my dining experiences, I am going to retire to the living room for the new episode of Fringe.
Good night everyone. :D

Rough Day

I didn't really have a good day today. I went to the funeral of someone who is very special to me. I found out on Monday that the gentleman had passed away that morning. I'm very close to his wife. She is very much a mom to me. Brian and I both think the world of this couple. They were married for 50 years. We attended their anniversary party not too long ago. The same people at that party were at this funeral.
The pastor today said it wonderfully. They were best friends and soul mates. That was definitely the case with this wonderful couple. There are very few people in this world who find their best friend. I'm still not doing very well. All I can think about is that she is in the house with the dog and the cat. His belongings are still there. She says she feels numb. That sounds like a good way to be until you can deal with your grief when you are ready. You know what I really don't understand? When people say be strong. Why? Why do you need to be strong. Why can't you be however you feel. I suppose it is because they really don't know what to say. I also really hate hearing, I know how you feel. I strongly doubt that. Even if you too have sadly lost your soul mate, that is your grief. That is a feeling only you can feel. You have no business telling anyone you know how they feel.
I don't really feel like saying much else.
Night everyone.