I Didn't Even Have to be on the Airplane

On Saturday night, (round midnight or so) I had the privilege of picking up Drew and Dani (and their friends) from the Vancouver Airport. I had a cooler filled with bottled waters, apples, bananas, and Purdy's chocolates waiting for them in the truck.

I handed it to Drew who opened it up, looked inside and said, "Ugh. I just can't."

Everyone else COULD, so that made me feel like less of a loser.

Besides that, I love picking up people from airports. I get to hear all about their trips while it's still fresh. I get to smell that second-hand airplane air on their clothes. I get to wonder when my next trip will be...

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Celebrated with some friends on Sunday... July birthdays!
Dinner and a movie:

A blonde, a redhead, a brunette and a gray (single, divorced, widowed and married) (DIVERSITY!) (judge, hotel chain owner, restaurant-chef and and well, I don't know what Diane Keaton did for a job) are best friends and have a book club. A book club with just the four of them in it. (A book club totally unlike the one I'm a part of.)

They read the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and all decided they need more sex in their lives.

Yup.

I personally am looking for role models (real or imagined) who are one generation ahead of me.
Maybe I'm not aiming high enough, but sadly, this movie's characters (with their powerhouse jobs and extremely thin bodies) were not inspiring, nor realistic to me.

It's good for laughs, but not life lessons.
Haha, OH? You don't go to the movies for life lessons?
My bad.
Carry on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a poor sleep (involving some wild dreams) and woke up on Monday feeling lousy.
So I took some Advil, let my office know I'd be in later, and went back to bed.

I eventually made it to work, but was definitely operating at less than 100%.

I bought some groceries on my way home, made myself a decent vegetable-laden dinner then passed out around 10.

And woke up  on Tuesday feeling achy all over.

Let my office know I'd be in at noon (to take photos of our first staff BBQ of the summer) and I slept all morning.

Managed to get to work in time to take a few pics

That last pic?
Of watermelon?
Is haunting me right now. (Midnight on Wednesday.)

(Because that's EXACTLY what I'm craving.)

ANYWAY,  I managed to work a couple more hours, but packed it in at 3:30.
Was asleep in bed by 4.
Woke up at 9 and checked some work emails.
Back to sleep til midnight, woke up, had my leftovers from Monday night, realized that was a mistake, so sat up cradling my tummy while it sorted out that meal out, watching 6 episodes of New Girl on Netflix.

I didn't bother setting my alarm, so I woke up today, Wednesday, at noon, with many work emails wondering where I was.

I indicated I'd be online for the rest of the afternoon, then promptly fell back asleep until 5.
Craziest thing ever.
Like, am I sick?
Or have all the late nights caught up with me?
Or do I have old-age-itis?
Or cancer?

My mom was wondering where I'd picked up a bug. She hasn't heard of anyone else being sick...
And I thought, "I feel like I did when I came back from Japan. I picked up something on that flight and was the only sick person in Western Canada last fall."

While chatting online with the kids tonight, I mentioned I'd been feeling crappy, and when Drew said, "I've been sick too" IT ALL MADE SENSE. I caught it from him on the drive home from the airport. It only takes a spark.

Anyway, if I've cancelled an evening with you this week, it's because I've been sleeping. Or holding my aching body. Or learning about life and love from Nick, Schmidt, Winston, Jess and Cece.

If I don't get a husband to nurse me through old age, I've decided I'll need the following items within reach of my bed:

1. A microwave to heat up magic bags.
2. An icemaker. I know, its the least good way to drink water, but I like it cold.
3. A tiny fridge filled with watermelon slices.


Three things I'm thankful for:

1. A bedroom in a cool, unheated, dark basement.
2. I'm not a surgeon. If I miss a day's work, no one's life is at stake.
3. I have three Pokemon friends who've sent me gifts.


Shalom friends,
xo

Musings

So. I started this blog post in early November. Each entry is a few days after the previous one. I haven't published this post because it feels dark and dreary and whiny.

Decided to post it tonight because this is how I cope. Daylight Savings sucks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm watching I Saw The Light on Netflix and it's depressing the heck out of me.

It's the Hank Williams story. (And with Hank Williams being my dad's favorite singer, I am very familiar with the soundtrack to this movie. "Hey hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin...")

Watching a marriage disintegrate is depressing.
Witnessing a man slowly lose his life due to alcohol and drug abuse is heartbreaking.

Why am I still watching? It's November for goodness sake. I need to be thinking bright and happy thoughts. This is dumb.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a little bit alot frustrated with the internet connections in my life.
At my mom's, it just shuts down every 30 - 40 minutes.
And at the lake, its slow. Like, really slow. It took 2 minutes to open this page so that I could write this sentence.

I totally realize this is a first world problem, so I should just suck it up buttercup.
BUT the other part of me wonders about being a good steward of my time and money. And if an internet connection is being paid for, surely we should expect decent/reliable/normal service?

Waa waa waa.
Definitely a whiner tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of you (actually every single one of you who knows me in real life) have been wondering about my housing situation. And the question, "are you still looking for a house?" is the first thing I am asked. Repeatedly. Daily.

Yes.
Yes, I am still looking for a house.
Yes, I must be the pickiest purchaser ever in the history of the world.
No, other than the one I put an offer on in September, I haven't found one yet.
Yes, I am sad and feeling a little desperate about it all.

Yes, I am praying about it.

Yes, there's probably a lesson in this for me, and by the time I get into a house I will be so full of godly character you're gonna wanna barf.


In the meantime, my mom offered my basement set up to Drew and Danica. So Drew moved out of his rental (where he'd been with a buddy for two years) and on Oct 1 (two weeks before the wedding) he moved into the basement, and I moved two floors up into a bedroom on the top floor, sharing a bathroom with my mom.

(Originally this room housed a wooden doll collection as well as an assortment of peach satin and lace accessories. Those were moved into my dad's old room. Then I rearranged the furniture so that I could watch Netflix on Drew's TV from the sleigh bed with the 25 yr old single mattress. Hahaha. I sink 10 inches when I get into it.)
NO, I am not buying a new bed for this room.
I am buying a house.
This is temporary.
And fine.

The night I took possession of this room.

What it looks like now.

Yes, you are correct.

There is no real furniture in this room.

My clothes are in piles around the room. 

My laptop is on a table, with desk-like things in the a pile underneath. 

My bathroom things are in a pile in the closet. 

This is temporary.

You will notice the lack of window coverings. So this is the opposite of the windowless basement I was staying in for three years. This room, is bright. 

My view during the day is lovely. I have one window that faces north, two that face west and one that faces south. 

It's November 16 today.

This month? I've read the Facebook updates of friends who've been vacationing in Hawaii, Palm Springs, San Diego, Los Angeles, Disneyland, Florida and Mexico. 

I will admit there are evenings when I feel sorry for myself. Like an entitled millennial who wishes she had one more week of vacation time left, plus the cash to finance a week of sunshine. 

So I've kept myself busy doing rainy day activities... like going to the movies:

And watching Netflix:

And I've read a few books:

Hahaha.

Am I wasting my life?

Or do I have the best November Coping Skills ever?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Drew and Danica have been offered a House Sitting opportunity for three months. They'll be moving this weekend. I am Thrilled for them. 

2. Another read-a-thon at the lake this weekend. I love having friends who read. I am grateful we have a cozy place to retreat to. I am so thankful that my weekend companions like to bake buns and make soups and stews. 

3. I am thankful for a cousin who invites me over for mashed potato pizza and peanut butter balls. And a sister who cuts my hair. And a daughter-in-law who is like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. 

Hoping you are surviving this month. 

Shalom,

xo

Plan B

It was our staff Christmas Dinner on Thursday night. I missed/skipped it the first two years for reasons.

But last year I went, because I was prepared. I asked a friend if I could sit at her table. And it was OK even when we got to that part where we all stood and held hands while singing Silent Night.

So this year I planned on doing the same.
I asked.
She said yes.
It was going to be fine.

And then.
The day before?
She told me it wasn't going to work... she'd been assigned a table to host and there wasn't room for me.

Blimey.

Most folks had organized their tables by now. I'd been overhearing conversations all week about saving spots and organizing who'd sit where, etc.

Grrrr. Bad enough I walk into these things by myself, now I was going to have to do the 'excuse me, is this seat taken? schtick'. Of course, if you're an extrovert, an evening that starts like that is just exciting. So many people to get to know. So many opportunities to meet someone new. So much fun just waiting to happen.

Our board of directors and their wives, plus all out of town/across Canada employees and guests would be there. First time in a hundred years the whole gang would be in town. Sigh, there would be so many strangers in the room.

The day before the dinner, it was suggested to me that I call A.M. Apparently her husband doesn't usually accompany her, and she might have a spot at her table...

So I gave her a call.
Yes! She was going. Yes! There'd be room at her table! Yes, her husband was coming! Yes, she was glad I called because someone from out of town was coming and needed to be picked up from the hotel, this was perfect, because I could do that, yes? And I could sit with her, yes? And take her back to the hotel, later, yes?

I had also been asked to take photos during the evening, most especially to capture all the service award handshake and hugs. So in addition to sitting at a table filled 90% with people I'd never met before, I was to take photos from the centre of the room, while the awards were being handed out.


Obviously, because I'm blogging about it, I survived.

No one I sat with works in our building. And for the record, I suck at taking posed, formal photos.

But I had fun, and people were OK, about me capturing them at their tables. So there's that. And in the end, I got to know a few more people who work outside of our office. This business of being stretched outside your comfort zone, just never ends, does it?

In case you're wondering who I work with, here is a small sampling of the photos I took:













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Three things I'm Three Three things I am thankful for:

1. I work for a great organization. Minutes after we finished dinner, our President received a call that his mom was having a massive seizure. He and his wife left to rush to the hospital, and the rest of us all prayed for them at our tables. So glad we were able to respond in a meaningful way.

2. Thankful for the people I work alongside. So very passionate about the challenges and opportunities they have. Inspiring.

3. I didn't have anything fancy to wear, nor do I own an appropriate pair of shoes, so I went barelegged, in boots, with an old dress and older sweater on. But holy hannah I had good hair. So thankful I made an appointment to have Danica work her magic on my head.

Shalom,
xo