Tortured cats, the saga continues

See how tortured they look? Look at those big pleading eyes, saying "PLEASE FREE US".















Those blue dots show how many nail holes there were in a very short distance. In fact each nail numbered there, is about 1-2 inches apart. Like were they really THAT afraid that someone was going to steal the baseboard? Also see what I mean about the fact the wall looked like it was used for target practice? This is one kitchen wall. Below is a bathroom wall that looks similar.




Lynx did not escape the Raindeer antlers. Does he not look impressed :P

I'm torturing my cats....

So because I've been working on my kitchen I've been keeping the cats in the basement. There's 3 rooms down there, several chairs, couches etc. but for some reason my old bitchy 16 year old cat, Motley and my daughters cat, Lynx, must at least several times an hour, stand at the door and mieow like I was torturing them and causing them undue hardship by leaving them downstairs.

I mean there's a cat litter, food, water, toys..[and this is always in the basement...] so.. like WTF? I mean it's like they haven't figured out yet, it's MY house. And if I wanted to, I could confine them to the basement for the rest of their natural lives and no one would consider that a hardship in any shape or form. I mean even when there are people in the basement, fact I'm working in the kitchen they sit and stare and mieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeow.......

I sorta get Lynx. He's new to the house. THe other cats still give him dirty looks...

Earlier today, I noticed Lynx was lying on the 7th step and Motley was also on the 7th step at the other end hissing at him. Like what? The stairs aren't big enough for the both of you? Suck it up! Besides she's been hissing at all the other cats today. Since she's the only female, I know they're all saying "Oh geeze, is she PMSing AGAIN?"

Target Practice.

For an eloquent way to hear about my views on the holidays click here. He pretty much sums it.

The last of the wallpaper came down yesterday in the late PM, and early today I've painted the ceiling. Just finished doing the trim.

Eldest walked into the bathroom today and said "What they did use this room for? Target practice?". I'm not the only one who thinks the sheer quantity of holes in the wall is a bit much.

ok. Me bed. I'm so tired, I'm just sitting here staring into space....

Boxing day specials

My mom used to call those "Les ventes arraches boutons", the boxing day specials. I always loved the way that sounded. "Button pulling sales!". Well I rarely have the patience for boxing day crowds. So I stayed well away from Fairview shopping center.

I was contemplating going to Home Depot but when I looked at where the nearest ones were, I decided non were near enough, and figured I'd go to Rona warehouse instead. I was going to pick up some paint rollers, sand paper, and look at the curtains. See if I can find some pre-made that would match my new wallpaper borders. I don't really want to make curtains.. but it would be really easy for me to make them myself to replace the old kitchen ones. I guess what I hate the most making curtains, is not sewing them, that's easy. It's taking all the damn measurements. :P

In the end just as I was leaving for Rona l'entrepot at Cote Vertu, eldest daughter happened to come home. So I told her I could easily be convinced to go to Ikea. I love shopping at Ikea. I was impressed with myself. I managed to leave with only $50 worth of stuff, mostly candles [hey 50 white candles for $7.00 who can beat that?], and more candle holders. Also 2 picture frames. Hey they were reduced to almost nothing.. We did go to Rona, I did find my rollers and sandpaper.. Neither store had curtains anything remotely what I was looking for. *sigh*

I've been finding holes under the wallpaper. Apparently the bathroom fixture was changed by the same owners who put the wallpaper, but they never fixed the hole, just covered it with wall paper and were lucky in the 6 + years no one happened to poke it and go right through wallpaper. Also realized tonight that there had been other wallpaper in the kitchen. Really ugly wallpaper. Found out as well, that the kitchen had been painted a bright custard yellow, and also a baby green.

[And apparently custard yellow is hard to read on this background...]

Latke's and Kitchen fires....

I just made a batch of mashed potato latkes that were out of this world. IMHO they were the best batch of mashed potato latke's I've ever made. However, I guess one day I'll have to make the mashed and the grated kind both together and see which ones are favored. I used to get rave reviews for my pan fried grated potato latke's.

One day I'll have grand-children and they will say their granny makes the best latke's ever :) My grandma, much like myself did not like cooking and she did the least possible. About the only thing that I liked that she actually made from scratch were her donuts. [As an adult I used to make donuts for my grandpa in memory of grandma's] Sadly whole wheat donuts just aren't satisfying. So no more donut making for me. Besides donuts imply deep frying and every time there has been a kitchen fire, it's always been because someone is deep frying. I think I've been traumatized. I rarely ever deep fry anything out of the fear of putting my kitchen on fire. Yet [knocking on wood], I've never had a kitchen fire. So maybe my trauma is a good thing. :)

On that thought, I'm going to go strip some more wallpaper. I'm halfway done the kitchen now.. and I've filled all the holes in the bathroom wall. It's ready for paint...

What I got....

My mood today can best be described by this Sublime song :

What I got.

Early in the mornin'
Risin' to the street
Light me up that cigarette and I'll strap shoes on my feet
Got to find a reason
Reason things went wrong
Got to find a reason why my money's all gone
I got a dalmation
I can still get high
I can play the guitar like a motherfuckin' riot

Well life is too short so love the one you got
Cause you might get run over or you might get shot
Never start no static I just get it off my chest
Never had to battle with my bulletproof vest
Take a small example, take a tip from me
Take all of your money, give it up to charity
Life is what I got it's within my reach, and
The sublime style still straight from Long Beach
It all comes back to you, you bound to get what you deserve
Try and test that, you're bound to get served
Love's what I got, don't start a riot
You'll feel it when the dance gets hot

Lovin' is what I got, I said remember that
Lovin' is what I got, now remember that
Lovin' is what I got, I said remember that
Lovin' is what I got, I got, I got, I got

I don't cry when my dog runs away
I don't get angry at the bills I have to pay
I don't get angry when my mom smokes pot
Hits the bottle then goes back to the rock
Fuckin, fightin', it's all the same
Livin' with Louie dog's the only way to stay sane
Let the lovin', let the lovin' come back to me

Cause lovin' is what I got, I said remember that
Lovin' is what I got, And remember that
Lovin' is what I got, I said remember that
Lovin' is what I got, I got, I got I got

Sublime.

Much ado about nothing

I'm always super moody at this time of the year. Dunno what it is about the time between my birthday and Christmas, but it takes little to set me off and make me pissy. I had a mood swing at my eldest on Monday over very little, and again on Thursday I had a mood swing on my sweetie.

Thankfully my eldest has 19 years of experience with my mood swings, and didn't take it personally, and my sweetie, well he's just very patient... so I don't think he took it personally either.

Sometimes though I'd rather just crawl under a rock and stay there until the mood passes. Sadly I can't do that with work, I can't tell boss "I'm not coming in the next two weeks I'm just too volatile". :P


I did receive this week for my birthday a really nice pendant on a chain from my sweetie. A spiral dragon pentacle. It's really sweet. :) Been wearing it ever since. Makes me feel closer to him.

Pixie and I are going to curl up under a warm blanket and take a nap now :) He's half sitting on me, half asleep purring up a storm.. and it just makes me want to cuddle and sleep :)

Basselope Cat :)

Doesn't he look like a basselope? Debbie and I went to the dollar store and they had pet reindeer gizmo's. She encouraged me. Told me Furball wanted to dress up as a reindeer :P

Well surprisingly, though Furball is a 15 lb cat, he was the most receptive to the antlers.. I laughed myself silly ;)

Motley was reasonably good with the antlers..
It was Pixie who first tried to pass the antlers through his body, don't really have good pictures of him :)
It cracked me up when both the other cats came to check out the basselope cat :)

You've got to be friggen joking

We need another Rocky like we need a hole in the head. Here I thought after #5 that was it.. but no they had to make a #6. No one needs to see an older Stalone working out.. *SIGH*

On that note I'm going back to strip the wall paper from my bathroom now. By the end of the week there should be no wall paper left in kitchen & it's ajoining bathroom

Do you PlayStation 3?

So my eldest and I are standing at Walmart waiting for Debbie and her daughter to be finished shopping for whatever they were shopping for, and my daughter's cell rings. It's her dad. Just as he calls, the intercom goes on inside Walmart to remind shoppers that their interact machines don't work at the moment, and they still have 10 Playstation 3 available for purchase. He overhears that and tells my eldest "Please pick me up a PS3". Leaving me with her purse and purchases she goes off to the Electronics department to see if they still have PS3's. Well it dawns on me this is Walmart, and you must pay at the electronics department to leave it with items. Then I realize I don't even have my cell on me, so I head off to find daughter in the electronics department. Just as I get there, she's trying to call me on her cell. And since they didnt' take interact I had to put the PS3 on my Visa card, since daughter judicially only has a $500 limit on her card. I knew my ex-hubby was good for it. [In fact, I already have a cheque from him to cover my Visa Bill] Men and their toys! In the time I stood back in my spot waiting for Debbie to be finished her shopping, I had 3 different men stop me to ask how much the PS3 was and if I knew if there was any left. I guess if I was desperate for a date on Friday night, a PS3 would sure make me popular.

Eldest got really nice Doc Marten's this morning. She picked 14-hole black boots with white lace. I hadn't realized they also have a zipper. Youngest went for T-shirts, long sleeved tops, a bag, and a Zippo lighter with a star on it. I got myself a Sublime baby-T. Yes I resisted the call of the Doc Martens. Though these are mighty sweet.

Sweet

Daughter gave me this painting framed as a birthday present... :)

Going shopping on St Denis street again. This time to buy Christmas presents for daughters... Bringing them to the Doc Marten store and the punk clothes store.. That should wow them enough to say "I want this and that and..." :)

Dyke muff guard?

I've been reading Savage Love, the sex advice column by Dan Savage for several years now. December 13th's column, more so his rant on Mary Cheney and lesbians in general had me floored. Especially this part:

"Would someone in the media please ask them the obvious follow-up question: How the fuck do they propose to stop lesbians from having children? Post two members of the National Guard at the entrance to every lesbian vagina in the country? Forced sterilizations at women's music festivals? Mandatory abortions for every lesbian who does manage to get herself pregnant?"

I can just visualize this woman constantly followed by 2 national guard 24/7. What would they be called Dyke muff guard?

You can find this Savage Love and many others at The Onion AV Club

Coronation posponed, subject not amused

I was at the dentist again yesterday morning. For another fitting for 2 teeth that will be getting crowns. My dentist is a perfectionist. If it takes 20 fittings he'll do them, to get an absolutely perfect job. But damn, sitting with head down, and having him use these products with fumes that set off my asthma. Also keeps using cotton to wipe down my teeth.

I have this weird aversion. I cannot touch a starched cotton table cloth, or even just stiff cotton from clothes line. It gives me the same feeling some get from nails on a chalkboard. Having cotton in my mouth gives me same impression. So dentist was privy to some especially interesting facial expressions.

I have another fitting next week. Will it be a crowning moment? Stay tuned and see....

Random thought of the day

It's not easy being phlegmy!

What wallpaper?

The process has started. I've started removing the wallpaper in my kitchen. I mean no offense to the wallpaper, but after 6 years, I've had enough of it. I'm not crazy about wall paper to begin with, and in all the years I've owned homes, I've never been tempted to completely wall paper a room.

Tonight, I decided I could remove the wallpaper on the kitchen counter back splash area. Someone had covered the ceramic tiles there with wallpaper. I was expecting the tiles to be absolutely hideous. They're not. The tiles are just very boring/bland. The main color of the tile is some shade of off-white. Every 2nd tile has this design with some muted pink and grays. Not particularly kitchen colors.

Dunno if in the new kitchen the tiles will be left as is, or covered with something else. I mean I'm not even sure I like the tiles next to the oak cabinets. But I don't like the kitchen counter either against the oak cabinets. But it's a 40 + year old house. You can tell various owners leaving their mark on this house. Someone liked green. Between the green kitchen, green living room, green roof..

I found removing the wallpaper highly therapeutic. I'm the type of person you give a beverage to in a glass bottle, and get back a bottle completely stripped of it's label. And of course I had to do this after midnight, despite the fact that I wasn't feeling well. Go figure.

Plumbers crack

I was sitting here this morning at the crack of dawn reading some silly stories on the internet. Of course this student has way too much time on his hands... however.. seems like some are making it sound like plumber's crack is new? I seem to remember seeing butt cleavage when I was a teen. Make that 30 years ago. It's not a new phenomenon, though most people in the past didn't go out of their way to make it visible.. I mean the term plumbers crack was already well in use back then. I have nothing against seeing butt cleavage, though admittedly not everyone's is worth seeing.. but I'm an ass watcher.. butt cleavage is like an occupational hazard.

I had to crack up at a comment from someone who said it should only been seen on sexy behinds, however it is usually the larger behinds that end up forming cleavage often unbeknownst to the person displaying it.

This is the blog that started this rant:
Butt cleavage

I can just see it now... Ad campaigns "Say no to CRACK, Butt crack that is..."

Shoes will be my demise

I ended up buying 3 pairs of shoes today. Not that I needed
ANY pairs of shoes.

The first pair was a pair of black Doc Marten shoes, reduced at $50.00 - half price, and my size, UK 3. I mean they make a great pair of dress shoes, comfy to stand forever... and more appropriate then my 8 hole doc marten army boot ones.

The 2nd pair was some brown & pink Van running shoes. Love Van running shoes. They make them wide enough for my short little wide feet and provide arch support.


The 3rd pair, was sheer luxury, but they were some of the cutest shoes I'd seen in a long long time. I mean how could I resist. Made by tredair, some cute mary jane type shoes, with cat design.

We also stopped at Excalibur, the renaissance shop and picked up a weirdly made pentagram, with a greenish stone in it. It took me forever to decide whether I would take one with a red stone, pink stone or green stone. It's pretty sweet. Made by a Quebec artist called Patricia David with old horseshoes. Kinda neat. Not a metal I can put to touch my skin but over clothes, this unique type of pentagram looks awesome.

Will have to take both girls shopping on St Denis. Eldest wanted new pair of Docs and youngest would have loved the funky 'punk' clothes in the store we went in. Especially the plaid pants and the funky plaid skirts. Heck if they had my size I would have bought a plaid pink/brown skirt and wore them with brown tights and the Vans :) [And I would have looked like a teen!]

Debbie got her 20 hole Doc Marten boots that go all the way up her leg. Of course she will be bitching each time she puts them on and takes them off. Already my 8 hole docs take forever to put on. But admittedly, I knew this guy Jason who had I think 14 hole docs, that he wore, made him look so incredibly sexy.

Yeah I have really bizarre tastes.

St Denis street, here we come

Shopping trip in the AM on St Denis with Debbie.

So why am I not sleeping?

Must be a well kept secret, much like Caramilk's. Sleep is overrated anyhow.

In Memory of December 6th, 1989

December 6th in Montreal always brings mixed feelings. Most of us still remember the Polytechnique massacre. I wrote on December 6 1990 this poem in memory of those who died.... Everyone remembers where they were. I was home with my 2 babies, watching television, while sewing, and my first reaction seeing the late breaking news on TV was "Oh another crazy in the US" until I realized the 'crazy' was in Montreal. Since my hubby then worked for a firm comprised mostly of engineers, we realized we knew people who knew the victims. Including Barbara Daignault, the cousin of our good friend Thiery.


In Memoriam of December 6th, 1989
---------------------------------

You are gone forever but not forgotten
The memory of your tragedy lives on
It is a pity that you were attacked and killed
For just fulfilling your potential

There is a malaise in society
That was created long before you came to be
It will not go away so easily
Perhaps your death will make the problem clearer

There were those who looked on in disbelief
Those who were confused and deeply hurt
How can someone decide the fate of others
Is there no justice for the living?

The work of a madman for sure
But there is a madperson in all of us
Some say that he was just a marginal exception
But how can we learn to trust others again

Perhaps this incident will make people think
Of all the injustices committed towards women
Perhaps the next time she cries injustice
Society will believe she her complaint.

The answer does lie within each one of us
To forgive him who focused his personal anger on women
To help others learn to love and help themselves
And make this world equal for both men and women.



In your memory: Genevieve Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau,
Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Havierncik, Barbara Klucznik-
Widajewicz, Maryse Laganiere, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay,
Sonia Pelletier, Michele Richard, Annie St..Arneault, Annie Turcotte.

They are like gone....

Since an unpleasant incident this afternoon where I thought I lost some important files at work today, I've had this line stuck in my head.. in a repetitive loop..

" If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let 'em go, because, man, they're gone"

And if you're wondering where it's from? Deep thoughts, by Jack Handy - SNL :)

Luckily my HW guy at work found a PSU for my Old IBM Intellistation beast, and it's back in Business. Might even have found a really awesome bug with it :)

I've got my new laptop and while I'm thrilled with it, I'm finding the keyboard too stiff. I can't believe it. First time ever I find a keyboard stiffer then what I'm used to. I'm sure within a couple of weeks I'll be fine with this keyboard. I mean it's not a bad keyboard.

Of course because I work as a PC tech, I have to have a hard time with the software on my new lappy. MP10 crashed first time it tried running. IE wouldn't load windows update page properly. Now downloading IE7. Bleah! I'd rather use Firefox 2.0.

I'm freezing. I've been cold at work for the past 2 days. Apparently the vents froze opened. So all the cold air is coming in from outside. Was 68F at my desk when I came in this morning. I tend to prefer 72F Then again I've seen it as warm as 90F at my desk too. Despite being all wrapped up in multiple layers I'm freezing. I hope this isn't an ominous sign that I'm about to come down with some nasty virus...

Yes! Good morning!

This time it's the real thing.. I got the notice from purolator yesterday when I got home, they tried to deliver the laptop. I was almost fuming earlier yesterday when my HW guy at work, showed me the exact same model of laptop as mine, who hadn't arrived.. Cannot wait to pick it up... :) Have not decided whether I will pick it up before work, at lunch or after work. I'm just too giddy.

In the end my ex-hubby changed my daughter's powersupply. And the PC is now working well. Just as well I felt so guilty :) So diappointed that daughter didn't change her PS herself.. but I'm sure the minute she mentioned about the powersupply to her dad, he offered to do it. I mean I get the feeling he has a hard time with the fact his little girls are both adults already. I've had no choice to get use to it, when they moved out of my place almost 4 years ago.

I did color my hair terracota blonde on sunday night, and moved along on my paperwork with my friends sunday.. Another couple of weeks, and this paperwork nightmare should be over....

What else.. Gotta love the blanket of snow covering everything. Feels like December in Montreal. Ok Gotta move along... even though it's really comfy just lounging around in my 'happy feet' PJ's. La Senza should be proud. I had not bought a full pyjama in years... and they got me to buy 3 happy feet ones. They are so incredibly cute, comfy and sexy. [Yeah who would have thunk it?]

Paranoid much cat?

Too funny. I'm sitting here looking for jokes about Canada and being Canadian, and from the corner of my eye I noticed my 15lb cat Furball, get startled. Over nothing. He's on the other part of the couch from me, and there's absolutely nothing on the couch but him. And jumped about 3 feet. Hilarious.

Of course once he realized he freaked out over nothing, he had to pretend like he had meant for the whole thing to happen and walked away chin up... cats be be so highly entertaning.

Power failure and fluids experts

So in the end I did not take a nap yesterday. Right when I was going to crawl back into bed my cleaning lady arrived. She talked to me for half an hour after which I was way too wound up to get back to sleep. So I figured maybe this is as good time as any to get a haircut. Last time I had my hair cut was back in February or March of 2005. Got a layered long haircut, which I liked a lot. When I called the hairdresser she was like "Can you be there in 20 minutes"... I was like.. "Yes!!!".

Turns out there was freezing rain in Montreal this Friday. Was not a bad day to take off work. Getting to the hairdresser proved trickier then I expected especially since I was still driving on my almost bald original all-season tires. She gave me a great haircut, looks very similar to the one I got back in 2005. Tomorrow must pick up some hair color. Terra-cotta blonde. Everyone likes that color on me. Suits my skin color the best as shades of red goes.

Got home from the haircut just around noon, and as it turns out my sweetie had also just gotten home, so we chatted for a few hours. Made my day......Considered going out after our chat, but with the weather I decided I was going to enjoy the warmth of my home. Was just as well. Around 3am we lost power due to the freezing rain and 100km winds. Though they claimed it would be back by noon, I know it was back by 3:30pm today.

I figured this morning when I got up, that I may as well go to Mr Lub and get my car serviced. If I was going to be bored, I may as well be bored for something. I had to laugh with the signs at Mr Lub.. I mean do you really want your pals to know you as a "Fluids Expert"????? They were probably wondering why I was waiting quietly and smirking to myself most of the time I was there... I got my winter tires finally put on, so I'm ready for any more snow now... and also got all the fluids changed, and topped. My car is lubbed up ... :)

Came back home around lunchtime and it was still without electricity and it was like 17C in the house. Brrr. I called my eldest, and woke her up.. poor thing. Went to Mr Falafel and picked up what they call a 'vegetarian on pita' and went over to my daughter's where it was somewhat warm, ate my lunch and had a cup of warm tea. It was the tea I was missing most. Warm tea.

Daughter told me I could use her PC. So I get on MSN and send my sweetie a message to tell him I'm powerless, hence not online.. and her PC just shuts itself off. Then plays possum. So I unplugged the power cord from powersupply, let it sit for a bit, then repower everything, and it boots up again... The minute we load MSN, it shuts itself off and plays possum again. We did that 3 times.. I pulled out her system and tehn realized she had dustbunnies the size of Texas on her fans.. So I cleaned those ff.. tried the PC again.. still died each time we load MSN. I figured she had 2 power failures yesterday due to the storm, her power supply is probably marginal... So before driving her to work, we picked up a new power supply. I explained her how to change it, but told her I could come over tomorrow to change it for her. Alternatively if she sees her dad first, he can do it, or heck even her roomate. Though I'm sure she can do it herself. I'm hoping when she gets home from work tonight, she'll want to use her 'good' PC to game, so she will change her own Powersupply tonight.. and I'll be so incredibly proud of her ;)

Speaking of daughters, younger daughter just called asking for a lift home from work... Mom the taxi to the rescue...

Will an 8" shaft do?

What a day yesterday was. Not very pleasant day at work. My old favorite beast of a system, an old IBM Intellistation Z-Pro - a Dual Xeon 550 Mhz with a GX chipset, died, just like that. I've had the beast since it was top of the line, and this machine was old faithful. I hope it's just a dead powersupply. I love my old beast. What other system am I going to run 5 SCSI drives on?

We also spent way too much time looking for a nut driver. So I figured I'd take the innitiative and order tools for the department. Except I realized that I don't know the names of most tools. I'm quite profient using tools, and even know the name of some tools in quebequois slang, but not so much in english. Since I have no idea where purchaser will buy tools, I have to be very precise in my description.

So here I was yesterday, asking a male co-worker if a #1 philips with an 8" shaft would do the trick. If it was long enough for what his team wanted? Only in Quebec would I decide I want a 5mm flathead with 8" shaft. Which translates to a 200mm shaft. That doesnt' sound nearly as good does it ?

Also ordering 5mm nut drivers. Some nut always seems to drive them away.

It's snowing wet snow today. Gotta love Montreal Weather. It was 18 C yestereday. Today it is 0 C. Really ought to get my winter tires put on. THey have been travelling with me in my trunk for the past week now. Sadly the place I usually get my tires changed closed down. So Debbie was suggesting I go to "Mr Lube". And I could get to meet Karim, "the fluids expert". Will see later today if I have time, will drive over, get tires changed, also get an oil change and have all my fluids topped off. I mean if they have a "Fluids expert" may as well benefit.

On that note [C flat], I'm going to take a nap. My sweetie isn't around. I thought I'd spend most of the day with him.. but things change.... Nothing is permanent but change.