My Quebec includes Muslims, excludes racism

My view of Quebec and Canada includes Muslims.

No one should decide who should live or who should die.

More details.

It's the little things...

I found this in the steam of the bathroom. It's so cute...

OH Boy, I got an appointment.

After calling relentlessly Dr. David Thompsons office at Statcare since late november, I finally have an appointment with the allergist!!!!! It's going to be in March. Funny I'd given myself March as a deadline, if I didn't have an appointment to try another allergist. I've read good reviews about him and he's in the same office as my GP so it's the perfect fit.

Who the fuck is SUE

There's some bitch out there called Sue that is using my Gmail to sign up to tons of coupons and promotion sites. I've been added to over 20 sites since Saturday morning.

WTF ????

OEM's what have you done to your Websites????

I've been making budgets for work for years. I am seasoned dealing with OEM websites like Dell, HP and Lenovo. I don't know who they have been hiring to maintain their websites but it's turned to shit.

I couldn't find the HP Z240 model I had put on my sheet unless I look for it on google. Instead of putting their machines in series like they used to, you get about 100 systems listed when you look for a desktop.

And what moron at Dell thought that putting the 3420 and 3620 together in the 3000 series was a good idea. I don't want to find out after completely configuring a system that it is the WRONG fucking system. And the Dell 3420 does not come in Tower form but their websites leads you to think it does. Imagine a purchaser in a regular company that has to buy systems...


I thought it was just me, but everyone else I've talked to, also says it's almost impossible to find anything.  How come the sites were so good in the past and such crap now?

Lung function is 100%

When I don't have allergies or asthma.  When I do, well it's anyone's guess. However this is good news. After getting told off for "having the lungs of someone who's been a heavy smoker for 30 years" apparently my lung function is 100% when I don't have asthma, allergies or some infection.

Apparently asthmatics can show perfectly normal breathing tests when they are feeling fine, despite the fact that the breathing test appeared like one of the worst workouts that I'd done. It was done without any medications too.

At least it proves what I said to the doctors, that before I got sick with laryngitis, I had good lung function and I was as healthy as I Could be for someone who has lived with smokers all her life and who smoked at some point in her life.

The Doctor recommended that I take the steroid asthma meds twice a day. So I will be taking Pulmicourt for the rest of my life twice a day to keep my allergies at bay.

The other good news is that the Allergist's office called me back asking if I need an appointment. I called back and said what I need it for. Hopefully I will be called with an appointment.

STupid back

Last week I spent Wednesday Thursday and Friday in bed because my back got all whacked out. AGAIN. It's still sore but I'm at least ambulatory.

I hate back aches!

2017 is a flannel year!

Modified a pajama top into a nightshirt. Needed adjustments. Hence the penguin border

Made a Large PJ top for my BF. Pattern only went to Medium.

Green Flamingos. How cute is that?

Fell in love with long flannel nightshirts, so have been experimenting with making them. The green flamingo one is absolutely perfect in everyway. I use a meshing of 2 butterick patterns to make it. One from 2 years ago and one from 20 years.

The house of the Rising Lice - WIth Lyrics!

My friend Jeff Lee made a song of it...

There is a house in the West Islands
They call the Rising Lice
And it's been the ruin of many hairdos
And God I know I have one.

My step-mother was a tailor
She sewed my new pajamas
My father was a drumming man
Down in the West Islands

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Share your hats in school and misery
In the house of the Rising Lice

Welcome to the house of the rising lice.

When I went to Fabricville on Satuday I was itchy like hell,. I figured it was the thought of lice that made me itchy. Think again.

I have LICE.  We found 2 adults about 12 teens and probably 50 eggs.   I'm so pissed. The best way to find them is to slather on lots of conditioner and go through with a fine tooth comb. The lice can't run and hide because it gets stuck in the conditioner. The first time he checked me on Wednesday, we didn't use the conditioner, so the fucking bugs probably ran and were not seen. Assholes.

Until last night thought it seemed my boyfriend with his long blonde hair all the way down his back, didn't have any. It seems they aren't on his scalp but hiding in the length of the hair. For the past 2 weeks he's been complaining about having itchy shoulders. Well yeah his lice hang out in the length on his back.... That's where we found a couple ... not on his scalp but in the length.  I would have been so pissed if I had them and he didn't. I mean we sleep cuddled. If they are on my head they should be on his.

We have yet to do treatment because he's working nights and we want to do treatment at same time. We want to use NYDA which has to be on head for 8 hours overnight.  He's not working tomorrow night so that's when we will be treated. Until then using tea tree shampoo and conditioner and passing fine tooth comb in hair twice a day to get rid of the live ones.

I got lice because I put my winter coat on the coat rack above or below Zoeys jacket during the holidays. Sucks balls. 

Trip to Fabricville and Textile store on Sunnybrooke

On Saturday I met my old work colleage and we went fabric shopping.  We went to the textile place in DDO on Sunnybrooke near Spring Garden. They have beautiful silks for $4 a meter.  I didn't like the texture of the black silk, but loved the purple one.  The store is a cash only place so I knew I would have to go back. They also have cotton voile in about 50 colours for $3 a meter.  So if I need thin cotton for lining or some thin silk I know where to go. 

We also stopped at Fabricville, I got  3 meters of brown fabric to use as a border to a red dragonfly dress. We thought 3 meters seemed a lot, after cutting the border and tie for dress, I had no left overs. Not even to make the lining of the bodice, I had to use the main fabric.  I got some more of the plaid skull flannel since it was still dirt cheap and my bf seems to like it.

I have to go Monday to pick up buttons for my green flamingo nightshirt. Despite the quantity of buttons I have at home, none matched this colour.

Sad day

I met Ed Dwyer at my front door when he came to pick up my ex husband for a business trip to the US back in 1991.  A year later in June 1992, he gave me the final interview that hired me at the company I've been working for 25 years, this July.

He has been working for the company for 38 years and was a pillar. He was VP of sales and marketing when I started in 1992 and continued to play various roles in the company. I last saw his car in the parking lot in December.

This morning the flags were at half mast and I realized that it was Ed who passed away.  He will be sorely missed at work. My sincere sympathies to his spouse and children.  Rest in Peace Ed.

How concidental?

Don't know if I've ever blogged about the fact there's a woman in my HR department who is born the same day as me but 20 years later.  She and I have some weird kind of complicity?  Synchronicity. Not sure the right word to use.  She even has 2 children, though boys, 18 months apart!

The funny thing is we are a lot alike and have many things in common. Including a predisposition to asthma and lung problems.  When I told her I had a broken rib, she empathized, she's broken a rib before.I had seen her briefly earlier in the week and she said she wanted to ask me some 'weird" questions.

Turns out that she had walking pneumonia this fall after having laryngitis. Just like me. More interesting even, I'm the 5th person she knows that had both since this summer.  I had strongly suspected that it was the flu that gave me laryngitis that developed into pneumonia.  Now I'm convinced of it.

HR girl was only prescribed antibiotics for 5 days at the Statcare so she ended up with a 2nd pneumonia 2 weeks later.  And then she got the bronchitis with the sinus infection that I had in December during the Christmas holidays with a gastro in between just to make her life more interesting.

I've always said I have a hard time breathing at work. Some days are worst then others, after she came back from New Years, she found it was so dry she couldn't breathe. Ended back at the clinic, where they said she has no infection, but her bronchi is so inflamed from the 2 pneumonia's followed by the bronchitis that she is now on asthma pumps. The red rescue pump like I'm currently using until I see the dr in 2 weeks.

2017 has Lice!

Apparently my step-daughter has lice again.  I don't know how the hell she keeps getting lice?   I managed to survive 12 years of school without ever getting lice.   And I always had long hair.  Kids had lice in my first grade school but somehow never caught any.Neither did my daughters and considering where we lived when they were little, in low rent housing, I guess it's surprising.

My bf got a call from his mother who complained she had lice.  Zoey stayed with her last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. But the last time his mother claimed she had lice, it wasn't her who had it but her cousin.   However it seems that Zoey claims to have a friend at school that scratches her head a lot.

It definitely seems like Zoey is prone to lice.  I've never dealt with lice ever myself. I was checked and I don't have lice.

Breathing tests at the Lakeshore

This morning I was at the Lakeshore at 8:40 for a breathing test at 8:50. They had not told me how demanding it would be and I had not eaten anything, since these days I eat my breakfast when I get to work.

The lady was very nice, apparently she's been doing these tests with people for 12 years. She was calm and very patient.  Ultimately we had to repeat some tests until it was within acceptable standards and repeatable. Reminded me of QA.

It took till 10AM and at the end I was given Ventolin which makes me nauseous and affects my stomach. By the time the tests were done I felt like I had run a fricken marathon.  In two weeks I go back to the Lakeshore to see the respirologist and I suspect he will adjust the medication I am currently taking.

He was right, I have lots of allergies all the time.  That has been my normal for years.  I guess there was a benefit going to the Hospital for pneumonia vs going to the Statcare clinic.

Free food for those who can't pay

This eatery downtown Montreal has been getting a lot of publicity lately when someone noticed they claimed to feed people who couldn't pay for free. So someone tried it out, and found that yes, they were well fed and treated kindly. Story went viral and I'm reposting it  for 2 reasons.

One the owner of the eatery is Muslim, two, I know that someone who reads this blog might benefit from knowing there is somewhere he can go and get free food, different from place that serves the homeless.

Here's story:

Natural hair colour products.

I've been using this product for years now, using the Terracotta blond in winter and flaming red in summer. Today I bought this one to see if it's any good. I was worried that if I move to Nova Scotia I wouldn't find the other one, whereas this one was found in a Jean Coutu.

Thank GOD 2016 is OVER!!!!

Hopefully 2017 is going to be a better year than 2016. I'm not going to list the crap from 2016 but hopefully this year will be awesome.  I'm hoping that fact that I have festering cold sores in my nose today isn't a bad sign.

I was reading that sometimes people with lung problems end up with cold sores in their nose. THe cold sores arrived after I stopped taking the asthma meds in preparation for the breathing test on the 11th of the month.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017.