Babies

And of course the day after I posted about Big A we received a card from our friends in Winnipeg with their baby Chloe on it. And holy eff if she isn't the cutest thing too. So I guess there really CAN be more than one baby that I find quite darling. And in real life she has actually liked me reasonably well also. Maybe I am not just a cat whisperer, but a baby whisperer also! I think I may make a fantastic Auntie after all.

I can't think of anything else to say right now because my mind is a little too full, but I'll be back on the weekend with some big announcements!

The End is Nigh

So, not to jinx the BIG THING, but it should be happening this Friday. I am all at once terrified, elated, anxious, ecstatic, nervous and certain. As soon as the paperwork is done I will post an official announcement, but for now, I'm just trying to keep on truckin', as they say, and my hands have been totally mangled by my nervous gnawing.

Last weekend we visited our friends and their baby, Big A. I have to say, if ever I decided to abduct a baby I think it would be him. He really is the sweetest little one I've ever met. And we all know what a big fan of babies that I am. When we visit, he appears to be completely obsessed with both of us (SB's glasses, my hair, I think) and will just stare at us. Plus I can always make him laugh, and you know what a ham I am.

So, still nothing official for you, but a quick update, and I will be back, hopefully with good news, on the weekend!

Don't you want somebody to love?

It's late, and I haven't posted yet. And I'm craving a Snickers bar. Oh dear.

My mother emailed me this morning to let me know that the receptionist at her doctor's office (where I used to also visit until I moved away), who is also a breeder of Bernese Mountain dogs, has pups going out right now, and will have another litter available in the spring.

TORTURE!!!

For anyone who is unaware, I am slightly obsessed with these dogs, and have long held that they would be the next breed of dog we had in our home. How could anyone resist this:

(as a side note even my friend Sam who hates all creatures can recognize these dogs in a crowd and actually thinks they are cute because they look like they're wearing legwarmers)

I think some people might be a bit surprised that I would go to a breeder rather than adopt a shelter dog, and to be honest I would love to do both. But I feel like for our lifestyle and home situation, it's very important to get the right dog and make it as easy as possible to mesh it with our lives. Our place is not big, and we don't have a yard. We also have three other pets who already live here, and a routine that we like. While a puppy would definitely be a big change to that routine, I want the puppy to feel happy and balanced with what we can offer her.

All that to say, we kind of have to have an idea of what we're going to get. And, yes, every single dog is different even within breeds, but when odds are if you choose a breed that is known for being lazy (as Berners are) you are going to get a quieter dog who doesn't need to run 5 miles every day. If we adopted a mutt rescue puppy, they generally come as "shepherd mixes" "lab mixes" or "border collie mixes" - regardless of what they are mixed with, those are all very active dogs, and you get a lab x shepherd, you could end up with a crazy 100 lb dog in a condo, and then no one ends up happy.

So at this point I would like the odds to be with us. My top dog choices are the Berners and the dachshund - at completely separate ends of the size scale. But my heart is with the Berner. We'll see how long it is before I can finally convince SB. I mentioned that to my mom this morning, and said she would have been better off letting him know about the pups that are available than torturing me with them.

Thankful

Simon is ridiculously cuddly today. He has been following me everywhere and meowing/chatting at me, and whenever I am on the sofa he snuggles up beside me. It was hard to get motivated to go do my walks today, and even harder to get going to meet a friend for dinner since it was soooo cold outside and Simon is so warm and squishy. But, I got up and at 'em and am glad. I don't see my friends enough.

Since we don't get to see each other often, and our group of friends isn't all together nearly enough, we got to talking about the value of our friendships. Each of us has had down times, and grumpy times, and problems and then everyone has there happiness and celebrations too. I feel so so lucky to have such a great group of girls in my life who listen to me when I'm having a tough go of it, who offer their advice when they can, their hands when I need help, their hearts when mine feels disconnected. And I feel lucky to be able to return the favor for them, because I love them like my family.

So, that's all, tonight my heart is full and I feel very grateful. For my friends and my squishy kitty cat.

I'm sorry

I know it has been a long time since I posted. Sorry about that.

A not so funny thing happened a few weeks ago. Friends from NB were visiting, and they spent a few nights with another friend, then one night at our place so we could wow them with our culinary prowess and also drink copious amounts of wine.

About half an hour before they were supposed to arrive, they called to let us know that when they went out to their car someone had smashed in the driver's side window and stolen a borrowed GPS unit they had in the car.

Luckily for them, we are the masters of bad things happening, so we were able to help them arrange to get the window fixed, lend them a car to get to a family event they needed to go to, and file a police report in case they wanted to claim it on their insurance. AND we were still able to pull off a fantastic dinner too. They were in awe of how unstressed we were, and I held back from listing all of the horrible horrible things that happen to us on a regular basis. The things that if they happened to normal people on a regular basis they would sell all their belongings and be happy to live in a cave somewhere, far far away from civilization and the evil that is humans.

Cut to a few weeks later, and someone does the same exact window smashing on our work van. Nothing was in it to steal, but it still took a whole day for me to arrange everything. Luckily I had had a test run just a few short weeks prior.

Then on Thursday we received a card from our friends - a thank you card, for all of our hospitality, and for helping them out in such a stressful situation. And a totally unexpected gift card for the Keg, probably our favorite place on earth.

I guess I wouldn't want to be away from all humans, just most of them.

the root of it

Another birthday has come and gone. Meh.

Actually, Saturday night was amazingly fun - dinner out with my ladies. I wish one of us had a birthday every week because we have such a great time when we get together. They spoiled me, as always, not only with their lovely and thoughtful gifts, but with their presence, love, and laughter.

Monday, my actual birthday, was underwhelming. SB and I had lunch together, which was great, then in the evening we did a rousing round of groceries. Probably my least favorite thing in the world, and there we were for two hours grocerizing. Ugh. We made up for it Tuesday night by visiting a French restaurant I've been dying to try for months and months. The food was fantastic, plus it's bring your own wine which is always a bonus.

And that's the story of my birthday. SB asked me yesterday when I was going to blog again, and I said I would when I had something nice to say. And those are all nice things. Fantastic things. But my heart is hurting.

I have one more year to thirty, which is possibly the most depressing sentence I've typed in my whole life. I never thought turning thirty would bother me, but now as it approaches, and I take stock of my life, this is not where I thought I'd be. I may not be the most ambitious person, but it doesn't mean I didn't have goals for myself, and as thirty approaches those goals seem ever so far away, and I feel completely jammed up in a life that is totally preventing me from even taking a step in the right direction. I know I have a lot of good things, and a lot of great things, but I'm not who I want to be, and sometimes nothing is worse than being disappointed in yourself and feeling like you can't change it.

Unintentional innuendo

Dinner last night was fabulous and I am so glad that I hauled my ass off the sofa to go. Almost even better was the little shopping extravaganza prior to dinner wherein I spent far too much money on new handbags and sweaters, but that is all under wraps until SB finds the carefully hidden merchandise....

When all the girls get together, there are always stories that make us laugh until things shoot our our noses. One of the stories is a staple, and gets told pretty much every time we get together because there is someone who has missed the last few get togethers and hasn't heard the story.

The staple story is one that N heard from a friend. He was out to dinner with a francophone woman he worked with and some people they would want to impress (I forget if they were bosses or business acquaintances, but you get the picture). At the end of the meal, when the waiter came around to pick up the plates the woman was in the middle of a conversation and flippantly said to the waiter, "oh, yes, I would like to take it doggy style." Now none of us in our circle of friends is able to say "I'd like a doggy bag" - we all say "can I have this to go?" because we are so terrified that it might slip out "I'll take it doggy style."

During the dinner last night, our friend T was the one who had never heard this story. And then it turns out she had a funny story of her own that involved a bit of a language barrier. She went to a dinner party at her fiance's friend's home. The friend's wife is very french, but T and her man are pretty anglo so they spent the evening speaking in english. They had a lovely wine and cheese before dinner, and were all getting along very well - the food was beautiful too. Then as the wife was clearing the cheese plates and things, she said happily, "I hope you saved room - now it's time for the intercourse!" T and her fiance were cracking up laughing and it got explained that it was the "main course" not the "intercourse". It was a good thing that they were right about the mistake and T hadn't ended up at that kind of party.