Sweet Thing Sipping On A Blueberry Wine

My favourite kind of Sunday starts with blueberry pancakes topped with blueberry-raspberry sauce, whipped cream, and a few (redundant) fresh blueberries.

My favourite kind of Sunday is easily downgraded to a stabity stab stab Sunday by going condo-shopping. That is all.

This TV Haze Sucks Me Through I Watch The World From The Inside

Living with someone who works in the audio video field is both awesome and frustrating. Awesome because you get to have a lot of fancy toys and all the latest gadgets. Frustrating if you're like me (technophobic) and don't know how to work all the fancy toys and latest gadgets.

Enter the Harmony 1000:

This is our remote control. It controls all the fancy shite in our home. It makes me happy.

First let me say that this is not a complaint. I'd be a special kind of asshole if I was all "oooohh poor me and all my fancy toys."

However.

For someone who just doesn't get electronics, something as simple as watching tv in our home is massively difficult. In order to watch tv, you need the tv remote, the receiver remote and the PVR remote. But that's not all. Both the tv and the receiver need to be on specific input settings. So that's 3 remotes and 2 input settings that you need to have to watch tv. And don't even get me started on what's required to watch a movie on the projector or plug an ipod into the speaker system.

Harmony (we're on a first name basis) took care of all that. With the touch of one button (well, the touch of one icon on the touch screen), the tv, receiver, and PVR would all turn on and switch to the correct input. It was glorious. We've had universal remotes before but none as proficient as Harmony. Harmony was the first to work in the bedroom while all the components are in another room (through a concrete wall!) It has something to do with the IR Extender (don't ask me what that is - I just had to text Shawn to find out what it was even called.)

Anyway.

Harmony was my boyfriend. I loved Harmony. I trusted Harmony. Harmony let me down. Harmony stopped working last week and it has thrown me completely off kilter. Gone are the days of watching tv in the bedroom and changing channels with ease (you call it lazy, I call it highly efficient tv watching.) Now I need to turn the tv on manually (horror!) and use the PVR remote control. But that's not all! The PVR remote needs to be pointed at the PVR, which is in the living room. So I have to turn the PVR on in the living room and bring up the guide. Then I run into the bedroom to see what's on. Then I run back to the living room to scroll through the guide, trying to remember how many lines down the show I wanted to watch was. Then I run back into the bedroom to make sure the right channel is highlighted. Then I run back into the living room to press enter. It makes me laugh every time. It becomes even more hilarious if I'm trying to set my recordings (like yesterday - Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Rules of Engagement, CSI Miami, Castle, and House. Don't judge me - Monday is good tv night.) I ran back and forth between the bedroom and the living room approximately 8 million times. (First person to tell me I should just watch tv in the living room gets a punch in the ear. I tried to watch tv in the living room but after 15 minutes of scrolling through inputs and pushing random buttons on the receiver and getting nothing but fuzz, I called Shawn and he told me that he had disconnected the tv from the PVR to attach it to the projector or some such nonsense.)

I'm choosing to believe that the universe is just bringing more laughter (and exercise!) into my life, and not telling me that I need to watch less tv. That's just crazy talk. If the universe wanted me to watch less tv, why would there be so much good tv on? (First person to dispute my definition of "good tv" is grounded from watching House for 2 weeks.)

I'd Like To Paint A Picture For You

Friday Faff: DIY Edition

I have finished my painting project!

I ended up painting the two main walls light green and the fireplace olive green. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I love having colour on the walls but the green we chose is subtle enough to be considered neutral (which I don't care about right now but I might when we decide to sell. When we were condo-shopping, Shawn and I saw one place that had a navy blue bedroom and a dark maroon bedroom and another that had a mustard yellow / bright green colour scheme. We left both places immediately.)

Before:

After:

I've got a lot of the olive green paint left so I'm tempted to paint the bathroom but laziness is winning out at this point. Maybe I'll do it in a few months. Maybe not. Who knows?

It's Never Too Late We've Still Got Time

I realize that having another Friday Faff: Monday Edition in the space of one month is a little lame but I can't help it. Work made me brain dead on Friday and whenever I went to pick up my laptop on the weekend I was distracted by either A: blue skies or B: the Australian Open. The weather has been bizarrely foggy lately so there was no end to the excitement over Blue! Skies! and sunshine. We spent hours outside with the pups, introducing Wolfgang to Stella's favourite dog park (and a feisty year-old Weimaraner, which he was none too pleased about) and trying to wear out Stella's puppy fervour. Obviously I had to balance all the fresh air and exercise out with a hefty dose of television watching, which was achieved by watching approximately 87 hours of the Australian Open. It's not my fault though - tennis is strangely hypnotic. I'd try to turn it off but I couldn't resist the urge to watch one more game, just one more I promise. And then it would be three hours later and Roger Federer would have just fought back to tie Tomas Berdych at two sets apiece, and how could I turn it off without knowing who would end up winning the match? (Federer)

Right, so, Friday Faff.

Your painting suggestions were all really helpful. I'd like to be able to say that I spent all weekend painting and have photographic proof of it, but that would be a giant lie. I did, however, decide what the colour scheme will be (but I can't tell you until I actually finish paining because if it looks like crap I'm totally redoing it.)

I tried to videotape the pups doing cute things this weekend but they were having none of it. As soon as I'd point the camera at them they'd sit and stare back at me. Meanwhile I'm shouting "Dance, monkey! Dance!" to no avail.

Vanessa, the pups do not stay in Time Out. There is no trick. When Stel is being completely horrible to Wolfgang, we put her on a chair and stand in front of it so she can't jump off. As soon as we move, she leaves. She does not acknowledge Time Out.

I didn't realize the ear chewing thing was a sign of affection or dominance, I just thought Stella was being an asshole. I do worry about infection because Wolfgang's ear does end up completely wet, inside and out. I've actually stuck a tissue in his ear and it's come out quite damp, like there was a pool of Stella drool in there. Wolfgang has actually started chewing Stella's ear now, so I'm hoping that it will break Stella of her habit (Wolfgang actually breaks the skin of Stel's ear with his pointy little puppy teeth.) Wolfgang gets his rabies vaccination in three weeks so I think I'll just ask the vet if he has any suggestions on how to get them to stop. Until then I'll just fret.

Oh! Oh! My bank has decided that I'm not a fraudster and I got my money back! Happy days.

There, that's it. I'm all faffed out.

The Paint's Peeling Off The Streets Again - UPDATED With Photos

Thank you for all your comments so far, I am finding them very helpful.

I took some photos last night to clarify my problem.

Let's start with my diagram.
I wanted to give you an idea of the layout of the rest of the condo. The fireplace area is our "living room" - this is where our couch, tv and coffee table are. The other half of the room is where our dining room table and chairs are. That area flows into the kitchen. The hallway highlighted in pink (painted light green) leads to our bathroom and bedroom. The den is off the kitchen and will remain unpainted as Shawn has told me, in no uncertain terms, not to mess with Manland.

Right. So. Moving on.

This is the reason I had not attempted to paint the wall. Don't ask me what all those plugs and wires are for. I don't know what they're for, I just know they're all necessary to run Shawn's System (which totally deserves to be capitalized and when said out loud, should be said in an awestruck tone of voice.)

I could not take an accurate picture of the shades of green because I had no natural light, so imagine these greens but less yellow.
These are walls A, B and C. Sorry for the poor picture quality. I have no excuses.



Honestly, I'm very hesitant to paint C (the white surrounding the fireplace.) That being said, I think it might look silly if I paint B (wall behind the fireplace) and leave the fireplace white. Also, I feel like A need to be painted the lighter colour to create division in the room ("dining room" would be olive green, "living room" would be light green.)

I have no idea what to do but I can't leave it the way it is. Right now it looks like we ran out of paint before finishing the job.

The Paint's Peeling Off The Streets Again

I started painting our condo back in November. I reached a point where I was happy to stop, so I did. Lately, though, I've been bothered by one wall. I had originally left it white because all of Shawn's toys plug into that wall, guaranteeing a massive headache for anyone who tries to unplug / unscrew / untangle them. I convinced myself that the white wall provided "contrast." I cannot continue to live the lie.

I have decided to paint the white wall.

This has presented a new problem. The wall in question (A) borders another white wall (B.) The wall has a protrusion (C,) which houses our electric fireplace. The problem is this:

Do I paint only wall A? Do I paint A + B? A + B + C? And then there is the question of colour. Currently, our living room / dining room / hallway (our condo is open concept) is painted both a light, neutral green and a dark, olive green. Which colour should I paint A? B? C? Or do we choose a new colour? This screams for a diagram:
Right, so in my diagram:

Blue = dark, olive green
Pink = light, neutral green
Red = glass wall

A, B, and C are currently painted white. C is pretty much a box with a wooden mantel and an electric fireplace housed in it.

I feel like A should be painted the light, neutral green. I have no idea what to do about B or C. I feel like if B is painted, C needs to also be painted but I'm not sure how a painted fireplace would look.

Shawn feels like we should paint A the dark, olive green because he likes it better than the light. He feels like B and C should be painted a "dark, reddish brown." I know, right? Where the eff did that come from?

Thoughts / ideas / opinions are welcome! Especially if yours thoughts / ideas / opinions are of the "reddish brown paint is stupid" persuasion.

(It should be noted that the furniture we have in the space (couch, recliner, coffee table, 2 shelving units, dining table and chairs) is all either black or very dark brown.)

Carbon's Anniversary The Parting Of The Sensory - 2

Dear Shawn,

Happy 2 Monthiversary. Life is finally returning to normal (whatever that is) at home. The wedding feels like it was ages ago. People keep asking us how married life is. I feel like such a failure when I tell them it's the same. I feel like I'm supposed to say it's fabulous or it's amazing or it's better than I ever thought it could be. Don't get me wrong - being married to you is awesome. It's also the same. There are good things and bad things and at the end of the day the good outweighs the bad and I'm happy. Being married is challenging but (so far) no more challenging that just being in a relationship with you was. I'm happy that I found out about the majority of your quirks before we got married. The sock thing would have been a shock to my system if I was just finding out about it now. I honestly don't understand why you can't put your socks in the laundry basket every night but you don't understand why I love bands like the Arctic Monkeys and the Kooks so hey, we're even. I guess that's a big part of choosing to be together - not understanding wtf the other person is doing but loving them despite it.

We made our first grown-up purchase a few weeks ago. Ok, our condo was our first grown-up purchase but this was a close second. We bought a new kitchen table and couch. When we first started looking, we were looking at temporary-quality furniture. I'm glad we decided to go with the higher quality stuff. It makes me happy to think that we own furniture that will come with us when we move. If we can ever afford to move again. We don't actually have our kitchen table yet but I'm hoping it will show up before Thanksgiving.

This last month has been a bit tense for us. Purchasing the table made us both a bit cranky (talk about a lesson in compromise - our taste in furniture could not be further apart. Everything you liked was metal and glass and everything I liked was wooden and too "old looking.") We're also having a bit of difficulty planning our honeymoon (I still want to go to Ireland, you want to combine our honeymoon with your friend's wedding in Mexico. Seriously. Am I the only one who thinks that it's not a honeymoon if it includes family members?) Life is good though, even though you've made my head melt multiples times. You've also made my heart melt multiple times so I'd say we're coming out on top.


Love you, dude.

PS: Ireland is so much better than Mexico for a multitude of reasons, including - but not limited to - the beer and leprechauns. Think about it.

I Guess I'm A Toy That Is Broken

Last week I posted about how we had disposed of our old furniture in anticipation of getting our new furniture. Our couch showed up soon after but our table was a no-show. Apparently the table was broken in the delivery truck. This made my head melt for 2 reasons:

1 - Isn't the whole point of paying for delivery that you don't have to strap your new furniture onto the roof of your car with bungee cords, thereby ensuring you receive your goods unbroken?

and

2 - We had the salesman check the stock before buying the table. We were told it was in stock and we would have it within the week.

I wasn't home when the delivery was made, but Shawn said that the delivery guys brought up the couch, told him the table was broken and didn't both bringing up the chairs. Shawn never saw the table. This feels shady to me because it's logical (at least to me it is) to leave the chairs so that you don't have to cart them back to the warehouse. Shawn never saw the broken table so he couldn't confirm that there was a table at all.

I know I sound paranoid, but it's only because of what happened next.

The delivery guys told Shawn that he needed to call the salesman to order a new table as they couldn't just go pick one up for us. So Shawn calls the guy and he tells Shawn that our table, our broken table, was the last one they had in stock. Uh huh. Not only that, the table is back-ordered. We can put ourselves on the list but it will be 4 - 6 weeks before we receive a new table.

Maybe I am being paranoid but I feel like the situation is sketchy. I feel manipulated by the salesman, who only made the sale based on the availability of the stock. I feel like he lied, and made up the broken table story to cover his lie. I'm pissed off because we bought the couch because we had already decided to buy the table and chairs and the store's delivery policy is that you pay one fee and you can have as much delivered as possible. We knew we were going to replace our couch within the year so we figured to just do it now and not have to pay another delivery fee a few months down the line.

Our options were limited because we accepted delivery of the couch. We could cancel our order and then have to go through the pain of furniture shopping again (and pay a delivery fee somewhere else.) We could return the couch but forfeit our delivery fee because the couch was delivered and signed for. We could put ourselves on the list for the table and hope to receive it before Christmas. Or we could call the salesman and bitch. We chose to bitch. This resulted in our chairs being delivered the following day (our counter has a large overhang for the purpose of sitting at it so we bought a counter-height table and chairs.) We have allegedly been moved to the top of the list for getting the table but I have my doubts.

The Angel And The Jerk

This does not bode well for our new furniture.

In other, related, news, I have been informed that I am 100% not receiving another puppy for my birthday.

she looks so angelic when she sleeps - unfortunately, I know from experience that she's just plotting her next move

Remember The Arch Of Roses Right Above Your Couch

When Shawn I bought our condo, we decided that we didn't need a kitchen table. We decided to use that space for a small computer desk for my computer. Shawn's is set up in the den, or the 'conservatory' as we've started calling it (we're fancy like that.) We moved my computer into the conservatory a few weeks ago when we gave Shawn's computer to his dad. Thus began our search for a kitchen table.

It was a long, arduous search. There were a few tantrums. A few false alarms (we ordered the coolest table + bar stool set before we, um, measured the floor space. We were off by 8 inches. Order was canceled.) On Sunday, we found the perfect table + chair set. It was perfect on its own, but the 20% off + no sales tax certainly added to its appeal.

We were so high on the thought that we were finished furniture shopping, we bought a leather reclining sofa as well (sales people love us.) We had to get rid of our old sofa (the one that we bought "as is" 3 years ago - the one that a leg broke off of 2 years and 51 weeks ago) and computer desk so Shawn called a junk removal company yesterday. They took away the couch (Stella is so sad to lose her giant chew toy) and desk and a few other bits and pieces.

Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from the furniture store as to when our new items will be delivered. Which means that for now, our living room / kitchen looks like this:

It's so bright and airy, right? So spacious.

Don't mind the messy kitchen counter - it's Shawn's turn to do the dishes.
That's a total lie - we're just slobby.

Stella is very possessive of her chair. Sometimes she lets me sit on the footstool. Most of the time she just glares at me until I move.

You Are Going To Find A Way To Fix What's Broken

Last night Shawn met me downtown after work so we could pick up our costumes for the "white trash" party we're going to tonight. It's the birthday party of a close friend of Shawn's, so instead of trying to explain how offensive it is to be having a white trash party, I'm just shutting up and going along with it. The thing is, this friend is a little WT anyway. We were over there a few weeks ago, having a few beers on his patio. When you finish your beer? You throw the can over the railing into the yard.

So we get our supplies (yes, I will be posting pictures tomorrow) and decide to get hot dogs from a street vendor. We were both hungry and didn't feel like bothering with the Friday night crowd at a restaurant. So street meat it was. And it was fabulous.

We came home and decided to open a bottle of champagne. Because hot dogs and champagne are a good combo. Don't judge. The thing is, once you open a bottle of champagne you have to drink the entire bottle of champagne. Which we did. Which led to Shawn spilling a glass on the bed (and Stella, who was lying on the bed.) So I drunkenly tried to bathe Stella, which did not go well, while Shawn decided to order a pizza. After the disaster that was Stella's bath, I decided we needed more beverages. I grabbed the vodka out of the freezer and turned back to the counter. I didn't slam the freezer door but I kind of nudged it closed as I turned around. So I didn't see the bottle of wine that was precariously balanced on top of the fridge start to tip when the freezer door made contact. The bottle of (red) wine fell from the top of the fridge straight down onto the kitchen floor (ceramic tile) and shattered. It was the biggest mess I have ever been responsible for. So Shawn and I are picking up the glass and mopping up the wine and the freaking pizza arrives. Awesome. Shawn deals with the pizza man while I try to sop up the wine from the tile grout. The tile grout that I painstakingly applied sealant to last summer. Sealant that clearly did not work, as the tile grout is now stained a deep purple. Only in areas where the wine hit though, so right now we have multi-coloured tile grout. It looks like I will be painstakingly applying red wine to the tile grout this summer. Is this a bad idea? Because I'm not kidding - that's the only solution I can think of so far. Admittedly, I've only tried to think of a solution when I've been either a: drunk or b: hungover, so something may come to me when my head is feeling a bit more clear.

We eat our (cold) pizza and drink our beverages and the night is looking up again when Shawn walks into the den and knocks a picture off the wall, sending it crashing to the den floor to shatter in a million pieces.

And then we go to bed.

This morning my head huts, my feet and fingertips are covered in tiny cuts, my kitchen floor is a different colour than it was yesterday morning, there are wine-stained rags in a heap on my balcony and my condo (and dog) smell like a winery. I think the universe is trying to tell me something, I just can't figure out what.

"Meet Me In The Bathroom" That's What She Said

This is my bathroom before Bathroom Makeover 2008 took place:

When we moved in, Shawn "did" the bathroom. He hates bottles in the shower, so he put up the shelf beside the shower. I hated it. I hated how everything was out in plain sight (my bright red shampoo bottle is attractive, no?) I hated that the shelf got all mucky from shampoo leakage. I also hated the giant picture he put up just because it fit exactly in that space. And yes, that is a clear shower curtain. Well, shower curtain liner to be precise. One day, when I'm not crazy, we will have a real shower curtain. Until that day comes, we need a fully transparent shower curtain so that no-one can sneak up on me when I'm in the shower (I've never even seen Psycho so I have no idea where this came from.)

This is our bathroom after the redo:

Please note the mismatched towels. We've got a set of matching towels on our wedding registry and I think that having matched towels will be the thing that makes us feel like real grown ups. Can't wait.

I wanted to paint the bathroom red but I really didn't want to commit to doing 4 coats (I didn't know about tinted primer! Gah!) So it's green. It's a bit more minty than I wanted but I'm still happy with it. Do you love the tulip picture? I got it from Angella's Etsy store. And the shampoo bottles? In the shower (wahoo!) and replaced by lovely vanilla-scented candles.

PS: This is my 100th post! Yay me!

But Whether Or Not My Message You Got Was Too Much Or Alot To Reply

My cellphone is broken. No, my voicemail is broken. This is making me very sad. At some point Friday night (I'm thinking -no, hoping - it was after a few triple gins and not before because then at least I have an excuse) I tried to check my voicemail. The club was really loud, though, and I was a bit, erm, tipsy so I was unsuccessful. It turns out that my seemingly random button-pushing was, in fact, some sort of magic code that turned my voicemail from a user-friendly (well, Hillary-friendly) English-speaking entity into a frustrating, Cantonese-speaking DEVIL. Saturday morning, when I checked my voicemail, I had the biggest WTF moment I've had in a while. I think the hangover exacerbated the level of wtf-ness. It's really disconcerting to call a number that you are familiar with and have a completely different outcome than what you're used to. It would be like calling your parents' number and having a complete stranger answer the phone. It throws you off. Anyway, I can still check my voicemail because I know the pattern. Call my voicemail, enter my password, press 1 to listen to messages, 4 to repeat, 7 to delete, 9 to save. Fine. But I don't know the pattern for changing my personal options. I don't know how to switch my voicemail back to English. I know that I can take my phone back to the store where I got it and get someone to help me. I just feel like such a dumbass. I can't be the only person this has ever happened to, right?

Yesterday's Festival of S activity was a yummy meal of bbq chicken, tomato salad and garlic bread. This pushed back our painting schedule but we still managed to finish. Our bathroom is now Distant Mountain. The paint chip is a greyish green but our bathroom is looking a bit minty right now. I'm hoping it dries darker. I really wanted to paint the bathroom red but I was dissuaded by the fact that red paint required 4 coats. I can't commit to 4 coats of paint. I couldn't deal with my bathroom being out of commission for an entire week. It's only been 2 days of applying makeup in the kitchen and I'm already going a bit batty.

The Whole Damn World Invited Themselves To My Sunday BBQ

I had a really nice, chilled-out weekend.

Friday night I stayed downtown after work and had dinner with a friend I haven't seen in a while. It's a bit ridiculous - I moved from downtown the week she moved downtown. She's one of my Best Ladies so it's a bit sad that we don't see each other more often. Now that the wedding is less than 5 months away (gulp) I'm sure we'll see each other more often as I impose Best Lady duties on her.

After dinner I decided to forgo the Wild Night Out she had planned with a few of our other friends and went home to do homework. I actually managed to finish an assignment this weekend (hello Miss Efficient) so the soul-sucking English course is sucking a little less soul. There's just 7 weeks left until I write the exam and for the first time I actually feel like I might be done the coursework before then.

Saturday was spent bbq shopping. When we finally stopped renting and bought a condo, getting a puppy and a bbq were the things we were most looking forward to. I didn't think that getting a bbq would be such an ordeal. S dragged me to 4 (4!) stores before we finally found an acceptable bbq. It was ridiculous. I have never seen him so indecisive. I was no help at all, seeing as I know nothing about buying a bbq. My criteria was 'can it cook a burger? yes? sold!' but apparently there's more to it than that. After 3 hours of bqq shopping (I thought my head was going to explode) we finally decided on an electric bbq. You didn't know they make electric bbq's? We didn't either, until we reached the 4th store. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: Why do they make electric bbq's?
S: I don't know. Why not?
Me: Maybe some municipalities don't allow gas bbq's on balconies.
S: Maybe. Does our municipality allow gas bbq's on balconies?
Me: I don't know. You were in charge of the BBQ Acquisition Plan.
S: Well maybe we should get the electric.
Me: That would mean that we wouldn't ever have to worry about filling the propane tank.
S: And you wouldn't ever blow up the condo. (Which is harsh but ultimately fair)
Me: Sold!

So we brought home our cute little electric bbq and proceeded to bbq everything in the fridge.

After we tested out the bbq we watched the Canucks hand the Blues their asses on a platter.

Speaking of asses on platters, Westy's hockey team routed Vernon in both of their playoff games this weekend. Westy got 1 goal and 2 assists (not too shabby for a defenseman!) though the second assist was actually his goal until another player claimed he deflected it. There's no video replay so they have to take the player's word for it. Such drama on the ice. Anyway, his team had 2 big wins and Westy played 2 great games so hopefully the scouts were out that night.

Sunday was spent doing homework and watching a bizarre documentary on classic video games. We decided to hold off on painting the bathroom because I've changed my mind about the colour (shocking, I know.) I'm leaning towards moss green now.

* Update * Westy's goal was credited back to him so in 2 playoff games he's got 2 goals and 1 assist. Such a star, if you ask me (though that might be my big sister bias talking.)

Paint Her Name On A One-Way Street

I want to paint my bathroom (well, to be honest, I want S to paint the bathroom.)

When I was a kid, my dad wouldn't let us paint our bedrooms. He was a big fan of white walls. It was a major victory when I finally convinced him that I needed a lemon yellow bedroom. Whenever we'd ask to paint our bedrooms dark, rich colours, Dad would say that dark colours require more coats and are impossible to paint over. My mother (also not a fan of dark colours) would say that they make a room seem smaller. Is this true? Or were they just coming up with excuses to not paint out bedrooms navy blue? Things to think about, before committing to a dark colour.

I love colour. I really want to paint the bathroom a deep, brick red. Which presents its own set of problems - mainly, is red out? Will I be dating our bathroom if I paint it red? When we decide to sell, will potential buyers be turned off by our bathroom because it's so 2002? I'm not talking about bright red - I want something like the lovechild of cranberry red and terracotta, if such a colour exists.

Our bathroom is very small and windowless, so my mother's "dark paint makes rooms feel smaller" stance is kind of freaking me out. There's not much wall to be painted; one whole wall is white tiles, there's a large mirror, a white door - possibly enough to break up the potential claustrophobia-inducing paint job.

Really, this whole painting thing is just an excuse for me to put off doing my homework. Realistically, we won't have time to paint until at least June so I should stop obsessing about the many different shades of red.

Forget About Your House of Cards and I'll Do Mine

We have hot water again but I refuse to celebrate. Instead, I'm anxiously awaiting the next cold shower. After the last hot water tank mishap, we were assured that everything was fixed, everything was working and we had nothing to worry about. So we didn't worry. I won't fall into that trap again. As of right now, we are on hot water tank #2 and hot water tank breaker #2. Everything is new and shiny. In theory, we should have hot water for the foreseeable future.

On top of having hot water, we also seem to have sorted out the lien issue. I don't want to say it's resolved because I'm sure I'll jinx it, but we are on the right track. Our lawyer assures us that it's nothing we have to worry about - he will sort it out with the seller's lawyer and let us know when it's settled.

I'm trying to not freak out about all these little issues but I'm not doing a good job of it. I didn't think that owning our own place would be so much work. Today is exactly 1 month since we took possession and it feels like we haven't had time to enjoy it yet.

In other weekend news, if you get exfoliator in your eye, it's not a good idea to then rub it. It won't get the exfoliator out, it will just exfoliate your eyeball. Exfoliating your eyeball hurts like a mofo, just in case you're wondering.

Insanity Laughs Under Pressure We're Cracking

Last week we had hot water. This week? We do not. At least we haven't lost the electricity. Yet. (We are spoiled, I know.) Something is wrong with our shiny new hot water tank. It keeps randomly tripping the breaker so we lose our hot water capabilities. We never actually notice until someone wants to take a shower though. It does not make for a happy household. We've owned the condo for 3 weeks and we've been through 2 hot water tanks. It's getting a bit ridiculous.

Also ridiculous is the phone call I got yesterday from a collections agent. It turns out that there was a lien on our condo and our lawyer missed it during the title search. I know, right? That's the point of the lawyer - to deal with the legal stuff. To say that I'm stressed would be putting it mildly. Hopefully it will all be sorted out today - it's our lawyer's mistake so (in theory) he should take care of it.

To top off my completely random post, on the skytrain this morning I was sitting next to a woman who was breaking up with her boyfriend (on the phone.) She was getting really agitated and it was really awkward and boring until she busted out this little gem:
"Yeah, well you can chuckle your way to Lonely Town."
Pure Genius.

I Got You Babe

All of our crap is now in the new place. I say crap because that's what it is. We have so. much. crap. I didn't realize how much crap we own until we had to move it all. Time constraints prevented us from sorting through the crap and getting rid of it, so we now have a nice shiny new condo full of crap. Crap that we don't need. Crap that we don't use. Want crap? We've got it.

Enough complaining - I am so happy to be out of our old apartment. I hated the transition of being in 2 places. It was too hard to keep track of the crap :)

My older sister and her boyfriend (partner? life-y? chosen one? Turtle, help me out here) are the lovely people who made our move successful. I did not realize how disorganized and behind we were until they swooped in with their magical moving powers and saved the day. It helps that they've moved about 50 times in the last 10 years. They are professionals. Usually I am the organized one (and by "organized" I mean "bossy") so it felt a bit strange to hand the reins over. I got over that quickly though, when I realized that someone else was doing all the work. It was fabulous. So T&T, thank you from the bottom of my disorganized, crap-collecting heart.

I Think You're Crazy, Just Like Me

I don't know why I thought I could handle buying a condo and planning a wedding at the same time. Oh, and work full-time and do correspondence classes part-time. My brain has turned to mush. I actually emailed our Realtor yesterday to ask her what I should do with the mail we're getting that's not ours. She gently suggested that I mark it "return to sender" and drop it in the mail. Duh. In real life, I am a fairly intelligent and capable person. My current reality? Not so intelligent. Definitely not so capable.

We need to be out of our apartment by Friday at 1pm. On Sunday, our landlord gave us a sheet of paper detailing everything that needs to be done by then. Things like shampoo the carpet, clean behind the fridge and stove ... things that we have never done. Ever. The sheet of doom also explained the "fines" we would be receiving if we don't clean up to standard. If we don't clean the blinds - $100 ($100?!!), shampoo the carpets - $75, etc. So now we're trying to quantify everything. How badly do we not want to shampoo the carpets? Is it worth $75 to not shampoo the carpets? It's not like we have a carpet cleaner. We'd have to rent a carpet cleaner, which means that we'd have to figure out where to rent a carpet cleaner. It's frustrating. The carpet is about a million year old. Shampooing it is not going to improve it whatsoever.

With all the moving shite we've been dealing with lately, planning the wedding has been put on hold. I've been fairly relaxed about the wedding planning process (other than my obsessive list-making - but hey, love me, love my lists.) I have never wanted the big fairytale wedding. I'm not big on poofy dresses or elaborate centrepieces or 19-course dinners. I don't think, though, that I've been neglecting the wedding plans. I don't think that it's cause for alarm that the menu isn't decided, 8 months before the wedding. I think we're ahead of the game - we know where the wedding is going to be, we have the date set, the guest list made and the cupcakes ordered. What is the rush? As soon as we got engaged, people were asking when the wedding was going to be. We set a date so people would leave us alone. Now people are asking what our colour scheme is (seriously? colour scheme?), what the menu is going to be, etc. It's exhausting. We're going to Vegas in a month and we are seriously considering doing this.

We're Lying in the Gutter, but We're Looking at the Stars, I Get Excited, You Get Excited Too

Update:
We have electricity! and hot water! in the same place! at the same time!
We no longer have to choose between having hot water or having electricity and this makes me excited beyond belief.