Cleaning....

I hates it!

Dust. Cat fur. Can't avoid them and they are my least favorite things.

Packing really makes them stand out more than usual, too.

Moving again...

Yep. Seriously. I chose really really well this time, so it will be the last one.

If I win a lottery and can afford to buy a house, then perhaps I will go back on that bold statement. How about I put it this way... if left up to me, I will not move again. So barring some apartment catastrophe or winning a lottery jackpot, I am done moving.

It's closer to work... I can walk home at night. I will have the Atwater market relatively close by, as well.. so there's a huge perk.

Packing is going well. In fact, I can't really pack anymore as I am still using much of what's left for the next 3 weeks. I am weeding out the crap and getting rid of junk, but since I do that each time I move and probably twice a year when I am not Miss Move-A lot, there's not much crap to discard.

I've purchased some decor, all of which hasn't even been opened yet. No point unpacking these new pretty things when all I'm gonna do is pack them up to move, right?

I am anxious to get into the new place to paint because the bedroom walls are fluorescent green. the soon-to-be-ex tenant said she found the color relaxing, whereas I was pretty sure that my head would explode when I saw it.

Can't wait to get out of this place and into my new one... hopefully painted before I get my stuff in it.

Wow.. just wow...

Week after week, I am utterly blown away by the talent on this one tiny, cute little show... plus I'm a sucker for musicals, which technically... this is.

Rain on my Parade

I Am Telling You

(click to hear.. sorry no video.. just had to share though)

Oh Christmas Tree....

Kind of inspired by the fake tree in the window of the Andy the Ahn store that I walk past most mornings in the Cours Mont Royal, which is exclusively made from black feathers.. check these out.

I used to be SO VERY dead set against fake trees that I was almost manic and completely preach-y about it. I still love me a real tree, though... the mere smell of it makes me so happy that I could really care less what the thing looks like.

Now though, the fakes are just so beautiful that I can barely stand it. I think the pink one is beyond girl-y. I am starting to really dislike the typical Christmas colors, too. Why can't my tree or decorations be purple? Aqua is nice.

Argue that the colors green, red, gold, silver and (maybe) blue just aren't Christmas-y all you want.. All I know is that my Christmas spirit isn't tied up in the freakin colors.

It's fun to play at the Y-M-C-A...

I joined the Y. Y? Because I want to swim. I NEED to swim.

Swim. Get in shape. Do something other than work, housecleaning, sleeping and laying on the couch. Well... I'll still lay on the couch, but it'll be AFTER swimming instead of RATHER THAN swimming.

I will make an appointment for an orientation type of tour on Monday, if possible as I've already gotten lost in there once and I hadn't even signed up yet. I can always be counted on to get lost, walk into something or break something.

I hope my swim suit still fits.

I be blogging here from now on...

I spent a lazy Sunday surfing YouTube.

Happy Sigh

Losing my obsession...

I used to be obsessed with music.

I listened to it AT ALL TIMES. If I was working, even. Where I work now, I don't think we're allowed.

Although, I am very tempted to ask my boss if I can don my mp3 player... only one earphone though.

If I wasn't listening to it, I was talking about it. If no one wanted to hear it, I thought about it.. a lot.

Has my job and other thoughts about responsibilities I have just taken over my mind and pushed my music thoughts aside? If so.. how much does that suck?

I miss it. Even now. I am sitting here at my computer writing this and no music is playing. Three hours ago, I was sitting here editing my budget. Still, no music playing. Two hours ago, I was entering some Avon orders and making invoices... wait for it. You guessed it.. No music playing. Now just a mere 5.. maybe 6 months ago WinAmp would be screaming out fantastic music as I did all that junk.

I downloaded anything and everything new and fabulous (let's face it.. there's really not much quality music anymore) or nearly forgotten classics or bands that were suggested to me by random people. That is so rare now.

My collection used to be incredible. It still is.. more or less, but I severely ignore it now.

These facts have occurred to me a few times over the last 5 or 6 months and even though I say I will dive back into my old music-obsessed ways.. I just can't seem to do so. I'm either working or sleeping. There's always some reason to ignore it.

That makes me really REALLY sad.

I did just launch WinAmp though, so I guess all is NOT lost. Not entirely.

Whoops

I kind of abandoned this blog in favor of my regular site. Devoting myself to setting that one up the way I wanted. Well... now I've done it and while I post to it, I already want to change it again. God, I'm fickle.

I started a new job in October and while I'm back to commuting hell again.. it's only a 25 minute train ride and probably 10-15 minutes of walking. So not too bad. but nothing will beat the 4 minute commute I used to have. However, this job is SO VERY worth the travel time.

I am considering moving again. Hah! Not to minimize my commute, though that'd be pretty nice if I could swing it. I just don't like my apartment anymore. Even though I've only been here since October. Any fixes that need doing take forever and a lot of botching on my part. While the inside of my apartment is nice.. the lobby is pretty much disgusting. I notice that the building where the admin office is situated, is extremely well-maintained. I guess the rest of us are peons who don't deserve a clean lobby.

So yeah... moving again, but this time I will choose better and ask more and inspect things way more closely.

By the way...

Montreal is getting so much snow this Winter that I am starting to hate it. I want to break up with the snow. So very tired of it. Also... adding to the frustration... my favorite boots BROKE a week ago and I had to replace them. With GIRLY boots. My old one's were combat boots and I freaking ADORED those things.

They were warm, virtually slip-free on the ice, they looked scary (but in a good way.. and even when I was dressed up - a skirt with combat boots peeking out.. smokin' hot!) and they just all around rocked. I like their replacements (I couldn't wait around to find another pair of perfect combats).. girly as they are. The only feature my new boots don't have is that they aren't that warm.

Also.. my snappy pleather coat has a KEY button missing. It used to fall off all the time. I guess I pull on them too hard. I was always lucky enough to not lose the buttons when I pulled them off, but this past week (the boots and my coat were in cahoots, damnit!) I lost the button in a deep pile of snow.. UNDER A TRAIN! Grrr.

I cannot find a suitable replacement either.

Bugger!

Overflow...

As if I needed another reason to move... you know.. beyond just wanting to...

Last night I washed 2 bowls, a dip bowl, a saucepan and it's lid, a strainer and 2 glasses... and 2 minutes later, I heard what sounded like water spilling onto the floor! My kitchen sink was overflowing.

I had not left water on and forgotten about it, but the little bit of water I used and someone else's laundry water (?) backed up into my sink and viola... a nice big mess for me to clean up. It did eventually drain, but not until after I took a bucket and emptied some of it myself.

I called my super, but it was 2 hours later when he showed up. Thanks a lot! Real helpful! *eyes rolling*

Supposedly, he's taking a snake to it today.. or some machine.. He wouldn't do this last night since it was already 11 p.m. and whatever it is he plans to use on the sink makes noise.

I can't wait to move.

I should be buying some livingroom seating Friday night. Can't wait because the "soccer mom chair" is getting stale. It's better than sitting on the floor, but only marginally.

Alone time...

Finally alone in my apt.. only to move to another one in 3 weeks.

I have to start a list of things to do before I move. Thankfully the list isn't too big.

I love having my apt to myself though!

Yay for purple!

The lease for the new apt is signed. I'm 5 wks from moving in and when I looked at the place again I found out that my freshly laid carpet is purple! Dark. Like plum, almost. Brilliance! I LOVE LOVE LOVE purple!

I am 7 days away from having my current apt to myself. So more cause for smiles! Even though I don't move for 5 wks... I'll get to have my own place a bit early. Yay all around.

I am still decorating in my head, by the way.

I even took over possession of my mom's Christmas Tree lights since she chucked out her tree. I figure I'll do something funky with them since unlike the just thrown out Christmas Tree.. most of the lights are brand-spanking-new.

I put a curse on you...

Ever feel cursed?

I do all the time. I'll get some good news or some sort of good luck for a little and then suddenly something bad happens or something that - while it doesn't really relate at all to the previous good luck or good news - it does bring me all sorts of hassle and annoyance.

This is the story of my life.

Semi-recent example:

This time last year I was 4 days into my new living in a new apartment in LaSalle. I had also just started my current job on this day, a year ago AND I also had a bit of savings started.

Things were really swimming upstream.

Sept 19th. One month and one week later... my new apartment building is partially gutted by a fire.

My choices are to camp out with family for the 5 or 6 months it took to get the building renovated and then move back into the place or ask to be let out of the lease and take this opportunity (borne first from fear of the fire - going back in the apt - and then from my horrendous commute) to move closer to my office.

I chose get out of my lease and move near work. Which meant that I paid for a move twice in just over a month. Bye bye savings!

So I get good stuff sometimes.. I even get to keep the good stuff more or less... but I never EVER get good stuff without a nice huge dose of bad stuff. Which means, I never EVER get to enjoy the good for very long before something happens.

I know the balance of good and bad is supposed to be equal... but from where I sit... it doesn't seem to be.

Maybe this comment is wholly unnecessary... but this week is:

Shittiest. Week. EVER!

Signing my name to start happy fun time!

I sign my lease on Saturday. YAY!

Shopping for moving...

A fun yet frustrating process.

For now, I don't really have to get myself any furnishings. I have all I NEED or will very soon. Most of my furnishings I'm light on fall under.. nice to have as opposed to gotta have.

I'm all about getting a vacuum and a blender. I want a toaster oven, but I'm willing to wait on that for a little bit longer.

The frustrating part is having to re-buy all the cleaning agents. I hate to clean. I'm sure everyone does. Mostly though... I hate to clean because it means choking on the fumes of the products I have to clean with. Thus making me spend more time on cleaning than I'd like.. what with having to step out and breathe fresh air every few minutes.

Even some of the old stand-bys one can use to avoid those foul odors are just as bad. Vinegar, for example. I can and should use it mixed with water to clean my windows. And since one theme in my furnishings are glass tops, I'd get a lot of mileage out of such a change. Only problem is that I can no more tolerate the smell of vinegar, than I can the smell of say... Mr. Clean.

I guess the main difference is that the vinegar smell, while nauseating... isn't chemically vomit-inducing and likely not leaving traces of god knows what in my lungs. Plus, I'm not dumping chemicals down the drain when I'm done.

Any good tips on how to clean a bathroom without chemicals? Because that's probably where I use the strongest, most foul cleansers.

Holy line up, batman!

Have you seen the line up for 2007 Lollapalooza?

Niiice.

Pearl Jam, Ben Harper (pardon me while I pant a little), Iggy Pop & the Stooges? My god... that right there is enough for me.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse?

Even Montreal's own Sam Roberts Band... though you have to scroll a ways to see them.

*sigh*

Some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield.

I am the windshield today. Even with the sleep I finally got from the other night, here I am today feeling like I'm at death's door.

I don't feel sick or anything (though I am sick and tired, heh), but I feel dead, kind of helpless... subject to huge ups (moving) and huge downs (not moving today). I am gobsmacked with annoyances that I am not able to get rid of.

The humid weather messes me up. Makes me more tired than I usually am (which is really tired) and saps any energy I may soak up during the day.

I hate Summer! I really do. OK, so it's nice, sunny, flowers bloom and stuff, but so what.. I freaking hate flowers! Keep your sucky flowers nature!

Give me a warm day... sure. It's not so bad when it's just warm, but why humid? Who does that help? NO ONE, that's who. I hate it. Pets hate it. Old people hate it.

One could argue that without heat, we couldn't swim, but screw that! That's what indoor pools are for. Also, warm isn't the same as humid.

The way the weather keeps going from OK to humid is bad for all of us. It makes me long for winter. Even though, once winter starts, I have to listen to everyone complain about the cold or the snow. And if it doesn't snow, then I gotta listen to people complain about the fact that there'll be no White Christmas. Can't have it both ways, folks.

Guess I can't either though... since Summer is the time for humid.

Bleh!

Moving: T minus 52 days.

Ever get so excited about something that it interferes with your sleep? OK. Has moving ever been such a thing that'd excite you so much to lose sleep?

Perhaps this whole decorating in my head thing needs to stop? I don't really want to stop, but damnit.. I do want to sleep. This girl NEEDS her some sleep!

Also, it's T minus 30 days until the roomie moves out. At which point, I will move my bedroom into hers (it's bigger) and use my former bedroom as a packed box repository. I'll be so organized!

I will also move my TV & stand out into the livingroom. Hopefully, I'll have a couch by then. I'll likely be so blissful that I won't even care if I have to watch TV from the floor. Heh.

Last night, no sooner did I finish dinner and slump off to my room, originally to open the window... did I fall asleep. Sound asleep. I awoke at 2 a.m., stayed up for a half an hour and then tried to go back to sleep. I don't think I did get back to sleep until 4 a.m. or so, but so what... I'd just gotten 8 hours of sleep.

That only happens to me when I reach my tolerance for sleepless nights.

I can't wait to move!

Weird stuff... nearly meaningless

I know I go on sometimes about my horrible memory, but I do remember a lot from my childhood (though not A LOT of that) and teenage years... then of course, my 20s. It's really only been the last 4 or 5 years that I've been having recall problems.

I can't tell you how often I've offended someone because I couldn't remember stuff they'd told me. This obviously doesn't go over well on dates.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling to get to a point. The point was that now and then I find out things that people have said about me. Like things ex-boyfriends say to new girlfriends about me. Or once in a blue moon something said about me by people I've never even met will also trickle back to me. Generally years later.

It always boggles my mind how much bullshit has been said about me over the years. Not all bad things... some stuff I hear years later is complimentary, but still never happened.

The only thing sadder than than people who'll lie about you would be those who believe them.

Meanwhile, I'm still decorating in my head.

Decorating in my mind...

I am so thrilled that I will be living by myself in 2 months. Actually it'll be in one month, because my roomie is leaving Sept 1 or.. at least after Labor Day!

I haven't lived alone in so long. I am looking forward to the privacy the most. To be alone. If there's noise, I'm making it. If there's a mess, I made it. If there's no food, the grocery fairies didn't come. I kid.

The prospect of decorating and NOT having to take someone else's tastes into account are seriously over-loading my brain (but in a good way). I've got strange tastes, so I'm sure my apartment will be enough to induce seizures in some people.

I'm all about swag lamps for example. Click for examples: here, here, here and here.

I've also got a serious jones for those vintage glass candy dishes/ashtrays. The more elaborate, the better. Click for examples: here, here, here and here.

They're a 70s era thing that being born in 1970... I just can't get over it. Hell, I don't even want to. The funny part is that while I'm stuck in the 70s a little bit, furniture-wise... I also like a few modern pieces. And again, if those 2 conflicting tastes weren't enough... I love antique furniture pieces as well.

So I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Here's what will be my shower curtain.

Woo!

Ugh...

Ever have one of those days where nothing you do is ever right?

Well I'm having one of those years.

Can't win and it's not ALL my fault either.