Twelve years ago today ...

Wow, do we ever look young.

I so do not deserve him ...

Meet "Twelve", my newest piece of technology.

She is an HP 530, and she's all mine.

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, but Hubby correctly predicted that if I knew what my gift was, I'd want to spend all day today playing with her, getting her set up, etc. Does he know me or what?

Why "Twelve"? Well, it's been twelve years, of course.

She came with Windows Vista on her. I lasted exactly two hours before I begged Hubby to "downgrade" to XP. Apparently, under Vista, I needed permission to even breathe.

I'm so excited -- Twelve is as powerful as my desktop system. You know what that means? Twelve's powerful enough to do my digital scrapbooking. I can go to crops again! I am practically tapdancing about this!

(And to think I'd told him, after the new Palm, that I certainly wasn't expecting an anniversary gift because he'd already been so good to me.)

See why I married him? (sigh)

MY HUBBY LOVES ME!

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that:

a) I wanted a Palm Lifedrive for a long time.
b) I got the Lifedrive around the same time I had surgery a couple of years ago.
c) The Lifedrive became a Deaddrive shortly after Christmas
d) I've been going crazy without a PDA.

(And those of you who haven't been reading for a while are now all caught up!)

Well, Hubby just won the My Favourite Person in the Entire Universe Award (tm). He brought me home this:
I shrieked! I yelled! I said "Thank you!" about 856 times! I can't tell you how happy I am to have wireless portable organizing technology back in my life!

And now the longest three hours of my life (as it completes its initial battery charge) continue ...

Incentive

So, I've told you a little bit about the insanity that is my home office / studio. The handful of people who have seen it can attest to the fact that I am not exaggerating. It's shocking I don't get lost in here.

Last weekend was supposed to be the weekend, but somehow that didn't happen.

Well, now, it has to happen.

Hubby just bought me a colour laser printer -- and it won't fit in either of my old, non-functioning, printers' footprints.

This means a massive rearranging of the furniture in my office, not to mention getting all of the junk out of the way so that I can get ahold of said furniture. This is such a big job that I actually need to formulate a strategy to put into action. It's not something I can just start doing because I'll wind up in a corner with a barricade of furniture between me and the rest of the house. (Oh, yes, I will. Trust me.)

I'm excited, but it's going to be A Big Job.

(And that Hubby of mine is a smart and sneaky guy. He somehow snuck this gargantuan box into the back seat of the car when I wasn't looking!)

Saturday evening

Stormy is still at the vet. Early tests have ruled out diabetes, and her kidneys also look okay. (One result was a little high, but the vet said it was most likely because she's dehydrated.) I visited her for about an hour today. She still can't keep any food down, and she's rapidly losing weight, but the vet was going to try her on a new anti-vomiting drug today, so hopefully that will help. There will be more tests run on Monday. I miss my little girl.

I'm not the only one. Zaph has become Velcro-Kitty, not letting me out of his sight, as if he's afraid he might disappear next. Piper, on the other paw, has become consumed with this new game of hide and seek and is wondering how Stormy is doing such a good job of winning.

In other news, I'm coming down with a cold/flu/whatever. I felt fine at noon, but by three o'clock, I was in bed with a raging sore throat, runny eyes, and a headache. I slept for a few hours, but I'm running a little fever and my swollen throat now feels like I'm about to sprout Frankenstein bolts out the sides of my neck. I promise to post pictures if it happens!

Hubby is making us cheeseburgers for supper. I love my husband. This is Reason #17425.

Another low-key evening

So, Zaph is passed out at the foot of the bed, Piper is lying on her bed, chomping away on a rawhide chewie, Stormy is in the kitchen, and Hubby is in his office. Just another low-key evening at the McLeans'. I suspect Hubby will be in before long -- we've been watching Weeds from the beginning of the series, and we've been averaging about three episodes a night. It's very well done, but I've had the theme song stuck in my head for several days now, and when you're sitting in a silent room for two hours at a time, that can get a little trying.

(Oh, here he comes now.)

School is pretty quiet, literally. I've been supervising exams, which is always an interesting gig. I try not to stare at the kids, but some of them look so stressed out that I just want to pat them on the head and tell them that it will all be okay. Even the ones who have sent squadrons of paper airplanes aloft in my presence -- yes, even them.

Okay, time to watch Weeds. More later. Have a good one.

Well, the good news is ...

The snow doesn't have the opportunity to get dirty and ugly before fresh stuff covers it up. We got another 25 cm last night.

Yesterday we took Piper up to Rockwood Park for a run. (She ran -- we walked, and Hubby threw snow balls for her to fetch.) Here are some pictures I took.

A Christmas Miracle

I woke up at 2 AM. Then I woke up at 4. Then 6, and I've been awake since 7.

I'm going to do it. I'm going to let Hubby sleep in on Christmas morning.

Even Piper is cooperating. She is lying with her head on my shoulder, sound asleep. Her little feet are going and she occasionally lets out a tiny woof. It's just too cute.

The question is: can I go downstairs to ready the livingroom without waking them up?

A Force to Be Reckoned With

Damn that gravity. Second year in a row that it tackled my Christmas tree and wrestled it to the floor. And this year it didn't even have Zaphod as an accomplice!

So tomorrow I have to re-decorate the tree (it was so messed up, it's easier to start from scratch). Then I have a little bit of wrapping to finish up (just stocking stuffers -- nothing major) and then the real fun (cleaning, organizing, making the house a home for the first time in eleven years) begins.

It's all Hubby wants for Christmas. For the house to be in some semblance of order. And after everything he does for me (and my ailing car), it's the least I can do.

But, man ... This is going to be one long haul.

Something smells good ...

Hubby (AKA The Mad Scientist) is making supper for us tonight.

This is the chef who has entertained me with such creations as Gunkula, Nuclear Fire Food, Rainbow Chicken Surprise (it was green and blue), and the unintentional, but often referenced, Potatoes Flambé.

I think tonight it's Roast Beef and Baked Potatoes, though.

At least ... I hope so.

Awesome day.

I decided that today was going to be a "picture-takin' day", so Hubby and I spent a few hours roaming around. It was a blast!

Of course, every good day has to have at least one good cat picture in it. Zaphod saw that I was about to put on my coat and decided that he wasn't going to let me go without a fight (ie: lying on top of my jacket!). His eyes have the coolest turquoise outlines around his pupils, and the jacket seems to bring that out in this picture.

First official "photo stop" was Fern Hill Cemetery. I wanted to stop by there, not to take pictures, but to reflect at a particular gravesite. On our way to that gravesite, however, we noticed a man staring in amusement at a particular stone. Lo and behold -- a groundhog who was so engrossed in his bread that he didn't become photo-shy.

After Fern Hill, we decided to just drive and see where we wound up. The answer to that turned out to be Cape Spencer, at the very end of the Red Head Road. We hadn't been out there in quite a while (maybe even since before we were married), so that was pretty cool.

I am jealous of all those scrapbooking wives out there who can take pictures of their smiling, cooperatively posing husbands. I am not so lucky. If he even sees me holding the camera in his direction, he "raises shields" (places a hand over his face) and flees the quadrant at warp-speed. And so I have "stealth" pictures like this to scrapbook.

Next on the agenda was Mispec Beach, where Hubby sought interesting bits of driftwood and I looked for sea glass. I found a few good pieces, but I like taking pictures I "find", rather than "pose" -- like this one of the shell and stones.

Lastly, we swung by Rockwood Park to see what we could find there, and at Fisher Lakes, there was a big bird in the distance. Thanks to the zoom on my camera, we were able to get a closer look. (I'm pretty sure this is a cormorant. If I'm wrong, please tell me.)

Anyway, it was a really great day. And it was sooooo warm -- I walked along the beach at Mispec with my jacket tied around my waist. (Guess I could have left it with Zaph after all!)

To Type, or Not To Type ...

Hubby just introduced me to this: The Hamlet Text Adventure Game.

Remember those old computer games without graphics, when all you had was the text on the screen, and your own imagination? Yes, it's just like that, except with a lisping Ophelia.

Try it -- it's hysterical! :)

Hot Potato.

On Thursday night, I was lying in bed watching TV and I decided I was probably hungry. (Since the surgery last week, sometimes it's hard to tell what gurgle and twinge is what.) Hubby was going downstairs to put the dog out, so I asked him to cook me two potatoes in the microwave and I'd go down and get them.

I waited for the commercial break, figuring they'd still be warm when I got there.

They were.

They were actually on fire.

Smoke was billowing out of the microwave and moving horizontally across the kitchen, and it's a good thing there were flames, because that's how I found my way. I turned off the microwave and watched as the flames went out. Letting it sit for a minute, I called Hubby downstairs to ask him what on earth he had done.

Like a good student reciting the lesson he has learned, he said, "I poked holes in them so they wouldn't explode."

"And?" I said.

"And I put them on for fifteen minutes."

I took him by the hand and took him over to the microwave, pointing to the POTATO button.

"But I poked holes in them," he said.

That was nearly 48 hours ago and the house still reeks of smoke, partly because I just used the microwave for my lunch. But perhaps the funniest part about this story is that it's actually my fault.

First of all, I should have specified to use the button, knowing the Hubby sometimes doesn't notice these things. But most of all, a few months ago he asked me how long to time his oven-baked potato for, in order to time it with his chicken. I told him that it was "impossible to overcook a potato."

Apparently, I was wrong. :)