Half-Way There ... Just in Time for the End of the Year!

I have just over half of the carpet in my living room torn up at this time, and the new sofa and love seat were delivered promptly at 11am this morning, so I have somewhere comfortable but not quite de-cluttered to sit in the living room once again.

I had been thinking that when I got everything squared away I might move the credenza from the entry way into the living room on the one wall without a chair/sofa/love seat on it, to be able to use it for storage and be able to set the bird cage back up on it once more, but upon further reflection it looks like it may stick out too far into the living room and take up too much space.

Perhaps when I have some spare funds I will try to pick up another shelving unit like the one I got recently for the main bathroom ... it has four shelves and is functional as well as beautiful, and doesn't take up the same amount of space used by a full book shelf.

We shall see.  After all, I don't know WHEN (or even if) I will have any spare funds in 2014.

Oh, well .....

Happy New Year!

Living Room Re-Vamp

My living room is going to get a bit of a re-vamp today and tomorrow.  My loveseat and one chair have finally started giving up the ghost very quickly, so on Boxing Day I went furniture shopping with Maxx, and found a sofa and loveseat I like, which will be delivered tomorrow.

So, that means today I want to pull up carpet in the living room, at least where the new furniture will be placed.  I also want to wash my living room curtains, as they really need it. 

What with pulling up the carpet, moving furniture around, and generally de-cluttering, hopefully I'll have a tidy, cozy living room all set up and ready to go for Jan 1st.  It would be lovely to have a room with good vibes to hold my New Moon ceremony that night!

Apparently it's fairly rare to start off the New Year with a New Moon, with the last one being 19 years ago.

Maybe that means this one will bring me luck!

Tough Week

It's been a tough week not just because it was the holidays, but also because it's the first holidays I've spent without my husband, since he moved out in November ... but I was also suffering from a stomach flu since Monday, and only finally feeling better (but still no great) today, which is Saturday.

Here's hoping that 2014 is a better year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Bright Yule, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza ... whatever your holiday season is, hope you have one filled with love, laughter, and family.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and it's just about time for me to put on some nice clothes and head up the road to my sister-in-law's, as she invited me for dinner this evening.  I've already got my Santa bag at her place, filled with about 30 random dollar store items purchased over the past 8-10 years (so I have NO idea what most of them are, as each year I wrap the new items I pick up), so that we can play a little "Dirty Santa" for our gift pull.

We'll write everyone's name down and pop it into a bowl or other container, then pull out the names and as your name is pulled, you get to pick a present from the bag.  The second person has the option of keeping their gift or swapping it out with the first person, the third person can keep theirs or swap with the other two, etc, on down the line.  After the last person pulls their gift, the first person (who hasn't so far had a choice) can decide if they want to keep what they have now, or want to swap with someone else.  I figure this way, if the kids pull something that they have no interest in as it's too adult, they have a way to get something better ... I just hope we don't end up with arguments between them.  I figure we can go through the list a couple of times, as there's lots of presents in the bag!

Down in the Dumps

Woke up with Smokey asking for food, then while waiting for him to finish eating and use the litter box so I could scoop, sat down at the computer to play a few turns of a word game I'm involved online.  While trying to figure out some good words to use for my next turn, I hear Smokey finally using the litter box, then have to get up and chase the dogs out of the bathroom so I can quickly scoop, to keep things clean and less tempting, then I come out of the bathroom to find Imp having a pee on my laundry hamper.  So angry!

Got him and Elf outside so they could go for a potty break, and got my laundry started so I can hopefully get it both washed and dried before I have to leave for work.

At least I don't see any snow on the ground, and hopefully we don't get any before 7am tomorrow morning, as Maxx will have to drive me to work today, then when he starts at 9pm when I get off, I'll have to drive home, then back in to pick him up at 7am tomorrow.  At least the 7am trip will be provided with some sort of daylight, it will be pitch black when I'm driving home tonight.  I have horrible night vision, so I really hope it is neither rainy, snowy, nor sleety, so I can drive as safely as possible.

Now, I need to figure out what to do with the remains of my poor wee Buttercup.  I hate the thought of just tossing him in the trash like he meant nothing to me, but I don't really have anywhere to bury him (particularly so as to not then have the cats or dogs dig him up).  What a horrible way to start off my work week.

Sad Day

Started off as a pretty decent day today.  Maxx and I ran some errands, then had lunch at Smitty's (and bought lunch for a little elderly lady who was there by herself and looked somewhat unhappy and lonely), then went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

When I left the house in the morning, all my pets were their usual selves, including both budgies, Summer and Buttercup.

When I got home, Buttercup was lethargic, and didn't eat much when I was feeding them (lately I've been trying to get them to eat out of my hand, as they were not hand-reared and have always been aloof, although I love the pretty little things).  Later, I found Buttercup sprawled on the bottom of the cage, and thought perhaps he had caught a chill.  I got the budgie house (basically a plush tent that hangs from the top of the cage, giving them somewhere they can snuggle and be extra-warm) set back up, and gently placed Buttercup in it after oh-so-carefully getting him off the bottom of the cage (he had quite a grip on the bottom bars), so he could be comfortable and warm.

Just a little while ago, I heard some fluttering and bumping, and found Buttercup sprawled on the bottom of the cage again.  I picked the poor little thing up and held him for a bit, and he passed away in my hands.

I feel so sorry for my beautiful little yellow budgie.  He may not have had any affection for me, but I've always loved them and thought they were so cute the way they would cuddle and snuggle together, even to the extent of giving each other beaky little kisses.  Now sweet little Summer is all alone.

I won't be getting another budgie (or at least not for a long time), so hopefully Summer will keep eating out of my hand and eventually feel comfortable giving me some affection.

Going to be a long, sad, teary day in the office tomorrow.

Late Invite

So, yesterday my husband stopped by on the way out to go grocery shopping, and was talking to me about Christmas Eve dinner, knowing he would be working but I would have that day off.  He was wondering if I was going to my sister-in-law's for Christmas Eve, with the update that it would be a light meal, since there was going to be turkey for Christmas.  When I indicated I hadn't thought about it as I hadn't actually been invited yet, I think he was surprised, then minutes afterwards I received a phone call from my sister-in-law to formally invite me for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner.  I accepted for Christmas Eve (I'll take up presents for the kids at that time), but declined Christmas Day as her house is going to be really full already with three adults and two kids (and her table barely sits two adults and two kids), plus I had made plans for myself for Christmas Day since I hadn't heard anything up to that point.

I  checked one dollar store today to see if they had a "Santa Sack", but no luck, so hopefully when running my errands tomorrow I'll be able to find one.  I'd like to get one as usually when we actually get around to celebrating Yule, we have a "gift pull" where I have lots of really inexpensive gives wrapped and in a box (think $2 or less each), from which everyone then gets to pull at least one present, depending on the numbers of people present and how many gifts I have all set to go.  I've actually still got gifts left over from previous years ... and no idea what they are at this point! ... and am hoping I can get a Santa bag to put them in as the wrapped box I have used before is giving up the ghost and looking pretty ratty.  Plus, a Santa bag would be a nice snazzy way to carry and present them.  I figure if I go up Christmas Eve, the kids presents can go under the tree, but everyone can pull at least one present from the bag (or box if all else fails).  Hopefully everyone finds that fun.

Blah Humbug

Feeling very under the weather with a nasty head cold, plus the weather is grey and gloomy (but not cold enough for snow any longer), plus the thought of being forced to give away one or more of my pets to be able to convince my husband to move back home ... the holidays definitely are shaping up to be "Blah Humbug" ones for me this year.

However, on the Monday or Tuesday before Christmas I plan on purchasing a nice prime rib steak to cook up for my Yule dinner, with some potatoes, sour cream, and cheddar cheese, to make myself a batch of potatoes romanov to go along with them.  I haven't actually been invited over to my sister-in-law's for Christmas, and I would never presume to show up uninvited, so I am planning on Christmas by myself with the pets.

...And if I then get the "why aren't you coming for Christmas" question, I will mention the fact that nobody actually invited me ...

Holiday Blahs

Although I my next three weekends in a row are each three-day long weekends, and I have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off ... I have the holiday blahs this year.

It's damp, dull and chilly out, and I'm a bit lonely for people company with my husband having moved out, although the dogs and cats give me lots of love.

Just going to be one of those years where while the time not working is nice, the time off itself isn't a celebration of anything.

De-Cluttering

The past few weeks I've been slowly working at de-cluttering my home.  The other day when going through some boxes, I actually found paperwork I had saved from my job in Richmond prior to moving to Vancouver Island back in 2004.  I can understand why I kept some of it, as there was a possibility suggested that they might consider letting me work from home from Nanaimo ... but most of it was absolutely useless!  Lots of paper added to my recycling!  I've actually generated somewhat of a pile of empty boxes in my living room, which I hope to add to box up some of the other stuff in the house which we don't want to get rid of, but which could be tucked away safely in a closer (and clearly labelled to be easy to find again in the future), such as our Star Wars books, which I don't think I have even cracked open in the past decade.

Once I get everything squared away, I hope to be able to put up a few shelves here and there and actually get some of our nicer items on display, to make our house look really classy, instead of a messy dive!

First Snow

Well, not REALLY the first snow, but it's the first snow of MY winter season.  Right now it's just a dusting of those tiny wee flakes which float down oh-so-silently and slowly start to show on the ground and other surfaces out in the yard.

Here's hoping I can get out and get my errands done fairly early today, then ....

......

LET IT SNOW!

I'd love to get a nice big dump of snow, and get out with the wee dogs to film them playing in it.