Below are the most recent 15 friends' journal entries.

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
doogloose	11:50p	All ready for Christmas Today we went over to Tyler’s grandparents’ house in the evening (the ones on his dad’s side). They are just so sweet. It was a really nice visit. We brought over our wedding album to look through with them. Tyler’s grandpa had been too sick to make it to the wedding (he has cancer), and so it was especially nice to show him the pics. We had shown him our unofficial photos the day after the wedding itself, but the “real” photos are just so good. They really enjoyed them. They had presents for us too, from some of the family members on Tyler’s side that hadn’t been able to make it to the wedding. One of Tyler’s uncles is a potter, and he gave us a few pieces, and Tyler’s grandparents bought a few more pieces from him to give us so we have quite a lovely set now, serving platters, a big salad bowl, and a veggie steamer. They are just beautiful. The grandparents were so sweet with Tyler too. They didn’t make him feel guilty at all for not having time to visit lately. They were just happy to see us. They were encouraging and excited for him about his job, and just all around supportive in the way that family is supposed to be. It made me feel really good to know that Tyler has some sort of that type of family around. He sure isn’t getting any of that from his parents these days. We didn’t get to see his other grandma yet, but are planning to do so in between Christmas at the New Year probably. At this point we don’t even know where she lives, since she has been moved into a home and Tyler’s mom hasn’t told us which one (and communication has pretty much broken down altogether, so asking may be a challenge). I will probably try to get the information out of Tyler’s sister. One thing that made me really sad that Tyler’s grandma (the one we visited today) said about the other grandma is, that Tyler’s mom is afraid to take her out of the home for Christmas, because she may make a huge fuss about not wanting to go back. I knew she was unhappy at the home, but this sounds worse than I had realized. As far as Tyler’s grandpa goes, he actually seems in great health and great spirits, considering. He was in the hospital for a few weeks and just got out a few days ago. He is on an all-liquid diet right now and has lost a lot of weight (which in itself was probably not a bad thing for him, as he was a really big guy, but it’s weird seeing him so skinny). Other than that though, he really seemed happy and not unhealthy. Tyler’s mom has a way of making everything sound more terrible than it really is. Not that having cancer and being given a terminal diagnosis is ever a good thing. But his quality of life right now actually seems very good, considering. And I think I have a realistic idea of what his diagnosis means, with the line of work I am doing now. I am not sugarcoating it for myself by saying that he seems really healthy and all that. Obviously he is not really “healthy” but like I said, he seemed in good spirits, and at this stage of things that’s huge and really quite wonderful to see. I think part of the reason Tyler has been having trouble seeing his grandparents is because of the grim picture his mom paints of the situation. He gets anxious thinking about how hard the visits will be. And they really aren’t that bad. Like I said, the visit tonight was really quite lovely. After that visit we went to the mall to do a bit of last minute shopping. I am now officially done and I think Tyler is too. I really tried not to go too overboard with gifts this year, and I think I did OK, but still I have managed to spend way too much money over all. That always seems to happen. I did do a lot of gift buying at the markets though, so at least some of the money went to other artisans/crafters. Another great gift we got was from Tyler’s cousins, a set of microfiber cloths and a microfiber wet/dry mop. They are really great and I have been cleaning all evening (kind of like when I first got a magic eraser, you start seeing little smudges everywhere and wanting to wipe them). It came in a big box and Pao of course went right in it, and Ciaran went nosing in after her. I didn’t get a great photo, but I think you can get the idea. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
doogloose	3:06a	Sugar cookies Today I… - woke up in time to have tea with Kate and Sara (just barely) - went to physio - had some people over to buy goddess beads - baked sugar cookies - went to Wal-Mart and bought presents for the dog - wrapped presents, and caught myself taking off the price stickers for the dog’s teddies – as if she’d be able to read them or something! - visited with Carolyn The sugar cookies came out really, really good. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Directions In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
doogloose	1:01a	Perfectly Wasted Day Today was a great day off. We slept in really late. We ate leftover pizza. I watched tv and knitted. I did very little housework but just enough to not feel completely useless. And we went out and bought groceries which we badly needed. My photo has my completed hat. I am proud of it because I did the pattern myself too. Although I didn’t really write it down very thoroughly so I don’t think I can post it :/ I made a little matching bag too which I am trying to felt right now. It may be a total mess because it was also not from a pattern. I have no idea if it will look like a piece of crap when it comes out of the washer or not (it sort of did going in, but since it was getting felted I was hoping I could shape it a bit that way, I think it’s normal for felted stuff to look retarded before it gets felted). Anyway we will see. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
doogloose	10:33p	Regretsy makes me laugh I always laugh at bad photoshopping, but this one was just awesome. Regretsy featured an Etsy listing for a photoshop manipulation of your beloved deceased pet. It was so popular on the Regretsy community, that the forum’s host held a contest. The rest was some of the most ridiculous photoshop jobs and all featuring the same stupid cat. Level 3 winners Level 3.5 winners Level 4 winners Level 4.5 winners Level 5 winners Being a loser and liking Twilight as I do, I think this one is my fave: Tyler and I have 3 days off in a row, together, now. It feels like we haven’t seen much of each other in the past few weeks since we have both been busy, so we are really looking forward to some quality time! Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
doogloose	12:51a	Sooo tired I just woke up for a bit because I had to pee and feed the dog, but I am going back to bed. I did the turnaround shift last night/this morning which always tires me out so much! Then after work instead of going home for a nap right away, we went to the Christmas party at the music school Tyler teaches at. I was really not the life of the party. I had a glass of wine and that didn’t help wake me up at all, and Tyler has this thing about not liking to be the first to leave anywhere (or really anything but the last to leave). So all the hinting I was doing about not wanting to stay didn’t get me anywhere, even though we were supposedly just going to pop in. When we finally got home my tummy was really upset, probably from snacking on too much junk today (between all the cookies at work, and the chips/dip/crackers/cheese at the party). So I was in a crappy mood. I really felt like picking a fight but instead just went to bed. I slept a bit and woke up just now but like I said, I’m going back to bed. Working early again tomorrow morning, then a few days off, then Christmas! I don’t think working the Christmas shifts is going to be bad at all. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
doogloose	1:55a	Crazy knitter The hat is now finished but needs to be blocked. Tonight was sort of busy at work. And I am working the turnaround shift which means I have to get up and go back to work in about 6 hours or so. The most exciting thing that happened today was, I was eating special k with yogurt bits in it for breakfast, and it totally turned the milk pink. Then Tyler was rushing me out the door so I didn’t finish it all, and I didn’t flush the last bits until after I got home. Well, later on, I found a puddle of pink vomit in the back room with kitty kibble in it. I definitely suspect Pao, she is always getting into human food. I guess this time it didn’t agree with her tummy. I have heard that milk really isn’t all that good for cats. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Friday, December 18th, 2009
doogloose	1:47a	And the days of running out of oil are over The heat pump was installed today and it’s up and running. It was kind of embarassing today because I thought they were done in our suite, I had just gotten out of the bath and was sitting on the couch in my bathrobe, towel around my head, and knitting while I was waiting for my hair to dry a bit, when the heat pump installer guy just walks in. This was all at about 4:30 pm which somehow seems to make it worse. He was like “oh, sorry don’t mind me” and I was like “umm no you don’t mind me.” I looked like a total freak. He was like “So, what are you knitting?” … meanwhile I’m trying not to laugh. Honestly I am just glad I was at least decent, if funny looking. It could have been worse. I am not really that modest especially around my own home. But the knitting was definitely the final touch that made the situation extra awkward. Sometimes I don’t realize how weird I am until I see myself through someone else’s eyes. Ciaran was very well behaved today, which impressed me. I was worried that with people coming and going she would be a complete spaz, but she was actually really sweet. Apart from farting really loudly and repeatedly while the technician was giving us all a demonstration of the controller (and then lieing on her back and showing her tummy in her sluttiest fashion, trying to sucker a belly rub out of the guy, as if all the farting wasn’t enough). I guess her and I are both not exactly the most ladylike. Don’t they say that dogs are a lot like their owners? I don’t fart in front of company and I don’t show off my vag in front of them either, but I am not always exactly socially acceptable. Anyway the house is nice and toasty warm, and hopefully we won’t be cold again. It was definitely a good thing to get done and I am glad that we did it, in spite of how much bitching I did along the way. Our Christmas tree is up and decorated. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
doogloose	11:58p	And I thought candlelight was supposed to be flattering I look like something from a horror movie. Anyway, today was really a weird day. The electricians were working away all day and we had no power. It was a bit cold but not TOO bad because it isn’t too cold outside. Mostly it was just like… what do you do without power. It’s weird how much we rely on it. I went out for part of the day, picked up some handspun yarn from one of the Moss st vendors. It’s a beautiful turquoise and I’m going to make myself a hat and maybe some fingerless mittens if I have enough left over. Or a small scarf. I love that there are still people in the world who do things like spin and dye their own yarn. It is so much more interesting looking than the store bought stuff too. Very pretty. The electricians ended up taking longer than I think they had planned to, and it got dark before they were done. So I ended up lighting some candles. I couldn’t even really cook so I had crackers and cheese for dinner. It was actually kind of nice and cozy, if a little weird to be stuck in the dark and quiet. I went to work but it turned out I had gotten double booked with somebody else. I live so close to my work so I was like whatever, I’ll just go home no big deal. I wasn’t really in the mood to work anyway, something weird about the day. Last night I had a bad anxiety attack in the middle of the night too. No idea where it came from. I just woke up to Tyler trying to calm me down, apparantly I was breathing really hard and sitting up like I was having a nightmare. I don’t remember any nightmare, but my heart was sure racing. Whenever that happens to me, I end up feeling a little off all the next day. It doesn’t happen to me that often anymore at least. So anyway I was just at home chilling out and checking my email and doing my other internet stuff that I was DIEING to do because I’d been without the power all day. I was chatting with my brother online and he was saying he almost had enough money for an xbox, and could I get him a gift certificate for Futureshop for xmas. And I was like fuck that let’s go get you one right now, I’ll pay the difference and I’ll even give you my old tv for your room! So we had fun going out and getting it and getting it set up. My parents don’t really understand the importance of video games but I do, and I do love spoiling my little brother with things that the parents don’t really approve of. Now Tyler is home and we are going to trim our tree. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
doogloose	1:20a	Fell asleep on the couch and now it’s midnight I hate that, I fell asleep on the couch around 9:30 and woke up shortly before midnight. What the hell. Totally unintentional. Sometimes I think I have narcolepsy. Or maybe it was the winter ale I had with dinner. Today was sort of hectic. There was all sorts of noise in the morning because the electricians were getting started doing the upgrade that is getting finished tomorrow. Then, while we were out doing Christmas shopping in the afternoon and buying our tree, Carolyn calls me to say the chimney sweep has come over today afterall (he wasn’t supposed to be here until Friday). So we came home and he was finishing up. The fireplace is still smoking, but it’s a bit less than before so I guess cleaning it was a step in the right direction. Another guy is coming back in a few days to try to figure out why it is still smoking. I really hope we can get it figured out because having a fire would just be so nice. So the electrical upgrade is almost done, tomorrow the power gets turned off and then later in the day back on. On Thurs the heat pump is getting installed and we will have to figure out what to do with our leftover oil. It’s a real bummer that we have leftover oil that we JUST had to buy, but I guess it is just how it worked out and I have to get over the monetary waste. At least we have been nice and toasty warm this week instead of freezing cold while waiting for the install. We got our tree today, but it’s only about 3/4 of the way up. It’s leaning a bit and undecorated. I think tomorrow night we are going to do the tree trimming. There was just too much going on today. I played cello today AND got time at the torch. Weird to suddenly have time to do more than one creative thing in a day like that. It’s nice to be off school for a few weeks. Phaibun says Merry Christmas. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Monday, December 14th, 2009
doogloose	11:50p	Really pissed off Tyler finally got up the nerve to call his mom today. I’ve been telling him he had better call her soon to let her know he and I are both working on Christmas day, because if we spring that on her at the last minute, I’m sure we would never hear the end of it. He hasn’t wanted to call because usually, she just doesn’t pick up, or doesn’t call back. If he does talk to her, it usually doesn’t go very well. We haven’t actually seen his family since the wedding in August, even though they live only about a 5 min drive from us. Tyler has basically given up trying to communicate with them, because his dad just isn’t a phone or visit person really, and his mom is impossible to communicate with. Well anyway the phone call tonight did not go well. It went something like this, as far as I could tell: - Tyler asks how his mom is doing; she says she’s been really busy. He tells his mom his job is going well, but he’s been really busy as well with work. He says he has got a promotion. She does not congratulate him, but instead goes “oh yeah your sister got promoted at her job too.” - Tyler says he has to work Christmas, his mom starts bitching about that. - They start arguing about who hasn’t called who, and she starts on him about how he never visits his grandparents. He reminds her of the last time he called, asking her to take him to visit his grandma (who has recently been moved to a nursing home), and she refused. She tells him that his grandpa (who was diagnosed with terminal cancer sometime this year) has been in the hospital. He gets mad that she never told him. She said if he called more, he would get updated on that sort of thing. She starts ranting, he puts the phone down for a second so as to try to regain his temper, and when he picks it up again, he hears a click as she is hanging up. I know that both sides probably have real grievances here, but I do see Tyler trying to build bridges, and I don’t see his mom doing that. I basically feel like she (and, by inaction, his dad too) gave up on him when he had his psych issues several years ago and ended up in hospital. Actually, they may have given up on him even earlier than that. But now there is just no relationship, and I think Tyler is done trying to build one. I am feeling so mad right now too. I’m just so fed up with this whole situation. I hate seeing Tyler be so unsupported. I feel like his whole life, all his parents have done (especially his mother, but again, his dad too through inaction) have just beaten him down, always focusing on the negative and never giving him any support. My parents have always been more like real parents to him than his own have. They have always been so much more supportive. I know he hasn’t always made all the best choices, but he is a good guy. His own mother doesn’t know him at all. And yes she’s dealing with her own stress right now. I know that. But fuck, still, he is her son. He has made so many wonderful changes in the past few years and I don’t think his family really knows it, or maybe even doesn’t care. I think we might end up not even seeing them at Christmas. And that makes me sad. But like I said, Tyler seems really done with trying to build the relationship back up, and something tells me that his parents aren’t going to be the one to extend the olive branch. Things are just going to continue to degrade until we are complete strangers from them. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
doogloose	12:07a	So tired! I am feeling soo exhausted. The weekend went really well though! I think it has just been a combo of all the stuff going on – between work, the Christmas shows, and final exams. I just feel wiped. Not in a bad way though. Today I came home after the teardown, had some dinner and a beer, and just fell asleep. Honestly when I woke up at about 10:30 pm I thought it might be morning again, I’d slept so deeply. I am still tired too and I somehow doubt that I will be up for too long before I go back to bed. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
kabuki	8:41p	Oh. She was the praying mantis all along. I get it. m. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 12th, 2009
doogloose	11:27p	Moss st Christmas Today was the first day of the Moss st Christmas market. It went really well! It was busy, but didn’t have that same frenzied busy feeling that the Touch of Saltspring did. Also we had more space so our booth didn’t feel as cramped and it was easier to get in and out. My mom let me go home early so I could have a nap before my exam tonight. So I came home, had a nap, had some food, did a bit of last minute studying, and went to the test feeling pretty refreshed. I think it went fine. On the way home I picked up some ingredients to make Nanaimo bars, because our household is sending a care package to a mutual friend on Monday and I wanted to bake something to include for him. I was so dumb though, I left one of the bags at Safeway, I came home and was missing ingredients. So I called the store, and sure enough they could confirm that someone had left a bag, but they had reshelved everything. So I had to go through my receipt, figure out what I was missing, and go back to the store and pick it all out again. That was lame and embarassing. If it hadn’t been necessary baking ingredients, I would have probably just not bothered going back! The bars are in the fridge now. The middle layer was really difficult to spread nicely and I even dumped the whole thing on the floor at one point (amazingly, it stayed in one piece, and was sitting on top of parchment paper in the pan so the actual food didn’t touch the actual floor, it could have been way worse). I think writing exams must make my brain sketchy. I still get test anxiety. I think the bars will be fine though. Hopefully it will still look like three layers. Here are some pics from the market today. [nggallery id=66] Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
doogloose	12:53a	So tired today Ok, so I didn’t drink *much* today. I certainly got nowhere near drunk at any point. I was out to lunch with the girls from work for a Christmas type get together, and had a bellini (which I have to say was quite weak). Then, at my parents’ house while getting some stuff ready for the market tomorrow, I had a very small glass of cognac (which I had to try because it was very expensive and aged). But at work, I was just SO sleepy. I couldn’t seem to shake off the drowsy feeling (I want to stress that I was NOT drunk at work, not even slightly tipsy or even feeling inebriated at all, just TIRED… big difference). I am glad I didn’t pass out at my desk is all I can say. Especially in that last really quiet hour there. I don’t think I will drink anything before having an evening shift at work again, though. I think it wears my system down a bit processing the stuff. It is very cold and feels like it might snow. I love it when it snows, but at the same time, I kind of hope it doesn’t snow, since that will probably keep people away from the market this weekend. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.
Friday, December 11th, 2009
doogloose	1:26a	Kind of blah today It was fucking freezing last night. Our room temp actually went down to 53 degrees F. That’s just under 12 C. I didn’t sleep very well. I kept waking up in the morning and feeling for the heat vent (next to the bed) to see if the oil had come yet. It hadn’t. I got so chilled last night and my stomach was really acting up, I think maybe in part due to being so cold that all my muscles were tight. Today my stomach has been feeling crappy all day too. It was my brother’s birthday (he’s 17, which is crazy to me!) so I went over there for lunch. I was feeling really tired and kind of sick so I didn’t stay for that long. I went home and cranked the little space heater in the bedroom, and just passed out until it was time to go to work. I was tempted to call in sick to work but I went, it was warm at work at least. When I got home, it was hot in the house – the oil has been delivered, and the heat pump is getting installed next week, so we actually have a half tank to try to burn through now. We are going to enjoy the warmth and just crank the heat as much as we want for that week. Ciaran’s tummy is looking better and she’s definitely scratching less. The fleas (and mice too) have probably all died from the cold spell that occurred in our house overnight. Originally published at Amy's Blog. Please leave any comments there.