A Glee Gush

In highschool I was the typical jock who didn't really stray far from the gymnasium. I had found my adolescent niche, I was good at what I did and I was well-liked by my peers. Though it wasn't the highlight of my existence, I loved highschool. It was easy and fun. However, I have but one regret: why, oh why did I not mix sweat with solos - volleyball with vocal - deaks with dance - homeruns with harmony - jockism with jazz hands?!? Because I would have looked absolutely ridiculous, that's why. But I would have loved every minute of it! Just like I love every minute of watching my new favorite show, GLEE. Hurray for vicarious living...in the past. Did that make sense?

J

Finding the Right Fit

Ever since we got married, Ken has, almost without fail, checked the listings on realtor.ca to browse through his dream houses. I, on the other hand, thought that such an activity was merely wishful thinking and somewhat futile, considering that we wouldn't be in the market for a house for at least a couple of years. So why get excited about something you know you can't buy? It's as frustrating as window shopping - man, do I hate window shopping!


However, just recently Ken and I have started to look into buying our first home and I can't tell you how incredibly obsessive compulsive I have become about checking the listings. The possibilities are definitely not endless - we only have so much money to spend - but I now love looking at all the pictures and imagining what furniture would go where and what colour I would paint the walls. It brings up a lot of questions though because before, I never really thought about what exactly I wanted because I saw owning a house as something so far away from the present. So now I have to ask myself all these questions: should we sacrifice square footage for location? Should we invest in sweat equity or go for something that wouldn't require much work? Is a garage more important than yard space? Attached, detached, semi-detached? Basement suite? 3 bedrooms or 4? How many kids do I think I'm going to have anyway?! And mortgages - the mind boggles!


It will probably take us another year just to figure out what we want. Maybe window shopping isn't so bad after all - as long as it's for houses.

Marriage: a competition?

One thing that you need to know about me and Ken is that we are both very competitive people. This personality trait is quite an advantage when we are on the same team/page but when we aren't...well, let's just say that things can get quite "colorful."

Most of the time our competitive constitutions center around who is right and who is an idiot. Examples of this "friendly fire" vary from things as important as whose family should our kid(s) go to if we die? to things as unimportant as who has the most accurate finger flicking aim in croquenot? And while the majority of our banter is, indeed, benign - it can, on occasion take on a more fiendish aspect that results in wounded pride or sore ribs (from the mother of all evils: poking attacks!). Consequently, on "one of those days" a venerable amount of our pillow talk time can be taken up apologizing and laughing about how stupid we are...haha.

You know what, though? I would rather remain in a repartee with Ken for eternity than spend a lifetime getting along perfectly with anyone else. Feel free to gag, scoff and/or mock but the fact remains that even when we attempt to refute and retaliate, defend and disprove - in the end, we always let our relationship win. And that will now, and forever, make all the difference.

J

The Test

I haven't really done any considerable or cardiovascular intensive activities since I first became pregnant a little over a year ago. So when Ken suggested that we do a hike in Banff on Saturday, I was a little hesitant to even attempt it considering my poor conditioning. However, with a little cajoling from him and a goal in mind, we set out for Johnston Canyon with little Russ in tow.

I don't know why but I felt that it was my duty as a mother to carry my 12.5lb son all 6.5k up and all 6.5 k down the trail strapped to my chest. It was a compulsion that I can't quite explain - almost like a natural instinct. Mothers for centuries have worked in the fields or in the house with babies strapped to their backs or hips so it seemed to me more like an honor to entangle myself in the tradition. That was before we started the hike.

I soon discovered that an extra 12.5lbs added to the extra pounds I was already carrying made quite a difference but I was determined to make it the whole way without complaint and be happy about it. I can't say that I was happy the entire way and my romanticized vision of motherly tradition became somewhat altered , to say the least (Ken will probably carry the baby next time...haha), but I didn't complain and the hike was beautiful. I was also quite pleased that I had exceeded Ken's expectations. Although he didn't say it, I'm pretty sure he thought I would only make it to the upper falls and then give up before the "ink pots". Take that, Ken! I went double the distance and carrying a baby to boot! I don't want to boast or anything, but I was pretty awesome.

And, thus, baby Russ completed his first hike ever without even killing his mother.

My Little Smiler

I just love that Russell smiles all the time now and the other day he actually laughed! A baby laugh is just the most adorable thing in the world.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

About a month ago I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night expecting to see my stomach slashed and all of my vitals organs lying nicely in a steaming pile on the floor. Fortunately, no such event occurred. However, the excruciating pain emanating from some unknown place in my abdomen had led me to believe that I had been the first victim in a B-list slasher flick. I rushed myself to the hospital, was admitted to emergency and, after blood and urine tests, then later an ultrasound, discovered that, no, I had not somehow unwittingly swallowed shards of glass, I had gall stones. Apparently, during pregnancy, my Godzilla-sized uterus managed to cause build up in my bile duct.

I was relieved to know what was wrong but have since suffered several more excruciating attacks which have prompted more trips to emergency just to make the pain go away. THEN about two weeks ago, I started to get incredibly lethargic and discovered at a doctor's appointment that I was jaundiced. The gall stones were now starting to interfere with my liver function causing increased billirubin levels. THEN my entire body started to itch like it was entirely covered in mosquito bites (another symptom of a liver function problem). THEN, I became nauseous.

The only cure for gall stones is to remove the gall bladder entirely and, frankly, I am all for that if it means I can feel normal again. GET THAT MUTHA'-TRUCKA' OUT OF ME! I have an appointment with the surgeon this Wednesday so, if all goes well, I'll have a surgery booked pretty soon and can finally get my life back. We'll see.

J

15 Books in 15 Minutes

Laura posted this in her latest blog and I thought I would carry the torch.

The instructions are to come up with 15 books in no more than 15 mintues that have stuck with you, for better for for worse. Here is my list, feel free to post your own:

1. A Dog Called Kitty - Bill Wallace (My favorite book in grade 4)
2. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
3. The Chronicles of Narnia series - C.S. Lewis
4. Mother West Wind Why and How Stories - Thornton W. Burgess (My father read these to me before bed as a child. Sentimentally awesome)
5. Children of the Promise series - Dean Hughes ( a Mormon series set in WW II)
6. East of Eden - John Steinbeck (I don't know who can beat this kind of story-telling)
7. An Instance of the Fingerpost - Ian Pears (a loooong but interesting murder mystery as told by four very unreliable narrators that also describes scientific thought in Restoration Europe. It entertains to teach.)
8. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho (a spiritual allegory)
9. The Outsider - Albert Camus (the epitome of existentialism)
10. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
11. Green Grass, Running Water - Thomas King (formatted to represent Native American oral story telling. Quite interesting and hilarious.)
12. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (One of the most moving books I've ever read)
13. Dune series - Frank Herbert (a science fiction metaphor for the politics and religious extremism surrounding the middle east and its natural resources)
14. The Fall of a Titan - Igor Gouzenko (Oh how the mighty hath fallen! An extremely powerful cautionary tale of moral descent set in Communist Russia)
15. Wild Geese - Martha Ostenso (A poignant take of Canadian prairie isolationism)

Like Laura, I would also love to read your lists. Sometimes it's funny what sticks with us.

J