You've got to give it away....

Things I have come across while carrying out operation clean sweep which are going to charity on wed:

-2 South Park ties...neither of which J remembers ever owning
-Mad Dawg suspenders in dayglo colours (may keep those for a laugh)
-An early 90s suit jacket with hammer time style arms and lapels
-Many pairs of shoes that I HATE but keep around so I have shoes of that particular colour...they are going away.
-A number of bridesmaid dresses from long ago (sorry Tabitha and Anna Lisa)
-A full set of ratty old luggage
-A solid brass vent cover
-My old favourite red winter jacket from many years ago
-No less than 3 old purses of varying colours and tackiness
-A sexy pair of boots I got on ebay for 2$ but I could never get zipped up all the way (damn)
-My old staff jacket from when I worked in the City of Regina water laboratory (nice jacket...way too big now)
-2 irons
-Old jackets and shirts from larger times

I did find some old stuff from our trip to London and our honeymoon...that was cool. I also found a paystub from university when I night managed a coffee shop for a whopping $6 an hour. Bizarre...

It's all getting put into one giant old suitcase and being given away. Lots more to go, but it's a start...

These are exciting times

This weekend was a busy one - started off quite crappy, but ended up just fine. I got lots done and managed to spend some time with J too...nice. J's Mom was in the hospital for a few days, but she is home now and is OK, so that is a relief. A sign that the weekend was to be a good one.
I had a tasty baked fish meal with Magnus on friday, and then visited with some family that were in town a tiny bit of time. That was nice. And on the weekend? Well, more tidying, and I volunteered at the CFCR art auction for most of Saturday...it was at a posh country club, but I was stuck at the money desk for the evening, so I didn't have as much fun pretending I was a wealthy heiress on holiday in Spain like I'd planned. We had a lot of nice pieces and most of them sold, and people were happy. Half the proceeds go to the local artists and the other half to CFCR, so that was good. There were some pieces there I would have loved to take home, but who am I kidding? They don't take bark and leaves as payment - I should know. I was the one taking the payments!
Sunday was attack the yard day. the snow we had briefly melted on saturday, so I took the chance to take out a borrowed rake and attack the yard and trim up the hedges. I love power tools. I didn't get to where the vines were, but after 3 solid hours in the yard, it's looking rather nice. The back and sides and around the steps and hedges are all done for winter. I'm glad, as I figured I wouldn't have been abler to get to it this year. I'm surprised I'm not stiff after all that, actually.
I've also gotten some primer and we've pretty much picked out the paint for the computer room...I have this week to patch holes and wash walls so I can start painting it this coming weekend - I'm very excited. Add to that that operation clean sweep is pretty much done except for the bookshelves near the computer (J's job) and the kitchen clutter (*sigh*) and it's pretty exciting. Instead of looking around and seeing lots of things to do, I'm seeing all the things I've gotten *done*.
THAT is a good feeling.
I also dusted some of the plants above the door and we put some plants back in the living room. We also picked up some frames for some stuff we've wanted to hang up for ages, so that is a step closer to being hung up too...
Exiting times at Casa Geo.
Moving on up we are. Yessirree.

Best of all?

I finally got to spend some of my birthday money and I picked up this:

Veganomicon. I've been eying it up for ages...it's set up like the Joy of Cooking (my cooking bible) with comments on how to cook and prepare all the grains and beans and other things mentioned in the book, and then 250 yummy looking vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, but I find a lot of vegan cooking is delicious, as they actually rely on the flavour of foods, and not just a slab of meat, for tastiness. So I have lots of things to try out and now I can learn how to cook all these things I've read about but have no idea what to do with...like quinoa.

I'm excited. Anything yummy will get posted on my foody blog.

Gotta go...busy day. Talk amongst yourselves :)

Happiness patrol

Another day, another cookie...

This morning I sincerely smiled at a stranger and he blinked, looked a bit taken back and then his eyes lit up and he smiled. His whole face lit up. I tried it again at the bus stop...and another smile.

Geo was curious.

I am going to do a smile survey today...anyone I do not know, I will look at them straight in the eye and smile sincerely and see how many people smile back VS look away or frown. Granted I don't work around a lot of people, so I don't know how many people I'll be able to inflict smiles upon, but I figure it can only be a good thing...the nerd in me may even make up graphs of results...I'll keep you posted.

Slowly but surely

The house is now 1/3 defurred, ubercleaned and dusted, and thanks to J, decluttered and reorganised as we go. Good god, you'd think the cats spent days at a time actively shedding their body weight in fluff...lucky they are so cute...
J and I have been going to town, and I'm trying to keep at it all ALL week, so that at the end of the week all will be organised and clean and we can start putting things on the walls, and arranging furniture in the living room. It's very invigorating...it's like we've been in limbo for months, and suddenly the house is being restored to an *actual* house...not just rooms full of stuff haphazardly placed in groups. You don't realise how mentally oppressive that is until it's fixed. It's time to get rid of lots of things we've found and went "WTF is this for?", and have giggled at finding things we thought were lost forever...
I feel like we should have people over at the end just to show it off somehow...Christmas party anyone? :)

Unfortunately, my allergies are going haywire...what with me being allergic to mold, dust and catfur, but if I can hold out a bit more, it'll all be over. It's the reason FOR all this...in the end I'll be much happier. And I'll have my house back.
Plus, at the end I get a reward of sorts. THEN I'm able to start to paint the old yellow craft room upstairs to turn it into a computer room, so J can finally set up his music gear downstairs...it's currently a tiny rubber duck yellow room with violent orange and pink trim (I'd like to state that I didn't do it, BTW, it came that way). I want to prime it and make it a nice lime green with white trim...THAT is my reward for cleaning the house. A redone computer room. I only planned it, oh, a year ago...he heh. By my standards that is a bit ahead of the game :)
And then... december and operation christmas...blinky light time.
Muaha!

Operation clean sweep

Whew...we're gearing up to clean the whole damn house top to bottom.
I am not looking forward to it, but being cooped up inside in the winter requires an anti-furring of the domicile to keep me well.
Plus, I'm feeling guilty about not having things all back together after the renos, so this will help get things back to a semblance of normal...and...um...find all the things I tucked away for "safe keeping" while we painted.
Wish me luck.

SNOW!

It's finally snowing...lots of big fluffy flakes.
It's not so bad actually...considering it's been this long before it came, I can't complain.
I'm more excited that J's shoot was cancelled tonight so he has the evening off!
Pizza and movies and me...oh my!
Oh, and yesterday I made the best pancakes ever.
Ever.
EVER.
Make some...you'll see...Check my food blog for the recipe.
I also made up a feta spinach stuffed chicken breast with oven roasted balsamic veggies for supper. It also was droolingly good...if I can remember how I made it I'll definitely do it again :) Yesterday was truly the day of deliciousness...

Gotta go...I'm off to the pet store to see what weird things I can find to get my cat to stop scratching the couch.
Bye...

Finally...

Thank god it's friday.
This has been what has seemed like the longest week ever. Lots do do...
FINALLY, J gets a day off tomorrow. Why is this significant? Well he hasn't had a day off since Oct 20...no kidding.
So it will be much napping and relaxing.
Tonight, the Fort Knox Five are in town along with Matt the Alien at the Odeon-this is a good thing. I do believe I will dance off some vibes by shaking my butt at the speed of sound to some great funk and breaks.
...and then veg out saturday...raking, trimming a hedge, making yummy food. Watching the new Futurama film. you know...live like normal people.

Because I'm too bleah and lame to do a full out friday favourites, let me just say that today, my brain has been stuck on the Cranberries ...an older album actually.
No Need to Argue is a great old album...and so, because the song has been in my head all morning...you can hear Zombie too. Go here. Universal is being a ponce and won't let me embed it...

Later tater..