The Daily EO

The Daily EO: January 12th, 2013

When I started stocking up my house we first moved here, I went to Costco with a friend. I have an inherent cheapness about me that causes me to have issue with the requirement to pay money to a store just for the right to shop there. I mean, really? Is it that exclusive? And it further pisses me off that they have the best price and best quality for raw nuts. So I have to keep mooching off my friends who buy Costco memberships to get said nuts and other items. Sigh.

Anyways, I had left the cart and when I returned, my friend had conveniently placed a 2 piece travel mug set in the cart for me to purchase. I pondered this for a while, because I seem to get and get rid of a lot of travel mugs – I don’t tend to use them. My friends extolled the virtues of this particular travel mug to me. I was staying at their home for a month while we settled in – perhaps it was polite to buy the mugs. Perhaps that is what people do in Coquitlam. I didn’t really know that I needed one and one was purple which matches my “blackberry” Honda which would make me feel weird and matchy (my iPod is enough). Huh. I made my decision, took the travel mugs out of the cart and returned it to the shelf.

And then picked up a different pack that had silver and blue and instead of purple. Sigh, the social pressures we have to contend with.

It turns out, that I like these travel mugs a lot. My friend was right. I did need them. <<insert “I told you so” here, Alison>>I use one most days and I really like how they lock closed so you can drop it or roll it around in your car without spilling. Very good seal system. When you want to drink, you press a button and hold a button that allows you to drink.

But there are techniques for using these mugs. First – if you like to taste foods and retain feeling in your mouth, make sure you let the beverage cool before putting on the lid. Or wait an hour. It will still be lava hot. It’s ridiculous. I return from a meeting each day at 9 am to find my still piping hot tea upon my desk. Which is very handy and satisfying If you *need* caffeine then you might want a less effective mug.

Modern technology has allowed us to train our animals more humanely – gone are whips and electric shock collars. Instead we have the dog whisperer, “alone” time and spray collars. You know spray collars for dogs. When he barks, you click the remote and the dog gets a faceful of citronella or the like. Apparently this is very effective for altering behavior in dogs.

And to get back to my second point about proper technique on these travel mugs. If you leave the mug lid to soak in water (to avoid any stinky diary smell from the milk in tea), water seeps into the seals and gets trapped and sits there

What does it sit there waiting for? Well, me of course. When I take the first sip of the day – usually while driving – the water sprays a fine mist up my nose, across my eyes and dampens my bangs. How many times have I done this? At least 7. Can’t I remember to release the mist away from my face? You’d think so.

January 12th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Not quite as smart as a dog, but I’ve got good, safe and hot tea.

The Daily EO: January 11th, 2013

Portraits From the Holiday Season

January 11th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Holiday Memories

The Daily EO: January 10th, 2013

Today we were invited to Carson’s third birthday. Third birthdays are better than the 1st or 2nd (where everyone else seems to enjoy it more than you). When you are 3, you are start to get it. And you are surrounded by aunts, uncles, grandpas, omas, sisters and friends who bring brightly wrapped packages to be opened after sugary cake. What happens?

Well, you run the gamut of emotion:

I can't take much more! — I can’t take much more!

January 11th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: A family birthday that we – “just” friends – were invited to. What a special night.

The Daily EO: January 9th, 2013

January is three things to the retail world: White Sales, Get Healthy and Organize Your Life. Take a look at your flyers: Canadian Tire has all their Rubbermaid bins on sale, Old Navy has their workout gear on sale and the Hudson’s Bay is selling off towels.

And there is something about January that spurs on the clean-out mode. Perhaps is it the long stretch from now until Spring, or the excesses from Christmas – both food and things – that get us focused on cleaning, organizing, and reducing. I don’t really know why the white sale traditions in January. Perhaps it is because you had to burn the sheets unwanted holiday visitors slept on?

I watch Hoarders (the TV show) sometimes and cringe always because I was raised by a consolidator. (which we think would be a great reality TV show – match up a hoarder and consolidator in one house and see who goes crazy first). But have you noticed – those who have big houses with lots of space have difficult wrapping their arms around the problem of clutter. Why? Because they have been free to live without unfettered for years – free to collect and gather and store without real implications.

I can tell you – as the manager of the warehouse for my company – the same is true in business. If your business plan calls for a 20,000 square foot warehouse and you have a 40,000 square foot one, watch out! Soon you will have the thing full and wondering where the next incoming shipment will be stored until needed.

Any mistake, poor system or bad decision without dealing with the ramifications will get hidden in your warehouse or closet. And you’ll find yourself looking for space to store your necessities. And while Rubbermaid bins are not going to fix our warehouse, the concept is the same.

Deal with the mistakes, fix the poor systems, review what you’ve got and throw out the valueless.

January 9th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Reenergized by beginning my clean-out plan.

The Daily EO: January 8th, 2012

For Christmas in my stocking from my brother, I received a head massager. The last place I remember seeing one is in Miss Congeniality 2 (which is a terrible movie. Why? because Benjamin Bratt wasn’t in it. What was Julia Roberts thinking when she threw him over to marry some whatever movie director).

I had never tried one, though I admit feeling a vague feeling of curiously, but not enough to pursue it. And really, it’s probably one of those gimmicks.

So when I got it in my stocking, I wasn’t really thrilled until I pulled it out of the box and tried it.

It’s like being able to tickle yourself or massage yourself.

My husband comes up behind me and surprises me and I find myself tense like a fainting goat – not wanting to make false move lest he stops.

January 8th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Get yourself a head massager. So good.

The Daily EO: January 7th, 2013

How long can you reasonably avoid exercise due to excess phlegm and mucus?

January 7th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Cliche January hasn’t yet begun and I like this excuse.

The Daily EO: January 6th, 2013

We opened boxes today that I packed in Midland, Ontario in August 2011. Things that were wrapped up with the expectation of being enjoyed again in a couple of months (or weeks?). Instead, they spent time in a storage warehouse in Gravenhurst, then into first floor of our rental house in Huntsville, then into a storage locker in Huntsville, then across the country to Vancouver where they have sat until we could find time and place for them.

I’ve moved many times, and one thing I’ve learned is leave the pictures on the wall as long as possible. Take the pictures down when you need to feel a sense of accomplishment on how much you have packed. White walls with nail holes tell you the end is near – it’s soon time to go.

We’ve still got much in our storage locker to go through, but Sunday we opened the pictures. Because you can’t have blank white walls and be able to call it home.

Back in 2004, we moved to Huntsville – and moved into our first home together. It was the first home I had ever owned and the first house my husband (then boyfriend) had even owned. It was perfect for us then. We had moved from Toronto and separate apartment living to our own house with many blank walls and empty rooms to fill.

It was while embracing our new home town that we attended our first Huntsville Fall Fair. The fall fair is what you’d expect from a small rural town. There is a carnival, local entertainment, farm animals and many ribbons in several categories to compete for.

I was utterly charmed by the fair and by my new town. When I viewed my husband’s pictures (taken on his then brand new Nikon D70), I enchanted to find what remains to this day one of my all-time favorites images. We took two from that day (and another one of stacked Ranier cherries at Granville Island) to create a series of 3 perfect large prints for our kitchen.

They were our first pictures together in our first home. And we hung them again in our Midland home.

January 6th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Today they were hung in our Vancouver home. I’m glad to see them again.

The Marmalade Glows in the Sun. — Marmalade Glows in the Sun.

The Daily EO: January 5th, 2013

I don’t often get sick, which is a good thing. I don’t deal with sickness well. I whine and complain and don’t get enough sleep, have endless showers and moan about how I am probably dying. However, I will share with you my wisdom:

1. The cold is always the worst first thing in the morning. It will get better as the day progresses. You can honestly say, it can’t get worse from here

2. It’s okay to lay down in the shower and let its curing hot water loosen up the phlegm and mucus that is lying around in there.

3. If you can’t stop coughing, have a spoonful of brown sugar. It feels so good.

4. Don’t use anything but plain Vaseline on your angry red nose. No stinging, just pure relief. (and a greasy face, but it’s totally worth it)

5. Stuffing Kleenex up your nose is totally normal and it feels really good. And it gives you a break from blowing.

6. Sinuses must be really really big because I can’t understand where all of this . . . stuff is being stored.

7. Take drugs at night, but avoid drugs during the day – even if they say non-drowsy, they make you feel loogy.

8. When you are starting to get better, your voice will probably sound the worst. You can milk this if you need to.

January 5th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: On the mend.

The Daily EO: January 4th, 2012

Almost a year ago, I wrote about traditions. I told you I like them. It makes me feel connected to the past. And I do honour traditions. This past Christmas, my mom told my brother and I that she didn’t need a stocking because we wouldn’t be together on Christmas morning. Independently, both Todd and I made sure she got a stocking – she got two. For part of Christmas lunch, we had mimosas and a pear apple (or an Asian pear) because we like them and because, well, it’s tradition.

Each Christmas, my parents sent out a Christmas letter – like many did – to friends and family to update them on the year’s happenings. Somewhere along the line, my Dad started writing a poem as the Christmas update – I think he started in 1967? And so each year, he would create a poem about events in rhyming couplets. At some point, I decided to become the Christmas poet and take up my dad’s quill. And for many years since – perhaps even 20 now – I have sent the family Christmas letter in poem.

E-mail and texting is changing the tradition of Christmas card – we receive very few in the mail any more. And I feel. .felt? . . that I was defending the erosion of this tradition. Cards are tactile objects for keeping, for rereading. Emile and I created our own traditions – eliminate the card, instead make a postcard from one of his pictures. It was ours, and I felt good about producing our Christmas package each year – it brought me pleasure to write and send.

And yet, this year I could not get into the mood. I could not seem to bring my pencil to paper to create our poem, but somehow managed to squeeze out 3 stanzas. But I needed to give myself a break. Surely right after Christmas I’d find the spirit to complete my card and get it out before New Year’s.

But then I was robbed. And in that backpack? My 3 longhand stanzas on my favorite (recycled from a computer motherboard) clipboard.

It’s taken me a while to get over that theft – and I still am smarting from it. I am pissed off, but continue to hope that perhaps something good will come from this. A lesson, a gift. And perhaps it is this: the realization that I don’t want to rewrite those 3 stanzas or any other stanzas this year.

Part of me mourns the end (or the gap?) in the tradition. Change is good, change is disconcerting. But this year there will be no Christmas or New Year’s letter heading your way from us. I hope you miss it a bit (like I do).

This year is just beginning, so perhaps we’ll begin a new tradition, or send greetings another way. I don’t know, but making this decision eases the furrow on my brow.

January 4th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary: Taking my own advice from a year ago: “Sometimes, you just need to move along people.” Traditions end. New things begin.

The sentiment remains. To all our friends and family: Happy Holidays via this untraditional medium. We spent our holiday season with those who are most important to us and hope you shared precious moments with those you care about.

The Daily EO: January 3rd, 2013

When I was in Huntsville in December, we shot off some 22 rifles with some friends. I had never shot a gun before, so it was a new experience for me. I am right-handed, so I support the gun on the right side of my body, with my right hand on the trigger and my left on supporting the barrel. Like this:

Shooting a Rifle. (note the pretty nails)

It turns out I couldn’t hit the side of a barn from the inside of the barn.

Part of my problem is my vision – I have always had problems with depth perception due to a lazy eye (which is hardly noticeable, honest, my hunchback and lisp usually distract people) and farsightedness. When I am tired, one of my eyes drifts inward. But also, if you are shooting with the right side of your body, and cocking your head to the right and using one eye to sight. . . . it should probably be the RIGHT eye that is open. Right, cause that is the eye that is directly over the gun. When I tried to shoot with both eyes open, I couldn’t sight the gun properly.

As I recounted this story to my family on Christmas Day, my brother asked me why I didn’t just close my left eye instead. Wha?! My left eye instead? What are you talking about? One can only wink with one eye!

That lead to the entire family (uncle, aunt, aunt’s mother, cousin X 2, 98-year-old grandpa, husband, and brother) doing the double wink. Left. Right. Left. Right. “Ha ha! You have brain damage!”

Really? My mother can only wink with one eye too, (the other one from me) but maybe she was just feeling sorry for me.

January 3rd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Despite trying for weeks now to wink with my left eye, the only thing I have accomplished to date is a weird Popeye squint and a left leaning head cock. Brain Damage indeed.

PS. I know you might think that I was shooting with Steven Paige of Bare Naked Ladies fame, but that is his Doppelganger.