Candy is Dandy, but Sugar is the Perfect Revenge

When Julia was about to turn 8 she decided she wanted a bunny. We had already gone through the hamster thing and JJ (Julia Junior) was buried in the backyard with notes of love and adoration written all over the fence by Julia and her friends.

On a Thursday night around 10:30 pm about three weeks before Julia’s birthday. Brian informed me in the “Oh by the way manner” that only a man can do, that he was bringing home a bunny for Julia the next day. He was getting it for free and it came with a cage and everything! I was furious – I didn’t want any more rodents in my house and the fact that he “forgot” to mention it until it was too late seemed just a little too convenient.

The next day the girls and I were having lunch with Samantha’s grade 4 teacher. It came out in conversation that they were heading to Las Vegas for 2 weeks and had nowhere for their beloved shih tzu to go. So naturally I offered to take him for her. I told the girls that we would tell daddy that we were keeping him for good. That they were giving him to us, wouldn’t that be a funny trick to play on daddy? They agreed and were delighted with the idea of pulling one over on their dad. I’ll see you that rabbit and raise you a dog!

That night, as promised Brian came home with the cutest bunny in existence. He rang the doorbell and I sent Julia to answer it. She squealed with delight, she was thrilled her very own bunny! Wow could the day get any better, Sugar was coming for a sleepover and now she had her very own bunny! In her excitement she burst out with “Daddy, we’re going to baby-sit Sugar and now he’ll get to meet my new bunny”.

Well that certainly backfired now didn’t it. I had somehow gotten myself a dog sitting gig and a rabbit and I didn’t even get the pleasure of terrifying my husband first. I didn’t even like dogs – or rabbits or anything fury for that matter.

I had never had a pet in my life (not counting the cat I had as a child. He only lasted 2 weeks and his only purpose was to try to get rid of a stubborn mouse. He scratched me on the face on his last day at our house – he must have known he was getting the boot) so I was not looking forward to the dog sitting thing.

Sugar came to stay with us for a week in August and my life hasn’t been the same since. He was 10 years old and very spoiled. He ate better than we did. His owner had prepared weeks worth of food (chicken breast with rice - I had to put a slice of ham on the bottom to encourage him to eat the rice and chicken). My biggest challenge was keeping Brian away from Sugar’s food. He couldn’t figure out where all these leftovers had come form. Sugar snacked on pistachios, which I shelled for him. On his first night with us, Brian ate all of Sugars pistachios - I had to buy more for Brian and Sugar to share.

On Sugar’s first night with us, I awoke to find him pacing in the hallway, making all kinds of noises. I woke Brian up – “what does he want – why is he doing that?” In a haze of sleep he informed me that Sugar probably had to go to the bathroom. Really, well I can do that; I’ll just take him to the backyard. So down the stairs we went. Sugar went outside, sniffed around lifted his leg and went for a pee against our maple tree. Wow – I was amazed that he had somehow communicated this need to me. I went upstairs and woke Brian up again and shared my astonishment at how smart Sugar was. Surely we were in the presence of four-legged brilliance. He must be gifted. Brian sleepily informed me that all dogs do that. NO WAY! was all I could come up with. Could it be true? Could these fury friends be able to make their needs known so easily? I was starting to come around. I could see a glimpse of what people were talking about when they said they were dog people. I took me the rest of the week to fully convert, but by the time Sugar left I was changed. I started referring to my self as a “recently converted dog person”. Two months later we adopted Winston – my first pet, it was love at first sight.

I Just Need 90 Minutes

I've had my head down and buried for the past couple of weeks dealing with an unexpected "bump in the road" at work. The girls are out of school and need to get from A to B while Brian and I are both at work with one car between us. Brian has decided that now is a good time to start "building things". My sister is getting married in September. Dexter the hamster died a violent death (no, Churchill did not eat him although I don't blame you for wondering) and if you swim in my pool, you risk frostbite. This is life, or at least life in my house and I'm pretty sure that my lifestyle is no different from any other mom out there.

It's a well known fact that sometimes (OK - frequently) we mom types tend to do for everyone else before we do for ourselves. We somehow end up on the bottom of the "to do" list, so it was with a spirit of rebellion that I booked a pedicure.

I had a gift certificate from Christmas (we'll ignore the fact that it is July and I'm just getting around to using it)so not only was I in for some pampering, it was free pampering, woo-hoo. I was practically giddy with excitement (again we're going to ignore the fact that I was that excited about a pedicure).

I went straight from work to the spa where I encountered a huge sign clearly stating that cell phones were not welcome. Being the rule conscious, respectful person that I am - I turned off my phone. I was led to the pedicure room and was offered a bottle of water. I sat in the chair with anticipation and set my feet in the steaming water. This was going to be good.

My Esthetician was politely chatting. - I grabbed a magazine. I just wanted silence and pampering - less talking more pampering please. She quickly got the hint and was happy to oblige. I picked out bubble gum pink nail polish (another bit of rebellion), sat in silence with my eyes closed and relaxed. It was soooo good. In case you're wondering - deep breathing and leg massages definitely go together. It was 90 minutes of no phone calls, no requests, no blackberry and no noise - and it was glorious.

I left the spa with toes that looked like 10 pieces of bubble gum. I felt peaceful, happy and energized. Good thing too because when I turned my cell phone back on, I had three voice mails, 2 IM conversations that I had missed and 2 "urgent requests".

In life sometimes you just need 90 minutes and when you do, you should take them because sometimes it's all you get......until next time that is!

On Staying Positive.......

A friend of mine is having a rough time and she's far away so I feel a little helpless. I've been thinking about her a lot lately and realised that it is very difficult to reach the age of 40 something without having suffered through a few rough patches along the way.

It is our journey and obligation as human beings to be tested and to endure. If we aren't tested we never see the blessings in our lives and we can never appreciate the victories, however small they might be.

Like many people, I have struggled with many things in my life, the most recent being breast cancer. Over the past 18 months I have struggled with varying degrees, to stay positive. There were days when I literally had to recite out loud the things that I was grateful for, and there were days when that list was really short. When that happened, it took every ounce I had to stay positive, but I did - I would recite my list, like a mantra, until I felt the familiar glow of gratitude.

Cancer has changed me. It has changed the essence of who I am and my struggle continues as I try to merge the person I was with person I am now.

As human beings we will always be challenged and tested. Hopefully we come out of those "rough times" having learned something. If we're really lucky we are left permanently aware.

Stay strong and persevere.

The Bike Ride Home

I did it! I actually rode my bike home from work. After months of talking about it and many false starts along the way, all the planets finally lined up and off I went.

It just so happens that my first ride home fell on the first really hot and humid day in Ottawa. I wasn't going to let that stop me, there had been too many "reasons" for me not to do it already.

I walked my bike over the gravel of the driveway onto the street. I climbed on. Apparently the fumes I had been inhaling all day made my balance a little off (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) because before I knew my it my bike and I were both on the ground. Not the best start. Hmmmmm, Sharon had offered to drive me home and she was still in the driveway, maybe I should take her up on that offer.

No easy way out this time. Back on I climbed and off I went. The ride was fairly typical for me. Lots of traffic, lots of hills and lots of heavy breathing - not the good kind. When I finally made it home I thought I was going to throw up - again fairly typical.

I called Brian to let him know that I hadn't succumbed to the heat or been hit by a truck. Apparently he wasn't hearing very well that day because he kept saying "What did you say? Are you Okay?" Alright - I might have been mumbling a little but can you blame me - air was my first priority.

Brian being the caring husband that he is suggested that I go for a swim. Certainly that would help cool me down. Great idea except that swimming would require me to change and I didn't think I could mange that. I decided to take my socks off and head to the pool.

My children came outside to find me floating on my chair in the pool (the closest thing to lying down that I could come up with at the time) with all my clothes on - except my socks of course.

Analysis time. Will I do it again - oh yeah. Did I like it - hell no - but I'm lucky that I have people in my life who inspire me to keep going - to not give up. So, when I'm struggling on my ride, I pull my strength from them and when I can breathe again, I say a word of thanks.

The Crazy Dog Lady

I like fury four-legged creatures, specifically dogs, you can even say I am a dog lover. I've come a long way in 5 short years. There was a time when I would hold my nose when I was around a dog, now I can't resist petting them and trying to win them over with promises of treats and love. Does this make me the "Crazy Dog Lady"? Not yet, because I only have two dogs......but I might be close.

The other day I said to myself, "I would like a third dog", but then I thought a third dog would definitely send me into the category of "Crazy". Another thought, maybe I'll just get a tiny dog and tell everyone it's a cat - that fixes the "Crazy Dog Lady" part but it leaves me with just plain old crazy. New thought - what about actually getting a cat?

With that thought in mind, I found myself at the pet store with Samantha (Sam), Julia and Julia's best friend also named Samantha (Sammi). First we looked at the puppies, and eventually we made our way to the kittens. They had three of the cutest Hymalayan kittens I had ever seen. They were $800.00 and while we were there someone bought one and let the girls hold it. Then the girls started and when I say girls I mean Julia and her BFF Sammi. "Please, please, please can we have one? They are so cute and small and great and I'll give you $300.00 towards it plus the $10.00 my mom gave you for lunch." That's right this offer came from Sammi. Julia said to her "You don't even live at our house". I pointed out that since they actually function as one person, she kind of did. The begging went on for about 10 minutes and I was afraid they would wear me down. I had to take action and do it quickly before I ended up with a cat. Finally I spotted my way out "Oh look" I said, "they have flip-flops over there." Sammi said "oooooo, I like flip-flops. Let's go."

Phew - that was a close one. Girls, you gotta love them especially when they are easily distracted by shoes!

As for the "Crazy Dog Lady" lesson learned. I think I 'll just stick to the two dogs I have and count my blessings......for now anyway :)

I'm a Delinquent Blogger.......

This is my first Blog all week and it's Thursday - unforgivable in the blogging world. Not to worry , I'm ready to go!

I took Winston and Churchill to the vet this week for their yearly physical and heart worm medication. After I paid the $400.00 plus bill, it got me to thinking about how much money these dogs cost us. That got me to thinking about how much we love these two fury creatures, even though they (mostly Churchill) get into all kinds of trouble, our lives would be so boring without them.

Speaking of trouble and Churchill - funny how those two words find themselves side-by-side so often - recently I came home to find little pieces of green plastic all over the living room floor.

It took me a few minutes to find the source of the green plastic. Finally, I spotted it. A few feet away on the floor I saw a tipped over peanut butter jar. Of course the lid (green plastic)was missing. When I looked inside the jar, I saw that the sides had been cleaned out and I mean squeaky clean, but only the first 3 inches. Stranger still, in the middle of the jar, the peanut butter had been formed into the shape of a cone. This is what we think happened.

The peanut butter was left on the table (I'm not naming names, but you know who you are....). As soon as we left for the day, Churchill began the arduous task of moving the peanut butter from the kitchen to the living room. Churchill is a small dog (about 20 pounds) and this was a big jar - and last time I checked he didn't have hands, so don't ask me how he managed this or why it had to be in the living room. Then he chewed off the lid, stuck his face in as far as he could and ate peanut butter for hours.

You might wonder how I know it was Churchill and not Winston. All I can say is trust me, it was Churchill - and he probably didn't share with his brother.

The New Den - We're Heeeeeere!

The move to the New Den is now complete. We have internet and phone lines and as of yesterday, we have a step that lets us walk in the door without falling over.

I figured this would be a good time to take inventory of our new digs! There are a few things we miss from our Hinchey location. We miss our corner store, the closeness of the mailbox and of course Janesh's little face in the window every morning.

Things we don't miss; the mangy squirrel that always came by, the crooked staircase, Govindh hearing us pee (he was polite and never mentioned it, but we know he heard), the cat that looks just like Catherine's but with a few extra parts (if you know what I mean....) and the 53 point turn to get out of the driveway.

There are lots of things we love about the New Den. We love all of the natural light that streams in from the windows. We love how bright everything is and our new workspace. We love Garlic King and Chahaya Malaysia - Yummo!!

There is just one little problem with the New Den....the steep 22 stair climb up to the office. We're trying to look at this in a positive way - it's good for us and we'll get in better shape right? Not sure if anyone is buying it but we're trying.

We have set a few small goals for ourselves - remember Cougars are not meant to climb stairs. First goal - to climb the stairs and not be out of breath. The first one to reach this goal will be awarded the title of "First One to Climb the Stairs and not be out of Breath". My money is on Catherine! Second goal - OK we only have one goal! For the record my money is on Catherine for that one too!