.:shy:.

netflix, lazy weekend and other random updates

• my mom is back from china - a very long three weeks. so this past friday, we found ourselves, once again, at my aunt and uncle's place for dinner. hobbes also got fixed that day so while he was able to join us and was definitely excited to see the extended family members, most of his time was spent just dozing off.


• i really wanted to start decorating the house for christmas but as it turned out, we had a very lazy weekend. other then getting some cleaning and laundry done, we all spent the majority of our weekend indoors to keep hobbes company as he recuperated from surgery. evidently, this also included a large amounts of potato chips. i officially feel a bit sick this monday morning.


• netflix - it's kind of neat to be able to stream movies through our wii. but at the same time, there were some much anticipated movies and tv shows not yet available to us... in canada. so, while i have no problem taking advantage of the one free month, and i may even pay the $8 for another month, i'm not at all that wow-ed by the whole deal. i am, however, really happy to finally get a chance to watch seasons 5 & 6 of 'the L word' - and even the last part of season 4 to help refresh where everything was left off. chaeli is enjoying the 23 animation series of 'avatar - the last airbender' while doug is going to enjoy some british sitcoms as well as the three seasons of robin hood (which i never knew they made into a tv series).

first report card - first parent-teacher interview

we got chaeli's report card on monday.

wow - not what i expected. did we ever, in grade 1, have our core subjects divided into sub-categories for grading? i had to read the comment section at least twice just to comprehend it.

but... we are very proud of chaeli. she didn't have the advantage of being at this more academic, private school like since JK or SK. while most of her classmates have been prepared for this advanced level of grade 1. and btw, the teachers confirmed it at the interview today - the level they are learning is equivalent to a public's school grade two... and some things even comparable to grade three!

anyway - so i glance through her grades... B+ here and there, some B's, A's and A-'s. not bad at all, considering that B's are now considered in the 80's.

my eyes then rested on one grade that got my attention.

A-... in computer studies? WHAT? this is MY offspring we're talking about, after all. what the hell is up with that minus sign? it should be a plus!

in lue of this, i've decided to take away her Wii privileges until christmas.

six months!

this past saturday marked hobbes' 6th month birthday.

six months! he was just a week away from three months when we first brought him home.

honestly, it still catches me off guard every now and then. i'll be walking into the kitchen just as he scoots off to the living room in the opposite direction - i'll turn around to watch him. and i'll think to myself, "wow - i can't believe i'm a dog owner. *I*... have a dog!"

it may not seem so crazy for people who have always had dogs in their lives. but for me, i was almost trained just to basically forget about ever getting my own dog. my parents were never open to it (even though my dad is a huge dog lover) and i soon realized just how much work is involved with raising a puppy and taking care of a dog.

within the first month, i wondered if it was a mistake.

now? i can't imagine our lives without hobbes. he's not immune to mischief, as any other puppy, but on the whole, he is a very cool dog. i've also found that he encourages us to go out more on weekends - and the beauty is that we do it as a family.

so... for his 1/2 year milestone, we treated him to a smoked, lamb leg - bought at the pet store.

happy 1/2 birthday, my furry friend. thank you for coming into our lives!

oops i did it again

last year, i asked our bodypump instructor if she could include a past chest release with staggered push-ups for doug's next class with her.

she said, "oh sorry, but i don't have releases that old."

i replied, "oh - that's okay."

"but don't worry. i'll make EVERY single track really hard."

"every track?"

"every track!"

oops... i turned to the girl next to me and said, "my husband's going to kill me, isn't he?"

fast forward to today...

the instructor said, "from now until the end of the year, you guys are going to pick one track where you'll up your weights. so? which is it going to be today... pick from 2 to 8!"

she looked at me. i did't know what to do. so i answered, "two."

"two it is - everyone? up your weights for the squats track."

"wait... did i just answer for EVERYONE?"

"yes you did!"

all i could do was look around with an embarrassed grin and meek 'sorry'.

it was too late, though. people were moaning and grumbling already...

you see, i just made one of the toughest part of the class THAT much harder.

needless to say, i didn't make many friends today.

i love geeks

so i've finally got a chance to watch season 1 of The Big Bang Theory.

truth be told, i wanted to watch this from the first year but never got around to it AND my anal rententive side can not just start watching a show not just in mid-season but not from the beginning of the first season.

it's a sin to start in season three - i need all the background stories and also to see the character development.

anyway - i love these four geeks. especially sheldon. he's a pain in the ass but... is it wrong for me to think that he's the cutest one?

hmm...

no wonder everyone kept on telling me that i should watch this show.

party, party, party

when my manager wished me a good weekend at the end of friday, he asked me what my plans were...

i didn't bother telling him that doug would be gone both days - he's currently, as we speak, practising scenerios in what they call a burn tower. basically, the building is lit on fire and they learn methods of estinguishing the flames. it's part of the practical portion of his course which he loves.

but i don't know why i didn't tell my manager - i suppose i was afraid it might turn out to seem like i'm venting/whining. which i'm not really. i'm happy for doug - but i would admit that i wish it were just one day because i do really love having him home. especially on sunday's.

anyway, so i said to my boss, "nothing much."

he replied, "that's good!"

"well, just one party. tomorrow night."

"parties... again. you guys always have some party going on."

"well, tame parties. like the ones that end no later then 10pm."

somewhat not always true - they can go late but i knew we would have to leave early on the account of doug's early sunday morning and the fact that hobbes would need some relief before 11pm.

but not completely untrue when compared to the days of coming home at 6:30am. seriously. it hurts just remembering those days. it physically hurts. no amount of coffee could mend an all-nighter like that. these days, i would have to take at least half of week's vacation just to recooperate.

anyway - while we're missing doug this weekend, we've been doing what we can.

yesterday it was kenpo in the morning, cleaned the bathrooms and the master bedroom, open house for chaeli's grade two of next school year (which i'm not even ready to think about so, in hindsight, wasn't really into the open house - as impressive as it was), took hobbes to a new dog park (which the volunteers covered with these big wood chips - note to volunteers: if you want your dogs to run around and play, pieces of wood just makes them want to lie down and chew on them) and then home until doug got home.

the party last night was fun. but i'm finding that because of how busy we are, i'm loosing concentration at around 9pm. it's not always like that but last night, it certainly was.

anyway, i think my favourite conversation last night went something like this:

me: "yeah, i really wish some of the other husbands were participating in movember."

friend: "i think it's a great awareness."

other friend: "yeah - it's sweet that he's doing it."

me: "but that's the point. if he was actually doing it for the awareness, i would totally understand. but he's only doing this because it gives him the excuse that he just can!"

it's the honest truth, i'm afraid.

TGIF random

• friday! finally. we're heading over to my aunt's place after work for chinese hot pot. i haven't had hot pot in months - it's just not something doug and i crave until the cold weather hits us. and now that we're moving into winter, oh yeah - hot pot it is!


• don't know why, but i'm totally into Pink as of lately - now listening to Ave Mary A. great stuff to workout with. next track is Bad Influence.


• doug is going to be gone both saturday and sunday during the day so it's up to me to tire hobbes out tomorrow before we leave him for the whole evening on his own (have a party tomorrow night to go to) - chaeli and i will check out a new dog park not too far from where we'll have to be tomorrow noon.


• it's unbelievable but i just realized in the next couple of weeks, i'm going to have to organize my christmas presents and start wrapping all the ones i'm going to ship to t-bay. as for shopping, i have two more gift certificates left and a couple of CD's.


• unfortunately, doug's moustache for movember is growing in fast.

MOvember

so it's that time of year again... the time where my husband walks around looking like a pornstar circa 1970-1980.

i'm for the awareness - but not for his moustache.

looking forward to december 1st. otherwise known as 'the day of the big shave!'

the case of the mysterious jeans

there's a chair in our basement laundry room where i pile up towels for the wash. once the pile is significant enough, i do an extra load that weekend just of towels.

for a long time now - a very long time - i've noticed a pair of jeans nested below that pile. i finally picked it off the chair and asked doug, "did you want me to wash these jeans or what?"

he looked at me puzzled and replied, "those aren't mine - they're yours!"

"what? i've never had a pair of jeans like that before! they've got to be yours."

"look - [takes them and holds it up to him so that the bottom is flushed against his feet] - how can they be mine? the waist is all the way up to my chest!"

"well then how can they be mine??? i'm the same height as you!"

by this point, we were both laughing so hard that tears were coming out of our eyes and i almost had to sit down from my stomach muscles siezing up.

anyway - so the jeans remain there, folded and without an owner. honestly, i am racking my brain on this one - for the life of me, i can not figure out where those jeans came from.

body combat

i need something new to try - so for today, i'm going to give another les mills program a go. this time it's body combat. who knows how i will like it but i figure, it's nice ti explore something else for a change. so far, i've liked two out of the three different types of les mill programs. i love both bodypump and bodyflow - not too keen on bodystep.

i think, though, i am just done with step as a form of group exercise. i was first introduced to it back in university - 17 years ago? maybe 18. that's a long time.

anyway - wish me luck!