Limerick: Ode to my goldfish

Oh Swimmie, you were a great fish;
There is only one thing that I wish:
If you'd not passed away,
The toilet, then (today),
Would not have had need to go "SWISH!"

Goodbye, Swimmie the Third. You were... cute?

Vroom vroom

Those of you who know me know I love to drive.

After getting rid of Wallis last April, I've been officially car-less for over a year now. Most of the time it's fine, but sometimes I just long for a vehicle, and I wish I had one for long enough to get things done without having to tire myself out trying to fit it all into a short window of time when someone lends me one for a day or two.

My lovely neighbours went to Romania to visit L's parents, and they left their car key so K and I could use their car while they've been gone - and they went for 5 weeks.

I've taken recycling to the recycling centre.
I've taken all our bottles & cans to the bottle depot.
I ran to the camera store today to check out the camera I'm thinking of buying.
I drove to the end of Shaganappi Trail just to see where it ended up.
I drove to get a scoop of ice cream.

I tell you, it has been sooooooo nice to have wheels. Last weekend I got to go out to Mom and Dad's for the evening, without mooching a ride. I can help out with ferrying the church's multimedia equipment.

Even though I would not have felt at peace with buying a car earlier, now that I've been able to start saving money the car fever has been returning - sometimes in force, sometimes just as a subtle presence lurking in the back of my mind. I've been thinking that it will be really hard to give the car key back to L&L when they're back, and that it'll leave me with a full-blown case of car fever, but maybe it won't. Maybe it will have left me with a sense of having gotten so many little things done that my drive (no, that's not meant as a pun) to get a car will be appeased for a while, until the itty-bitty chores start piling up again and I start aching for a set of wheels.

To top it all off, E's Little Whitie got inspected and repaired by a different shop and it came to 1/8th of what the other shop quoted her at. Yay - Little Whitie is back!! And this time with Alberta license plates!

VROOM VROOM!!!

Merry Christmas - ho ho ho

We lucky Calgarians woke up to a blanket of snow with more still falling.

It's now noon, and the city is still festively white.

I guess I shouldn't have taken those Christmas lights down on Tuesday...

May long weekend

It's a long weekend!!!

We moved my new roommate in last night (and I'm gonna steal her bed, it's so comfy). The tree outside our kitchen window is in full bloom - I think it's cherry blossoms or something, y'know, those pink flowers that are all over the lower mainland in BC in the spring. And the lilac bush's blooms are budding, oh boy I can't wait - when it's in bloom, our whole house smells like lilacs for weeks.

Today I'm gonna get some errands done with the car (thanks again, L & L!), maybe finally watch that movie I rented 2 weeks ago, do a bit of relaxing, perhaps do a bit of research on the DSLR I wanna buy.

Did I mention yet that my BC Student Loan balance is now $0.00?

I just woke up from a fabulous sleep. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Welcome to the long weekend.

BC student loan

Balance of my BC student loan as of Sunday evening (May 13): $1.77.

And that would be due to their greedy little hands applying interest right down to the very last possible moment, even though I paid the EXACT amount that they said I owed them.

Enough said.

Once my last payment ($1.80) goes through, I'm done with them. Forever. Unless they tell me, "Uh, sorry, nope, you still owe us $0.03." Bimbos. Or would that be bimboes? Hmmmmmmm. Let the debate begin.

Mum Day

So my brother drove out from Vernon last night, then we had breakfast with some friends of his and then we headed out here to Three Hills to surprise Mom for Mum Day tomorrow. Unfortunately, she actually figured out that we were coming this time. Dad wasn't subtle enough and when Mom confronted him last night to find out if we were coming, well, let's just say: Dad can't lie. Maybe he coulda, had he had warning that she would have an inkling and ask him, but nope. She caught him right outta the blue.

But anyways. I don't remember having ever been in Three Hills when it's this warm and sunny and green. I guess I was here in the fall before but it was different.

If I were poetic or mushy or sentimental in any way, I suppose here is where I would pay tribute to my amazing mother. To the fact that she cooked and cleaned and cooked and cleaned and cooked and cleaned and cooked and cleaned endlessly for so many years without us even realizing it. To the fact that she loved delighting us with little gifts whenever she'd get the chance. To the fact that she'll play Boggle with me when no one else in the family will, even though she knows I'll always whoop her butootski. To the fact that she's willing to share her ice-cream even though we bought it just for her. I could likely go on for a while, but you get the point. Here's to you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

Next time, we won't tell Dad. That way it really will be a surprise.

Oo and Happy Mommie's Day to the mother of the cutest niece and nephew in the world!! And to Deb's sister Rachel, who just became a Mommie about a week ago!!

I feel your pain...

My bro-in-law and niece - victims of a hit and run (by Molly, beloved black lab):

I wish I could be there in person to sign Carmen's cast and entertain her.

On a side note - apparently Carmen hears Micah wake up from his nap before my sis does, so this is what my sis found the other day:

Sigh. Anyone wanna buy me a car so I can go visit? A plane ticket would also suffice. How can I not love these little gaffers?

ALMOST THERE!!!

The lump-sum payment I made on my BC Student Loan last week went through and is showing up on my statement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can I tell you how excited I am and how good that feels? If I don't have it paid off by Christmas, you can all do whatever you'd like to make me feel guilty. It's one of the goals I set for myself for the year, and now that my tax return has been applied to it, it's an achievable goal. So. That's the aim. Oh my word that feels good. Then it's onward and upwards to my federal loan, oh joy.....

Happy Friday everyone!

Starting to relax. Really, I am.

So K and I made Rice Krispie Squares yesterday evening and went knocking on doors to find the neighbours who'd called the police Monday night. We figured we knew which house it was but they weren't home, so we left the little platter of squares and the card on the table by their front door.

Later, when we could see they were home, we went back, picked up the squares (they'd used their back door) and knocked on the door.

An older lady in her housecoat answered the door quite warily, especially when we asked if they were the ones who'd called the police (actually, she looked kinda scared when we asked that). We quickly explained who we were, at which point she said, "Yes," introduced herself, happily ushered us indoors and called for her husband to come meet us. Let's call them Nancy and Jim.

We started talking, and Jim told us everything he'd seen. The dude had come running through their gate, across their neighbour's lawn, and then over to our building. He ran down one side (our side), then came back to the front and ran down the other side. He then came back out front, and the next thing Jim saw was him going up onto our balcony (musta been a few moments later, cuz the guy had to drag the rather heavy old appliance that was by our building over to our balcony). I'm not sure what point it was during this that they decided to call the police, but they called the non-emergency line rather than 911 and it took 10-15 minutes to get through.

Once he was up on the balcony, they saw a light go on, then off again, and the next thing they saw was me, inside. Yep, me. And the first thing I did when I got home was close the balcony door. Which means he was almost certainly on the balcony when I closed the door, and possibly in the house when I started unlocking the front door. Jim and Nancy didn't see him get off the balcony.

Due to the police response (aka a million officers who showed up right away, did a very thorough search, made sure we were all locked up and secure and then left abrubtly), and what Jim saw, we all think the guy was already running from the police and was just looking for somewhere to hide.

What makes us feel better is that that would mean he didn't break in with the intent to hurt us or steal or vandalize anything.

We're thanking God he didn't hurt me when I got home. And, thinking back on the timeline of the events, I'm thankful that he had just gotten there when I got home - what would have happened if he had had time to find somewhere to hind in our house without us knowing???

We like our new neighbour-friends. Yep we do.

Moral of the story: Make friends with your neighbours. If you're not sure whether or not you should call 911 or the non-emergency line, call 911 (they told Jim & Nancy to call 911 next time instead of the other line).

Relax? As if!

Note to self: Never forget to close the sliding door to the balcony when you're not home, even if you've just gone nextdoor.

As you may have guessed, I forgot to do just that yesterday evening when we were hanging out at our neighbours'. When I got home around 10 pm, I noticed that I'd left the balcony door open but also that the screen was open, which I had left closed. I figured my roommate may have come home for something without me noticing and had forgotten to pull the screen shut. No big deal, it happens all the time. I closed and locked the door and headed downstairs.

Said roommate (let's call her Agatha) came home about 2 minutes after me. I was in bed within 10-15 minutes, while she was watching TV in order to unwind before heading to bed herself.

About 10-15 minutes after that, Agatha's pounding on my bedroom door. I pull out my earplugs.

"Yeah?"

Agatha comes in. "There's a man knocking on the door and I don't know who he is."

OK, folks. First of all, it's pretty rare that we have someone knocking on our door at that hour (10:30), let alone someone we don't know (we don't have a spy hole in our door, but we have that milky glass stuff right beside it and can usually tell who it is). Secondly, it was some pretty insistent pounding. Thirdly, we both grew up behind barred doors and windows with concrete walls (topped with either razor wire or glass shards) around our houses so have never felt terribly secure in Canadian houses in the first place.

As Agatha says this, I notice the shadow of someone walking past my window (which is ground-level).

As I hop out of bed, I ask Agatha if she has one of the phones and then start cautiously up the stairs toward the front door. I couldn't see anyone through the glass, but then they start pounding again and the motion-detecting light flashed on again. Said knocker moves next to the pane of glass, I notice a police badge on his shoulder and decide it's safe to open the door.

Said police officer is accompanied by about 6 or 7 other police officers, all congregated on our front lawn.

Hmm. Something's going on, wouldn't you say?

If you're a visual thinker, picture this: Danielle, in her pajamas. If you haven't seen me in my pajamas, let me describe them to you. Old field hockey uniform as my shirt (reaches almost to my knees, huge and baggy). Plaid pajama bottoms. Socks. And oh yes - my pajama bottoms were indeed tucked into my socks. I know, I know, I'm a living, talking, breathing fashion statement.

Once it registers that there's a crowd of police at our door, they ask us, "Do you two know the guy who just jumped off your balcony?"

Excuse me?????

"Your neighbour across the street called and said he saw a man jump off your balcony a few minutes ago."

Um, nope, don't know the man.

"Do you mind if we...," as they indicate that they'd like to come in and look around.

Rest assured that at this point, Agatha and I were not about to not let them into our home. As the other five-ish officers kept looking around outside, two came in and began a pretty detailed search of our rather messy abode (where "rather messy" may or may not be an understatement...). They looked in every nook and cranny - and I'm not exaggerating. Balcony, pantry, other pantry, bathroom, laundry room (both doors), storage under the stairs, spare room & closet, my room & closet, Agatha's room & closet, linen closet, furnace closet, bathroom and bathtub. Flashlights and everything. They even reprimanded Agatha for heading downstairs alone before they'd looked down there. I was standing outside (don't forget my lovely apparel) with one of the other officers, who asked whose old stove that was over by our balcony.

"Oh, that's our old stove, it broke a couple of weeks ago and the landlords haven't gotten it moved yet."

"Was it there before?"

Actually, no. I remembered noticing that it'd been moved when I got home. Turns out the dude had used it to climb up onto our balcony.

They moved the stove back to the side of the house, asked a couple more questions, finished searching the house and left.

When you've just had a swarm of officers probe every corner of your house - inside and out - and you realize that some stranger had gotten into your house without you knowing or even noticing until the police showed up, you kinda get... a little freaked out. Needless to say, we were pretty scared to go anywhere in the house alone. We left some lights on upstairs and downstairs. I (obviously) was no longer tired enough or in the right state of mind to go to sleep. Nor was Agatha, for that matter. We decided we should find the lightest, airiest movie we owned (we discovered that we're not really the light, airy movie types and therefore only had about three viable options) in order to start calming down. Any need to go anywhere in the house resulted in one of us with a phone in hand while the other followed closely on her heels with my old field hockey stick. Since I wasn't downstairs with them when the officer was searching down there, I kept asking Agatha, "Did she look in here? Did she look in there? How about in there?" "Yep, yep and yep." Funny, my nerves still weren't all that reassured.

We ended up opening the hide-a-bed, barricading the TV room door closed and watching Bend It Like Beckham. And I have to say - our hide-a-bed's not bad for sleeping on! We both slept pretty well, considering.

And the moral of the story is - always keep your old field hockey stick handy and your pajama bottoms untucked from your socks whenever you are not actually in bed.

This was a long post. Sorry.

Agatha and I are gonna bake something and go meet our neighbours across the street.