Water Pressure

The M household made an exciting household renovation this week.

We got a new shower head.

I know, we aren’t exciting at all.

Since we’ve moved in here (almost 3 years ago), I have noticed that there has been a small leak where our shower head connects to the pipe.  I also thought our water pressure sucked.

Thursday, when Patrick got home cold and wet from picking up our car from Canadian Tire in the rain/snow craziness that cancelled school for him (he only worked 2 days this week, lucky bugger), he decided to shower to get warm.  He tried to move the head and the hole got epically bigger.  Like non-usable bigger.

So, Patrick did what any good man would do, he Googled how to fix it and when he realized we didn’t have the appropriate plumbing tape, he tried electrical tape (it was stormy out).  Jeter helped.  They both got wet.

Thus, when Patrick picked me up from work that night, he informed me that we needed to make another trip to Canadian Tire.  I was concerned for the car.  But, no, it was because he wanted to replace the shower head (I’m pretty sure our building people would do it, but that would mean waiting a good day or two).

So, in the beginnings of storm of the week number 3 or 4 (depending on when you start counting), we trekked to Canadian Tire (which we have started calling CT for short because it came up in a few texting conversations this week). We selected a shower head (you would not believe the selection).

We came home and installed it.  Jeter supervised.  I got a bit wet, but only because I’m the fool who wanted to check out every setting while standing on the edge of the bathtub while Patrick kept worrying that I was going to fall.

The next morning, I had the best shower at home I’ve had since we’ve moved in.  Seriously.  I didn’t even fully realize what we were missing.  (Poor Jeter is down a leak to sneak water from, though).  It made the morning so much better (despite the heaps of snow and ice outside).

Then, today, I get a text from Patrick while I’m at the gym informing me of how awesome our shower is.  I know.  So freaking awesome.

So, that is our big excitement.  We have water pressure we didn’t even know we had!

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Merry Christmas from the M household

It is just about Christmas, which means it is time for a festive blogging holiday (I know, its not like I’ve been writing that much anyway).

This is the first year EVER (and likely the last for a long time) that Patrick and I are just the two of us for Christmas (and Jeter).  I’m excited.  I’m also a little sad because it is weird not being home, but it works out that I have a bit more time off this way somehow.

I’m on call for Christmas Eve.  How holly jolly of me.

But, that hasn’t stopped us from concocting and continuing traditions.

We decorated our tree a few weeks ago.  Our tree is a hand-me-down from my Grandmother with “built-in” lights.  Last year a small chunk of them around the back were burnt out.  This year, once we had the tree fully assembled and pretty looking it was a full strip around the lower middle.  The whole way around.  I freaked out.  I mean, it looked ugly and I tried my darndest to find the broken bulb, but eventually gave up in tears.  Patrick and I opted to decorate it anyway and maybe look at getting a new tree next year.  After the tree was fully assembled with decorations and everything, Jeter promptly settled in under it, then by the next day went back to his previous routine of chewing on the branches, chewing on the wires and knocking off ornaments.  One morning 5 were down.  About 3 days after we put the tree up, I turned on the lights and lo and behold, they all worked.  Then, a few days later a different chunk were out.  Then, I saw Jeter chewing on the tree (and the lights)… It hit me… It has been him.  There is some sort of short and he intermittently reconnects it by gnawing on it.  The lights are presently all on again, but who knows how long.

The tree with the lightless strip before Jeter “fixed” it.

Jeter in his spot under the tree.

On a related note, we do try really hard to discourage him from chewing the electrical wires.  We know its bad.  We even gave him an object lesson with the cat from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but he persists in causing all sorts of tree related troubles.

Image from thethoughtexperiment.wordpress.com.

Tonight, we went out and looked at lights.  In the rain.  Because nothing says Christmas like pouring rain.  Patrick downloaded 100 Christmas classics and we listened to some festive music and admired lights, much like I have done since I was a kid.

Tomorrow, despite the call, we are hoping to go to church (yay!) and I am cooking french onion soup for supper because it seemed like a good idea.  We always read the Christmas story to each other at bed time, so hopefully I’ll be home for that.

And for Christmas day, our master plan is to sleep in (or read in bed), relax, have pancakes and bacon for brunch and open the presents we have here.  I am being adventurous since this is the one year we probably get to be adventurous and making lamb for Christmas dinner (and all the hipsters should be proud because we bought it at a local butcher and it is local baby sheep).  Besides that, we will pack and watch movies and play board games and read books and all that good stuff.

It isn’t our usual multi-family epic tour full of turkey, but we are excited for celebrating a bit differently.  Patrick calls it the blip year (or something like that) because it is more of an anomaly because there wasn’t a year quite like it before and there probably won’t be again.

So, Merry Christmas from the M household.  Hope you have fun with your traditions or anti-traditions.

Evil Genius

Sometimes I feel like an evil genius. Not for especially good reasons either.

Image from cryhavok.org.

I feel like I beat the whole world because I took an in- lieu day and a couple vacation days to make an extra long weekend in early December to do all of that festive stuff that I need to get done.

It has become my routine during residency. The last few years, I took one day to get most of my shopping done. You see, I hate shopping at the best of times, and when Christmas comes and the crazies come out, it induces a kind of rage in me that is kind of terrifying.  So, I take a day off during the week and try to hammer out all my shopping while at least some of the crazies are at work.  This year, with the parasite, I decided it might take me an extra day or two and that I might have other stuff to do, so I took an extra couple days.

And thus, I hammered out all of my shopping, Christmas card writing and helped decorate the church plus I’m considering even doing some gift wrapping (if I can find last year’s wrapping paper…) before heading back to the world of work.

I even caught up on Grey’s and some other stuff I have been meaning to watch and cleaned out my closet! I may or may not have cried during both (for different reasons… I blame the tiny human).

Take that consumerism, festiveness and life! I can be festive and not want to die (it is sad how big of a deal that is to me).

Image from degrassiwikia.com. Interesting that this is from the Degrassi wikia page but is clearly a Boy Meets World scene… Fail internet. Fail.

1km, downhill in a blizzard.

Image from globalnews.ca.

Today was the storm of the century.  Or decade.  Or year. Something like that.

Either way, there was a lot of snow and even more wind.

Ah, Canadian Spring.

Everything was shut down.  Everything.

But not the hospital.

So, Patrick drove me to work this morning before it all started.

I saw my follow-up visits.

They took the busses off the road.

I got called to go to the other site.

I learned on the shuttle that the police had told people to stay off the roads.

I went back to the other site and watched an ambulance do a 360 in front of my very eyes.

I had a hard time tracking people down to get information because they had all bailed early if they could.

And then, it was 5 and I could go home.

Except I couldn’t see across the street.

I was ready for this.

I had my giant green, puffy coat that is the best $200 I have ever spent. I bought this expensive monstrosity when I started med school because I didn’t have a car and walked/bussed everywhere in a very, very windy, stormy city.  It is always warm.  It also makes for good padding when you wipe out on the ice.

I had my giant winter boots.  The sort that are so heavy and warm and dry you can’t pick your feet off the ground when you try to walk.

I was so bundled with scarves and hats you could only see my eyes.

Image from arcticlise.blogspot.com.

I had a crummy day, so I had all kinds of angry energy.

So, I said, “bring it on, winter,” and left the hospital on foot.

It is a 15 minute walk.

It took me 25 minutes.

My glasses fogged up and froze within 2.  So, I took them off and stumbled home blind the rest of the way home.

The sidewalk for the first bit was plowed.  Well, kind of.  It was plowed,but then the wind un-plowed it.  The snow was only ankle deep.

But, then it started to really suck.  The snow was knee deep on the sidewalk.  Some of the banks were as tall as me.  I staggered my way down the hill.  I only fell over once and that was because I didn’t quite clear a snowbank. I got stuck a few times, but not for long. And I kind of fell in someone’s sunken stairwell (one of those ones that goes under street level), but I caught myself on their house).

This is what I was afraid of happening to me. Image from smartcanucks.ca.

I walked on the road a bit.  It wasn’t like anyone else was as ridiculous as I was and was out. I seriously saw 4 cars and 2 pedestrians.  That being said, I am too paranoid and blind (and the visibility sucked too much) to walk in the road the whole time.

It was kind of like one of those stories our grandparents tell us of walking 5 miles uphill, barefoot in a blizzard.  Except I was wearing 10 pounds of clothing, going mostly downhill for only just over a kilometre in a blizzard.

I have good training for this having lived in a city where they never plowed sidewalks and walking took your life into your own hands.   I just don’t have to crack out that level of hearty very often here.

I kept telling myself that this will make a great story over and over again. That and that it is totally my workout for the day.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Window

This week’s photo challenge with the Daily Post is called “Window.”

I have posted this picture in the past, but it is too cool (to me) to pass up for this topic.  Last year (and this year too, though I haven’t taken another picture), when it gets ridiculously cold outside and we have it warm inside the outside layer of window sweats and then freezes and forms fabulous ice patterns.

 

After almost a month of Sundays

Today was my first Sunday back to church in about a month.

Why a month, might you ask? 

Well, it is simple.  

A snow storm, an ice storm and what Patrick classified as one of the better excuses for missing church ever. I sent the reason to him in a text that went a little like this:

Stumbled upon someone trying to die.  Had to help make them stop.  Sorry I can’t be there.

Translation… I was on call.  

I was hoping to make my way in after doing a quick round and then meeting up with staff/doing consults later in the day.  But, my second to last patient of the day happened to be crashing before my very eyes.  I may be on a consult service, but there is a human (and ethical and legal) obligation to help in that circumstance.

So, it has been about a month.  Work and storms have stopped me.  I did get to Christmas Eve church, but this was my first Sunday church.

It was nice to be back.  

To learn and worship as a part of a community.  To catch up with a couple people after the holidays.

Also, it is nice that I am really starting to think of it as community. 

And in case you were wondering after this post, no baby announcement this week (a rarity).

Top Ten Books On My Winter (2013/14) TBR List

It is top ten Tuesday again.  That means I get to link up with the folks over at the Broke and the Bookish for yet another list.

Given that it is getting close to winter, it is no surprise that it is time for the winter to be read (TBR) list.  It is kind of scary because I feel like I just wrote my Fall TBR list recently.

I feel accomplished because I actually read a few of the books on my Fall list.  So, I am taking the same approach and picking books that I think I actually will have access to and plan to read literally in the Winter, not just books I hope to read at some point.

1. Allegiant by Veronica Roth.  I know the Child has this on her shelf.  I just need to have time to read and a chance to borrow it.  I have been pumped about reading it since I finished the first two books in the series this summer.e
2. If I Live To Be 100 by Neenah Ellis.  This book is a series of interviews with centenatians.  So cool!  Patrick picked it up a while ago and I look forward to finally reading it!
3. Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham.  This is another repeat from the Fall and another to be borrowed from the Child book.  I like Lauren Graham, so I have probably excessive hopes for the book.
4. Looking For Alaska by John Green.  This is one of the last of his books I need to read, so it is on my Christmas list, but would also be easily acquired from a library.
5. The World According To Bob by James Bowen.  Patrick read this months ago, so it is just staring at me on our shelf.  I loved his first book and I now have a cat, so I feel like I might just get it a little bit more.
6. Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin.  We borrowed these from the Child’s husband and Patrick is already on the second book.  I am not sure if they are really my sort of books, but I do want to give them a try.
7. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.  Yes, still on my list.  That is all I need to say.
8. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Powell. And again, still on my list…  Need to get on that.
9. Mark Twain Anthology.  I got it for Christmas last year.  Patrick has it somewhere beside his side of the bed because he was going to read it.  I haven’t seen it in a while, but I do want to read it.
10. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.  The plot seems intriguing, I liked his previous writing and it is another carryover from the Fall.

I have more, but I am capping at 10 as per the instructions.

What are some books on your Winter TBR list?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers

This week’s photo challenge with the Daily Post is entitled “Layers.”

When I was in Ottawa on the CaRMS tour, I happened to be there on the weekend of the NHL All-Stars event.  Too bad I couldn’t actually go see the game.  I, however, partook in some of the free outdoor stuff by myself.

It was a snowy day and they had all kinds of ice sculptures, but the most interesting thing to me were the jerseys that were frozen as a layer in a block of ice.  Since they had been frozen, it was clear that there was a bit of a thaw and now snow, so that increased the layered effect.

Vacation versus Redecoration

My staycation thus far has consisted of all kinds of awesomeness that I suspect the average person would consider dull.

A big chunk of my Monday was spent on house cleaning and some creative adventures that began with a Wal-Mart field trip with the Child (who is now local!).  I came home with several bags of decorating paraphernalia and a pair of orange rubber boots (finally, my feet will be dry when I walk home… Unlike what happened the day I wrote this post). Patrick was shocked to see the heap of stuff when I fell through the door with it all.

He was even more shocked to see the end result when we got home.

I did a full re-do of the bathroom.  I had this fabulous rainbow shower curtain that was getting disgusting beyond repair.  We actually picked out more “grown-up” print for the curtain, which also better matches the tile in the bathroom.  In other excitement, we got a new soap dispenser and toothbrush holder (that you can more easily clean).

The before curtain. I loved it. It still breaks my heart we had to part.

Our new soap dispenser and toothbrush holder… Not that different from our old set, but cleaner and not disgusting anymore!

Everything is more grown up, the bath mat is a dream… But we still kept the trusty rubber ducky for a taste of whimsy.

I did not stop there… I then ironed my giant heap of ironing and our new orange curtains.

Yes, orange.

I then hung the curtains under the close supervision and “assistance” of Jeter (who did not get his afternoon nap for all the excitement).

Helpful Harry (er… Jeter).

I even made my own curtain ties with ribbon and snaps (for about $4.00… win).  It is strangely simple, all you have to do is measure out the length of ribbon to the desired length to hold the curtains back and then sew a snap on to the inside, so it is easy to fasten on and off.  I opted for long ends on the ribbon, so that it looks like a bow (almost).

The supplies… Delightful ribbon, measured (by wrapping it around the curtain and hook), snaps (from a dollar store sewing kit, thread and scissors.

The snaps sewn on.

The finished product.

More of the finished product.

I feel ridiculously accomplished.  Especially because I am not always that crafty.  I feel like homemade curtain ties are something that would be on Pinterest.  And thus that makes me feel super crafty.

Top that off with cooking a nice peppercorn trout with rice supper and I felt like a regular housewife (I still need to clean out the fridge and oven… A mission for another day).

I was excited.  Patrick was amazed at the transformation that my psycho redecorating took.  And I have yet to partner with the Child on the bench re-covering.

I told Patrick that night that I kind of like the whole vacation thing in combination with the whole housewife thing.  I contemplated quitting my job and just having babies.  He reminded me that being a housewife is not a vacation, which I know very well.  However, pretending to be a housewife is a part of my vacation because somedays I feel like medicine eats my life.  And that I will get time off when I eventually have a baby.  And that I am on vacation, so instead of scrubbing and rearranging the whole house, I might want to consider doing vacation things.  But, it is a change from my norm.  I swear, we did some vacation stuff too.

For instance, we went skating.  And I wore hockey skates for the first time in my life and realized that I like them better because they fit my feet better.  I resisted the urge to wear a helmet and fend off concussion (against my better judgement, but heck, I am on vacation, why not rebel?).  I didn’t fall once and we both returned with all of our limbs intact.  Plus, we burned sufficient calories that I justified a Beavertail dessert.

My boy-skates!

The rink… Beautiful night, complete with a full moon!

We survived!!

Om nom nom… Canadian delightfulness!

Love the vacation-y goodness!

Transports and T-Shirts

After a semi-frightening drive home from, well, home last night, I still lack proper energy to write a proper post.

I swear I will write about the wedding we attended in the midst of the blizzard that made the drive home the next day an adventure and such some other time.

I will share this humorous quote from Patrick just after aborting an attempted transport truck pass secondary to the lane being covered in snow and ice.

The pleasure I take in passing big trucks isn’t stronger than my will to live.

We always have a good time on road trips discussing hypotheticals, rocking out to good music and other random shenanigans.   Also, who can’t forget the epicness of my backseat driving (I am sure Patrick wanted to pop me an Ativan or ten last night)…

The fun road trip music combined with this episode of The Big Bang Theory made me decide I clearly need Raj’s shirt.  Or another similar accessory.  Life would be more fun if others could hear the sound track I feel needs to be playing outside of my head.