Mid-April Update

Blog-neglect. It happens for various reasons. Mine? I've got myself addicted to Facebook. Stupid Facebook! For whatever reason, I'm finding it ridiculously hard to simply pull myself away from it. From checking it once or twice a week, I'm now on it ALL. DAY.

It's insane. I know I have an addictive nature, so this doesn't surprise me, but I need to stop because not only is it eating up my days, it's very unhealthy - in more ways than one.

So, as I've needed to update this for a while, now is the time!

• The weather is gorgeous! It reached 12C on Wednesday and is hovering around 9C today. Walking to work will be so wonderful from here on in.
• Sunrise:6:32
  Sunset:21:27 = 15 hrs of daylight!
• Joey is settling in well. The other two have accepted him, although there is still a bit of territorial posturing going on - at least on Joey's part. He's such a big guy that he can intimidate quite easily, but otherwise he's a doll.
• I saw "How to Train a Dragon" last night & loved it! I saw "Clash of the Titans" two weeks ago and didn't love it. It was fun and Sam Worthington is very easy on the eyes (sorry, Harry. You just don't measure up), but not amazing. Excellent special effects, though!
• I got a quote on car insurance from a different company and can save $150 a year if I switch! I had to collect a few things, including a safety inspection because the truck is over 15 yrs old. That cost me $54.00 (comes out of the car account) and she passed everything! I figure it's worth it to get my yearly insurance below $350.
• I'm looking for some p/t work and have dropped off half a dozen or so resumes. I've not heard anything yet, but there's still time. If I don't hear anything, then nothing changes, but it would be nice to get something at least once a week, just for some extra $$ to put towards the debt.
• I had a meeting with my FA last week and made a couple of changes to my current investments. I'm auto-saving $60 p/mth as of May (up $10), and have put half my savings into something a bit more aggressive. She also said to expect a rise in interest rates, so GET RID OF DEBT sooner rather than later. I am taking this to heart, and need to work harder to get that gone.
• Debating about getting rid of my cell, which would save me $60 a month. It would mean someone taking over the contract to do that, so I'm going to ask around. If not, I can always cancel, but that's a very expensive way to do it, although far, far less than they'll get from me just with basic monthly payments for the course of the contract.
• Three weeks holiday was lovely! I went back to work for 2 days and then got sick! :( I am feeling much better now, but it sort of snuck up on me and knocked me flat for a couple of days. Very strange, but glad it wasn't longer or more serious. I'm actually looking forward to being back at work!
• Decided I need to start a detox May 1. I did this several years ago and it was amazing! Mainly fruits and veggies (raw for the most part), not too much sugar (the uber-refined kind at least) and one cup of tea a day. I was feeling like a new woman after just three weeks! I loved it once I got into the routine of it. I went off the pill after I split with D in Feb and my hormones just went berserk - I had cravings for chips & coke like you wouldn't believe. Literally every time I looked at a bag of chips I bought it and ate it all! Fortunately (!) those have tapered off now, but I'm still eating very badly. I suppose this is part of my learning too - why do I eat so poorly? There must be a psychological aspect to it like "I feel I'm not loveable / worthy / deserving, so why bother doing good things for myself because what's the point anyway?"
• But I AM loveable and worthy and deserving. If you don't love you, no one else will either. This is my basic lesson.
• DVDs borrowed from friends: Quantum Leap, Gilmore Girls, Eureka, McGyver, Veronica Mars & Due South. I am loving Quantum Leap (wasn't one I watched with any regularity when it was on) and am looking forward to watching McGyver (was a regular). Eureka was a lot of fun, but my friend doesn't have S2, just S3 and I don't want to skip any of it.
• A specialist appointment on the 22nd to touch base about my kidneys. Last blood test showed an improvement, which I hope will reflect in the latest one as well.
• I've also read three more books this week (no kids & sick, remember!), all by Charlaine Harris: "The Julius House," "Dead Over Heels," and "Real Murders." That finishes off the Aurora Teagarden mystery series. I loved it! I didn't read it in order, but it didn't matter much. But Ms. Harris is a wonderful writer, and she is one of my favourite authors these days. This series was, I believe, her first.

And it's already almost 2:30. I've just decided what I'm going to make for dinner, so I think I'll actually sit back and read some more between then and now. It's quiet and I've got another good book on the go, and it's much better than being on the computer!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Heeeeere's Joey!

He is a very sweet natured boy, but needs to know his food bowl is available (& full) at all times. He obviously gets nervous when he can't find it. Bylaw and Dinah are less than pleased with this whole situation (they have both vomited twice!), but I really am hoping things will settle down over the next couple of days. It will take some getting used to, as he's quite a presence and has already made himself at home. He just loves everyone so much; he starts purring the instant you touch him. Apart from being hugely overweight, he was well taken care of and obviously quite loved at his previous home.

Joey can actually jump onto the sofa, which is a good thing, because I wasn't sure he'd even be able to do that. I have to lift him into the cat tree, so was happy that I won't be spending all my time trying to get him onto or into everything (i.e. litter box).

YUM!!

This is my birthday cake. It's a 9" chocolate coconut, made especially for me from the new cake shop in town (plugplugplugplug). I cannot wait to taste it tomorrow! To tide me over, I got a pineapple coconut - seeing a theme? - cupcake, which was divine and lasted all of 10 seconds. This cake will see me through tomorrow's birthday potluck and also Sunday's birthday potluck (for a friend), plus, I'm sure, leaving me a little (a lot?) to just savour on my own. It's big, but resting beside it in the cooler was a 12", 3-layer raspberry ginger cake...OMG...The owner/baker has said she's going to make chocolate coconut cupcakes now, which is great!

This cost me $50 - she threw in the cupcake for free (!) which was initially going to come from the cheque my mum sent me, but because I bought art with that instead, I rolled some coin and voila! I had $50 exactly! I thought that was pretty cool (I exchanged the coin at the bank for a bill).

I also went to the shelter to fill out a fostering application for a cat called Joey. I sent an email to my landlords yesterday to ask permission for this and I got a very quick, positive response all the way from NZ! I'll be picking him up Monday or Tuesday, as I still have a week off and that will give us all a chance to at least get used to each other for a few days before I go back to work on the 12th. He's a monster! He weighs a whopping 24lbs and just needs somewhere to work it off and have his food intake monitored. I've been told the vet would weigh him weekly or bi-weekly for free so I can keep track of how he's doing. He currently has an appointment sometime in the next week or so to get checked out with respect to his kidneys and his inverted nipples (from the weight). Poor guy. He's a lovely, sweet boy who got overfed and needs some tough food love. You can see him here. He's the 5th one down.

Hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend! :)