Does this T-shirt Art Make Me Look Fat?

I crafted again!  I know right?  Like whoa.  Crafting Holly has been hibernating for a while, too caught up in the busyness of life as of late.  But this past weekend I felt like I needed to get something accomplished as I was feeling like I was wasting away my time off with absolutely nothing productive.  So I forced myself to make a craft with components I already had on hand.

Side note:  On a daily basis I struggle to find room in Eric's dresser drawers to put his clean clothes away because he has a kajillion t-shirts.  No lie.  He doesn't wear half of them but god forbid he be forced to throw them out or donate them to charity.  I found success a month or so ago and he was able to pull out FOUR shirts.  Yeah, my eyes are rolling.  Huge impact there.  The only reason he was able to come up with four shirts to part with was because I promised to make a craft out of them so he could still see them, touch them, look at them, and love them in all of their nostalgia. 

So t-shirt craft commenced this weekend.  I made wall art out of his t-shirts.  I used a couple of embroidery hoops for two of them.  And some Dollar Store art canvases (only because I was not inclined to build my own wooden frames) for the other two.  I think it should be considered pretty self explanatory on how I got to the end product so I'll save the step by step instructions.  Consider this easy enough to be a first crafting attempt if you should choose to venture down this road.  But keep in mind you will need a staple gun.  Those are all the components necessary to find success in this project.  I promise. 

So he seemed to like the end result.  I will admit I was a tad nervous slicing up his beloved torso-wear because until it's done, there is always the off chance that I might have just ruined the shirts.  But I don't know why I second guess myself.  Now we just need to find a suitable wall to hang them on.  I suppose the shed just won't do. 

Virtual Valentines

If you're a fan of Arrested Development you'll love these cards I stumbled across on Marisa Seguin's blog that she designed for Valentines Day.  So for the week leading up to Valentine's Day I posted one on Eric's Facebook page daily.  Here are quick snaps of the cards I posted leading up to the actual day holding back one in particular I planned to post on the actual VD. 

 

So not to be outdone Eric created his own virtual card for me using a couple stock photos he found online and a lovely poem he penned himself.   He's quite talented I will say.  And based on his blog post it turned out to be more difficult than he had imagined. 

 

So after swooning over those charming words of love I followed up with the final card:

His response, internet world?  "No fucking way."  So we shall continue to live on in sin.  I'm a lucky girl - dodged a bullet there!! 

Happy Valentines Day everyone (for what it's worth).  Love yourself first and then those around you. 



Ceiling Art

*Snort*

I asked Eric to hang some framed animal carcasses for me on the wall in the den.  We had painted them all white to match the new room.  I laid them out in the pattern on the carpet of how I had wanted them to hang and left it to him.  Everyone knows that pictures are to be hung at eye level right?  Perhaps it's best you don't ask someone who is 6'4" to hang your photos and expect them to be at normal height (he honestly didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but I swear I don't have any other frames hung this high in my house). 

All I could do was laugh....and later I shall lower the top row of frames. 

That Old Familiar Feeling

There's something to be said about the comforting feeling I get when things revert back to a past normal for me.  For basically the past year Eric has been working either steady afternoons or steady midnights.  (Yuk, yuk and more yuk!)  I'm not lost without him as I'm a superdeeduper independent gal and all, but it's been topsy turvy to say the least.  It's hard for an entire house to remain quiet in the evening hours and it's hard for Eric to shut out the outside world to get proper sleep during the daylight hours.  It's safe to say that he was definitely ready to be done with this particular shift. 

So on Saturday following the dreaded (yet inevitable according to him) phone call informing Eric that his employer was laying a bunch of people off for 'lack of work' the demeanor in the house immediately changed.  Yah, pretty much just like that.  For him anyway.  Me?  Well of course I stress about finances.  But that's not really a huge issue when I think about it.  I survived all on my own for quite some time before Eric and his salary came along and I can persevere again if need be.  It was just really, REALLY nice to have two salaries again.  I won't lie.  At least unemployment insurance is an option this time if all else fails. 

I guess my point of this post is the comfort of having him around again.  I like being able to do stuff around the house with him (even if he hates it).  Seems like that kind of got away from us for a while.  Well, back at it!!  I also like having dinner together and preparing it together, even if he does stick goddamn Tempe in my freakin' stir fry.  And I really like that old familiar feeling of sitting side by side in bed on our laptops, blogging.  Yah folks, you read that right, he's posted FIVE new blog posts!! I shit you not.  We also throw the odd game of Scrabble in there too, but now he's getting good at that so I'm not feeling too superior anymore.   And I'm also looking forward to the day he can do drawings on the computer again for his old boss and a new book so I can curl up in the crook of his arm and go to sleep while he works.  That was cool too, even if it made things harder for him and he hates it. 

Today he got the chance to go work with a friend's father, who has a contracting company, cutting huge pieces of wood with chainsaws.  I know it could take a little bit of time and practise to get his skills back, but I have faith he can do it.  He's just that guy that seems to be decent at everything.  And big wood and powerful saws make him a happy lad.

So here's to new old normals my friends! 

This Moment {6} - The follow up

Man I have not had ANY motivation to blog lately...Sorry for the delay.
A couple of years ago (or maybe it was last Halloween, no I think it was two years ago...) Eric and I drove up to Toronto to spend the night in Boy's Town (or the Gay Village, or the Church St. District).  The gays (that's my term of endearment for them) always have the best costumes ever.  I wasn't disappointed in the finds on this trip. 

We got dressed up (I wore my Star Trek dress and Eric wore hospital scrubs and a lab coat) and we melded into the throngs of people who took over the shut down street, dressed in their Hallowed best.   I am a huge people watcher and gay lover so aside from the sheer numbers that would be roaming the streets I was totally looking forward to this night.  Within moments of turning onto Church St., Eric was surrounded by dudes dressed as girls who were harbouring for his affections and photo opportunities and I was critiqued and called a bitch because my Star Trek uniform looked better on me than the gay boy's looked on him.  I think it was a backhanded compliment....I think.  We ogled all the amazing costumes, impressed with the amount of effort these guys (and some gals) put into their outfits.  We saw the Queen of England, Count Chocula, Frankenberry, the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, and Cap'n Crunch, we saw the Flintstone gang including their foot powered car, we saw Converse running shoes (like for real life size), we saw a buttload (no pun intended) of drag queens, and we saw shit we just plain didn't understand.  At one point we saw two big, fat 'cheerleaders' who were cordial and lovely enough to allow us to take our picture with them, until they weren't.  As they walked away they pondered to themselves how she (yup me) was able to snag a hot specimen like him (they meant Eric), in disgust.  I could hear them still though.  *Where's my sad face emoticon?   I just want to love the gays so much, why the hate? 

But then I was cheered up by these fine pieces of ass.  My favourite boys of the night, hands down.  My "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" friends.  They loved me (or at least they did a much better job faking it for me).  We decided a picture was in order and it was their idea to lift our skirts.  We had so much fun with them and spending the Halloween festivities in Boys Town.  I can't wait for the opportunity to do it again soon!

The Wood Will Renew The Foliage It Sheds

In the spring I thought it would be a brilliant idea to turn Gage's bedroom on the main floor of my house into a den and build him a new bedroom in the unfinished part of our basement.  On paper that seemed like a logical (still does) and quick transformation (not so much).  We are still far from finished the den and no where near completion on Gage's new space.  Instead he has completely taken over our rec room and destroyed it in the process.  Arg!  Following his room creation we'll be re-doing the rec room now.  No travels for us this year! 

Gage's room before furniture removal but after personal effects removed.

The point of this post is to introduce you to the main hiccup or the most time consuming aspect of the den transformation.  Our pallet wall.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and I loved the raw look of the wood.  I knew, aside from the work, Eric would also embrace this idea as he loves all things woodsy and natural.  So pallet searching we-a-went!  We lucked out huge when a friend of ours was able to bring us a butt truck load of pallets on a few occasions.  This saved us driving around looking (which we only had to do once).  And of course not every board on the pallet was in decent shape or suitable for using so we had a lovely trashy collection of pallets on our patio all summer.

It took a lot of physical labour to remove the usable boards from the pallets.  We deemed it better to cut through the nails with a saw rather than try to pry the boards off.  Prying them off would just result in breaking and cracking the boards.  This was merely one aspect I didn't take into consideration when I envisioned a quick finish date. 



Eric showing me his displeasure.

The second set back was the fact that it was thought best that we pull the drywall down off the one wall we had chosen to recover.  Drywall/plaster, same thing right?  Nope.  Plaster is a son of a bitch!  So that took way, WAY longer than I had thought and created way, WAY more of a mess than I was anticipating.  The metal gridding behind the plaster was the bane of Eric's existance.   Finally with the wall down to the studs we were able to put up the two sheets of plywood we had purchased.  I think we got 1/2 inch plywood to put over the studs.  The thought process behind this was:  Because the slats from the pallets are of different variances if there were any small gaps or spaces between slats then it wouldn't be as obvious with the wood plywood peaking through it rather than a painted wall.  And, my wall wouldn't be jutting out an extra inch or so from the orginal studs.  Eric is so smart, sometimes his extra work pays off. 

Now it was finally time to put the slats up onto the wall (the one part of the project I was totally focusing on).   After 5 lines I was coming to really appreciate how this wall was going to look upon completion.  Thank goodness we were only doing one accent wall.  I can't imagine trying to 'panel' an entire room with this process.  Now that the slats are all up it looks amazing.  Even though this project set my den make-over back like 3 months (working full time for a living and trying to squeeze this in isn't always practical) I have no regrets about this decision.

It's time to start piecing the room together.  I can't wait to see the finished project with all the crafty stuff I've done for it and in turn, show you the end result!  I'm looking forward to having a new room to hang out in.  I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  It will all be worth it.    

 

Running for My Life

This past weekend we (Eric, Gage, myself, my brother, sister in law, and 4 friends) had the opportunity to take part in a 5K run/obstacle course created by Run For Your Lives that included being chased by zombies.  'Cause running 5K and completing physical obstacles isn't hard enough (especially when you are in as poor shape as I am!).  After doing some research in preparation to signing up, we discovered that you could do both!  You could complete a zombie shift AND run the course as a runner!  Win-win!

The creators and volunteers put together an amazing event.  I don't know how long they've been doing these but this was the first one in Canada.  I must say it was flawless (aside from the weather which is, of course, uncontrollable).  Everything went off perfectly (except for the total collapse of the starting cages, immediately after our particular heat, from the wind - thankfully no one was seriously injured).   It was probably the best experience I've had during an event of this caliber.  Right from the parking and check in stations, to the costume department and make up tents and the actual course and obstacles - amazing.  It really was so well done.  Kudos to all involved who put this together and helped pull it off.  I really am looking forward to doing this again if they decide to bring it back our way next year. 

I was blown away with the make-up department set up.  All of the people they utilized to transform us 7 a.m. beauties into scary zombies were so talented and friendly.  The pace was quick and kept us all excited for the next things to come our way.  They had a wardrobe department, air brushing stations, prosthetic stations, blood splatter stations, liquid blood stations, mudding and blooding stations, free snacks and bottled water stations, and personal belonging check stations.  They really did think of everything (they even had a make-up removal station when we finished our shift).   We looked so good after passing through all those check points. 

Walking out to our station (we were zone 3 - a stretch of forest) amongst the trees, which made for great cover and gave that shadowy, ominous feeling just built the excitement up for us.  I located a sign nailed to a tree and jokingly said I'd hide behind the sign and jump out and scare people.  Because there really was no way they couldn't see me.   Eric stood just ahead of me on the opposite side of the path thus forcing people to run closer to the sign and low and behold the runners were so focused on Eric that when I stepped out from behind my sign I really was scaring the shit out of them.  So gooooooood!  I suffered a couple minor injuries (two of which are actually making it difficult to type):  a wrenched ring finger that is bruised and swollen when it got caught on a runner as I reached for a flag, a thumb nail that has a pool of blood under it after some asshole runner grabbed on to me and kept running (a no-no) and I got punched in the face (totally by accident, the runner even stopped to apologize).  All still worth it though. 

Following our three hour stint as zombies (which went by so quickly, I'd have been content to do it for the whole day, it was that fun!) we counted all of the lives we stole and then headed over to make up removal and received medals, free t-shirts and beer tickets!  The medals are great quality and so are the shirts, they didn't scrimp on anything here.   We then made our way to the van to change clothes and get some food before we were due to report for our own course run.  The weather was turning a little at this point and becoming cooler and much more windy.   I was dreading the race (because I hate running) but now I was looking forward to it because I knew it would warm me up. 

We made our way over to the starting cages (titled Appetizer, Entree and Dessert - the Appetizers got released first) to line up for our heat at 2 p.m.  We decided it was best for us out of shape runners to take the Dessert position so we weren't glomming up the track. The dark clouds were starting to move in on us which made it even more appropriate.  Coming around the first bend we encountered our first obstacle (mud pits 1 - Holly - 0).  Covered in mud makes you feel even heavier than you are!  Aside from zombies staggering all over the course the next obstacle we hit were  the climbing walls.  And while they don't seem that high, after running and being caked in mud it was hard to find the energy to pull myself over them.  The 3rd obstacle was a maze of darkness that took me longer to figure out than I was anticipating.  After making our way out of the maze and through another couple of hordes of zombies we entered a darkened house (through a window) full of smoke with hanging electrodes that zapped you if you hit them.  It was hard to avoid them as they were everywhere and there were zombies in the house that scared the shit out of us thus making it even harder to avoid.  We then had to climb under barbed wire (yes real barbed wire) on our bellies through the mud,  through long covered tunnels on our knees through the mud (good luck if you are claustrophobic), up a fenced wall and down a slide into a pit of cold mud and bloody water and then under an electrified fence through the mud on our bellies.  It was a messy day but so, SO much fun.

I hope the planners had a successful day and it will be worth their effort to come back again next year.  It will be super great if they add some new obstacles and remove a couple of this years.  It was fun not really knowing what we had ahead of us when we ran the race.  I remember the feeling that came over me when I turned the corner to find the three mud pits....and then the feeling of the smile creeping over my face as I embarked on my mission.  

Off With Yer Head!

I'm not sure if there has been a shift in the atmosphere or what the situation is/was but I feel like the bees were extra 'in your face' this year.  They were everywhere.  I killed more bees than flies this summer.  I feel mildly bad about it because, well... bees are good for our environment.  No human activity or ingenuity will ever be able to replace the amount of work that bees do for our world.  They are a huge reason we have fruits and vegetables.  In essence, they are also a critical component to us having livestock who feed on plants that continue to thrive because of bees and all the cross pollination that they do. 

Sorry, see?  I'm feeling so bad I felt the need to give you a mini science lesson to explain why I feel morose (not really) when I kill a bee.  But this particular post isn't about me killing a bee, it's about Eric killing a bee.  Not just hitting it and causing internal damages (thus leading to death) with the fly swatter, but actually unknowingly (and lacking any real skill to be able to pull it off again) perfectly beheading a bee and in the process snuffing it's life out of it.  (If they would just learn to leave us the hell alone and stay the f*ck out of my cans of pop while I'm trying to drink them, then we could all co-habitate on the same piece of property.)  

It was cleanly severed from the body and left in perfect form.  That's the bee head down there sitting on top of Eric's Zippo lighter so you get the idea of how small it is.  He would have never been able to pull that off had he been trying.  What a fluke.  Seemed appropriate to mention, what with all the dismemberments going on in our country lately (too soon?).  I was being sarcastic with that last sentence.  I wonder what it means to wake up to a severed bee head in your bed....

I wonder how we could mount and display this.  A new trend maybe?

When You Wish Upon A Star....

A shooting star is a common name for the visible path of a meteoroid as it enters the atmosphere to become a meteor. 

This the closest photo I could find on line to depict what we were seeing last night.

This weekend is prime opportunity to witness numerous shooting stars in the night skies.   As it turns out, and most of you are aware, this weekend will be host to the best meteor shower of the year with hundreds of shooting stars filling the sky in the pre-dawn hours.  The Perseid Meteor showers will peak on Sunday night. 

Interestingly enough, in my 38 years I have no recollection of ever having the opportunity to see a shooting star.  I'm not much of a star gazer and I don't sit around ogling the heavens at night too often so my chances have been greatly diminished.   Last night was a first for me. 

Eric and I decided to create a makeshift 'bed' on the trampoline, since the temperature in the air was totally perfect last night, around midnight.  We got comfy and laid there and stared up at the night sky.  It had been kind of cloudy all day and supposedly there was supposed to be some storm that was due to blow in.  Thankfully the clouds dispersed and that storm never transpired. 

Immediately upon climbing up onto the trampoline I witnessed my very first shooting star.  And after an hour and a half, at the very most, I'd witnessed 26.  A couple of them were really amazing!  I didn't make a wish on any of them.  I thought since they were sending me so many for my first time it would be presumptuous of me to think I could wish on them all.  By number 26 I'd gotten too comfy (in true Holly fashion) and closed my eyes and fell asleep under the starry night.   Eric reported counting 44 before he too fell prey to sleep. 

We woke up at 7 this morning covered in dew with a light sprinkling of rain falling on us.  (I have to say dew works wonders on my hair.  It's so soft and curly this morning!  Probably not nearly as beautiful and flowing as I imagine it is but it sure feels that way.)

I think we're going to head out again tonight provided the weather co-operates and watch some more before I have to come in and sleep in a real bed before work tomorrow.  I'm gonna drag the boys out to witness it this time around though. 

Did you see meteors last night?  How many did you witness?

Pergola Party

Roan concentrating so hard on the measurements that his tongue is sticking out!

My boyfriend has some serious talent (even if he's mopey and miserable whilst doing it).  I don't think I mentioned the fact that my mom's awning, on the back of her house over her patio, blew off in a wind storm this past spring.  But that actually happened so she decided since the shitty awning was no longer there and the insurance company would compensate her for her over exposure to the sun that she now wanted a wooden pergola.  Thus she immediately turned to the one man who had the capabilities to create and produce her wish...My Eric!

The back of the house after the remnants of the awning got taken down.

So he drew up a rendering of a pergola (a mish-mash of a couple samples she had found on the computer) and shopping we all went (I got roped into designated driver duties because we borrowed the company van to cart all the oversized supplies home in).  I'm pretty sure I've spent more time in Home Depot this past month than I have - ever.   It was slow moving in the beginning because there was a lot of tedious prep work before the assembly could get started.  This made it appear like we weren't doing anything (and thus the feeling of guilt which attributed to the above two emotions Eric went through whilst displaying his serious talent). 

Mid build.

Because of the size of the structure (21 feet long) Eric deemed it best that he erect it in three stages, starting with the middle section.  Once there was obvious progress being made the guilt started to melt away.   I was impressed with just the middle section!  I'm obviously easy to please!  My mom (who is actually the person whose opinion really mattered) was equally impressed. 

So the following weekend Eric and a friend were able to finish getting the entire pergola put together (for the most part).  There are still some finishing touches to be added but overall the structure is up and secure and my mom has started decorating it and adding her personal touches.  Next year I think he'll be building one in our back yard.  It won't be as big as my mom's but it will still be just as amazing.  Great job Eric!

Holly's Hollywood Story

Some of my real life friends already know this story, but since the main reason I want to keep a blog is for me to have some sort of 'record' of my life, (Ideally for when my kids are older and for their children and so on.)  I'm going to share it with you.    I'm not that interesting of a person and I don't lead a mahoussively (that's my first use of this new made up word, courtesy of Michelle) awesome life so for me this TRUE story is one of the very few great ones I have. 

So lets back track all the way to April 2008 when I stumbled on a necklace that I fell in love with at Tiffany & Co. (yup, the one in the movies in New York City and after having ridden the elevator 4 times) and decided to do something nice for myself as I had just been promoted at work.   I quite spontaneously became the owner of a pretty, delicate letter ‘h’ necklace. I wear it all the time and I’m rarely without it. In most of my pictures you will see my trademark “h”. I have had so many compliments on it over the past couple of years and I still love it like the first time I saw it.

Now fast forward to September 2009, 8 months into a relationship with Eric who for the majority of those 8 months has been in British Columbia, a 5 hour plane ride from me.  And who is currently still in BC at the time of this story.  September also happens to be my birthday month. 

So today is September 2, 2009 and I’m working a funeral and in walks a delivery girl from Purolator and puts a small box down on the desk. I walk over to her assuming it's just a keepsake urn from head office and I sign that I’ve received it. I jokingly say, “Oh look Nancy (my co-worker), it says it's to me, I wonder if someone sent me jewelry.”, in that facetious tone we all know I have. She laughs and said, “Wouldn't that be awesome?” I said, “Ya, how sweet would it be to open it up and see a little blue box staring at me?” The Purolator girl starts laughing and I look and it says T & Co as the sender. So I laugh and say, “Oh see Nancy? T & Co, that could stand for Tiffany & Co!”. She laughs and says, “Ya right!”, and walks away. The Purolator girl says, ”Well now I have to stay while you open it.” So as she's punching my last name info into the computer as the receiver, I open the box. And there staring at me is a blue box. I gasp, and stare hard at her, she peeks over and gasps and stares back at me in silence. I’m dumbfounded. I can’t even get my head around what’s happening. We both at the same time say, “HOLY SHIT!” I then go walking through the building looking for Nancy. Purolator girl is still hot on my heels.  I find Nancy and scream down the stairs, “It IS a blue box from Tiffany's!” Nancy comes running upstairs and sees me just standing there dumbfounded holding it in my hand and she starts flailing her arms saying, “Open it! Open it!” Purolator girl is yelling at me to open it too. So I do, and I pull out a new necklace, but this time instead of an “h” there is an “e”. And then my eyes all start watering (they probably packed some tear gas in there too by mistake....ya that must be what caused the watery eyes). And Nancy gasps and sighs, then Purolator girl is like, let me see, let me see and she is all like awwwwwww, what's his name? And I said Eric. His name is Eric. And then I told her about my  "h"necklace and she's like, “Oh my god, this just made my whole day!”

I've left the entire box except the blue one upstairs, so I haven't even seen a card. I'm in total shock and awe and swooning and melting and being a just plain silly girl and giddy and shit. Then I go look at the box and find the card. And then I cry.   Damn you Clark!

I am truly lucky. People have always said when you find him Hol, you’ll just know. I was skeptical. But I think I now know what they mean. He doesn’t have to buy me anything ever and I would still feel the same way. But when he does little unexpected things like this for me, he just finds a way to steel another piece of my heart. And aside from my kids, I’ve never felt that before.

I am so grateful for what I’ve found in him, regardless of the distance between us, and I look forward to spending many more years growing closer together with him, no matter how far apart we are. I will love him always. Or at least someone "wise" has said that

So that's my own little Hollywood story.  I don't have many so bear with me when I feel the need to share the odd one I get!  And so now, three years and then some later, I still think he's pretty rad. 

Brilliant Bob

He's not perfect.  I'm not either, and the two of us will never be perfect.  But if he can make me laugh at least once, causes me to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, I'll hold onto him and give him the most I can.  He isn't going to quote poetry, he's not thinking about me at every moment, but he will give me a part of him the he knows I could break.  I will try not to hurt him, and I won't try to change him, and I won't expect more than he can give.  I won't analyze.  I will smile when he makes me happy, yell when he makes me mad and miss him when he's not here.  I will love hard when there is love to be had.  Because perfect guys do not exist, but there's always one guy that is perfect for me. 

- Bob Marley

A Brief Affair

Turns out over the past month I've discovered (though not really discovered as someone actually took me to each location, but I digress) two hidden gems in our corner of the world.  First the sand pits where, if you'll remember, we found Roan caked in mud still in his pj's and second Decew Falls, where Eric took Roan and I for a hike a couple weekends ago. 

Turns out Decew Falls to Wellanders was like the Gorge was/is to us Niagara Falls folks.  The go-to place for teenagers for trespassing, bonfires and underage drinking.  But to an adult (yup, me) it was pretty neat, quite beautiful and painfully daunting.  I was totally up for a nice hike with Eric and Roan on a hot Saturday (or maybe it was Sunday, who can remember these things?) in May.  What I got was rock climbing, rapelling and walking logs across bodies of water.  Wha-what??  More than this lazy girl bargained for that's for sure! 

When we got there we first took a little tour of the mill that's on-sight and still working.  They have volunteers who give their time to entertain us with some historical facts.  Then we took a tour of the re-furbished Laura Secord homestead that's on the property as well.  Now that, I loved.  It was a beautiful old home and I'd kill to live in it.  After those tours we made our trek to the part of the cliff, yup you read that right, that was the easiest to get down.  I use the word easiest quite loosely.  When 'they' have to put ropes to hang on to while you descend down the wall, maybe you shouldn't actually be doing it!  All the visible dried blood on the way down sure didn't help matters either.  Needless to say, once we got down the 85 degree incline the actual hike was pretty decent.  There's a beautiful waterfall near the mill that we hiked over to and we were actually able to walk right behind it.  There is an old cave/mine-like entrance where some of the old rails are still intact en route to the falls as well.  They have them gated off so you can't go too far in, but it's still impressive.  After scouting out those two locations we trekked along the creek before taking on the dreaded task of scaling the wall back up to civilization.  I seriously felt like I was walking on a 90 degree angle up the side of the cliff using tree roots and branches to brace me from falling.  For once in my life I was worried more about me than I was for my 11 year old.  He scaled it like no one's business and waited patiently for me to drag my old, tired ass up.  In the process of clinging and climbing for my life I totally took a tree branch in the face.  It hurt like a bitch and almost sent me plummeting to my death.  It made me fully appreciate that Sonny Bono didn't stand a chance though.  The goose egg is STILL  on my forehead.  I think I made Eric feel bad enough that the odds of him asking me to join those two again on a hike at Decew are slim and none. 

Behind the waterfall.

Probably not a bad thing.  Besides, I have pictures and a scar to remind me of that wonderful, adventurous afternoon.

Updates Galore!

HOLY SHITBALLS! 

Look who's back in the land of blogging!! 

Death on a Concrete Floor

Getting a phone call from a strange number and answering to hear your boyfriend on the other end when he should be at work can be a little disheartening.  Hearing him tell you he's been taken by ambulance to the hospital because he passed out while working also doesn't sit too well.  Neither does being told they discovered something alarming was happening with his heart and he needed to stay longer for an EKG. 

This all happened to me on Wednesday night.  Eric called to let me know he'd been rushed to the hospital from work and he wasn't sure what happened or how long they were going to be keeping him, and they found something messed up with his heart and yadda yadda yadda.  They ran a bunch of tests and he goes back to see the doctor on Tuesday to hopefully get some results. 

Not knowing what's happening to you can be a little nerve wracking.  They are thinking perhaps he was skating on the cusp of the flu and was exhausted and tired (I did tell him to stay home that night because he'd been feeling so lousy, but noooo...) resulted in his light-headedness and the feeling on fainting.  Then when his body siezed up and he couldn't move anything and he was hallucinating they figure that was an improper balance of gases in his system.  Too little oxygen, too much carbon dioxide as a result of his erratic breathing.  After about 45 minutes he was able to move his limbs again and started to calm down.  He was released around 10 p.m. and even then he still contemplated going back to finish his shift.  Trooper I tell ya (or idiot). 

The next day he went for more bloodwork and another EKG and he has to go back to get the results tomorrow but for now he's been off until those answers come in (though we all know how easily answers come don't we??).  He said this was genuinely the first time he actually thought he was dying and during those thoughts he didn't think of me (the love of his life) he thought about what a raw deal he was getting by dying on the floor of John Deere with  a bunch of people he doesn't really care for hovering around him instead of the send off my dad got (surrounded by those that were most important to him).  He's decided that's the way he wants to go now too.  Don't we all?   And in true Eric fashion this whole experience couldn't go by without a photo op. 

Us

Just a recent photo of us.  It's been a while since we've had a new one.

Obesity Epidemic? I Don't Know Why!

Are you kidding me?  Who thinks that it's a good idea to make this stuff?  And frankly where do people find this? 

My sister apparently got 4 of these things over the Christmas holidays.  I think she bought one and had three given to her as a gift.  Though maybe she meant she had four individual peanut butter cups.  Who knows, either way it's gross. 

I'm not so sure it was a great idea on Eric's part to split it with Roan and to challenge each other to actually finish their half, about thirty minutes before dinner.  But it was mildly entertaining to watch them try to eat it and each of them tap out early.  Eric says it's because I said he smelled yucky, but I think he just couldn't handle the half pound of power.  Roan pretended he was concerned about being able to finish his dinner.  Ya right! 

I think Eric's planning on saving the second one for his buddy Shawn.  Aside from ketchup, turns out peanut butter is his favourite thing.  And it was just his birthday... But if Shawn doesn't show his face here soon, I suspect it will succumb to Eric's cravings after smoking a big, fat blunt.