“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.”

- Beryl Markham 

The last week has been BRUTAL

Written Friday, March 21, 2014:

This week has FLOWN by.  I've been so busy at work, which has been a good thing.  My boss has been in Jamaica with her family for her daughter's March Break. I'm staying a bit late tonight just to get some things cleared off my desk so I don't have to worry about them first thing Monday morning.  

Tuesday night we ended up taking the day off to get our car brakes done. That turned into a nearly $1,700 job, involving both front and back breaks, front suspension ball joints and some other shit I can't remember. We initially were going to take it in today but on Monday night we found out that Jeff's mom was in the hospital. A bit shocked and worried, we stayed home Tuesday to get it fixed in the event that we'd have to be doing some driving in the days ahead and we wanted to be ready if needs be (ie something dire happening). We found out more info about his mom and in the evening we picked up Jeff's brother and to the hospital we went. 

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Currently Monday, March 24 2014:

To stay that this weekend wasn't interesting is an understatement. Let's start off say last Wednesday 

 

Two hours later: 

 

 

Now I think I've been somewhat open about being depressed and having anxiety or perhaps it's been rather veiled comments I've made in the past but I'm on Effexor or Venlafaxine.  This drug HAS made me feel better.... But now, about 5 months in, I'm noticing crazy things happening.  I seem to have gotten every side effect associated with this drug.  Anyways, on Friday night my top lip swelled up like a bad botox job gone wrong.  It was horrendous looking.  My lip, my cheek, under my eye, my eye lid and eye ball... I probably should have gone to the hospital but they would've given me Benadryl and prednisone, which I refuse to take.  Jeff took me out to get liquid Benadryl at 3 am and I was basically a write off for Saturday and the swelling didn't come down until I woke up on Sunday.  We were supposed to go out for lunch with a friend on Saturday but that didn't happen, but we did go on Sunday.  It was nice seeing him since I hadn't seen him since last September.

 

Below are pictures of my swollen self on Saturday.  Friday night I refused to be photographed, which in hindsight, I should have, for documentation purposes and to show my Doctor.  Bottom left picture is Saturday morning.  See what I mean?  I look AWFUL and so sick.  Bottom line, I'm beginning to wonder wtf this shit is doing to my insides if externally I'm reacting as badly as I have been.  Even last night, I woke up at 3 am because I'm guessing I had scratched myself awake and I had welts of hives over my stomach, back, feet, forearms and hands!!  The ones on my stomach are usually the largest, some can be as big as small plates!  I've done some googling and found a forum of people on the same medication and we all experience the same bullshit.  It can't be a coincidence.  I'm not going to be referred to any allergists, GI's or immunologists because many of these people have been referred and none of these specialists can find anything wrong with them.  Well clearly something is wrong.  Maybe we're a part of a small percentage of lucky individuals that get these god awful side effects.  But I wouldn't wish this shit on anyone, it's just awful. 

 

 
 That's all for now.... Ciao!

 

Weekend pics and the fun that was had... OooOooHhh... Not that exciting, trust me..Lol

This past weekend was another nice and relaxing one.  Jeff went up north late on Thursday night I guess it was, for the weekend to participate in another tournament (they're monthly).  Friday I had work and a pot luck at lunch with my department, which was really nice.  We try and have those every few months and it's just nice to be able to relax, chat and not necessarily about work shit.  Friday afternoon was spent feeling full and uncomfortable (lol) and then I went home for the evening and had a friend come over and visit for a bit.  God my memory is getting foggy at the moment, it feels like a century has passed since last week. 
Saturday morning, mom and I made plans to go to the gym and I did a Bodypump class for an hour, while she did her own thing, had a shower and then afterwards, we went back to my place and grabbed the boys and my lunch (leftover stirfry and couscous from the night before) and off we went to my mom's house for the afternoon.  We went grocery shopping, the boys played with mom's dogs, mom and I watched the boob tube and I also did some laundry (oh so much fun, don't you agree? lol).  Went back home around 7 ish and then went down around 8:30/9 to Dina's for some Chinese food.  After we ate, we went back upstairs to Jeff and I's and we watched Old Boy.  I loved the movie so I made Dina watch it as well. 
Sunday morning, got up and got ready for the gym, had a shower afterwards then mom and I went to the mall so that I could make my pants that I busted up the previous Wednesday from falling into shorts.  We went into a couple of stores and an hour later, Mom had bought me 3 dresses (one of which I probably would not have picked let alone try on, but glad I did), a flowy top and two tank tops.  Mom's are AWESOME!!  After that, I went home and cleaned some, vegged some with the dogs and Jeff got back home around 7 p.m. just in time for dinner.

This week has been busy.  Yesterday I was supposed to leave early from work but as it happened, we both ended up taking the day off because of some bad news about his mom we got on Monday night.  Yesterday was spent figuring out logistics of his mom and the hospital and getting our car into the shop earlier than we had planned (Friday was the day it was going to go in) but given her state, we wanted the car to be safe... so there went nearly $1,700.  *faints and has heart attack*

More later.....

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Having technical difficulties with the pics...Will update that later

My week...

So we were touched with a glimpse of Spring on Monday and Tuesday and lo and behold, most of the Eastern seaboard got dumped on Wednesday.  I'd been covering my work mate all week since she was away in Lake Placid and subsequently called in sick on Wednesday because she got a concussion doing ski jumps (*Shakes head* with no helmet) and so because I had worked through lunch on Wednesday (Note: Lindsay didn't get to go the gym on Wednesday *insert sad face here*), I decided to leave early because it was snowing like an SOB, I couldn't see much of anything outside the window, roads were terrible and already on the rail lines I was noticing several track switch problems because of the snow accumulation.  I was like F this, packed up my shit and left for the 2:30 bus home, full well knowing that it would take forever to get home but certainly better than waiting around all day and waiting for it to get worse.

 

Not long after I set foot outside in that mess did I slip and fall on my knee, banged it pretty good, recovered from a more bruised ego of falling on my knee and by the time I go to Union Station, I noticed that I had ripped my pants (GRR!!) and coming through said pants was blood.  And thick, yucky blood.  Ugh!  So I ended up getting on the bus and then once I sat down, unzipped my boot and revealed my bashed, gnarly looking knee.  And here is what it looked like:

 

As you can see above, this is Day 2.  Doesn't look nearly as bad as it feels but that's on the account that I keep peroxiding the shit out of it.  I expect a bruise to come out still but man does it hurt like a mother.  Frankly I'm surprised I didn't crack my head open because I'm such a clumsy person. 

 

And of course, a few obligatory dog pictures.  With Jeff is Lily and Stella, our friend's Bichons that lives downstairs in our condo building.  We often look after them, kidnap or my mom takes them.



And of course, Baxter laying on his back, happy and smiling :)

So today, we have a department Pot Luck luncheon, which we usually have every few months, which is nice.  So that's two days down this week I haven't made it to the gym, but I did go Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and yesterday.  I'll be going tomorrow and possibly Sunday too, just for good measure. 

 

My Momma is home from the Dominican.  I always miss her like crazy while she's away.  She's a bit relieved to be back as well because my Aunt got sick down there and ended up in the hospital for 2 1/2 days.  That's a whole other eye-rolling story that I don't care to journal about.

 

Here's to a good Friday!  TGIF!! <3 p="">

 

 



Had a nice weekend at home. Jeff went up north, although he was supposed to take a friend, that sort of fell through and he ended up going up to his parents solo. Jeff's mom was at Jeff's brothers due to March break being this week and so he spent the weekend up there with his dad and brother, doing what they love at the range. I on the other hand had plans with a girlfriend that was coming up to visit, originally she was to come Saturday but she overlooked something and had to come up Friday night instead.

Saturday she had stayed til 1 and then I ended up watching some stuff I had downloaded from the internet while having a bit of a lazy Saturday afternoon with the boys and Lily, one of Dina's Bichons and Baxter's lady friend :).  I ended up going out with Dina to do some grocery shopping around 5:30, she had to go spend a bunch of money at Shoppers and I went to Superstore to buy some fresh fruit and produce, as Jeff had done the Costco run for the month the previous day.  It was such a beautiful day out on Saturday, blue skies, the sun was shining... it truly felt like spring weather.  Later that night, Alex and Nancy came over for a bit and we ended up chatting for a couple of hours and after awhile Nancy left and Alex stayed for a while longer.  I ended up going down to see Dina with the dogs afterwards and stayed til about 12:30 a.m.  I went back home, a bit tired, spoke with Jeff on the phone, who was as I said, up north with his Dad and brother and then before I knew it, it was 2 a.m. and daylight savings time, in other words, it was actually 3 am!!!  Had to go to bed because I didn't want to sleep the morning away and wanted to head to a Jillian Michaels Shred class at 10:30.

Miss Lily

Sleepy Charlie

Charlie hiding in the closet

Sunday, woke up around 8ish and this was my view:

Had a protein shake and walked up to the gym around 10 am for 10:30 class start.  Nancy came over in the afternoon and Jeff came home early and Monday morning came far, far too quickly.



Girls and Friends

You know what I dislike, when you're there for someone through thick and thin, at all hours of the day and night, there for them to yell, scream, vent and cry and essentially hold them up from crumbling, only when you need them, they're no where to be found.  That's one reason why I've never been fond of girls, not only are most catty and dramatic and I don't have time for that, I've never had girlfriends that reciprocate the friendship at the depth I do.  Ever.

That's my rant of the day.  So tired this afternoon after yoga class.

Sleepy Charlie in the morning

Jeff and I being retarded. LOL

The last 5 days or so in pictures... or mostly pictures..

My super impressed face last Thursday evening after being stuck on the train for more than an hour.  A track maintenance vehicle had derailed when it hit a snow drift and was obstructing our passing.  So we had to wait, and wait...

My Friday night visits... Nothing too crazy, just a couple of visits.  Toby is an old boy, a Pomeranian that is insulin dependent and he actually gets excited to get his needles because he knows that he'll get a treat afterwards.  It's adorable :)

This beautiful Dalmatian, my first that I had ever met (I met the family and Ziggy last Wednesday night, they invited me over to meet him before they were actually going away and wanted to ensure that we were all good and Ziggy was behaved). 

Hamish, aka Ham, aka Barky McBarkerton.  Loves to bark this boy, he's so comical.

This is Parker, a four year old Standard Poodle.  Very sweet boy, attentive and affectionate as you can see.

Parker lives with Stanley and he is a big version of my mom's dog, Quincey.  Very sweet, loving and calm.  The Standards share the house with Harlow, an old Golden Retriever and she's just a darling.  Great pack in this house hold.

Here's Ziggy on Saturday afternoon at my second and last visit.  His pet parents were only gone for the day and back in the late afternoon.  Such a smooth, soft coat and a sweet boy, complete opposite of the Dalmatian stereotype.

And here's Mr. Jagger, the only Greyhound I've looked after (well he had two sisters, Sunshine, she passed away last year at the age of 11 and they had another female that the owner was fostering but she was returned to the breeder for reasons I don't feel like posting) and I always look forward to seeing him when I see him on the schedule.  He gets super excited when you walk in the door and likes to jump up and give you kisses but because of his long snout, he can poke you in the eye or bop you in the face and I've got a bloody nose before - totally my fault), but I know how to handle him now.  He's just a sweet boy, and really beautiful to watch, he's like a small horse.



This would be Hamish again, as I mentioned above.  He's about 11 I think.  Still very energetic, bouncy and zest for life.  Loves going for walks. as you can see from his happy face.

And here's Quincy, I've posted pictures of him many times in the past.  I look cold on the right, right?  So sick of winter.  It's been long, cold, up, down.  It was -20 yesterday morning walking to the train at 6:30 am.   And then getting on the train that had NO HEAT but still ran anyways.  So an hour to union in -20 temperatures (without wind chill) and no heat.  Wonderful.

All of the above are Charlie, a 4 month old kitten that's like my Charlie but in a cat suit.  Total love bug, purrs like a well seasoned truck and follows you around like a dog would.  He was so, so incredibly sweet and loving.