And I have no idea what to do. I didn't make any plans. It's a vacation from doing anything. How could I have done this? I DON'T HAVE ANY PLANS! And as a result, I had a nap because I was bored. Then the phone rang and woke me up so now I'm awake and not doing anything because I was so psyched to not have to do anything.

So, 8 hours into my vacation, I've decided I need to plan some stuff so that I know what I want to do instead of just sitting here with a blank, stress-free mind.

So in the next week, I'm going to attempt to do the following:

• organize my craft area in the basement
• hang pictures of mine and Cheruby's loved ones on the walls
• fix the back gate and fence
• clean up the debris in the front and side yards
• pull some large weeds and bag them so they don't spread their seeds
• collect other flower pod seeds for next year
• make some repairs around the house to make it more energy efficient
• paint touchups
• organize the back entryway
• put up the garden hose holder
• organize the garage
• play video games
• embroider a picture
• start Christmas crafts
• think of a Hallowe'en costume
• go shopping for a broom, shelving brackets, ladders, gutter cleaning hose contraption, saw horses, fabric, and whatever else I want
  
• schedule a pedicure
• get shelving for the basement and hopefully get one
  
• finish the edge of my desk and re-affix the leg
• Verathane my pine shelves and get them up on the walls
• watch movies
• read

If anyone has any other ideas about what I could do this week, let me know because I'm not actually going to work this hard. [grin]

We started with supper at Taverna as Cheruby's celebration dinner for being a semi-finalist. It was fabulous as usual. I think we both ordered the same thing this time as we did last time. Except I also ordered the chocolate mousse cake for dessert. It was very yummy. We made sure to get there early so we could make it to two movies which is exactly how the evening worked out.

Transformers was our first show of the evening. My favourite is Bumble Bee. He's awesome. As Cheruby put it, "It's the best possible movie that could be made about Transformers." Yep, it's definitely that. I enjoyed it because it was fun.

The second movie was Stardust. I was very pleased. I read the book a couple years ago and while there was likely some discrepancies, I didn't notice. It was a really good. Cheruby really liked it too and he hasn't read the book. It will be a good movie for my collection.

Tonight, we had supper at Amigos in honour of Lando*'s 30th birthday. And like a lot of other people I know, the 30th year of her life was pretty frakin' great. Part of that great year was getting engaged to this guy who is the brother of this girl who is one of Babyface's wife's best friends. (I really liked writing that.) Anyway, part of the family tradition of the brother and the girl above is to make a cake and decorate it with a picture in icing. This seems that it would take a lot of talent. It was the picture of a prairie dog with "DUN! DUN! DUN!" written on it. I didn't get it.

And now I do.

_______________________________________
*Cheruby's ex was given this nickname by Cheruby's sister. There's no story behind it. She just started calling her Lando one day.

I didn't actually spend any money yet, but I just agreed to have someone come in and replace my water heater and furnace, install an air conditioner, and convert my wood fireplace to a gas fireplace. And that's on top of the money I've already said I'd spend on getting eavetroughs. I have to tell my neighbour about all this work, just to be neighbourly.

I didn't work on Wednesday. It was one of those days where I just couldn't do the job. I tried for about 45 minutes, then I called my boss and asked if I could take a vacation day that day and started to cry while doing it. There is nothing to worry about - just a day to not have to be responsible for anything. I laid in bed for 6 hours and read a book. I would call it a stress day, but I think it was more of a de-stress day as my stresses have been significantly relieved lately. And I got to have supper with my mom.

And while Cheruby did not make the top 10 in his contest and we're understandably disappointed, it is still kind a fabulous feat to be in the top 10% of all the entries. I will be taking him out to celebrate this new feather in his cap this week.

So I told my staff today the bad news that we permanently lost two positions from the team. Apparently, that was a relief to them compared to what they were thinking for the past two days. Unbeknownst to me there have been some executives statements floating around about shuffling management in the coming months. The team thought someone was leaving - I was leaving. One of my staff was even praying that I wasn't leaving the team. On one hand, I felt bad for worrying them so. On the other hand, the fact that my leaving the team was the worst thing they could come up with was very flattering. I may have actually felt my head swell.

And in bigger news...

See full listing here. His is one of the top 10% (actually probably closer to 8 or 9 percent, but let's not get picky) of screenplays entered. I'm a little worried about the two screenplays by the same guy. I'd hate for him to take up two precious slots in the next round of judging for finalists. Nineteen of the screenplays on that list will be cut this time around. Please send him a note to tell him how awesome this is and wish him luck with the next round.

Although I hate it when I cry at work, it seemed to happen quite a bit today.

First thing that happened was my hearing at the appeal board. I was in the room for 8 minutes in front of 5 board members and the inspector that wrote me up. I didn't say a quarter of the things I meant to like about talking to my neighbour and him not believing me and the contractor losing my original request for a quote. Lots of monosyllabic words from me, unfortunately. Luckily, the inspector was forced to agree that the contractor situation in the city is very backed up and October 31 seemed realistic. Regardless of my lack of communicative abilities in the hearing, the evidence speaks for itself.

The next part of the ongoing eavestroughing saga is the 7 to 10 day wait until I get the board's decision because they aren't allowed to tell me in person. And after that, I will have until October 31 to get eavestroughing on the house and until I that time, I will be a little bit stressy about it. Very low grade stress, but there will be stress.

The other craptacular thing that happened today was work related. Nothing I can do about it and nothing to be done about it. I just have to suck it up and present a good face and move on. I'm still going to be really pissed off about it for a very long time though. I was very upset and my boss let me go early. That's how craptacular it was.

I now have some baking to do for the United Way BBQ tomorrow.

Some of the wonderful things that may or may not be mentioned in yesterday's ginormous post are:

1. As we were waiting for the boys and the trailer for camping last week, we were driving around the back roads. We saw a mother deer and her fawn. The fawn was already quite big, but still had its spots. It also didn't have the sense to jump straight into the forest so it ran down the road in front of us. It then stopped and regarded us in the car for a while. I didn't get out my camera in time, but it was magical just the same. The fawn decided again that we were danger and leapt and bounded down the road again and into the forest. It was awesome.
2. Cheruby's screenplay getting into the quarter finals of one of the contests he's entered. I am so very proud of him. I really think his screenplay is very good and he is very talented. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if his screenplay won the whole competition.
3. My niece and nephew are fine young people that I like very much. My nephew is very brave and is trying very much to be like his dad. My niece is wild and has a lot of energy that is amazing to watch and be with.
   
4. G&D told Cheruby that they're gong to have a baby! She's already four months along. If I'm ever going to learn to knit, now's the time!
5. Someone very close to Cheruby got engaged! I am so thrilled for the happy couple.
6. My wonderful dad made me DVD copies of the first season of Hex. I'm very excited to watch it and very happy that my dad made it for me.
7. Last night the dumb bunny flew down the stairs when she thought she was in trouble for being on the counter (and she was.) She was over half way down the stairs and still 2 feet above them. I just about peed myself laughing.

There were other noteworthy moments, but I'm not remembering them right now. I'll note them later if I remember.

Okay, so I keep getting told to update my blog. Well, fine. Apparently 3 weeks is too long in between posts. Unfortunately, I agree with him.

So, let's see where was I...

It seems I last posted the day before Cheruby returned from his family reunion trip to Atlanta, Michigan. So let me tell you about his return because I know you all want to know. Heh.

Cheruby's Auntie K has two wonderful dogs, Julie and Sonny. Sonny looks like a teddy bear - it's really amazing how much he looks a teddy bear. Sooo cute! On the trip, Cheruby had told many stories and impressed upon her and his dad about my fat cat who has a protective (mean) streak regarding dogs who are much bigger than him in his house. Seems reasonable to me. But since Auntie K's dogs are so nice, she thought that it would be impossible for any cat to hold a grudge since they don't react to cats. So she had Sonny on a very short leash many feet away from the unhappy fat cat. I was willing to let it happen, but then Seraphy (Cheruby's dad) let the other dog out of the basement and he was roaming free. Oops. With much yelling and almost freaking out, Auntie K and I watched the unhappy situation unfold - her trapped holding the other dog and me trapped under my laptop and camera on the couch. The fat cat felt trapped as he tried to leave the room one way - dog in the way. Then he decided he'd leave the room the other way - dog in the way. Trapped in a room with a dog with a dog in both exits, he became AggressOR, the Fat One. He apparently tried to bite during his three flying sideways claw attacks at the dog who came away with a nick in her ear and a scratch down her back. Cheruby's dainty cat was scared and ran and dumb bunny got out of dodge too, but the Fat One had to be forcibly removed from the dog. Sticking one's hand into a frenzied cat's targeting range is, while dangerous, the only way to save the dog. I ended up with two bites (three deep tooth punctures) in the arm just above the wrist. And Cheruby and I spent his first night back in town in the emergency room and got to be known by the spacey intern as "The Cat Bite Lady." I would have preferred to spend the evening with Cheruby and his family, but that was not in the cards. In some sort of karmic balance, Auntie K found some glass in my basement by slicing her toe open on it. I don't remember any glass breaking in my basement ever so my guilt over that and her guilt over my arm (that wasn't her fault) kind of balance each other out. We tried to watch a movie later, Se7en, but I didn't make it through.

We missed a friend's birthday party that night, and I felt bad about that. We saw her later though and I remembered to tell her happy birthday.

I was supposed to spend some time with AJ that night as well. Instead, he got quite a show with the Fat One attacking the dog which he LOVED! You should ask him about it as he gets quite excited.

Only 21 days to go! Aren't you happy Rilla and Bne bugged me for an update?

I've had 4 heating companies come to the house to give me quotes on a new furnace, water heater, air conditioner, and converting my wood fireplace to a gas burning fireplace. Doesn't that sound like fun? It's so interesting how different companies give such a variety of services. One spent 15 minutes in my house and had me a quote the next day. One spent 45 minutes in my house and expected me to sign the quote for the work before he left. One spent 30 minutes here and mailed me my quote so I got it two weeks later. And one spent an hour here, has given me three follow up phone calls, followed up with my chimney sweep, has come back for a follow up visit for a half hour with a colleague, and would like Cheruby and I to come in to review the fireplace we would be getting before signing the quote. I'm expecting that last quote to be a significant amount higher than the others, but with the amount of care and attention they've taken to assess the work before they quote it, it might be worth it if I have the money. [sigh]

Speaking of money, I've had several visits to the bank and they might give me enough money to put eaves troughs on the house and replace all these appliances. Actually, that's not true, I will have enough money once I get my rebates from SaskEnergy. Good old SaskEnergy. I will have very happy new bits in my house that will make it worth more if I want to sell it. And it's already almost doubled in value since I bought it. YAY!

To make up for missing supper with AJ, we went out the next night to a little place over on 33rd St when Saigon Rose was closed. It was alright. I think I'd probably like a different dish better, but AJ really loved it. I was happy to spend the time with AJ because it seems altogether too little lately. I should probably take a little blame for that because I like to spend time at home with Cheruby.

The next night, we didn't get anyone over for movie night. Shockingly, there wasn't a lot of interest in Yankee Doodle Dandy. But that meant that we were able to go to Ril's impromptu 30th birthday party. There was ice cream cake, good friends, and some Guitar Hero. Good times.

Okay, so for those keeping track, I up to the July 27th weekend now. Friday, Kaz and Ril dropped off their new kittens for catsitting for the weekend. I was ecstatic when they said we could take them.

G&D came over on Friday night to finally watch Yankee Doodle Dandy with us. We were all equally horrified by it. Cheruby just quit singing "Over There!" I'm hoping he doesn't read this and remember to sing it again.

That Saturday was spent with my sweetie swimming and lounging in the afternoon and Sunday was spent playing Scrabble with Drang and Soc Chick instead of playing Low Life. We returned home to have the kittens stolen from under our noses. I was sad because I didn't get to see goodbye. I also wanted to give them their meat but I probably would've forgotten anyway.

Can you believe it? We're already to Monday, July 30th in my life. Heh. Suffer the excruciating details fiendish fellows who cry for an update!

I went bicycling with my friend from work and then Cheruby and I went swimming at his mom's house with Kaz and Ril. And then there was D&D on the Tuesday night before I spent my Wednesday night driving to Calgary. That started the many nights in a row of 5 hours of sleep.

I got to Calgary before midnight which I was pleased with. I still stayed up and visited with Ferlak for a couple hours before sleeping as he was leaving in the morning for a rave. Yes, that's the right Ferlak.

Work the next day was fun and I got a nice nap after work before spending a delightful evening with good friends in Calgary. We got to watch Tall One's new movie, Hot Fuzz. I have to say that with the proper introduction, this movie is completely awesome. I was told it was violent and funny, but not as gorey as a similar movie which I enjoyed except for the gore, Shaun of the Dead. Hmmm... same actor. I got home from that delightful evening to spend the rest of night until 2am with Bne. It was good to spend time with Bne even though I forgot to bring the Fourth Season of Six Feet Under.

Friday was awesome after work as I spent it with my brother and his family. Pizza for supper and watching Ghost Rider. And talking to my drunken Cheruby for over an hour was pretty awesome although it lead to the next night of 5 hours of sleep. I slept on the couch so the kids woke me up pretty early. We got them packed and were on the road by about 10:30am. I was trying to make it to Saskatoon by 6pm. We were there by just after 5 which I was impressed by as we stopped five times - once for lunch, once for gas, and three times to have the kids run around the car. They were very good and were very good for the entire time they were here. I was very, very, very pleased with my 6 year old nephew and 9 year old niece.

The first thing we did once in Saskatoon was have burgers, go to the park, get all cleaned up with showers, play a few video games, and watch a movie before bed. Sunday was even more action packed with shoe shopping to let Cheruby sleep in because I don't need more than 5 hours sleep, swimming at Cheruby's mom's, and then mom and dad got to Saskatoon. Supper at Fuddruckers and then some mini-golf left us all very tired.

Monday we had great plans, but nothing got done except for a shopping trip to Wal-Mart and a fabulous $4 pair of pants that I feel guilty about owning because of where I bought them. Evil, evil, evil and yet I succumbed to the temptation that is the low, low prices of Wal-Mart. There were a lot of video games played because grandpa said it was okay. [sigh] And after my parents took off with the kids to Nipawin (including a brief but very exciting trip to the Smuts corner for Cheruby and myself to rescue mom, dad and the kids from their unhappy car [we passed 4 other unhappy cars in the 44 kilometres to theirs,]) we enjoyed a nice quiet evening of Tetris and the Gilmore Girls.

Tuesday was supposed to be In Nomine at our house, but Cheruby forgot about AJs horrible reaction to onions and so we played at his new house instead. Despite the lack of countertop space and itty bitty bathroom, it's nice and cozy with a nice big yard that the neighbour takes care of.

We moved movie night to Wednesday last week to accommodate our camping trip to Tobin Lake, isolated Wall's Flats to be exact. Cheruby was suitably impressed by the scenic drive out there and all the lack of other people and being surrounded by wilderness. I was so happy when I saw the beauty and the memory of it came flooding back because I knew that Cheruby would be loving it even more than I was. Mom and I drove out with the kids and Cheruby went with dad to pick up the trailer. We waited and waited and waited and drove back to my aunt's house to use the phone to see when the trailer had left and went back to the campsite and there they were. I have a great picture of the directions carved in the road for us because they thought WE were lost.

First night there included hot dogs (two of which escaped digestion by diving into the fire) and smores. Mmmmm... Smores. They were awesome. Friday morning was an early morning swim for mom, my niece and I. It was so lovely and wonderful and quite chilly. I only stayed in for about a half hour. I still haven't gotten over my dislike of seaweed around my legs and not being able to see the bottom. Although the lake was so clear that even though I was into up to my chest, I could still see the bottom. I loved it. Mom was crazy and went swimming into the deeper water to some driftwood sticking up from the bottom. I know that it couldn't be that deep if there are logs sticking out of the top of the water and stuck in the bottom, but I still can't see therefore I won't go. I have this silly fear of fish nibbling me or rubbing against my legs. Ewww...

I had a nice nap while Cheruby, the kids, and dad went for a boat ride to do some fishing. Then it started to rain a little. Then dad forgot his very pretty and expensive knife on the boat and when they went back for it - the boat people had found it and put his name on it for him. It made him very happy to not have lost it and to have honest people have found it. Of course, while mom and dad were gone to find the knife, my nephew fell while trying to get on one of the top bunks and really hurt his back. It was the only time I heard him cry for his mom the whole trip. I was very proud of him for being so strong. Then we played a game before mom started cooking steaks for supper.

We had more Smores for dessert before bed and got to sleep relatively early. All that fresh air must have tuckered us all out. Of course, Cheruby had to tell some scary stories to my niece which freaked me out more than they did her. [sigh] I just can't get the images out of my head. I did help make her scream though after Cheruby told the infamous hook-hand story. I really don't like scary stories.

We were off to an early start as the wind and rain were having a really big party the next morning. It meant that we were able to get back to Nipawin to find that we were locked out of the house because my parents have changed the lock since the last time they made me a key. Oops. So we had breakfast at A&W and drove around town a bit and pointed out the historical sites to Cheruby and the kids. After we finally got into the house, we discovered that mom and dad just weren't feeling up to driving to the city again.

Cheruby, in this short time span, got some FABULOUS news. He's a quarter finalist in one of the screenplay contests he entered. He was grinning like a fool and offered to drive the kids in his car while I took some alone time driving my car back to the city. He did very well in putting on Peter and the Wolf for the kids as it put them right to sleep. They knew that their mom and dad were waiting for them at my house in Saskatoon. It was awesome to see them all lovey and huggy and happy.

We went swimming right away and this is where my niece's unfortunate wound from vacation came from. She got stung by a wasp. The poor girl, I felt so bad for her. I gave her very encourage words, but it was still her that was strong. We waited for the stinging to go down and the wasps in the yard to disperse a little before jumping into the pool. I had to rid the pool of three wasps while we played, but it was still really awesome to see my brother play with his kids in the pool. I loved it even though I got dunked and I really suck at getting dunked because I always breathe wrong.

Another evening out at Fuddruckers, but no mini-golf that night even though the kids tried to persuade us. We just headed back to my house where they played video games and Cheruby and I headed out to the Mage game we thought we'd have to miss because of camping. I was a little disappointed in the game because something really big that was supposed to happen got kiboshed by some of the other players. Poopy business really, but it made me feel better about being so late.

We hung out with the kids and my family in the morning and found some things they were missing that were likely still in Nipawin, but mostly everything was recovered. I sure did enjoy having them here. I was so scared about it and forgot that my niece is a really good kid and so is my nephew. I loved having them here and can't wait until next year to do it again.

Having company leave early enough on Sunday gave us the rest of the day to relax and recuperate from all the excitement. Oh and pig out on floats and chips and pizza and all that other bad stuff and make ourselves sick before we started being good again on Monday (I was only mildly good on Monday and today while Cheruby has been a saint.) We watched so many episodes of Gilmore Girls that Cheruby was running them all together in his head. Then we watched some more last night again. I love them. And just when Cheruby was overdosing on GG and I was counting the remaining episodes, I brought out the Third Season which made my angel laugh and laugh. I was pleased with myself.

Tonight was another fighty night in D&D and time spent doing our magey downtime stuff with Kaz and Ril. Another good night. I've been stressing about my hearing tomorrow a little today and my shoulders are aching and I'm grinding my teeth. I'm hoping everything goes well tomorrow and I really hope I don't break down crying in front of the appeal board for my eavestroughing situation. I am looking forward to being done with it though. I'll have to wait a few days for their decision about the $10,000 fine but I have every reason to be confident that I won't be fined.

I haven't been able to do any creative writing which I'm okay with given the scope of everything else I've been doing lately. None of which is work-related, but work is really stressing me out so I don't really want to talk about it anyway.