The terrible thing about Splenda, cause Splenda's a terrible thing

Okay yes, the tigger song doesn't *actually* go like that, but i can't help but sing this song in my head every time i put it in my coffee.

If i had the choice, i would never use the stuff (but then again, i ALWAYS have a choice) But when it comes to me having one coffee or two (and i always lean towards the 2) it's splenda that gets poured in.

I know it's better for me than sugar (according to Western medicine, although my moms doctors in the Netherlands differ profusely) but i just can't stand the stuff sometimes. Baking with it - can't tell much difference. But in coffee? Bluh with a capital puke. Not only does it make my beloved coffee taste like cat shit (first - don't ask why i know what cat shit tastes like, and secondly - i cannot understand whatsoever why some of the most expensive coffee in the world is actually derived from coffee beans that were eaten by cats and shat out again, then brewed into some pooey goodness) i end up with a frothy moustache whenever i take a sip.

Recently i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and even though the doctors have said that a) I'm not old enough to get it, and b) I'm not large enough to get it, in the next breath they state that i have alot of risk factors. Besides being diagnosed with PCOS when i was 15 which causes insulin resistance, i also have 2 people in my family with diabetes. Neither of them have to inject themselves 4 times a day mind you, but that still upped my chances for it.

They discovered my high sugar levels this past November, which they labelled as "Early on-set gestational diabetes" (so yes, i was pregnant again) and for some reason when you have a still born baby, you have a higher risk for gestational diabetes with your other pregnancies. So immediately (during a 3 day frustrating stay in the hospital) i was put on Novorapid that i injected 3 times a day, once before each meal, and Lantus - a 24 hour injected insulin - that i took before i went to bed. All the RN's and the doctors (i had 6 doctors at this point - all specialists) told me i was SOOOOOOO lucky, because i skipped right past the oh-so-frustrating pill taking part to try to level out my sugar, and went right to the yippy-hooray-best thing in the world- insulin injections which are SOOOO easy. And the reason i was put on the injections is because you can't be on the pills when you're pregnant. In December, i ended up having a miscarriage, yet the high sugar levels never subsided. (well i shouldn't say that - they went down for 3 days, then right back up again)


So i officially had Type 2 after all - they figure that i had pre-diabetes, but when i got pregnant, it made my pancreas do a loopty-loo and apparently it all of a sudden has no clue how to metabolize carbohydrates.

So why am i still on injections!? Why can't i go back to the so called oh-so frustrating pill taking extravaganza, which i would prefer 100% (I'd like to express how very much I'd prefer it by saying something extraordinary like 210%, but it annoys me when people do that) to sticking myself with a needle 4 times daily.

Reasons i hate sticking myself with a needle:
Now, I'm not a squeamish person, so the actual act of sticking myself doesn't bother me in that matter, but c'mon i feel like a druggie! (not that I'd *really* know what that's like, but hey) The problem i have is this: i am now in danger of hypoglycemia. Okay, so i realize that being hyperglycemic is bad over time because it damages lots of organs, eyes, amputate your legs kinda stuff, but that's long term. But on a short term, if i go a bit high, i get tired and thirsty. Is that a big deal? Not really. But being on insulin injections has caused me to dip way too low on too many occasions - to a point where my numbers are as low as 2.3. And what's the oh-so-lovely concern with dipping too low? Hmm, that would be a COMA. Let's see now, Coma, tired and thirsty, comaaa, tired and thiiirstyyy.. i'll take the tired and thirsty please!! And what did i get from my doctor when i expressed these concerns? "oh that can happen, maybe you should up your Lantus" Right. Up the insulin that for *some* reason makes my heart race and pound out of my chest whenever i take it.

Don't tell my doctor but - I've stopped taking it. There were too many different views on what Lantus actually does. According to the doctors at the hospital, it not only keeps my numbers lower during the day, it helps keep my numbers up past the danger level (above 4). So doesn't that mean it ups my numbers too?! That's what i certainly get from it. And when my numbers are still high in the morning (in the 7's usually) my doctor says I'm not taking enough Lantus. Yet every book or doctors journal or research paper i read - high numbers in the morning when you're taking a 24-hour release insulin - means it's too high. Because at night your body naturally tries to regulate itself, and if you've taken too high a dosage of insulin that night, your sugar level drops. Your body tries to compensate by metabolizing more carbs into sugar, and it ups your numbers. So really - what the CRAP does it do!?

So yes, i stopped, and surprise surprise, my numbers in the morning are alot lower than they were, and in general my numbers have been much better. I suppose this is one of those things that make you go hmmm...


On another note, during my research I've found many many many doctors sites and journals suggesting supplements actually help diabetic patients. I've always been a believer in vitamins and minerals and all those good things, so i really wanted to give it a try. These sites listed the main supplements they had their patients take (which over a 6 month period caused the patients to no longer require insulin injections) so i thought I'd call my doctor and ask if i could take these too. I LOVE my doctor, i do, but this time, he *really* pissed me off! On one hand i like to think he said the things he did to make me angry enough to want to prove him wrong. So i asked whether i could take these supplements while on insulin. And he said "Sure! Go right ahead, it's perfectly safe. It wont work, never has never will and you're pretty much wasting your time, but if you feel the need to try this so you can tell yourself you did *everything* you could, then go right ahead". Nice. Thanks for that.

And how have the results been since i started supplements? Well lets see. In order for me to have my target blood sugar levels, before i started supplements, i was on 15 to 16 units of Novorapid before each meal, and 24 units of lantus at night.
Since I've started supplements - i reach my target blood sugar levels (or lower) with 9 to 11 units of Novorapid before each meal, and NO lantus at night.

But ya, he's completely right. It'll never work.

Times a-flyin' by!

............................ Look PA! I'm gettin' better with the camera!!



Okay, so i've been working on a new blog for apparently 3 weeks now! I keep adding to it and changing it and low and behold, it's 3 weeks later! Yikes.

So i figured i'd just do some quick updates until i get around to the other post, which is a long-y but a good-y, and alot about the past-y so it's taking alot of thinking, and as we all know, thinking can hurt sometimes.

I've been meaning to post some pics so my parents can know what exactly goes on in the house when other dogs stop over for a visit. So first, we have Rob's parents new puppy (the boston terrier) named Spanky. (The Scotty - Mackenzie - isn't into playing. Too much of a stubborn bitch for that! So she just observes and rolls her eyes accordingly)


And even though Spanky is only 8 weeks old, she certainly holds her own. But how excited was Kermit that he had a *smaller* dog to play with where he could be mostly dominant!



Don't worry mom, it looks like they're trying to kill eachother, but they're not. No injuries to date! And now here's where Kermit really has fun. With his "cousin" Elby (actually L.B. which stands for Little Bugger!) And they play like this for.. well, until we stop them. So far we've let them go for a little over an hour. And it's literally non-stop, except when they both run to the kitchen for a drink. (Which most of the water drips back *out* of their mouths and ends up on my floors which i'm forever cleaning. Oy)


Now, the next one will show that yes, Kermit sometimes has the upper hand - but it never lasts long. At first mom was a little worried that these 2 were going to "do it" and make weird ass looking puppies. Yes, they're both not fixed yet, since they're both underage (a month apart - and while we're at it, 40 pounds apart), but we'd have to hold Kermit up in order for him to reach. Plus he is apparently very confused, because while he actually does hump her, he's doing her *face*. So really.. nothing to worry about.

Alright so there's the dog update. But wait, one more goofy one for the hell of it. (Kermit loves the camera.. atleast i think he does. One day he just might bite my face for taking so many pics of him)


Alright so, on to other things. Went to the bank today and made more investments!! Had a good talk with our *financial advisor* (Woo! I'm an adult!) and got another GIC in the global market for a 3 year plan. Good stuff. Also inquired about Small Business banking for when i'm ready to make the leap into my one of many business ideas. Sucks that i need alot of money first to make the product (Of which i DO NOT have) in order to make money selling it.

Alright off i go, need to work on the Avon!

The strange workings of the universe

I've always been a strong believer in "Everything happens for a reason". Even the most horrible things that happen to you, there was a Divine purpose that you may not ever discover the Why. In my younger years, i used to often wonder if having such a strong belief of this was a defence mechanism - making myself think that even my stupidest of decisions was actually meant to be. In high school i took a psychology class and we were made to look upon our past to discover the real reasons we act the way we do now. And while i always hated being overweight, and being made fun of for it, i realized something huge. (no pun intended!). If i *wasn't* an overweight kid, would i be who i am today?

I'd look around the room at all the "skinny" girls and think "Would i have been one of them?" Would i have been one of those girls that only cared what people were on the outside? The ones that tear people down with their cruel words? The ones who constantly do things to impress others, scared to show how vulnerable they really are? I was constantly surrounded by these types of girls. Granted not all of them are like this. Not every skinny girl is a mean girl. But the mere thought of turning out like one of them, makes me thankful for the fat.

What I learned by being overweight:
I learned who my real friends were. The ones who never once went with the crowd to make fun of me, the ones who risked being made fun of too by not 'mooing' in chorus.
I learned compassion. By being on the receiving end of so many hurtful words, i could never do that to another person. I could never make anyone else feel what i have felt. I have complete understanding of how it feels to be trapped inside your own head.
I learned courage. Having been smacked down so many times, just to get back up over and over to face them all again.

Would i have learned these things being skinny? Possibly. But not to the same degree. I see too many of these same mean girls today, who are the exact same mean girls they were 15 years ago. They may now have rich husbands, or lavish lives, but does that really compensate for the pain they've caused others in their lifetime? I certainly don't think so.

But yes, it is very possible that my belief in this is to fool me into submission. Yet i don't believe i could have gotten through all these downs in my life without it.

What i learned from delivering my 9 month old still born baby boy, Robbie J:

I learned incredible strength. All those years that i thought i was a mentally weak person, was shattered.
I learned how to deliver a baby. He gave me the experience so that when i deliver all the other babies, i won't be scared because I've done it all before.
I learned love has much deeper levels.
I learned to truly 'not sweat the small stuff', for an abundance of things in your life which you once believed to be astoundingly huge and important, are actually minuscule and insignificant.
I learned how to live, love and cherish life.
I learned how beautiful the world really is.

The Dishtowel dilemma

Hopefully Jill (posing on the left - on the right is Steph) isn't upset about the posting of this pic. She just finally saw the pictures of the wedding taken by the disposable cameras at the tables, and happened to notice her boob. I for one did not notice her boob, but i guess when they're your own, it's one of the first things you glance at when wearing a lower cut dress to check that there's no nipple show. Now there is no nipple show, but alas, still alotta boob!

These are the 2 loverly ladies that came early to the wedding to help set up the tables and games for us. And they apparently enjoy their alcohol better than posing for pictures!! During the pictures-between-ceremony-and-reception extravaganza, we were attempting to take pics with all the grooms fam, all the brides fam and then last but certainly not least, pics with all the friends. These pictures turned out really well, and I'm surprised that Bob the photographer was able to get everyone in (especially with the entire guest list pic). But.. right after the friends pic was taken and Bob says "Alright! All the guests are free to drink, and the wedding party needs to take some formal pics upstairs!" i turn to my left, and there's Jill and Steph, sitting at the bar, with blue lagoons. I'm like "What are you guys doing!? You weren't in the friends picture?!" Apparently they didn't realize there was a friends picture, and opted for the alcohol instead. I'll just have to superimpose them in there, since there's a nice space just for them!

So we had a good visit today. While the other ladies had the energy and forethought to make their contributions ahead of time, I apparently was lazy and too concerned with having a heart attack* to make a meal to feed them, so i stopped at Longos instead and purchased the meal. I am honest enough about the laziness to admit that, no, i didn't make the fancy chicken, although i was tempted!

*apparently I'm having anxiety issues. And it's one nasty endless circle of crap, because the more i worry, the more i hurt and the more i hurt, the more i worry. So where does it all end!? But don't worry Mom, I'm fine!!! No need to call 3 times in a row 2 minutes apart each time.

Which reminds me. Titanic. Movie came out when i was in university. So we decided to go see it. Yes, it was a long movie. Yes, we were out of the dorm for a total of 5 hours when you include travel time and eating gross burger king. Yes, living in Sudbury and going to school, i didn't think to call my mom to let her know i was going to be out for a while. So when i returned home, there were several messages on the answering machine. The first one, nice and sweet with no hint of panic. "Hi Pumpkin! Just thought I'd call and say hi and see how you were doing. Love you!" Second message, left 34 minutes later, still with no detectable hint of panic. "Hi Kathryn! Just mom again, wondering where you are. Love you!" Third message, pitch of the voice slightly higher than previous messages, left 28 minutes after second message. "Kathryn it's mom! Call me back!" Forth message, pitch of voice so high that deciphering message getting increasingly difficult, left 16 minutes after the third call. "Kathryn where are you!? Call me!" Fifth message, only dogs and daughters of worrywart mothers can make out the words, left 8 minutes after the forth call "Kathryn! Okay, i know you're probably out, but you need to call me as soon as you get back!! Did you go to your uncle Phil's apartment!? I'm having visions of you stuck in his apartment surrounded with flames! It's on fire and they can't get you out!" Since i had returned home almost 2 whole hours after the last message was left, i knew my Dad had intervened and wouldn't let her call again. While I'm a bit of a worrier myself (No thanks to my mom) I could completely understand how much she was panicking in those few hours, but c'mon. I had talked to her the day before, and i went to the movies. Good thing i didn't have a cell phone, because if i didn't answer that since i would have turned it off during the movie, she probably would have driven 5 hours to search the streets screaming for her daughter.



This is me ma'am! Posing with Bateman, so it's hilarious. Just thought all should see where i get my worry-condition from.




And these i thought were hilarious! Bob the photographer took a pic of me and my sis taking a self portrait of ourselves at the exact same time. Love it!

Okay, picture time is over. Now on to the title of this blog. Yes, there is a very big dishtowel dilemma, which was brought up today over my brunch with the ladies. Now, Rob is very clean. He cleans the kitchen while he cooks, he's very tidy, it's all good. But i guess I'm a bit of a.. germ-a-phobe?! (and I'm guessing this is another trait I've inherited from my mother!) I have a huge problem with the uses of the dishtowel. You use them to dry dishes. Once you've dried a counter with it, you can no longer use it on dishes. And once you've used it on the floor, it gets put for the wash, far far away from any wet dish needing a little dry. Makes perfect sense to me! And when you wash them, do they get put with ANY other type of material? Not one damn chance! But i think this should have all been put down in a neat little contract for the hubby to read, UNDERSTAND, and sign before getting married...

Because one day whilst i was drying dishes, i noticed that one swipe of the dishtowel in the black plastic bowl left hundreds of whitish orange cat hairs neatly swirled on the inside. Had i not been immediately disgusted, i may have even taken a picture because it was quite a cool effect. But already having dried a whole load of white dishes with this said dishtowel and thinking of how much cat hair were on those and now having to pull them all back out of the cupboards and rewash them, was really *not* cool. (Therefore totally overshadowing the previous "coolness" factor of the swirly cat hair design) So i immediately threw the dishtowel to the side, pulled out another one from the drawer, and the exact same thing happened. And then it happened again. And, yes, AGAIN. I pulled out all the dishtowels to inspect them when Rob walks in the kitchen and wonders what the crap I'm doing. I mention to him that all our dishtowels are flipping filthy and he replies "But that's impossible, i just washed them all with a load of towels!" I gasp at the thought that something we use to wipe off body parts (as clean as they may be at that moment) was gallivanting around in the washing machine and dryer with something else i use to wipe something we eat off of. I tell him, as nice as possible, to NEVER wash the dishtowels with towels, because the towels are sometimes on the floor, or laying on the bed, or just generally where the cat sits his dirty ass on. So i *thought* all was well, because never again did i see cat-hair-arama dishtowels.

Until one day, as I'm in the kitchen, i see Rob pass by me with his nicely folded laundry from the basement, and as he walks by, he sets down 4 nicely folded dishtowels that were on the top of the pile. So i enquire. "You washed 4 dishtowels on their own? Usually i wait until i have almost a full load" To which he replied "oh, i just threw them in with my clothes" So yes, now we don't get as *much* cat hair on the dishtowels, but now i have pube hairs on them. And the thought that these dishtowels got a chance to infuse with Rob's work sock smell almost made me vomit. So that day he was officially banned from washing the dishtowels. Although he likes to freak me out every once in a while with saying things like "Oh y'know how the dog puked all over his blankets this morning? I threw them in the wash, and i saw a few dishtowels there so i put them in too" And he wonders why i think I'm having a heart attack.

But the absolute best is when i catch him doing things that he apparently doesn't even realize he's doing. Like after thanksgiving dinner a couple years back when we were washing and drying dishes together. He has the dishtowel, i ask for the dishtowel, he wipes his bare feet with them since he happened to step in a small puddle, and proceeds to hand it to me. He didn't even realize what he did until he saw the horrid expression on my face. He couldn't stop laughing, even while i was attempting to ask through gasps of horror if he does that often.

Ah yes, dishtowels. My love/hate relationship with them needs a tweak. I guess if i was the only one that ever touched them, I'd be okay with it... OOOOO! His and hers dishtowels. PERFECT! But of course, with typical man like qualities of failing to notice the difference between things, they'd probably use the woman's one anyways. Well, either by accident, or with a husband like mine, on purpose to spite me. Like how he threatens to stick his balls in my juice because i don't want him drinking mine.

Alright, off for another day. Tomorrow will be a post about the past! Not too much in the past, just the past as in working at Michaels with TARA!! 'Cause damn, we had so much fun and now that i know she has a blog and i have a blog and we're both stalking each others blog, she'll understand what I'm blogging about!

Ya okay, I'm really tired. That last sentence made me laugh way too much.

The Pork and the Beans

Okay, so it's been how long since my last entry?? Hmm.. not even gonna bother counting. And why did i stop writing? Well, first i got busy with the wedding, then when i finally sat down to talk about the stag and doe and wedding, well, the "remembering of the details" got a little taxing and it annoyed me. So now here we are, 3 months later, with a wedding, Christmas, new years, new puppy and endless little trinkets having gone by and now I'll have to try and remember all THAT instead of just one event. Good stuff! Man I'm smart.



Now I'm not going to try to shove all the hundreds of photos on here, but I'll add in a few i suppose. This is obviously our wedding. The fake eating of the cake shot. As for the wedding, it went as well as could be expected. There were a few snags here and there, but hey, i kinda expected there to be more havoc than what arose, so it was a pleasant surprise that it all worked out. There were a few humorous things that happened, for example Chloe, the not-wearing-any-underwear flower girl decided to try to climb up on the window sill during the ceremony and hiked up her dress to do so. That was all happening behind me, so i wasn't privy to the view!



All in all it was a great night, but i for one was completely exhausted by about 11pm and was ready for bed. My brand new hubby was drunk outta his mind and dancing the night away, so there was no going back to the honeymoon sweet anytime soon. Luckily for me, the room closed at 1am, so we all hadda leave, but there was no sleeping just yet. First, Rob couldn't find his clothes. So he was spotted by several people being led down the hallway by my cousin Ljuba just wearing his underwear. It was so nice the next day to have my uncle Angus who came all the way down from Nova Scotia to say "So Kathryn.. Your new husband. Being led around the halls in his underwear by other women." And it was even better to hear my cousin Blaine the next day say "So Kathryn.. Your new husband. In a bedroom, sitting on a bed, with the door closed, talking to a young girl we all nicknamed "Boobs" while in his underwear. You okay with that?" Well, i knew who "Boobs" was. And there was nothing goin' on! So yes. I actually was! Then we were alone in the room, and all he could think about was how hungry he was. He didn't want the left over pizza from the "starlight buffet" that was all in the next room, so i was looking through all the hotel information for something that would deliver, or atleast if the kitchen was still open for the 3am-hungry guests. Not a chance. We even went downstairs to check with the front desk as to what's open at this time and do they deliver. Ya. It's Grimsby. Nothings open. So atleast Michael (the original Michael who's ass Rob was gonna kick if he f'ed up anymore) gave us change for the vending machine. So atleast we eventually got some food. Chips, gigantic limpy cookies and chocolate bars. Unfortunately we originally had bagels with cream cheese in our room, but ya, did either of us think to close the bag so they wouldn't go rock hard, or put the cream cheese in the fridge? Of course not! Ah well. There was alcohol. That was the most important thing!



Yes, I'm a little out of order with these shots, but it's my blog and i can be unorganized if i want to. I just loved this pic of Michelle doing my makeup, and i wanted to show it off again. And here's 2 more of my fave shots....




In total, that would be the wedding party.

I hafta say though, one thing i absolutely loved was the fact that everyone who had a part in the wedding, was a friend of ours! Our MC and DJ are brothers and old friends (newer friends to Rob, but they get along great) our wedding cake was made by Rob's sister, Rob's mom made the flower girl dresses, the Photographer was a friend of my sisters, the hairdresser was a friend of my friend, my makeup artist is my cousin, it just made the day so much better and intimate i guess. There wasn't a bunch of strangers running around, with the exception of Gonzo's chicken. (our original wedding planner was Karisa, but she was off that night, so it was handed over to a woman who for some reason i thought her name was Camilla. So everyone made fun of me and we called her Gonzos chicken. 'Cause there has to be someone with a nickname at every event.)



And here is our new addition, which we got about the middle of December i think. His name is Kermit, and he's a cross between a Jack Russel and a Boston Terrier. Yeesh, he's alotta work, especially when you've only ever owned cats. But he's so much fun. Here he is in one of his favourite spots. Snuggled up with his Daddy's dirty underwear. Mmm... love it.

And recently we've nicknamed our pets Pork and Beans. Obviously the fat cat would be the pork, and the hyperactive dog would be the beans. But he's the beans for 2 reasons. Not only does he have jumping beans in his pants, he has rotten beans leaking out of his ass. I've never smelled something more rancid than what comes out of that dog. And it's so thick that it just hangs in the air, your futile attempts to fan it away is absolutely no match to 'rancid toots' as it just adheres to all surfaces until you're completely surrounded and gagging in disgust. All the while Beans is across the room sleeping under the chair fully unaware the chaos he's created only a few feet away.

Alright, that'll hafta be enough for today. Gotta go dig the dog outta the laundry and take him for a poop.

Got some 'splainin' to do....

Yes, I've been on a bit of a hiatus since a few days before the inevitable Stag and Doe (Or "Such an End" as some drunk person, aka Ljuba, texts to people) and didn't really think it was a big deal until at my own wedding people were hustling me for updates. I actually had no clue that there were others besides my... husband (still getting used to that word) and parents that read it. (Oh and my cousin Blaine, whom after reading it wrote me a nice little email which said "When i thought i didn't have any more useless time to waste, you send me a link to your blog". I like to think he actually really enjoys it and was being sarcastic and/or trying to be funny. He *says* this is the case. But he may just be saying this to prevent getting a swift kick in the face)

Apparently since my daddoo, or 'fauschza' (that's supposed to be father in dutch since it was fitting with him moving to the Netherlands, and it was onna the best lines the goldfinger character in austin powers said, but i really wish i knew the *real* spelling) had put on his blog that he was following mine, quite a few people decided to check it out. But now the pressure is on! Before i didn't care if my blog's ended up being funny or interesting... Oy. It's already stressing me out - i need some more caffeine!



The Stag and Doe was actually alot of fun! We had a great crowd show up (and none of the "unwanteds" there who weren't supposed to be invited in the first place! ASHLEY!) and actually made alot of money! So it helped a lot since we used that cash for the photographer and hairdresser for the wedding. The above pic is of onna the best guys in the world makin' his amazing meatballs and way-too-hot-for-me-but-totally-fantastic chili! (I did attempt to eat some, but after feeling how hot it was going down, it scared the crap outta me to have that same feeling coming out, so i stopped after a few bites and fed the rest to Rob instead!) Bateman is the man!



Onna the big draws to our Stag and Doe was the chance to throw a pie at Rob! And how you may ask, did the future groom get talked into this? Well, he found out when he read it on the ticket. He was a good sport though, especially when Bateman brought him an orange jumpsuit to wear that had "Lil' Irish" written on it, for him to wear during the pie throw. (and don't worry Lil' Irish, Rob washed it immediately so there's no need to come to our house and beat him for gettin' pie on it! - and for those of you who don't know, Bateman works at a jail. So it was actually somebody's jumpsuit, not one you buy at a costume shop!) In the beginning, I thought my sister (pictured above joyously filling pie shells with pudding) was doing a draw that people put tickets in to win a chance at throwing 1 pie at Rob. But no. It was $10 a pie, and 16 pies. They sold out pretty fast. The first buyer? Rob's mom.



She did a pretty good job i hafta say! Everyone kept asking me if i was going to throw one and well... i have to sleep in the same bed with this guy. If i were to throw a pie at him, I'd be liable to wake up one morning covered in a homemade poopoo pie care of my loving husband. He's evil that way. But atleast i know about it already, and not *after* we had gotten married! So it's okay!



There were tons of prizes and raffles, such as this lovely beer bucket shown above. Bateman won this one, as well as 2 others (personally i think he enjoyed the spa bucket with it's exfoliants and wonderfully fragrant lotions the most!) but the best was when Rob's mom won the alcohol bucket! She danced around for a good 10 minutes. The ironic win though, was when my cousin Mets won back what she donated as a prize. (One of the regift type deals!) We all just couldn't understand why in the world she put a ticket in that raffle in the first place! Apparently she just figured 'what the hell'. So this teaches us all a very good lesson, no? When you say "what the hell", step back a minute and think about this a little more!

Now, i wish i had a pic of my cousin Blaine, because he was at the Stag and Doe, yet isn't in any pics that i have (same with at the wedding, but in the next couple of posts i'll let ya know why there was a huge time slot without him! HA!) But i have quite an amusing story with him... Y'know when you have younger cousins and you just kinda keep them at the same age even though you've gotten older? Like my cousin Annie for example, to me she's still 17, but really she's 24. So it still shocks me when i see her drinking and partying and i'm all "what are you doing?! you're 17!!" Anyhoo, apparently Blaine does the same thing. The Stag and Doe happened to be on the same day as Rob's birthday... his 40th birthday. So Blaine's standing there with a beer laughin' and enjoying the stories when all of a sudden, someone blurts out "and it's Rob's 40th birthday today!". Out of the corner of my eye, i did see Blaines expression turn to one of shock and confusion, but i was drinking quite heavily myself and didn't make any kind of connections. So the night continues..

In the morning, Rob, Blaine and i are standing around in the kitchen, drinking coffee and cleaning up a bit (since my daddoo was on his way home that afternoon) and Rob leaves the room for a minute. As soon as he does, Blaine turns to me and goes "HOW OLD ARE YOU!?" I look at him weird and say "31. Why?" He does this huge sigh and says "I thought you were still like, 23, and then i heard it was Rob's 40th birthday and i was thinking 'oh my god! what is she doing with this guy!? Why don't Bob and Gabe have a problem with this?! *gasp* I have 8 days to stop the wedding!!'" I haven't laughed that much in a looong time lemme tell ya! Ain't it sweet though, cousin Blainey wanted to beat the crap outta my fiance. Oh ya, still makin' me laugh.

So even though i was fretting a little bit with the Such an End, it was a good time had by all. My sister Dana and cousin Ljuba did a fantastico job in the planning of it all. Alot of people didn't leave at the correct time slot and stayed in the basement (Dana and Iain's apartment) until the wee hours of morning. Which was to be completely expected, but the noise level was a bit much for Rob and at 3 in the morning was forced to go down there and just remind the bunch that the 2 of us would be getting up really early to clean before the fauschza came home, and we needed some sleep. My sister's response? "My parents LIED! They said they could never hear anything when we were down here!!" She was so drunk off her ass it was hilarious.

Alright, that's enough updating for now, but tomorrow i'll be back with the next chapter of "Got some 'splainin' to do"...

Goodbye sweet aroma control...

So... wake up the other morning to Rob yelling "Don't hit me in the face!" Usually when this happens, he's done something bad. (Not much different from the cat doing something bad and running up to you with wide eyes screaming his head off, as if pleading for you not to hit him when you finally notice the huge pile of half digested plant puke he's deposited on your pillow.) At least they're both honest!

I walk down the stairs and he runs in front of me into the kitchen in full defence mode. "It was stuck! It was stuck in the thing and i pulled lightly and it broke!" *sigh* There goes another coffee pot. BamBam has struck again. Thankfully we had gotten a bunch of Sears gift certificates from the wedding shower so we were able to actually afford a good coffee maker to save us from the $10 versions. And as much as i loved to laugh everytime i poured a cup, I love this coffee maker much, much more! We bought the titanium coated aluminum heavy duty coffee pot (Not really, but pretty close!) to prevent BamBams coffee pot breakage count to hopefully be put at rest with 2.

Here's our new beauty. First great thing about it? (besides being break free for hulk-like grips) is that it shuts off immediately after it's done brewing so you'll never leave the house again and have your heart skip a bit when you can't remember if you shut it off, and therefore cause your mind to race with all the minuscule opportunities for your house to go up in flames despite the fact that it's almost impossible. Secondly, there's no hot plate! (Which is the reason Bam says all the coffee pots break because they're constantly on a heating element) But then we have some of you thinking "How does the coffee stay hot?!" Because it's a thermal coffee pot. OOooaaaaooooh! And if you feel the need to have the coffee stay hotter longer (for all you idiots out there who own onna these puppies and complained on the web site that it doesn't stay hot long because none of you bothered to read the instructions to tell you that:) Fill the pot with hot water and leave in for a minute to warm up the pot first, then walla! Hotter coffee longer. But even without doing that, the coffee stays pretty hot for a long time. And if it's not hot anymore, that means it's no longer fresh anyways and you should be brewing a new pot, thank you very much. Next great thing?! Since it's a "should i stay or should i go" coffee maker, instead of putting the pot underneath there, you can put one or 2 travel mugs that come with it, and it'll fill 'em up. Plus there's a permanent coffee filter, so we no longer hafta buy those! And the coffee actually tastes so much better than aroma-control. Maybe i just never got the aroma levels right, but it sometimes had a slight chemically taste to it. Yummy. But of course i didn't even realize that until we got a GOOD coffee maker to compare tastes.

Now that I'm back to calm and relaxed because i can have coffee whenever i want again, (speaking of coffee, I'm gonna go brew up some lovin' right now!) I've been back to the grind of wedding plans. Everythings under control! Tied up most of the loose ends since just yesterday like ordering 20 POUNDS OF JELLYBEANS. Who orders 20 freakin' pounds of jelly beans?! Well, besides me i suppose. I already had a bag of test jelly beans.. oh wait, should i explain what the heck I'm needing jelly beans for first?? Might be a good idea...


This is a quick mock-up of our centrepieces. As you can see, there's jelly beans in there! Originally i was going to try to find the stones or glass to fill the vases, but at 4 bucks a bag, and needing 3 -4 bags per centerpiece? A-no thanks. (Our head table and parents table centrepieces are double the size of these ones, so alot more fill needed!) Rob and i were brainstorming about what to do when he splurts out "Jellybeans!" This boy is a jellybean fanatic, so much to the point that i have to be careful not to have them in the house often as he'll continue to eat them even after his teeth start hurting. After a few minutes of thinking about it, and then remembering I've seen the exact colour we needed in the Bulk Barn, i whole heartedly agreed. We're kooky anyways, so it was quite fitting that we have candy in our decorations!

I have to say though, i think i surprised the workers at the Bulk Barn when i walked into their store with a 1 pound bag and told them to times that by 20. At least i get a discount because i want so many, but man was i surprised that they didn't ask for a down payment! I guess they figured they could sell them anyways even if i don't pick them up?

So after ordering the jelly beans, i headed over to the dollar store and i found all the candles that i needed and couldn't find in any other store (well i could find them, but at 24 bucks a pop, i wasn't very keen on paying for them, and they were too big to steal. I might have been able to fit one in my purse at a time, but i woulda started getting obvious after the 6th one in a row!) I also made a stop into Party Packagers for a few more "ways to win the centerpieces" (and that's all the info you guys get!) and some disposable cameras that we're putting at every table. And just as a side note, we're numbering these cameras with the table numbers, so if for any reason someone feels like leaving with one, i WILL catch you and confiscate it! I'll go all CSI on yer ass!



Yesterday was busy, but i got alot done today too! Rob was working nights... Oh now hey, never talked about that. Rob switched Michael's stores to the Oakville location, where he is now a department manager! So his schedule is no longer 6-230. *sigh*. It's now all over the damn place, including every other weekend! Right now i hate it, but who knows, maybe i'll get used to it!! It makes my alone time seem sooo much longer when he doesn't start that early. So anyhoo, he was working nights tonite, which was great, because we had to head down to city hall for our marriage licence this morning. It ended up being a pretty funny experience because when she had asked us to check over the documents to make sure there were no errors, i noticed that she had put "Catholic" for Rob instead of "Baptist". Rob's like "oh ya, i guess she has to change that" and i'm all "Does it really matter though? I mean, it's the same God. It's not like you're a Buddist or something" Rob lost it a little and ducked his head under the counter. Which reminds me, on top of the counter? Were all these documents that you need to fill out for things like certificates or licences.. Well! I need a new birth certificate because mine's all ripped and crappy, and i pick up the sheet to fill out and it was like those flippin scary clown rags that they pull outta their mouths and it's really like 20 rags long in there! My eyes bugged and i'm like "whoa that's kinda long there" and the lady's lookin' at me like i'm an idiot. (which i admit i can be, but c'mon! It's a replacement card here! Do you seriously NEED my life story?! It's a *birth* certificate! Not a what you've done up to now since your birth certificate! Yeesh. But anyways, we got our licence. So there's no worries there. You can stop having those nightmares now mom about me forgetting to get one!!!



The other thing my mom can stop freaking out about is after getting our surprisingly pain free marriage licence, we walked on over to Brant Florists and ordered all our flowers! My mom's first question was "They can have them ready for your wedding?!?!" Yes, i realize it's only 13 days away, but c'mon. It's a bunch of flowers that you stick together and tie a bow around. If it took longer than 13 days, i'd wonder what the heck those women would be doing back there. Smokin' the flowers maybe. My mom's problem is she thinks everything needed to be done 6 months ago. "It'll take 6 months to get a dress!" "It'll take months for flowers!" I realize that she thought all these things from the recent weddings she's heard about that have bridezillas in them and how freaked out people got about getting things on time, but c'mon people! Be reasonable here. It's just one day. Take a pill. (That take a pill was NOT directed at my mom! She's been great i swear! Just a little iffy on my planning skills! Not that i can really blame her, she knows better than anyone that "procrastination" is my middle name. Unfortunately she had to shorten it to "Anne" on my birth certificate cause procrastination had too many letters.)

But yes, it's true, pretty much everything is done. Everyone should be nice and calm and relaxed right now! And i'm so excited cause i'm going to the hairdressers on Thursday! Yeah! I've had craps-a-lot-frizz hair for over a year nowso i can't wait for it to be all shiney and new! Well, not *new* but y'know... kinda new!

Alright, that's all for now! I'll no doubt be updating tomorrow night again because i'll have just crossed the border and it's ALWAYS a fun experience doing that! I'm not buying any bras this time though, so i wonder what we can say to embarrass the guy enough to let us go without question? Hmmm...