Spring Cleaning Redux...

Remember how a few months ago, I had this whole spring cleaning frenzy and was all gung-ho for it? Well, this is how I feel like my apartment looks right now:

NOT a photo of my house! This is from Hoarders.

It's not quite that bad, but there's an obstacle course in the livingroom, the only portion of the bathroom floor that's visible is the arc where the door opens and closes, and I'm tired of having to shout repeatedly to get the kids to take the garbage out (I'd do it myself, but this is their chore, and they need to start taking responsibility). To explain the bathroom... my washer and dryer are in there, so the floor is covered in dirty clothes. The kitchen floor is relatively tidy, but every available surface in my house is covered with stuff, there are piles of stuff everywhere, and I can't even walk into the children's bedrooms without injuring myself (therefore, their clothes end up in a jumble half-in and half-out of their dressers, because I can't seem to get them to put the clothes away properly).

In reality, my apartment is probably a bit more like this:

Not mine, obviously.

But either way, it's gross and I don't want to live like this anymore. If I'm honest, I've NEVER wanted to live like this, but I guess I'm too lazy to do anything about it? Part of the problem is that I work two jobs, I go to school, my kids have swimming classes (and I go to the gym) and I have two kids and two cats. I'm never home, and there's a tag-team going along right behind me making a bigger mess in the small space I've just cleaned.

I spoke to my landlord yesterday, and it seems he's itching to do some major work on my apartment (YAY!), but in order for him to do that, it has to be clean and uncluttered. He's agreed to lend me one of the big rolling garbage bins and one of the big rolling recycling bins from outside (we have eight garbage and six recycling bins outside) to get things going, and he's being really awesome about all this. Most people probably would have just booted us and had a cleaning crew come in. Last night, I talked to Rob about all this, and ended up blowing up at him after describing what I was doing to get the kids to help, and hearing "that's what you're doing wrong" several times. (I don't tend to react well to that). *sigh* I know he's trying to help, and he's RIGHT (that's the kicker). I just wish he could find a way to say so without saying "you screwed up". If I'm honest, I'm damn lucky he's still around considering how bad my apartment was the first time he came over.

All this is very embarrassing for me to admit, and it's humiliating whenever anyone enters my home (especially Rob). So I put on this facade like it doesn't bother me, because really? What am I going to do? Break down sobbing and curl into the fetal position? That's not going to get my house cleaned. If I'm going to change the situation, I can't just sit around being overwhelmed anymore. I have to get my ass in gear and start getting shit done.

Morning score:

Dishes: 0
Lynne: 1

:D Let the games begin!

TV Nostalgia...

Tonight, I've been googling old TV shows I used to love as a kid. There's one that had been bothering me for MONTHS. I couldn't remember what it was called, and I could only remember vague details about it. I knew Dracula and the Wolfman featured heavily... I remembered a hotel-like mansion... I decided to exercise my google-fu. The first hit I came up with was Monster Squad. I watched a few seconds and realized that really wasn't right. Then I found it. I had TOTALLY forgotten that Vincent Price also featured heavily (at least during the opening credits). I used to recite that whole thing along with him!

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, filmed entirely in 1971 (the whole 130 episodes of it), was a Saturday morning staple at my house. I doubt my younger brother would remember it, since I remember watching this from ages 3-7 (which would have made him 2 when we moved on to American cartoons). Now, nobody who grew up outside of Ontario will have ever heard of this, and that's tragic. It was an awesome show :)

From there, I was reminded of Ed the Sock. Ed's still on the air today. I remember Ed from when MuchMusic first hit the airwaves :) He used to interview celebrities, and eventually got to the point of nearly imitating the American Mystery Science Theater 3000. But I'll always have a soft spot for Ed :) (I'm not going to link a video, you can still watch him!)

Then there was my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE cartoon when I was little. My dad and I used to watch this together. I have never seen anything to rival it, I still vividly remember complete episodes, and I still love all the characters...Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and Keyop... Much of my fantasy life as a 3-5 year old centered around them :)

Battle of the Planets (circa 1978), also known as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (or G-Force, which was what I thought the show was called when I was little). One of these days, I have GOT to get this series on DVD.

One I've been trying to get Rob interested in that he's just not buying was Rocket Robin Hood. I used to watch this after school every day at the babysitter's and it was pretty ahead of its time :)

This one ran originally from 1966 to 1969, but was syndicated forever (it still runs on Teletoon Retro, I think). I always loved it :) Rob isn't impressed. (Granted, his favorite tv show is Speed Racer, so there's no accounting for taste.)

One of the cartoons I could actually get my dad to watch when I was a kid was the version of The Lone Ranger that aired in 1981. Lorne Greene did the intro :D

Call me crazy, but I had a huge crush on Lorne Greene when I was a kid :) Between Bonanza, Lorne Greene's New Wilderness (and the intro to Lone Ranger), I LOVED Lorne Greene. I mean, it didn't hurt that he's from Ottawa either...

And to mollify Rob, since I mocked him for liking Speed Racer (I'm sorry, it was really bad... almost as bad as Astro Boy), here you go:

I haven't yet seen the live-action movie, but I think I'm going to have to sit through the entire series with Rob at some point, and THEN watch the movie. Because as I'm looking back over my own childhood favourites, it appears that I like some pretty bad TV too ;)

A weekend in photos...

Pic-heavy, but I did promise.

Ray being "fancy" at Seder.

There was a lot of this going on - for the record, I'm not upset here, I'm laughing hysterically...

I get this look from Rob a lot when I have a camera in my hands... not sure why he's so yellow though.

Ray's birthday "cake" had re-lighting candles. This shot was caught an instant before he squealed at finding flames between his lips and threw the candle LOL

Saturday, we went to the cemetery to get pictures of Rob's father's grave. I didn't take a picture after I placed the stone because I felt it would be disrespectful.

Flower arrangement I made using store-bought sunflowers and daffodils from Rob's front garden. Yes, it's in a tomato can.

Velda, if you read my blog, know that I was thinking of you the entire time I was picking, arranging and photographing these.

Sunflowers are my favorite :)

Rob's brother got a gag gift from their step-dad. Classy. Rich, if you want to get rid of that thing, I'll give you $20 for it! I have an artist who would very much like to get his hands (no pun intended) on one.

Sadly, I didn't bring my cameras to the second Seder I attended (there are pics in existence on Facebook... if you look for pics I'm tagged in, you'll see the group photo). Rob's step-sister is a professional photographer, and both my cameras were giving me trouble. There's also no photographic evidence of all the cooking I did, but that's likely for the best, since I left Rob's kitchen a mess again. Until tomorrow!

It'll be just like starting over :)

This song made me happy today, so I'm sharing!

In other news, I've been reminded a few times that I haven't been posting about weight loss efforts, etc. Well, there's a reason for that. I've been in a bit of a funk where I've been eating everything I could get my hands on. Yeah, I've been going to the gym and exercising, but it's a two-prong system (hah - got that from my boss) and I need to be more careful about what I'm eating. I know that academically, but when I'm feeling like crap about myself, it just seems easier to shove whatever I feel like into my face rather than make smart choices.

So today marked day one of starting over. I was at 283 when I woke up (which means I didn't gain anything while I was visiting Rob and actually managed to lose a few pounds). Did some groceries and have a plan :) It's staying in my head though, because whenever I share a plan with anyone, I end up moving heaven and earth to sabotage it, whether I want to or not. So I'm keeping mum!

Starting from here! Seems quite fitting somehow that I'm sitting at the dinner table surrounded by food...

Plants.... well, the last of the cilantro managed to die while I was gone (not Jeff's fault... I had mostly killed it all before I gave it to him). My lone tomato is stubbornly clinging to life as is the parsley. The chives and basil are still going crazy though! I may buy a tomato plant or two when the garden centre starts carrying them, and I can always start again with the cilantro and parsley. I still have seeds for those.

On the knitting front, I have done VERY little *sigh* I knit a row or two on the kitchen curtain while I was at the airport, but did no knitting at all this weekend. But class ends next Monday (I think, more on that in a minute) so I'll have a bit of knitting time before the next one starts up on May 1st. As for school.... the strike is ongoing. I've missed three classes now. Next Monday is supposed to be the final exam, but we've missed nine hours of class time and a lot of material that still has to be covered.

Anyway, that's where things stand right now. Pics tomorrow!

Chicago, Chicago....

So that's where I've been since last Thursday! I left work at lunchtime, and hopped a cab to the airport. Two flights and seven hours later, I was driving up North Michigan Avenue in search of the famed Red Apple Buffet. (Sorry, the website SUCKS, but the restaurant is great! Food was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.)

Friday, we puttered around the house a bit, went to pick up his son, hit the cell phone store (Rob's hard on phones LOL), hit Fiddlehead Yarns in Kenosha, WI, and then bought a ridiculous amount of groceries. I cook a lot when I go over to fill the freezer so that the boys don't end up living on manwich. Friday evening, we went to Passover Seder at Rob's parents. It was... an experience :D Rob's stepfather Alan began the evening by stating that THIS YEAR, we were going to have a serious, PROPER Passover.... and you can imagine how things went from there ;) The boys (both the adult and the teenaged ones) seemed to take that as a challenge. The verdict: Matzo ball soup = AWESOME. Gefilte fish = edible, but ... um... well, it's fish brined in lye. What do you expect me to say?

Saturday, I started the day by making a huge batch of spaghetti sauce (which is now residing in the aforementioned freezer). We went out to lunch with Rob's genealogy group harem (he has a group of women who follow him around and vice versa... they're all older than his mother, but I still like to tease him!). They are the funniest, coolest bunch of girls, and we had a blast. Saturday afternoon, we went to the cemetery where Rob's father is buried and I took pictures of the grave site for his genealogy files, and placed a stone on his father's  marker. I was glad I'd gotten dressed for Seder before leaving, because it felt somehow more fitting that I was visiting in a dress, nylons and heels. We went to Seder with Rob's step-sister and her family and it was every bit as much an occasion as the previous night :) This group takes family seriously, and they really are a fantastic bunch of people. (I had gotten yelled at the night before for trying to blow out the candles after everyone left the table.. this Seder? no candles! SWEET! No one confusing the shiksa!)

Sunday morning, I made a cheesecake for dinner and a batch of chili that joined the spaghetti sauce in the freezer. Rob and I walked to the grocery store (about a mile, round trip, I think) to buy a bottle of pop (what can I say? I was thirsty!). Sunday afternoon was mostly spent doing house-type stuff, shopping for new towels and then making my seafood rosée pasta sauce (most of which is also in the freezer, but some of which was dinner). The lemon sauce I made for the cheesecake ended up wayyyy too sweet (like jarringly sweet), and I've determined that I need to stop using the Philly cheesecake recipe and find a proper one. Other than that, we had a good time :) We planted some flowers around the house and garage (hopefully some of them will come up!) and watched an episode of Speed Racer and then it was time to pack and go to bed.

4am this morning, we were (Rob was) up and getting ready to head to the airport. I slept very badly last night, so he went and showered, shaved, ate breakfast and THEN woke me up. I win :) Two flights later, I was back home with the kids and attention-seeking cats. The strike is still on at school, so no class for the third week in a row. This worries me, because NEXT week is our final exam, and we haven't covered a lot of the material necessary :( There's also our final project due next week, and I'm nowhere near done. *sigh* I am home, and while I'm happy to be back, I'm not happy to be alone. Pictures will follow after I've got them off the cameras and sorted out. So see you later, Chicago!

Murphy's Law

Today did not start out in the best way. It started with me curled into the fetal position in an incredible amount of pain. That continued for several hours (until after lunch) and made me want to drive off the nearest cliff. Fortunately for me, there's a distinct shortage of cliffs between my home and office. I have no idea why cramps make me want to die in the morning but always seem to disappear in the afternoon.

Work was largely uneventful, until my supervisor set me to a task (telling me it was super urgent) and then disappeared before I was done. I can understand not feeling well and leaving early... what I can't understand is not saying anything when I spoke to her TWO MINUTES before she left. Granted, that's not about me, but I've had a shit day, so I'm internalizing it. The urgent document? Is now sitting locked up in my file cabinet, so what was the point of rushing?

Picked up my daughter at daycare (where apparently the stomach flu had ripped through the place all day and nobody said anything to me) and then went to pick up the ex to do groceries. Got to his house and phoned him to come down, but he was still 15 minutes away on the bus, and we ended up having a huge fight (mostly my fault, but not entirely). Joy. The store was out of mint Aero (Rob and his son really like those) but I figure the Cherry Blossoms and maple candy will likely make up for that one.

Classes were cancelled again this week due to the strike. *sigh* I need to contact my prof to make sure I can still pass the class. Bought myself some sushi for dinner, but as I sat down to eat it, the bottle of sparkling water I'd bought overflowed and I managed to drop the tray of sushi trying to contain the mess/protect my laptop. Sushi all over the carpet. So no dinner for me. That, and soda water all over the laptop. (That seems to have been remedied nicely though).

I have a HUGE surprise for Rob, and I really really really want to spill the beans (I suck at delayed gratification) but I know it will be so much more of an awesome surprise if I DON'T tell him, but I really want to! I also managed to kill most of my cilantro and three of my four tomato babies by underwatering them :( I have one viable specimen of each left. I may buy a tomato plant or two when the nurseries start carrying them. Hopefully Jeff's cats will be able to resist eating everything while he's plant-sitting (they need to be watered daily or they dry out, so I can't leave them for four days).

All first-world problems, to be sure. But the cumulative effect made the day suck. Then I poke around on a news site, and I discover that my day would have sucked ever so much more if I lived in Dallas County, Texas. And I am ever so thankful that I live here and that I am fortunate to have only first world problems.

Word play...

I feel like such a dunce! The first Harry Potter movie came out eleven years ago. I never read the books before that, so that was my first introduction to the series. It has taken me THIS LONG to sort out that Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley were plays on nocturnally and diagonally.... Now let that sink in.

Jo Rowling is brilliant.