Adios curls

Not mine. I still have them although they are definitively in the column FRIZZ instead of the column LUCIOUS CURLS. Someday when I'm rich and famous and my bed is made of $100 bills, I'll buy every de-frizzing product on the market and see which is the best for me. For now, I look like Monica on that Friends episode. The frizzy episode. You know the one.

Anywho. This isn't about me. It's about HIM.

In case you're confused, by HIM, I don't mean God.

I mean my husband. His name is John. Six foot three. Size 13 feet. Dark, curly hair.

Let's revise that. Dark hair. No longer curly.

This is due to the actions of a certain person with a razor (mentioned earlier on this blog as someone comparable to a Turkish market vendor who could likely sell you-know-what to you-know-who) who somehow convinced John that he should shave his curls in response to another certain person's hilarious (really, they were) comments about wildlife taking up residence in John's hair due to the fact that John hasn't seen a barber in oh, eons. And then, promptly after hilarious (really, I am hilarious) person made said comments, John got a weird look on his face and pulled out of his hair, no joke, a FLYING ANT that had likely been there most of the day or at least for several hours or minutes.

And now John continues to preface explanations for his lack of hair with "Well, after being the target of abuse for so long, I really had no choice....." Blah, blah, blah.

And so without further ado, please meet the newly shorn John:


If you have any nasty pots sitting around, I've now got a spare Brillo pad in the house.

Love you, man!

UPDATE: John received a question or two about his magnificent melon from the front. Brace yourselves:

Should you be worried when....

someone drives by your rental house, leans out their van window when they see you sitting on the porch, and shouts: YOU STOLE MY HOUSE! and drives off?

Okay, so I lied

I said I'd be back soon. That was a total lie. That was a full three weeks ago. Almost. My calendar arithmetic isn't great.

We have had a whirlwind three weeks. If you follow me on Twitter or you're a Facebook friend, you've had some updates along the way. And even photos. I will give a run-down, as time permits, over the next week or so.

In short, we had a great time. We spent about two weeks at the cottage (a bit more actually) and just short of a week in Toronto. Within that time I've also found myself a sort-of part-time job. Hooray! I've also found a preschool for Hope, met some new friends, got a bit of a tan, seen a lot of jungle animals, done lots of swimming, started knitting monkey slippers, killed a few mice, and played with my girls a lot.

And right now, I'm due for a really long sleep. So great to be back!

Be back soon

I realize I've been all active tweeting and FBing and have been very inactive here on the blog. As a quick update, we're housesitting in The Beach in Toronto at a house WAY nicer than ours and having a great time. So far we've:

- been out for afternoon tea at the Windsor Arms
- gone to Blackcreek Pioneer Village
- had a great breakfast with some old friends
- rode the streetcars, subway, and buses
- taken the kids for haircuts
- had ice cream
- done a bit of shopping (just in the Beach)
- eaten great food
- played at Kew playground and in the wading pool there

Tomorrow we will clean the house (a daunting job due to our insane kids and their kid-ways) and then go to the Toronto zoo before driving back to Waterloo.

A fuller post with photos will follow once we're back home.

-- Post From My iPhonei

MRI results etc

I am actually sitting in front of a real live desktop. I can blog without having to thumb out a post. It seems luxurious.

It's been a while since I've talked about what is going on with my health mystery. Last I talked of it, I gave you the low-down on having an MRI. I now have that results of that MRI and thankfully the only thing that it showed was some mild sinusitis. My neurologist's objective for the MRI was to rule out MS and the MRI indeed ruled it out. Thank God.

And then today I took the home-done Celiac test. Before I took the test (which I did exactly as the video showed), I was quite sure it would come out positive but something was inkling at me that it would be negative even though everything seemed to point in that direction.

My inkling was correct. The test was negative. No Celiac Disease.

Most people would be relieved. I wasn't. I wanted an answer. I have joint pain in my wrists every day. I still get tingling in my foot and toes and my skull and now my chin. My fatigue is still pretty severe. When it is at its worst, my eyesight isn't great. My colon seems settled thankfully. I still get pain around my liver area. In general, it sucks and there is currently no one working to find out what is causing it and no plan in place for me.

And so, as mentioned many times before, I will finally be calling in favours from my friend Andrew, surgeon extraordinaire in Toronto. I hope, hope, hope to have an answer. I'm really tired of feeling like this.

I still do wonder if it is food related in some way. The only time in the last six months when I've felt well was a period of about 3 days when I was on a very restricted diet and lots of herbs and supplements under the care of my naturopath in Ottawa. I'm thinking of doing that again... via email with her. At least that would allow me to think that something was being done. And at the very least, my body would be getting better nutrition and supplements.

Ugh. Not the best news to hear on the hottest day of the summer in an un-air-conditioned house. Grumpy all around.

Change of plans

So I decided not to go to ottawa after all. After talking to Meredith, friend extaordinaire who is looking after the whole wet basement debacle, I realized there was little I could do onsite to improve things. I don't have control over the weather. I can't regrade the entire back yard by myself, and I've already contracted someone to clean the eaves. It was the right decision.

So here we sit on the 400 trying to make our way back to Waterloo. We're stuck in traffic again. We're listening to the very bad sounds emanating from our car. If we had two incomes we'd be saying goodbye to this car. Instead we'll sink a lot of money into it to nurse it along for a few more years. Being with the girls full-time is worth driving an old car.

I could walk down the 400 faster than this.


-- Post From My iPhone

Back to Ottawa

Like so many Ottawans,we have a leaking basement. We suspect the cause is blocked eavestrophing and massive amounts of rainfall. I can't do anything about the rain but I can clean the eaves and repair the eroded area around the house.

This is not how I wanted my first visit back to go down. In and out in a whirlwind of stress, muddy leaves and shwarma. I'll likely leave tomorrow and return Friday morning.

Add to this that our car seems to be on its last legs and it makes for a really shit week.

Except for the cottage and some sun which makes it a bit better.