Style and the City

I had my own little "Sex and the City" moment. For years I have been coveting a piece of Tiffany silver and finally, after I got my promotion (thank you, thank you), I decided that there was no earthly reason why I should not own a piece of my very own Tiffany. I wanted to do this for myself rather than wait for Arthur to get one for me. It's a girl-can-do it thing. So, one lunch time last week, I moseyed on up to 85 Bloor Street West, where the mecca of jewellery stores is located. I felt intimidated by the huge doors a little, but I pushed them open and here I was. I stood in the door way just a second to take in the atmosphere. The security guard (in a suit) greeted me from his station and almost made me jump a mile. But soon, I felt right at home. The lighting was discreet, the carpeting lush and soft and the staff all solicitous for helping find what I wanted. But not in my face. They politely inquired, they did not approach unless summoned. Well, I let myself be helped. You see, apparently, silver is on the second floor. Who knew there was a second floor! But of course, where would they have kept all the crystal and stuff! So I glided as gracefully as I could up the stairs in my heart congratulating myself on having worn my office shoes. It was actually kind of crowded up there. There were mothers helping daughters choose their first silver necklace. There were men buying silver money clips. And there it was among other gorgeous things - my coveted heart tag pendant. There was a girl with impossibly shiny hair at the counter, but she was helping someone else. So, I was helped by Joanna, an obviously Russian immigrant, who was nevertheless courtesy itself.

Plastic changed hands. She put my necklace in the blue Tiffany pouch, which went in the box tied with silky white ribbon and then in the blue Tiffany bag. Sigh. It was totally, totally satisfying. I walked down the street holding my Tiffany bag. And I know I am now an officially evil and shallow person who bows to labels and the doors to Nirvana are firmly shut against the likes of me, but when I put my new silver heart on with the Return to Tiffany stamped on it, I felt like everyone knew that I had something special round my neck (which I'm sure they did not). I had this newfound confidence. And now I want to go back there. Even just to browse. And my name is now on their registry. And I know I sound like I'm five, but this was my lifetime thing - to have something from Tiffany. It's like I have crossed a threshold.

... meanwhile, on the other side of town...

I did go to see SATC today and was totally satisfied. It was like a two and a half hour episode of the show and everything that I expected happened - Miranda is still a workaholic who takes care of everyone but herself and ends up resenting them for it, Charlotte is the princess of 5th Avenue, Samantha wants more sex and she doesn't get any and Carrie and Big get married. Finally, finally, they do it! I think I may want to get the DVD (hint to husbands who my read this).

...and finally

You should check out panties for peace. In an effort to atone for my evil jewellery buying ways, I will participate in the campaign to send women's underwear to guerillas in Mayanmar. You see these guerillas believe that touching women's underwear will rob them of their power. Interesting since they use rape as a weapon of war. Presumably they have to touch underwear then... Anyway, there is this campaing asking women to send in their panties to these guerillas as a peaceful way to help fight them and show solidarity to women being affected by the brutal fighting. Check out this site http://pantiesforpeace.ca/

Walking Hurt

I sprained my ankle yesterday. I was hoisting Penboy over this guardrail and I stepped onto the pavement wrong and my left foot lost balance and twisted. Ouch. I set the child down and he dropped the water cup he was holding. Of course there was screaming at that. I wanted to scream too, in pain. I have not sprained my ankle in a long time, in fact, the last time was when I was still teaching. I was leaving this bar, the Green Room. I was wearing shoes with pretty high heels (for me) and sprained my ankle on the stairs. Then for about a month I had to wear flats and limp. Well, it was the same today. Ugly shoes and limping. Fabulous. And just as I spotted this lovely pair of pumps...

I was going over the guard rail in the first place because we were picking up some rugs that I bought from a co-worker. She's changing decor and one of the rugs is Egyptian Gabbeh, which normally go for about 400 bucks. I got it for 50. The other one is not a Gabbeh, but in that style. OK, they're used. OK, they need cleaning. Some people even likened them to something one might find at a dump. Well, I think they have character. Apparently that might not be a high selling point. Sigh.

OK, now I will go and eat ice cream and maybe sit on my antique "ordures" style rug and nurse my sore foot and my thumb that I closed a door on. Yeah, it's not been the best couple of days.

Where has pengirl been?

Well, busy working, that's what. Learning all about secret company and whatnot. Trying to avoid walking in case of TTC strike. Also, been struck by this plague that's going around and having trouble kicking it.

The joys of talking child.

My son hates having his hair washed, which is weird because normally he loves the water. I told him last night we needed to wash his hair. This we do in the bath. Well, when bath time came, I said "Bathy time!" "No!" he says. "Why?" I ask. "Not dirty," he says. Hm.

Among the Employed



Yes, pilgrims, I am a worker bee once again. I work for a company that cannot be mentioned because I can't bring it into disrepute by any means at all, so I will just stay away from mentioning its name or business. It's all good though. I have a real cube once again, not that open concept crap like my last job. I have a window near. I am downtown. It's a year contract, but hey, a lot can happen in a year.

Polar bear bite vaccine

OK, so I could not not mention this. On my STC list serv a person from the States (let's call him, oh, Ned) mentioned that he is coming to Toronto soon to give a talk and he was asking his fellow list members what kind of VACCINES he should get before coming to Canada. That's in case he gets bitten by a polar bear, I guess and he develops an unexplainable love of Tim Horton's, hockey and normal strength beer. None of the Canadian list serv members replied to this, but many American ones did. To give them credit, nobody suggested Ned go to his doctor immediately and get all the tropical disease shots available to mankind. Ooh, it now strikes me I should have. Damn.

The winter blues

Yes, another bloody snowstorm. The munchkin did not go to school today beacause there is so much freaking snow on the ground!! It's getting me down. I fear only a new purchase of bling will be able to help this. Or at the very least some Brie cheese and cheap German wine. And chocolate. It's also International Women's Day. Last year at work we did a little gifite exchange among all the women and this year - squat. Even I forgot, which makes me even sadder.

In knitting news, the Dr. Who scarf:

I think it looks rather well. I added a fringe on the bottom after this pic was taken. That's Mr. P looking all suave in it.

Now it's time to finish some of the other multitude of projects I had begun - my mom's throw, the famous sweater...

All quiet on the Western front

Meaning I am still looking for some gainful employment. It's a depressingly long process.

On the plus side, it's sunny today, however, the road construction trucks that have been permanently camped in front of my building are very active now and are roaring and making the walls shake. My street is a big mud hole and has been since November. I have to wonder at the existance of brains at city hall. The geniuses picked the absolute worst time of the year to schedule construction - frozen ground, snow storms followed by heavy rain. Lovely.

In knitting news, the Dr. Who scarf is finished! It's not quite as long as the original, but I think that will make it a little more manageable. Mr. P loves it and that's the main thing (there was semi dressed modelling of the scarf last night - hubba hubba). I know I've been promising pics. Here is one when the scarf was just a baby.

I love the colours on it, all rusts and browns. I still need to add a fringe on the bottoms. Then I have a line-up of other project to work on, including the famous sweater. If only someone wanted to employ me as a knitter!

Holy snow!

We have had about a tonne of it. Well, maybe not, but it feels like it. I mean mountains of snow on every street corner, slush everywhere and treacherous driving conditions. Grrr. I know, I know, this is Canada, but let's not exaggerate.

In knitting news, about half done on Dr. Who scarf. Can't wait to be done and have Mr. P sporting it around town. (aside from everything else, it will keep him warm)

Applying for jobs left right and center, but so far nobody has recognized how fabulous I am. I always loved the line from Working Girl when Tess (Melanie Griffith) asks Kathryn (Sigourney Weaver - love her), her boss about her boyfriend proposing.

Tess: What if he doesn't pop the question?

Kathryn: I really don't think it's a variable. I am in the same town now, I have cleared the month of June and I am after all, me.

Ahhh, such self confidence. This is what I should put down on my cover letters : I am after all, me.

An unusual place to shop

I discovered an unusual and slightly grim (perhaps) place to shop - hospital gift shops. They just rock! The first one I went to was at St. Joseph's Hospital, when Mr. P was having his nose surgery. I had to wait about three or more hours and had ample time to roam the hospital. Got totally groovy white lilac body lotion that time and a glowy wind up worm toy for Penboy, which totally freaked him out. Yesterday I went to see my mom at Toronto Eastern (she had thyroid surgery) and while she was sleeping, went down to get a coffee and, you guessed it, check out the gift shop. Well, the spoils included a nice angel key charm for me and a yellow smiley face ball for the munchikn. The only problem is so far that there are not too many man things there, but I suppose only women would think to shop at a hospital, so they must clearly know their audience well. These places seem to have a large selection of cosmetics from lesser known Canadian manufacturers that just smell heavenly. I checked out a mango body cream yesterday. Mmmm - it was like mango ice cream in a jar! I was good and did not get it, what with my newly imposed necessity for frugality.

I highly recommend shopping at your nearest hospital for gift items. The best thing is that the profits go to the hospital and because the shops are staffed with volunteers, they don't have to worry about salaries.

News

The company where I used to work and I have parted ways. Nothing drastic, just one of those business things. I am now among the ranks of the unemployed. Quite enjoying it too. Well, not enjoying having to look for a job, but totally enjoying having some more time to spend with Mr. P and Penboy.

I have been spending some time in the car lately though. I went to pick up my things from Company. This was at six in the evening. I left home early because I was worried about the traffic and ended up arriving almost an hour early. Went to Tim Horton's for a hot chocolate (which they were out of), but I could only stay there for half an hour because they only allow a half hour of parking time. A cop came by and wrote down the license plate of my car too, so I could not even fudge it. So, after half an hour I moved to the Company parking lot and parked in a visitor spot, as much out of the way as humanly possible. I saw people leaving, read my book (Wicked). Then it got darker and darker. I did not want to kill the earth by idling the car, so there was no heat. I was cold. It got too dark to read and then the wind picked up and it got kind of lonely. Luckily, it got to be time to go shortly.

Then yesterday, I went to meet with an outplacement company who will be helping me in my job search and got there too early. You guessed it, sat in the car, read my book... It was daytime and pretty warm though, so much better than the previous night.

It is super windy today. I lay awake at night listening to the wind howling. At one point the wind gust was so strong that the whole building shook. Not good.

In knitting news, now that I actually do not work until 4:00 a.m. and then go into work the next day (don't ask), I have some time to knit. Am making a Dr. Who scarf for Mr. P. The colours are lovely, all rusts, fawns and golds and I am quite enjoying it. Ah, if only one could make a career out of knitting!

Picture Meme

Tagged by Glacia. Here goes.

1. Age you will be on your next birthday. (really tempted to say 29, but no)

2. Place you would like to visit.

3. One of your favourite places:

Estes Park, Colorado. Gorgeous scenery and the feeling this is the place time forgot.

4. Your favourite object.

Well, one of. Currently am into knitting a lot. Also love books, movies, music.

5. Your favourite food.

Hard to choose. I think this would be one thing I would find it hard to be without.

6. Your favourite animal.

Round, yet strangely graceful. Who could forget the dancing hippos in Fantasia! Need I say more?

7. Your favourite colour.

Red, red, red!

8. Name of a past pet.

OK, this was a hard thing to find a picture of. I had a hamster named Georgiana (not the hamster, of course, the name was hard to find).

9. Where you live.

TO, ON. Not that it looks like this most of the time.

10. First teacher's last name. It was Szybisz. Krystyna Szybisz. And she did not like me. Ah, well.

I don't know what this is supposed to be. It came up when I searched the last name.

11. Your middle name. Don't have one, but I always wanted to be Dorothea.

There you g0 - restless spirit - that's me.

12. Bad habit of yours.

Love, love, love jewellery. So, buying it is definintely a bad habit and costly. It serves no practical purpose at all and yet, I can't stop!!!

13. Your favourite flower.

14. Your favourite holiday.

I hate to sound corny, but it was my honeymoon. Mexico, the Mayan Riviera. Blue water, golden sand, swim-up bar.

Resolutions

Really have not had enough time to think of many, but here is what I came up with so far:

1. Learn to meditate. (What the heck, I can do it!)
2. Spend less money. (No more spur of the moment/emotional buys, this is it, I am cut off! This includes yarn.)
3. De-clutter. (Not sure I can do this one.)
4. Finish the mister's sweater. (OK, it's been over three years, this is getting ridiculous!)
5. Travel, travel, travel! (Mr.P and me on a beach)
6. Figure out the meaning of life, existence of a higher benevolent being, and how to save the world from itself.

There, that ought to do it.

No weight loss, you ask? Well, if I get all of the above done, I think the weight will take care of itself.

Happy New Year! Champange wishes and caviar dreams (or whatever). What is Robin Leach doing these days anyway?

New Year

Christmas was nice albeit quiet. Apart from having to take Alex home from my parents' house at 9:30 at night on Christmas Eve, that is. He just would not sleep there and he did the quiet sob that just welled up inside him. So, I said "we're going home!" We were all in jammies at this point. Mr. Pengirl was a great trooper. I'm sure he was not impressed, but pulled his pants on and picked up Alex's stuff and off we went. My baby is just like me when I was little - dinner, potty and bed were at home. I did not want to eat, go to the toilet or sleep anywhere else until I was a lot older. Then of course, that is all I wanted to do.

I got some lovely things under the tree - a star necklace from the hubby, some cool books, a gorgeous carved head that hubby made in secret, a bag, choccy, ice wine, my fave green pomengranate tea. It was gooood!

I had to work most of the holiday break. Bleah. And now I am super tired both psychologically and physically. And the work is far from done. And I just don't want to do it. I just want to rest and cuddle in Mr. P's arms. Oh, yeah!

Hey, Santa

Watched Miracle of 34th Street last night. The one with Richard Attenborough. I love that movie. I especially love that moment when the guy leans out the window of the courtroom and says "Santa Claus wins!"

I'm sure I already mentioned that it was my own mom who told me there was no Santa. But as I got older I kind of half believed there was, at least some sort of benevolent holiday spirit that made magic happen. I really want Christmas to be a magical time for Alex so he has those nice Christmas memories. The magic seems to be taking its time this year though.

I remembered when we were in Algeria. Many of the contractors had small kids and they got together and had a kids party. They asked my dad to be Santa, complete with a white beard and big belly (which he does not normally have) and the red suit. Some of the six year olds were just starting to doubt, I think. All the parents were good about not mentioning to their kids that there would be a special visitor at the party. All the kids were playing and suspecting nothing when there was a knock at the door. My dad strode in in full Santa garb. You should have seen the faces on the older kids. It was like "holy crap, he does exist!" I almost believed it myself for a minute.

This is what I wish you all this Christmas or Chanukkah or Kwanzaa or Saturnalia or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate - that priceless moment of realizing the magic is happening. May you all be well and have a table full of food and a heart full of joy.

Paying it Forward

This from the lovely Glacia, who in turn got it here. It's a crafty pay it forward scheme. You make three things for people not expecting anything in return and then those people have to do that for other three people. I am totally on board and may just do that off blog as well. But if anyone would like to be the recipient of my PIF crafts, let me know on or off blog. You in turn will take a part in the PIF movement for others. It's sort of like a chain letter... but good.

Oh, btw, I don't know when these PIF goodies will be available, but definitely in 2008! Promise!

Yas'm

Certain people at work have been getting up my nose. I have the un-fun task (actually, it's mind-numbingly dull and has very little to do with technical writing) of doing layout for a manual. This means no writing, but putting everything in Adobe FrameMaker and making sure things look OK. There is one Research person who sees herself as better than most, at least better than technical writers. She stopped me as I was going to my desk the other day (literally had not yet sat down, had on my outside shoes and handbag). This is the conversation that ensued.

Stuck-up R&D Person: Oh, good morning. We will need to talk about the tables you will put in my chapters sometime soon.

Pengirl: Oh, OK.

SRDP: I don't know what you can do. Can you make them look good?

Pengirl: Well, I guess so.

SRDP: (Reminiscing) I used to have this wonderful technical writer (read servant). I just used to give her things and she made them look good without asking. She just did it! It was Sarah, have you ever met her?

Pengirl: I think I met her once (remembering someone extremely full of herself and rude).

SRDP: Well, I guess I'll come over and explain later what I'd like you to do with the tables.

Pengirl: (sorely tempted to say: tables, I thought those were them things you rich folk eat on) OK, bring some examples though.
(walks away stomping)

Let me explain. Technical communicators write procedural information. In fact, I wrote a chapter for the same manual. We are not in charge of making things look pretty. Graphic designers do that. Unfortunately, at this company, technical writers also do layout. R&D people often think that is the only thing we do. Well, certain R&D people. There is one lady who is great and totally respects the work we do. I suppose I should not be so hard on SRDP. She has a freaky looking daughter, so I suppose her life is not easy. No, really this kid has the face of a 30-year-old on a baby's body. I try not to stare at her picture every time I pass by SRDP's desk.

It's December!

And that means Christmas is near, pilgrims! This year I'm hoping little hands will help decorate the tree and will not make it fall over too many times.

I'm teaching him about Santa. Basically, telling him "Santa will be here soon and bring you many presents, etc." He looks at me with a very philosophical expression on his little face. I fear we will need to take him to a mall to show him "the real thing."

Got my Finnfeelings bling today. 'Tis gorgeous. Mind, I also asked my hubby for some bling for under the tree. I am all about the bling.

So love working at home. Can get bling by mail... enjoy some afternoon delights with my sweet honey... hold my munchkin on my knee as I type. Love it.

Oh, dear...

Not marble, nor the gilded Maggie
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Winter

Just looked out the window and it was total whiteness outside. Crazy. There are work crews working on our street and I was just thinking that I would not want to have any of their jobs. Mind, their progress seems to be confined to making larger and larger piles of gravel on one side of the road. I worry that I will not be able to get in or out of the driveway one of these days. Out will not be that bad, but in would be worse because the designated parking areas already have people parking on them even when there is no work being done. So, one day, pengirl will just be trapped at home and will be forced to play with her husband and baby all day instead of going in to work. Ah, dear.

Lots of knitting going on. Char's daughter's scarf is progressing. Almost done, in fact. I bought her a pair of earrings that I thought would be totally perfect only to find out she does not have pierced ears. I thought I was safe in assuming she did as she has pierced everything else. Tempted to keep them for self as they are funkeh!

Caved and got winter boots. Well, it was a given that this was going to happen because I threw away my old pairs (two of them) on account of them killing my feet. And what happened on the first snowy day in Toronto? No boots. So I went to Payless and bought mommy boots. Oh, you know the kind I mean, the kind that go with that padded, long Michelin man coat. I am happy to say that I still have not reached the Michelin man coat stage, but now certainly I have the boots for it.

Sooo proud of myself as I went to the mechanic across the street from work by myself and got the oil changed and the wiper blades replaced. Feel so grown up now. Of course, the mr. rolled his eyes at what they charged me (OK, I rolled my eyes a little bit too), but I feel you can't put a price on confidence! He did say that they charged surprisingly little for labour. I know it's not possible, but it feels like the car runs better now.

Brrr!

I know I'm a big woos and that's just because I drive now. It's only about -7 outside and I am freezing! Last year I would have been enjoying the brisk weather.


moar funny pictures

Yesterday I took the TTC and it took forever to get to work. I mean, in a land where forever takes two hours. It would probably have been the same had I driven though, but I got to read, so it was good.

Knitting News

Lots of news on the knitting front. I put a scarf in the United Way auction at work and a girl who wanted it a lot bought it, so that was good. I also offered my knitting services and a guy bought those. I am now making matching hats for him and his daughter who is one. I love small projects.
Also, I have finally gotten to the neck of the front of Arthur's sweater. I so want to finish before Christmas so he can wear it soon, but I'm afraid it won't happen. However, the plan is to finish the sweater before the boy turns four. I started this project before he was born!
Also making a scarf out of cute yarn called Pooch for Charlotte's daughter who likes things black and goth-like. The yarn is black and pouffy, so it should go over well. I also got her a pair of dragon earrings.

Christmas Shopping

... is half done. Haaa haaahhh! Still need to get everything for my dad and something for my mom and for my little Stitch lover too. Oh, and for Simon, Emma's son... OK, am getting depressed now. Sigh. But December will soon be upon us and I can start decorating and stuff. Wooohhhoo hoooo woooohoooo hoooo woohoooo all the way!!!!

In the land of the sick

Still sick and now the munchkin is sick too. We took him to Just for Kids to see a doc because this morning he woke up coughing and crying after every cough. He pointed to his throat. Poor baby, on his birthday too! Yes, pilgrims, three years ago today pengirl was in labour. Well, actually, by this time (2:00 p.m.) I was already on the maternity ward. Alex was down in the NICU because his blood sugar level was too low. So I went down two floors to hold him and feed him, while gingerly holding on to my c-section scar. Yes, a fun time was had by all. I gave the nurses the slip one time (unintentionally) and they were phoning all over the hospital looking for me. I was with my baby, of course. They brought him back to me the next day.

Well, we got drugs for the boy and instructions to not administer them unless he getse worse. Now he's napping, drugged up on Tylenol because he's beginning to get a fever after all this. When he gets up, I'm sure we'll be watching Lilo and Stitch again, while eating birthday cookies. I have to confess that even though I have now seen Lilo and Stitch about a hundred times, sitting with Alex, snuggling him on the couch, I could watch it a hundred times more.

"This is my family. I found it all on my own."