Happy Birthday, Lil Sis

My sister is turning 25 tomorrow.  25.  It’s hard to imagine.  I had graduated, was working full-time and was married by the time I was 25.   Lil Sis is in first year, lives in my basement and Mr. Noodles and Pizza Pockets are staples in her diet.

She’s going out with friends tonight and said:

“They wanted to take me out for dinner first -  if I had known that I wouldn’t have eaten that can of Zoodles.  Whatever – I’m not going to kick a gift horse in the face.”

It’s all about Survival, Baby

Survived another xmas season!  Woo hoo!

It’s pretty sad that it’s all about making it through to the other side these days.  My house is absent of xmas decoration, of Yuletide cheer or Christmas spirit. Part of it’s because I had a heavy workload this December, part of it was that S and I are planning a wedding, and part of it was that we’re never at home for xmas anyway. 

The goal is to balance work and social niceties while buying the things we needed to buy — get it all done in time to put it all in the car together with my sister and 2 cats, then drive out to the Ottawa area for xmas with S’s family.

There was a slight twist this year.  S and I organized xmas dinner for 20  family members to be held at S’s family’s house.  It was potluck, so there was plenty of help that way.  But I cooked appetizers, an 11.5kg turkey, a ham, 3 kinds of stuffing, and mashed sweet potatoes.  Oh – and gravy.  But because I’m not used to cooking for 20 – we ran out of gravy for those who wanted seconds.  Still, one of S’s aunts said it was the tastiest gravy she ever had (I imagine that’s because it wasn’t watered down to provide enough for 20 people twice).  Overall it went well.  It’s 4 years until it’s S’s branch of the family’s turn again – wonder what the situation will be like then?  How many of us will have partners and infants… how unwieldy will it all become?

Over the week we were there, we received a couple of wedding gifts, did a little socializing, saw some movies (2 rentals and one in the theatres), ate a lot of chocolates and cookies, and then ate a lot of turkey and turkey leftovers.

And here I am on the other side, sitting on my sofa in the comfort of my own home.  A lull before the wedding stuff comes up again in earnest, starting tomorrow.  And I need to visit mom – but when? 

near-crippling

Apparently we can expect 30-40 cm of snow over the next 24 hours.  I’m watching the weather channel which has a Winter Storm Warning, in red, on the screen.  It describes the upcoming weather as being “near-crippling”.  I figured ”hey, it’s the weather channel – they get excited about the possibility of bad weather and use sensationalistic phrasing to describe their hope that they have something big to report on for a couple of days”.

But then I looked at Environment Canada’s website and saw that the language originated there:

City of Toronto
7:03 PM EST Saturday 15 December 2007
Winter storm warning for
City of Toronto continued

A near-crippling snow storm with heavy snow and blowing snow as well as some ice pellets tonight and Sunday.

This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

A massive winter storm is about to strike much of southern and eastern Ontario with near record snowfall amounts. Latest analyses indicates that the developing low pressure system is moving across western Kentucky preceeded by a burgeoning area of moderate snow with some freezing precipitation extending north to Lake Erie.

The low will move northeast towards the lower Great Lakes and intensify rapidly as it reaches Ohio Sunday morning then track across New York state into New England Sunday night. This storm track will place much of southern and eastern Ontario directly under the brunt of heavy snow. A few claps of thunder along with bursts of very heavy snow are also likely.

The brunt of the main snow event will begin this evening in the southwest and rapidly envelop all regions east to Ottawa in the overnight hours. Copious amounts of snow as well as strong winds causing blowing snow are expected. Freezing rain is also possible near Lake Erie.

Widespread snowfall accumulations of 20 to 30 cm are expected in most areas tonight and Sunday. Some local amounts of 40 cm or more are quite likely in a few areas by Sunday night..Especially from the west end of Lake Ontario and eastwards into far eastern Ontario.

Significant blowing snow is expected to accompany the heavy snow due to strong northeast winds gusting to 60 km/h whipping up the freshly fallen snow and causing whiteout conditions. In addition freezing rain is possible especially near Lake Erie for a few hours overnight and Sunday morning as milder air pays a brief visit aloft. Ice pellets are also quite possible generally along and south of a line from Grand Bend to near Toronto and east to Cornwall.

The public should be prepared to change plans accordingly to avoid unnecessary travel during this storm. This massive snow storm has the potential to cause near-paralyzing conditions as road travel on any unplowed streets may become next to impossible on Sunday. All motorists who must travel are urgently advised to use extreme caution and plan for much extra time to reach their destination.

There is a high degree of certainty with this storm as the concensus of weather model data is virtually unanimously forecasting this event.

Unfortunately, tomorrow we’re supposed to be going to Romy’s for dinner – which has been planned a year in advance.  She called this evening wondering if we wanted to cancel. S, Lil Sis and I all agree that we’ll try to get there, I just hope the roads co-operate.

Update:  Well, they finally got a forecast right.  Sunday brought with it lots of snow.  Environment Canada said that nearby Riverdale area got 30 cm of snow.  

S and I dug a car width along the laneway Sunday afternoon.  I don’t mind shovelling behind the houses, but it pisses me off that we end up being the only ones to shovel the part of the laneway that’s shared with other drivers.  We braved the traffic and spent the night at Romy’s after having a very delicious dinner.

Jane Rule

What lesbian of a certain age didn’t love the movie Desert Hearts?  The movie got me to buy the book, which got me reading more of Jane Rule, the american writer who moved to Canada in the late 50’s.

I just read Now magazine to learn that she died last week.  This was a huge surprise to me because I thought she died a few years ago.

Mr Christie, you DO make good cookies!

Due to unfortunate gastric pain presumably associated with my downward spiraling eating habits (high fat, low fibre, yummy comfort food), I have drastically changed my diet, if only to be able to sleep at night. 

Initially, I switched to low fat snacking throughout the day.  Mostly arrowroot cookies and pretzels.  Low fat soup for dinner.  Oh – and vitamin supplements – lots of supplements.  Then I included oatmeal with added Benefibre and then slowly incorporated normal food (no more extra cheesy comfort food).  Still, I snack on arrowroot cookies and pretzels through the day.

Initially, I had been enjoying Mr Christie’s because they had a bonus pack of 40% more cookies for the same price.  But now that the bonus is over, I decided to buy a package of President’s Choice arrowroot cookies, available from the Loblaw’s empire.  President’s Choice can often surprise with a good cookie or product.

But not this time. 

Mr Christie’s arrowroot cookies taste like they were baked with love, infused with a nostalgia for simpler times.  President’s Choice arrowroot cookies taste like they were baked with callous indifference, infused with a sense of grim future for the proletariat.

On a Quest

Today was our first appointment at the fertility clinic for what is, I’m sure, the first of many sessions where I feel like achieving conception is secondary only to the money they can make off you. 

For instance, only one of us is going to be treated at the clinic.  The medical history of the other is irrelevant.  Yet we were both asked for our OHIP cards and both asked to fill out a medical questionnaire, so clearly OHIP will be billed twice.  They did take 9 containers of my blood, to see if I had any STDs to share (which required presentation of OHIP cards again).  But why does she need to know how old I was when I began menstruating or who in my family has high blood pressure?

Tomorrow, S and I will go to the mandatory counselling session.  $100 per hour.  Their website says that they are requiring counselling for couples or individuals using third party gametes, in anticipation of it becoming required by law. In anticipation?  Great. 

That said, the doctor seemed fine.  My beef would more than likely be with the clinic itself.

The GP was supposed to send out 2 referrals, one to Lifequest and one to Hannam.  We’ve received a lot of recommendations for Hannam. The referrals never did get sent out – until S called the GP’s office to remind them.  And then it seems only 1 got sent out.  It was weird that Hannam never returned S’s calls, though, asking if a referral had been received.  So we’re with Lifequest.  Who knows if Hannam would have also felt like they were in the business of billing clients first, conception second.

Update: Dec 5 went to ”mandatory” counselling.  Listened to Sherry Dale talk about herself a lot.  Listened to her tell us about her children.  Listened to her tell us about a friend who was one of the first to have a same-sex marriage.  Listened to her tell us about her relationship.  Listened to her talk about a client with suicidal ideation and how the partner dealt with that. Listened to her pitch something called EMDR (have no idea what that is).   Interestingly, the whole thing didn’t bother me that much.  I guess that’s because I was prepared to be hosed.  Once again, my cynical attitude pays off.   

I had to sign a blank credit card authorization – I’m curious to see if she’ll bill for the 1.5 hours it was supposed to have been, or for the 2 hours it took while she shared personal anecdotes. 

Update 2: She billed for 1.5 hours.