Saturday, Sept. 14, 2002
I am leaving today for a "Ya-ya" style weekend. My stepmom, my sister and I reanted a four bedroom cabin on a remote lake. We are taking our favourite foods, comfiest clothes and our scrapbooks and our supplies. Fun.
No husbands. No children. No telephone.
I'll be back Monday night. Love to all.
Friday, Sept. 13, 2002I've usually got Chloe up by now. Instead I lazed in bed for half an hour and now I am sitting here with a towel on my head reading diaries. I think I shall be late to work today. Because I want to. Ah, I'll wear a ponytail and I'll be ready in an instant.
I'm sure glad I have long hair now. But mostly it was because I can't afford to get it cut it all the time. Aside from trying to find a good hairdresser in the town with bad hair.
Um. Yup.
I meant to start a new page with this entry. Because this one is loooonnggg.
Oh, well, next one.
I am determined to have a low stress day. Did you hear that Rachael? Low. Stress.
Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002Ugh. Can we rewind back to this morning?
Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002And by the way my son down there.......he is like American Pie in a dog's body. He's a 21-year-old virgin. I have to get him laid one of these days. I was thinking of a personal ad.
Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002Oh. Ah.
I am listening to the Dixie Chicks new album on full volume. It is wrapping me in happy banjos and beautiful harmony.
I have had a really hard week. This morning it changed. I gave myself a treatment, gave myself Reiki, listened to fabulous music and the water running from my fountain, and meditated. I felt so much better.
And then I read Angel's comments about me. Sigh.
I just want to cry and laugh all at the same time. I feel so well balanced.
I think I will take my stress-free mind downstairs and do some paperwork.
If I could bottle this feeling I would send you some.
But go and get the Dixie Chicks new cd. Or burn it. But listen to it really loud.
And for your viewing pleasure. My two babies.
My daughter......
And my son.........
Chloe and I talking about Kindergarten:
Me: "So do you hang out with Hannah and Brooke?" (there are only two other girls in her class)
Her: "Don't say hang out with Hannah and Brooke."
Me: "Why?"
Her: "I hate Brooke."
Me: "WHY???"
Her: "She pulls on my ponytail and wanted to eat my rice cake."
Me: "It is a very mean and hurtful thing to say that you hate someone."
Her: "Well, I really, really don't like her."
I guess girlfriend drama starts early. Mind you, I wouldn't like someone who pulled on my ponytail either.
Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002One great thing about the new apprentice. I feel really smart. Nothing like working with a person who is lost and overwhelmed to give the old educational ego a boost.
Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002Good Morning. Lots of fun has been had at my house. I am super bitchy because of this new diet I am on. Well, maybe it's not the diet. Anyways I am super bitchy. And oldest stepson is being a horribly behaved child. Last night Ken broke down and we talked and I was able to give some ideas about what is going on. We are doing things to change his behaviour and they are really not working so now we are going to try something else. Sigh.
The camera has been very distracting. I have been spending little time here......
And way more time here........
And I haven't eaten or showered and am sitting around looking just like I did when I rolled out of bed...like this...
But, I think I must go do some studying now.
But I must thank Twiggle for all her help. Every time I am reading my daily reads, there is always someone thanking Twiggle for all her help on their website. She is just always helping everybody. What a fabulous woman. And she taught me how to put borders on my pics!! Thank you Twiggle.
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002
Hi, I'm Rachael. And I'm a gold member with a new digital camera. I like shopping, long walks on the beach and books and I'm a big dork.
This is so exciting.
I figured out how to use the digital camera. Which is actually owned by Hubby's work. But no one there knows how to use so now it is mine. Mine. Mine.
And I promptly bought myself a brand new gold membership. Anticipating my image storage space.
Pics on their way.....
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002There is a new apprentice at the clinic. A whole new clinic really. He is probably close to 50, very spiritual, a brain injury survivor and an energy worker. He has been a patient for years. I've worked on him many times. And now he has begun studying. It is amazing how my workplace just changed.
I finally got the instructions for my digital camera. I shall go read them and get back to you.
Sunday, Sept. 08, 2002I went to check my guestbook like I do every day. And half of it had disappeared, the new half. Hmmm.
I am so hot. I'm not sure why I don't take my sweatshirt off. I've been hot for a while.
I had two naps today.
I was only out of the house for twenty minutes. I went to check out a community garage sale that sucked.
My naturopath put me on a new "hypoallergenic" diet. Basically I don't eat anything that tastes like anything for two weeks. Then I eat something that I think I am sensitive too. Say bread. On one day I eat as much bread as I can and then go back on the hypo diet and see what the bread does to me for three days. Then try something else.
I can't wait for cheese day.
Sugar day.
Ice cream day????
Anyways I am detoxifying my liver and it is making me feel like crapola! It is not gratifying to eat only this small array of totally healthy foods and not feel better. No, feel like crap. The payoff better be coming soon or it is going to be ..... donut day! Pizza day!
Friday, Sept. 06, 2002Honestly I can barely remember what I have told you and what I haven't. My life is so full of details, stories, facts and anecdotes. I can never keep track of what I have discussed and what I haven't. And the only way to know is to read my archives. Likely.
So if ever you have a personal question for me. Please ask. I love nosy questions. Then I get to talk about me.
Mosy over to my guestbook and ask whatever you want. So go ahead.....just ask.
Thursday, Sept. 05, 2002Well, she is at Kindergarten right now. It is so hard to explain what I am feeling. I am beginning to understand why my mother is so clingy and needy and controlling.
I feel somewhat pathetic really. I took about a million pictures of her outside the school. Littlest stepson is in her same class.
A new era of life for her. How exciting.
I have a school-kid......
Thursday, Sept. 05, 2002First day of school today. Only I feel like it's me, not my five year old daughter. Does she look ok? Are her braids even? I am obsessed. I am teaching my child the importance of looking good instead of learning good. Bad Mommy. I'm not sure if I can get through the day without tears. My baby is a big kid now. Having her bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and wondering if she is going to get recess.
I am no longer going to be the absolute strongest influence in her life. The peers come in today. I hope I prepared her well.
What, is she starting school at grade nine? Sheesh, I'm a bit emotional today. Get out the camera, we're leaving now.
Wednesday, Sept. 04, 2002Yesterday was officially my first day back at school. But the receptionist was sick so I ran the front end of the office. I don't mind it when that happens it's a nice change of pace. And it was a nice way to slide back into the workplace.
But today. Today was a real day. It was busy.
I walked into one of the treatment rooms and there was a little old man standing with his back to me. He had no shirt on and his pants around his ankles. When someone has a skin problem we have to see their entire body. (that is the only time you would get naked for acupuncture) He had psoriasis dots all over his body and shingles around his waist.
It was funny, not that I could ever laugh, and I was trying to remember every detail to relay the situation.
He was German and spoke very loud and very fast. He was talking about his prostate and some tests they did and how he had chlamydia and herpes in 1942. And then he couldn't think of the word he wanted, he had his penis in hand and he started tapping it while he thought of it. "You know, you piss out of it?"......"Oh, urethra!"
Then he starts telling the doctor about how he has too much testosterone and has to masturbate two times a week and at his age, 80, he shouldn't have to do that. (Keep in mind he is here for a treatment on his skin.) And then the doctor tells him to put his underwear on and climb up on the table. Well, he doesn't put his underwear on and climbs on the table laying on his side with his back to us. And his 80 year old testicals are hanging out the back from between his legs.
Do you see what I go through in a day?
Wednesday, Sept. 04, 2002From hot, hot summer to fall over night. As soon as school started it got chilly. I think I talk about the weather too much. I am so uninteresting.
Chloe starts Kindy tomorrow. I'm going to take her but I don't want to cry in front of the whole class.
I just her ate her left over bacon. It was wwaaayyyy too crispy from the microwave. No wonder there was leftovers.
I've had one day back at work and I can feel the shift in my body. From laid back, happy, care free, to tight and edgy and irritable. I really must explore this.
Back later.
Tuesday, Sept. 03, 2002THIS OR THAT.
The name's the same...almost...
1. Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise? Mmm. Neither really. Hanks if I had to choose.
2. Julia Roberts or Julia Stiles? Julia Roberts all the way. Though Save the Last Dance was a really good movie. So both I suppose.
3. Kevin Costner or Kevin Spacey? Costner for sex and Spacey for acting.
4. Ben Affleck or Ben Stiller? Affleck for sex and Stiller for acting and, well, Stiller for sex too. He'd probably be really entertaining.
5. Sean Connery or Sean Penn? Yuck.
6. Jennifer Lopez or Jennifer Aniston? Jennifer Aniston
7. Courtney Love or Courtney Cox-Arquette?Cox-Arquette....so I like Friends.
8. Sarah Michelle Gelllar or Sarah Jessica Parker? Jessica Parker. I love her hair and her wardrobe and her on Sex in the City and how cute her and her hubby are.
9. Michael Douglas or Mike Myers? Myers. He's Canadian, eh?
10. Nicole Kidman or (Anna) Nicole Smith? Yuck to both.
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Tuesday, Sept. 03, 2002First day back to work today after six weeks vacation. Chloe is just "shaving" my carrots for my snack. It feels good to get dressed up again. That could wear off quickly though.
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2002I love asparagus. I'm not sure why but I am always craving it and eating lots of it. I just had some for breakfast with my eggs. Chloe ended up eating six of them. She calls them "exparagus" and chews on them like they are candy sticks. Ever noticed how it makes your pee stink? Now that I eat so much it is really obvious. And it only takes a couple of minutes to start the stink. Not pretty but interesting just the same.
I am leaving to go to a neighbouring city to watch Ken play ball. I stood up and said "NO!" I won't go away for another ball tournament weekend. Then I broke down and planned a day trip with one of the other wives. She is my new friend.
Ken and I first got together at this very ball tournament last year. Maybe that is why I am going as well. I am sucker for romance. Well, not really, but it will be kind of neat to sit in the same beer gardens.
I am so lucky to have met him. It amazes me every day that we are together. Sigh.......
Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002I just had a pop-up for a "distance learning master's degree".......
I am back. It was fun.
I had cocktail hour with Ken's parent's, bad idea.
It has been exactly one year today since Ken and I met. How did I get from there to here? I'm not sure but I like it. He is such an amazing man.
More later....we're going out for dinner and I need to get pretty.
Sunday, Aug. 25, 2002I am going away to the lake tomorrow. We are going to tow our 1979 Partridge Family trailor to the lake and vacation there. I'll be back on Thursday....
Saturday, Aug. 24, 2002Yeesh it is freakin' hot out today. Let me just check my handy thermometer..................37 degrees. That is almost 99 for you Americans. And that is hot in my world.
I just bought corn on the cob from my neighbour. I love living here! The people across the road from me live on a small ranch. The have a whole bunch of sheep and a couple horses and a lot of trees and veggies growing. It is strange, being a city dweller all my life, to go across the street to buy corn. It is so fresh he went in his back yard to pick it for me while I waited.
And I am in love with a rooster. He must be a little ways away from us but I hear him "COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO" every day. I love it. Always around 10 in the morning. He's a late riser maybe that is part of the appeal. I guess it's more of an "ER-ER-ER-ER-EERRRRRRRR" but anyways.
Have a cockadoodle day!
Saturday, Aug. 24, 2002The kids have gone to a friend's house for a play date. For. Two. Hours. I think I shall get to lay in bed and read my book afterall. Or maybe I'll give myself acupuncture first.
Saturday, Aug. 24, 2002I just want to lay in bed and read my book all day long. But Kenny has a ball tournament and we have all three kids this weekedn. And we are having a bbq party for the team tonight. I must scrub toilets and make potato salad.
I want to be lazy and cozy.
Smallest step-son is 4. He has not taken a poo since last Sunday. That is six days with no poo. He is taking a raspberry flavoured laxative jelly. Still nothing. Gross yet interesting...no? The poor little guy has a horrible stomachache.
Back to work I go.
Friday, Aug. 23, 2002People are so nice about my kid! I always take her being pretty as a back-handed compliment because people always tell me that we look very, very, very similar. It is all about me right? She is getting big. She is five now, acting 15. She starts kindergarten in just over a week. I can't believe it.
FRIDAY FIVE: 1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I am apprenticing to become an acupuncturist and later a Traditional Chinese Practioner or Doctor. It is what I choose to be doing in my life right now but it is very difficult. I was a server for years and years. Sometimes I wish I could have been satissfied doing that.
2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
I would be the person who makes up the names for lipsticks and nail polishes. Or I would write novels and short stories.
3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
My Dad is a sales rep. He worked for Levi's for years but has gone into bathing suits and sunglasses and women's apparel and back packs. Lots of it is Nike. It is nice to have connections for cheap stuff. I get a free bathing suit every year.
My Mom is a district supervisor for a Child Protection team. In other words she is the boss for some social workers. She has done this work for a long time and I think it has been great for me but also bad because she sees a lot of crappy things all day long and gets a little paranoid. She always thinks someone is going to kidnap Chloe. I am careful with her but I can't live my life in a constant paranoid protective state.
My sister became a social worker too. I'm not sure why after she watched Mom all these years. So much stress and sadness for so little reward. My Mom always says that if she makes one child's life better then that is all the reward from her whole career she needs.
4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
I had my daughter before I started college or university. It defenitely makes it harder and I would have rather studied first and had a child second but that isn't the way it worked for me. Having a family defenitely puts limitations on what type of doctor I will be. I just won't be able to work immensely long days. I refuse to do it.
5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
The easiest job in the world is doing whatever makes you shine. Going to work each day to do something you love is not really like work at all, to me. The hardest job would be one that you hate and are bitter about. No one needs to spend 40 hours a week doing something and hating it at the same time. That is just unhealthy. I think everyone gets burnt out sometimes. It is all about finding the balance. You have to find a balance becasue people work way to hard in our society.
Thursday, Aug. 22, 2002To see a couple of photos click on "general (0)" on the left there when you get to the site. Nothing too excting really. I haven't figured out my digital camera yet. I still don't have instructions in English. So these are just a couple of the ones that my Dad has emailed to me from his digital.
Thursday, Aug. 22, 2002I just walked Chloe to her daycare. It is hot out there. I am sweaty.
She is going for a sleepover at her stepbrother's Mom's house tonight. That would be Ken's exwife's house. Is that weird? It seems so normal here but so weird. What does she say when people ask who Chloe is. "It's my exhusband's fiance's daughter."
So great for the kids though. I'm so glad there is little or no animosity in our whole situation here.
Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002The stealers got some of my neighbour's stereos as well. I wish they just took my whole car so I could get a new one.
Things are wacky right now. There is much going on.
Oh, and Kenny got axle grease right on the front of our new loveseat. He is beating himself up about it. As he should be. Does he know what that cost? Oh, right, I suppose he does.
Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002Phewf. They didn't steal my Chicago double cd set. It is new and I would have been mad. Come to think of it they didn't steal my Ani Difranco or Jann Arden or Kenny Chesney or any of my scratched up ones that I burned or even Chloe's Josie and the Pussycats. Good thing I have horrible taste in Music.
They did, however, totally screw up my heat controls. They pulled the cover off and now it is all crooked, with no knobs. How will I know which one is heat and which one is vent and stuff. Winter is setting in...........
Dumb stealers.
Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2002Shit, I just lost a whole entry. All because it was set on type-over. You know when you try to edit and it goes over stuff instead of inserting. That makes it very hard to edit. It was a longy too.
Our vehicles were ran-sacked last night. Chloe says they should pick on a house their own size. They took Ken's wallet and cell phone. They tried to steal my stereo but couldn't get it out.
It is funny to see the different reactions. Having grown up in Vancouver and Victoria I think oh, well, that sucks. But Ken calls the police and the whole bit. It's nice to know that this doesn't happen very often around here.
Beth had a major reaction to my entry about her yesterday. At this point I would like to defend myself but I will let hurtful words go. I do realize that the one unfair thing I did was link to her diary. I should not have done that. Sometimes things are difficult to communicate in type because you can't convey tone of voice. Or there is no body language. I was not speaking ill of her in any way. I was just speaking my truth. I suppose she sees what she needs to in it. I apologized for upsetting her but not for what I said. If she doesn't want it that is all I can do.
b (Chloe wanted to put in a "b")
The people that bought Ken's parent's house are my friend Liz's parent's. They dropped off a big bag of tomatoes that had been planted before they bought. Yum. I love garden tomatoes.
So, thanx for calling and have a great day.
cvssbdbnjbewj menen (chloe again....)
Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002Oh Goodness.
I just had a bath and while shaving my legs I noticed I had sore knees. I actually have rug-burn from my organizing fetish. I guess I have been scooting around on the floor while organizing toys. Scooting on the floor a little too much.
That will be cute if it scabs over.
Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002Phewf.
I have done masses of organizing in my house the last two days. I've put in about 6 or 7 hours a day. I am so sore that it feels like I went to the gym. But I am glad because now I have an organized house. Ahhhh, organization.
So now I am going to have a hot bath. Maybe do some scrapbooking and go to bed. I have a long day of cleaning and organizing tomorrow.
