Christmas Eve, of course.

So Monday morning I woke up to find a ladder with a bucket on it set up just inside my Dad’s doorway, seems the roof started to leak in the night. I’m a jinx!

Anyway, the weather’s been insane, snowing furiously and then melting down and then snowing again, so there’s a lot of water around the house. So of course, the leak in the roof wasn’t enough - tonight we had a leak in the basement! Not just any leak, no - the pipe leading from the sump pump sprung a leak, but it’s behind a wall so Dad couldn’t get at it! The water was about a half inch deep in one spot in the basement!

Mum and I spend about an hour and a half mopping while Dad crawled around trying to redirect the pipe, and then I crawled into the space with him and held down the trigger on the pump while he finished with the piping - it looked like a war zone, complete with trench warfare.

Another half hour or so of that and we finally had it going out the window, not ideal but good enough in a pinch. I ache all over now, and Dad was in there way longer than I was!

Christmas Eve indeed.

Finally home for the holidays

Well the past week has been insane, making sure I had everything ready to be packed, presents all wrapped, getting stuff at work ready for my absence. My brother came over and I gave him presents for my niece and my great-niece, and it was nice ’cos I don’t see him very often these days.

The weather over the past week of course has been INSANE, really really cold and snowing like crazy, it seems like it never stops snowing. The boy dropped me off at the train station this morning super early, the train was 40 minutes late leaving the station because of the snow - but once we left the station the weather was lovely, Dad picked me up and drove me home and then the nasty weather started again, talk about timing! You’d have thought I’d planned it that way.

So I’m here now, life is good. Xmas shopping is all done - and now I’m off to bed!

Good to be back...

So I’ve been having trouble with my internet provider lately.

I have two email addresses through them, and I have them feed into my Mac Mail program, but lately one of them hasn’t been letting me log in, and I talked to them about it on Friday - but this morning I wasn’t able to access either of them, and going online didn’t help either.

So I called them as soon as I got home from work, about 6:30, thinking we’d be about a half an hour. What I ended up with was a very sore ear, and I missed most of Big Bang Theory, but in the end I got my emails both back up and running, a permanent monthly $5 reduction on my bill, a doubling of my access speed and a promise of a new modem! Turns out it was worth it.

Anyway, this weekend the boy and I went to two parties, and we had a great time at both. The traffic coming home from the first one was terrible - I’ve never seen someone try to back up in the middle of a traffic jam on the highway in front of a cop before!

I still want to switch providers, but everyone’s the same. Bah. Grumble.

I shouldn’t complain though. I’m online again, yay!

What, another Facebook game? Questions!

1. Put your iPod (or media player) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN, NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
___________

My answers (some are eerie)...

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
April Skies (Jesus & Mary Chain)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Run On (Moby) - gee, thanks guys...

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Nature Boy (David J) - *snort*

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
The Carpet Crawlers (Genesis) - well, I did drink lastnight...

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
I Don't Remember (Peter Gabriel) - see, that's my problem

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Suits (Gresham Flyers)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
What Was Going Through My Head (Grapes of Wrath) - wow, that's kinda negative!

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
The Order Of Death (Public Image Limited)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
How We Know (The Thermals)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Ain't Misbehavin' (Leon Redbone)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Single Girl (Lush) - so, alone then?

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Get Up And Go (The Rutles)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
6th Avenue Heartache (The Wallflowers)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Does Everyone Stare (The Police) - well, I am sensitive...

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Slow Hands (Interpol)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
No New Tale To Tell (Love & Rockets)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Adam Lay Ibounden (Mediaeval Baebes)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
World Shut Your Mouth (Julian Cope) - haha! I swear it's not true!

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Golden Years (David Bowie)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Eighties Fan (Camera Obscura)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
What Do I Know? (Saga) - *snort*

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Candy (Cameo) - I am kinda sweet to them...

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
I Know There's Something Going On (Frida) - hrm, lack of privacy...

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Frame By Frame (King Crimson)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
XTC vs. Adam Ant (They Might Be Giants)

(thanks Martin!)

Another facebook post: music

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 50 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Bold Strike out the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post it!
____

and my list - with instrumental, duplicate and spoken word entries edited out...

1. Talk to me, you never talk to me...
2. The general scratches his belly and thinks...
3. Eftur með gaddavír í kjaftinum sem blæðir mig...
4. The smart money’s on harlow and the moon is in the street...
5. Get ‘em out by friday, you don’t get paid ‘til the last one’s well on its way...
6. No brakes this time, i slit the line...
7. Where has that smile on your face gone? You laughed...
8. I’m so tired, of playing, playing with this bow and arrow...
9. My old desk does an arabesque in the mornings when I first rise
10. Stronger than reason, stronger than lies, the only truth i know...

11. Power is as power does, and everybody wants to feel that buzz...
12. See my life (i’ve been so tired), see myself (i’ve been uptight)...
13. My uncle has a country place, that no one knows about...
14. Blackbird singing in the dead of night...
15. O superman, o judge, o mom and dad...
16. Gazed into the visions of the night, seen the darkness fall...
17. I don’t want to work away, doing just what they all say...
18. Coming off the moon with my lady luck in haste...
19. Caution, to prevent electric shock do not remove cover, no user serviceable parts inside...
20. Les sanglots longs des violons, de l’automne...

21. Hey there little man, get out of my frying pan...
22. The time for talking’s over now, I guess it’s time to let you go...
23. You cannot go against nature, because when you do go against nature, it’s part of nature too...
24. Every day she wakes up, her life will be a movie...
25. So this ain’t the end, i saw you again today, i had to turn my heart away...
26. With the money from her accident she bought herself a mobile home...
27. Can i touch you to see if you’re real, ‘cos in nothing there’s something i feel...
28. Adam lay ibounden, bounden in a bond, foure thousand winter thought he not too long...
29. You can tell me anything, you are a true exception in my life...
30. Feeling so innocent, despite this room of jaded overtones...

31. Tu pourras faire c’que tu veux quand du n’s’ras plus un morveux...
32. I define my heart and soul in all these little things...
33. Joseph was traveling with a heavy load, his dreams were broken and deep sorrow flowed from his brow...
34. We ain’t going to the town, we’re going to the city...
35. Three wasted years standing still as you opened up, 18 miles wide on this country drive...
36. I know you know what you know but you should know by now that you’re not me...
37. The spark in his eye was a sign he was alive, i cleaned his feet to be complete...
38. Hello, I’m the guy who sits next to you and reads the newspaper over your shoulder...
39. So i ran faster, but you caught me here, yes my loyalties turned like my ankle in the seventh grade...
40. Cold and alone in the vinyard he lies...

41. And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack...
42. Day by day, the welcome blow of yesterdays and no tomorrow...
43. One person calls someone to pour the water, because it takes two to pour the water...
44. As i glanced once upon the foam forty feet beneath my feet...
45. One day you feel quite stable, the next you’re coming off the wall...
46. Look at the way they’re walking, all these people around are givin’ me looks...
47. Gozen jyuu-ji, sukoshi sugi bathtub ni hitoribotchi, mada kyou wa nani hitotsu yotei wa nai kedo...
48. No sense, no style, i said i loved you for a little while...
49. They tried to make me go to rehab, i said no no no...
50. Pushing all the buttons, trying to come to something, flying with his feet on the ground...

(thanks for the quiz Erin!)

I’m dreaming of a Brown Christmas

I seem to have improved through the week, so my day off was well spent this time - I went to the One Of A Kind show (missed last year’s so this was good) and got a few people crossed of my shopping list for this year. I also got some really nice beads, some of which got added to the bracelet and necklace I made for my friends L&N (and forgot to take a photo, damn, I’d better ask them for one...) and the best Cranberry Pudding ever, mmm...

So yesterday was the annual Brown family get-together, which was just as much fun as always, and we all were silly and played Rock Band and Twister! Presents were given, yummy food was eaten, friends were hugged, drinks were imbibed, games were played, and we played curling with BamBam *grin* - a great evening!

More photos are on Flickr...