The cold weather has arrived…the temperatures went from -3 degrees on Friday to -24 on Saturday, -27 on Sunday and the week looks like it will have similar weather every day. The nights are really cold -34 degrees plus wind-chill of -44. So I can now say that this is the coldest that I have ever seen or experienced and I’m not sure what to think about it. Yes it’s cold, and I hate it, but that’s mainly because I don’t have the proper clothing for this type of weather. I told myself that I will invest some money into a nice warm jacket to keep me warm thought this winter. Yesterday Andrew and I took a walk downtown on the way to Church and by the end of the walk, my eyelashes were beginning to get stuck together… that’s because ice formed on them….I took a picture of Andrew on Saturday at -27 degrees when he was shoveling the snow… he looked funny.
Apart from that … my car’s oil is not cooperating with the cold weather, so I can’t drive anywhere… all the cars have to be plugged in for many hours before you decide to leave… and shopping is interesting too. There are plug in spots for cars to keep them warm but they are typically away from the entrance. Another strange sight I have noticed is that people simply don’t turn off their cars when they go shopping. We drove to Wal-Mart and Costco, and larger trucks, and other smaller vehicles just left their cars running while they shopped. I can’t imagine them being in the stores for too long, but you never get to see that in Toronto.
Since we moved to the new house I decided that I will put up some pictures of all my nieces and nephews, because although I get to see some of them on my monthly visits, I still miss them a lot! So I bought some frames from the dollar store and Andrew was kind enough to glue them in packs of five. It actually turned out alright… I call it my “Wall of Home away from Home”
And lastly, I begun cooking for Christmas already... these are my cabbage rolls… I will have to see how they taste on Christmas Eve.. but I think they turned out ok.
Yup that's me... I have been so busy over the past two months, that I have not had the time to write or ad any entries. I have been back to Toronto twice now, and between traveling and working and school, I have been very busy. I actually wrote my final exam on the 6th, so I am school free for the next 3 weeks or so :). My trips to Toronto seem very fast paced; the time I spend there seems to fly by very quickly, but I still have good time. Work is busy and seeing my family and friends takes up the rest of the time. I am very grateful I get to come down to see my nieces and nephews grow up... because they do grow up quickly. I think I would go crazy if I was stuck in here without seeing them once in a while. I should not say "stuck in here" either... because it was my choice to move here.... :) Soo after my return from Toronto the first time, sometime in early November, we moved into a new house on the south side of the city. It's a fairly new neighborhood with very few homes. We've been here almost a month now and we finally managed to get our place furnished enough so it looks ok. I had to buy a new desk for my office and we bought a kitchen table which I love the most, mainly because I found it on Kijiji, and it only costs us $100, and it fits in soo well.
Other than that, I have not had too much time to explore the city, just occasional shopping for Christmas and just to get out of the house. It's getting darker earlier in here now, and the days are getting very short. The sun does not come up until past 9am and goes down before 5pm. The temperatures have been alright keeping at below -10, but this week it's looking like it will be very cold, -18 the average, and the weekend -22 and -24. Brrrr... I think I will stay at home during those days. I am planning to do some more sewing in the free time I have now that school is over for the semester. I already have some ideas, and there are some stores I would like to see. I will post my newest creations soon.
I have been really bad at updating this site, but mainly the reasons were because I was extremely busy. I finally made the big move to Saskatoon. I arrived here on October 5th, after almost 3 days of driving. My poor car made it here alive, without any problems, but a week after someone backed into the driver door at a mall, and now my car is very broken...to get inside you have to go though the passenger door, which is not fun. My car will probably be fixed sometime before the month end, so I am not worried about that...plus it was not my fault.
Anyhow, the move to Saskatoon was not too bad. The drive though Ontario was beautiful this time of year with fall colours being at its fullest. Manitoba and Saskatchewan were not too exciting, but still nice. During the first week, I had to set up my home office, since I work from home now. I must say that it’s definitely different working from home. I definitely love the fact that I just get up, make breakfast, and start working... (sometimes in my pajamas) but I am lacking on space. Andrew and I, we're squished into one room, where we sleep, I work, and he has his computer. We are thinking of finding a new place to live already. A 3 bedroom would be adequate with our roommate. The current place I live in is nice as well. It's cozy and it's already furnished, thanks to our roommate who lived here for some time now. The city is also cute and small. I pretty much know now where things are, but I am planning to mark out on a map where the malls are and other places such as Chapters, so at least I can get out the house for couple of hours after work. Andrew does not feel too eager to go shopping with me :) I don't seem to know why?
I don't know when I'll be coming back to Toronto, but I’m hoping soon. As my work agreement outlines, I am to travel back to Toronto for one week every month, but unfortunately the timing is not up to me so I never know.
Anywasy, I have to go and study now for a mid-term exam next week.
Finally the day has arrived. My braces came off today!!! Yippee!!!! As always I was very nervous before my appointment because of the pain I had to endure during my previous appointments. I was so nervous that I could not even get excited about my braces coming off; also I didn’t want to get too excited in case that my doctor decided to hold off for 6 more weeks. I heard that happens often. I simply cannot believe they are finally off. When the treatment started on February 14th 2007, the original date that I was given for the treatment was one year. The treatment has been prolonged to a day shy of one year and a half. Overall I am impressed with the results and I cannot stop smiling. It is nice to feel smooth teeth again, and there is soo much more room in my mouth now. Feels great! I had two permanent retainers placed at the back of my top and the bottom teeth to hold the teeth in place; they are glued in there forever. On Saturday I will be picking up my night retainer; should be interesting to see how I’ll get used to that.
My braces are scheduled to come off on August 13th. I cannot wait. IT has been 16 months since I’ve been wearing them and every day has been a struggle. I was told that I will have two permanent retainers; one on top and one on the bottom, and then another night time retainer. I hope the procedure of taking them off will be less painful than the adjustment appointments. I simply hated the visits to the orthodontist. I would take an Advil or two before any adjustment just to calm myself down. Now I’m extremely happy and counting down the days until my braces come off. 37 days to go.
16 month update photo.
Tomorrow at work we are having a potluck. All the ladies in the company are organizing it and we all decided to make a dish for our hard working men. I volunteered to make a Leek and Pineapple salad. I had it once at Andrew’s house and I loved it, so I got the recipe from Andrew’s mom. The recipe was quite simple, 2-3 leeks, half a pineapple, mayo, and salt and pepper. I made a try run on Saturday just to see if I can make it, and it turned out alright. Today when I begun making the salad, my precious mother suggested running the leeks over hot water to get rid of the sometimes overpowering onion smell. So that is just what I did. I ran the hot water over them, but soon after I realized that the leeks shrunk to half its size. What was supposed to be a salad for 20 people, the finished product looked like it could only feed maybe…4…. I didn’t know what to do, so my brother and my mom started adding anything they could find in the kitchen to make it look like there is more salad. First went the corn, then green beans, followed by red peppers, slices apples, and a handful of raisins. Needles to say it turned out to taste actually aright; to my surprise. We decorated it and here are some photos of my mystery salad.
It has been extremely busy over the last week. To start off last Saturday, June 14, Andrew and I drove to Tobermory where we rented a boat, and amongst the beautiful escarpment shores he proposed…and I said YES! I must say that I have never cried, laughed, and smiled at the same time. It was wonderful and I still giggle when I look down on my hand at the sight of the beautiful ring he got me. When we got home the next day, we were met by my family who all knew about the news; because I called my mom right after it happened from the boat. The week was also very eventful between telling everyone of the news at work and announcing it to Andrews’s family on Wednesday. His immediate family knew of the engagement, but not his aunts/uncles and cousins. I don’t think you can ever prepare yourself for the amount of attention engagement can generate… I’m not too big in having attention around me, so this was somewhat making me nervous, but I survived. Here are some photos from our engagement day.
On another note, this weekend Andrew is moving to Saskatoon to start his new job. We are driving up there with all his belongings this weekend. It’s a 3000km drive and we are planning to do it in three days. I’m excited to see the northern Ontario again, and to see the shores of Lake Superior, but I am sad because that means that we have to separate for some time. I’m planning to come back home July 1st, so this gives me some time away from work which is much needed. I will post after I come back.