I giiiiiive uuuuuuuppppppp :(

Another one of those tax-related worries. For part of the year last year, I mentioned that I was considered self-employed or I was supposed to get some business number otherwise. I didn't register a number and now my taxes are a million times more complicated, including filling out another separate form for a reason absolutely escaping me.

I spent the weekend with Jorgh ripping our hair out over these forms, and tomorrow we're heading to H&R Block and hope to GOD that someone out there will do this for us.

How many :(:(:(:(:('s ? LOTS.

I haven't posted in a while due to general lethargy and/or Puzzle Pirates addiction. Seriously, I think playing as a Playmobil character pretending to be a pirate is awesome, among a bunch of SA goons, to boot.

Anyway, I wanted to report on our most recent outings. Yesterday we went to the Daily Grill, a casual diner style restaurant that would probably more than satiate any person hungry for a plate bigger than their heads. We made the mistake of ordering too much; for some reason, wings as appetizers are a whole meal in itself and comes with fries and this odd cheese dipping sauce... why would you need a super thick dipping sauce for wings already drenched in the most powerful vinegary barbecue sauce ever? Jorghnassen managed to finish off the veal schnitzel, while I barely made a dent in the souvlaki meal. And then I had a hard time getting up.

Last Tuesday, I ordered Gordon Ramsay's new book, Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food, from Chapters/Indigo online. He was also going to be in Burlington today for a book signing from 3 pm to 5 pm, and then Toronto tomorrow at 7pm. Unfortunately, I didn't have the book by Friday, so we bought the book from the local Chapters as well. So I have two receipts of two exact copies of the book.

Being one who takes advantage of any travelling experience, I dragged Jorghnassen out to Burlington today at 1pm, taking a lot of scenic turns (thanks to our misguided GPS).

Scenic route through the outskirts of Hamilton (yes, Hamilton, the city we said we'd never visit again).

We pulled up next to the Indigo, and I let out a "OMFG!" A whole pile of people were wrapped around the building, lining up on the sidewalk.

The store said they had run out of bracelets about an hour after opening at 11 am. They also said we could wait in the outside line because there were three indoor lines already.

So we waited.

Waited.

Waited.

Waited.

Wai- WHAT it's 4:45 p.m. and he's GONE!?

:(

Tomorrow I'm returning both copies of the book I bought. (Yeah, that'll show him!)

Ms C is tired :(

It snowed during the weekend. (Yeah, no kidding.) The entire region is literally wheeling like mad to get out of the mess. However, I've had no problems with the Rav4. (Except for the door lock mess.) It's driven through piles and piles of snow and I am still in one piece.

The first priority a few weeks ago was to fix the giant meter-long potholes that the city is legally required to fill up. Now the first priority is to dig out everyone from their snow packed mess. Then the second priority should be to fill in the giant meter-long potholes the city now has to refill, along with all the new ones.

Thousands of giant potholes. I'm sure people from Montreal would love getting their 50$ times a thousand.

Jorghnassen and I have been making lots of different bread things with the breadmaker. Some have been ugly as hell, while others have come out relatively eye-pleasing. However, there still lacks a certain Montreal bakery charm that these delightful homemade loaves can't seem to recreate. Nevertheless, we've had a ton of stuff so far and now we've already reached the bottom of the 10kg of flour. @_@

Anyway, whoever wants to come visit can now be treated to pizza, boules, and other random things coming out of the dough setting, as well as the weird bread mixes that we create...!

Weekend in TO

Jorghnassen posed for a shot, dedicated to both Ms. Rachel, and my cousins at the same time. ;)

Jorgh also posed for another shot that is reminiscent of another one from England:

Contrast to this:


We also were treated to some Chinese New Year supper, courtesy of my cousins.


The trip could not be rounded off without a visit to get some asian provisions. This time Jorghnassen visited the infamous Chinese malls in Markham. This particular moment was pure *triumph.*

Notice that I didn't have to run over *anyone* to park that close to the building.

How do you get clean windshields?

0 - buy windshield wiper fluid
1 - throw out screwed up windshield wipers
2 - buy new windshield wipers from Canadian Tire Parts Source.
3 - start singing "Joy to the World" when the new wipers clean anew the windows.

A year ago when we got the Rav4 from Jorghnassen's father, everything was great. We got the car in great condition, despite its 10 years on the road, the snow tires are nice, and it is a great drive. I even got used to sitting high up, even though it can still sometimes unnerve me if I think too much about it. We had all sorts of work done on it to get it driving on the Ontario roads, like e-testing and safety certificates. I learned a lot about cars, and I still have much more to learn. (Like how to check/change the oil...)

The one thing that I learned the hard way is that you don't mess with the blades. I somehow managed to ruin all three blades over the year.

I changed the driver side from winter to summer last year, but then the other ones wouldn't budge. They were stuck, and no amount of yelling would get them off, but I convinced myself, "Whatever, they still wipe. What's the difference!?"

Sometime in the middle of the year, the passenger side wiper became warped from, oh I don't know, the summer heat? I didn't know they could do that...!

Fast forward to winter this year, the one summer wiper wouldn't budge either. The back wiper blade also became frozen to the windshield one day, and I pulled it too hard so the middle came loosened and never wiped properly again. So I was stuck with the summer blade through the snowstorm during the new year to get back from Chicoutimi to Waterloo. Yeah, you know. That one. I'm amazed we actually survived!

I got sick of all this mess yesterday, while driving to school and trying furiously to look out any of the windows. They were so dirty that I almost had to get out to spit snow wash the windows just to see outside.

When I approached the people at Parts Source, I was afraid to look like a clueless, idiot girl who ruined the windshield wipers of her partner's car (...). Fortunately, they were really, really friendly. They had a database of all the models of cars, and found exactly the right parts that were needed. One of the salesservice people even installed them - however, not without a lot of struggling. They were *stuck*.

"See the hook?" Uh huh. The completely paint-peeled bare and rusty hook. That damned thing clutched the bane of my existence since I started driving the Rav4. "I'm thinking it's because of all the rust buildup that they got stuck. But now you're good!" She grinned, probably with a sense of satisfaction after struggling with the damn thing for about 15 minutes. The new ones are designed to be much, much easier to remove. Hooray!

... And yes, I started singing when the wipers finally removed all the crap.

LOST *ambiguous smiley*

I admit, the episode tonight was not too bad, but I'm STILL mad they offed Charlie, and I'm still seething over Mr Eko. The only redeeming character in the show left is Hurley/Hugo, and maybe the super creepy Benjamin. And maybe Danielle. Ugh, too many characters to follow. Actually, they can all go down the crapper. Except Hurley. Just let Hurley go home.

Speaking of which, Jorge Garcia has a blog. On Blogger, no less!

It's another year...

and I have yet another group of newbies in the school. In fact, there's been a lot of things that have changed in the school besides the newbies.

For one thing, the principal "is no longer with the school."

I don't think I have the right emoticon to express this... except maybe @_@

Needless to say, it's been a little crazy over the last two weeks at school. We've all noticed the kids getting uncharacteristically undisciplined. They're great kids, but only under the right conditions!

Jorghnassen has a really brief mention of his trip to Ottawa... and there may be more mention of this in the near future!

I hope to help promote this school next Saturday at its Open House, but it all depends what they're planning to do. At least they promised a "light lunch."