Music returns to the Embracing the Lifestyle House

After a conspicuous absence, the sound of the Flute has returned to our abode. It has been a long while since I have heard Jenn playing for fun (since long before the recital) but now that she is into her teaching practicum, or the music portion thereof, she has returned to filling my life with music, free of charge. I, for my part, spend my waking hours getting people divorced in order to ensure that someday, when I have paid off my student loans and we are settled into a secure middle class lifestyle, that I can buy Jenn the solid gold flute of her dreams. There you have it - an excellent goal. Hopefully Jenn's goal is to pay off her student loans and be able to buy me the sports car I have always wanted. We can always hope.

In other matters, I have determined that the best word to describe the look that Koda gives me, and has given me since he was 8 weeks old, is "insolent".

Click-Click-Bloody-Click Pancakes

Tuesday was, as many of you know, Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras, or, in the English tradition, Pancake Tuesday. To celebrate, we, as youth sponsors, spent the whole evening putting on a pancake supper at the church as a fundraiser for the kids. We served up pancakes, bacon, hash browns, eggs, decaf coffee (evening, eh?) juice, and a silent auction that couldn't be beat. 16 pounds of bacon, 2 giant costco sized sacks of pancake mix, 2 gallons of syrup, 5 dozen eggs, and a giant sack of hash browns, and we went through it all. We had extra pancake mix, but the eggs and potatos were gone in minutes. Now we know what we need to get more of for next year, and what we could use less of.

What really rocked was the amount of money we raised for the kids, which was beyond expecations. What didn't rock as much was having to spend so long frying 16 pounds of bacon. When I got home my cats really loved me until I took a shower and didn't smell so much like bacon.

At work, I am finally catching up to the massive backlog of work I had to do, which is nice. My desk no longer looks quite like it was hit by a paper bomb. If I keep up at this rate, I will be able to maybe take care of the layer of phone messages and hand-written notes to myself that has congealed under the files. I might even be able to get some rainy day work done.

We can always hope.

Anyway, I managed to settle one nightmare file, and my new nightmare client just fired me after a little more than three weeks. Good luck to the lawyer on the other side who will be facing an unrepresented litigant who wants to make a point and doesn't seem to care if she gets a good deal or not.

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed early to try to catch up on my overdue sleep.

Almost Done... So Close, yet so far....

Well, I have officially finished my last class in my undergrad career. I have unfortunately been incredibly disappointed by the course and the instructor. The instructor has been incredibly oppinionated and aloof, and really hasn't taught me anything. It's like he thinks he's the Pope and he thinks we should just take everything he says as the Gospel Truth. Well, I don't think so I am afraid. I have had a lot of exposure to the "School Band World" and I know that I don't have to take what he says as the be all end all, I just feel bad for my classmates who don't know as much about band and will take what he says as the be all end all. Ugh. Well, it over. I don't have to do anymore of his waste of time assignments, or answer anymore of his unrealistic, hypothetical questions, not like he ever left us anytime to answer any how, he mostly talked the whole class and NEVER, EVER, EVER let anyone else say anything. Egotistical jerk. Anyhow, I digress and aware that I am ranting and you, the reader, probably don't care.

I still have a paper and a project to do and hand in tomorrow, and then I am completely done with my classes at the University. I still have to teach my 9 week practicum, but I am looking forward to it, I think it will be a lot of fun.

My birthday:

For my birthday (or rather the weekend immediately after my birthday) I get the best present anyone could ask for. My wife is flying to Winnipeg to chaperone a youth conference, while I get to stay home and eat Macaroni and Cheese by myself. As an extra bonus, I also get to drop her off at the Airport and pick her up when she gets back. I, on the other hand, will not be going anywhere, as I have too much work to do. I will continue to have the companionship of my fluffy friends, to the extent that they will spend time with me. If anyone is reading this who wants to stave off boredom and lonliness on the weekend of March 9, let me know, because otherwise, it is going to suck.

Also, a big, "get well soon" goes out to our friend who is in hospital with her appendix, or rather, without it. You sure missed out on a good supper by being in the hospital, and now you get nothing to eat but industrial jell-o... Muahahahahahahaha

The death of Lucy

Lucy started acting funny a few days ago. The readouts on the climate control and the fuel information centre stopped reading out about half the time. The diagnosis from Deol Auto: BCM failure. Part: $400. Labour: $400. Oh, and the shocks and struts are going to need to go as well. Plus there's some kind of mysterious problem in the electrical harness. Then on thursday morning, the car died completely and wou;dn't take a jump. No power. the whole electrical system apparently dead from terminal. age and general bad design and workmanship. Total cost to get this vehicle running for another month: $4000 and up.

Tax Receipt from the Alberta Cancer Foundation: $50.

All the money we had set aside for furniture at the new house and all of our tax return money for the year: 2001 Hyundai Sonata with a quarter million fewer kilometers than Lucy.

The problem with the kind of car you can afford to buy when you are broke is that it costs more in the long run than the kind of car you buy when you are mostly not broke. Now, of course, we are broke again, but at least we have enough transportation to get me to work and Jenn to school (in St. Albert). On the up side, this car uses about half the gas, so over the course of a month, I am saving about $100 on gas, which helps. Hopefully these vehicles will carry us far enough that we can be in a much healthier financial position the next time we are looking for transportation on short notice. Or perhaps, might I even dare to dream, that the next time we buy a vehicle we would still have a running vehicle to trade in. What must it be like to _want_ to buy a car instead of needing to buy one...that day.