achoo!

i picked up a cold sometime last week. in previous years, i have been pretty good about avoiding the dreaded september sickness despite working in a cesspool of bacteria and germs. not this year.

i normally sneeze in twos. but not anymore...thanks to my cold, i have started sneezing in rows of six or sometimes even eight. i hope this doesn't last...sneezing twice is fine, and only mildly interrupts what i'm doing at the time, but sneezing eight times in a row is quite debilitating!

re: a change is gonna come

i like the immediate symmetery...how the interns-turned-residents used bailey's first day speech, but how they couldn't really pull it off. cristina was close though.

lexie. i don't like this whole lexie storyline, but i was happy to see it hasn't turned into another mer/der/other woman triangle (yet? please no). the worst part was when meredith is carting in a pregnant woman with one arm, and lexie decides to stop the gurney to introduce herself. and meredith does nothing but stare at her.

my favourite bailey-isms in this episode were "you and grey aren't smelling each other in the elevator" and in response to the chief wanting to talk: "ok. how's your wife?" ha!

the pun! talking about change and the bagful of change. love it!

the ending pulled it all together. it makes sense now that meredith can't have a "relationship" but can still be with mcdreamy...that the expectations of being in a relationship weighed her down, especially now that cristina and burke didn't work out...brilliant.

now for my shallow observations:

the jury is still out with mcdreamy's haircut...it seems a little too short, and when they flashed back to the wedding, his hair did look rather nice.

cristina + french braids = so very strange.

not seeing izzie for months has made it painfully obvious that she has crazy vampire teeth and why won't they file them down or something?

moving up

last week, i posted that we are moving, but i didn't know when or where. now i know answers to both questions. we found new townhomes that are being built just a little west of where we are now. they are beautiful. despite the fact that it's a townhome, and not a detached house, it's worth it because it has everything we love, except for a backyard. everything comes standard - granite countertops, hardwoord floors on the first floor, stainless steel appliances (which we opted for black appliances to get more upgrades, like hardwood on the second and third floors), jacuzzi tub, walk-in closet, two car garage...i could go on.

because it is still in the process of being built, we won't be able to move until march at the earliest - but we're told we will get more money for our condo if we wait until february, which is considered the spring market. we shall see.

after our experience with buying our condo new, we promised ourselves we would never buy new again. this builder is extremely reputable though (which our current builder is not - they were ranked below average by my friend j.d. power) and these homes are already well on their way to being built and finished. our agent says the builder is also well-known for top-quality homes that finish on time (i didn't think such a builder existed). also, we can apparently set the move-in date for may, but we just have to give 60 days' notice if we want to move in as early as march. which means we put our condo on the market in february and once that sells, give the builder notice and we can move in within 60 days. we shall see if this too holds true.

in the meantime, our agent saw our condo and said we would have to do very little to prepare for the open house, other than put away some personal documents and wash the windows. the hiding of personal documents should be easy...and we have until january to decide how we're going to go about washing the windows ourselves in the dead of winter...

welcome back, old friends!

the new fall season for tv is almost upon us...here is a list of all the season/series premieres, thanks to kristin. again, i have asterisked the ones of importance to me if you are looking for new/different shows to check out.

*counts asterisks*...wow, only 5 shows! good for me. although, i may also give gossip girl (on 9/19) a chance, just for kristin bell, aka veronica mars. honourable mentions go to two and a half men, america's next top model, kitchen nightmares and dexter (for you, dana! even though i still haven't seen season one...)

9/6
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Fox
Don't Forget the Lyrics, Fox

9/8
Cops, Fox
America's Most Wanted, Fox

9/9
Tell Me You Love Me, HBO
Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO

9/11
The Biggest Loser, NBC

9/13
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, FX

9/14
Nashville, Fox

9/17
*Prison Break, Fox
K-Ville, Fox
Deal or No Deal, NBC

9/18
Beauty and the Geek, the CW

9/19
America’s Next Top Model, the CW
Gossip Girl, the CW
Back to You, Fox
'Til Death, Fox
Kitchen Nightmares, Fox
Kid Nation, CBS

9/20
Survivor: China, CBS

9/23
Cold Case, CBS
Shark, CBS
The Simpsons, Fox
King of the Hill, Fox
Family Guy, Fox

9/24
Chuck, NBC
Journeyman, NBC
Heroes, NBC
The Bachelor, ABC
Dancing with the Stars, ABC
How I Met Your Mother, CBS
Two and a Half Men, CBS
Rules of Engagement , CBS
The Big Bang Theory, CBS
CSI: Miami, CBS

9/25
Reaper, the CW
Bones, Fox
House, Fox
Law & Order: SVU, NBC
NCIS, CBS
The Unit, CBS
Cane, CBS
Boston Legal, ABC

9/26
*Private Practice, ABC
Dirty Sexy Money, ABC
Criminal Minds, CBS
CSI: NY, CBS
Deal or No Deal, NBC
Bionic Woman, NBC
Life, NBC

9/27
Ugly Betty, ABC
*Grey’s Anatomy, ABC
Big Shots, ABC
Smallville, the CW
My Name Is Earl, NBC
*The Office, NBC
ER, NBC
CSI, CBS
Without a Trace, CBS

9/28
Las Vegas, NBC
Ghost Whisperer, CBS
Numb3rs, CBS
Moonlight, CBS

9/30
American Dad, Fox
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC
Desperate Housewives, ABC
Brothers & Sisters, ABC
Dexter, Showtime
Brotherhood, Showtime

10/1
Everybody Hates Chris, the CW
The Game, the CW
Girlfriends, the CW
Aliens in America, the CW

10/2
Cavemen, ABC
Carpoolers, ABC

10/3
Pushing Daisies, ABC

10/4
30 Rock, NBC
Supernatural, the CW
Law & Order: Criminal Intent, USA

10/5
*Friday Night Lights, NBC

10/7
Life Is Wild, the CW

10/12
Men in Trees, ABC
Women’s Murder Club, ABC

10/15
Samantha Who?, ABC

10/18
Viva Laughlin, CBS

10/25
Scrubs, NBC

10/30
Nip/Tuck, FX

11/27
Cashmere Mafia, ABC

so long, condo living...so long, surrounding idiots

it's a good thing kenji and shelley came to visit and see our condo last weekend...because we are going to move.

we don't know where, or when, but we are planning on putting the condo up for sale, for various reasons that i won't get into here.

we met with an agent this morning. she wisely told us to sell first, then look for something to buy so we know how much money we have to work with when shopping. which means our house will probably go on the market within the next couple weeks. which means the next couple of weeks will be busy - our time after work promises to be filled with seeing houses and appointments with our agent.

in the meantime, we have been to so many open houses, they are all running together in my head. if only we could take a bit from every house and blend it together for the perfect house...the kitchen from here, the backyard from there, the floors from here, the master bedroom from there...unfortunately house-hunting isn't as easy as copy-and-pasting. and i thought control + v was my answer to everything in life.

welcome to bland city! population: miko

i have noticed lately that my taste buds are starting to change. i used to love salt and nothing was too salty for me.

recently however, i have noticed that the excessive saltiness now bothers me. i may need to actually buy the reduced salt soy sauce that i always vehemently avoided in the past. and maybe next time i'll opt for the soda crackers without salted tops?? that's just crazy talk! what would one call a saltine if it had no sprinkle of salt to lick off before eating said saltine? it's like an oreo without the white stuff in the middle.

if this is what being a grown-up is like, i'm not sure that i like it so much. although i'm sure my kidneys will thank me later.

superhero saturday

we had a nice visit with my brother and his family today. i always thought our condo wouldn't be very kid-friendly and actually thought about buying toys so my niece and nephew would have something to play with...but i didn't have to worry. my nephew enjoyed playing with our coasters - monica geller would be proud! we were graced with several puppet shows, using the armchair as the theatre:



the ottomans proved to be a big hit, allowing my niece and nephew to pretend they were flying:



they went as far as donning capes using blankets and towels. then superhero pinky and superhero brother were born!



kai kept calling kris "kristin" after their former babysitter, which was cute and funny.

the grown-ups got caught up on each others' lives...we got to see pictures from kenji and shelley's recent cruise and got some olive oil and pesto from italy! yay! and the clodhoppers that we got too are already gone...mmm, clodhoppers...

we feasted on what we knew our guests would like - potato chips, goldfish crackers, juice boxes and apple pie (the last item was for shelley)!

hopefully the next visit to the big city won't take 1.5 years to coordinate! although after the brutal traffic jam on the way here, who knows if they will want to brave the 403 again...

a fish called wanda

i met a fish today. i am no expert on fish, so i can't tell you what kind it was, but i can tell you that she was orange and big. and that i named her wanda.

wanda was the most playful fish. she would hide behind her seaweed and various other water-dwelling plants and then suddenly she would pop out! and i know it's difficult to make and decipher sudden movements in water, but her "popping out" motion was very definitive. then in her haste of trying to surprise me, she would bonk her fish lips on the side of the aquarium. she actually almost got stuck between a rock and some seaweed because she wedged herself in there to hide herself. once she dislodged herself, she chased my finger along the side of the aquarium and swam impressively fast to do so.

this fish was more fun than my cat sometimes. i thought about fish-napping it but figured scout would probably try to eat her, or at the very least, try to set wanda free by flushing her down the toilet so that we would pay attention to her again. so wanda will stay where she is. i look forward to visiting her again, the next time we go to the mechanic to get our car tuned up.

a strange feeling...

i was actually home before kris was today. and it's the first tuesday of the school year. normally i wouldn't get home until close to 10pm - today, i was finished at 5:30pm! what a glorious feeling, thanks to a reduced teaching schedule for the year. i was at work by 9:30am, another strange feeling, and was half done my day when the rest of my colleagues rolled in to start their day in the early afternoon.

then there's tomorrow, where i am back to finishing at 9:15pm...

people who look like people, part xi

thanks to my friend hayley, i have the newest installment of "people who look like people".

charlie in the box, from the rudolph movie:



hayley's adorable daughter, aven:


awww, look at that chinny-chin-chin. hayley, let's hope that aven isn't scarred for life when she's old enough to realize what a mean mommy you are!

so long, summer!

we spent our last long weekend of summer 2007 at our friends' cottage. the weather was just beautiful - the best long weekend weather of the summer! i was without my sidekick this time around, so that made this weekend not as fun, despite having potential. i was also without the camera, so no pictures to show for our weekend.

august was exhausting for me, work-wise, so to make up for it, kris and i spent a lot of time sleeping and relaxing. i had a bout of upset tummy for some reason on saturday night and felt like throwing up; i even went as far as to tie my hair back and trudge to the bathroom...then i felt better...and i'm now thinking that i don't like those spicy curry potato chips as much as i used to. because of my tummy problems, i opted not to get ice cream on sunday, and when we went on our way home, they were out of my favourite flavour. disappointment! this means i have to wait until next may to taste chocaberry blast, which i have yet to find anywhere other than bobcaygeon.

a rousing game of kings, new friends, old friends, lots of laughter, good food and witty banter = a good time had by all! now i'm ready for the school year! bring it on!