GarniGal's Journal:

We had to put our first cat down on Saturday Jan 31. She was 16 (a month short of 17), and declining quickly. We took her in on Thursday, after a month of weightloss and a few days of not eating. They ended up keeping her, pushing fluids and an appetite stimulant, but she kept declining. It was definitely time, but Derek doesn't handle these things well. It doesn't help that our second cat, Trippy, is a litter mate of Trance's, so his death probably isn't far behind. We'll be down to just one cat before the year is out, I imagine.

That was also the day we had to go up to my hometown to say bon voyage to my cousin Blake. He was accepted to a masters of physiotherapy program in Australia, so he's leaving on Wednesday for 2 years. My parents will go and visit him, and his dad will take a trip to Hawaii and Blake will meet him there, but that's probably it for family visits. Thank heavens for the internet! (Blake is my aunt Deb's son, so it's particularly bittersweet.)

Vv is happy and healthy and opinionated like nobody's business - Just like almost 2 year olds should be. And Derek got a promotion, so in addition to missing his cat, worrying about his other cat, and frequent visits to see how him mom is holding up since his dad died, he's busy and overwhelmed. Fun times!

that I went and had a baby.

Genevieve Cheryl Jun Wong arrived April 1st around 9:37am via c-section. We got home on the 3rd, and have been hibernating ever since.




Also, for those who were following my aunt's health, she passed away on March 14th. Basically, it's been a hell of a month for us.

Pregnancy is finally getting the better of me. I totally deserve it too - I was horribly smug for the first two trimesters. :)

I've got gestational diabetes, so instead of being due on the 29th of March (and I was really figuring on going right to the end - my brother and I were both 2 weeks late), I've been told to expect to be induced 1 or 2 weeks early. Other than the shorter time before Gen arrives, I'm also bemoaning the constant pricking of my fingers for testing - 7 times a day! At least I'm not on insulin; so far it's all diet controlled.

Also, I've had pain in my left glute for a month or so now, which slows me down and makes me grumpy. It's probably sciatica, which makes me feel old, and makes me even grumpier. :)

Other than that, life ticks along as it must.

How're all of you?

Has anyone been following the sinking of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy? It's a fascinating story, more so because very close family friends were on board the ship. Alan and Laurie Willits? You may have heard them interviewed, oh EVERYWHERE. :)

I feel terrible for those who lost family or friends in the wreck, and I'm glad to know that Al and Laurie are okay, but I have to admit, being part of a family with a rather dark sense of humour... we've made a lot of interesting comments.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/14/cruise-italy.html

Yesterday I shopped for 4 hours to get the last few things for the wedding on Friday. Things like an SD card for our digital photo frame, comfortable shoes for when I toss the 4" heels out the window, a guest book, etc.

I still have to print off the seating chart and put it together, and print off some photos and pack everything up for transport.

Other than that, I think we're ready. Yikes.

I'm up at the farm, and Mom and Dad are out for dinner. I was looking for a pad of paper, and came across an old assignment in Mom's office desk.

Based on the handwriting and spelling, I was probably in grade 6 to 8.

Soccer is an
Outside,
Crazy game.
Cooking hot from running around
Everyday. It's
Radical!

School is boring.
Classrooms are
Hot.
Open windows help. Feels like
Oven temperature for
Little kids.

Rifling through you desk to get something to
Eat.
Coming back into the once
Empty
School is
Sad.

Mom is
Openly
Mean.

Anger is
Not
Good for
Every one.
Really!

I was a weird little kid.

I've mentioned this off-line to a few LJ friends, but haven't really announced it as such... D and I are tying the knot this November.

In June, D asked what I thought about getting married 11/11/11 (because it's a cool date), and I said, 'that'd be okay'. Thus, engaged and date set.

It'll be a small wedding in comparison to the huge up-home events we're used to, but we want something different, something that isn't exactly the same as my brother's wedding, my cousins' weddings, etc. So we're going to a little inn up near Collingwood. (www.thefallsinn.com), and getting married beside the pond unless it's raining/snowing.

I'm definitely looking forward to it, and my dress is purty. :)

Derek has been away for a week. He just called to say he's safely landed at Toronto Island Airport and is making his way to the Greyhound back to Guelph. I feel a little guilty - he took Red Car to the airport and is taking the Greyhound back, so all I'll have to do is pick him up downtown. When I went to Minneapolis, Derek drove me to Burlington at 5 am. Clearly, he is way more considerate than I am. :)

I didn't do much during the weeknights he was away. I tried to do some yard work, but nothing worked quite right for me - couldn't get the mower blade on tightly enough, couldn't get the suction for the pool vaccuum - so I had a pretty lazy week.

For the weekend, I went up to my parents farm. There was a baby shower for a girl who I used to babysit (now that's coming full circle, trying to get her crying son to calm down using all the same tricks I'd tried on his mom 24 years ago), and I babysat my nieces while Adam and Cheryl went out to a stag and doe. They invited me over for supper, so I even got to see the girls awake. Last time I babysat, Ainsley was already in bed. This time I got to help with dinner, give Evie her bottles, and give Ainsley her bath. It was lovely, and it was fun to just sit around, drink wine (and coke and Amaretto - best babysitting job ever!) and chat with Adam and Cheryl. And dear lord are my nieces cute!

I know my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but so far - best weekend ever.

I won tickets to the Wizard World Toronto Show for next weekend, so I get to check out my first con with Sunny and Spi!

And some lovely stranger left kudos for me on a Mal/River fic on AO3!

Hello Flist, Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm having a lovely Valentine's myself - we're in Denver. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and basically got the car, got to the hotel, got some (a whole lot) of deep fried food, and went to bed (groaning in misery because of the food). On Saturday we slept in, then spontaneously decided to head to Manitou Springs to take the cog railway as far up Pike's Peak as the snow allowed (about 11,500 feet). I nearly filled a camera card with pictures of pointy rocks, but I won't post them until I get home and do some post production on them. On the way home we stopped at Castle Rock and hit the outlets - new coats for both of us, 5 new bras for me, some new sweaters for Derek, and much less money. :) We stopped at Sweet Tomato for dinner, which was awesome. Vegetables!!!!

Sunday was ski day! We ended up at Loveland instead of Winter Park on the advice of the ski rental place in Idaho Springs. Maison de Ski is awesome and the staff is fantastic - we loved Loveland. Short lift lines and we saw the freaking Continental Divide. It was very windy at the top though - we got to about 12,000 feet and the snow was definitely blowing. One weird thing about skiing at Loveland - no safety bars on the lifts. It freaked me out at first. We returned our skis and they suggested we try the BBQ place up the street. No vegetables there, but the smoked prime rib sandwich was fantastic.

Today was Derek's first training day, and I was working in the hotel room. We went out for steak for supper.

We still have until Sunday, so we're going to hit Boulder and maybe do some stuff in Denver in the evenings. I'll keep ya'll up to date. (I'm turning all country! Wait, I talked like that before.)