Best fime of year

I really enjoy this time of year. I don't have any awful baggage that clings to me when I think of Christmas. I feel like that frees me up to just rest and enjoy my family. Unfortunately, I don't have my sis and bro-in-law around this time. I'm going to miss out on doing the sibling tradition of the first one awake jumping on top of the other in the midst of dead sleep and yelling, "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" I've been reigning champion for about 10 years now. The look on my sister's face is the best payoff.

I do have two extra guests with me this year. My friend Judith has left her dogs with me for a week while she visits family overseas. They're a handful, but I'm enjoying having them around. No crazy dog-soiling-bedding stories so far and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the week.

Putting Down Some Roots

I've been taking a lot of time to look at my life and my surroundings and I've come to this conclusion: I have put down very few roots.

The more I think about it, I wonder if that is the most important thing to be worried about at this point in my life. It also begs the questions of whether I need any roots. That's the academic in me. The pragmatist in me says that the answer is yes, I need roots.

In the last two places I've lived I have almost refused to unpack everything or to put pictures on the walls. Not consciously. I just couldn't be bothered to settle in. In short, I haven't made the places I've lived in feel like a home. What's with that?

But this week I've been feeling very unsettled about being unsettled. I've looked at my apartment and I wasn't feeling good about passing by the assortment of boxes and clutter that were strewn about my home. So I had some help yesterday in getting some new furniture and unpacking the last few remaining boxes. My place isn't exactly where I want it yet, but it's a damn sight closer to the goal. I actually feel like I want people over. I actually feel like I have some permanence that I want to share with those around me.

I think that previously I had been feeling like the bottom could drop out of everything at any moment and it was best not to get too attached to my living space in case I had to run at a moment's notice. Very odd, considering that I lived at my last place for almost 8 years and I have no reason to think that I'll be leaving my current place any time soon. I suppose it has to do with the uncertainty I have felt about my life for a number of years now. It's uncertainty about friendships, relationships, work, profession, church, etc. But I'm finally coming to the realization that I don't have to actually embody uncertainty in the midst of the uncertainties that swirl about me.

How do I live that out? I start by unpacking some boxes and making a home for myself. I start by putting down some roots.

My local coffee shop needs new ventilation systems

I don't know how many of you have had the new hot breakfast items from a certain coffee shop from an un-named city in the Northwest of the United States. They're really very tasty. Essentially, they are gourmet egg muffin sandwhiches with names like "Peppered Bacon, Egg and Aged Cheddar" and "Eggs Florentine with Baby Spinach and Havarti." Delicious! However...

I was just in the store across the street from my apartment to have a coffee and to read The E-Myth (an amazing book that makes me feel like the author just observed my last few years of running a business... but enough on that subject today). I came to a realization that I'm not enjoying the in-store Northwest Coffee Chain experience as much as I used to. And it's because of the hot breakfast items.

I used to come to the stores to enjoy the smell of the coffee beans freshly ground and espresso freshly pressed. Now, all I smell is the breakfast items... no matter what time of the day it is. Perhaps the company could vent the ovens outside. All I know is that it's impacting my in-store experience and that's pretty much the entire reason we all go and buy our coffee from them.

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My parents are in Mexico right now with some friends. Let me just check off the traveling they have done this year: Christmas in Edmonton... check. Numerous trips to Kelowna... check. Switzerland for a month in August... check. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at a luxury resort... check, dammit!!!

Take a look at the view from the house they're living in. Absolutely sick. Have I mentioned the shitty weather we've been having??? I hate my parents this week.

Oh, how I love the weather here!

It was so nice and peaceful this weekend sitting on my couch and watching the snow fall. Until last night, that is. That's when the rain rolled in and turned it all to the grossest slush that can only be described as slurry. It was disgusting.

The snow is mostly gone now thanks to the rain. But it did leave one lasting impression with me this morning.

I was on my way to meet Will at Starbucks across the street from me and I was finding it hard to get off the sidewalk without stepping into some snow. My right foot got a little wet, but I quickly jumped out of the slush.

I then crossed the street and realized that I was going to have the same problem all over again! How was I to get onto the sidewalk without stepping into the melting snow? What was that I saw? Oh, it was the entrance to the parking lot! There's no snow there! Oh wait... there may have been no snow, but there was a 3 ft. deep lake erm... puddle. Hmmm... must find another way.

No other way presented itself so I stepped into the snow... and right into another 3 ft. deep puddle beneath the snow. As my sister would say, "Good times."