It has begun!

The weekly dc skype festivities! Here's a preview of the silliness so far:

Watch this one first lol

And the original:



And this:

[10:37:11 PM] Cosmo Fishawk says: Awww darn. Now I've got the image of Yakko singing to the Theotokos stuck in my head.

Apathy, food, and attempts at photography

So today was nice, the food at the potluck lunch was yummy. I took pictures of everyone's costumes to put up on Facebook.

Last night I was thinking how I really have a heart of stone. I see things that I can do for people, and don't do it. One minute I say "Oh I have a great idea for this person I'll do that! and the next I forget, and when I think about it again I don't do it for whatever reason. It's as if the spirit of apathy and indifference has soaked through me. I pray I can stop being lazy with this, and lazy with everything. This post reminded me of something. I worked part time for a few months in a nursing home cleaning. A lot of the patients were bedridden, and there was this one old lady who never left her bed who would call out to anyone passing in the hallway "Madame! Madame! Madame!" In a broken forlorn voice. It tugged at my heartstrings that besides the basic care given to her, she was left there alone. I don't know if she had any family to visit, I never saw any. I don't know, I want to do something but I don't know what yet. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me, a sinner.

This morning as I left:



This evening waiting for the bus after work:



Another lazy dinner, this time artichoke and asiago dip, hummus seasoned with olive tapenade, and shrimp mousse, leftover from the lunch at work:



Here's one of my first attempts at taking a pic of Licorice on my "lap bed" that I made by rolling up a big sweatshirt and putting it over my knees so she wouldn't slide off all the time:



And here's the second one, taken with the auto timer this time, I discovered that the long beeeeep that it makes just before it takes the picture conveniently attracts Licorice's attention towards the camera so that she's facing it :P :



Here's attempt #1 with Sambuca. This one was over-exposed and unfocused because I pressed the shutter button to focus while I was still in front of the camera, and it doesn't re-focus just before opening the shutter, don't ask me why. Wait, actually I can see a use for that in macro shots of something difficult to focus on... Anyways, here:



And here's attempt #2, I placed the chair at a distance and set the auto-focus on it before grabbing the cat, pressing the shutter button, sitting down and waiting. Unfortunately Sambuca was fed up by that point as you can see, and that one didn't turn out great either. Oh well:



Tonight's Skype chat doesn't seem to be taking off any time soon... I hope it does! In the meantime I'm chatting with Cosmo.

Food, cats, food on cats, weather, and coworkers.

So today was mostly grey and routine. I don't have much to say. I went and bought 3 kinds of hummus and 2 kinds of bread to dip for the potluck lunch tomorrow. And some Aioli french mayo, Artichoke and Asiago dip, and Crack Cookies (they are that addictive).

So I was (actually) lazy for once making dinner, all I did was open the jar of dip, grab some bread, and eat! I don't think it gets lazier than that unless you're in the hospital with an IV in your arm! Lolll:P Oh sorry I forgot I poured myself a glass of milk... I guess that makes it slightly less lazy.

So here's the dip, I love this stuff!:



And here's the cookies. Pecans are my favourite nuts, the only thing that could make these even better would be bits of crunchy homemade caramel added in the dough. Maybe.:





As I was sitting there eating I was dropping crumbs all over the cat in my lap (Licorice), and I had a silly idea, why don't I drop the whole cookie and take a picture! Lol:

She didn't notice at first:



Then I point the cookie out to her, at which point she tests to see if it's yummy:



And then decides it's not interesting, I had to snap my fingers in the air to get her to turn her head for this pic:



Then she got fed up and jumped off my lap, and I decided to see what Sambuca would say of a cookie on her lol.

Her first reaction was "WHY are you putting FOOD on me?!?":



Then promptly "Ok I've had enough of this!":



Lolll. Yes I'm slowly turning into a little old crazy cat lady :P

Today was supposed to be partly sunny, but I didn't see a single ray of sunshine all afternoon till about 5pm.

This was at 3:20:



Then finally the first weak rays poked out of the clouds just before the sun started setting:





And here's one of my coworkers in another department, he saw me with my camera out and said "Hey Sara! I'm ready!" lolll, then complained that his teeth were drying out while held his smile as I fiddled with my camera :P:



Wow it's already 9:22. I have to go to bed!

Clouds, tiredness and food.

What are they talking about, sunshine?! It's the afternoon and there's no sunshine. And I'm getting sleepy... *yawn* I hope I don't start nodding off. I'm yawning incessantly. I went to bed at 10:30 or so last night, I started watching snowblower videos on youtube after uploading a few videos of the first snow here.
*yawn*
I had noodles and cheese again for lunch today. Yum!
*yawn*
Once I'm over this tired spell I might start reading Lives of Married Saints.
*starts nodding*
*yawn*

Lolcat of the day

First Snow Fall 2008

This was the view from my livingroom at 7am this morning.



These were taken beside the Charlevoix metro station:







And this was on the bus on the way to work:



And you don't think I'd let you get away without a picture of dinner now do you? This is half a package of shrimp flavored instant ramen noodles with lemon pepper seasoning, 1 can smoked mussels, and half a small can of corn. Very yummy!

Boredom.

St-John of Kronstadt: My Life in Christ is a brick. I read a few pages this morning, but it's obviously not easy reading. I think I might read a page or two per day along with something else. Right now I'm tired and didn't feel like reading it any more. I should have brought Lives of Married Saints with me to work as well.

I'm booooored.
And I forgot my nasal cortisone at home this morning so I dunno if I should just stop it now or what, I think it's been two weeks that I've been taking it now? I'm afraid my cough will come back though. I seem to notice it getting worse as soon as I stop taking it. I dunno. We'll see.

Ugh I'm dead tired now. Why am I tired!? I went to bed at 9:25 for once!! And I didn't take forever to get to sleep either... I was less tired than this the other day when I went to bed at 10:30 or so. At least I don't have it anywhere near as bad as this guy!

Allergic to water!?!?

Apparently this guy is!

Plime is an unending source of interesting things like this. Unfortunately, also an unending source of sensationalist crap that you have to learn to ignore.

Lolcat of the Day

Sweetness and snow

Awwww!

I'm glad that ended well, things were looking really bad for a while there.

So today we had our first snow!!! :D:D:D I took a few pictures and videos this morning on the way to work that I'll post when I get home tonight.

Rain and snow

This evening after work I missed the first and second bus, so I stopped at the chinese restaurant on the corner for a bowl of won ton soup while I waited for the next one to pass since they only pass every half hour. I hadn't brought my umbrella to work this morning, and all 3 of the umbrellas in the stand at work were broken, so I chose to get my jacket soaked instead. I'm glad I had a hood, if not I think I would have opted for the broken umbrella :P

There's nothing much left to do on the internet once I've finished my rounds these days, I'll have to start reading something again tomorrow. For tonight I'll do dishes I guess. We're supposed to get our first snow tonight :D And maybe a bit more tomorrow.

Last winter we had a record-breaking amount of snow, 3 METERS total accumulation over the whole winter!

Here's a pic of me in front of my mom's church (I'm only 5'1" tall btw), St. Seraphim Orthodox Church in Rawdon, and yes that's a plate of food in my hands, it was leftovers from the after-Liturgy meal that I took home to my dad:



And the church:



Oh, and Campbell's Italian Wedding soup isn't any better than any other kind of canned soup. I have a general dislike of canned soup, but I thought I'd try this one cause it sounded interesting. I ended up having to add a tablespoon of pesto to make it more edible.

Cuteness of DOOOOOOOM!

Oh and I just had to post this lolcat:

Rent, awakeness (finally!) and pictures.

Today is rainy and grey and cold. But I have my new fluffy blue sweater of warmth+2 on today :D

I FINALLY got around to calling the Regie du Logement about the rent increase/lease renewal notice I got. It turns out I'm already past the 1-month deadline to reply to it, but it doesn't matter. I was wondering about the options, I had the option to renew the lease, renew the lease and refuse the increase, or not renew. The lady told me that even if I renew and refuse the increase, the landlord can still make an appeal to the Regie to go to court and have them calculate it, and after that I'd have to pay whatever the Regie decides, whether it be less or more. So I'm stuck paying an extra $50/month, but I guess it must be justified cause they changed all the windows in my building, and it would have been too much trouble to go to court over it anyways. I have a roof over my head, the rent is still reasonable, I'm happy.
I got the letter a month and a half ago but between laziness, forgetfulness and procrastination I never got around to calling till now.

Now I just have to call the inspectors for my apartment. The landlord posted notices about inspectors coming to look at all the apartments and to call for an appointment, I just hope they don't check about my cats, technically on my lease it says no pets but the superintendant said it's no problem when I first moved in.

I'm happy today I haven't been nodding off between calls this afternoon. Apparently I went to bed early enough last night finally :P

I finished Dorotheos this morning on the way to work. Next I think I'll either read St. John of Kronstadt or Lives of Married Saints.

Hmmm. I can't think of anything else to write. And I can't post .... wait, I can post pictures at work! just have to copy them from deviantart, to the compter :D

Ok, what'll I post? *goes to look*

Ok, here's my friend Maus back in her punk days a few years ago in the anime club at the college I went to lol. Yes that's a rat on her shoulder, don't remember if it was mine or hers though (yes I used to own rats until I developed an allergy to them, I love watsies!!! *squeals*):



And here's Sambuca 2 years ago, looking her fattest loll:



And I guess I'll stop posting pictures cause I'll end up posting everything I have in one entry if I rely on that to entertain me between calls till I get off work lol. There's nothing else to DOOOOOO. I should have brought another book with me...

Pig and cats.

Here's dinner, pork chop fried with lots of garlic salt:



And Sambuca 2 summers ago:





And I'm off to bed!

Food.

Today I'm tired. I still went to bed about 5 hours earlier than on Sat. night, but not early enough. I have to make sure I'm in bed by 9:30 tonight.

I really wish I had a bunch of people to bake for. I dunno I was just thinking of this recipe and thinking it would be cool to make that for people. I think I just might make them for the halloween potluck lunch on Friday at work that I got dragged into. I tried not replying to the emails asking what I was gonna bring, until my supervisor point-blank asked me "so, what are you bringing? We need to know NOW." Ummmm... hummus and pita? I'm not dressing up for the contest though.

I just remembered something I tried once that I'd like to make...scotch eggs. And jamaican patties.

I wanna try this some day! :P

A snake massage.

Awesomeness.

From Kyriaki's blog. I found this on Justin's blog and just had to quote it as well, it's that awesome.

First, from Seraphim on Desert Calling:

[In response to being asked 'why do you pursue Orthodoxy and long for God?']

Why? Because it’s either the Truth or death. This isn’t some weekend hobby we’re talking about or some means to being able to identify with a larger group — this is life. How should I live, for Whom shall I live, and what when I die? Some people think these are abstractions that get in the way of living. On the contrary, I do not think it is possible to live a real, full life without acknowledging those questions, and in so realizing, I discovered Orthodoxy. Christ is the only way to make any sense out of this ridiculous mess that is life, that is the world. The atheists call it weakness. I call it strength. It takes strength to admit that human beings are not self-sufficient and are in need of the grace of God for salvation from corruption and death.

That is possibly the best answer to that question that I’ve read in a while. This…gets into your blood. It stops being religion, a way to describe yourself, a belief system and a moral code. It might sound weird to the non-Orthodox but…I live this, I breathe it. It…is everything, in everything. Nothing is mundane, all is sacred, somehow. Even taking my medicine, walking, washing my hair, cleaning, stitching. It doesn’t have to mention God or have Jesus tacked on it for it to be sacred - it just is. Prayers that go with things like waking up or going to bed, or beginning study, are good. But they’re not necessary for the Christian life to be sacred. It just…is. Something happened to me the day Pater bade me kneel as he baptised me, and as the oil was marked on my face, hands, feet, neck…this Cross around my neck is more than metal, my life is more than existance and it is more than this life. It is only today that matters, and worry about the past or future is meaningless. And yet today is meaningless and only eternity is important. I live suspended in this world of earth and heaven together at once, heaven here amongst us and angels that walk unseen. To be in the presence of God and the Saints, to live this life and worship in a way that doesn’t always mean song or dance but can mean the simple prayers as I work during the day, as I go about my daily life. And that one prayer - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. Heaven is not above me, in some separate universe. It is HERE and yet unseen, experienced yet not understood. At home, outside, and most especially within the walls of the Temple, surrounded by icons that remind me of the Saints present but unseen. Tomorrow I will ’see’ my friends in Church, present at the one eternal Divine Liturgy, one perfect Sacrifice, that every divine service takes part in. For us Christ is sacrificed on the Altar tomorrow - and yet, He is never sacrificed again because this sacrifice took place both inside and outside human time. How can we comprehend such things? We can’t. We can never pretend to. But somehow our incomprehension makes it all the more beautiful, that this is so far beyond what we could ever imagine.

So this afternoon I got two loads of laundry done finally, and have been chatting with the gang from Desert Calling. I still have the dishes to do but that's gonna wait.

Here's what I had for dinner, bbq wings and garlic butter pasta:

Cats

My cats:



And Stealth Cat (not mine unfortunately):

Sunshine, cats and saints.

Last night I went to bed at around 3am and got up at 9 for Liturgy this morning. It's beautiful and sunny today! Which is nice after the rain all day yesterday.

My plants on the windowsill this morning before Liturgy:



And my cats, enjoying the sunshine, the pic of Licorice was taken before Liturgy, and the one of Sambuca afterwards:





More sunshine and pretty red leaves!



The plants in my bedroom:



The icon of St. John Maximovitch of Shanghai and San Francisco, with his belt above it, at church:



And the chandelier at St. Benoit de Nursie, recently they tied little icons on all the candles, it's so pretty!



I took this one just as I left my apartment to go to Liturgy. The two men further down the street turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses that gave me a copy of Awake! magazine:



I'm tired but I'm not gonna nap this afternoon cause it'll throw my sleep schedule off. After the Liturgy we had veggie pizza, pasta salad, and bread with paté and tuna salad. Very yummy! And one of the ladies asked me to do a little bit of bookeeping for the church too, so apparently I'm gonna start that. At first I got scared cause I'm no good at accounting but she explained that the tasks are really simple, just keeping track of donations and stuff.

I'm finally getting my laundry done, now I just have to do the dishes and the bathroom. I hope the dryer downstairs (we have a laundry room for the whole building) works... I don't feel like having to hang 2 loads of laundry all over my apartment!

Sleep, food and cats.

So what have I done today?
Sometime after posting this morning's entry, I crashed in bed, probably around 1 or 2pm. My mom called and woke me at 3:30, and after hearing my mumbled reply, said she'd call later. Thankfully I fell asleep again and woke up at 6pm, and made this for dinner, perogies and spinach. I bought the perogies at a european grocery near my place, they're called Pelmeni Sibirian, and they're the most amazing things ever. They have pork, beef, onion and herbs in them, they sell them frozen. And yes I could have put less butter on the spinach lol, I tend to measure incorrectly :P :



And since the compulsive photographer in me couldn't be happy with just one picture in today's post, I took two quick snapshots of my two cats as I sit here:





Yes I sleep with a teddy bear. It's my heirloom bear. I got him when I was 3 and I'm gonna give him to my grandkids!

Skype, silliness, noodles and lack of sleep.

About a month ago someone from Desert Calling decided to organise a Friday night get-together on Skype for a few of the members. Eric told me about it last week, calling it the Friday night Festivities, with good reason lol. I haven't laughed that much in a long time :P. Last night was soooo much fun lol. Eric and Rosko convinced me to buy a headset so I could join in, I found one for $25 at Future Shop. Things I learned while on skype last night:

Canadians have an accent apparently. I had never noticed any difference between an American (not from the south though :P) and a Canadian speaking before, aside from the usual Canadian habit adding of "eh" to then end of sentences.

Bilingual is pronounced Byeling-yule and not Bilingu-wuhl.

I tend to become illiterate when I'm tired.

Swedish chef rocks! XD

Anathema in Spanish is Los Anathematos.

An iconographer in a batsuit = unapproachable sexiness.

I went to bed at about 1:30am and forgot to turn off my alarm so I was woken up at 6:50 this morning. *facepalm* I tried to fight my way back to sleep when I woke up, but my mind was racing like an excited puppy with all the silliness from last night. I gave up the fight for sleep at 8:20 and got up. I'm gonna crash this afternoon, for sure. I'm just hoping it won't screw up my sleep schedule too badly, I won't be able to sleep till late tonight, and then be tired again tomorrow, nap, repeat. Oh well I'll catch up this week.

I made one of my staple dishes for breakfast, a meal for when you're lazy. Noodles and cheese, or cheese and noodles if you're like me and put a stupid amount of cheese in it.

You just cook the noodles according to instructions, dump in a bowl with grated cheese, stir and enjoy! Here is my concoction:





And here's last night's dinner, meant to post it last night but never got around to it with all the silliness on Skype lol:





And other unrelated pictures, the view from my livingroom window this morning:





Licorice in her usual spot when I wake up:



Sambuca sitting on my balcony this morning:



The sky last night somewhat ressembled the sky one day last week, the wind had blown the clouds into horizontal stripes across the entire sky, it was amazing, I took some pics but either my camera or my computer screwed up and after I transferred them and deleted them from my camera, I found out that it was empty files on my computer, the thumbnails were showing up but I couldn't open them, there was nothing there. Stupid whateveritisthatwentwrong. Here's last night's pic from the window at work:



Eric just showed me something really... wow. I can't wait to see that movie!

Today I have to do laundry, vacuum, go to the store, order icons and call Scott. Off I go then!