Randomness and Ramblings

I had an out of  nowhere random Friday night.  Mark came home from work last Wednesday and asked if I wanted to go to Hamilton on Friday. Uhhh I don't know, what's in Hamilton? I ask. Oh nothing, he says, I just thought you might want to go see Brad Paisley perform there. So we got online and managed to get some amazing seats on the floor about 10 ft away from Mr. Paisley himself. It was an amazing night, and Mark's first concert ever!  So much fun!

At the moment I wish that I was a genius at tax law.  A random and incredibly dull thing to want to be, but at the moment it would help my life to be just slightly easier.  The accountant/relative that does my parents taxes informed them that I don't need to file taxes in the US this year.  As my parents told me this over the phone I immediately went into panic mode because we(Mark and I) were under the impression that I would have to file in the US seeing as I am still a US citizen and have no status in Canada.  Anyway after a bit of research I am pretty sure I still have to file in the US, but it it an annoyance on my life to figure stuff like this out. 

It is currently 12 degrees here.  There is apparently some sort of massive winter storm that is going to hit Chicago and continue east, possibly hitting us in the great white north as well.  Chicago is however, under a blizzard watch.  It makes me laugh a little, and makes me wish I was there for the impending storm.  If you learn anything about a Chicago winter, it is that the hype is always worse than what the storm actually brings.  However a blizzard is nothing unusual.  The 2 feet of snow they are excepting will only add to the 2 feet of snow they already have.  But what makes a blizzard a blizzard for those of you who don't know is the wind.  So if you can imagine 2 feet of snow with 40mph winds, it gets a little treacherous.  I do hold a special place in my heart for blizzards though. I was born during a blizzard.  My mom had to stay an extra day in the hospital with me because of it.  But like I said the hype is always worse than the storms, I would not be surprised if they just go a couple of inches of snow in the end.  But still, it makes me smile.

Toronto doesn't know anything about a real winter.  Chicago's winters make Toronto's look like the tropics.
-The end.

Odd Canadian things

This is just one example of something that is as dear to Canadians as hockey. It is also something which I find completely bizarre and totally disgusting.
So ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the Poutine:

This Canadian delicacy is often eaten as a full meal. Can you tell what it is??? It consists of fries lathered in beef gravy, topped with melted Swiss cheese.  I know right?  The Poutine has 2 things working against it in my book.
1)I don't know if you have ever noticed, but Swiss cheese smells really bad!! Especially when it is hot and melted and combined with gravy.
2) Poutine is an unfortunate name in itself. When pronounced, it sounds like "poo-tin". As if the smelly gooey mess didn't already look like poo, the name is there to remind you.

While I absolutely refuse to even try poutine, I have tried the Canadians favorite condiment for fries..beef gravy. I am not a fan. When I say that gravy on fries is weird, my husband often retorts that it's not any different than putting gravy on mashed potatoes.
Touche good man, but then why does gravy taste good on mashed potatoes and not on fries?  Is it my Americanization to ketchup? Can't be, because I also like cheese on fries. I'm also not opposed to ranch dressing, and have been seen on occasion to dip my fries into honey mustard.  I feel that I have a wide range of french fry condiments that I have tried and enjoyed. Gravy is not one of them.

When you go into a restaurant in Canada and order whatever...when your side is fries, you will often be asked, "Do you want gravy with your fries?"
-No, no I don't.

it's official...

Well I finally got my Ontario drivers license today.  So that was only what? One, two weeks later then I planned on getting it, but it is done now at least.  I also went to see about getting a health card, but I'm not elligible till immigration comes through. Only what? Another 6 months till I am pre-approved for immigration.  So probably another 6 months of no health coverage. Here's hoping that I don't get sick, cuz if I do we're screwed.

When I got the Ontario license, I had to surrender my Indiana license.  Who knew that a silly little piece of plastic could make me so emotional?  Simply because that Indiana license was more to me than just a license.  It was the only thing that was literally connecting me to Indiana.  I do feel really sad about that because I do feel deep in my gut that it's not in the cards for us to move back there.  So that little piece of plastic was the only thing that kept me thinking that maybe someday we could.  Now that it's gone, the dream has gone with it.  Getting the license today made me think that Indiana is no longer my home and it never will be again.  It is a hard truth to swallow.

Don't get me wrong, I love my life with Mark.  But life without cornfields just isn't where I want my kids to grow up.  There is something so relaxing about driving down a country backroad, and knowing how to navigate your way through the maze of backroads that are labeled 500N, 250E, 1000S.

My first drivers test consisted of driving through small town one way streets.  I even had a drivers license picture that I liked.  I got it renewed just before driving to Ohio to visit my then boyfriend, so I was happy and smiling in my picture.  In Canada you can't smile in your license picture.  I went to a Miranda Lambert concert in Chicago one year.  I had my license in my pocket and forgot all about it after the concert.  The pants with the license went into the wash, then into the dryer.  When I realized it had been washed and dried, my license was permanently bent.

I admit that I shed a few tears this morning for the loss of that bent piece of plastic, and the place that will always, always be home to me.  So I leave you with a few words from a classic country song:

"Well I'm from a map dot. A stop sign on a black top
I caught the first bus I could hop from there But all this glitter is gettin' dark
There's concrete growin' in the city park I don't know who my neighbors are  And there's bars on the corners and bars on my heart

I'm gonna live where the green grass grows Watchin' my corn pop up in rows  Every night be tucked in close to you  Raise our kids where the good Lord's blessed  Point our rocking chairs towards the west
Plant our dreams where the peaceful river flows  Where the green grass grows"

-I knew who my neighbors were in Valpo...where the green grass grows is still the dream, just harder to see it today.

That song in my head...

I was listening to a random CD the other day. A lot of the songs took me back to different moments, different memories in my life are often associated with different songs.  SO I just thought I would share a couple for today.

When I hear disney music it takes me back to my childhood, and my parents living room.  I would put my disney tape on the stereo and make up a dance routine to go along with it. I would spend hours practicing, and perfecting my dance.  When evening finally came I would announce to my family that I was putting on a dance. I would also inform them that admission to the dance was 25 cents.

When I hear Hannah Montana music, I think of my niece Caroline.  When I would babysit her, I would blast her favorite Hannah Montana music and have a dance party with her.  I'm not a good dancer by any means, but in Caroline's eyes, I could do no wrong. She would mimic my moves.  It is one of those special things that is just ours.

When I hear Kenny Chesney I think about Mark.  The first time I visited him in Canada we were driving in his truck and all of the sudden Kenny came on the radio "I haven't seen you in forever, but you haven't changed a bit".  We smiled at each other and sang along with what seemed like the perfect line for us and our long distance relationship. Also we danced to a Kenny song at our wedding.

When I hear For Good from the Wicked soundtrack, I am taken back to my 23rd birthday and a lost friendship.

When I hear the dixie chicks, paramore, yellowcard, and michael jackson I am reminded of California and good friends, and roadtrips.

When I hear Paul Simon, I'm in a car with my dad.

There always seems to be something that comes up that takes me back to another time. Backstreet boys takes me to middle/high school and being locked away in my room writing in my journal like the nerd I was.

the ups and downs

Yesterday was a great day.  Yesterday I woke up to the smell of coffee, and productivity was on my brain.  Yesterday I was excited to get up and get my day started! I was determined to put that change I'd been thinking about into action.  I made myself a good breakfast, did some work, and tried out the wii fit.

So the wii fit in general is not the greatest for a cardio workout. But I did like the yoga and strength training that it had. Which  made my unused muscles sore today.  Along with trying to ease back into working out, I am trying to eat better.  I was defiantely tempted throughout the day by some unhealthy food, but stuck it out and did really well. I cut way back on the snacking, and when I did snack, I had carrots. I was very proud of myself. 

Today I woke up to the smell of coffee and an urge to sleep the whole day away...which sadly is pretty much what I did.  Fortunately I have a husband who is able to change my mood just by walking through the door. As unmotivated as I was, I was still able to keep up with the healthy eating, so that was great.

So the question I have been struggling with for the past 6 months is how do you stay motivated and productive when you don't have any structure to your day, and literally don't have anything to get up for in the morning, or anywhere to go during the day?  What do you do when you have nothing to do?

I am going to look into a gym membership, and I do have a lot of things to look forward to. Like a weekend home in a few weeks, trip to Cali in May, a new niece/nephew in june, hanover in july. Excited for it all to get here all ready.

1 out of 4?

1 out of 4 aint bad right?????
In my last post I said I was going to get my Ontario drivers licence, health card, wii fit, and stop biting my nails. As the title states, I was only able to accoplish one of the things on my list!

I woke up that day and set out first to get my drivers licence.  After and hour and a half I got up to the counter only to find out that I need to get my driving record faxed to them from the Indiana BMV.  When I got home to get that accomplished I was told that the Indiana BMV wasn't really sure that they could fax something internationally! SERIOUSLY?? Needless to say, I was frustrated.

So without a drivers licence, there was no point in attempting to get a health card because I needed the drivers licence to get it. So I went to the mall and got wii fit. That was my one out of four because lets face it...at that point I was so frustrated that not biting my nails was no longer very high on my priority list.

I am still going to work on getting the other 3 things done as soon as I can. It just makes me wish that it wasn't quite so complicated to do so. 

In other news, I was going down memory lane this evening a found a video of myself that made me happy.  Watching it made me happy to see myself being that happy and carefree.  Made me miss it.  So I am definately going to try to get back to that feeling.
.http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=570761299#!/video/video.php?v=205954305563

In other news, I have found a lot of comfort in spending time with my sister in law.  She reminds me a lot of my own sister so it is nice to have that up here.  I was really touched while we were out to lunch that she said she was going to plan a girls night out for my upcoming birthday with some of the other girls up here that I have gotten to know. 
All for now-*

The DAY...

Part1:Tomorrow is the day of days...

With a little anxiety, sadness, and determination tomorrow is the day that I am going to make my first steps in making Burlington, Ontario Canada my home.  After 6 months of fighting it, tomorrow I am going to get my drivers licence.  With that in hand I should be able to apply for a health card.  As soon as I do that I am going to go to the mall and buy wii fit in an attempt to start working out a little bit.  I've also decided that tomorrow is also the day that I am going to stop biting my nails. A bad habit that I have had since I was at least 3 years old.

So like I said, tomorrow is the day of days.  Hopefully I will have the nerve to do it all. 

Part2: And old wives tale...
In the past 2 weeks, my husbands family has been spreading and sharing a pretty nasty cold.  It originated with the children, then quickly spread to all of the adults in the family.  Mark and I were lucky enough to escape with just minor colds while the others were red nosed and losing voices for several days.  However my strain of cold left me with a sore throat each night, and each morning.  Mark and I have gone through 2 bags of halls, and 2 packages of fisherman's friend(Canadian cough drop) within the span of a week.  Mark brought up in conversation one of those old fashioned homemade recipes which he claimed would cure a sore throat.  He said it was a family tradition and his mom always made it for him and his siblings as children.  I forgot about it until his sister said that she did it to help with her sore throat.  Since this came from Mark's mom, I like to think of it as an old mother in laws tale.

I am quite skeptical of those old fashioned things.  My own mom had a few of her own. She always said that you should gurgle salt water for a sore throat. Most people have gone for a swim in the ocean...each time a bit of that salt water gets in my mouth it gets immediately spit back out.  So on the one occasion I heeded my mothers advice and gurgled salt water it was in my mouth for about 5 seconds before my gag reflex kicked in and it got spewed back out.

Hence comes more skepticism of old fashioned remedies.  Although I admit my mother in laws remedy does not sound nearly as unpleasant as my own mom's salt water tactic.  The solution was simply to mix some ground ginger with some honey and eat it down. Sounds simple enough. Plus honey doesn't taste bad.  So as I was laying in bed last night at 12:30am, I was down to my last halls.  Putting it in my mouth I felt it's healing powers on my sore throat.  A half an hour later I was still awake and my throat was still hurting. Honey and ginger it was.

I got out of bed and made up the honey and ginger in a little dish.  Because honey is soo super sweet I ate it slowly. As soon as that first drip of honey reached my throat, the pain was gone.  Not to mention that when I woke up this morning, it still didn't hurt.

Needless to say that is one mother in law's tale that I will be using on and passing to my own children.

Ready for 2011

Now that the new year is finally here, I have a lot to look forward to. I am the most excited about becoming an aunt again in the summer of 2011!!!!
My 5 year old niece caroline is soon to have a sibling, and I think I am just as excited as she is. although my sister and I did have a good laugh tonight at some of caroline's baby name suggestions, such as gala, gaylee, and gaylyn. -to be young and innocent.

In other news...I have been living in canada now for over 6 months and have yet to apply for a health card.  Free healthcare, who wouldn't want it?? You might think I'm crazy for not getting it yet, but I have been delaying.  I keep thinking that once I get that, and get a canadian drivers lisence, i will actually be admitting that I am canadian, and yes, this is actually where I live.
It is still a hard pill to swallow, but I know I gotta do it. I have had 6 months a wallowing in my new life here...now is the time for me to start fresh and own up to it.

so here's to a happy 2011