Today was a nice day, good to close 2007!

I lazied around home this morning, watching a documentary “Refugees of the Blue Planet.” Striking and a good reminder of how it’s important to do my little part for the environment… And that helps already a bit.

Then I went to the postoffice to mail back the docu and got mail! There were two Christmas card (one from Mira and the other from my best childhood friend) and two movies (The Kingdom and Evan Almighty).

I watched The Kingdom in the arvo. It was good enough! Lotsa action that’s for sure!

Then I went to my mom’s best friend’s house to get material. Her new grandson is named Noah. So we’re going to make a Noah’s Ark to put in his bedroom and a way to display teddy bears. My job is to paint the parts of the Ark and make them pretty. It’s going to take awhile. The Ark is made out of plastic. And the first coat paint is taking forever to dry!

While I was doing that I got a phonecall from a friend who now lives in the Prairies! It was nice to talk to him. He was calling to give his New Year wishes!

Then I went to mom’s and ate some fresh fruit salad. And I lazied around there. And I prepped the dinner: homemade burgers and fries. It was yum.

Ahhh… Now I’m home, full, tired, ready for bath, comfy pjs and a night of tele in bed.

Last night at 4h there was a big white truck outside. With no muffler. Driving around the ‘hood making LOTS of noise, for like an hour. I wish I knew who it was. Grrr! I was so pissed off. I wanted to sleep. I put the tele on Radio-Canada with it’s next day schedule and classical music and tried to sleep through the noise.

Today I did a bit of cleaning/laundry, but mostly just lazied at home in my comfy clothes (fleece pants and zippered sweatshirt). I must have watched like 5-6 episodes of CSI:NY on the History Television. I never watch CSI:NY as I like the original CSI best, so it was sure to be all new episodes for me! So that was somewhat entertaining.

Tonight is Saturday evening, between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s probably the biggest night out, with all the people back home for the holidays. But I’m not going anywhere…

And talking about New Year’s… I’m going to be stuck here! The place where busting the New Year is mostly eventless. Sure, there’s going to be a bar opened and people will gather at small house parties, but geez… That’s not special! I want fireworks like in Holland (set by everyone). I suspect my NY will be quite boring. That’s sad.

-J’ai quand même bien perfomé à l’école, en prenant compte les circonstances, avec des B et B+.
-J’ai commencé à aller aux YULBlogs et former un nouveau réseau d’amis.
-J’ai été à plusieurs concerts dont: Bloc Party, Modest Mouse, Marylin Manson, Youth Group, Arcade Fire, silverchair, etc.
-Je suis devenue famille d’acceuil pour un joli petit chien Mira, prénommée Happy.
-J’ai pris de belles photos avec mon nouvel appareil, le Powershot G7.
-J’ai dit au revoir à mon emploi étudiant des 4 dernières années et déniché un super emploi d’été dans une Auberge du Coeur.
-J’ai été au Grand Prix de F1 et vu beaucoup des coureurs.
-J’ai déménagé dans mon village natal de Blanc-Sablon pour un contrat de 10 mois.

-Je n’ai pas rencontré de nouveau petit-ami.
-Je n’ai pas fait de “gros” voyage.

Soundtracks of movies can be amazing and elevate them greatly. Nowadays I’m hooked on the music of Atonement, by Dario Marianelli. It gives me goosebumps. Previews on the Amazon.co.uk website.

Christmas day (Eerste kerstdag, as the Dutch call it) I spent lazying around in my pjs. It was a delight.

Around 16h, I went to mom’s to set the dinner table. I did a red/white theme for the table cloths, put my homemade birch bark tree as one centrepiece and mom’s poinsettia as the other. Because it was a huge table! In fact two normal dining tables stuck together, room for 13 people!

Later on people arrived! They all seemed to enjoy the nice dinner. And also the gift giving afterwards, where mom made everyone sing a song to get their gift! I didn’t sing though, mom kinda deviated from her Santa role near the end and my gift was one of the last to be handed out. It was from mom’s best friend, a nice pj!

The following day, Tweede kerstdag (2nd Christmas day) or Boxing Day as we know it, I also lazied around. Being off work is great! In the evening I went to mom’s boyfriend’s house for their huge family gathering. It was nice… Except it’s a tiny old house, and with so many people it gets really cramped! So I left early, around 20h, the first to go.

Home I did my usual work day routine, taking a nice bath, putting on my pjs, watching a bit of tele in bed and going to sleep early (last night at 21h).

This morning coming in at work sucked. Bro is at mom’s sleeping and mom was in her pjs making coffee when I left. (I like to go in 5 minutes to visit in the morning before going to work, as her house is right where I park my car, 30 seconds away from work.)

I am feeling so sleepy right now. My eyes closing and feeling itchy. But I took so many days off when I went to Montreal on holiday that now I can’t really afford to take more for a little while…

Christmas night was quite nice! My family arrived at around 23h30. We sat, ate a bit.

Happy was the first to open a gift! She tore up the paper herself…

Then at midnight mom came out of the bathroom wearing her Santa hat and bells! It was so funny! We then opened our gifts. Everyone seemed glad with their gifts!

Just a few gifts included… Bro giving us all neat PJs, mom giving me my Winter coat, I got also got a small Thermos to bring hot choco to work, mom and her boyfriend were happy with the iron I got them (their old one the cord was broken and it electrocutes the person who wants to use it!!), mom also liked her Crabtree and Evelyn products, bro loved his evolution tee, and so on! It was a success! Happy loved another of her gifts, a box full of treats!

All of the Christmas pics are on my pics page!

Fog and rain, that’s not really Christmassy! But it will be Christmas in 4 hours!

It’s strange how for different families the tradition is not the same. I remember growing up we’d go to bed as usual at 20h and mom would wake us up past midnight… We’d find the gifts under the tree that Santa brought! Then later it was similar, but since we didn’t believe in Santa it became more of a “réveillon” with family and friends. And this year I am hosting it! Bro, mom and her boyfriend are coming over later on! Yay! I’ve prepared little bouchées, set the gifts under the tree and have a Christmas music playlist ready on the iPod!

In my best friend’s family they only opened gifts on Christmas morning. I thought I was lucky because we got to open them before!

Tomorrow my mom’s hosting the Christmas dinner. She invited her best friend’s family (best friend, husband, son, his girlfriend and their two kids) as well as some hospital professionals that were here alone in Blanc-Sablon for the holidays: a doctor, an engineer, a dentist and an x-ray tech.

That’s one thing I like about mom. She has a big heart! When she thinks someone may be alone for Christmas, she asks them… And mostly she’s right and they come over! The more, the merrier, right?! I remember one year we had an airplane pilot and a nurse over and it was funny.

My Christmas tree bare, yesterday, before decorating it.

And my Christmas tree now decorated! I finished it today, after getting some “petits gugusses” to attach the balls. In the package they put some transparent fishing cord, but it was so tedious tying all the balls with that! I like my tree! It’s PERFECT!

Tomorrow my bro is arriving!

I sent my camera to get repaired at Canon. In the accompanying letter I wrote:

“To fix are two problems:
1) The lens is scratched.
2) The camera will not turn on.”

Pretty clear, right? I get my camera back. I try it. Yay! It powers on. I look at the lens, still scratched.

I am not happy.

I look at the paper that’s in the box. On it is written:

“Camera will not power on – note: lens is scratched.”

Dumb!!! Dumb!!!! Dumb!!!!!

And now it’s too late to call them because it’s Christmas weekend/week.

…to decorate my Christmas tree!!!!!

A friend of the family is supposed to go get one for me this afternoon. I would have liked to go with him, but I am working. And I guess he had plans for tomorrow. But the essential is getting the tree!!!!!! Yay!!!!

The routine is to go out with Happy at 7h when we wake up. But these days it’s cold! And getting out of my warm bed to the cold outside is a bit brutal! So I dress up extra warm to accompany her out. I put on: big Winter boots, snow pants, Kanuk coat with hood, scarf, tuque and mittens. And I’m just ok.

It’s currently -22°C (with the wind -28°C). The sea is not frozen, but near the shore it’s a bit slushy. And there’s a bit of fog/mist over that part. It’s eerie. Kinda visible on this pic…

I want to go get my Christmas tree. But I don’t know when I can go. I work when it’s daylight. And so the earliest could be Saturday. Unless… I take Friday afternoon off?! I’ll decide today… I’ll call the person who’s supposed to help me get it and see what he thinks.

Because I’ve started wrapping up gifts (both the ones I’m giving and mom’s giving – except to me). And they are all on my smaller sofa. But they would look so nicer under a tree!

So, later on Monday evening, as I was watching Gossip Girl in my hotel room, I got a call from a colleague back home. She was giving me my flight information for the next day…
8h30-9h15 Montreal-Quebec City
11h50-13h30 Quebec City-Sept-Îles
18h-21h40 Sept-Îles-Blanc-Sablon (with three stops along the way)
So it would take the whole day to get home, but I would eventually! At this point I would have flown on seagull’s wings if I could!

Tuesday morning I got up at 5h30 again, packed my bags, and left the hotel by 6h30. I went to pick up the girl I was escorting back home and we were on our way to the airport. The trip was long, lots of waiting around in tiny-crappy airports, but it all went pretty well. I tried to take good care of the girl, as well as minding for Happy and myself. It was a lot, but I managed well.

At 20h30 we were home! It was quicker because we only did one stop between Sept-îles and Blanc-Sablon instead of three.

I was really tired! But with a slice of mom’s bakeapple pie, I felt a bit more energy! At home, I undid some of my luggage, took a bath and went to bed.

It was funny to see Happy’s reaction when she went into the airport and saw mom! She went CRAZY excited! And at mom’s too! And home she just sniffed every corner of the house before playing with her favourite pillow and toys.

This morning I didn’t go in at work, I slept in a bit, showed mom stuff I’d bought, gave her stuff I bought for her, napped, ate, and just took the time to arrive. And I spent the arvo at work. But it’s awfully calm, my 3 colleagues are gone (one to St-Paul’s, one to a house visit and another already on Christmas holiday) and my boss is busy in meetings. So I did my thing, filling out paperwork to get some money reimbursed for the travel expenses, catching up on what happened while I was gone with some beneficiaries, etc.

My stay at the downtown hotel was fab… I loved the staff’s attention to detail… And the room itself was nice! But I’m now in another hotel room closer to the airport… To be able to react quickly when I get confirmed on a flight to go home!!!

Yea… So I was supposed to go home this morning at 9h. This morning I called the plane company to know the flight’s status. They tell me that flight was canceled days ago and I’d been transferred to the 15h flight, but that one was canceled too now but because of the storm. And they never told me I was on the 15h flight so I got up REALLY early at 5h30 for nothing. Then all day I’m trying to find out what they will do with us tomorrow. They don’t know. I’m on a waiting list for tomorrow’s 8h30 flight. But it’s REALLY full. So they are working on adding an extra special flight. But they don’t know if it’ll work, or when it’ll be, or anything. So I call them periodically to get updated, but they haven’t got anything to tell me. It’s a bit stressful. I signed up to escort a patient back home. I didn’t sign up for this storm/post-storm crap! And having to worry for not only me, but Happy and the patient! But hey, I can’t do more, so I will just wait.

So now I’m in a hotel, by the highway in Dorval and it’s a bit depressing. But yea… Hopefully I get good flight news soon and will go to bed happy. I’m so tired. I just want to be in my home… In my pjs… Wrapping Christmas gifts…

This morning before leaving downtown I went to the store to buy some Christmas gifts (two sets of: scarf and tuque set, socks and chocolate) to bring to my old job, the Auberge du Coeur. And I went to bring it to them! A Summer colleague was there, that was nice! And also one of the guys, one who really liked Happy! So we sat and chatted a bit. It was nice, they were glad I dropped by.

Today’s Photoblog pic, “Crèche de Noël” was taken at the Place Jacques Cartier last night while lots of snow was falling!

Crap! I went out for a walk with Happy at around 17h… And most restos who are normally opened on Sundays (as per the schedule in their windows) were closed… Due to the “storm”! So I ordered a soup and a dessert, as well as eating the rest of my sammy from lunch.

I was really worried about the storm tomorrow so I just called the lady from work, the one responsible for the patient I’m supposed to escort back home, so we can come up with a plan. She said she’d call our boss and give me a call back. The snow fell today here in Montreal… But for back home, there are weather warnings for tonight into Monday night: snowfall, wind and blowingsnow. So I really doubt the plane will land. And I don’t know if it’s ok for me to be stuck midway with this patient to take care of.

A pic of my walk with Happy… The Hotel de Ville…

I left the hostel at 11h10, and by 11h30 I was in my hotel room! Yay! A bit more comfort for my last night in the city. I settled in, watching a bit of tele in bed.

Then I got hungry so I went out to Claude Postel for soup and sandwich. But the sandwich was huge!!! I brought half back, but I don’t know when I’ll eat it… Don’t really feel like having the same sammy for dinner too!

After lunch I came back to the hotel… On the way there was a flash of light… Ok… Strange… And then a few seconds later a huge thunder roar! Lightning and thunder during a snowstorm?! WTF!? Never saw that before!! But it’s known as thundersnow! Happy got sooooo scared. She really hates thunder.

In the room Happy went to hide in the bathroom to feel safe. I put her blankie and a toy in there with her. I went to have a nap for about 2 hours I think!

Now it’s 16h… I’ll go out to the nearby pizza resto for dinner… I want something simple and yummy so.

I’m nervous about flying tomorrow. I tried to go on the MTL Airport website, but it showed a white page with a tiny black message “Server is too busy” at the top. I guess I’m not the only one wanting some flight info…

Today’s Photoblog pic is from last night’s hockey game, “Mc Cabe, scratching…”