I recently arranged to have my things shipped here from storage in Quebec City. A few weeks ago I received my things… Minus a metal midbeam for my Ikea bed frame. Crap! I couldn’t assemble it without this highly important piece.

So I explored the different possibilities. There was getting a boxspring but it still wouldn’t be supported in the center and quite expensive. There was having a new midbeam made by the welding company here but they weren’t returning my calls and it would be complicated to get the exact old piece made. So I went with the third option which was to ask the guys at the hardware store to come install a wood midbeam.

All of this to arrive at the final product… A guest room with a double bed, capable of welcoming 2 guests! Yay!

I installed two shelves… One bigger above the bed for family pics and teddys and a smaller one besides the window for the light. I used a nice piece of driftwood I found!

I put the chest of drawers that was in the room inside the closet and put mine in the room instead with on top my numerous old style photo albums.

I’m glad the guest room is finally done! It’s important because sometimes during high-wind storms I go there to sleep… My room has 3 outside walls (North side too!) and the guest room only 1… So it’s much more quiet in strong winds.

On Friday I had a meeting with the person in charge of the daycare. We were discussing the number of children. She commented on how I could be a good candidate to help her get her numbers up with the daycare… Pointing out that I didn’t have any kids yet.

Today I went to the hardware store to get some materials to finally fix up the shelve in the guest bedroom and start repairing the bed frame. The lady there commented on how I needed a man to help me fix all these things…

I wonder… Is it simply coincidence that all these people are telling me these things, or is it for some other reason… Hmmm…

Today during lunch time I went to take pics for the unveiling of a Parks Canada plaque… It says that Blanc-Sablon is a spot of historic importance.

It was fun to take my camera out again!

My last day in Montreal I did some shopping in the morning. At least I tried to. I found a neat pair of Ecco hiking shoes at Mephisto but they didn’t have my size. Then later at Sport Experts an even neater pair of Lowa ones, again not available in my size. I’m thinking of ordering them online.

Then I met up with a friend. We walked from Concordia all the way to a little Chinese tea shop near the Basilique Notre-Dame! It was an enjoyable walk though. There we had tea! I usually don’t care much for tea, but this was neat… To experience the ceremony/traditional way to drink it.

For supper we went to a resto. I ate delicious ribs at The Keg on St-Paul. It was a good way to end my Montreal mini-escapade.

Recently I got 2 phone calls (well actually messages, because I wasn’t home). Apparently someone put the good word in for me/made references. And it’s working! One’s to cover my region on the morning show of our national radio and the other’s a photography assignment this Wednesday. I can’t wait for tomorrow morning to call them back and get extra details!

I tried putting up a shelve in my guestroom to display my photo albums. But it’s so not working! I put the drywall butterfly plastic thingy, then an extra long screw. Still, ça tient pas!! Grrrrrrrr! I’ll have to call in reinforcements soon!

Monday:

-I started with some intense clothing shopping… A few hundreds less in my pockets, but lots of nice clothes from Mango, H&M, Garage, Gsus (at Simons), etc… Yay! Though it looks like a lot of gray there’s also dark mauve and emerald green items! I got nice sweaters at Mango… They were all amazing! Not your plain old shapeless wool sweaters, but cute designs! I also fell in love with a Gsus skirt. The last time it was in Vancouver at the Gsus Heaven’s Playground store. This time it was at Simon’s when browsing around. I can’t wait to wear it!!
-I went to see a movie, Inglourious Basterds. I liked it quite a lot even though it was quite bloody at times.
-Finally I visited the World Press Photo exhibit at the Musée Juste Pour Rire. But really, there’s nothing to laugh about there. A lot of pics were really stricking. I also liked seeing Jean-René Dufort’s pics. He has a good eye, and his captions were nice.

A few thoughts:
-I bought a 3-day tourist card to go around Montreal. But tonight at St-Lo station there was no attendant in the booth. How are tourists supposed to enter the metro if no one’s there to visually check the cards and open the gate?
-I’m thinking about buying a Concordia frame to put my diploma in. It’s kind of sad, it’s been sitting at home in the 3rd drawer of my guest room’s chest of drawers. Would look good framed in my office!

Friday:
-Plane trip to Montreal went well.
-Provincial gives food, unlile Air Lab, so you don’t arrive starving.
-Checked into my hostel room and surprise: they now have little tv’s in the rooms! Even better…

Saturday:
-The wedding ceremony in the morning was very nice, at the Notre-Dame Basilica’s chapel.
-Shopping for a dress for the evening was fun too! Found a nice one at Mexx.
-Saw my hair stylist and also enjoyed getting my make-up done (free service after hair cut).
-Wedding reception was lots of fun! Good food, laughs, nice company.

Sunday:
-Had brekky and shopped at Ikea.
-Shopped for craft supplies.
-Saw a movie, Julie & Julia. Was cute, made me want to cook.

Tomorrow… Shopping again! Clothes and maybe hiking shoes if I find good ones.

A few thoughts:
-When I lived in MTL, sadly to say, I was used to seeing homeless people begging. Now I am not anymore and it doesn’t feel good at all walking by them.
-Some of the metro booth workers are really unfriendly, especially the one Saturday at Place d’Armes!
-Walking in the city is intense! Especially when you’re carrying bags. A real workout!
-I do miss Happy, but apparently she’s ok… Mom’s taking good care of her.

My trip to St-Augustin for work went well.

Here are some thoughts…

-Apparently there are bears (or so I’ve heard from some strange lady).
-Four-wheelers are much more fun to ride than to hear pass by.
-Play bingo with pros only… “A stamp and down the ends” I heard and didn’t get it… Was “down the N’s!”
-The depanneur a bit before bingo is a happening place! Lots of people, funny chats.
-People know me (mostly because of my mom) but I don’t know so many people.
-The Sisters make a good lobster club, with tons of meat in it!!
-I miss HGTV (there’s satellite TV in the transit apartments).
-Frost at night on the vehicules already. Brrr!
-The view of the river from the transit apartment can be quite pretty with the sunset.

I just received two envelopes in the mail…

The first was from Fido for my cell phone… They were telling me my phone was becoming inactive and saying if I put $$ in (I pay as I go) they’d double that amount as a bonus. PERFECT! I was going to buy a card anyways since I am going to the city where my phone actually works!

The second was from Staples. They offered me a 5$ coupon off the purchase of ink. And it was on my purchase list! All of the inks for my colour printer. What a good timing!

I’m away for a little while, then home 2 days and then my stuff arrives on the ferry! So today I decided to start prepping for it.

The guest room closet had been housing mostly empty boxes, waiting to be filled again when I move back. So I decided to throw away the ones that don’t unfold. Gone! The space that was freed allowed me to put the 4 drawer unit that was in the room’s corner inside the closet. That way it’ll be more space for my furniture in the room itself! I’ll replace the small bed with my own double bed. I also have a nice 5 drawer unit coming that will go in that room.

I had my bedding in a plastic bin in my bedroom’s closet. But I’ve been buying a lot of different duvet covers so it doesn’t fit anymore. I decided to put the duvet covers in that bin and freed space in the bathroom cabinets above the washer/dryer for the sheets and blankets. And while I was at it I decided to wash everything so that’s fresh before going in the closet. So the laundry machines have been in high demand today!

I’m looking forward to having all of my stuff home. And unpacked. But first it’s got to get here.

I thought it was time for a new Happy video:
-Happy’s scared of the facetowel in the bathtub. Funnily though, she’s only scared of the dark purple ones, not the beige ones.
-Happy’s very playful, especially with her fake bone toy!
-Happy loves fetching the stick at the lake… She couldn’t do it as a Mira dog, so it’s only recently we began playing this and she’s caught on quite well! It’s one of her fave activities I think!

Servi que par soi-même! I felt like eating a good hamburger and fries meal for a while now. If I lived in MTL I’d go to a great little resto and have it. Here the options for hamburger and fries are:
1) Take-out
2) Make it home

So I went for option 2! Mom gave me some of her huge potatoes (because I only had small new potatoes here) and I made big Belgian style fries. I cooked them in oil, being careful of course! Mmmm! I also made 2 hamburgers. So that I could twice eat a bit, a bit more, eat the meat and leave the rest of the bun! It was good!

During supper I watched a flick, “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” So I didn’t do the dishes right after eating as I usually do. So it’s now 20h and I have to do dishes and don’t feel like it! I need a dishwasher (machine or man).

I know Blanc-Sablon’s far. But it’s where I’m at for a little while still. And I’d love for some friends to come visit. So I’m announcing the “Blanc-Sablon Travel Bonus!”

The first friend to come visit me will receive 250$ towards travel costs… I know it’s a tiny part of the expensive car/boat or plane trip, but it would help.

So yep… My door’s open, and I’m awaiting my visitors!

After work I went for a little walk with Happy, at the Perroquet Island lookout. People keep saying it’s great because there aren’t any flies anymore. But that’s soooooooo not true! I got bit in two spots on my neck during this walk. Still… It was nice to enjoy the sun and some fresh air after being inside for work all day!

Today in the mail I got the last piece of my new decor… My wall decal! I already put it up! It was quite simple. I like the end result!

For work I have a job to offer. It’s 18 hours at 15.50$/hour. That’s 279$/week gross. Some people told me they’d rather stay on their full time job, and are being paid the minimum wage. That’s 40 hours at 360$/week gross. For the difference of 81$, I’d go for working 22 hours less in my week! It’s like working these extra hours for 3.63$/hour! Nuts.