Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours! 

It's not perfect, but it's as good as we could manage with a timer and two very confused pets.

Jack is displeased.

He's been the biggest brat in the world since Js has been gone (4 whole days!) and he's driving me absolutely mental.

I've had on average 3-4 hours of quality sleep per night. He knocks shit off my dresser, pats-pats-pats with his feet on my mirror which makes it go cu-clunk-cu-clunk against the wall, meows endlessly, licks my elbows raw, eats my hair... I could go on but I'm too tired.

He's now started to open ALL the kitchen cupboard doors while I'm at work - according to his normal cycle, there are 2 more days of shit to put up with once he starts with the kitchen cupboards - and emptying out the garbage bin ev.ery.where. Oy.

Today, I decided to come home for lunch and look who greeted me at the door, looking quite pleased with himself :

Yes, it's a magic eraser... yes, it's chewed to shits. I mean, sure, a dog could make considerably more damage to a wee sponge but consider that Jack weighs about 11 pounds. This is the most I've caught him eat so I've been following him around the house, paper towel in hand, ready to clean up a steaming pile of vom. Nothing to declare so far.

He misses his daddy so bad it's nuts. There is too much pet love for a single person in this household!

Crochet : Cat toy

A wee fortune cookie for my wee kitty.

I'm currently working on a SUPER-GEEKY project... nowhere near done but I'm already super excited about it. :)

New Hobby : Crochet

Yes, ladies and gays, I have started to crochet. I've been having a hard time finding a hobby that would work for me.

I can't pick anything that requires the TV because well I need a hobby the most is when Js is playing video games. I have tried playing video games but can't play them for very long... I tend to get bored fairly quickly. I do enjoy the Sims and Little Big Planet but it comes in waves.

I really enjoy baking and cooking too but when our freezer is full of prepared goodness and I run out of people to force feed my cupcakes to, I'm back to square one. It's not something I can always do when I'm bored or that's quick to pick up and put down. Also, the dishes kinda make it more work than hobby.

I also really enjoy taking pictures but I'm nowhere near having enough experience, knowledge or equipment to really get immersed in photography. I'm getting there though with the help of my patient, patient friends who allow me to take millions of photos of their kids. My pets now run away at the sight of the camera.

Crochet is perfect! It doesn't cost much, doesn't take much space or preparation and it's something that I can actually use. Sure, eventually I'll be all stocked up on scarves and dishcloths but eventually I'll learn to make something new. I believe I promised (read : threatened with) Nick a tea-pot cozy. 

Another plus : it's immensely entertaining for the cat.

Merry Christmas!

It was hard enough getting Nova to stay still for a couple seconds, I didn't get a chance to include Jacko in the picture - he sends his love.

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.

1. I live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
2. I am being shot at with a Nerf gun.
3. I'm married to the man of my dreams, Js.
4. Said man of my dreams is currently shooting at my cat with a Nerf gun.
5. I have a cat names Jack and a dog named Nova.
6. I get really annoyed by Nerf guns.
7. I have been blogging for a little over two years.
8. I'm a military spouse.
9. My first language is French.
10. I'm short.
11. I really enjoy Indian food.
12. I love to bake and cook.
13. I love my job.
14. I am, yet again, being shot at with a Nerf gun.
15. I can be surprisingly patient, at times.

Home is where your cat is.

I never thought I could miss a little fuzzy thing like my Jacko so damn much. Yes, I do miss Js and Nova and everyone else but missing Jack's been pretty difficult in this whole situation.

I miss Js with all my heart but I can call him, I know he's there for me and thinking about me while I'm away. I know he wishes he could be here with me during this difficult time to support me and my family and that is incredibly comforting.

Since I adopted Jack 5 years ago (already!), he's always been there. I've always been able to find comfort in snuggling my nose in his neck and falling asleep to his soft purr. When old boyfriends dumped me, when Js left, when Js came back, when Js left again and came back again and left again, when I decided I was moving wherever Js got posted, when I found out it was Saskatchewan, when I miss my family, when I opened up old wounds to learn to live again - Jack was always there. He's my constant and when I look at him, I know I'm where I should be. It's silly really, to attach such a huge emotional hook to a small kitty cat who can't even talk let alone understand everything that I rely on him for. Maybe it's just that. He's there no matter how much I depend on him, he can't talk back and he lets me make my own decisions and just snuggles.

The challenges that I've faced this week definitely call for a very long snuggles session between Jacko and me to restore my strength and courage. He's 3000kms away and it sucks.

Let's have pets, we said...

... they'll enrich our lives, we said.

If Jack and Garfield ever met...

... the world would essssplode of sarcasm.

Weird dream - Living at a gas station

Yes, that's right. I had a weird dream last night where I lived at a gas station and I blame it all on the medication.

Pretty much, I was living in a hotel room attached to a gas station. I was trying to get some rest but people kept ringing the doorbell asking for directions. As soon as I got settled into bed someone came by to ask how to get somewhere. That went on for quite some time and I was getting frustrated.

Then some idiot left the door open too long and Jack ran outside. He almost got hit by a school bus. I ran outside to try and catch him but something caught my eye - the red car from Cars the movie was there and very intriguing for some reason.

Then I woke up.

I've never seen this much Canada...

Things are settling over here in the Jaw. We are staying at the Heritage Inn Hotel (where Lindsay might get a job! Yay!) until we get our stuff all set up in the new house. Until then, this, is home.

We left Ottawa on Thursday and it was hard to say goodbye to my parents but it was exciting to finally be on our way to our life together. I was glad they were able to come to the airport with us and wait around with us until we had to board the plane. The flight to Toronto was okay, kinda short and nothing I wasn't used to. We had enough time to eat there, thank god. Then, we were finally on our way to Saskatchewan. The minute the plane took off and we weren't touching ground anymore Js looked over at me and said "Now you can't change your mind anymore!"

It all became so real so fast but I didn't even blink. Finally, the band-aid was ripped off and I could stop being sad about leaving and start being happy about being here. This move had been dragging on for so long, I didn't really realize until then how much room it was taking up on a day to day basis.

We got here really late and after a hotel room hunt, we found one and just crashed. We were both so tired and we knew we had to leave for Winnipeg to pick up the cat the very next morning.

The drive to Winnipeg was long but it was filled with new sights. It gave us a chance to talk about random things, discuss some wedding plans and talk about our new home and what we have in mind for it. I squealed mid-sentence like a 5 year old child when I saw the giant Moose and took a picture and don't remember even now what I was about to say... I'd forgotten how exciting it was to discover somewhere new. Even if it's just a small town like Bushell Park or Moose Jaw, it's got it's charm. So far, I'm enjoying this place. I haven't seen much of it and still feel totally disoriented but I'll figure it out eventually. The air is dry, the land is flat and it's damn cold.

It took about 25 minutes in Winnipeg for us to retrieve a very soaked, cold, pissed off Jacko and get back on our merry way to Regina. Js drove a total of 1311.5km and I tried my best not to sleep. I failed miserably. Jack was soaked and he couldn't reach his bum to clean himself so when we got to the hotel, he looked like a confused half-cat-half-rat. Having Jack here makes it feel a lot more like home. Even if it's a low-end hotel room, he dosen't care, there's high shit he can climb on, he's good.

So pretty much, we left Ontario, came to Saskatchewan and drove to Manitoba and back to Saskatchewan within the same 24 hours. Every time someone asks me how much I like Saskatchewan, I don't even know what to answer because I haven't seen that much of it yet. I need a bit of time to let it all sink in.

This afternoon, we got to see our new home! I love it! Love! Pictures to come, I promise! Now I can't stop thinking about what's going to go where... *sigh*

Jack doesn't like butt probes.

First things first : Royal-Lepage-Relocating-Services-Lady can lick my left nut. Yes, I will grow one especially for her. She asked us if we had a pet that needed to travel with us... Js said yes. She then proceeded booking our flight with an air carrier that dosen't allow pets to travel at this time of year. They don't send out planes with heated cargo to Regina and don't allow you to keep your pets with you. Joy! So now, we have to book him on a different flight with a different carrier and, get this, fly him to Winnipeg. Which means that he has to leave Ottawa the day after us and we have to leave Moose Jaw as soon as we get there to go pick him up in Winnipeg then drive back because our stuff is scheduled to arrive on that day at the earliest. I don't know how we are going to pull it off... especially since I don't drive stick yet so Js will have to do all the driving. I thought we could maybe stay at a hotel for one night in Winnipeg to give us a bit of rest, but we'll have to see with the movers when we'll need to be at the house for the unpacking process... *ugh!*

It's so stupid... If it's your job, in life, to book flights for people who are relocating and you can't even do that properly... I think it's time for you to find another job and stop ruining people's lives. Jack has to endure a flight by himself AND a 7h car drive. Ouch!

As for the butt probes, it was Jack's visit at the Vet's today. We needed to make sure that he was healthy before throwing him on a plane (by himself!) and maybe get some sedatives or something, just in case! The Vet was really nice and my cat done me proud!

I've been telling him for a week that we're going to Canned Tuna Fest 2009 so he was eager to get in his cage and be on his way. SURPRISE! When we get to the Vet's I let him out of his cage and he starts sniffing around like the dog that he is and the Tech keeps telling me that he's a lovely little cat and very well behaved... *cough* I tell her to give him a minute. So she tries to weigh him and he give in, he thinks she's petting him, we're good!

Then she asks me if he's used to having his temerature taken...? Hum... no. So she pulls out the little thermometer and asks me if I think I can hold him. Thinking he'll be at least calmer if it's me holding him down while she shoves a cold steal thing up his hole, I give it a go. She shows me how and then proceeds with attempt number one. *meow-meow-hiss-meow* Fail. She leaves to get the Vet.

Jack's now aware that these nice people are not there to cuddle him and he's wondering what the hell happened to Canned Tuna Fest 2009 so makes an escape to the top of the cabinets and I can't reach him. It took 2 stepping stools, a vet and a tech with gloves up to their elbows to get him down. NOT a happy kitteh. So they go ahead with probe attempt number two. *meow-meow-hiss-meow-kick* Fail.

They get the receptionist and now there are two people holding my cat down and one trying to find his wee a-hole in all that fur... *meow-hiss-meow-kick-kick-meOW-hiss* She got it... but according to the thermometer he's 29.5 degrees so something tells her that it didn't stay in long enough because Mister Kitteh here wouldn't stop kicking. Fail. Surrender.

I told the Vet she should at least take him out for a nice Tuna dinner first or something, she can't expect my cat to just "get down" like that... We had a good laugh and she made a note on his file to take him out to dinner next time. :o)

Otherwise I'm happy to report that Jacko is perfectly healthy, his coat is in perfect shape and his lungs and heart are fab. YAY for my cat! *beams with pride*