Amberism

On being a housewife

I've been at home full-time now for almost 7 months. In that time it hasn't felt like my life has changed all that much as I was working at home for the better part of the last two years. Now, as the designated full-time house-person I am responsible for all things to do with the house with a few exceptions (cat litter and taking out the garbage). This isn't really new to me, previously I did it all anyway because I worked full-time at home. I was here and it was easy enough to empty the dishwasher as I made myself lunch or clean the bathroom as I was having my morning shower. Besides, Steve and I have very different ideas of how clean a house should be and my version is significantly cleaner. Not that I'm ultra-clean (I'm not) its just my tolerance for clutter and dirt is less than Steve's.

Yet, now that this is my job I hate it. My job, for the most part, is easily the most boring job on the planet. It never changes, it never wavers, it never miraculously stays clean. Laundry needs to be done every Sunday (because I do not have enough underwear to last any longer than a week), the dishwasher needs to be empty and refilled EVERY DAY, and the dog continuously sheds. Asking the dog to stop the shedding is ineffective. I've tried it, it doesn't work. You can't even bribe him with the good treats, he still sheds.

If I could put blame firmly on Steve, trust me, I would, but I can't. When it comes to live-in companions I have a pretty sweet deal and I know it. If I ask him to consistently put his dishes in the dishwasher, he does. If I ask him to bring down the laundry, he does. If I don't vacuum or clean the bathroom for a month, he says nothing, not even a snide under-his-breath comment. The absolute worse thing he ever did was comment that his pants were wrinkled and I should iron them. I didn't let that go because even though it might be my job, it takes a very brave man to ask a woman to iron his pants when said woman hasn't ironed a pair of her own pants in YEARS. For the record, it took close to two hours and I informed him all future pant purchases will be of the wrinkle-free variety. Do I have a right to make that request? Not really. I did anyway.

The guy, for the most part, hardly makes a mess. His worse offense is the car but neither of us is going to take home an award for tidiest car which numerous friends will attest to. Frequently.

Yet I've mentioned nothing that I didn't do before. I have been doing our laundry every Sunday for the last three years. I have been emptying the dishwasher and washing the dinner pots every night for that same amount of time. I vacuumed as regularly with a full-time job as I do now. The only reason I can think of why it suddenly sucks is that before I wasn't doing it out of a sense that it was my job, I just did it because it needed to be done. Now I have to do it and that bugs the crap out of me.

I'm off to vacuum the downstairs and wash the kitchen floor now. You're jealous, aren't you?

Tired. So very, very tired.

Another thing to add to the list of why it completely sucks to be pregnant - you can't sleep. You can't sleep on your back after a certan point because it cuts off blood flow to all the important things plus it reduces blood flow to the spawn and I'm going on the assumption that that's bad. You can't sleep on your stomach - self explanatory. You can't sleep on your side because everything starts to fall asleep within about a half second and if its not falling asleep and getting tingly, it aches. Personally I'm a big fan of sleep and would like to have some again. And if one more person tells me that its just something I'll have to get used you - JUST SHUT UP ALREADY, I KNOW. I'd like to point out that the baby crying all the time is still months away and I see no good reason to suffer now. Besides, I intend to give birth to an easy-going child. Yes, that's right, I am planning for an easy-going child. I have three neurotic pets, Steve and I have decided we're due for an easy-going child, *I* was easy-going, Steve is the definition of easy-going so really there's no reason for God to punish me or for the words "Revenge is sweet" to ever leave my mother's lips. I'm just sayin'.

Also, the glowing? Load of crap. I have some funny skin thing going on that is red and blotchy and there is certainly no glow.

To be honest, it appears that as far as pregnancy goes I'm one of those stupid lucky people who is getting off remarkably easy. There's still time, though, for those who hope to really see me suffer :).

In other news, spring is blooming in this part of the world and its pretty nice. Spring is fickle of course, so it could all suck tomorrow. Daffedils are out, crocuses are out, and the tulips are coming up too. The eagles are EVERYWHERE and even though I've lived here a year and a half they are still a remarkable bird to watch. The cherry and plum trees are in full bloom, and the bugs are zipping around like nothing else. Summer is soooo close. I can't wait!

It's been a crazy, busy week. I had a tonne of projects and reports due this week, another final coming up this weekend that I have to cram for and I have been volunteering with my streamkeepers group just about every Saturday. I still found time on Monday to do a 6 km walk with a friend and our puppies so I feel mighty good about that, it makes up for all the sitting around and studying I've been doing lately.

When things calm down I'm sure I'll think of something for more interesting than this to rant about!

And the ants came back, the very next year

Tis the season of the ant. In my kitchen. There's nothing like killing 20 odd ants and disinfecting the counter before you fry up your morning eggs. Fun, fun.

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I feel sad that my cute, tormented Leprechaun dog didn't get more comments. Thanks for sending my pooch love, Cori :). (ps where's your website these days, girl?)

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Every Tuesday for the next couple of weeks (I guess its during the weeks of Lent) my Grandma and I have been attending a luncheon series at her church. It's actually been really interesting as the topics are on sustainability, biodiversity and ecology and cover a range of areas from food to peak oil. All the topics fit in with the diploma I've been doing this past year, and for $6 you get a lecture and a really, really good lunch.

Last week a gentleman from the Qualicum Institute (they don't appear to have a website, unfortunately) came and spoke about biodiversity and sustainability and what local communities can do. He was really engaging and we left feeling more knowledgeable. Did you know that Cuba has a sustainable food industry? It's incredible. This week's topic was on Food Security and ...meh. It was interesting and it made you think about a few things but I didn't leave the lunch today feeling energized. It did sort of make me want to do some more vegetable gardening, and maybe buy a cow (ha! just kidding). One of the biggest issues I had with today's talk is that she kept using the word Christian. The minute you bring religion into the equation of something I consider to be science, it gets under my skin. This is completely unreasonable as numerous religious organizations do a lot of good, but I tend to start shutting down anyway. I had to keep reminding myself that a church was putting on the series and she meant no harm in it and that its my own hang up.

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We started our tomato seeds and other assorted early vegetables this weekend. We have regrouped and have decided to go a different route with our tomatos and keep them in pots so we can prevent the Tomato Plague of 2005 from repeating itself. This year, I hope to fulfill my dreams of making fresh tomato sauce. Mmmmm....pasta....

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Six eagles were soaring above our yard this weekend at one time. This, my friends, is why we live here. Beautiful.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

From Vegas!

For some reason, he won't do the cute, floppy ears when he's being tortured with Leprechaun paraphernalia. hmph.

Estrogen or Ignorant People Deserving of my Rage?

I was regaling an emotional story the other day at Grandma's house that Steve and Grandma were patiently listening through and at the conclusion Grandma very calmly asked me if I thought the hormomes of pregnancy were getting to me a little. hehehehehe. Maybe.

My story was about this jerk at the grocery store. I was unloading my cart and was in this unusual position of trying to unload my cart over the cart itself (some chain of events led to this that I can't recall) and was sort of wedged between this guy on the til behind me and the til I was at. Something fell out of the back of the cart that I couldn't reach without doing a lot of shuffling and just being a plain nuisance. The dude in the other line (who was maybe 40 years old) looks at me and announces "something fell out of your cart". Gee, thanks. I just looked at him and then after rearranging myself and cart and trying to squeeze back there past HIS cart to pick up said item the dude says "I guess I could have picked that up if I was a gentleman" and I said, rather snarkily "yeah, if you were gentleman you would have picked it up" but would like to note that I politely left off the "stupid asshole" that was on the tip of my tongue.

Maybe its the estrogen pumping through my body, or maybe people just suck.

Money Problems

Steve and I are having a monetary set back, and its not what you'd think. Its true that in the coming year we'll be managing on one salary instead of our typical two which is going to be a huge adjustment for us but we have a plan for that (it sucks, but its a plan). Our current problem involves how to spend our "fun" savings.

Steve very diligently saved a nice sum of money (I'm not prepared to tell the whole wide internet how much). It's a nice little sum that can offer up some nice little treats if we so chose. Thing is, we can't decide and its causing us stress.

The options:
A) Sailboat
B) Camper + 3/4 tonne truck
C) Trailer
D) Trip
E) 2 Kayaks and a fancy-dancy tent

The pros/cons
A) Sailboat
Pro: You can take the spawn, good opportunity to see the islands out here
Con: We don't have quite enough money actually saved for a sailboat

B) Camper + 3/4 tonne truck
Pro: A camper allows us to pull the motorboat and we can travel around the island doing this and that.
Con: Our current truck can't handle the weight of a camper and only has a bench seat. To accomodate spawn and a camper we'd have to buy a bigger truck and that's a whole other dimension of crap. I have the money for a vehicle but I wasn't really prepared to buy a new truck, I was thinking a 2000 Mazda Protege or something.

C) Trailer
Pro: We don't have to buy a new truck just a topper so the dog can come (assuming our truck can accomodate a baby seat - we're not sure at this very second) and we can do a lot of camping around the island and it would provide a guest room, so to speak, for our visitors. Of course, there still a guest room in the house but you know. In the future.
Con: I fucking hate trailers, they're annoying to park, to hitch up, and a trailer to me just screams that you don't give a shit about the enivornment at all. Don't ask me why, I have strange hang ups. Plus there is a possibility that we'll have to trade in the current truck. See above.

D)Trip
Pro: I love trips. There was a lot of discussion before we found out that Steve's boys can swim about finally getting to New Zealand this year. I can still travel for a while yet. We even thought maybe Scotland, or eastern Canada (ok, I thought eastern Canada up this very second, but still).
Con: I refuse to go anywhere where the activities revolve around things I can't do because I'm with spawn. So New Zealand is out because I am NOT traveling half way across the world if I can't dive the reef. Sorry. I also can't get any vaccinations so anywhere that is required we can't go anyway. Steve is against traveling to the US and he sort of wants a tangible something for being a good boy and saving his money. I get that.

E) 2 Kayaks and a fancy-dancy tent
Pro: How cool would it be to own kayaks? Damn cool.
Con: Completely unrealistic. I think if we strap spawn to the back of a kayak we'll be arrested.

So, what do you think? Let it be known that we probably won't abide by your advice at all :). We're annoying like that, but we're putting it out there to get some opinions and maybe that'll spur us in a decision.

Spawn of Steve

In the diploma course I've been working through we talk a lot about the future, the population crisis, human impacts on the earth, and generally how everything alive is in some way connected to everything else. The population crisis has always been something near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons. First the root cause, in my opinion, is that woman worldwide are not empowered. We're not equal players. Empower a woman and I assure you, they will not be baby-making machines (for the most part, some woman might still want to be but the average woman doesn't, this is a proven FACT). Second, if we all just willy-nilly reproduce so that the world is populated with more of the type of people we think the world needs (and this is different for everyone on the planet) all we're doing is placing a bigger demand on the earth and possibly having it all come crashing down on our own grandchildren. Where's the foresight in that? I don't know about you, but I'm hoping to leave a better world for future generations of mini-Steves and mini-Ambers, not a crappier one.

That said, I still believe in the right to reproduce. China's solution to their population problem is not a solution in my mind. Freedom is a very precious thing, and the right to have children, however many you may want to have, is still a right. It's been shown that once population momentum has stablized, we can keep it stable if each couple has no more than 2 children (ok, technically its 2.1 to take into account everything that can go wrong). Right now in Canada we're pretty close to that 2.0 figure but that figure doesn't include immigration. There's going to be immigration, no doubt about it. Either that or the US will just move on up here because we have all the fresh water due to geographical luck and the US is dangerously short on fresh water*. You should hear about some of the plans going on to divert our water southward. The future wars aren't going to be over religion, they're going to be over water. But that's an entirely different rant. Basically I personaly believe that we have a responsiblity to have only two children, its something that I've always believed in. If I ever have a desire to have more I plan to adopt rather than reproduce. Yet I also believe that each and every one of us has the right to make our own baby-making decisions and accept that not everyone is going to feel the same way that I do and I can respect that.

What I'm really trying to say is that I'm pregnant :) (13 weeks!). But I want my environmentally conscience friends to know I thought it through. Plus I'm testing to see if you actually read my entire entires. heh.

* this isn't meant to demonize the US. On an environmental front the US should be admired, their current reputation worldwide doesn't give them the proper credit they deserve. They have always been in the forefront of environmental law-making. Conservation has it roots in the US. Canada is not a star player on that front, and never has been, we don't even have basic environmental laws at a federal level in Canada. We can pat ourselves on the back for Kyoto if we want, but where is our law stating our right to Clean Air and Water? We don't have one, not specifically anyway (at least we didn't in 2003, I'm not that up on my law-making and too lazy to check my own claims on the matter).

I think if we didn't have to come up with a title every time we'd blog way more often

I didn't really watch the Academy Awards as I was cramming to get a term paper done (although what I was really doing was surfing the net and procrastinating on the cramming but still) but we watched the last hour or so and made fun of all the speeches.

George Clooney is dreamy. So is Jake Gyllenhal.

I'm glad that Crash won best movie, it's a fantastic movie and everyone should see it. I still like it even after Oprah endorsed it so enthusiastically. It's weird, I love Oprah but after she gets excited about something, a movie or a book, I cross said movie or book off my list. It annoys me that so many people can't be bothered to get out there and seek out a good book or movie on their own. If you need Oprah's a-ok, you need a life. I'm just sayin'. It is great that she's getting people to read, but that doesn't mean it doesn't annoy the crap out of me nonetheless.

I have a really wonderful day planned today. I'm going for lunch at my favorite restaurant in Qualicum Beach with a friend, and then we're going antiquing. I suspect we'll spend a little time on the beach today as well because the herring are spawning. This is truly something to see because every bird within flying distance of the island is now on the beach gorging itself on herring. It's pretty cool.

I'm an idiot. Ok, that isn't news.

This weekend I have a midterm in one course and I have to write a term paper in another. I'd feel sorry for me except that I don't work and I've had two entire months to write the term paper and I didn't do it so I don't really deserve much sympathy. But I'd like it anyway.

To top it all off, I lost the damn videotape that goes with the course that I have the midterm in. How I lost a videotape IN MY HOUSE is a complete mystery to both Steve and I. We've both seen the thing lying around, but do you think either of us can find it now? No. I've had to beg a lady in the course to borrow hers, I haven't heard back yet, but I'm praying she takes pity on me and lets me take a look at it for a couple of hours on the off chance that I need to have at least seen this video to write the midterm.

And then, the timing of the midterm was changed, it was MOVED UP. I just figured this out yesterday because I don't check the webboard everyday as it seldom has any new information. This class is of the whiney variety and it appears that the majority of them, or maybe the loudest of them, didn't like the timing. Unfortunately for me, I'm not one to whine to professors (To my blog, yes. To Profs, no.) and had managed my entire weekend around the original date. This moving up of the midterm really fucks me over. Or rather, it means I have to write my term paper today and tomorrow instead of going for a nice lunch and antiquing with a friend, and then spend the entire weekend doing a take-home midterm.

And what the hell is with the take-home exam? Is it going to be impossible because we have 36 hours and every possible resource available to us? The concept is completely lost on me.

I'm done now.

In other news, I finished my sister's Christmas present (so I'm either 2 months late or 10 months early). She's known about it for a while because I started it over a year ago and she picked the pattern herself like, oh, 10 years ago maybe! Its a fairly big cross-stitch Santa. I still have to wash it and frame it, once I do that I'll take a picture of it. But if you want to see the pattern, its this one