This Post Promised to Be the Best Post Ever...

....please note the use of the past tense :(

So here's the story...

Picture this, if you will... 

Me... standing in a fabulously steamy hot shower becoming increasingly excited...breathless with anticipation...on the verge of exploding ....with all sorts of awesome ideas for an "End of Year Wrap-Up/Best-Of squirrel_e_girl" blog post.

 ~not exactly where you thought I was going with  this is it? heh heh heh ...I'm tricky that way~

Anyway, back to the matter at hand...

I had a TON of super excellent stuff to write about bouncing around in my little steamed-up brain (seasoned "Musings" readers may remember that I've made mention of the fact that I do my best work in the shower) and I was raring to go and more than ready to pull an all-nighter in order to get it all down on virtual paper when I was stopped dead in my little squirrelly tracks....

Oh yeah...I remember now...

I took a wee sleeping pill (and an Advil) before I hopped into the shower so I'd be all nicely ready to sleep by the time my head hit my pillow....Thinking ahead, you see. Time management like you've never experienced.

Damn. There goes my night of inspired blogging....right down the drain. 

I wish I had been candidly filmed just so I could see the expression of abject disappointment when that unhappy realization sunk in .... I woulda looked a little something like this :( ....but way sadder.

Actually, once I stop and think about what I just wrote, I believe I will rescind that particular wish...no one needs to see me being candidly filmed ...or uncandidly for that matter...whilst in the shower.

Ok... I gotta go...my eyes are getting heavy and if there's one thing I know it's that Blogging and Sleeping Pills don't mix.

Blog Respsonsibly, Kids.

N'night.

More tomorrow.

A Quick Peek at My Diet This Week Past...

You know what's delicious?

Shortbread.

You know what else is delicious?

Chocolate covered almonds.

You know what else is delicious?

Pump-i-kin pie with real whipped cream. (In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that it is too delicious for its own/my own good.)

You know what is not delicious?

White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Bark.

Did the President not give it a little taste before he made this particular Choice? Whatever was he thinking?

The Chickadee Has Landed.

Remember way back at the beginning of November, when I wrote that lots 'o' shit had gone down in squirrel_e_girl world during the month of October...and then, instead of relaying all the aforementioned October shit that had gone down, I proceeded to write a silly list of reasons why I like to write lists?

Yeah, well... all the shit that went down in October still went down... obviously...but since then...actually, since this morning... some shit has just gone down that is even more exciting than all that aforementioned/unmentioned October shit...

~I'm now going to stop using the word 'shit' because it's starting to sound a little base...To hell with maintaining a sense of continuity ... I choose to maintain a sense of class~

....Something has recently transpired that is waaaaaay more exciting than buying a house and then nearly not buying a house(because apparently the mortgage provider kinda forgot...after initially approving us and said house... that they actually kinda don't mortgage Panabode log homes...ummm...ok...You did realize, of course, Big Important Mortgage People, that this deal was to close in less than 2 weeks when you pulled the f#%king rug out from under us, right?!...oops). And then buying, again, the house that has very instantly become my absolute dream home.

... Something has recently taken place that is waaaaaay more exciting and interesting (although waaaaaay less weird) than the fact that my Sweetie and I purchased this awesomely excellent dream home from vendors who just happen to be my Erstwhile Sister-in-Law and Erstwhile Brother-In-Law ... and ... we used a realtor who just happens to be my Erstwhile Husband. That's ok...take a minute to absorb all that...

...


...


...


~And to add to the Flowers in the Attic-i-ness of the situation...the reason my S.I.L/B.I.L decided to sell this fabulous spot in the first place is that they had an excellent once-in-a-lifetime kinda opportunity to move in with my Erstwhile Parents-in-Law into their big beautiful lakeside home...Fingers and toes crossed for everyone involved in that land-mine/time-bomb laden set-up. I love you all immensely...but you're all crackers~


...Something has recently come to pass that is even waaaaay more exciting than, after 3 years of living with super duper crap internet (First, we made do with frustratingly primitive, forehead-bangingly slow dial-up internet. Then, we "progressed" to retardedly expensive, slow and erratic (which is nowhere near as cool as slow and erotic) Rocket Stick 3G internet. Then, we moved on and up to the not-as-retardedly expensive but equally slow and erratic (again, not as cool as slow and erotic) Rocket Hub 3G internet) ... we now have real live HIGH SPEED CABLE INTERNET!!!!*cue choir of beatific angels belting out a chorus of "HALLELUJAH!!!"

Life is Good. Really. Really. Good.

Ok...so THE most exciting shit to go down in these last few crazy exciting months is...

Drumroll, please....

There is a chickadee at my feeder.


 And ...


EVEN BETTER...


Since I began writing this post, that one lone chickadee has been joined by several other chickadee-dee-dees and...a nuthatch.

Awesome.

Now, this may not be super crazy exciting to some of you, but to me, a self-admitted, dare I say, self-proclaimed wienie....this is HUGE. 


You see, before we left our old place, I had to gradually stop feeding all the birdie friends I had gathered over the past year....including our lovely little cardinal family... and that made me more than a wee bit sad.

 So, this weekend, I set about to cultivate my new crop of birds. We put both of my old feeders up and I also filled the 2 feeders that the previous owner/bird girl (the always wonderful MMW) had left here till spring. So, that means, I had 4... count 'em ... FOUR... feeders primed and ready to go. 


WAHOOOoooOoOOoooO!!!!


....and for 3 long dreary days they stood desolate and bare.


...mocking me with their blatant birdlessness  :(


Until this morning!!!!

YAY!!!!!!

I have birds again!!!


Thank you, my wee little chickadee-dee-dees...and nuthatch. I will take good care of you this winter. I promise.

All is now well in squirrel_e_girl world.




Stay Tuned for more super duper awesomely exciting updates from my feeders ;)

It Was the Best of Nights, It Was the Worst of Nights.

Well, actually, it was mostly the best of nights...the worst of nights part didn't start until 2am-ish so perhaps I should re-title...

It Was the Best of Nights, It Was the Worst of Really Early in the Mornings.

Allow me to elaborate...

This past Saturday night, I, along with 349 other lucite boys and girls

 ~ I interrupt this sentence to bring to your attention, the strangest autocorrect EVER ... The all-knowing Autocorrect Gods, in their wisdom, just corrected my misspelled "lucky" to read "lucite" ....which isn't even a real word. It's the trademark name of a kind of plastic that is used in the manufacturing of hot tubs ...and trendy jewellery ???

Allow me to get back to my sentence...

This past Saturday night, I, along with 349 other lucky boys and girls, attended a kick ass fundraiser organised in spectacular fashion by a beloved "Musings" reader. (Killer job, Angie!! You should be monstrously proud of yourself!! Woot!!) This was a sold-out, eagerly anticipated event that showcased the talent of 4 awesome local bands.

A month or so ago, when I first found out that this evening was in the works, I thought to myself, "Self, would you look at that line-up!! That is going to be one epic shindig. I bet everyone is going to be there."

.... and then I experienced an odd, unfamiliar stirring. (not one of those stirrings. Mind out of the gutter, please)

I was bewildered and alarmed by a sudden foreign impulse and I immediately questioned myself, "Self!!! What the hell is happening?? There must be something wrong with me!! Could I possibly actually want to actually go out and actually do something fun??? In public?? With people and everything?? People that I actually know?? Some for more than half my life?? Quick!! Dial 911!!! Stat!!"

I gave my head a good shake and lay down to wait for this crazy notion to pass...or, failing that, the arrival of the other 3 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Bizarrely enough, neither of those things happened.

Later that day, my Sweetie came home from work and I filled him in on the freaky details of my afternoon and all he had to say was, "Sounds like fun. Sure we'll go."

Damn.

My fate was sealed.

The strangeness didn't end there.

Oh no.

Not by a long shot.

Not only did I NOT ONCE think of backing out and not going, but I also went into town and picked up the tickets MYSELF.

Oh, yes.

I did.

Myself.

...AND...

And... I invited some friends over to our place for some pre-show beverages.

BAM!!! Introverts of the World, please bask in the glow of my successful foray into Extreme Extraversion!!

Ok...enough basking.

So, after weeks of simmering excitement, the big day finally arrived.  As far as I could tell, pretty much everyone and their brother was going to be at this thing (only in my case it was my sister). I was giddy with thoughts of how ridiculous it was going to be. You see, for those of you not from Orillia, a few hundred drunk Orillians is quite a sight to behold.

 The evening held such promise!! I was super duper pumped.

A lovely visit with some lovely friends and 3 RockStars [+Vodka] later and I was on my way!!!

My initial disappointment after hearing that we missed my good friend's band's set was quickly buffered by the glorious spectacle that greeted us not 10 feet from the entrance....The lineup for the bar was at least 8 people across and a good 10-12 people long. I rubbed my hands together with glee. The potential for some good ol' Orillian shenanigans was HUGE!! I was even more gleeful when my Guy pointed out that my sister and bro-in-law just happened to be at the front of that mammoth line. "Hey Most Excellent Sister at the front of that mammoth line!! Can  you grab us a couple of Smirnoff Ice??" Oh yeah.

And so, it began.

And so, this post devolves into a sophomoric recount of my drunk girl escapades. Please accept my apologies.

As a general rule, I don't drink to excess so this was a noteworthy event.

Since my memory is greatly blotted out by the consumption of alcohol (particularly Smirnoff Ice), the details are a bit sketchy so this is a perfect time for me to compile...

"A Not-so-Comprehensive List of Things I'm Pretty Sure I Probably Experienced This Past Saturday Night"
by: squirrel_e_girl

• Within the first 4.3 minutes, I was startled by both....  a) a slap on my ass dealt by a dude I dated relatively seriously about 22 years ago (22 f%*king years ago!!?? How is that even possible??) and... b) the sudden and unexpected appearance of my mortgage broker who just happened to be standing next to the aforementioned former boyfriend. Now, that may not seem weird to you, but it completely freaked me out... in a good "oh my god that's hilarious" kinda way
• I saw my hairdresser
• I declared my deep undying platonic fondness to 2 maybe 3 people (who just happen to be beloved readers, too. Hi guys!!!) ...and I must stress that the quantity of declarations, by no means, diminishes the quality or sincerity of my words. Although I do hope that the Caesar Salad I had for supper didn't make the experience less than enjoyable for the objects of my, no doubt, close-talking affections.
• I passionately apologised (several times) to the owners of the poor dog whose face I accidentally slammed in a door (drawing blood) a few months ago while she was in my care :(
• I peed with my sister in a very small washroom stall
• I totally managed to survive a rather awkward encounter where I went on and on to a woman about how cool her wedding invitation was (I happened upon it while sorting through paperwork and packing last week) only to find out that she and her husband had just recently broken up. Apparently, I am waaaaayyy outta the loop.
• I put all of our auction tickets towards a pet portrait thingy that we very well might've won except my Guy didn't have his glasses and therefore couldn't read the wee lil numbers and I was too busy off galavanting being all extroverted-like to realise that the winning tickets were being drawn 

...which leads me to...

• I was an extremely inconsiderate date and left my poor non-native-Orillian Sweetie to fend for himself in a sea of drunk and disorderly Orillians for the bulk of the night. Tsk Tsk. Shame on me. I'm sorry.
• I relentlessly teased a guy who, years ago at a house party we had, thought that coming into my bathroom to talk to me...my ensuite, no less...while I was in the shower was a completely acceptable idea. (it was super late and I was hitting the hay). I don't think his wife had heard that particular story before ....oops.
• I sang "Ride, Sally. Ride" into the mic during Mustang Sally...at least I think I did. Although that may have been the last time I saw that band...5 years ago. Huh.... Leave that one with me.
• I had a very serious conversation with a friend about a very serious thing and I hope she knows that everything will all work out in the end and that she is an awesome Mom.
• I punched my Erstwhile Husband really really hard in the arm... just because :)

....and the Hands-Down-Without-a-Doubt Most Exciting Thing to Happen was...

•  seeing my most favourite pen-pal EVER for the first time in almost forever. One of the best surprises I've ever had the joy of experiencing. WAHOOOOO!!!

And then we went home and, as every fun evening out should end, I found myself lying on my bathroom floor in my underwear, crying hysterically for no apparent reason. Ahhhh!!! Good Times.

My MOST AMAZING GUY took gentle and wonderful care of me all the rest of the night/really early morning and I applaud his craftiness in convincing me that while he didn't doubt that my head was far too heavy for me to lift up off the floor and that if he just brought me a pillow, I'd be fine, he was almost 100% positive that it would be a whole lot easier for me to lean out of bed to throw up into a bucket than it would be for me to have to sit up and climb into the toilet bowl each and every time I barfed. The man is a genius. Thank You <3

My darling Son kept me company for most of the next morning and hung out in bed with me while I moaned and groaned and advised him to steer clear of the booze. He thought showing me this "Point of View" video of the new rollercoaster at Wonderland was a great idea. I didn't. It was some prime Mother-Son bonding time....I'm pretty sure parenting experts far and wide would agree.

I managed to ingest an Advil and a chocolate-dipped donut for brunch and we went for a nice hike with the hounds so the day wasn't a complete write-off.

I went to bed at 8:10 ....which is unheard of in squirrel_e_girl world...and I woke up this morning happy as a clam and fit as a fiddle.

The Day After the Day After is a beautiful thing.

The End.

A Month in Review...

October was a big month in squirrel_e_girl world.

Lots 'o' shit went down, man.

Huh...I was just about to put all my October Shenanigans into a little list-y thing but I'm hesitating because I'm thinking I've perhaps overdone the  "list" format and I definitely don't want to get stuck in a rut.

I want to stay fresh ...sharp ...innovative

'Cuz that's just the way I roll.

But...

I

can't

seem

to

help

my

self.....


"A Comprehensive List of Reasons Why I Will Continue Posting Comprehensive Lists"
by: squirrel_e_girl

• I like lists ...I like readin' em. I like watchin' em on TV. I like writin' em. I like 'em.
• It's a bit easier to be clever-ish in bullet points than it is in proper sentences or paragraphs.
• I don't have to worry about making all sorts of logical transitions between thoughts like I do when I write actual writing.
• I like soup.

Is it too late to change the name of my blog??

Ah man... I saw this today and now have tumbled stripey-tail first into a major identity crisis.

Take a peek and you'll understand my plight:

Chipmunks are waaaaaaayyyy cuter and Look!! These little dudes have a cage and a wheel and everything .

 "Musings From the Chipmunk Cage" by chipmunk_e_girl

Whaddya think??

....hmmmm...Actually, I think I'll stick with my squirrels. That extra syllable in 'chipmunk' messes with the whole rhythm and flow....And I'm all about the rhythm and flow. (although I do have a bastard of a time trying to spell 'rhythm' right ... 'rhyme' is another word that causes me grief. Apparently, the "rhy" combo doesn't sit well with me)

OK...everyone back to your stations. Major Identity Crisis averted.

Although... I also stumbled upon this video:

honeybadger_e_girl has a pretty nice ring to it, dontcha think??

Nah...I'm nowhere near badass enough. And, I don't eat snakes.

So Many Excuses. So Little Time.

Well, it's October and you know what that means....Yep, you are absolutely right... I totally blew off September's blog post.

What kind of Blogger Extraordinaire am I??

A bad one...That's what kind of Blogger Extraordinaire I am.

In my defence, I do happen to have several relatively solid excuses for why I didn't write anything of any real substance in September.

So, without further ado, here is...

"A Comprehensive List of Several Relatively Solid Excuses for Why I Didn't Write Anything of Any Real Substance in September"
by: squirrel_e_girl

•  My Sweetie and I scored some kick ass tickets to see Pearl Jam, so, including travel time, dinner at McDonalds and a peebreak on the side of the DVP, that little adventure alone took up a good 5-6 hours of quality September writing time.
  ~ An aside- 2011 marks the 19th anniversary of my torrid (one-sided) love affair with Eddie Vedder...a momentous occasion if  ever there was one. That...and the band celebrates its 20th year together which I guess is pretty cool, too. Here's a clip of what we experienced... PJ20 in Toronto ...and for fun (and for my own personal jollies) here is the original video for "Alive" ... I guess Eddie's days of crowd surfing and hanging from the lighting scaffolding are long past ... but then again, so are mine :D ~

• We are the proud feeders/watchers of 2 adorable baby Cardinals - a wee girl and a wee boy- and they have kept me very busy. It is well nigh impossible to watch cute fluffy baby birds hop around AND write a blog at the same time.

Our Wee Baby Cardinals

• My kids swiped my iPad charger cord thingy so it was a challenge to keep my iPad charged up. I finally got it back and am good to go.

• I just happen to reside in some sort of 3G internet signal black hole and over the past few months the situation has deteriorated to the point where I would rather sit in a corner smashing myself in the face with a hammer than spend any length of time trying to stay online. To give you an idea how bad it is, Rogers actually gave us money back AND have reduced our monthly fees ...I kid you not. THAT is how suck ass our internet is. In order to maintain my tenuous grip on sanity, I have been avoiding the computer as much as I possibly can...and one can't write a blog post and not use the internet, now can one??

• I seem to have had a bit of a jumpstart on my annual foray into Seasonal Affective Disorder this year. (add that to my Social Anxiety Disorder and it makes me "S.A.D Squared"...hmmm a good name for a band, perhaps). In anticipation of this upcoming winter and its cold dark bleakness, I have been stewing in a nice case of the blahs and haven't really wanted to do much of anything. But now it's October and I adore October and all its pretty pumpkins and leaves and crisp smells and such. Apparently, a brief but spectacular influx of the colour orange is enough to distract me from dreary thoughts of November and December ... and January ...and February ...and March... sigh... so I'm feeling great(mostly).

• For a couple of weeks, I was working super duper full-time as Despot Ruler  at the kennel and getting up at 5:30 am kinda kicked the crap out of me and rendered me rather useless for that 2 week stretch. It's tough being a Night Owl living an Early Bird's life. Hoo Hoo.

• I couldn't think of anything good to write about. I was a little short on inspiration ... It's not every day that one witnesses butterflies landing on dog poop...a blogger can only dream of such good fortune.

• Unfortunately, I started to read the A Song of Ice and Fire series (yes, I am a nerd) ...A Game of Thrones being the first of five 1000+ page tomes. I've trudged through four of the five books, and so, have endured 4000+ pages of brutally depressing yet ridiculously addictive narrative. There certainly are no happy endings in these bad boys. (Well, none of the literary variety anyway, if you know what I mean nudge nudge wink wink...rarrr) Needless to say, reading 4000+ pages of woefully gruesome tragedy really cuts into a squirrel_e_girl's writin' time....and upon reflection, may have something to do with my early onset blahs.

Oh yeah...and one last thing...

• We bought a house!!!! YAY US!!!! It has been a rather nerve-wracking/gut-twisting/drawn out ordeal, that, unlike those stupid books I'm reading, actually has a happy ending. More on that later...

I gotta start packing...you would not believe all the nuts I have to sort through ;)