With arms outstretched...

Compartment 14B

Newest Older Contact Me Profile Photos Etsy

Birthday weekend 2005.

2005-10-10 - 10:55 a.m.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving; yesterday was my 33rd birthday. I had planned to have a fairly low-key birthday this year but was pleasantly surprised when, not only did I get to see a few friends throughout the weekend (in addition to the usual Thanksgiving family crowd), several of J�s friends included me in the gifts and well-wishes at events that were ostensibly for him. One couple from my side and one from J�s attended dim sum on Saturday to kick things off (and isn�t it great when friends from both sides are brought together and get along well?), then a crowd got together for watching the Senator�s first home game of the season on TV as a belated celebration of J�s 30th that evening. Yesterday we did the dinner at my mom�s and three of my friends made it out to her country place to attend. Tonight will be my dad�s dinner and I�m anticipating more good food and comfortable family chit-chat.

Now to the loot update: normally I get money from my mom and �stuff� from other people. Thanks to the fact that I actually thought of things I needed/wanted that could be passed along as hints, this year I got mostly stuff from my mom and gift certificates reigned when it came to gifts from friends. In addition to a couple of homemade certificates promising brunch and dinner, we got certificates for a few of our favoured restaurants around town, a Chapters certificate, a Thyme maternity certificate (both more for me), and certificates to electronics stores (more for J).

J got me some Lululemon wear (I was running out of clothes that I could wear to the gym and still look like an instructor vs. a gym slob in a 20-year-old, oversized t-shirt), and my mom scooped up the whole list of stuff and got me some Body Shop coconut body butter, Paul Simon�s Graceland (which we used to sing along to in the car when I was a teenager and have been missing lately), and a note to pick up the brand-spankin� new 2006 Writer�s Market*, which will be arriving in local stores this Tuesday. She also got me a couple of things I hadn�t asked for but were very welcome like a new white maternity dress shirt to wear to the office and a copy of the latest Western Interiors** magazine.

J got some good stuff from my mom, which will offset the fact that my dad traditionally does not come through for J in the gift-giving department. Fortunately, my mom usually equals the gift I get from J�s dad and then my dad usually gives J some token ten-dollar item. When he found out J wasn�t coming for dinner tonight (one of J�s gifts from his friends was a ticket to go to the hockey game tonight and I told him he should go and skip dinner at my dad�s) Dad actually said that that meant he didn�t have to give J anything for his birthday! I told him that I didn�t think so, J�s dad�s out of town this weekend (in Quebec City) and still left gifts for both J and I before he left and that his gift to me had been very generous. I hope he gets the message �cause J really couldn�t be a better son in-law to that man. He helped him find used car (including picking it up and bringing it out to my dad for a test drive), he uncomplainingly help Dad haul the 400+ lb boat hoist in and out of the frigid slimy Ottawa river every spring and fall, he drives the � hour out there to water Dad�s garden and grass when Dad and the family go out of town in the summer, etc.

I don�t really care that much if I get a lot for my birthday, but I am not impressed if anyone slights J on his.

Our gifts to each other were supposed to be restricted to going in on a trip somewhere this November to get away before my third trimester, but of course we both cheated: J with the Lululemon gear and me with the promise to buy a snow blower for this winter. It really would make our lives easier and, as an occupation for his time, little delights J more (other than maybe hockey) than weighing the pros and cons of various gadgets and bits of machinery. I gave him a price limit and set him loose on the internet.

Next journal entry, back to Grommet-related news.

-----------------------------

* I�ve made a vow that, if I�m going to be home for an entire year, I�m going to at least start exploring my more creative bent a bit. To that end, I want to do more painting, photography, and writing, and trying to sell at least a piece or two. I realize that I�m going to be crazy-busy with the baby, and that especially for the first few months I�m going to be utterly exhausted, but I�m hoping that by the time the warmer weather comes I�ll have the energy to set up the easel on the back deck, or get out the stroller and get out of the house and take some pictures. On those days when Grommet is down for naps I hope I�ll feel inspired to fire up the computer and write a bit, if only for the sake of doing an activity that makes me feel like an adult woman and less like a milk-producing machine. The beauty of these activities is that I don�t have to devote long stretches of time at a time to them so I should be able to sneak them in here and there.

** I love that magazine. Its only drawback is that, every time I read it, it reawakens my longing to live in the south where I can have flat roofs and adobe and huge expanses of wall that open: all things that are totally impractical in my northern home.

Before - After


All content � Shawna 2003-2010
That means no swiping my stuff - text, images, etc. - without asking.

P.S. If you're emailing me, replace the [at] with @ in the "to" line. Oh, and if you put the word "journal" in the subject line it'll have a better chance of making it past my junk mail filters.

recommend me
HTML and design help by Jo
hosted by Diaryland