The Senators Playoff Game, and the Jones Creek Trails

Hmm, let's see...I've gone to the Senators playoff game in April, and that was a lot of fun actually. Steve wanted to get tickets for Game 6 as it was in Ottawa, and of course it was going to be right smack on the day of my mom's birthday, so that was going to be interesting. He ordered the tickets and was all raring to go. It was funny to see him talk and all that about the game, and if they won, they would move on to the next stage of the playoffs and so on, so he was really wanting to go and see them, as he loves the Sens. *smile*

Anyway, so the day of the Sens game, Steve was working, and then took off from work early so that we could go driving to the Scotiabank Place where they were playing, and we did. I have personally not gone to a NHL game live before, so it was something I was looking forward to. I have gone to the Blue Jays game at the Skydome, but never to a NHL game, so it was something new for me. *smile* We ended up with tickets that landed us in the very back of the stadium, and it was crazily full. I wasn't expecting that. *laughs* But it was cool, and being there for the first time for the playoffs was pretty cool too. We got there, got our seats and then ordered something fast for our dinner there, as we didn't eat before we left. We left around 4 something so we hadn't eaten supper yet. So we just ordered some pizza and munched on it before the game started; and the stadium was crazily full. I was not used to being so cramped up with other people, but after a little bit I got used to it. Steve was yelling the entire game and I wasn't used to seeing him like that, as he's not exactly the most out there type of guy, but when it came to the game, and his team, the Sens, he really was out there, so it was interesting for me to watch him be like that in public. I knew he was like that normally, as he's always like that at home when he watches the game, all gung-ho about the Sens and them winning, and so on. It was just funny to see him like that at the game, yelling along with other really loud fans, so it was crazy. I really am glad I cannot hear. *laughs*

After a little while I had to join in with everybody yelling for the Sens...(I mostly just waved my towel, not yelled) but of course they lost the game, and much to Steve's sadness, they also lost the last game, so they aren't in the playoffs anymore. So it's all okay. It was still fun to go and watch the game, and see how full the stadium was, full of people waving the towels that were provided in each seat and just seeing everyone go wild. Steve even made up signs that he picked up at the dollar store, and just was being silly. One sign was a For Sale sign, and below it, said: "One NYR Team"...figures, and the other sign said "Hey, New York...Got Your Golf Clubs Ready?" Sheesh. It was nothing new, and he made me hold one of them up, so it was just silly. He even had me wear one of his Sens shirts, which was signed by Chris Phillips before, and one of his Sens caps, and he wore the same, just not a signed jersey. He even bought some stickers from the dollar store and made me wear them on my face. That wasn't much fun, as it was very itchy, but it was just silly and what he wanted to do... Normal!

Leaving the parking lot from the game was crazy, I think it took us 45 minutes to finally get out of the parking lot. Then we finally headed back home and just crashed. It was an interesting night that's for sure. *smile*

The next little bit was a little bit busy, with me visiting my mom here and there for dinner and just saying hi, and the such like, so it was not too bad. I was also always so tired and was a little frustrated with being so tired and sore all the time, and I had noticed that I was gaining weight again, and my mom was asking if it was the same medication that I had taken before that didn't work, (which I do believe it was) as it wasn't the same brand that I used before for my thyroid, which was Eltroxin, it was a different one but they said was similiar and should work the same...I had it for the past three months, and I was slowly going downhill and when I told my mom how much I weighed now, she said that I had gained weight, but I couldn't remember, as I was so tired and so disoriented all the time, and it was hard to keep track of anything. When it was time to refill my medication, my mom called my doctor to get it refilled, and she was telling them about how I felt on the other medication and if I should go back on Eltroxin. I wasn't sure if the pharmacy I went to had them currently, so when they refilled it with the brand they had and I went in to pick it up, and they told me that my drug card didn't cover it, and I was like, what? They don't cover the ones that don't work for me, so nah, I'm not taking it! *laughs* Why pay for something that was not exactly making me feel good? They did say that the brand that works for me, is free under my drug card, so it's something to consider, so I told them to start ordering that brand, because I wasn't up to paying for the other brand, especially since it didn't work that great for me. I wasn't sure if they would switch as they didn't really specify, and when I called the Walmart pharmacy to see if they provided it, and they did, so I checked with my doctor to switch pharmacies, and when they called the Shoppers to transfer my prescription to Walmart, they found out that Shoppers did order my medicine for me, and that it was ready. Um...no one told me they were going to? *laughs* So I was okay with it and picked it up there. I started it the past week and after the first day, wow, I could really feel the difference. *laughs* I kind of perked up, woke up more, so it's quite a difference. *laughs* Oh well...so it's better, and they have to keep getting that medicine as it works for me, not the other one. So I feel a lot better now. I have actually begun to wake up and wanting to work out, usually I wake up feeling tired, but not these days. I'm waking up and wanting to work out so it's good, I'm going back to my old routine. I hate the times when I'm so sleepy and lazy and exhausted, it really sucks. I've actually found more of Zuzana's workouts so I downloaded a lot of them and been working out with them so I'm starting to feel better. And now, this time, when I work out, I don't hurt as much as I used to. I used to hurt all over for like a few days after doing one workout and when I did the workouts, it would kill me and I'd be gasping in the end of it and be in a lot of heavy sort of pains and aches. I thought it was weird that I was so out of shape so suddenly. I figured it may have been because I haven't worked out often enough lately, so it was harder on me. But it wasn't the case, it was the case of being on the wrong medications. :/ So weird. Working out now is a lot easier again, so it's a little crazy.

One Saturday Steve wanted to go filming again, and wanted me to go with him, as I had sort of stopped going with him when he went out to film, and wanted me to go with him for this one place and since I was feeling a bit better, not so tired being back on the Eltroxin pills, I went with him. It was down at the Jones Creek Trails, a hiking trail. I wasn't sure how I would be able to go through the trails, as I have been so tired lately and so on, so I tried with Steve, and it was pretty fun. The trails are huge, and there were a lot of people, and it was a nice day even, a bit brisk, but still a nice day. I started taking pictures and going along the trails with Steve just exploring and checking out different parts of the trails. At one point I actually lost Steve as he kept going out and around off the trails and I lost him, so I tried to go and look for him along the trail, and he started freaking out and started looking for me. I had walked by a bunch of people that I had walked by earlier with Steve and he asked two ladies that I had just previously walked by, if they had seen me, and they told him where I had gone, and Steve was surprised I had gone so far, and he was afraid that he would lose me being apart like this so he went running after me. *laughs* It was a little funny though. I had no idea where he was so when I got to one point, a fork in the trail, where signs pointed to the parking lot or continue on the trails, I wasn't sure if Steve would have gone to the parking lot or continued on, and I figured that since he tends to get lost in his filming he would probably go ahead so I tried to go ahead, and soon after Steve caught up with me with the help of the two women that I had passed by at the turn. *smile* On Steve's blog he said that he had his eye caught by something off the trails and was busy filming it and he said that I "used" that opportunty to go ahead without him on the trails. I didn't use the opportunity, I was looking for him then. *laughs* I thought he was up ahead of me, I didn't know he went off the trails. :/ Typical man. It was a little funny actually. He mentioned this: "I could see her ending up sleeping a night in the woods, having to cuddle up to a black bear for body heat. ;)" I really don't think I would have gone that far! *laughs* Oh well. But it was a fun outing though, it was quite the place to explore. *smile* Steve wants to go back when it's warmer to explore it even more. It's a huge trail system, that's for sure. Here is the link to his video of the Jones Creek Trails:



I had an appointment for the Pacemaker Clinic and realized that I made the appointment where my mom couldn't make it, as she was working the entire time then, so I had asked Steve about it, if he could go to the appointment with me, and help tell me what was going on. It was pretty much the same sort of appointment as it is every time, but, there was this one weird occurence that went on in the testing room. An unfamiliar doctor came in and looked over my file, and said that it would be better for me if they lowered my heart rate range on my pacemaker, and I was like, huh? What? They just raised it just under a year or so ago, saying that it would be better for my heart if it was to a more normal range, and I actually do feel a lot better now, I have more energy and it's a lot better, I have not had any problems in all this time since then. So that's why I was surprised that this doctor said that, but it was also a doctor I had never seen before, he wasn't my regular doctor so I was like, oh jeez... So for a bit the doctor and the nurse who was working on me, was talking about it and I didn't know what was going on, all I knew was that the doctor wanted to lower my range which I really didn't want. I think the doctor and the nurse were arguing about it, and all that, Steve was having a hard time understanding the whole conversation so he couldn't really pass on the conversation to me. *smile* So I was like, freaking out at one point, and when the doctor left looking a little grumpy, the nurse then turned to me and told me what was going on. She said that he was just a resident, so he's still learning so it's okay, they weren't changing anything on me, since I was doing well right now, and was having no problems. I was like, jeez...good thing. It scared me for a minute there. *laughs* I hated the range it was on before, as I was always so tired...heh. Funny. It was a good appointment, pretty quick and then I headed to my mom's place, as she asked me if I wanted to go out shopping with her in the afternoon after the appointment, and I agreed, and she'd drive me back home when we were done.

So I went out and went shopping with my mom, looking around for some summer clothes and I ended up getting a lot. *laughs* Oops, but it'll come in useful when the weather warms up. *smile* I also got some groceries from my mom, as I normally get food for both Steve and me as he covers the bill for the TV, phone and internet, but it was getting a bit expensive, as you know, with how expensive food can be. :/ So my mom offered to buy me one batch of groceries to help tide me over for the next few weeks of May. It was a good afternoon, we even went out for an early supper, late lunch at Denny's. It was a good afternoon just catching up with her and seeing what was up. When it was over, when we both were all shopped out, John then drove me home with my mom, and Josh. It was a good day, though I was really tired by the time I got home. *laughs* Oh well.

The start of May has been generally pretty quiet with me just going back to my normal activity schedule I used to have before I moved to Brockville, with me working out here and there, and just cleaning up, and doing odd stuff around the place. *smile* With some odd outings here and there. It's been good.

I'm a Smith Again!

Finally I’m a Smith again...I went out and changed all my cards (my drivers license, health card and my SIN) to be a Smith again instead of being a Stagg. I don’t have the official cards in yet, but I should have them soon enough. I’ve been working on changing my name elsewhere online too, so that’s taken up a bit of my time for the day today.

I didn’t think I would feel any different changing my name back to Smith from Stagg, and I wasn’t too sure because, well, Smith is such a common last name, so many people have that last name and I liked Stagg because it was different, and I don’t often see that on people’s names. Though Steve keeps telling me that I am more suited to be a Smith, because that name just sounds better with my first name, instead of Stagg. So okay then, if he says so. So it’s been changed...I believe that if I ever get married again, it’s not likely I would want to change my name again. It’s just too much hassle to do it, seriously. :S I think when I first changed my name to my married name, it took nearly a year before it was actually changed everywhere. Yikes, just insane. *laughs* So it’s not likely I would change it again. Oh well!

The other day Steve was asking me if I wanted to do something fun for one of his films, it was a really warm and really windy day (around 28 celisus as said on Steve’s car) and he wanted to take advantage of the wind and took me to his favourite shore that he tends to go to along the St. Lawrence Seaway. He wanted me to dance and just move around for the camera and I thought it was a little weird…why would I dance in front of a camera? *laughs* It was a bit awkward, that’s for sure, and he wanted me to wear loose clothing, like skirts, loose shirts and stuff like that. He wanted to do some sort of fun video, where I move around along with the wind and so on. He even had me bring along my exercise elastic bands so they could whip around behind me. When he suggested all of this before coming back from work to pick me up to go to the Seaway, I thought it sounded weird, but didn’t mind as it was a really nice day after all. Heh… You can see the video here:



It was just an interesting video. *laughs* Oh well. This is just ironic for me to be doing – I’ve always been the kind of person that didn’t like being in front of the camera, ever. But since I’ve been with Steve and I’ve been in front of the camera so many times that I cannot count, that I just have gotten used to it. I still am not a huge fan of it, but it’s something I’ve gotten used to, with Steve always having the camera and always talking about filming something.

Oh, yeah, just last night, Steve was talking about getting tickets to the playoffs for the Sens and the Rangers, as they were playing in Ottawa on Monday and he wanted to go and see them live, so he ordered a couple of tickets for me and him to go to so to watch the game. It’ll be an interesting game, as I have never been to a live NHL game before…I have been to local hockey games, or for OHL games, they are fun to watch, so NHL ones would be pretty awesome. It’ll be an interesting evening. Just have to see how it turns out – if the Sens lose Steve would be very, very sad…but it’s funny anyway. He really wasn’t expecting them to end up in the playoffs in the first place anyway.

It would be interesting, that’s for sure. Heh.

Northern Trip, Easter Weekend, and Miscellaneous

What has been up with me lately? I just realized the other day that I hadn’t written a blog entry since March 9th, which is pretty ridiculous. I’ve been having both busy days and very slow days, so I don’t know why I didn’t write in a blog entry earlier, but oh well. I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to the last time I talked here. Heh.

Everything I had to do before, for disability, for taxes, and all that, got all done and over with. Everything looks good now, no more requests have been sent so it’s all good. Now the next few things I have to worry about really is finding a local family doctor here in Brockville, and getting my last name changed back to my maiden name on all my cards. I don’t know when I will be able to do that, but it’ll probably be when things slow down for Steve at work. I keep having to do stuff for my mom as well, as her printer doesn’t work so she keeps asking me to print stuff out for her. Figures! And I also have to find a job as well but looking has been tough, there’s not that many jobs here with it being so small.

Steve and I went out to North Frontenac County one day in mid-March, he wanted to go out and film and explore. I just wanted to get out of the house, but wasn’t really in the mood to take pictures I don’t think, but I still took some and it turned out to be fun. Just went out exploring different areas, the water, the beginning of spring in different areas of that area. We went filming and taking pictures along a river, Mississppi River, it used to hold the old railway there, and as I was taking pictures you could see some of the rails underneath the river that we were taking pictures of. It was cool, but a little strange, seeing that there used to be an old railway there under the river. We also went to another area, and found a swamp area covered in melted snow which actually looked pretty. It was a really warm day that day, around 23 celisus, so Steve was going without his coat a bit there along with me, but I don’t have any pictures of me in any of the pictures I have. We also found a waterfall behind a house, and took pictures of it in the distance, and that was surprising. It’s not too common to find waterfalls around here, that’s for sure. I like them, but they are hard to find. As the day wore on, and the sun was setting, we then stopped at one wide open space while driving back home, and took pictures of the electronic towers with the sunset, so that was colourful. You can see Steve’s video for that trip in this link:



Oh, yes, Steve and I found that Raxx’s in Brockville had just opened in the end of March, so we went there a few days or a week after the grand opening to check it out. It was actually pretty nice, very similar to Kingston’s Raxx’s, but somehow there were more murals all over the walls so that part was cool for me…there was more light, and it was just a bit different. It is quite nice there. I told my mom she’d have to come to see it one day. She likes it in Kingston after all. They had the same food, so it was good. Heh… and the owner of Raxx’s, I have met him before in the Kingston’s Raxx’s… he always has this thing where he greets all visitors and talks to them, and Steve was telling him that we used to go to Kingston’s Raxx’s as I was from Kingston, and we loved it there, so it was great that there was one in Brockville now. It was pretty cool talking to him. We just came to eat supper there, and we had the steak special that night. We went on a Friday night and that’s their special of the night… it’s always good. One day we’ll have to go back there to play pool. Steve has just been so busy with work so it’s been tough for him to go out and do stuff, because he has been so tired most of the time, with the stresses of work. I’m still working on the pictures from Raxx’s that I took with my cell phone – a lot of the pictures are just so dark. *laughs*

I had been saying to Steve that I still felt that I didn’t know Brockville well enough, as we kept going outside of Brockville to take pictures and stuff like that. I hadn’t really checked out the city to see what they had. I did go to Giant Tiger with him one day, but that was it… I never really got to check out downtown and see what they had, the water, though I did go sit by the water and watch the sunset go down at one point before near the plane statue, but I still felt I didn’t know Brockville well enough. So we went walking down downtown the other day, to see what they had… they didn’t really have that much, but it was good to be out in the fresh air and seeing what it was all like. They had some places where I could go in, but not a whole lot, but at least I got some ideas. Brockville is small, I can definitely say that, but then again that’s Brockville for you. A small town. Heh. Though we did check out Luna’s Pizzeria a bit ago, and that place was pretty good, along with returning to the China Buffet restaurant at the mall the previous Friday when we went shopping at the mall. One thing that’s too bad about the mall is that they are tearing down part of it, so to make big box stores, and that’s just too bad. They should keep it as a mall, not big box stores. They are too large and too many cars all around. :S Yuck. Oh well… all wait and see, but when I went shopping there on Friday half of it was pretty much closed down so it was not much fun. :/

I had been trying to keep active, but I was not entirely happy with how Bodyrock was like now. The new girl was not too bad, but the videos just felt too fast and a bit too much for me, so I wasn’t sure about sticking with her and the website, so I went looking online and I found Zuzana, the woman who used to be on Bodyrock, she was now running her own fitness routine on YouTube, so I was really happy about that. I like Zuzana’s videos…she’s hard, but the exercises can be fun. The other girl on Bodyrock was just too fast, and some of her exercises seemed too complicated at times and at others, too simple, so it just threw me off. I do like Zuzana much better, so I was really happy to find her online, though she only posts videos once a week so it’s too bad. But some is better than nothing. *smile* But I do really like her. She’s so much fun. You can look at her videos in her channel in YouTube which is here: Zuzka Light’s channel. Heh… Funny though. So I’ve been trying to keep active, but with her exercises I tend to get extremely sore and I cannot move for a few days, and then continue. *laughs* I’m just that out of shape again. I’m sad about that though, but hopefully I’ll get better soon enough. Heh.

Oh, yes, back in February/March, Steve had asked if I wanted to post some photos that I had taken of different winter scenes for his TVCogeco billboard program, as he was not getting a lot of winter submissions of photography for that one square in the billboard, so he asked if I wanted to leave him some, so he could add them to the billboard. I wasn’t sure, but gave him some, so it was a little weird for a while, a month or so, seeing my photos occassionally up on the billboard along with a few other people who tend to send in photos.

Steve at one point asked if I wanted to go night filming with him and I was exhausted that night so I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take pictures, but he was just overeager to do his filming and experiment with night filming, that he just went and I went with him to one abandoned house that he went to before, and it was pretty much empty and he wanted to try. So I stayed in the car and watched him go through his patterns of setting up light and taking pictures of different objects and parts of the house. It was interesting, but I was just so tired and cold that I just stayed in the car and waited for him to finish. I did bring my camera with me, but because I was just tired and cold I decided to opt out. Heh. One day maybe I’ll be able to, but that’ll more likely be in the warmer seasons. He had that video up on his Vimeo and it’s pretty cool actually. It’s here:



Around mid-March, end of March, my mom invited me and Steve over for dinner, so we came down and did laundry at the laundromat here, and Steve had his fun filming me doing laundry, and I have no idea when he would post that up. I’m hoping he will, it was full of really weird shots of me doing laundry, so it was a bit funny, though I don’t like seeing myself on video, but it was still funny seeing all the angles and stuff like that. All wait and see, of course. It was a good dinner, we finished up laundry and then hung out outside and talked to John and Mom who were in the backyard when we got there. It was a nice day out then after all.

The Easter weekend was pretty good for me as well. My mom was having Easter dinner at her place and my brother was going to be there with his family, so it was something I wanted to do. So Steve and I drove out to Kingston after getting his car washed, and then just got there, and hung out, talked and caught up. Jase and Kelly arrived around half a hour or a hour after I got there, and then I go to see Zaiden, who I haven’t seen since he was a few days old or was it a week? But he’s 6 months old and it’s been a while since I last saw him and he’s definitely bigger than I remember him to be. It was cool seeing him though he had just woken up from the car ride from Belleville to Kingston, he was a little disoriented and a bit grumpy. But it was cool to see him again anyway. Everyone was just talking about their lives, catching each other up, and etcetera, so it was good. Dinner was good – we all had roasted ham and the dressings that go with ham. It was a good dinner, though everyone was full when it was over. I ended up taking too much pictures of Zaiden, but that’s normal. Heh. I was the only one with an official camera, and everyone else was using their phones and Playbooks to take pictures. :/ Why doesn’t anyone have a normal camera anymore? *laughs* So I was busy taking pictures of Zaiden mostly and just some of everyone, and so on. It was not too bad at all. I went to my mom’s on Saturday, and then on Monday, Steve and I were invited to Vince’s, who volunteers at TVCogeco where Steve works, family’s house again for Easter dinner, and it was a good visit. Everyone was more comfortable with me and everyone was just talking so it was good. Food was good as well, and everyone was friendly, though Steve was helping Vince out with his computer a bit installing Premiere for him. But it was still good anyway. I got to see Vince’s daughter’s animation, as she was interested in doing it, so that was pretty fun to check out. *smile* I know I can’t do animation, I have never tried it, but it looked like a lot of fun, in what she had done. I also have had ham twice in one weekend so I was pretty full and sick of ham by the end of it… Heh. But it was still good anyway. Nice Easter weekend.

I think this is all that’s been going on, but it’s enough. It’s been a while since I have written here. :/ Oh well… Heh.

Time Creeps On By

I have no idea what I have been up to, but I do think it’s been enough. I’ve just been busy back here, keeping busy with Steve and doing things around Brockville, and getting things done with here in Brockville and so on. My friend Kat had her baby, Arianna Dawn, a little bit ago so I’ve been keeping updated on that, and it’s pretty exciting for her. Heh. One day I’ll have to go visit her and her new baby. I’ve been working on my website as well, along with my work portfolio website, so it’s been keeping me busy at most. Steve has not been out filming that much lately, he’s been working like crazy so his time for filming has been cut down lately. Fun...though we both decided to go out to Prescott to film and take pictures, and I do remember being totally not in the mood to do it at all, though it was a nice area. I think I probably wasn’t in the mood to take pictures, as I wanted to do something different, but it can be hard to sometimes. Heh...funny. I got some good pictures though, going at the waterfront in Prescott and taking pictures of the lighthouses in the area.

I’ve also been trying to keep the place clean, as I really didn’t want to get sick again but it’s been tough. I’ve also finally got WordPress to automate my blog entries so that I didn’t always have to copy and paste them to my website, but I just added it on and I’m still seeing if I like it so far. I’m not used to the design but I’ll figure out how to make it more mine after a while, after playing around with the code. Hopefully I’ll get somewhere. Heh.

The other day I went to Richmond with Steve so he could get his car worked on, as his trunk was not able to be opened, his trunk latch was broken and then his key wouldn’t work in it. So we went out to Richmond, and grabbed something to eat for brunch at a nearby local diner while they looked in his car and just talked. It was a nice brunch, and now he has to go back the following Tuesday to get the trunk latch replaced. Oh joy. I have to go with him so it’s not much fun, but it has to be done. I’ve also been keeping busy watching movies and TV episodes, and running errands for disability getting my affairs in order and the such like, and just trying to figure out what else I like doing for my free time. I’ve been getting restless lately and I keep wanting to do something, only I can’t think of what I want to do, unfortunately. I think it’s because it’s the weather, it’s almost summer, but it’s still winter so it is making me a little stir crazy. I can’t stand the winters unfortunately, I often don’t want to go out in the snow so it sucks very much. *smile* And for a long time I was doing stuff that my ex-husband liked, so it’s hard to figure out what I want to do and what I like to do. I have to figure that part out. I know what I like to do for my quiet times, reading, writing, catching good movies and TV, and the such like. I also clean, but I can’t really think of something that really gets me passionate and really wanting to do. I used to love going out with buddies and friends and having fun, but now it’s a little hard because my friends aren’t local, they haven’t been since I moved to Kingston. So it’s tricky. I do need to figure out something I want to do truly, which is a true challenge. Heh.

What else? Not too much I don’t think. There’s been a bit of craziness with receiving letters in the mail, where the government wanted to confirm I was still separated and not living with my ex husband again, for GST information. Oh well, so I received it from my mom who came by to visit a couple of weekends ago, in the end of February I believe, she dropped it off for me. We all went to Swiss Chalet for supper and just caught up and told them all about what was going on back here and so on, and then had a quiet night in. Then after that I had to read the whole tax envelope I got, and it said to get two written letters from two professionals that knew me personally, to confirm that I haven’t lived with my ex in the entire time we were separated, and so on. My mom got one letter from my family doctor already for me, so that was easy enough, but I had to figure out who else would know. I could go and see Kat and have her confirm but because she was busy being pregnant and I didn’t want to drive back to Ottawa when I had just come back from her shower; so I thought of disability – I have been paid monthly with the exclusion of my ex-husband and they would know. So I went in and had them sign the papers, and that was all done with. I had to enclose my separation agreement papers as well as those two letters, along with bills that showed how much it cost before and after the separation, which was ridiculous. It was a lot actually, so oh well. :/ But I got it over and done with, and then soon I got a letter from disability to make sure that I was actually roommates with Steve and so on, so it was interesting, but that part is almost over and done with and will be dropping it off on Monday. I’m so tired of all the forms and letters I have to fill out. *laughs* There’s just so much! Let’s see how the last one will work, so yay me. I need a load off my mind, that’s for sure.

I sure don’t have much to say, but it’s been quite sleepy back here other than a few trips and visits out of town here and there.

A Quiet Little While and the Baby Shower

Time seems to just fly on by!  It's again been busy, but at the same time not.  For one thing I have been sick for over a week and just finally got over it, and Steve was sick for a few days before I got mine.  Figures.  Time had been just going by for us, with some intervals where we would go out to different places and take pictures and film.  Steve just started working more and more, so I was seeing him less, and when we had time off, we'd go out and check out different places, we went to Charleston Lake, and another abandoned house that Steve had found on the drive to Kingston in January when I went in Kingston to visit and go shopping for computer items and parts and some purchases I needed to make with my Christmas money. *smile*

The abandoned house we went to was pretty much falling apart, and an empty husk of a house, so we were just around the property taking pictures and filming, as you couldn't really go inside as the floor was pretty much falling apart.  It was insane!  But it was cool to check out though. *smile*  You can see the video on Steve's Vimeo page or below:


Husk (HD) from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

It was interesting...I didn't even go in, because I didn't want to walk on such rickety floors in fears of falling through them. Steve tried and it just freaked me out a little. It was funny though. *smile* Another weekend Steve felt like going to Charleston Lake and filming...his creative bug had been nagging at him so he kept feeling like going out to film all the time. It was hard for me to, because it was just so cold out there back in January so taking pictures was just really hard to do. Oh well, but I got some good shots anyway. The Charleston Lake video that Steve did is in this link:


January (HD) from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

My pictures for those two videos are in my photo page, of course. *smile* We were filming and going out a lot, and around mid-January we decided to get out of the apartment and went out to play some pool at Sam's Brass Racks. We played some pool and just checked out the bar, as Steve had never been there before, so it was good. I still like Raxx's in Kingston better...but it's a place to go to occasionally in Brockville. Though I did recently find out that Raxx's was going to be open in Brockville, and Steve and I even went to see where the location was, and it's extremely close to us, funny enough. It's still not open yet, so that's unfortunate, but when it opens up, I'll be checking it out, definitely! But it was still good to check out Sam's Brass Racks and play some pool and just get out of the apartment for a little bit that time.

I also made an appointment for Violet to go back to the vet, to check to make sure her kidneys were doing fine. I was supposed to bring her back to the vet within a month, but because I had just moved and there was just too much commotion going on with the recent move, and Christmas and New Years, so I finally made an appointment to check Violet back in January and check when I could get her declawed. The appointment was good, though Violet really wasn't a happy camper then, being back to the vet. Heh...and she was back to normal and the vet said I could make another appointment to get her declawed as she was looking good. I then decided to opt out at the moment as it was a little steep cost wise, and just wait a little bit. Oh well, when I can afford it, I may bring her back but for now it's okay. Steve just has learned to keep away from her or pet her when she isn't looking so she doesn't attack him. Heh.

Anyway, I got invited to go to my good friend, Kathaleen's baby shower in February so I was going back and forth trying to figure out the whole baby shower and when, how I could make it down and what to bring and so on, and what to get her. There was a lot of details that needed to be covered so I got that figured out in January, and Steve said he would probably visit some friends while in Ottawa while I was at the shower, and at one point he said he was going to go to Ottawa that very night and go to the Sens game with a bunch of his volunteers, but that fell through a few days before, so he just was okay with dropping me off and then going to his friend's place to hang out and talk with him. He even invited me to go to the Sens game with everybody, and I would have liked to check that out, because I haven't been to a NHL game live before, so oh well. Too bad it fell through, maybe another time. Heh. The baby shower turned out to be pretty fun...I got there, and met with a lot of my old friends. One of the first people I met up with was my old friend Christine, who was hosting the party at her house, along with Kat's couple of friends, Kristina and Krista. Then there was my old friend Veronica who came up to me with her mom, who also came to the baby shower, so it was pretty good, just talking to everybody and catching up and meeting different people that Kat knew from work, from college, and some deaf friends. It was a good gathering, and when Kat came in she looked to be surprised and I could see she was actually getting pretty big now being so close to her due date. Heh...It was funny seeing her like that. She's due pretty soon so it was kind of cool hearing about it all. Her mom was also there, and I used to know her from when I used to go to Kat's farm to just hang for the weekends.

When we got there, we started eating all the potluck food for our lunches, and then settled down to eat, and then we watched Kat open up all her gifts. She got a lot so it was pretty funny watching her open them all. Since I had brought my DSLR camera, I got handed the job of being the photographer. :( I wasn't expecting that, I was just shooting pictures of everybody and just having fun. I got to catch up with new news, new events and new people, so it was a nice day. When it was over, Kat was ready to go back home as she was exhausted and needed rest. Heh, nothing new with that, so I then texted Steve around 5pm to pick me up and go back to Brockville. It was a nice day, just talking to everybody so it was good. I need to do that more often, the only person I seem to talk to is Steve and that's not quite the same. *smile* Heh...

Hmm, what else? It has been a quiet month of January actually, with some ice storms out there. I was glad I didn't have to go out in them, because one of them was pretty bad. I think Steve has one video of all the trees covered in ice so it was pretty ridiculous. :/ I'm just glad I didn't have to go out in any of that weather. Heh. Funny though. I even did some job searching in the past little while and there's not really that many jobs in Brockville, though one came up in January and I applied to it, but heard nothing from them, so that was unfortunate. Oh well!

Since I was sick for a week, and just recently got over it - I ended up being sick for Valentine's Day, so that was just too bad for Steve. *laughs* It was a little funny actually. We just exchanged chocolates and Valentine's cards to each other and I went back to sleeping the rest of the day. Haha...I was really sick with that cold flu. Wow. You can even see how sick I was when Steve decided to play around with his video camera one day playing with macro shots - I had no idea until he uploaded the video on Vimeo! If I had known I would have told him not to upload it. Grrr...some men... *rolls eyes* Most of it has Violet in it so it's not too bad. *smile* It's in this video:


Detailed (HD) from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

I guess that's been my time the last little while. Very quiet and pretty much uneventful except for a few events. *smile*

Christmas and a Surprise Marriage

Yet another blog entry where I say it’s been a crazy little while.  What’s with life these days?  I finally dropped off all my lease stuff and information about my living situation at disability, to get it over with just before Christmas, as they had decided to send me a cheque with just living expenses on it, omitting the rent expenses on it as they didn’t know what it was yet.  So I had to go to my landlord and get the lease signed and then bring the lease to disability and get it straightened out.  Christmas was great, and a lot of fun…I was extremely busy the past December unpacking and getting the place back together, getting it back to feeling like home.  Steve was having a few days off during Christmas from work, so he was off Christmas Eve till Boxing Day, luckily it landed on the weekend so it helped a bit.  So we finally got all our stuff ready for Christmas, decorations and presents all wrapped up and all that stuff, and I tried to clear out the place so that there was more space for when we celebrated our bit of Christmas in the morning before heading out to Kingston.  Steve was all sniffling that he wanted to have a videocamera for the holiday of Christmas, so I grudgingly went with him to Henry’s so he could look at cameras and get one for himself, so that he could film during Christmas. *smile*

On Christmas Eve, we watched some Christmas movies, relaxed, and then headed to bed.  In the morning both of us got up and headed right to open our little bit of gifts to each other, and I was surprised to see that I got a new scanner.  I had purchased myself a new computer earlier in December as my old one had crashed, and my old scanner wouldn’t work with the new computer as the plug in the back was too old for it.  So I was all disappointed, but that was just a week or two before Christmas so that’s why I was surprised I got a scanner. Haha… I know scanners seem old to most people, but I need them for when I do some graphic design work and sometimes scanners are just necessary.  Oh well.  Fun for me!  Anyway, I got a new scanner, some stocking stuffers and a couple of DVDs, Friends with Benefits, and a collection of four movies in one (The Lakehouse, Forever Young, Sommersby, Message in a Bottle) new slippers (they were leopard print which surprised me…I normally don’t get that, so it was just funny), some books, chocolate, socks, a Hello Kitty t-shirt, and all those stuff.  It’s really funny giving Steve gifts as he gets so happy with whatever he gets.  He’s almost like a little kid on Christmas, that’s for sure!

We then relaxed, ate, and then got ready to head out to my mom’s place and his mom’s place both in Kingston for Christmas day to celebrate a bit with them. We drove over to Kingston, and Steve wanted to stop at his mom’s for a little bit first, before going to my mom’s, as we were having dinner with them.  So we headed out to his mom’s to say hi and to wish them a Merry Christmas.  Everyone was just talking about their mornings, and it was a short visit at his mom’s.  After around half a hour to a hour, we then headed out to my mom’s.  When we got there, we found that my brother had fallen ill that day, and was not able to make it to her place for Christmas Day.  Kelly decided to go to her mom’s in Smith Falls with Zaiden instead of Kingston to celebrate with her family and leave Jase alone so he could recuperate on his own.  So it turned out to be just my mom, John, me, Steve, and John’s two sons, Josh and Jordy for the dinner.  They had booked Christmas dinner at the same place we went to last year, at Aquaterra restaurant.  When Steve and I got to my mom’s place, we then mellowed out and just talked to everybody and opened more presents.  I knew most of the presents I was going to get, as I had gone shopping with my mom and she purchased most of my presents from Westboro, so it was mostly familiar gifts for me.  Heh…I got a cat necklace, some earrings, a pair of boots (which are so nice actually, I wasn’t sure if they would be, but they really are!), Chinese checkers, and some odd stuff.  It was nice, and Steve did a lot of goofing off along with John so it was a lot of silly stuff going on. Then we finally could go to the restaurant, as we made reservations at 7:30 in the night of Christmas day, so it felt really late and everyone was hungry.  We then went to the restaurant and then mellowed out, after a few minute wait outside the restaurant, just talking and goofing off there.  It was a nice dinner with everyone just eating and goofing off, of course.  It was fewer people than we had last year, but it was still nice nevertheless. *smile*

When dinner was over, everyone was so full and stomaches hurting – after all we all finished at around 9 in the night, and no one was used to eating so late in the night unfortunately. Heh…when dinner was over, Steve and I drove back to Brockville, and then we relaxed, I think we ended up playing board games that night. *smile*  It was a good day.  The next day I just mellowed out with Steve and started playing around with all the items that we had received, and just relaxed. I also went shopping to spend some money on the gift cards that Steve and I got. *smile*  I got some cash as well, so I headed out to look for a watch as I had lost my old watch previously, like a few months ago.  I always feel naked without a watch on – don’t ask me why, I just do.  I picked up a new Roots watch and it’s quite nice actually.  I also picked up some movies in Walmart, with my Christmas money, such as Something Borrowed, and the such like.  It was nice.  Steve actually came down with a 24 hour stomach flu at one point after Christmas so that was pretty crazy for him.  I hope I don’t get it, but I seem okay so far.

New Years was pretty quiet – Steve and I just stayed at home and watched the New Years celebrations going on on television, played some board games and just mellowed out.  It was a quiet New Years this year for me.  New Years Day, on the other hand…we went out to a park, Brown’s Bay around half a hour away from home, and just photographed the water and the shore and the nature…it turned out to be freezing that day though!!  Haha…It was horribly cold so photographing different things was actually pretty hard to do. Heh…

I even went out a couple of days with Steve to photograph different places, as Steve had a week off after New Years, and all he wanted to do was go out and film and explore and experiment with his new videocamera.  So I ended up going with him to some places, one abandoned building, and to Charleston Lake to photograph, and it was actually pretty cold those days we went out to photograph and film.  *sigh*  But Steve stayed in a lot too, just relaxing and getting himself back together before he returned back to work the next week.

I then started getting back to my own routine, or at least tried to.  I’m actually still adjusting to living in Brockville, and trying to get used to it, along with living with someone else, it’s been a challenge but quite the experience.  It’s also funny, a few days after New Years I got a surprise message and comment on Facebook from my brother’s girlfriend, where it said that Kelly was married, and I was thrown, I asked her about it, and no reply, then talked to a bunch of people and then I checked my phone and Jase had sent me a text with a picture that I was unable to open, so I talked to Jase on my cell phone and he was telling me that he actually got married the other day with Helen as the minister and a couple of witnesses.  I was surprised actually, because my brother had been putting off getting married with Kelly for a while, kept saying that he was not ready to do it now and so on, so on…but he had decided to re-propose on Christmas Day, and then planned on getting married as quickly as possible so to just get it over with.  I’m guessing it was because of Zaiden, but I have no idea, just an assumption of mine.  They have been engaged a while and Jase kept freaking out about the fact that Kelly wanted a big wedding.  Not surprising, he is like myself, where he dislikes having so many people there watching him and her getting married or anything like that.  So this way worked out well for him, for sure.  Heh…I’m still adjusting to the sudden knowledge that they are married now. Haha…funny though.  It’s good anyway, it’s over and done with now for them. *smile*

It’s been an interesting little while, but things are now settling down and getting better, at least with the unpacking – most of it got done after New Years, so it’s feeling a lot better here.  I still have to look ahead and see what I should do next from here on.

November & December

Wow…the last little while has been pretty insane! :/ I went to Brockville in the end of October and beginning of November to visit Steve for a week again, and in that time, we went looking for an apartment to rent for the 1st of December…we had been talking about finding an apartment to rent for January, but we decided to just do it for the first of December instead. So, we started looking around. We went to one apartment to view it, and it was remarkably small – very nice, but way too small for the two of us. Oh boy.  So we kept on looking…the second place was just outside of Brockville and that one was huge.

We did consider that one, as it had two bedrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, and a deck that we could use, so it was nice, but it was right over a garage, and I was not sure how quiet it would be with it being right over a garage. Steve seemed to like it…but we decided to look at one more apartment.  The huge apartment was a bit out of the way, so I wasn’t too sure if we should take it or not, even though we both really liked it. *laughs* It was huge, really, really huge so…

We then took a look at a third apartment, just to have more options, and that apartment was where one of Steve’s co-worker also lived in. He knew the apartment well and liked it, so we went and looked at it. It was pretty nice, bigger than the first place we looked at, and the landlord was very talkative.  Pretty funny actually. She was asking me about my last name, as she knew a Stagg herself, so…I had to tell her it was my married name…heh. A little weird, I will have to have my last name changed soon…I just keep putting it off…so it’s a pain.  Steve and I both talked about the apartment and we liked the third, the price was good and the size was good, so we went ahead and took it. But the funny thing is, I still haven’t signed a lease, which is pretty ridiculous. *laughs* I have already moved in!! Should be doing that sometime this week so I can bring it in to disability and show them that I have moved.

Anyway, we looked around, and got the apartment that we wanted, and I started packing up as soon as I returned back to Kingston…there was so much sorting that I had to do so it was not a lot of fun. I already lived in a two bedroom place as it was and it was filled to the brim. *laughs* And I have to move in with someone else, so I had to really sort through my stuff and decide what to keep and what to get rid of…it’s not been so much fun actually. And also on the week that I was at Brockville in the beginning of November, I actually got to sell my engagement ring, so I was really happy about that. Heh…the older lady who purchased it loved it so much, so I got my money and that got done and over with. I still only have the wedding band left. But I have sold my engagement ring, my wedding miscellaneous…so I’m getting some good leeway there now. It’s not been too much fun actually, but I want to get rid of as much as I can.  I’m currently selling my wedding band, two Christmas ornaments that I got from my ex-husband that says Our Christmas together, and they are pretty mushy, so I thought I’d try to sell them when I could. Don’t need it now, especially not while I’m seeing Steve.

Anyway, the time before the move was a bit crazy actually. *laughs* Oh, I also went to the Pacemaker Clinic for my routine check up for my pacemaker, and the funny thing was: my doctor came up to me saying that he was going to raise the limit that the pacemaker puts on my heart rate to a higher limit, because the limit it was at right now was too low, and was actually bad for my heart. I was surprised, and went, what? It’s bad for it? It’s been like this for years!!! 12 years to be specific. Wow.  So, when I went in the clinic for my appointment, I was sleepy, and when I came out of my appointment I was perked up and awake with the small difference they put on my heart rate for the pacemaker. It was a really weird feeling…I haven’t felt this awake in years and years and years!  It’s a good thing, I have more energy now so it’s a lot better. But it definitely was scary hearing that though.

Anyway, I figured I would need to get my cat Violet declawed, because the new apartment had carpet, and I knew Violet has this tendency to claw the rugs right up, it was her thing…so I figured, that since I was moving in an apartment with carpet that I should try to see if I should get her declawed. So I called the vet, and asked about it…she needed her shots as well, and was asking about when I could get her declawed, and they said that I could do it pretty soon, so I was surprised...but they did mention that she was an older cat so she may not be too happy for a bit about it…so oops. I found out how old she was in November, they said she was 9 years and 3 months old…I didn’t realize she was that old! *laughs* Wow…I thought she was maybe 7 years old…I didn’t think I had her that long!  Time sure flies. :S

Anyway, I brought her in for an overnight visit at the vet and having her getting checked up before the surgery, and went back home…in the night the vet called saying that it seemed that Violet had something wrong with her, but wasn’t sure, and was going to keep checking up on her and finding out what was wrong with her, and if she was actually sick they couldn’t do the surgery. So I was like, okay, doesn’t sound good but okay…just all wait and see. In the morning the vet called and said that they found that she had a kidney infection and they couldn’t do the surgery yet, because she was sick with a kidney infection and had to give her antibiotics and let her heal. I was like, okay, I actually didn’t know she had anything wrong with her. When I got her back she was all relieved, but wasn’t happy she was at the vet all night. *laughs* Now I’m not even sure if I am going to get her declawed, knowing how old she really is. :S So just have to see. She’s at the new apartment right now and she still has her claws… just occasionally tries to claw the rug. The rug is pretty thin, not thick rugs like my old place had…so oh well. Just have to see…I do have to call the vet here in Brockville and have her checked up soon…actually any time. *L* And make sure she’s actually all better. Oh well… just with her being sick, the vet bill was like 360 bucks…I nearly cried. I haven’t even gotten her declawed yet and that is supposed to be over $500 to do!  That was expensive, so I have to wait and see.

The day I dropped Violet off to the vet, I found out that my desktop computer wasn’t working right, and I was a bit confused…kept on checking and checking, and found that one of the drives that Windows was on had become nonexistent, so that was pretty sad actually. Ugh. So I just left it alone and started using my little netbook instead for the moment so…that wasn’t much fun. After I moved to Brockville, I went to Future Shop with Steve to look for a new computer, and I found one, a good sized one and bought it, it was nice and cheap actually so I liked that. Heh… So I bought it, and have been using that computer since. Oh well!!! I like it, though not used to working with Windows 7 at the moment. *smile*

I went out to Raxx’s a bit with my mom and her boyfriend and his sons…so that was good…just having a break and getting out of the house with all the boxes and all the disaster that was in the apartment with me sorting through my stuff. Wow.  Steve decided to come down at one point, to bring me the lease so I could sign my name on the lease for him and the landlord, and I brought him to Raxx’s there for their rib special…it was good.  Heh…

Then the moving day was pretty insane.  Steve moved a few days before the 1st of December, but he was lucky, didn’t have that much to move anyway.  So I hired movers to move my stuff and all that, and they came first thing on the 1st of December, and started moving stuff, then drove to Brockville, while I rode with my mom and John, and they started moving up stuff to my new apartment. *laughs* They really didn’t like the stairs much actually. I personally don’t like the stairs, but there’s no elevators in most apartments in Brockville so it was pretty insane.  So they had to just do it. *laughs* This was the reason why I got movers actually…no one wanted to move my stuff up and down the stairs. Haha… Funny.

A lot of my stuff was all good, except for my desk where the wheels on the bottom of the desk broke, so I removed all the wheels of the desk and now it’s fine here.  My tall lamp broke in half surprisingly, but it was okay because Steve had two tall lamps anyway.  Pretty funny though. I wasn’t sure how Violet would like the whole idea of moving to a new place, and so on, and so on…after all she cannot stand Steve at all…if he comes too close to her or tries to pet her, she starts swiping at him with her claws and meowing loudly and hissing…she really cannot stand him. Poor Steve – he loves cats as it is, but Violet doesn’t like having anything to do with Steve. *laughs* It’s crazy. But overall Violet seems to be enjoying the new apartment, surprisingly enough.

The unpacking then started after the move was over, and I started getting used to the whole living in Brockville thing. It was really weird…and I soon figured out that I lived really, really close to the mall, it was actually just across the street from me…so that was pretty crazy. *smile* My bank is really close to me as well, it’s probably just two blocks away from me…so it was funny finding out all the places that was close to my apartment. *L* Everything is really close so I’m not used to it… haha.  I’m liking it, for sure!

Oh, before I moved I tried to get all my Christmas shopping done and over with, and I think I did before December…which was pretty hilarious. I wanted to have it done and over with, because of the move, the unpacking would be taking forever and so on…so it was good.  Still had a few odds and ends to pick up, but they were easy enough to get. Heh...picked them up after I had moved in so generally I’m done. That’s one nice part about it all! Haha…

What else? I also sold my old film SLR camera the other day to someone who wanted it for a Christmas present, so that was good…I was surprised it was one of the fastest thing to be sold actually…it’s a film camera? *laughs* It was funny, but the person wanted it so no problem…no complaints there!  I’m still trying to sell my Christmas ornaments, but for some reason a lot of the respondents are from Kingston, not Brockville, so it’s a little odd, for sure.  Oh well.

I’m getting there, to getting everything done before Christmas, at least. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to be doing for Christmas…I know that I’m probably going to go to Steve’s friend and volunteer at TVCogeco’s Christmas party with his family on Christmas Eve, but otherwise I think I’m going to see my mom for Christmas day and go out to the restaurant like I did last year and have dinner there.  I think Steve may join us, but it’s all wait and see.  Oh well…after that, I have no idea. All wait and see, of course.  It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure. Heh…

Oh, yes, last Saturday Steve was all wanting to get a videocamera, as that’s what he wanted for Christmas, but he didn’t want to wait till then, he wanted it now, and so we went out to Ottawa to get him one, and all that…then after picking up his new videocamera we then went to Steve’s friend’s house and said hey…I have never met him before, but he was pretty funny.  You can really see the difference on how Steve treats me and how he is around his friends, and it’s quite amusing.  We went to his house, talked, and hung out, till the time when Cory (Steve’s friend) had to go to Royal Oak to set up for karaoke that he does once a month, and then a lot of silliness ensued from there.  Lots of singing and of course I knew nothing as I cannot hear, but I got told who was good and bad, so it was pretty funny.  Just watching everyone sing – Cory, a couple of guys that just went ahead and sang, and Steve even sang one song…he has said he is a really bad singer. Haha…Figures. It was just more silly than anything else…around 10:30 or so, Steve and I headed back to Brockville.  I even asked Kat if she wanted me to stop by, but since it was a bit too last minute, she was at her parents place so I didn’t get to see her at all. Cory actually lived close to Kat so that was a little funny. Maybe another time – Steve likes to visit his friends in Ottawa a bit, so it’ll be good anyway.

It’s been a crazy little bit, that’s for sure!  Whew!